CHAPTER 9

I wondered briefly if they were colored on, tattooed or natural. I stored that question back for later as the king stepped even closer, invading my space, and moving all thoughts aside save for him. He had an aura of strength, dominance, power, and danger like a snake ready to strike at the first sign of a threat.

Just standing under his gaze made my body warm and flush. His nostrils flared as if he was sniffing the air around him. His yellow eyes heated until they changed to a molten gold as his greenish golden skin flushed slightly. His thin, masculine lips turned up into a dark predatorial grin as his eyes looked me up and down.

“So, this is the intruder you were concerned with?” King Tohrah hissed out in English, much to my surprise.

“Yes, my King,” Erik answered, still kneeling.

“A pretty little intruder,” the King commented, reaching out and touching my face softly.

I was shocked at how my body rose to his touch, eager for more. I tried to jerk away, confused by the eager reaction. But his other hand came up and held me in place. I stayed still under his perusal, understanding his natural curiosity. That was until he reached down and grasped the hem of my shirt and tried to jerk it upwards.

“Stop that!” I snapped, slapping at his hand.

The room gasped in horror. I recoiled, realizing the error of my actions. What the hell was I thinking? My life was literally in this man’s hands, and I was hitting him. That would have been a death sentence in the eyes of any monarch. The King shocked everyone in this room when he threw his head back and laughed.

“Ohh… she has the fyre in her!” King Tohrah exclaimed in approval touching my bright red hair.

“Are you making fun of my hair?” I asked, indignantly unable to help myself.

“No, little fyre. I was paying you a compliment. Most Draygons do not have half the soul of fyre that you do. We may breathe fire. But you embody it. Fyre is what you are! It is beautiful to see the outside as a warning for the inside. Be warned, you may be burned,” the king replied with a wolfish grin.

King Tohrah walked back towards Erik. “Rise.”

Erik rose gracefully and stood proud before his King.

“She certainly seems like your sister. What say you, Champion?” King Tohrah asked.

Erik turned to me; his eyes thoughtful for a moment as he regarded me. There was nothing more I could say that would change their minds if they didn’t believe me anyway. So, I kept my head high and my mouth silent.

“Yes, my King. She is, in fact, my sister,” he said slowly.

“You don’t wish for me to ask the Sorcerer?” the king asked, waving his hand towards the one table that stood apart and had one lone cloaked figure at it.

The man barely moved and kept himself cloaked. He would have been easily ignored, dismissed, or even missed completely. My gut clenched in worry at the thought of that man coming near me. I looked to Erik, trying to plead with him to just accept it.

“No,” Erik replied answering my silent plea. “She is my sister, I’m certain of it.”

The King smiled his predatorial smile once more. “Good. It is settled then. She is the sister of the Champion.”

King Tohrah’s golden eyes burned as they moved up and down my body, and once more, my body heat rose in response. I suddenly felt exposed despite my clothes being the most modest ones in the room. Without warning, he stalked towards me purposefully and grabbed my hand, jerking me into his arms. I struggled against his chest, trying to free myself. However, he was too strong to break free from. His mouth descended on mine, capturing it with a power that snuck in and overwhelmed my senses. Though his kiss seemed hard and demanding when his tongue pressed up against my lips, it was soft and gently seeking more entrance.

My passion, which seemed to have jolted under his gaze, bloomed under his lips. Despite my protests, a soft moan dropped from my mouth, and my body stopped fighting him. Even with my mind screaming at me to stop him. But I couldn’t do anything to fight him or the desire that was spreading through my body.

Once I went limp in his arms, he pulled his mouth away and pressed a kiss to my forehead. He stepped away and addressed the room with a series of hisses and a roar. They returned the roar with a fervor that caused the walls in the room to shake.

Still, in a daze, I turned to Erik. “What’s going on?”

Before he could respond, the King pulled me to his side once more and locked an arm around my shoulder so I couldn’t get away.

“The Draygons are greeting their new queen,” he told me with pride.

Stunned and with no small amount of confusion. I allowed the king to steer me towards the chairs at the front of the room as the people renewed their celebrations with wild fervor.

I looked at the seat he was urging me towards and then back at him. “Excuse me?”

Surely, he wasn’t insisting I sit on it? I saw what happened to the last woman, and I was not about to be dragged off by the guards...again.

“I don’t understand,” I stated, my blank mind refusing to process any other words.

“Sit,” the King insisted.

“Where?”

“There.”

“But that’s the Queen's chair. Only the Queen can sit in it,” I replied stupidly.

“Exactly,” King Tohrah stated simply as if that answered every confusing question that was rolling around in my head.

“But…”

“Mara,” my brother hissed behind me.

“What?” I responded, turning to him for further explanation.

His eyes were burning with anger. A look I hadn’t seen since I had taken his Walkman apart to get the wiring out for my radio to contact the aliens. He had been so pissed he hadn’t spoken to me for a week. I had proceeded to try and put his Walkman back together. But though it did play, all the music had sounded like something straight out of Alvin and The Chipmunks.

Erik had laughed so hard. He had instantly forgiven me and had continued to listen to that Walkman for another three months before my parents took pity on him and paid for another one.

In my borderline delirious state, I began giggling until I caught the look on Erik s face.

“I’m sorry. I just don’t understand what’s going on,” I explained to Erik.

However, it was the king that answered me. “It’s quite simple, little intruder.”

I turned to the King and was immediately trapped by his molten gold eyes once more.

“I am taking you as my Queen.”