Zofia's nineteenth birthday was around the corner. On her birthday Zofia would have been faced with two choices, slavery or marriage, or both. She could either marry a man who was rich enough to care for her, or she could go into slavery like most women did. She already knew how to do everything, cooking and cleaning, sewing, ironing, washing. She had learned from hard work over the years, from doing things a mother should have been doing. Zofia didn't have a mother. She left before Faye could speak. Zofia had been sure that it would be her own decision to make in the end. Not something she would be forced in to. She had chosen to sew and embroider, for her father to sell her work. It was a form of slavery, with her doing all the work and her father drinking all the money out. Her nineteenth birthday was less than a week away and she was worried sick of what would come of it. Worried sick because she had thought that her friend, Niklaus, would have asked her to marry him already. Instead, she was snatched by the dragon king, for ten gold pieces. 

Zofia did not know how she would manage living in the castle. She was not a spoiled child. She would make her own bed, fix her own hair, bathe on her own, and she would occasionally do her sister's chores too, just to keep busy. She woke up in a strange bed, her new room being bigger than her father's entire house. She didn't want to get up, clinging to the covers as if they would shield her from reality, from the choices she had been forced in to. She couldn't say no. She had no choice but to marry this man she didn't know, or like. He seemed cruel. Zofia knew that there was no point in sulking, in laying in bed all day. What if he came in to scold her and saw her in the nightgown Juniper had dressed her in? She pulled her arm out of the covers and stared at the bruises, which were in the shape of the king's hand. She didn't want to get up, so she wrapped herself up in the blankets again. Juniper eventually came in with some tea. She threw the curtains open and hummed as she got a dress ready for Zofia. She loomed over the future queen to see if she was awake, then left after giving a satisfied nod. If the maid was happy, perhaps Zofia could find some happiness too. She got ready with what she had. Everything felt expensive and thick, nothing was cheap and thin like she was used to. Perhaps there was a way out, a means to escape. She plotted different ways of getting out, deciding on at least three good ways. The first idea consisted of her simply running out through the front door. She could wait till everyone was looking away then she could make a run for it. The second was to pretend t have drowned in her bathwater and wish that she would just be thrown out with it. She was unimportant enough and would most certainly not expect a proper burial. The last was the most far fetched of all. She could find places to hide, in the large castle, and stay hidden till they forgot about her. She could just hide it out till she was able to make a run for it. Zofia felt her ideas could work, as long as she believed it could. Of course, she didn't believe they would at all. 

"What can I do?" Zofia begged as she stood in the kitchen. Everyone bustled around her, refusing to give her something to keep her hands busy with. She was frustrated and the very last thing she wanted was to sit and do nothing the entire day. 

"Get to know the castle, your grace. It will be your home soon." Juniper told her happily. Zofia balled her fists.

"You are using too much flour." she pointed out to someone. "Try kneading it with butter instead." She tried to get her hands into the bread dough that one of the ladies were busy with, but Juniper grabbed her and steered her out of the kitchen. She closed the door before Zofia could go back inside. 

"Don't be worried, dear. We have it under control." Juniper said from behind the door.  

"If this life fails, there is always the next." Zofia reminded herself in a growl as she smoothed her fresh dress out. Today she wore a light blue piece. She decided to wander the castle after all. It was basically all just grey stone walls, and marble floors. Zofia marveled at the statues and the walls and floors, everything fascinating her. All while she was admittedly looking for hiding spots. She heard the bell chiming once she thought she was lost, but when she followed the sound she found her way to the dining hall. The king was already seated. Zofia's eyes scanned the table for her place, but the only other setting at the table was all the way on the other side. There was just about ten chairs between the two plates. She hesitated as he sighed. 

"Don't be late for meals." The king warned. Zofia nodded, but then she thought better. 

"I thought I would be eating with the maids." She sniped. She walked past him and all the way to the other end of the table, where she sat and stared at him. Zofia felt a morbid heaviness crawling in to her chest. She wanted to sob. Meal times were happy times. She and her sister would sing as they prepared their food, then talk animatedly about anything that comes to mind as they ate. Apart from his staring, she was sure that they would have a loveless marriage, nothing like what she had expected she would ever get. He had picked her out of a bloody market, like she was a butternut on sale. She very nearly threw up as she thought about food. She had to cover her mouth and look away from the king. He didn't move. Some food was put before Zofia, but she could do nothing more than to pick at it. Her stomach was in knots. What did he want her for anyway? It sounded like a story she had read before, where the wealthy man stole girls to breed with them and kill them again. Ah, perhaps he just wanted a stupid heir. She grew angrier the more she thought about it. 

Zofia was left to her own devices again after the morbidly quiet breakfast. She tried roaming the halls again, but decided half way through that she no longer wanted to. She found the study instead, aching for the familiar smell of books and leather. The castle's study smelled  just like she had hoped it would, with added touches of iron and oak and a fresh warm fire. Zofia peeked her head into the doorway and thought about turning around and leaving when she spotted the king in his chair. She stared for a moment. He had something handsome in him, but she was certain that his inside did not match his outside. He seemed cruel and cold. Zofia decided to brave it, for the sake of literature. She came out from behind the door and walked over to his desk. After bowing to Draegon she moved over to a large shelf. She was almost lost on what to read, but something romantic caught her eye and she decided to settle on that. She scanned the room, her eyes falling on the king momentarily before she chose a leather chair to sit in. It was by the fire, which she hoped would chase away the lovely impending winter chill she was starting to feel.  Zofia curled her bare feet under her and picked her book up. She paid no further mind to the king. She wasn't there for him but for the books. Were he in any other room, she would have avoided it like it held the plague. Zofia realized that her bruises were showing, so she quickly pulled her tight sleeves down to hide them. She opened the book and held it up to her nose. There was more comfort in that one item than anything else she's experienced that whole day. Her eyes settled on the first sentence, and before long she was lost in the words. 

Perhaps romance was a bad idea. Zofia wanted to cry. She would never have the love that the stupid female in the book was so easily getting from her lover. She was bored with the book already, despite the tears in her eyes. She wiped them away and considered doing something else - or reading another book. She abruptly and boldly stared over the book at Draegon only to find that he was looking at her. Perhaps it was the dress she wore that exposed her shoulders and sat so tightly on her, she told herself. She kept staring at him as he blinked at her. It was as if she had caught him off guard. She moved her mouth to ask him why he was looking at her, but he couldn't see the action, the majority of her face being hidden behind a hardcover.

"You smell nice." Draegon said suddenly. It was gruff and sloppy. He probably never handed compliments out. Zofia blinked and lowered her book. She did not understand, since she hadn't used any scents on herself. She did not know where to find anything in her large room. She put her book aside and pressed the sleeve on her upper arm to her nose. She shook her head at him, gaping again. She didn't smell anything. 

"I don't smell anything." She told him, nervously staring. He nodded curtly and turned back to the numbers he had before him. Zofia just picked her book up again. Her eyes attempted to pick up where she had left off. An abrupt friction of wood against marble distracted her. His chair had moved and his large frame was coming to hover over her. He placed a hand on the arm rest of the old leather couch while his other hand trapped her jaw. Zofia whimpered and pressed herself back into the cushions. He leaned in and sniffed her. His dark hair falling just above his eyes. He looked feral, like he was ready to kill her. His hand was holding her hard enough to bruise her. She wriggled, but he only tightened his grip. 

"You are going to bruise me." Zofia muttered with the little amount of movement her jaw was allowed. 

"Did you bathe?" He asked, attempting to tease her. His teasing came across as taunting. Zofia wriggled under him, eager to get free. He wanted to keep her there though. She closed her eyes as he inhaled her again, this time humming as if her scent was making him feel pleasure. It coursed through his spine and he was doing everything in his power to not have her right then and there. She pressed herself into the couch as hard as she could, gripping on to the armrests. 

"I did." She breathed. He smelled like ash, cinders. She wanted to move, but at the same time she wanted to bury her face in his clothes and just inhale that scent of his too. She resisted. Perhaps she was stronger than he was. He finally let go of her and she shot up to her bare feet. She didn't hesitate, she just started to run. Zofia hurried out of there, moving through the castle in search of a door. She found one and broke free into the bright outdoors. 

"Zozo, come down from there!" Niklaus called up the tree. Zofia gazed down at him, realizing that he was not as big as Draegon, but he was big too. His long, light hair reached his shoulders. Nik was studying to be a doctor, a noble doctor. She had seen him shirtless many times when they went to swim in the lake, and it was something that had her feeling crazy hormonal. She met Niklaus a while after her mother left. Zofia had been refusing to speak and he made her erupt into laughter. It felt like it was lifetimes ago. Niklaus and Bella had been walking together that day when they spotted Zofia crying underneath the very tree she was currently perched in. It was the place she came to when she felt like the world was too much of a burden to her. While Niklaus was her closest friend, Bella was this proper noble lady, who only ever cared about what was to happen to her family name, or who her future husband would be. She was a year younger than Zofia, just turned eighteen. Her dresses were beautiful and was made from the finest materials. She was selfish with them, never even wanting to give Zofia the ones that were way too small for her. She claimed that everyone would know it was hers, that people would look down on her for it. 

"I don't want to." Zofia complained down at him. He had kissed her once, about a year ago, with vague promises of marrying her after she was old enough. Nothing had come of that now, with Zofia sitting up in a tree while Draegon was probably completely unshaken by the way that he had grabbed her. It left an impression on her, enough to make her want to stay in the tree for the night. She wiped her tears off her jaw, but only managed to make herself whimper. He might have bruised her, she wasn't sure, but it sure as hell felt tender. 

"Alright then." He complained in his noble tone. Zofia had noticed years ago that she didn't talk like they did. She tried to, but it never came as naturally to her. She supposed that she was forever going to be a poor underclass girl. Zofia looked up from her blonde hair to find out what that grunting was. She immediately stopped sulking when she realized that Nik was climbing up the tree. She chuckled at his struggling, his figure too bulky to manage. His foot slipped, but he kept holding on to the branches. He looked up at her with the most handsome grin she had ever laid eyes on. She laughed more prominently, then stopped as soon as he was on her level. He settled beside her and simply sat there, like they occasionally did. The first time they had just sat like this, instead of running around, throwing rocks or being foolish children, was when Zofia went through puberty. He realized to take things easy with her, to treat her like a lady. She leaned in to his side and was soon allowed shelter from her sorrows by his arm. 

"What happened?" He asked her, his curious eyes moving over and scanning her. Zofia wiped her cheeks and looked back at him. He was still staring and she just shook her head. She didn't know how much he could see, if he saw a difference in her at all or not. She looked much different. She was cleaner, much better dressed. Perhaps paler from not eating that morning. 

"Nothing." Zofia assured him. "I just needed to be alone."She nodded, and he nodded. It was an attempt to convince him and to convince herself. 

"I heard about the king taking you, what does he want you for?" Nik questioned her. She looked over at him with wide eyes. Did he not see her attire, how she was dressed up like a noble woman? She couldn't tell him. She truly could not be the one to tell him that she was being forced to marry the king. She would be the queen, ruling over even him. What would happen of the promise he made her? Would he still want her? She opened her mouth, stuttering. 

"I don't know yet. I think maybe a... s-servant." She had been about to say slave, but she knew Nik had servants to. She tried to be understanding and sensitive, now she was in his shoes. Perhaps not entirely. 

"Do you want to come to the market with me?" He wanted to know, feeling a deep need to cheer her up. She shook her head at him but gave him a small smile. She really wasn't in the mood for the remnants of the market, especially not after being bought from her father there. "Alright, I'll just sit here with you then." He concluded, giving her a bright smile. 

Zofia quietly padded into the castle, her feet dirty from the afternoon she had. Somehow they had gotten out of the tree and started to play in the lake, then it got dark and Zofia wanted to get home, or to what she guessed her home now was. Her pale blue had a clear line across it to where she had gone into the water and the very edge was brown with the same mud that was caked on her feet. 

"Where have you been?" Juniper asked sharply as Zofia tried to trek through the hallway to her bedroom. It made her jump on the spot, nearly slipping as she landed. She had a bedroom next to the king's now and had been rather worried she would wake him. Juniper's tone would certainly wake him, if nothing else did. Zofia wondered if she would soon share a room with him. She hadn't seen his room and she was honestly too scared to just pop her head in there.She wouldn't be able to sneak out to see Nik. It would be terrible if she had to share with him. Maybe it would be even worse to have her own. She just couldn't imagine having to share a bed with him. Not even once a week. She imagined how he would grab her, growl orders at her. The idea heated her in some way, but before it could consume her, she shunned it away. 

"I was outside." She answered honestly, but feebly. 

"The whole day?" Juniper asked, huffing as she put her hands on her hips. Zofia stared at her and nodded. 

"I needed to clear my head. King Draegon gr..." She started, but Juniper cleared her throat. She widened her eyes and nodded her head to the door beside her. There was someone in there, but they were quiet. Juniper straightened her back, wordlessly telling Zofia to do the same. She nodded at her and followed her into the room. Juniper nearly pushed her inside before she left the two alone.

Zofia was alone in the room with him. She was nervous, fiddling with her hands. She wondered what he would think of the way she had ruined her dress. She nervously stepped closer, then sat down and picked the piping hot tea up that Juniper had set out for her. If the point was for them to be alone together, it was a bust. Zofia didn't want to be lured in by tea, but she was. She sipped at it and moaned softly, briefly, at how good and warm it was. Draegon stared at her. She looked over at him and wondered what they could possibly speak about.  

She was done with her tea before she decided to break the silence. "How long have you been king?" She asked. Could this not be over with? She hated him, and he only wanted to hurt her. She rubbed at the bruise he had left on her cheek. 

"I have actually lost count." Draegon answered. She was quiet then, so he tried to remember. She reached over and refilled her cup. "Perhaps... thirty years." He offered. Zofia blinked at him before she nodded into her teacup. 

"You don't look like you have reigned for that long." She pointed out. 

"Aging works differently for my family." he told her, staring still. He picked his tea up as well. 

"It's hot." Zofia reminded him. She always had to remind her sister if things were hot, despite she herself not feeling the heat. 

"I can handle it." he frowned at her, realizing that the piping hot liquid didn't bother her as much as it should have either. It was quiet between them after that. Zofia finished her second cup of tea and settled into the soft furniture. She still wanted to ask him why he had picked her, but before she could help herself, she had fallen asleep on the couch. 

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