Mated To My Ruin: A Dragon's Debt

~The Fae Kingdom

Nyx stood in the prince’s private chambers and wondered why he had summoned her here. For weeks now he had been showing her small attentions that made her heart flutter in ways she didn’t quite understand.

It started the day he saw her in the castle kitchens scrubbing pots with her sleeves rolled up to her elbows. Since then he had sent her gifts from fruits to sweet breads that melted on her tongue. Small things that meant everything to a girl from the slums.

The other kitchen workers whispered that she must be doing him sexual favors to earn such treatment. The rumors had spread through the lower quarters like wildfire. Nyx didn’t care what they said.

In all her nineteen years of living no man had ever looked at her twice and now a prince was sending her gifts. A prince! Let them whisper all they wanted.

He crossed the room to where she stood and touched her face. His fingers were warm against her cheek and she forgot how to breathe.

Prince Theron was the most beautiful man she had ever seen. Tall and lean with golden hair that caught the afternoon light streaming through the windows. His eyes were the clearest blue she had ever witnessed.

When he smiled at her she felt like the sun had turned its full attention on her alone. Her knees went weak. This couldn’t be real because men who looked like him didn’t look at girls like her. Girls with dirt under their fingernails and patches in their dresses. Girls who smelled like soap and kitchen grease no matter how hard they scrubbed.

But he was looking at her now like she mattered.

“Nyx,” he said and her name sounded like music in his voice. “I need your help with something important.”

She would have done anything he asked in that moment. Anything at all.

“There is a cure for your sister’s illness.” His thumb brushed across her cheekbone and her heart hammered so hard she thought it might break through her ribs. “In the vampire kingdom. Dragon’s blood.”

Nyx blinked as her mind stuttered over the words. “Dragon’s blood? But that’s just a story. A legend.”

The dragon was something mothers told their children about to make them behave. A myth from the old days before the kingdoms were divided and before the great wars. It wasn’t real. It couldn’t be real.

Theron smiled at her like she was something precious and naive.

“It’s real. The dragon exists and it lives in the vampire king’s territory. Guarded and hidden but very much alive.” He tucked a strand of her dark hair behind her ear. “I need you to bring me its blood. Enough for two vials. One for your sister and one for my mother, the queen. She suffers from the same wasting sickness.”

Nyx’s breath caught. The queen was sick too? She had heard rumors but nothing confirmed. If the prince was telling her this then it must be serious.

“When you return,” Theron continued and his voice dropped lower, “I will make you my princess. I will marry you.”

The world tilted sideways. He wanted to marry her? Make her his wife? She would be Princess Nymeria? No. Queen Nymeria one day when he took the throne.

Her mother had always called her princess when she was small. Before the sickness took her too. Before everything fell apart, before Nyx and her sister were left alone in the slums with nothing but each other. Maybe her mother had seen this future somehow. Maybe she had known.

Then reality crashed back in. “But the vampire kingdom. That’s dangerous. Vampires and faes are enemies. Everyone in the Lore knows that. If they catch me -”

“They won’t catch you.” Theron’s smile widened. “That’s why it has to be you. You’re one of the fastest runners in the entire kingdom. Small enough that you won’t be noticed. You can slip in and out before they even know you were there. You can outrun them.”

Nyx wanted to believe him but doubt crept in like cold water. “Vampires can teleport. I haven’t reached my full speed yet. I won’t be a true fae until I turn twenty and that’s still months away -”

“You’re fast enough.” He cupped her face with both hands now and looked directly into her eyes. “I wouldn’t ask this of you if I didn’t believe in you completely. You can do this Nyx. I know you can.”

She wanted to believe him. She Wanted it so badly it hurt.

And really what choice did she have? Her sister was dying. Every day she grew weaker. Every day the light faded a little more from her eyes. The healers in the slums had tried everything they could afford and nothing worked.

This wasting sickness had no cure. Not in the fae kingdom anyway. But if there was even a chance that dragon’s blood could save her then Nyx would crawl through fire to get it. She would walk into the vampire kingdom itself if that’s what it took.

She would do anything for her sister. Her sister was the only family she had left. The only person in the world who loved her amd needed her. If she died Nyx would have nothing. Just another orphan rotting in the slums waiting to die of the same sickness or starvation or violence. Her sister was her entire world and she would burn down kingdoms to keep her alive.

“I’ll do it,” she said. Her voice came out stronger than she felt. “I’ll bring you the dragon’s blood.”

Theron’s smile could have lit the whole kingdom. He pulled two crystal vials from his pocket and pressed them into her palm. Then he unrolled a map across the table. It showed the borders between their kingdoms and a route marked in red ink that led deep into vampire territory. To a mountain with a symbol marked at its base.

“The dragon is here,” he said pointing. “In a cave system beneath the mountain. Follow this path exactly. Don’t deviate. And don’t let anyone see you.”

She studied the map and committed it to memory. The route and landmarks then finaly mountain.

Theron kissed her forehead and the touch sent warmth flooding through her entire body.

“Make me proud.” he murmured against her skin. “Prove that you’re fit to be my queen.”

Queen! She would be queen. She would save her sister and marry the prince and rule the fae kingdom at his side. She would finally be someone who mattered and be One of the Elite.

Never again would she scrub floors or dodge cruel hands in the kitchen or go to bed hungry. Never again would anyone look through her like she was invisible.

She crossed to the balcony and looked out over the kingdom. Her kingdom soon. The sun was setting and the sky burned gold and pink. From here she could see the castle grounds spreading out below and beyond that the city and far in the distance the slums where her sister lay dying.

Soon she would bring her here and give her the life she deserved. The life their mother had wanted for them. Her heart soared with possibility.

Behind her Theron watched her go with a smile on his perfect face. A smile that was cold and cruel and satisfied.

But Nyx didn’t see it, she was already running.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​