RISE OF THE FORSAKEN DRAGON HEIR

A PRICE HE WOULDN'T ACCEPT

Seraphina watched General Kael Varen hanging helplessly above the road, and for the first time since arriving in Asterion, she looked truly afraid. The Varethian soldiers around them were just as tense. Their weapons were lowered, but every eye remained fixed on their general as blood ran from his nose and ear.

“Please, Primordial Lord,” Seraphina said as she stepped closer. Her voice had lost all royal authority. “Spare him. He acted without my permission, and I will answer for what he has done.”

David looked at Kael for a long moment. His golden eyes showed no sympathy. “You cannot answer for another man's choices.”

Seraphina swallowed hard. “Then let him answer for those choices while he is still alive. Varethia has already buried enough soldiers.”

David slowly opened his hand.

The golden force around Kael vanished at once.

Kael dropped several feet and crashed onto the road like dead weight. Four soldiers rushed toward him immediately, turning him onto his back while another checked his pulse. Kael coughed violently and dragged air into his lungs as though he had been underwater.

“General, can you hear me?” one soldier asked while supporting his shoulders. Kael gave a weak nod, but panic entered his eyes when he tried to summon his Astral Essence. “My power... I still can't feel my power.”

Another soldier placed a hand over his chest. “Your pulse is strong. Don't force your Essence yet, General. Just breathe.”

Kael ignored the advice and looked toward David. There was no anger left in his expression now. Only pain, humiliation, and the knowledge that David could have killed him without moving from where he stood.

David's golden eyes slowly returned to normal. Without another word, he turned and began walking away.

The Varethian soldiers immediately moved aside.

No one ordered them to clear a path. They simply did it. The same men who had pointed rifles at David moments earlier now avoided even standing too close to him.

Seraphina stared after him, then panic crossed her face. “David, wait!”

He kept walking.

Seraphina hurried after him and dropped to her knees again. Before David could continue, she grabbed his leg with both hands. “Please don't leave. I know I have already asked too much, but tell me what you want. There must be something I can give you.”

David looked down at her with irritation. “Let go of me, Seraphina. I already gave you my answer.”

She shook her head and held tighter. “Then change your answer. If military command means nothing to you, I will give you something else.”

“I don't want anything from you.”

Seraphina's lips trembled. “Then take me.”

David's expression changed slightly. Several Varethian soldiers nearby looked toward their Empress in shock.

Seraphina continued before he could speak. “If you save Varethia, I will become your wife if that is what you want. If you don't want a wife, then I will serve you.”

David stared at her. “Do you hear what you're saying?”

“I hear every word,” Seraphina replied. Tears ran down her face, but she did not look away. “I will become your servant. Your slave, if that is what it takes. I will belong to you for the rest of my life, and I will not question what you ask of me.”

David's face hardened. “You would surrender your entire life for Varethia?”

“For my people,” she answered. “My life means nothing compared with millions of theirs.”

David tried to pull his leg free, but Seraphina continued desperately. “If you don't want me, then take our wealth. Varethia's sovereign wealth, Astral reserves, minerals, technology and treasury are worth more than a quadrillion. I will give you half.”

David looked at her as though the offer meant nothing. “You think money is the reason I refused you?”

“No,” Seraphina admitted. Her voice broke. “But I don't know what else to offer you. I am running out of things to give.”

“Then stop offering.”

“I can't,” she replied. “People are dying while I stand here begging you. Every minute I waste could mean another family is killed.”

David finally pulled his leg free from her grip. He did not kick her or hurt her, but the movement forced Seraphina's hands away. She remained on her knees as he stepped back.

“Listen carefully,” David said. “Whatever happens in Varethia doesn't concern me. Your wealth doesn't interest me. Your throne doesn't interest me. And I don't want you.”

Seraphina looked up at him, crushed.

David's expression remained cold. “Your people are not deserving of my help. I will say no more concerning that matter.”

He turned and walked toward the soldiers again.

The entire line opened for him.

Nobody dared raise a weapon. Even the stronger Astral wielders lowered their eyes as he passed. Kael remained seated on the road with two soldiers supporting him, but he made no attempt to stop David.

Seraphina slowly rose behind him. Her face was wet with tears, but frustration was beginning to mix with her desperation. “I don't understand you!”

David stopped.

She took a few steps toward him. “I offered you command over two million soldiers. I offered you half the wealth of Varethia. I even offered myself to you.”

David remained silent.

Seraphina's voice became louder. “What more can I possibly offer? How can your hatred be greater than everything I have placed before you?”

David slowly turned around.

His face changed when he looked at her.

“Because you still don't understand what Varethia took from me,” he said. “Varethia destroyed my mother. You destroyed her name, her honor and everything she worked hard to build.”

Seraphina lowered her eyes. “David...”

“You called an innocent woman a traitor,” David continued. His voice stayed controlled, but the anger underneath it was clear. “You sent her away carrying shame that belonged to your government, not her. I watched what that did to her.”

Seraphina wiped tears from her cheek. “Do you truly believe everyone in Varethia deserves what is happening because of what we did to your mother?”

David stared at her without hesitation. “They deserve everything they are getting.”

Several soldiers stiffened at those words, but none dared challenge him.

Seraphina looked at David for several seconds. She was exhausted, humiliated and rejected, yet something stubborn remained in her eyes. “Then I will keep asking.”

David frowned slightly. “You should stop.”

Seraphina shook her head. “I can't. You may reject me tonight, and you may reject me tomorrow, but I will not give up. Until Varethia is safe, I will keep trying to convince you to save it.”

David studied her for a moment.

Then a small smile appeared on his face.

“We will see about that.”