Drakkon

Chapter Thirty-six

"The palace is so huge!" Enlai, my youngest sibling, said as he plucked grass from the ground. His dark hair was messy and he was dressed in his usual clothes. Lanfen was sitting on the bench next to me, watching as Enlai ran his fingers through the grass.

She nodded in agreement. "I never would've imagined that we would be guests in the palace."

"And you're even married to the emperor!" Enlai said, his eyes wide. "I can't believe you married the Dragon, Daiyu! How is he? I've heard so many stories of him that it's hard to believe that we're family now!" He jumped to his feet and made weird hand motions, a giant grin on his face. "I heard that he kills people mercilessly and that he took down hundreds of men in the battle of Dragon Lake!"

Lanfen shrugged and smoothed down her dress. "It would be stupid to think that they're lies. I think they might be true."

"Do you really think so?"

"After seeing that he has so many strong fighters, it's no surprise," she continued. "There's that black haired boy, the redhead, the boy with green eyes, those two pretty foreign girls, that . . . that demon boy, and that's not even including all the high ranked soldiers. I wouldn't be surprised that the emperor is that strong. Strong people are usually led by even stronger people."

We all sat in silence for a moment before Enlai spoke, his voice soft as he stared down at his worn out clothes and his calloused hands. "I don't know why he would choose commoners like us. You're really pretty, Daiyu, but I'm scared that he chose you because you're pretty. What will happen when he gets more wives and concubines? I don't want you to be forgotten in the palace, alone and . . . hurt."

I opened my mouth to tell him that there was no way that would happen, but I stopped myself, hesitation and doubt getting the best of me. To be honest, I knew that what he was saying was true. Once Meilin was tired of me, he would look for more women to satisfy his needs. Even if he wasn't tired of me, he could still have multiple women around him. I didn't want to vie for his attention and I didn't want to deal with other women taking my position.

I wanted to be Meilin's one and only.

It was a childish thought, though, and there was always going to be the possibility that I would lose importance in the midst of more beautiful, younger women.

"I . . . I honestly don't know what to do if—when—that happens," I said in a strained voice. I clasped my hands together and stared at the ground, my lips pressed together in a firm line. "I know that eventually he will find other women, but . . . but I don't want him to. Is it selfish for me to think this way? It's his right as a man and as the emperor to have as many women as he wants, but . . . but I can't accept that. I don't want to." My voice shook and I inhaled sharply, my throat closing up as I stared at my lap.

"Daiyu, I also want to be the only one for my husband, whoever he may be," Lanfen said after a moment. Her dark eyes were wide as she spoke and she holding in her tears, her lower lip trembling. "I don't think it's wrong to feel that way; it might be impractical, but it's not selfish."

Right when I was about to say something once more, Enlai jumped to his feet and stared off at the distance. Following his gaze, my heart raced when I saw Meilin walking towards us. He was dressed as he usually was and he had a somewhat neutral expression on his face. Remus and Vita were beside him, both of them wearing nonchalant expressions as well.

Remus's gaze flicked from me to Lanfen, and I noticed that Lanfen bristled, her eyes wide and her fingers curling around the bench as she stared at the demon boy. The fear radiated off of her so strongly that I was scared that she would hurt Remus's feelings, but one look at him told me he didn't seem to care, since he was staring at her.