Treasure Of Dragons, Royal Dragons Book 1 Chapter 50

Drago

Ria begins, “I was raised in hell. There’s no other way to describe that house, it was hell. When I finally thought I had escaped, instead I was thrown into another one, not as bad I’ll admit, but another place where I was assaulted repeatedly and used for my body, for what they could get from me. So, I ran, and I lived on the streets for years, because at least the danger on the streets I could see coming and defend myself against. That was a more honest danger, that didn’t try to parade itself as something good. Then a miracle occurred and I found a family, and love, and laughter, and happiness, I have never, ever known in my entire life. Then I met you innocently enough, at a farmer’s market, buying cherries so my mom could make us all a pie. Then you told these bastards about me, and they came for me.” 

She paused and took a deep breath, “Once again, the danger paraded as something innocent, this time friendship of all the fucking things. So, believing I had found a friend, someone I could trust in this new scary environment, after all the other shit I had escaped, I thought I had found another safe place. I was deceived, and I was once again ripped from everything happy and good in my life. Once again, someone wanted to use me for what I could give to them. I wasn’t asked, I wasn’t given a choice, I was forced because of the whims of others. Now, because of that, my family is all dead. So, that is why I hate you so incredibly much.”

“But, your dragon, she would be happy here with others.” Mrs. Stoica whispered in continued confusion.

Ria laughed, but it wasn’t a happy laugh, “Oh, god, yeah my dragon, the fucking bitch that I hate. If I could rip her out of me I would do it in a second. I fucking hate her as much as I do everyone else who keeps thinking it’s okay to use me to get what they fucking want. She doesn’t care as long as she gets hers, she couldn’t give less of a fuck what I think or feel about it. So, if I could get rid of her or destroy her I would, gladly.”

I was speechless. I had never, ever heard someone talk about their dragon like that. I had always seen the partnership with one’s dragon as almost a kinship. I had never seen such hatred and animosity directed between the person and the beast inside. I had no idea how to process that. I mean, I know that her dragon forces her hand with us, but I didn’t know that it helped to create this absolutely horrible situation. 

“You know I had blood siblings. I had 5 of them as a matter of fact.” My jaw was probably on the floor hearing that. There was no record anywhere of her having siblings. 

“They all died, do you know why? They died because they weren’t like me. He punished them because they weren’t like me. I don’t know if it was because they didn’t have a dragon at all, or weren’t a “Royal Dragon”, so being a Royal Dragon Female, or hell just having this thing inside me, basically got both my families killed.”

“Braun had this thing he always said. He had this whole speech he'd give to me. He told me he would always take everyone away from me. That he would never let me have anyone besides him. No one could ever take me away from him, and I was created to be owned, and had no value outside of what he took from me."

She says that in a complete monotone. Then she just stops talking. We just watch her, reeling from what she's said. She's compared us to Braun, her stepfather before. Now, I understand why her mind has made that connection. 

It's good to have some pieces of the puzzle, but damn, that hurts, to do something so similar to something he did. That explained why she jumped off the battlements that day. After once again having everyone ripped away, and feeling like she was nothing but a vessel for our babies, or what we could get from her.

I had absolutely no idea what to possibly say about that. I am not even sure how to process all that to be honest. 

“So, you all want something from me. You both decided I was nothing but some toy, something for the great “Royal Dragons” to play with. You set so much shit in motion, just because you couldn't leave me the fuck alone.”

“So now I'm once again worthless aside from a hole for them to fuck, a womb to carry their children, and a pet to parade to their adoring fans. So I hope now you understand the absolute depth of my hatred, and why it exists."

With that, she walked to me, and I realized she was barely holding it together. I moved and let her walk out the door.

All of us just remained quiet and still in the wake of all that information. I saw tears falling down Natalia’s face as she understood why Ria had never even considered forgiving her for her betrayal as she saw it. I also understood better why being here with us and being forced to stay and never leave would awaken all of those old nightmares. Yes, we weren’t abusive like him, but we still took from her without permission. We had taken her to begin with without permission, even though we truly believed it was warranted. Perhaps to someone without her history it would have been, but for someone who had escaped all that she had, and had at last found happiness, to lose it all to us, must have been the ultimate nightmare.