Chapter 199 - Get Off My Man!

The Crown Prince Lkhagvasüren was at the helm, monitoring several pirate ships that looked to be wandering into their immediate space.

He was expecting them.

This was not the mostly friendly space of civilization. This was the wild untamed region that only the most fortified and guarded merchant ships dared traverse.

"Your Royal Highness. The pirate ship is hailing."

"Answer." He commanded.

An instant later, a visual monitor popped up and Crown Prince Dante's familiar face popped up.

"Hey. How's the traveling so far?"

Süren gave a bright smile. "It's been smooth sailing up to this point. I had a mild panic attack though, with the pirate ships converging in on my group."

"Hey, I'm sorry to worry you. I told them to escort your ships through this territory just in case other pirates bothered you."

Süren nodded and clasped his hands in front of his chest.

"I appreciate it."

"It's not your ass I'm trying to keep safe." Dante chuckled. "It's my little sister and Mother Gwen. How are they?"

"Would you like to speak to them yourself?"

"Could I?"

Süren grinned and placed a call through to their quarters. Within minutes, the soft gentle face of Royal Consort Gwendolyn appeared.

The soft warm light shone on her skin making her look far younger and more vulnerable than her 43 years of age.

"Dante!" Lady Gwendolyn exclaimed. "Is everything alright at home?"

"Mother Gwen." He smiled. "Everything is going as well as can be expected. We managed to push back the skirmish line. There are still pockets of fighting, but with reinforcements from Emporia and Slate's forces, we've managed to end this fairly quickly."

He glanced over at Süren, who was still standing at the helm and sharing a split screen with Mother Gwen.

"How is the little monkey Lyra."

"I am not a monkey." Lyra's exasperated face popped up from behind Lady Gwendolyn. She had just awakened from a nap; her lips were swollen pink, her lids drowsy.

Just the simple vision of his Lyra barely awake flipped Süren's stomach over a couple of times. His lovesick face must have shown clearly because Dante laughed and waved a hand.

"Go back to sleep. I just wanted to make sure you and Mother Gwen are doing well."

Lyra waved with a smile and disappeared from the screen.

Lady Gwendolyn turned back to Dante. "Thank you for worrying about us, Son."

Dante winked. "If I don't worry about my family, who do I worry about? Take lots of visuals, enjoy Avalia and the dragon worlds. You deserve a long extended vacation."

"I hope things will stabilize in Erenveil."

"Don't worry about Erenveil. I will handle everything here."

"Thank you Dante." She nodded and also disconnected from the call.

"They look well." Dante turned back to Süren with a grin. "Thank you for taking good care of them. Have you figured out what you are going to do with your fiancée from Avalia?"

Süren nodded. "I am going to break off the engagement with her. I will ask your sister to be my wife in three years, when she reaches the age of consent."

"Three years is a long time, Süren. A lot of things can happen in three years."

Süren gave Dante a narrowed gaze.

"Let me ask you this. If your new bride asked you to wait three years for her, would you refuse, saying it's a long time and a lot of things can happen in three years?"

Dante smiled. "It's different for me. I don't have another fiancée waiting in the wings."

Süren folded his arms across his chest and stared at Dante.

"What would you do in my situation?"

"Oh that's easy. I clear out the things I don't like and demand the things I want. To do that, I must stand in the position of power. Without power, my words don't have the force behind it."

"I need to begin amassing power." Süren nodded.

"There are many ways to acquire power. You can get it through weaponry, political liaisons, or great wealth. If you have all three, even better."

"Understood. Thank you Brother." Süren gave a nod of deference.

"You're welcome. I'm not your brother yet, but I look forward to the day when we are truly brothers. Don't hurt her or I will come after you and make you regret it."

Süren shook his head. "She holds my heart in her hand. If there is one who gets hurt, it will most likely be me."

A long time after Dante signed off, Süren was still standing there, staring out into the dark void filled with billions and billions of bright stars.

The three things that Dante told him continued to reverberate around his brain.

Weaponry, political liaisons, great wealth.

Those were things that would allow him to protect Lyra. Anything else was extraneous.

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Two days later, the Crown Prince Lkhagvasüren and his entourage reached the capital city of the Dragons, Avalia.

"We will be landing at the Royal spaceport within the hour. Get ready to receive us." Süren announced to his men below.

Avalia was a blue green world with touches of white at the poles where ice never melted.

Leaving the warship in orbit, Süren, Lyra and Lady Gwen took a transport pod down to the surface of the planet where they landed on a spaceport a short distance from the royal palace.

"Ready?" He turned to Lyra and her mother.

Lyra nodded, grinning like a monkey. "I'm so excited! I finally get to see a world other than Erenveil. I cannot wait!"

Süren smiled with adoring eyes at the girl with the dazzling blue eyes standing by his side. He reached out for her hand.

"I will personally show you my world in all its shining details. You will get to know everything about the dragon way of life."

Lyra placed her hand in his and they waited anxiously as the pod opened up. It was barely noon, current time. The sun was shining in a bright azure sky.

Before them, a winter wonderland spread out before their eyes. Snow had fallen the night before, leaving a chilly layer of crystal fluff covering everything.

"Hah!!!" Lyra gasped, covering her mouth with amazement. "Your world is beautiful!"

Süren laughed.

It was just the boring spaceport where pods landed. The real beauty of Avalia's most beauteous sights hadn't even been shown to her yet, and his little Lyra was already excited over a little snow on the landing pad.

Oh, he was going to enjoy showing her his world, pamper her with everything that money could buy. He could not wait to spoil her with everything at his fingertips just to see her smile.

Süren, Lyra, and Lady Gwen had barely disembarked from the transport pod when a large group of people ran up to greet them.

"Süren!" A girl with long chestnut brown hair yelled out and ran to him.

Without waiting for him to respond, the girl jumped into his arms, wrapping her legs around his torso and kissing him in front of everyone standing there.

Süren didn't even have a chance to react when out of nowhere, Lyra reached out and grabbed onto the girl's long chestnut hair.

With a hard yank, she jerked the girl backwards by the hair, causing her to tumble to the ground.

"Get off my man, Bitch!" **

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** Bitch, in this sense is female dog. Lyra is half wolf so she calls other females who are not friends or family 'bitches' because it's the proper form of 'girl dog'.. However, we can also think of it as Lyra being aggressive and bitchy too.