Gods and Dark Creatures (Book 3)

CH. 5: Dragomira

The day seemed to refuse to die. The sun shone brightly high in the sky. The land was bathed in its golden glow. The flowers bloomed beautifully. The wind swayed the leaves in the green crowns of the trees. The birds sang merrily as if she was not suffering. As if none of what happened the last few days did not happen at all. She wanted to silence them all. Slit their throats. It sounded like a mockery to her.

"Are you enjoying the sunshine?" her father came to make sure she was okay.

Alexei did not waste time and spent it on training soldiers.

Dragomira shut the curtains so that father would not have to hide in the shadows.

"I'm still getting used to it," she said.

"You always missed daylight. You always liked to risk getting burned so you could see the sun winding across the landscape one more time." her father reminded her.

"Maybe it was just that I felt like a prisoner of the night," replied Dragomira. "The stars are suddenly more beautiful when I choose them of my own free will."

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The twilight she had been waiting for so long had finally arrived. The sun set behind the distant horizon line. The first stars rose in the blackening sky. The landscape hid itself in a veil sewn from the gloom of night.

"Ready to go?" Dragomira eagerly walked over to her father and brother.

"We should go by carriage. The road is long and this way we will be able to travel even during the day." said her father.

"I will stay in the palace," Alexei told them.

"Why?" Dragomira did not understand.

"It's a long way. Two days back and forth without stopping," he said. "Someone has to watch over it here so that no one discovers your lie."

"I'm sure Toska will be in good hands." Dragomira hugged her brother.

"Above all, return home and don't get cursed," Alexei told her. "If we can't save the king, then you are the only hope for this kingdom."

Dragomira had a hard time accepting those words. She couldn't imagine ruling without Cassius. He was always in charge. She only advised him during the short time they were together. She felt helpless without him.

"I'll try," said Dragomira.

"You should dress in something more discreet," her father said. "You seem too much like a queen. Everyone would recognize you."

Dragomira acknowledged his remark. Cassius made sure she always looked presentable and she liked it. But now she needed to be inconspicuous. She put on regular pants and a T-shirt. She slung her cloak over her shoulders and hid the hair, that might reveal her, under hood.

No one even noticed that she had left the palace. They went in their father's carriage to be more inconspicuous. All the while Dragomira was looking out the window at the landscape immersed in the veil of night. It pitched them on rough roads. The streets of Kilig were full of life. During the day and at night. People walked the streets. They celebrated life.

They left the capital of Toska behind. It got lost in the darkness of the distance. They raced through open country. There was dead silence, broken only by the chirping of crickets and the stomping of horse hooves hitting the ground.

"Calm down, Dragomira. We still have a long way to go," her father said as she kept tapping her foot. She was fiddling with the ring in her hand. In her fingers, she was turning the pearl hanging around her neck, which her mother had once given her.

"I won't rest until Cassius is home," Dragomira said with sadness deep in her eyes. She didn't want to collect black pearls as a memento of everyone she ever cared about and lost.

"You started to care about him," her father remarked.

"Just like about you and Alexei," she replied.

"What happened between you two when you went back to where you grew up?" her father wondered. "As far as I know, you were convinced you would never come back."

"I think it's happened before," said Dragomira. "When he saved my life. I fell in love with him little by little, until finally I completely fell for him."

"You should be careful with love. He can break your heart." her father said.

"Did my mother do that?" Dragomira wondered. "Did she break your heart?"

"Yes," her father admitted. "I loved your mother. However, from the first moment you were born, I loved you more, Dragomira. And years later I managed to get you back."

"You never told me about my mother. Not even about how you met." Dragomira remarked.

In all those decades, he never mentioned her with a single word. Like she's the evil spirit you fear you'll summon if you say her name. As if she never existed. But for her, she was still alive in her memories.

"I assumed it would be painful for you to remember. After all, we know how it ended." replied the father.

"She was a good mother. I can't hate her despite the fact that she hid my origin from me. She was my mother, but you and Alexei gave me a family and a home," Dragomira said dreamily. "However, I would like to hear about her. How did you actually meet? Why was she so afraid of what we are."

"Your mother and I met at her first ball in the Red Palace." her father decided to tell her the old story that interested her. "She was beautiful. She wasn't as brave to step out of the crowd as you, Dragomira, but she still couldn't hide from the surrounding crowds. You have your mother's golden hair. You inherited her beauty and defiance. We loved each other. I loved her so much that I would never dare drink her blood. I wanted it to be her choice to become one of us."

"So she knew about you?" Dragomira asked him. "Did she know about the vampires in the court?"

"She knew," her father admitted. "I told her everything."

"Then what went wrong between you two?" she didn't understand.

"She changed after she got pregnant. I wanted to transform her as soon as you were born, but suddenly the idea of becoming one of us was unthinkable for her. The idea that one day you should feed on human blood. She knew that her family name would not protect her from my wrath. The king would always lean to our side by judgment."

"To protect our secret," stated Dragomira. "His secret."

"And that's why she decided she had to run away and disappear. She did well for many years." said her father.

"And how did you actually manage to find me?" asked Dragomira.

"I was desperate. I found a witch who helped me with that."

Those words filled Dragomira with a new wave of hope. If one witch was able to find her, then maybe this one would be able to find Cassius.