Gods and Dark Creatures (Book 3)

CH. 3: Dragomira

"What happened?" Alexei asked her.

She has calmed down a bit. He managed to get her back to the palace. They sat in her chambers and drank herbal tea to calm down. Despite this, Dragomira was still in shock. She was breathing raggedly. Her heart wanted to jump out of her chest. She was shaking.

"I don't know," she replied.

She put down the cup of hot tea, from which was still rising a slight steam. She was playing with the ring on her finger. The black pearl of her engagement ring glistened beautifully in the soft candlelight.

"Where is the king?" he asked her.

"I don't know, Alexei," Dragomira said desperately.

"Who was that woman?" he kept asking her questions as if she were being interrogated. At least she knew the answer to this one.

"It was the goddess Eris, the goddess of chaos," she replied. "She is the goddess who created Cassius. She turned him into a vampire."

"Where did she take him?"

"I don't know." Dragomira didn't know the answer. "She only said that I should find her. But I have no idea where to start looking. Until now the gods were only fairy tales and suddenly she appeared here and Cassius is gone."

"We're just a fairy tale for most people, Dragomira, and that doesn't mean we don't exist," Alexei told her.

Her stomach churned. She couldn't breathe. Desperation overwhelmed her. She didn't even understand it herself. But she knew Cassius was gone. And she had no idea how to find him. Her head was spinning. Voices shouted.

"What did you say to the soldiers and lords when neither Cassius nor I showed up?" Dragomira asked her brother a question this time.

"That you are not feeling well and the king stayed with you to keep you company," said Alexei. "After the king had been hiding from his own court for years, it was easy for everyone to believe."

"Then continue the lie," Dragomira told him.

"And what about you, sister? Don't you want to speak to your courtiers?" he gave her a questioning look. "They should know the king is gone."

"They must not find out," said Dragomira, alarmed. "The fear of Cassius held this court together. If anyone finds out he's gone, the lords will rebel and try to usurp the throne for themselves."

"You are a queen, Dragomira. You can be as cold-blooded as he is. You've already done that. No one dares to stand up to you," her brother assured her. However, it was only the words of a brother, not words ready to admit the truth.

"That's not enough," said Dragomira. "I'm not him."

"You mustn't underestimate yourself like that. You have to be strong now that you're on your own to rule."

His hand found hers. Dragomira stopped playing with the ring. She turned her gaze to him. She allowed their fingers to intertwine. He squeezed her hand sympathetically, showing his support.

Dragomira sighed. "War is coming. We cannot afford internal strife. Cassius used to issue orders through the guard commander. Now it's you, and I'm sure you'll be good at it. You can command soldiers, you can also command conceited nobles."

"And what about you?" he didn't understand the look in her eyes.

"I'll try to find Cassius," she said.

"You're a queen, you can't just leave," argued Alexei.

"I have to find him," Dragomira countered. "And besides, no one will know if you don't tell."

"You know I wouldn't do that," Alexei told her. "But how do you want to find him? You said yourself that you have no idea where to start looking."

"I don't know, but I have to at least try. They must be somewhere. I will search the whole world until I find him."

"And what do you want to tell the people?" he remarked. "You can't keep it a secret forever."

"Say that the queen is pregnant and must remain calm. And the king stays by her side all the time," she replied. "That should buy us time."

"Are you pregnant?" Alexei stopped.

"No," said Dragomira. "Of course not."

"That's good. You know how it would turn out."

"I know."

"And what do you want to say then? Also, you can't pretend to be pregnant forever."

"That the child died, and the king and queen are very unhappy, and therefore they retreated to their chambers," she said. A fleeting smile graced her lips, but it was not reflected in her eyes. She still had sadness in them flooding her like wild water.

Dragomira was good at lying. She lived by them. She knew all about the intrigues circulating in the court. She knew how to live in a lie, how to create that veil of illusion so that everyone would believe. Without hesitation. With no regrets.

"Are you sure you want to use such twisted lies?" Alexei asked her.

"For Toska's sake, yes," she replied. "We both know I would be capable of more heinous things than lies just to keep this kingdom together."

"Toska needs its queen. I don't think you should look for a king. We can't lose you too," Alexei told her, worried about what trouble it would bring her. "Do you forget how he hurt you? He doesn't deserve your pity."

"And you're forgetting that it was Cassius who saved my life when I was dying, brother," Dragomira reminded him. "He didn't have to do it, but he did. He saved me."

"He only corrected his own mistakes. Because of that, you don't owe him yet to sacrifice your own life for him. Don't mess with the gods, sister. It's too dangerous."

"I've already made up my mind and nothing will change it, Alexei," said Dragomira forcefully. "My heart has made up its decision."