Page 4 of Dragon Unleashed
“Ha! Your Highness, you’ll have to be faster on your feet!” Metal meets metal when my sword clashes with Leo’s. Sweat beading on my brow, it takes a good portion of my strength to remain on my feet.
Of course, I’ll never admit that. Despite the strain, I grin, happier than I’ve felt in months. “If I were any faster, my victory would be far too easy to obtain.” I whip my blade back then spin and kick his legs out from beneath him. In the blink of an eye, I’m back on my feet, the dull edge of my training blade pressed against his throat. “And don’t call me Your Highness, Your Highness.”
Leo’s cheeks are flushed as he closes his eyes and leans his head back against the soft dirt of our training ring. A ring I don’t visit nearly as often lately.
Reaching down, I offer him my hand, and he takes it. Once my brother is on his feet, he brushes off his riding pants and shakes his head. “You kick my ass every single time, and yet I never seem to learn from it.”
I chuckle. “The day I cease kicking your ass is the day I’m being buried next to our father.” The dark humor is my only way of coping these days. I should have had a few more years at least. Years to find my mate and make my own mark before being forced to take on an entire kingdom.
And yet, here I am. Trapped in the midst of a nightmare.
He clasps my shoulder. My only sibling, Leo is my height, though where I have filled out with muscle, he is far more slender. He claims he’s built for speed whereas I am the brawn.
His bright blue eyes light up as he grins at me. “Let us hope that day is far from today, big brother.”
“Yes, of course. Can’t have you forgoing your trip around the world to step up and take my place on the throne.”
Leo visibly shivers. “Being king is quite literally my worst nightmare.”
I don’t bother mentioning that, unlike Leo, it’s the one thing I’ve lived and breathed for all my life, only because he already knows it. Just as he knows how miserable I’ve been ever since our father died. We’ve both grieved for the man who was more than just a king.
But even before his body had been placed into the ground, the expectations and responsibilities of a future king fell squarely on my shoulders, and my lack of a mate went from subtle disappointment to political nightmare. Without my mate, I am trapped in this hell, unable to fully take the crown until I’ve found her yet too bogged down by the needs and wants of my constituents to actually go out and look.
Royal purgatory. That is precisely where I will remain until I am able to take my bride.
“You headed inside?” Leo asks, pulling me out of my brooding.
I shake my head and take a swig of my water. The leather is smooth beneath my fingertips as I offer it to my brother. “Going to take to the skies for a while. I need to check the southern borders.”
Leo returns my water and grins. “Hiding from Mother?”
“She will not rest until she has found my mate,” I tell him with a groan. “And I'm truly beginning to believe it’s an impossible venture. She’s paraded nearly every eligible maiden in front of me. Weeks of entertaining women I feel absolutely nothing for.”
“Your fate is truly horrible,” Leo replies, feigning misery by pressing a hand to his heart. “A parade of beautiful women. Sounds positively dreadful.”
I glare at my brother. “You go ahead and laugh it up, brother. As soon as she finds my mate, you’ll be next.”
Leo pales slightly. “Parades of women, I can handle. Our own mother doing the choosing, not so much.”
“Aries!”
I stiffen.So much for taking to the skies.Turning, I face my mother, the queen, as she comes to a stop beside the edge of the ring. Her dark hair has been braided to the side, the emerald gown she’s wearing pristine. The woman never looks disheveled.
Truly, as far back as I can remember, Dorthea Nemos has never had a hair out of place.
As she’s told us on many occasions, the Queen of Astronia is expected to be the picture of grace and control. Two qualities she has assured me my future wife will possess. Which is yet another reason finding my mate seems so far-fetched.
I love my mother, but the idea of marrying someone like her is honestly even less appealing than being drenched in troll blood and dropped into a sulfur pit.
Still, it’s not seeing her show up here that has me truly annoyed. It’s the woman walking beside her. Dressed in a gown the color of spring tulips, her red hair is piled high upon her head and adorned with tiny white flowers. Her face has been painted to the point of pageantry despite the fact that we’re hardly at a formal event.
She smiles widely at us, her eyes bright—and assessing. It’s that assessment in her gaze that sparks my annoyance. I’ve seen it a hundred times before. Like she’s trying to decide whether her name or mine should go first on the wedding invitation.
“Morning, mother.” Leo steps forward first and kisses her noisily on the cheek.
“You missed your appointment.” My mother’s tone is scalding, her gaze firmly on me. I know exactly what appointment she means, too. A blind date with the woman before me. It had sounded, honestly, worse than the war brewing should I fail to take a mate. So, I came here instead. Though, based on the woman’s obvious interest in my brother, she doesn’t seem to mind my offense.
“I’m sure Aries had a good reason,” the woman coos as she reaches out and brushes dirt off of my brother’s arm. “Combat training is such an important part of being king.”
