Page 4 of Brutal Dragon King (Nayara Dragon Kings #1)

Frustrated with myself, I curl my hands into fists on the armrests of my throne, the weight of my crown feeling awfully heavy. So much so, that I annoyedly pulled it off and flung it onto the pedestal beside me, an exasperated sigh falling from my lips.

“What’s taking them so long?” I mull under my breath, too impatient to sit idly by on the throne that suddenly feels like it’s closing in on me.

I have to get up as if my life depended on it, the need for fresh air too strong to keep me confined to the throne room. Sliding the door leading to the balcony, it stops with a loud thud that rings like thunder to announce my arrival on the balcony. Once out, I lug in a deep breath of cool, cloudy air that does little to quell my fiery frustrations.

Bracing my human hands on the rail, my knuckles pale with how tight my grip is, the rush of blood through the veins in my arms feeling only mildly satisfying. It’s a good thing my senses are heightened as a dragon shifter. It’s bad that my fingers haven’t entirely forgotten what it felt like to have a human under them.

I haven’t been able to shake off the thought of the girl—the clumsy human one from the mortal village who crashed into me yesterday. Growing impatient by the second as I wait for the royal guard’s return to the palace, I feel almost desperate to complete the mating ritual with whichever human has been chosen in the reaping lottery to completely forget about that particular human.

I’m not usually fazed by humans. I couldn’t care to give them a second thought. Until now, when I officially walked the planet for three hundred years and duty forces me into producing an heir for the Kingdom of The Spine.

Humans are just measly peasants, after all. The only real use for them is carrying dragon cubs, and once that’s over and done with, they’re disposable.

I need this to be over and done with.

The sky amplifies my impatience when a golden thread of lightning signals the stirrings of the clouds. Pressing a finger to my temple only to soothe the throbbing of my head, I send out a mind link message to the royal secretary in charge of the reaping draw in the village.

“ Aerwyna. Come in for your king.”

“Yes, Your Majesty?” comes her immediate reply, loud and clear even though she’s beyond the wall in the horizon that separates the mortal world from the palace grounds.

“ Is the reaping done?”

“Yes, Your Majesty,” she repeats in response to my question. “ Your child-bearer has been chosen.”

“Good,” I clear my throat physically. “ Do not dispose of her if she resists. Bring her to the palace no matter what.”

“Yes, King Haid?n. Understood,” Aerwyna concedes, and I’m left satisfied.

It’s been a longstanding tradition to dispose of any unwilling creatures of the mortal world if they object to the king’s decisions. Every time a child-bearer is picked as a child-bearer for one of my men, the rules remain the same.

Kill the human if she resists.

I am the king, and I can change the rules.

Truthfully, I just want this to be over, and killing the chosen one will mean that the reaping will be dragged out for another day. I don’t have another day to waste on this spectacle.

My agitation keeps me grounded on the balcony, unmoving as I glower at the sky that seems to mimic how I feel when a gray cloud bursts open and sends its wrath over the kingdom. The invisible gates of the protective dome that covers the kingdom parts, a dragon shifter’s bleating roar signals the arrival of the royal guard.

Aerwyna is the first dragon to fly forward, landing just in front of the palace entrance. I expect her to come to give me the routine update on the happenings of tonight’s events, and I’m about to turn back to the throne room when a squeaky cry rings out from below.

Frowning, I look down to see the royal guard marching in an organized formation just as they’ve been trained. But the squealing I heard was not a dragon’s. The source is the human, who’s dragged by two of my loyal dragon guards into the courtyard. Thanks to my heightened sense of hearing, it’s almost as if I feel the ground vibrate with her squeals, and I’m all the way on the peak of the palace.

It’s easy to distinguish the other guards’ landing from the sky, and I watch as they shift into their human, sword-wielding forms in a crescent circle around the human, blocking the path that leads to the wall.

She spins in a flash of dismal brown, sending droplets of rain skittering all around her before bolting forward as if she’s running to the palace entrance. My frown deepens, my curiosity piqued as Ryu, the head of the guard, takes two strides forward on long legs and grabs the human by the back of her neck.

“Ow! Let go of me!” she wails, her voice uncharacteristically booming for a human as her arms flail around. She tries fighting Ryu, but he grabs her firmly and pulls her over his shoulder like a bag of potatoes from the market.

She’s a fighter, kicking her arms and pounding fists on Ryu’s back as he secures her with both hands on her waist and marches back to the entourage.

Another loud, roaring scream rings out, and that’s all it takes for curiosity to turn into irritation. Aggravated by her screams, I’m ready to go down there and slay her myself.

Unfortunately for her, I will not accept this kind of behavior. With each of her escalating cries and protests, my blood simmers.

I need to stop this, even if it means having to go through another round of the draw.

“Your Majesty…” comes Aerwyna’s voice from behind, but without passing her a glance, I lift my hand in the air to stop her.

“That’s the child-bearer?” I nod toward the courtyard.

“Yes, Your Majesty. She’s—”

Wasting no time, I mount the rail and throw myself off the balcony in human form. The clouds thunder and light up as if to announce my great shift into dragon form midair, and I flap my wings once for leverage. It makes the glide down to the courtyard effortless, and I land on webbed feet that cushion the impact for me, but shake the ground strongly so that my men turn to me.

They bow their masked heads in unison, and I send Ryu a mind link to order him to put the human down. The quaking of the ground must have shocked her, because she’s quiet now, unmoving as Ryu sets her on her feet.

To affirm my authority, I clap my wings in front of her, watching as her hair tie is shot out of her bun, and long, wavy hair cascades down her back. The rain drenches her hair, soaking her brown robe and melding it to her body.

My dragon is instantly taken by the shape of her from behind, and it retreats almost as if it’s shying away. In human form now, I frown, irritated by the human’s scent that appears more potent now that it’s mixed with the freshness of the light rain.

“Turn,” I command, and when the human remains unmoving, Ryu grips her shoulders and spins her around as if the command was for him. Satisfied, I keep my chin lifted authoritatively as I cross my arms. Her wet hair clings to her face, and she lifts her eyes to mine through the thick, long lashes dripping from the rainfall.

Shocked, I unfold my arms, then cross them again when I remember that I’m standing before my soldiers. The split second of weakness isn’t noticed, but I’m still left stunned and speechless, glaring at the human in disbelief.

It cannot be…

I do not doubt she is the same human woman who bumped into me in the village yesterday. The same woman, who, to my internal chagrin, hadn’t left my mind since our brief encounter.

Since I'd been in disguise, she hadn’t seen me before, but her eyes appear momentarily bewildered.

What kind of sick, twisted fate is this? How is this possible?

Her doe eyes innocently stare at me, dumbfounded, as her bottom lip trembles. That’s when I notice how plump and ripe those lips are, pigmented in the softest shade of pink, highlighted by the moisture of the rainfall that soaks her face.

It’s as if my dragon internally licks its lips, purring like it’s found its next meal.

The momentary daze has me ogling her through the gentle rainfall, catching the glint of green specks in her hazel eyes. Her round, creamy face is almost hypnotizing, and I find myself fixated on her beauty.

A beauty I could not care about when it’s on a human. I never thought humans were beautiful and should never be considered that way. They’re just measly peasants, unworthy of such appreciation and admiration as I suddenly feel.

Why had this particular human left a lasting impression on me? Our brief encounter didn’t last long enough to justify what I felt. Or what I’m feeling right now, my dragon and I feeling drawn to her rather drawn to the unexpected beauty I see in her round eyes. There’s something there that I can’t put a finger on, and I don’t like it.

I despise it and mentally chastise myself for feeling taken by the human. Clearing my throat, I suspect that she has no idea who I am. After all, I’ve never graced the village people with my face, since they’ve never been worthy of beholding my power.

“I am your king,” I announce, pride swelling my chest when my men take heed and lower their heads.

But the human doesn’t bow. Instead, her eyes narrow, and she lifts her chin slightly with an air of defiance.

“You…” she grates, her plump jaw clenching. The umbrage of her tone snaps me out of my daze entirely, and I’m left to face an insolent human who reminds me of just how seemingly unfit she appears.

She’s stout and short, her comical appearance in that brown attire looking nothing short of peasantry.

She’s just a human, and I am the dragon king of The Spine, ruling over the part of the village that she belongs to, which is nothing more than a labor camp.

I unfold my arms, but not from astonishment this time. Her piercing glare is shocking, and I will not stand for it. Clenching my fists, my anger roars as a chesty growl as I take a dominant step forward.

“I am your king,” I repeat, my voice dark and menacing with threat as I growl. “Bow before me.”

The peasant does the unthinkable when she keeps her head firmly in the air, her eyes narrowing into thin slits almost reminiscent of the reptilian eyes I see through in dragon form.

“Bow before you?” She dares to scoff.

“I am your king !” I bellow, anger fueling the fiery breath that creates a cloud of fog in front of my face when it mingles with the soft rainfall. When the mist clears, the human woman glowers at me, challenging me with her silence.

Ryu lifts his visor, staring at me in shock. He knows that I would never let anyone speak to me with such disrespect, and I haven’t even placed my hand on the sword sheathed on my left hip.

The thought hasn’t even crossed my mind. When it does, and I ponder it for a moment, I realize that my inner dragon won’t allow me to kill her. She deserves that penalty for her reluctance to bow before her king. But I can’t bring myself to entertain the idea of her decapitated head rolling down the hill. I won’t find such satisfaction in the scene.

“You keep saying that,” she dares to spit with vicious venom laced on her tongue, her eyes glowering with contempt. “Do you really need me to bow?” She quirks up a brow. “Do you need the validation? Are you not sure of your power, hmm?”

Her little hum at the end is what sends me over the rails.

How can she speak to me this way?

Does she not know that her life is in my hands, now more than ever?

My insides are boiling now, burning under the first layer of skin. Shallow breaths come like hot pants as I take another step forward, towering over her and casting her in the darkness of my shadow.

The cool, wet air is dense with the heat of my breath, swirling clouds of smoke blowing from my nostrils when they flare. Ryu is on standby when his hand goes to his sword, but I put my hand up to stop him from proceeding.

Not only is the human’s blatant refusal to show me respect enraging, but somehow, it’s also intriguing. If it was any other human, she’d be dead by now.

But I decided that I was going to have fun showing her exactly who I was.

The commotion outside with the rebellious human draws attention from the inside of the palace, and I hear the doors parting behind me.

The familiar clink of heels on the tiles signals Aerwyna’s arrival outside. I recognize the distinct way she walks because I know her well.

She’s been my royal secretary, handling administrative affairs ever since I was old enough to fill the throne. With a blazing glare set on the human, I growl again and grate, “You think I'm unsure of my power?” I scoff. “I’m about to show you just how powerful I am.”

The declaration is met with a frown from her. Glancing at Aerwyna, I address my royal secretary, who, unlike the human, doesn’t hesitate to bow.

“Show the child-bearer to the guest room in my quarters,” I commanded. The decision is impulsive, since the humans that come to The Spine as child-bearers are thrown into the slave quarters underground. “Only if she tries to escape, bring her to me.”

Even Aerwyna gasps. “Your Majesty, the slaves’ quarters are already prepared for your child-bearer’s arrival.”

I turn slowly, deliberately, directing my glare on Aerwyna in a way that declares my authority. From my periphery, I can see that the human remains frowning.

Even she knows that no human stays in the palace.

“Do you dare to question your king?!” I roar at the secretary, who flinches when my words strike her as if they were a hand across her face. I unsheath my sword and flash it through the air, the sharp edge just a dangerous inch from Aerwyna’s neck.

“N-no, Your Majesty,” Aerwyna whimpers, shaking her head while it’s bowed. “Forgive me. Please.”

I let the density simmer a little more, watching Aerwyna’s entire frame shake with fear. I wouldn’t really kill her, but I’m sending a strong message to the human not to challenge me.

“Take your orders and get out of my sight,” I roar, removing the sword from Aerwyna’s neck and hitting the point to the ground with a loud clink. Turning my face toward the palace and showing the human my back, I scoff in dismissal. “She will remain in the guest bedroom until I say otherwise.”

I glance over my shoulder and square my eyes with a menacing threat at the human. By now, her bottom lip trembles with the fear I wanted to instill in her. “You will not leave the bedroom.”

The council of guards files forward, marching toward the palace with Aerwyna leading them to where she’ll show the human to my sleeping quarters. When the human glances over her shoulder, I see the look of fear in her eyes, her bottom lip trembling as her body shakes in Ryu’s firm grip.

I make sure to meet her eyes, mine blazing with the rage that she would dare to challenge me. I don’t know why my impulsive decision to keep her in the palace, under my watchful eye, feels right.

Perhaps this is how I’ll make her life a misery. Personally. While she’s asleep right beside me.

When the entourage entered the palace, I let out the breath I’d been holding only in the human’s absence. The rain stops, and there’s a sense of fresh air I’m able to breathe.

She’s going to be difficult, but I’m going to prove that I am true to what I’m known for in the land as the tyrant dragon king. I always get my way.

Even if I’m not sure what I want right now, or why my dragon wants the girl.

Blowing out a frustrated breath, I return my sword to its holster, then flash into dragon form to fly back to the throne room. I can’t be wasting precious time on a mere peasant, my slave.

That’s what she’ll be, I decide when I land on the balcony. A slave, who will be treated like she doesn’t even exist. Besides, I have to take care of my royal duties as the king. We plan on overthrowing Hestios and conquering Khyronia.

I will not let a slave distract me from more important things.