THE TRIBUTE QUEEN OF THE DRAGON KING

~DAHLIA~

The scent of ‘Khóri’, the sacred burning incense, is so thick and everywhere in the air of the Velmirian Palace.

So thick with myrrh and something else that smells like a bad mixture of ashes and wild herbs.

It wraps around me like a funeral shroud. Like a stubborn hand gripping my throat.

Outside these palace walls, the rest of the kingdom of Velmira sleeps beneath a blood red moon.

But sleep is the last sensible thought on my mind right now.

My name is Dahlia Rhadaya Balerion. The crown princess of Velmira.

And tonight, standing alone outside at the threshold of my father’s chambers, fear is curling inside my stomach like a wicked viper biting into my guts with poisoned fangs.

Something is wrong. Who am I kidding? Something is always wrong in this stupid palace.

The fear twists harder as I approach the two hefty guards stationed at the giant doors leading into my father's chambers.

On seeing me, the men shift uneasily on their posts.

Snakes.

These are men who once swore their loyalty to me. To my real family.

However, since my stepmother, Queen Andessa, dug her manipulative nails into them, things around here have never been the same.

Whenever these men see me, like so many others, they refuse to meet my eyes.

Spineless bastards.

Reaching them, quickly, I shove past the bastards and push open the heavy doors, not waiting for any of them to announce my presence.

The moment I stumble inside my father's room, my breath catches halfway down my throat.

My father is alone, lying on his grand canopy bed, his once-mighty form reduced to nothing but pale rumpled skin stretched over piles of fragile bones.

I gasp when I see his silver beard stained with flecks of dark blood, and his chest is rising and falling in shallow breaths that the entire sight quickly erupts a mighty wave of panic inside me, adding to the fear I am already suffering from.

“Father,” I rush forward, falling to my knees beside him. Tears are already streaming down my cheeks.

That wicked woman told me he was sick, connived with those evil nobles, and locked me up in that damn tower for months!

No one, no single breathing imbecile in this palace, told me my father, the King, was DYING!!

“Dahlia…”

It's strange and breaks my heart to hear my father’s voice sound so weak. My father is a mighty King.

His eyelids flutter open, and for a brief moment, the recognition of my face reflects in his dull blue ocean eyes that are like mine. His hand is cold when I take it, and I feel his fingers trembling in my shaky grasp.

More tears burn behind my eyes and stream down my cheeks. “Why didn’t anyone tell me?”

He exhales a rattling breath. “N-not safe,” he rasps as he struggles to draw in air through his wrinkled nose.

His eyes shift towards the darkened corners of the room, as if something is lurking there. “You’re not… safe.”

My heart pounds. “What do you mean?”

“Andessa… the court… poison…” His fingers twitch against mine, as if he is trying to desperately hold on to me, to keep me anchored to him. “Andessa poisoned me. Trust… no one.”

Andessa! The Court!

POISON!

The words stab into me like knives slicing through my guts and lungs. Suffocating me.

My father isn’t just dying.

He is being murdered by Andessa.

I twist around, about to scream to those bastards out there to summon the healers, to bring the mages. Someone. Anyone that can help save my father.

But before the scream for help can escape my lips, I hear the hurrying sounds of heavy clinking footsteps approaching outside the doors and barging into my father's chambers.

Andessa.

The monster is adorned with emerald jewelry that matches her evil green eyes, and dressed in an imperial attire that sweeps the floor like she's the Creator. Her dark hair is coiled and topped with a tiara diamond crown that shines with the ignorant help of the burning fire lamps illuminating my father's room.

My father's room.

She doesn’t belong here.

“Well, well, well,” Her sickening voice is complemented with the clapping of her hands together three times. “How tragic.”

“Andessa,” I slowly let go of my father's hand and rise to my feet, shielding my father's body from her. “You monster!”

“Even a maggot like you can never be compared to any monster. You'll just be crushed,” she scoffs and strides majestically towards my father's bed.

I block her path immediately.

“STAY THE HELL AWAY FROM THE KING!”

My loud voice draws the immediate attention of the guards outside. They barge into the room instantly.

I raise my hand to them. The bastards halt at once.

“My dear stepdaughter,” Andessa sighs, shaking her head. “why always so dramatic?”

“You did this.” I almost spit at the face of the woman who has stolen my father’s throne before his body is even cold. “You did this to my father!”

“Our King is old. Weak. Sadly, his time has come to join the Creator in peace.”

“You poisoned him!”

She merely raises a brow. “Do you have proof, child?”

She knows I don’t. All I have now are only the dying words of a king no one will listen to.

Raw anger is already filling my chest. My heart. Andessa’s lips curve into a cruel smile at my silence. She has always been an evil manipulator.

Vile and dirty and utterly shameless.

After my mother's death, she tangled herself with my father, married him, manipulated him and turned his love for me into hatred. He hadn't realized her manipulations until it was already too late.

Now that he is in bad shape, she summoned me here at this uncelestial hour to watch my father wither away.

“You will pay for this!” I lunge at her, but the guards quickly hold me back. “I'll find the evidence and I swear by the Creator you will pay for all your atrocities!”

Andessa turns to the guards. “Arrest the princess.”

My blood turns to ice.

“No—wait—!” I turn and lunge for my father, my last ally at this darkest hour—

His body seizes. A choked gasp of my name escapes his lips before his eyes roll back, and his last breath leaves his body.

For a heartbeat, I can’t move. I can’t breathe.

His eyes are open.

Lifeless.

“NOOO!” A loud sob tears from my throat. The guards obey Andessa’s order without hesitation. Cold hands seize my arms, and I feel the metal shackles snap around my wrists.

I thrash, kick, scream, but the bastards are too strong.

My strength is nothing against them.

Andessa steps closer until her red blood painted lips are just inches away from my ear. Her voice is a whisper of venom.

“You were never meant to survive, maggot.”