Drakkon

Chapter Three

When I was seventeen, a young lanky boy I had grown up with suddenly told me I was the most beautiful girl he had ever seen and that he wanted to marry me. I was the perfect age of marriage and although I had gotten many requests from the people around my village, this particular boy, Heng, was someone I was willing to marry. He was average looking, but he had a pure heart and a beautiful soul.

I had grown to love him and when we were eighteen, he told me that he would marry me after the war was over, when he had his own position in the army and when he could provide for me. Although I was old enough to marry, I agreed and we promised that we would marry after the war. There were people that wanted to take over the empire—a rebellion led by a pompous man named Lu Hai. The rebellion was dying down and it wouldn't take long before it completely withered away, so Heng was ambitious and wanted to join and earn a title for himself.

One year later a man named Drakkon Meilin joined the war and took Lu Hai's position. That was the same year that Heng, my betrothed, was killed in battle, and the following year, the ambitious Drakkon Meilin took the throne, killing the royal family and coating his reign in blood.

I couldn't marry anyone the following year and before I knew it, I was twenty-two and unmarried, much too old for a regular virgin. No one wanted to marry me from my village since there were rumors that I had lost my virginity to Heng and that I was too old to have children, and because of that, I stopped hoping for a marriage and focused on taking care of my family.

I had given up on marriage, until Drakkon Meilin told me he would take me as his wife.

"Can you believe that she will be the wife of the emperor?" one of the servants murmured to the other as she straightened out my bed.

It was odd to be talked about so much. The palace had erupted in confusion, jealousy, and awe when it was announced that I would be Meilin's wife, not concubine.

"Wife? I heard about that," the older one muttered. "But soon after, he'll have a harem of concubines and no one will care." She sighed. "Men always do that. Never satisfied with one woman."

Although she meant no ill, it struck my heart that I wouldn't be cherished as a one and only. It was the sad truth; the emperor would most likely choose a couple concubines later on and I would have to endure it. I had no say in the matter of whether he kept concubines or not. It was his right as emperor and as a man to have as many women as he needed.

"Excuse me," I asked the ladies, both of whom had stiffened and were watching me with wide eyes, as if they didn't realize that I had heard everything. "How long until the emperor comes and fetches me?"

It had been almost two weeks since the emperor had told me that he would make me his wife. I hadn't seen him after that and other than the change of rooms, nothing had changed. He hadn't talked to me, called for me, or even sent word to me. I had been eating alone in my room and I spent my afternoons by myself, staring out the window as I contemplated my life.

I felt like a prisoner.

"His Majesty is a busy man," the younger one said.

"My dear, he's the emperor," the older one said with a loud sigh. "He has other meetings and people to attend to and he most likely hasn't thought much about you. You will be sent to him once he's tired and needs a bed to warm."

My shoulders dropped at her comment and I felt a bitterness in the back of my throat. Was I to be treated as a mere bed warmer from now on? Was I nothing more than a pretty face and a good lay for him? A complacent little rabbit?

"He will either take you whenever he sees fit or . . ." the younger one trailed on. "He will wait until the wedding night."

He hadn't even set a wedding date so I doubted the latter.