Dragon's Bride

7. The Plan

Mark was pacing impatiently in his private study. His footsteps were muffled by the lavishly soft carpet. A solitary orb glowed in the center of the heavy desk that was strewn with parchments and quills. Rows of high wooden shelves laden with thick volumes of books and parchment rolls lined the opposite wall. Mark had a pensive expression on his face, his jaw was set in a straight line.

A slight knock on the door brought him out of his reverie, and he looked up to find Samuel Peterson's bowing respectfully.

"Your Majesty".

"Rise Peterson", he said as his eyes searched his face.

"The task has been accomplished your majesty", Samuel reported with a solemn expression.

"Great!" Mark made his way to sit on the ornately decorated chair behind his desk. He motioned Samuel to take a seat in front of him and added, "They should not find out that we have invited Prince Richmond here."

"Yes, your majesty. It will be handled carefully." Samuel replied.

"What about the other task?" Mark raised his eyebrow, a habit which indicated his involvement and interest in the topic.

"My men are secretly tailing Hunt and his family members. They all meet once a week in the old castle on the outskirts of Mount Teipi. I got a report that they are planning to invite elders from other powerful families of our realm by the end of this month", Samuel spoke in detail.

"By that time, Iris will be engaged to the Prince of Sky Fairies", Mark smiled thinking about the happy prospects for his sister.

"Yes, Your Majesty. This will strengthen your rein indefinitely. Moreover, the mountain nymphs will be baffled to discover the unification of Tree Nymphs and Sky Fairies." Samuel finished with a hint of triumph.

He lingered more for an hour discussing all the fine details of their mega plan with Mark. It was time to burst the bubble of Jacob Hunt once and for all.

Ethan was strolling in his room after breakfast when a knock revealed Sasha's chubby face.

"You! Are you well enough?" she asked him in a haughty tone.

Ethan had adjusted to her rude behavior to him long ago. She didn't like him, and she didn't take any pains to hide her dislike. He understood her rough attitude as he was a threat to her mistress in her eyes. In fact, he was glad she didn't have an inkling to the extent of this threat.

"Yes, Sasha. May I be of any assistance to you?" Ethan asked in a calm voice.

"Not to me. I would be dead before I take any of your sorry excuse of help, Dragon" Sasha scoffed in an angry tone and then added, "Come along now."

Ethan didn't flinch to the authority in her tone and followed her in the garden.

He was not wrong when he named this place "the enchanted garden", he mused as he noticed the array of plants and trees, he had never seen before. A bush close to his left had fiery red bells hanging from the branches. A couple of steps away, rows of huge trees with colorful trunks materialized. It was a sight to behold as their trunks had hues from red, orange to blue and green.

Sasha turned to her right near the shrubs of Snake flowers and Ethan walked onto an unsuspecting Iris who was crouched on her legs, studying a pile of stones intently.

"My lady", Sasha called out to her and Iris almost fell backward finding herself face to face with Ethan again.

A blush crept up to her cheeks and she stammered in her attempt to speak, "Uh... Sash...Eth.. What are you doing here?"

Ethan noticed the red color on her cheeks and his gaze fell on her slender neck. She was wearing her hair up for the first time in front of him. He liked the way some tendrils have escaped from her bun and were framing her alluring face in an unkempt rumpled way.

"My lady, I have brought him here to do the work", Sasha announced proudly.

"What? No Sasha. Ethan is our guest... and he is still recovering", Iris replied in an anxious tone with a concerned look on her face.

"I am well enough My lady", Ethan heard his own voice without being aware of his mouth forming and speaking these words.

A short while later, with grubby hands, he was arranging the bricks in a circle to complete the fountain, he had most gallantly offered to build. His forehead was covered with sweat and his hair was matted with dust, it was not an easy task to construct a statue of a marble dragon whose mouth emit water instead of fire. He almost chuckled to himself when he saw Iris's reaction. She was mortified for him to find out about the said fountain, but she didn't oppose taking his help for long.

Iris watched as Ethan layered the white marble slabs on top of one another. She ogled at his slim waist and toned biceps as he lifted the heavy stones easily. She felt dizzy with a surge of unfamiliar emotions admiring his muscular body glistening in daylight.

"Place it correctly."

"It's very expensive."

"My lady asked for the finest craftsman to create this masterpiece and that too in 48 hours..."

Desperate to stop Sasha from blurting out the details of her infatuation to the sole reason for her sudden interest in dragons, Iris tried to send Sasha on some errand.

"Please Sasha, my throat is parched", she said innocently.

"Oh, Silly me! Wait here My lady, I will bring you something in a jiffy", Sasha ran inside to complete her order.

Iris stepped closer to Ethan and said in an apologetic tone, "Forgive me, Ethan, Sasha had been unreasonable to you."

"It's not a problem my lady, I can at least do this much for you", he replied while tightening the mechanism that would start the fountain.

He was screwing the final piece to the marvelous fountain, a tap that was needed to be installed to release water from the mouth of the dragon. When suddenly a stream of cold water spurted out of the marble dragon towards Iris. In his haste to shield her body from the chilling stream, he grabbed her arm and pulled her towards him. Iris was not prepared for this sudden action and she slipped on the wet mud causing him to topple backward, taking her with him. 

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