Chapter 15
The Dragon King's Substitute Bride
CH15
Morgan
Worry clawed at me. "Isn't it pretty usual for people to leave instructions for their successors?"
He nodded. "In the case of the queen, your instructions are in two parts. One is the journals, but the part you are looking for is held in the Trial itself."
I scowled at him. "I'm just supposed to know because I didn't die?"
His lips twitched. "Because you were chosen by the heavens and blessed by the Phoenix."
I cocked an eyebrow. "Mystic words that mean nothing to me other than seeming important."
He tapped a journal. "Perhaps reading will educate you, then."
I met his gaze. "How can you be so sure?"
He sat on the edge of the desk and looked out the window with a wistfulness in his eyes.
"Because I knew my mother, and she told me many stories about how she came to settle in her power as queen."
I looked down at the journals. "Will you tell me about her?".
"What do you want to know?"
I considered it, trailing my fingers over the cover of the journal in front of me.
"Was she happy with your father?"
"She said she was."
"You didn't believe her?"
her
"I believe that happiness in tion was complicated," he said. "She stirred a lot of
controversy."
looked up at him. "By having the king's
smirked. "You've been
my handmaiden
1/4
CH15
ask for
and more. Is Maya...
have sharp instincts. Technically, she is
cousin."
blinked. "And why isn't she a lady
said. "Her mother and
banking on her being your
meet them soon enough, other than
First, he's hitting on me, then he's insulting me." I glanced over at him,
family." He
there a way I can keep you out of my
I tell you?" He smirked.. "And it's the
others read
have been able to once upon a time,
darkness."
my head. "That have something
me and resentful of me being chosen as the next
- nower:
due to the
she was bribed by a concubine and later dismissed. My father says that my mother didn't show a moment of fear until the day of my birth, My birth destroyed
don't think I want to know what would cause the destruction
2/4
CH15
He went still.
no
www
it. I was a woman and Their to the family. It was expected that either I'd have a child to succeed me or choose someone to do so, and if I married, he
..
had a desire to marry
him. "Get out of my
"I cannot."
my head. "It hardly
His eyes were
hands shook, suspended in the air between us as if he wanted to touch me. Did
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
The Novel will be updated daily. Come back and continue reading tomorrow, everyone!