Drakkon

Drakkon 2 (Black Jade) - four

Lanfen laced her fingers together tightly until her skin was parched white. She tried to keep up a noble image for Daiyu's sake, since anything she did would reflect on Daiyu, but it was hard when so many people were staring and breathing and just existing so close to her. She even slinked over to the back of the room and hoped that no one would notice her, and yet their eyes followed her almost everywhere. She wanted to sink deeper into her chair and disappear altogether, but that wasn't possible.

Her breathing was controlled as she drilled holes into her lap. She wanted nothing more than to get up and leave. Men ambled back and forth, glaringly obvious in her peripheral vision. They revolted her in every manner and sense. They were huge, intimidating, and uncomfortable.

No matter how much she wanted to leave, she couldn't. I have to be here for Daiyu, she told herself over and over again like a mantra. Daiyu's image, which was already notoriously mysterious and unstable, was more important than her discomfort. At least that's what she told herself.

Breathe in. Breathe out.

Breath in. Breath out.

It was always like this whenever she went in crowds. It was suffocating and sickening. She always felt like she was sinking and drowning in sludge whenever she found herself among a group like this. Even back home she avoided markets or heavily packed places. But here in the palace, events were an everyday thing and it was harder to avoid.

She raised her eyes and was met with a pair of sinisterly red eyes. Her heart dropped and all the air was knocked out of her. A precipitating fear lodged in her throat. That demon was watching her again.

He was horrifying to look at. She could never get used to his appearance—especially his eyes, they were the scariest of all. The whites of his eyes were black, while his pupils were bloodred. He had an appearance that could make grown men quake in their feet. Two horns were nestled on his gray head, making him look even more otherworldly.

Remus was always watching her. Daiyu told her it was because he wanted to be friends with her, but she didn't buy it. There was something off about him. She had seen him drenched in blood and that only solidified her thoughts. He wanted to kill her or hurt her. That must've been it. Because why would an evil demon like him want to be friends with her?

He had them all fooled. There was no way he was a kind hearted soul like everyone said.

Lanfen flinched and averted his gaze, her breaths becoming shallower and more labored. Why was he so fixated on her? His gaze made her skin crawl.

Breathe in. Breathe out.

She tried to focus on the threading of her dress, but she could still feel him watching. The nauseating feeling in her stomach intensified.

Breathe in. Breathe out.

"Oh, I can't believe she made an appearance here," a man said to Lanfen's right. Rubies clung to his necklace while he brushed a hand over his embroidered robes. "She's gorgeous, as always."

"You'd think age would make her ugly, but she still retains her beauty," another noble, dressed similarly, said with a hint of lust in his voice.

Lanfen shifted in her seat and spared a quick glance at the nobles. They were close to her, but they either didn't see her or didn't take her seriously enough to lower their voices. She followed their gaze to a woman a dozen feet away from them. Lanfen could tell they were talking about her because even her own eyes were drawn to her. She was stunning.

She appeared to be in her early to mid-thirties. She wore a cobalt blue dress that was accentuated by her matching gold and sapphire jewelry. The neckline dipped just enough to show a hint of her cleavage, which all the men in her close proximity seemed to glance at every now and then. Her eyes were large and light brown, and she had a soft twist to her lips whenever she spoke, as if she always had something witty or sensual to say.

Lanfen's heart ached in muted envy at the sight of her; if only she could be as confident and beautiful as that lady. Maybe then things would be different.

"She used to be the flower of our empire back in my youth," the noble said with a sigh. "Even then, I wanted to ravish her. I was hoping the years would make her old and ugly."

The other noble laughed. "Why would you want that?"

"She annoys me with how cocky she is." He scoffed. "And she rejected my proposal back in the day."

"Mingxia is beautiful, but she's not attainable."

"A widow like her should be grateful to even get a proposal. Who would want a woman with kids? She's much past her prime."

The second noble laughed again. "Why do you sound so jilted? No need to be bitter because she rejected you. You must've proposed to her again, didn't you?"

He blushed. "I did no such thing."

Lanfen's nose crinkled in disgust at the two men who were openly gawking at the woman, lady Mingxia. This was just another reason men disgusted her. They acted like women were commodities to be bought, sold, and used until they had their fill.

"Lanfen?"

She jumped and whipped her head up to meet the demon's red-black gaze. Her throat closed up and sweat beaded her forehead. He was standing in front of her, his hands folded together in front of him, as if to make him appear younger and smaller.

Lanfen pressed against the back of her seat, her heart thumping so loudly she was sure he could hear it.

"Are you, um, enjoying the party?" His voice was soft, betraying his scary exterior.

"Yes." She turned her head away.

"You're lying."

She bit her bottom lip. He could read emotions. She remembered Daiyu mentioning something about that. She didn't want him looking inside her heart and seeing everything she wanted to bury.

"Leave me alone," she whispered, glancing to her right and her left. Even the nobles that were talking earlier were now inching away from them, their faces colored white in nervousness.

"But I want to make sure you're ok—"

"I'm fine."

"No, you're not—"

"I'm fine," she said, her voice growing quieter as she searched for an exit. There were so many people clustered in groups that weaving around them would be difficult.

"But I can tell that you're nervous."

"I—" She jumped to her feet and pushed past him. "I have to go."

She didn't give him time to react as she barreled her way towards the exit. She bumped into a few nobles on the way there, but she ignored whatever retort they had as she hastened her steps. Her heart felt like it would leap out of her throat. She needed to breathe, and yet everything around her was sucking the life out of her.

It wasn't until she ran into the hallway that she could finally breathe. She didn't dare look over her shoulder to see if the demon was behind her, for fear that he would take that as an invitation to follow. She could still feel his evil eyes on her, watching her. 

*

*

*

Author's note: 

As a reminder, the next chapter is already uploaded to my Instagram @ authormahamfatemi  

Everyone who's a fan of Remus and Lanfen is probably (hopefully) getting excited to see that they'll be in this book! This story will follow Daiyu primarily, but it will have snippets of the other characters! Some will fall in love, others won't, and some will be heartbroken ... 

Anyway! So, for those that don't know, I have a book that follows Lanfen's pov, called Daemonium, but I will not be following the content of that story in this story. I explained more about it on my Insta post under chapter 4 if you're interested in reading that. 

This story will update every FRIDAY. My instagram will always be 1-2 chapters ahead of Wattpad, so if you're interested, check it out. 

Thank you for reading this story and keeping up with me <3

Maham