The Dragon's Bride: Dragon Brides Series, #1

By Maya King

Talia Winterborn wore a wedding gown, but she felt like she was going to her funeral. Today, she was being sent as a sacrificial bride for Vayn the Dragon God - in hopes he would end the merciless heatwave devastating her country.

Vayn is cold, arrogant, and frighteningly beautiful. It's a mystery to all why he has chosen to lock himself away in his castle for the past decade, but Talia is determined to uncover his secrets.

However, that means playing at the politics of the Gods. Casual treason and shameless backstabbing are common amongst the pantheon at the City of the Gods, and among the most ruthless is Kayn, Vayn's twin brother. Talia must choose her alliances carefully in this new world.

As threats loom around them, can Talia be any help to the Dragon God she was sent to marry? Can a human make any difference in a world of Gods?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Maya King
• Release date: Apr 14, 2017
• ISBN: 9781386677529

Maya King

Maya King loves light and fun fantasy stories with strong romantic elements. She is a full-time writer who lives in the desert and daydreams of dragons and wizards in her spare time. To be notified of future releases from Maya, you can sign up to the newsletter here: http://eepurl.com/bXHz3v

Book preview

Chapter 1

Prologue

The inside of Vaynspool Hall would have been silent if not for the desperate banging on the thick wood doors.  Talia pushed her thick hair off the back of her neck, trying to get relief from the heat.  Sitting quietly on a stool in the corner was so different to her usual activities as an apprentice of the College.  But these past few days, almost nothing was normal.

The elders had been locked up in the hall for three days discussing the state of humans.  The first day had been full of heated arguments.

We sent the most beautiful girl in the city.  And the second and the third most beautiful girl.  We sent the tallest girl, the most petite, the plumpest.  Every day that blasted messenger returns, demanding a different girl for his greedy God.  He wears black over every inch of his body.  Some say his cloak is made of the night itself.  Sigil shuddered.  Seeing that sentinel night after night standing silent and still outside the city must have been so unsettling, though Talia couldn’t even imagine it.  She had heard The Messenger radiated some dark energy, like a storm personified, and Sigil was insisting that power could destroy them all.

I say we give him a taste of our best sword, General Griever said, his voice a low simmer.

The room fell silent.  Even in the most sacred building in the country, they weren’t safe from the roasting heat.

It was an unfortunate truth that even the most devoted amongst the council had given thoughts to violence against the Dragon God and his kind.

When no one spoke up, the General continued, We should march our army up into the mountains.  Other kingdoms would surely join our cause.  We could do what others were never able to do.  By this point, he stood, hitting his fist like a stone against the table.  We could never have to answer to the Dragon again. 

Sweat dripped down his face, and Talia politely avoided eye contact.  Could the country truly go to war against a God?  She wondered.

The other men sitting along the table looked down.  The silence drew on for a long moment before a rusty old voice spoke.  Talia looked up as her uncle continued the conversation.

We all know what happened 700 years ago.

King Jacop.  Talia had studied the story of the Jacop rebellion.  The arrogant king gathered every able man in his kingdom and marched them up to the City of the Gods with bows and arrows to arm them.  Or at least, he had tried.

He failed in a different age, the general said with derision.

He didn’t just fail, Master Aron spoke.  He brought ruin onto his country that some still feel today.  An entire kingdom wiped out overnight.

The Flight of the Dragon.  The Jacopians were almost all killed, with less than ten percent of the population remaining after Vayn burned everything to the ground.  It was one of the darkest periods of history, and the reason for Vaynspool becoming the vassal city for Vayn.

But it was 700 years ago.  We have weapons now that could blow the head right off that Dragon!  Griever’s face shone with sweat.

You are a doubter of Vayn.  We all can see that.  But you suffer from hubris, and for that the Gods will punish you.  We cannot defeat a God with violence, no matter how powerful it is in our world.

The redfaced General sat.  The men fell silent again.  It was too hot to argue.  Talia grabbed the pitcher of water from the table next to her.  When they had entered that morning, the water had been cool, but by now, it was warm.  She walked silently around the table, filling empty cups for the stressed men.  It was the least she could do for the elders who would solve the heatwave problem.

Sigil spoke up again.  Every day, the elderly and the young die.  The heat is unlike anything we have ever experienced.  The Dragon makes it hotter every day, and soon even the healthy will begin to die.  We must do something.

Send another woman for Lord Vayn to devour, Griever spat out.  See if it makes any difference.

Talia jumped at his poisonous words, spilling some water onto the table.  The general’s small, black eyes narrowed on her.  Then a smiled quirked on his lips.  Too many families have suffered, however.  Perhaps an orphan should go this time?  A young girl who is studious and intelligent enough to go up against our Lord?

What are you getting at, General? Sigil asked.

The solution is right in front of us.  Perhaps the Gods themselves even made it this way.  He waved his hand towards Talia.  All eyes went to her, and she froze in place. 

Me? she choked out.  A long silence followed.

Chapter 2

Talia took her first step towards her wedding, but she knew she may as well have been in funeral garb.

She made it a point to remember every face in the crowd that stared at her as she walked to her doom.  The faces of people she had never seen, and those she had seen every day, all stared at her with the same anguish.  However, none of them helped her.

Talia had been a part of the crowd during the numerous other ceremonies, but she had always looked away.  She couldn’t look on, watching yet another girl be sent to certain death.  She couldn’t believe she was on the opposite side of the bridal ceremony now.  She had never even thought she would ever get married to anyone.  She had devoted her life to the College, to the men and women who had saved her when she was brought there as a child.  And now she was being sent by them to reason with a merciless God.

Although being a part of the College of Vaynspool meant devoting oneself to the city’s Dragon namesake, she had long held opinions about the God that would get her chased out of the city if she ever spoke them.  Then again, she thought, in this latest wave of heat, her opinion of Vayn may not have been so uncommon as she thought.  The elders of the College had lectured her on exactly how to behave when she met her God.  She was to bow down and to show obedience.  She was to use only the most respectful of language.  She was to vow her body and soul to the Dragon and his every whim.  What she was truly planned to do when she met the petty Dragon God was much different.  If she was going to die like the other girls, she would do so with pride.  The scholars at the college had always insisted that hubris would be Talia’s downfall.

By the time she had made her way through half of the main road to Saben the Messenger, her feet and legs were threatening to buckle under her.  She was wearing the traditional wedding outfit of Vaynspool, albeit one that had fallen from fashion in the city hundreds of years ago.  It was said to be Vayn’s favorite.  The soles of her shoes were thick wooden platforms several inches tall, which left Talia taller than even most of the men around her.  Her gown and headdress were made of thick white fabric that weighed her body down and made her spine ache from her neck to her lower back.  It was no wonder such fashion had lost its popularity.  In modern times, it was customary for a bride to be carried to her wedding in a palanquin.  Talia would have to walk among the city of onlookers on her own two feet for this ceremony, though.  The ground of Vaynspool was unique, as it was made of shining black Dragonstone made by Vayn himself after the volcano at the edge of the city had exploded centuries ago and lava had pooled at the base.  Talia stood out in crisp white against the black Dragonstone.

The stone wall that surrounded the city was finally within sight.  Talia could only hope that the barrier would signify the end of her walk.  She wasn’t sure how she would reach the City of the Gods, but if it was on foot, she would beg for her inevitable death to come early. 

Priests sang a low, morbid hymn in a language long dead as Talia approached the gate.  Her frozen heart melted just slightly.  She knew it would probably be the last song she ever heard.  Once she stepped through the city’s grand entrance, only death would await her.  She had tried to remain strong in the face of the great and ultimate End, but her composure was collapsing.  Her eyes were filled with tears as she passed through the West Gate, but she refused to let them spill over.

Her breath caught in her throat as she stepped past the last stone of the thick wall.  The sun was hung so low in the sky that the wall blocked it, making the ground before her darker than the city she had just left.

Talia’s heart began beating against her chest.  There he was.  Saben the Messenger.  If he wasn’t standing right in front of her, she wouldn’t have believed that he truly existed.  Her eyes darted down, unable to look at the Spirit.  The scholars and the books of the college had always described him as being covered from head to toe in black, but that didn’t prepare her for the hopeless void that made up his outfit.  It was like looking at something blindingly bright, but the opposite.  So dark that she had to look away.

We offer up our sacrifice.  May the great and wise God take favor on our gift.  It was her uncle’s voice, calling out to the dark figure from behind her. 

Despite Talia’s perseverance, hearing the man who had raised her from childhood give her away to a terrible God was too much.  Tears spilled through her lashes, down her cheeks.  Luckily with her lace wedding veil, no one could see her weakness.

The men who had guarded Talia during the ceremonial walk through the city were now pushing her away.  She stumbled forward after one particularly hard shove.  She shut her eyes tightly out of instinct as she fell forward, but she collided with something firm far sooner than she expected.  She opened her eyes wide just in time to see black at the edge of her vision before it enveloped her eyes completely.  The darkness was an absolute absence of light that even the darkest of nights couldn’t compare to.

She fought against the clutches of nothingness, but terrible fingers wrapped around her arms, freezing her in place.

Talia's body felt like it suddenly had an enormous weight being pressed upon it.  Her head swam and she felt as though the world had disappeared from under her.  with all the blackness that had taken her, she could have been floating among the stars.  Or, she thought with a jolt of panic, she could have been experiencing death. 

The nothingness chilled her to the bone, but it was suddenly over.  like curtains opening, the blackness pulled away suddenly, and even the low light of the setting sun made her eyes sting.

Through tears, she could see that she was somehow above the clouds.  her heart pounded as she looked at the rocky ground below her, and then back at the sea of clouds.  She was on top of a mountain.  Her shoes must have fallen off on the trip, as she felt sharp, icy rocks against her soles.  She wasn’t sure which was more uncomfortable for her feet.

Natalia Winterborn.  Aged 23. 

Talia spun around in her heavy outfit at the sound of a deep voice behind her.  It was the same black cloaked figure, but now the strange fabric covering his head had disappeared. 

Could this be Saben?  The man in front of her was nothing like the frightening creature she had seen before.  Talia began to question her sanity.  Perhaps it was the stress of the situation that had warped her thoughts.

Who are you? Talia asked.

The man looked up from the scroll he was reading from, giving Talia a frown for interrupting business.  His thick, black hair swayed in the gusty mountain wind.  His eyes were like two gray river stones.  And he had the most handsome face Talia had seen in her life.

I am Saben, he said.  He shifted his weight from one foot to another as though he had grown impatient. 

You’re Saben? Talia asked in shock.

The Messenger’s eyes widened at Talia’s question before an amused smirk spread across his face.

I am, he said.  Why do you look so surprised?  They didn’t tell you who was taking you to King Vayn?

Saben’s accent was strange to Talia’s ears.  It sounded old-fashioned, like he had a voice from the past.  She liked it.

You’re just nothing like I imagined you to be.

So you’ve heard of me, then?  His smirk grew.

My nanny always told me that you’d snatch me away in the night if I disobeyed her, Talia said.  He was glad once again for her veil, as it hid her blush.

Saben’s head tilted back as he let out a round of laughter.  Talia stared at him through her veil.  It certainly wasn’t the reaction she was expecting.

So that’s what the humans are saying about me these days? he asked, more to himself than to Talia.

So she was lying?  Talia asked.  She felt so silly now.  She had truly feared the Dragon’s Keeper when she was a child.

Saben gave only a shrug for an answer.

We should get you to your Lord.  We don’t want to keep him waiting too long.

Talia pulled back her veil so that her face could feel the biting mountain air.  Even with her thick dress on, the coldness had already seeped down to her skin.  However, she wanted to get an unobstructed view of it all before she was sent to her death.

You’re crying, Saben said.

Talia looked to him, surprised at his words and his concerned frown.  She wiped at her cheeks and then looked at her wet fingertips.

Yes, she said, feeling like she was in a dream.  I am.

Why? he asked. 

His genuine bafflement at the fact that she was crying made Talia let out a giggle. 

"Why?" she repeated.  She was already being disrespectful.  Her uncle would have hit her with a rod if he had heard the snide way in which she spoke to the Messenger of God.  However, her anger and arrogance couldn’t keep her voice from cracking as she gave her reasoning.  She lifted away her veil to clean up her tears now that she realized it wasn’t hiding anything.

I’m going to die, she said.  I think I’m entitled to shed a few tears for my own death.

Saben opened up the top few buttons of his outfit and pulled out a handkerchief from a hidden pocket inside.  It looked as though it was made from gold shaped into string, though Talia couldn’t understand how that would be possible.  Saben stepped close to Talia, grabbing hold of her quivering chin and wiping away the tears that had fallen.

You’re not going to die today, my lady.

Talia wanted so badly to believe him, but she couldn’t let herself be fooled.

But the other girls... she said.

Saben frowned.  The other girls, he repeated.  They’re not dead.

Talia narrowed her eyes.  Then where are they?

It’s a bit of a phase that Lord Vayn is going through.  Saben rubbed the back of his neck.  He hasn’t been happy with the quality of the girls who were sent to him.  That’s not enough for him to take their lives, though.  He just orders me to take them back to the world of the humans.

None of the girls have come back, Talia said.

He ordered me to take them to different cities.

Why?

You’re going to be sent to a new city, too, if you question King Vayn’s commands.  Now let’s go.  Are you ready to meet your Lord?

Talia was relieved that she wasn’t yet going to die, but she didn’t think anything could prepare her for meeting the Dragon God.  Saben wasn’t actually looking for an answer, though.  They were leaving whether Talia was ready or not.  He pulled her close to him, and suddenly Talia’s bare feet couldn’t feel the