The Dragomir Heir (Watty Award)

The Dragomir's Grave

When Vera whispered, “the bastards are here”, Valentina did not have to ask who these ‘bastards’ were. She instructed Vera to pretend not to recognize them and allow them to let their guard down before Valentina could question them. Indeed, it was a good time to practise controlling her emotions and exhibiting those that she wanted. Over the years as an assassin, she has learnt that letting your target see your true emotion could be dangerous. When Lucius danced close to her, she held back the repulse but allow the admiration for his physique to be displayed. He kept fit somehow and she need to find out sooner or else.

When Vera ordered the four horsemen shots, Valentina smiled and winked at her friend for her smart thinking. She watched as her fiancée drowned down one shot after another, loosening his guard one clench of his sword at a time. Between shots, he whispered lovely sentiments, which Valentina thought sounded genuine but realised he had years in this game to practise. When he alluded to a couple’s private rendezvous, she smiled genuinely because he was falling into her trap; they always do. Attaching himself to her side, she gently eased out her sharp knife and stake. When Vera closed the door, she tripped Dante and Valentina pushed Lucius up against the concrete wall with knife against his neck and her stake over his heart.

 “Why are you following us? I have signed the decree and the amendment and I am officially engaged to you. Why aren’t you off bedding Anna or Katarina?” Valentina shouted as she shoved him hard.

“Do you even have a clue where you are?” seethed Lucius. “One of the most exclusive and seediest clubs and you think I’ll just let you go in unescorted?”

“I say we kill him and his cousin”, suggested Vera happily, “problem solved”.

“No, we will lock them in and return to the car quickly”, commanded Valentina in Danish. “Don’t worry he doesn’t understand or speak Danish. We will drive back to the palace fast and after that, I have to go and visit someone. You will stay in the palace. Do you understand?”

“But Valentina… let me go with-”

“NO”

At Valentina’s signal, they shoved Lucius and Dante together and locked the door. Pushing intoxicated clubbers aside, they made it to their car and drove home undisturbed. Stealing roses from a nearby vase and securing a bottle of blood and oil in her bag, Valentina put on her cloak, gloves and boots before saddling Titan. They were going to see someone and question them. She hoped that she will get an answer.

She entered the Dragomir’s Royal Burial House, which held the remains of all her ancestors. As she entered, she was greeted by a marble statue of a dragon sitting on his throne wearing a crown and holding a sword and a stake. He was her ancestor and the first Dragomir, King Maximus and apparently, he still lives. She poured oil into a slot and added fire. The house lit up brightly and added warmth to its surroundings. She walked to her father and mother’s marble tomb. The tombs had the statues of her parents lying in deep slumber while holding their actually stake. Her mother’s wooden one was slowly deteriorating but her father’s platinum one with a crown head remained shiny and bright.

She placed roses in their vase and poured wine in a cup for both of them. Once she made sure that she followed every protocol when visiting the dead, she knelt humbly before her parents and desperately said, “Father, Mother, I kneel before you in my time of despair to ask for your wisdom and guidance. Please I beg that you give them to me and help me do what I must do; that is solely to become queen”. Crying now and leaning her head against her father’s tomb, “Father why did you do it? Why did you sign me off to the Vladonovs like that?”

“Because he loved you”

Lucius watched as his fiancée, for the first time, cry and beg. He knew that he shouldn’t be witnessing this, but he couldn’t leave without her knowing the answer. He should be angry that she locked him in the back room of a club with his cousin, now spotted with a black eye. When someone finally opened it, Lucius wished the door was locked again than have the security guard look from Dante, all ruffled up, to him, shirt unbuttoned, in a disgusted look. It didn’t help when Dante unwittingly said, “It’s not what you think” to which the guard replied, “Definitely what I expected”. They drove stoically back to the castle but Lucius felt Valentina’s presence in the Carpathian. Pissed off at his fiancée and worried that she might attempt something unkind, he followed her scent to the Dragomir Burial House, which was next to his own.

Once the answer came out, Valentina screamed and let out an unsuspecting knife aimed at his heart. Luckily, he held up a hand to block it. Unfortunately, the knife went through his right hand. With his own blood now seeping out, he held up the wounded hand at Valentina and demanded, “Really Valentina? First you lock me in a room and threatened to kill me and now this? Tonight is interesting, don’t you think?” Now looking at her tear stained face, he softened and forgetting the pain, which was nothing, said, “I’m sorry for the distress that I have caused you”. Taking the chance before she realised it, Lucius hugged his fiancée with his good hand. She resisted at first but calmed down once she realised that there was no danger to the hug.

“Come, let’s get the knife out and I have a medical kit with me”, she finally said. They left the cemetery and arrived at a river just before the dark woods. Wolves in the distance howled but neither Valentina nor Titan were disturbed. Sitting on the rocky grounds as instructed by his fiancée, Lucius watched as she wet a cloth and obtain her medical kit. Kneeling beside him, she looked at him in the eye and asked humorously, “So how did you manage to break out of the room? Using Dante’s head…literally?”

“No”, replied Lucius. “Have you forgotten that the door was made out of metal? A guard opened it and he thought me and Dante were…”

Valentina laughed wholeheartedly, which caused Lucius to laugh as well. “Why didn’t you pick at the lock?”

“Why …that’s such a great idea. Breaking a crate and sharpening a piece of wood into a durable prick would’ve been so much faster”, Lucius said sarcastically.

“Well, the knife is out”, said Valentina as she dangled the knife in front of him. He realised that her casual talk was aimed to distract him from the pain.

“I’ve suffered worst pain than that, I’ll have you know”, he emphasized of which Valentina looked up from his wound with a suspecting look; one with many questions but she chose to not voice them.

“Me too”, she replied.

“Is that why you carry a medical kit around?”

“Well, why not? You’ll never know when you will get injured or when you decide to stab your fiancée”, She said with a smirk. “God, you have giant hands. These bandage wraps will not be enough to compress the blood”.  Pulling out a hair ribbon from her cloak, she tied it tightly around his injured hand. “Where is your horse by the way?”

“Dante drove and I ran all the way…I thought you might do something…unpleasant”, Lucius admitted and Valentina frowned at him.

“I’m not that stupid to attempt suicide … what will happen to my kingdom?” she reasoned. “Come we will ride back to my palace, get you proper bandages and I’ll get a driver to drive you back to the hole that you came from”. She calmed Titan down before having a stern word with him about not kicking Lucius off his back. Once they were riding towards the palace, with Valentina steering and Lucius behind her, he reflected. So far, courting was not happening the way he wished it to be and then suddenly realised that he should try another approach.

“My love, I know you have a certain displeasure against me and it might not be helpful for the both of us in our engagement”, stated Lucius. “Might I ask that we become friends? I will not push you into …um…bedding when you are not ready. I’m not sure about you turning…it might prove to be difficult when you become queen but it is up to you when you want to be turned and I’ll acquiesce”. Lucius watched his fiancée ponder deeply about his proposal and finally she agreed. Once they reached the palace, she quickly took Lucius to the infirmary and had his bandaged replaced. Lucius kept her ribbon and shoved it quickly in his pocket before she noticed its absence.

Once he was bandaged, Valentina gave him a goblet of blood to replenish from his wound. “Don’t you have a flask to carry blood around?” she asked and then frowned when he stated that he always had blood at the ready. To his misfortune, she then lectured him on the importance of self-reliance and something or rather about being prepared.

“I like how you nurse your fiancée back to health after being pricked by a knife”, he joked.