“Don’t you dare, you rascal!”
Instantly, Glahad dug its paws and claws into the perfect wooden floors, grinding to a halt a few meters away from Kareen. The dragon was frozen in an awkward pose, with its body turned towards her, but its collar and head turned away, like a guilty dog. It kept trying to sneak glances at her, but had to turn its red gaze away every time, as the Concubine was glaring. Behind Glahad, Krai furtively took this opportunity to throttle towards Cassandra, wrapping its body around the Concubine as she scratched and caressed its head, happy to reunite with her Prince’s Dragon. Meanwhile, Glahad softly growled, jealous, but Kareen had already turned back to the Emperor.
“Where is my son?!”
The Emperor looked baffled, surprised even. He clearly wasn’t expecting his Concubine’s anger and stared at her with a confused expression.
“Kareen, dearest, I…”
“Answer me!”
Cassandra couldn’t help but think about how exceptionally bold Kareen was. Was she some Hell Goddess reincarnated? To be talking to the Emperor like this, you needed to have a few extra lives!
The man sighed.
“Kareen, don’t be like this. You know I don’t want to be mean, hmm? But how else could I get your attention? And see! Even mad, you’re so pretty!”
“Oh, you want to see me mad? Come closer and I’ll yank your hair out! Now, give me my son back, you deceitful snake!”
“I get it, dearest, but please stop screaming, you’ll hurt your pretty little voice. If we want to be able to have a nice chat later, we should…”
“A nice chat? You force me to come all the way here to retrieve my son and you expect me to sit down and idly chat with you? How dare you!”
“Oh, come now, I’ll have your favorite garden prepared. How about that? With your favorite tea, too! Do you want a massage? I have a young lady who can do wonders…”
“Ha! Now you want to brag about your new concubines to me? That’s just a bit too much! You think I’ll die of jealousy? Huh?”
Meanwhile to the side, Krai was happily growling and rubbing against Cassandra’s hands, and sending glances towards Kareen too, gently pushing her with its snout. Glahad, however, was still sitting a few steps away from the Imperial Concubine Mother and was glaring at it with jealousy. The Imperial Golden Dragon growled several times, but Krai ignored it, too absorbed by Cassandra.
When Glahad had finally had enough, it reached out a paw, aiming its claws at Krai’s rear, but the Black Dragon growled back. The two started bickering, making an awful lot of noise in the room and no matter how angry Kareen and the Emperor were, two adults yelling couldn’t possibly be heard over the ruckus.
That’s when the Emperor, suddenly taking on a very annoyed expression, turned to them.
“Enough!”
Both dragons froze, but Krai was still childishly growling, curling its body around Kareen and Cassandra with a defiant look. Glahad walked back behind the throne with a sullen expression, but stayed silent. The Emperor sighed, turning to Shareen.
“My daughter, go get your brother before your mother really gets angry at me.”
One could have argued the Imperial Concubine was already angry enough, but Shareen simply left the room, Cassandra following closely behind her. The Princess seemed to know exactly where to go, heading down several staircases and crossing corridors in record time.
They arrived at the dungeons a short while later. It was cold and sinister down there. Shareen gave some orders to the Imperial Servants and they guided her to a large cell.
“My Lord!” yelled Cassandra.
As soon as the door was opened, she ran inside. Kairen was there, hanging by his wrists from the ceiling. He seemed unconscious, but Cassandra was more worried about the number of dark scale lines on his skin. How many times had he been whipped?
She started crying while Shareen looked on, dumbfounded.
“What is wrong with you? Stop crying, he’s fine!”
Fine? How was he fine? But Shareen rolled her eyes and walked over, taking her own whip out. Before Cassandra could react, Shareen violently slashed her brother’s arm. A few seconds later, the red mark was already covered in black scales.
“What are you doing?! He’s already unconscious from…”
“What? Unconscious?” retorted Shareen, satirically. “The idiot is asleep!”
Asleep…? Cassandra stepped closer to Kairen. His eyes were closed, he was breathing slowly and almost…snoring. Snoring! How could he be sleeping in these conditions? His sister rolled her eyes again and slapped his biceps a few times.
