Chapter 31

Sasha
She jolted awake. Her chest was tight and it felt like she was being burnt from the inside out. She quickly glanced around the room she was in to get her bearings. Aiden’s room. Where was he? He palms started to sweat profusely.
“Aiden?” No response. She scrambled out of the bed. “Aiden?”
She ran to the bathroom and threw the door open. Her heart skipped a beat when it was empty. Oh, Goddess, where was he? She darted to the door and pulled it open. She peered out into the hallway and saw Gregory asleep in a chair. She flew past him silently, dashing down the hall. She leapt the flight of stairs going down a floor to race faster to Aiden’s office. She hurried inside and cried out when she saw the disaster that was in it. Broken furniture and glass littered the floor. Holes in the walls raised her anxiety drastically. She turned on her heel, gathered her skirt in her hand and began to run down the hall.
“AIDEN! AIDEN!,” she screamed in panic.
‘Please, let him be okay,’ she begged the Goddess silently.
“AIDEN!”
Her voice bounced off the walls, echoing in the large foyer. She careened around the corner and smacked straight into Gregory’s chest. He caught her as she fell backwards.
“Sasha? What’s wrong?”
Tears poured down her face.
“Where’s Aiden? AIDEN!,” she yelled again, before burying her face into Gregory’s chest.
Her sobs soaked his shirt. He wrapped his arm around her, before swinging her up into his arms and carrying her down another set of stairs. The temperature dropped the further under the castle they went. She started thrashing and trying to get away. Where was he taking her? She looked around and her breath whooshed out when she recognized the stone walls of a dungeon prison.
“NO! LET ME GO! I’M SORRY. I’LL BEHAVE. PLEASE, I SWEAR!”
He froze. “Sasha? What’s wrong?”
She started sobbing louder. “I’ll be good. Please, I’m sorry. I won’t cause any more trouble. Please. I’ll go away. You won’t ever see me again. Please, just let me go,” she pleaded.
He gently set her on her feet. “Sasha, you’re okay.”
She wiped her nose on the back of her hand. “I didn’t do it,” she whispered, dropping her head. She sank to the floor on her knees with her knuckles in her mouth. “I love him.”
He knelt in front of her and tugged her hand out of her mouth. He brushed her hair back. “Sasha, honey, I’m not going to hurt you. I promise.”
She closed her eyes. Her arms went around her own waist and she began to rock back and forth. “Why wouldn’t you hurt me? I’m just a nobody, not even fit to be alive.”
He sighed, before lifting her chin up. “You are Sasha Soma, mated to King Aiden Jameson, of the Dragão Clan. You are our future queen and we need you. Kalani needs you. You are so important to so many people. Nobody is going to hurt you if we have any say. That I promise you, Your Royal Highness.”
He bowed even lower to her and she stared at him in shock.
“Where’s Aiden?”
He stood back up and held out his hand to her. “I will take you to him.”
She wearily looked up at him. “Is- is this a dream?”
He reached down to take her hand. “No, Aja. Please, just let me take you to him. I know he would want me to bring you to him.”
She let him pull her to her feet. He reached into his pocket to grab a handkerchief. She stared at it, before an unexpected giggle escaped from her. He raised an eyebrow at her.
“What?”
“That is such an old person thing to carry around.”
He chuckled as he cleaned her face. “Consider me a grandpa then.”
Once he was satisfied that she was as clean as she was going to get, he took her hand and began to lead her down the gloomy pathway. Everytime she stopped, he waited patiently beside her, until she had beat back the anxiousness that was making her unable to breathe. He finally stopped outside of a room and Sasha moved back from him a few feet as her fear rose dramatically. He raised his fist and knocked once. Seconds later, she heard Aiden call out to come in. His voice sent her heart spiraling out of control and she pushed Gregory out of the way. She flung the door open and stood in the doorway, panicked about what she would find inside. Her eyes landed on him, sitting at the head of the table. She took a step forward, running her sweaty hands down her skirt.
“Aiden? You- you’re alright.”
He stood up and quickly moved to her side. He cupped her face and his worried look touched her heart.
“Sasha, sweetheart. Are you alright?”
Her fingers weaved through his. “Yes.. I..”
Her eyes slid past him to rest on the other men in the room. She flushed and pulled away.
“I’m sorry for intruding. I just.. Was worried.”
He pulled her against his body, wrapping her tight in his arms as he laid his cheek on the top of her head. “You are not interrupting. How are you feeling?”
“I’m okay. I promise. I just… am very tired. I should go back to the room….,” she mumbled.
He picked her up and carried her back to the table. He pushed his chair back, before shifting her on his lap. He draped her legs over his, wrapped an arm around her waist and tucked her face into his neck. His fingers traced little circles on her waist. He looked up at Gregory.
“I have her. You are dismissed.”
Gregory bowed deeply to Aiden. “As you wish, Your Majesty.”
He left, shutting the door softly behind him. Sasha nuzzled deeper into Aiden’s body. King Linus leaned forward.
“So, this is your pathetic human mate? She doesn’t seem to be special at all.”
Sasha stiffened and Aiden growled.
“Do not speak of her in that manner or I will not hesitate to rip your throat out. Do not forget you are on my land and disrespecting my mate will absolutely be the last thing you ever do.”
Aiden’s words made her smile.
“Thank you,” she murmured.
“Now, may we continue or do we need to further discuss my mate and why she is here?”
“We have had 16 children born in the last 5 years. 11 of them are dragons. 8 are female. 3 are male. 5 have been terminated. 6 breeders have been put to death,” Linus said smugly. “What about the Dragão Clan? What was the last breeding cycle like?”
“We haven’t had one in 8 years. This is our first one back. I have made several changes. First off, quite a few of our people have found their mates in the breeder group this year. I have opted to let the women decide on who they want to provide offspring for. I currently have them switching and getting to know new men every week. So far, I have successfully paired 9 women.”
“Why would you allow them so much control?”
He moved his cheek over her hair. “Happy and willing partners will provide the fetus’ less stress and will produce healthier offspring. Also, allowing our males to accept human mates gives them more years to potentially bring several children into the clan and men who feel like they matter enough to the crown to be able to have their mates for life, will be more productive and loyal over all.”
“And what happens when this all backfires? Humans die. You should force your people to mate with other dragons.”
“If humans are marked by a dragon, they receive the same lifespan. Imagine the booming population with women who can provide children for a hundred years more than the average woman? It would postpone our extinction by at least a thousand years and if more women were found, it might just eliminate the threat altogether.”
“You are impossible. I told your father you would be a weak king. You are going to destroy everything we worked so hard for and you haven’t even been king for a year yet.”
Aiden chuckled. “Let’s reconvene in a year and see whose breeding program and laws have worked better, hmm, Linus?”
A chair scraped back. “This is all, because your mate is human. You need to choose a dragon and keep her in your harem. That is all she is good for.”
Aiden stood up swiftly, his wing coming out to wrap around Sasha, protecting her from the other king’s eyes. It held her close to his body as he moved to stand in front of a very pissed off Linus.
“You have thirty minutes to pack your things and get off my land. I am king here. This is my territory. I will not allow you to speak about her in that way. If you are not gone in that time frame, I will tear you apart, limb by limb.” The terrified man stood quivering like a leaf caught in a storm’s ferocious wind. “I SAID LEAVE!”
Mikhail’s aura blasted out of him and the other king scampered out of the room. Aiden turned his furious gaze on the other kings.
“Does anybody else wish to disrespect my mate or may we continue?”
The rest of the kings shook their heads. Aiden sat back in his chair, but kept his wing cradling her to his body. Warmth seeped out of his wing and in no time, she had been lulled into slumber, a smile on her lips at the way he had protected her. She could almost pretend that he still cared about her.