The Dragon Bride | ✔️

Chapter One

Kora's POV

"Run, Kora!"

I did as Mama told me, running as quickly as my legs would carry me. I heard the sounds of gunshots, but none of them actually hit us. I felt my heart beating rapidly against my chest, sweat beads forming on my forehead.

We could escape, we could escape, we could escape...

She looked back to the house. It was burning now, and the dragon soldiers were coming out of it, trying to find us. It didn't take long for them to notice us, crouched beside a tree. And then Mama looked back to me, tears streaming rapidly down her face.

"Mama! The forest!" I yelled out, looking back to her.

My mother was beautiful. She had fair, porcelain skin with the tiniest sprinkle of freckles on her nose. Her dark brown waves cascaded past her shoulders, perfectly framing her sharp cheekbones. Usually, her aqua-blue eyes would sparkle with a hint of a smile, but now all they portrayed was pure fear and shock and pain. Her shoulder was bleeding from the deep knife cut but she kept running, holding onto me tightly, as if she couldn't bear to let go.

"Go, mi estrella!" she cried, gently pushing me into the dark woods. Mi estrella. She had called me that for as long as I could remember. It means "my star". Papa called me that too, sometimes, but I'd always remembered Mama saying it. Sometimes when she tucked me in to sleep, she told me the story of the stars. She told me that there was a star out there, a star made especially for me. It twinkled for me, it shone for me. All I needed to do was look out of my window, to see it glistening in the distance. When I did, I always chose the smallest star I could see. I didn't know why, but I always felt closer to the ones further away than I did to ones right above me.

"¿No vienes, mamá?" I whispered, tears blurring my vision. Aren't you coming, Mama? I rarely spoke English in those days. I hardly even knew English, only a few words here and there. Mama may have been born in Mexico but she had lived in England all her life, only moving here after meeting Papa. She knew far more than me and Papa combined.

She gulped as she looked down to me, pain filling every part of her face.

"N- No... No puedo ir contigo, Kora," she crouched down, gently stroking a strand of hair away from my face, a look of agony streaked across her face. Her hand was so warm. It brought comfort, a sort of relief to me for a brief moment. Mama always told me that nothing can ever compare to a mother's touch, and in that moment I understood with every shaking bone in my body what she meant.

"M- Mama?"

"Go, Kora. Corre tan rápido como puedas, y no mires hacia atrás ni un segundo hasta que estés seguro." she muttered, and then in one swift moment she planted a kiss on my forehead before she got up, standing strong. Run as fast as you can, and don't look back for a second until you're safe, she'd told me.

"You're leaving?" I whispered, my cheeks tear-stained, my lips bleeding and my ears ringing from the impact of the bombs. I could still feel the dreaded burn of the fire against my calf, penetrating through my skin. It stung like hell, and yet despite of the pain, I kept my eyes glued to Mama.

"Please, Kora. Just run. Run to Ignatia." she said to me softly. At least, I think that's what she said. I couldn't be sure, with all the screams and gunshots and commotion around us. But there was no time to ask, because in less than a second, she was gone.

She ran. She ran away from me, in the opposite side of the forest.

Frozen in shock, I watched as the soldiers yelled at each other and chased after her. And then, the most heartbreaking, agonising sound ripped through the thick, country air.