The Dragon Princess (Crystalosias - Saga - Book One)

Sahrah sat on the couch in hers and Derks chamber as she waited for her mate to come to her summons. She wasn’t sure if it would work, she has never summoned anyone before. She looked at the ring in her hand and took a deep breath. She knows Dextonian men do not wear jewelry, but maybe he will wear it, for her. Whether they get married like her people or not, she is his and he is hers, and this ring will represent that.

“You wanted to see me, Spitfire?” Derk said as he entered their chamber.

When Trey had shown up and told him that Sahrah needed him, his first thought was the Crystals, but then he had calmed. Trey looked too relaxed, for something to have happened to his mate or their son.

Sahrah smiled at Derk. “I wasn’t sure if you would come.”

Derk grinned as he joined her on the couch. “I will always come when you summon me. Unless I’m in an important meeting. But I will come immediately after.”

She smiled as she turned to him. “I have something that I would like to give to you.”

He looked down at her hands and frowned when he saw a cut on one of her fingers. “What happened?” He asked as he pulled her finger up to inspect it.

“I just cut myself on a broken ornament. No big deal.”

His frown deepened as he kissed the small cut.

A chill crawled up her spine. You have to do this; before you attack him. She told herself.

“Derk.” She said as she pulled her hand away from him.

“Yes, Sahrah?”

“I know your men don’t wear jewelry, but there is something I want you to wear for me.”

His eyebrows shot up as he watched her.

With a deep breath, she picked up the ring with her fingers and presented it to him. “This ring will show my people that you are my Warrior.”

“A ring?” He asked as he stared at the jewelry.

“It is a man’s ring.” She said with a giggle at the look on his face. “It will fit you; I hope, you are bigger than any man on my planet.”

He grinned as he looked into her eyes.

She took a breath to steady her heart. “If you let me get through this, I promise we can go to the room when I’m done.”

His face changed to one of admiration rather than desire, and she almost laughed.

“This ring was given to me by my Uncle. He told me that it had been made for me, to give to my husband.”

“Like Trey was given to me for my mate.” He said with a nod.

She smiled. “Right. Even though you are not legally my husband, yet, you are my husband in my heart. And we are, I guess, in a sense, married by your planets laws.” She said as she looked at him.

He nodded with confirmation and she continued.

“Though I would like for you to be my husband as well as my mate, that can wait. But I would like you to wear this ring. It will show everyone who is from my planet, who you are mated to...” She stopped talking when his lips came down on hers.

When they finally separated from the kiss, she was breathing heavily. “Derk, I said...”

“You said when you are finished.” Derk said as he took the ring from her. “And you are finished.” He looked at the ring. “What finger do I put it on?”

She giggled. “This one.” She said as she took the ring from him and placed it onto the ring finger, of his left hand. “It connects the ring to your heart.”

He stared at the ring. “To my heart?”

She chuckled. “Well, I don’t know about your people, but the veins in that finger, connect directly to our heart.”

He smiled. “What is the stone? Is it Crystal?”

She nodded. “A very old and powerful Crystal, so my Uncle told me. He said it was made for a strong Warrior, and he knew I would be the one to find him.”

Derk grinned as he pulled her into his arms. “Can we go to the bedroom now?”

She grinned. “Oh, yes.”

**

“A ring?” Bentin asked as he looked at the jewelry on his friend’s finger.

“She said it identifies me as her husband.” Derk said.

“Oh, she gave you the Crystal ring.” Austen said as he looked at the ring on the Tasheen’s finger.

Derk looked at his mate’s best friend. “Do you know about this ring?”

Austen smiled. “I was there when her Uncle gave it to her. He had told her that she would know when it was right to give it to someone. Only the strongest can withstand a Crystal, like that. And you look to be holding your own just fine.” He said with a grin.

“You are talking strange again.” Bentin grumbled.

Austen laughed. “Okay, simply put. That ring is very powerful. No one has ever been given one. Why her Uncle gave it to her, I don’t know. But he entrusted her with it, somehow he knew she would be the one to find the man who could wear it.”

“So, it’s not a ring for her husband?” Derk asked.

“Oh no, it is. All males from my planet wear a ring that symbolizes their marriage, see.” Austen said as he held up his left hand. “But that ring is different. That ring was meant for a Warrior.” He said with a grin. “And if she had it packed in her bags, that means she had meant to give it to you, two years ago.”

Derk smiled. That knowledge made him happy.

“So, it has Crystal powers?” Bentin asked as he continued to study the ring on his Tasheen’s finger.

Austen nodded. “More than someone from Poh-eh-nah could handle.”

“This all sounds like you and your Spitfire were meant to be.” Bentin said with a smile. “You were destined to find each other.”

Derk snorted. “I don’t believe in destiny.”

“Yet here you are, with the fire spitter.” Bentin said.

“Wait, what?” Austen asked as he stared at them.

Bentin and Derk turned to Austen.

“What you hear today, will never leave this room.” Derk said as he watched his mate’s best friend.

**

“Can I go outside?” Sahrah asked with a frown. She has been cooped up inside the palace for the past week and she was going crazy.

Derk chuckled. “I have a meeting with my father and a few of his men, in a few minutes, but I guess you can go to the market, just outside the palace walls.”

She grinned as she jumped into his arms and kissed him. “Thank you.”

He smiled. “You know, I have a few minutes...”

She tilted her head back and laughed as he carried her off to bed. They made love in a bit of a hurry, but it was no less enjoyable. When they finished he watched her dress.

“Don’t forget to wear...”

“Your sash, yes, I know.” She said with a smile as she pulled the sash off a hanger and tried pinning it to her shoulder. “Damn thing.” She grumbled.

He chuckled as he moved over to her and helped her pin it together. “And take Trey with you.”

She smiled up at him. “But of course. Who do you think is going to tell me what everything is?”

He chuckled. “Be safe. And if anything, and I mean, anything happens, come straight home.”

She frowned. “Thanks, Derk, now you’ve jinxed my trip.”

He laughed. “Be safe, Spitfire, I will see you tonight.”

They quickly kissed, then went their separate ways.

**

“This is incredible.” Sahrah said as she and Trey walked through the market. “Your planet is so futuristic, yet you blend the old with the new.”

Trey smiled. “The Dextonian’s do enjoy their markets.”

Sahrah chuckled. “What’s going on over there?”

Trey looked in the direction Sahrah was pointing and smiled. “I do believe that is the fight arena.”

Sahrah’s eyes shined. “Can we go see?”

Trey nodded. “Stay close to me.”

They made their way to the arena and watched the battles. Sahrah found a few weaknesses in the men and enjoyed herself immensely. After a couple of hours of being on her feet and forgetting to eat breakfast, because she had been too excited, Sahrah was ready to check out more of the market.

“I saw you study them. Did you find things that no one else saw?” Trey asked as they headed back to the market. “Like you did with Tasheen.”

Sahrah grinned. “I did.”

“Will you tell me, so I can store it in my memory banks? Tasheen may need them at some point, and I know he will be happy to have them...”

Sahrah laughed. “Did you just recruit me, Trey?”

Trey smiled. “Whatever do you mean, Tashia?”

Sahrah shook her head and told her robot what she had found in the fighters.

“Tashia.” A woman said as she bowed to Sahrah in passing.

Sahrah nodded to the woman, then looked at Trey. “She’s not the first one to figure out that I’m the Tashia. I know it’s not the sash, Derk said every woman he protects, wears one. So then what is it?”

Trey chuckled her robotic laugh and placed her hand on Sahrah’s shoulder. “It is me, Tashia.”

“Oh, right, only the Tashia has a companion like you.”

Trey nodded. “And the Tasheen. The Kentrei has one, but I do believe he is still just a computer.”

“Derk has one? But I have never seen it.”

“It is a De class like me. I think Tasheen shut him down when he left for your planet.”

“Will he turn him on again?”

Trey nodded. “When he needs him.”

“I would love to meet Derks companion.” Sahrah said with a smile.

Trey looked down at Sahrah’s stomach when it growled. “You are hungry, Tashia.”

Sahrah rubbed her stomach. “In my excitement to come out here, I forgot to eat breakfast.”

Trey actually tsked at her. Sahrah laughed.

“I will find you food. You are eating for two, Tashia. Stay right here, I won’t be long.”

“Okay.” Sahrah said with a nod. She knows she is safe without Trey, as long as she has Derk’s sash on.

Sahrah looked at the wonders around her. It was like being in the past and the future, at the same time. She loved it here, she knows she will stay on Dextonia, even after they save her planet. This is where her mate belongs, and so does she, now.

A tirade of people stormed past her on their way to the arena. Sahrah squealed as she was jostled around. She felt something snag at her shoulder and watched as her sash was ripped off her shoulder and tossed to the ground; when a man shoved past her.

“Great. I never could get that thing to stay on properly.” She grumbled as she tried to look for the sash. “And now it’s probably broken.”

She spotted the sash a few feet from her and sighed with relief. Hopefully, no one will catch her before she grabs it.

That hope went out the window; when a large man grabbed her by the arm and turned her to face him.

“Aren’t you a pretty little thing.” The Warrior said as he looked her over.

Sahrah snorted. “Sorry, but I already have my own Warrior.” She said as she tried to escape his grasp.

He held her arm and she wanted to scream. But she didn’t want to fight with him, she has the baby to think of. Instead, she stomped on his foot. When he released her arm from shock, that she had attacked him, she turned to go after her sash again.

“Where do you think you’re going?” The brute asked as he grabbed her by the hair, not too gently.

“Let me go.” Sahrah growled. “I am already taken.”

“I see no sash.” He said as he yanked her by the hair and pulled her against his chest. “You have a very nice... form.” He said as his other hand slid over her body.

She shivered in disgust. Where the hell was Trey?

“If I wasn’t with child right now, I would be kicking your ass.”

The man laughed.

She recognized him from the arena, he had been one of the fighters she and Trey had watched. He’s nothing like Derk, she knows she could beat him, without using his weakness, but she couldn’t chance him harming her son.

“You shouldn’t be out here, without a sash, if you are already mated to someone.” He said as he sniffed her hair. “I could see your hair, all the way from the arena. I prayed you were untaken.”

“Well, I’m sorry, but your prayers weren’t answered. I am very much taken. By your Tasheen, to be exact.”

The man laughed. “Tasheen has no mate. He is more interested in traveling the stars.”

“Do you want to chance that?” She asked with a squeal.

He laughed. “You are feisty. I like that.”

“Please.” She begged. “My sash fell off; it is right over there...” She stopped talking as he spun her in his arms.

“Likely story. I let you go, and you run away. No, fire-hair, you are mine now and I will not let you go.”

Sahrah started to cry. “Please don’t. I am telling you the truth. You can go with me to retrieve my sash...”

She stopped talking when his lips came down on hers and she gagged as tears streamed down her cheeks. “But I am with child, you wouldn’t hurt...”

“I don’t care how you came to be with child. You are not from Dextonia, so our rules don’t apply to you. And once the babe is born, I know a family who would be happy to take it off my hands...”

At that, Sahrah screamed. A scream to outshine all screams. The man let go of her hair to cover his ears.

“Shut up!” He hollered as he raised his hand to hit her.

“You would dare, hit a woman with child?!”

Sahrah cried out, she has never been so happy to hear Trey’s voice.

“Trey.” She sobbed.

Trey was holding the man’s arm up in the air, as she glared at him, then looked at Sahrah. “Tashia, where is your sash?”

“It was knocked off me, when the crowd rammed past me, to head to the arena.”

Trey frowned. “I shouldn’t have left you in the middle of the street. Go get your sash, we are going home.”

Sahrah nodded as she went to retrieve her sash and brushed the mud off it. “They broke the pen.” Sahrah said with a frown.

“Give it to me.” Trey said as she held her free hand out to Sahrah.

Sahrah handed it to her and the robot mended it, then handed it back to her. “Put it on.”

Sahrah nodded as she clasped the muddy sash to her shoulder.

“She is the Tashia?” The man asked, his eyes bulging from their sockets.

Trey ignored the man. “We are going now.” She said as she turned and headed back to the Palace, with the man’s arm still in her grasp.

“Trey, what are you going to do with him?” Sahrah whispered. She walked as far away from the man as she could, but never left Trey’s sight.

“He assaulted the Tashia, I must report him.” Trey said.

“No, please no, I’m sorry.” The man begged.

“I cannot release you, it is in my program. Not until the Tasheen gives the order.”

Sahrah wasn’t as happy about her trip anymore. She knew Derk had jinxed it!

**

Derk listened to his father’s men, as they discussed what the plan was, to help save his mate’s home planet.

“Kentrei, Tasheen, Tashia is back from the market and wishes to speak with you.” A guard said as he entered the room.

Derk looked at the guard. “Sahrah? Is she okay?”

“I do not know, her robot won’t say anything but that she demands an audience, she said she wants her arm released.” The guard said.

Derk jumped to his feet. That only meant one thing, something happened at the market.

“Let them in.” Tentah said as he stood next to his son.

“Derk.” Sahrah cried as she entered the room and ran to him.

“Sahrah, what happened?” Derk asked as he took her into his arms and held her.

“This mongrel attacked her.” Trey said with anger, as she entered the room.

Derk saw the man his mate’s robot was holding by the arm, he looked to be in pain.

“What happened?” Derk demanded.

“I thought she was without protection, I only wanted to offer her mine.” The man said, and Derk read his words as a lie.

Derk looked at his mate. “Where was your sash?”

She explained to him what had happened with her sash and how, when she had tried to retrieve it, he had captured her. She started to cry as she told him of the man’s threat to give their son to someone else, and how it had made her scream. She collapsed against him, as the tears flowed.

Everyone looked at the mud on her sash.

Derk has never seen his mate so scared before. She could have taken this brute out easily. But with their child... She didn’t want to chance hurting their son. He sighed as he held her. A Warrior who had to hold back her natural instincts.

“What do I do with this one?” Trey asked.

“Put him into the dungeon.” Tentah said.

“Sire!” The man hollered.

“You lied to my son, that is worth three days in the dungeons.”

“How do you know she’s not the one lying? She’s not from this planet...”

“Eight days.” Tentah said with a growl. “For calling my daughter a liar.”

“Trey, release the man to the guard.” Derk said.

With a heavy sigh, the robot did as her Tasheen ordered.

“I’m sorry.” Sahrah cried.

“Father, may I be excused to tend to my mate?”

“Of course, son.” Tentah said as he touched Sahrah’s hand. “You did a fine job, protecting your young, Daughter.”

Sahrah smiled at her mate’s father, then let Derk take her from the room.