Drakkon

Chapter Twelve

I stared out the window of the room and clasped my hands together tightly. Outside was bleak, the skies a muddied gray color, the clouds puffed up darkly, and the wind howling wildly for the storm to come. I could see soldiers scuttling about around the base and a few sparring with each other. My mind was wandering to places that were dark and unlike my usual thoughts. Meilin, especially, came to mind every time I tried to think of something happy. His words, the way he spoke, and his laughter echoed in my head.

He was insane.

He was dangerous.

And he was evil.

Although I knew that there was a dark side to him and even though he had told me he wasn't a nice guy, I was conflicted. He wasn't a good person, that was for sure, but I couldn't exactly categorize him as completely bad. Yes he had left me cowering and whimpering this morning, but now that it was late and I had the whole day to reanalyze our situation, I couldn't help but feel like there was more to him than the darkness painted outside him.

If I was going to be his bride and the empress, I needed to have a stronger backbone. I would have to accept him if it meant spending the rest of my life with him, but was that what I wanted? Did I really want to spend the rest of my life with a man like Drakkon Meilin? He was scary and intimidating, fearless and strong, and most importantly, he was a man full of mystery and intrigue.

Coming to my feet, I brushed my hands over the robes that I had been given to wear. It was old and worn out, but it was the only thing that was available at the moment. Although I preferred a pretty hanfu, these robes were more accessible here in the north.

"Excuse me," I said as I stepped out of Meilin's room. A soldier walking by slowed down when he saw me, his expression softening and the corner of his lip twitching up. "Do you perhaps know where Atreus is?"

The soldier frowned and scratched his beard. "The foreign boy with emeralds as eyes?"

"Yes, the green eyed boy," I said. I needed to see him and thank him for everything he had done for me. Although he had done it for Meilin, he had still saved me and I was eternally grateful for his efforts.

"I last saw him sitting outside," the soldier said. "He was arguing with Prince Yat-sen."

"Prince?" I paused and my eyes widened as I remembered the young prince that apparently liked Meilin and had tried to copy his hair style. Why was he here in the base? Did Meilin call him out here? Besides, why was he arguing with Atreus?

After thanking the soldier and asking for direction, I hurried down the halls and throughout the base, trying to figure out where Atreus was. From what I could tell, Atreus wouldn't fight with someone unless it had something to do with Meilin, but then again, I didn't know him too well to discern what degree his loyalty was to Meilin. What if he saw Yat-sen as a threat since he was the previous emperor's son? What if he thought that Yat-sen secretly hated Meilin for killing his family and imprisoning him and his siblings?

I ran headlong into a soldier, my shoulder bumping into his. I almost bounced away from the big fellow if he hadn't grabbed my elbow to steady me. His beady eyes took me in and he smiled broadly at me.

"Since when did a pretty woman infiltrate the base?" the man said with a chuckle. A few other soldiers around him glanced over at me curiously. I noticed that a few tensed up, their eyes widening. "I thought bringing whores weren't allowed?"

My blood ran cold as I realized that he thought I was from a brothel.

It was normal for soldiers to call women from brothels or to go to brothels themselves, but I felt low as he leered down at me.