Chosen Bride of the Seven Dark Princes

The transfer to Duke Erden's ship was uneventful.

Although Gwendolyn felt a bit uneasy leaving Lyra behind, she was having so much fun playing with all the musical instruments that Süren had gathered for her that Gwendolyn didn't have the heart to pull her away from it all.

It was a simple request by the Grand Duke, to help him with decorating the bare-bones Draken Claw, Gwendolyn could not refuse.

The man had risked his life to save her several times already. This would be a good way for her to repay her debt to him.

As she landed inside his hangar, the doors closed and the air stabilized. Gwendolyn stepped from a nice and warm atmosphere into the frigid cold darkness of the hangar.

It was a large chamber filled with rows and rows of pods in varying shapes and sizes. Most of them looked to be in good working condition but a few looked wrecked or in parts and pieces.

She looked around, made a few mental notes and continued moving forward with her design team of ten men and women.

As she walked through the hangar, Gwendolyn found it a bit strange to be unaccompanied by any of the Duke's people.

As a Princess in her father's kingdom, and then later as Royal Consort of the Erenveil Empire, she had lived her life having people accompany her everywhere she went. This lack of a 'meet-and-greet' ambassador of some type was odd, but strangely liberating.

Once they were inside the main areas of the ship, her people spread out and began their work in earnest, only coming to her for questions in regards to her choice of fabrics, colors, trims, and sizes.

The ship was large. She and the team spent all day and they were barely done with one section and she had still not seen hide nor hair of Erden.

By dinner time, Gwendolyn decided to go look for the Grand Duke Erden. At the very least, she should have dinner with him before returning to the Wyvern Fae.

Although the warship was massive, the one thing that was true about dragon architecture. It was very consistent.

The layout of the Draken Claw was exactly the same as the Wyvern Fae, down to the placement of seams and joints. It would have been so easy to get lost in such a huge structure, but Gwendolyn had become familiar with Süren's ship during the few days she had spent there, and this ship was no different.

It didn't take her long to find her way to the Command Deck, only to find a couple of dragon guards standing at stiff attention.

She was about to go up to them and ask for entry when a group of dragons moved towards the Command Deck and made their way towards the entrance of the Command Deck.

Gwendolyn quickly fell in line behind them and walked in without a by-your-leave.

The Command Deck was much like any other Command Deck that she had ever been on.

Gwendolyn's lack of knowledge about the various things that were flashing on the visuals monitors did not preclude her from grasping the highly secretive nature of the contents.

For a moment, she contemplated on turning back around and making a quick retreat, but it was already too late. The Grand Duke had caught sight of her, standing inside his Command Deck.

For a moment, his eyes glittered with fury. How in hell did she manage to walk into the Command Deck without anyone even realizing she was not part of the group?

He stood up and strode across the deck over to the elegant and silent form of the woman who had managed to slide into his Comand Deck with ease, his brows furrowed.

"Lady Gwendolyn." He gave a curt bow.

"Grand Duke Erdin." She replied with a nod.

"I'm sorry. Command Deck is off-limits to civilians and non-officers." Erden asked as he gathered her by the shoulders and walked with her out the entry doors.

"How did you get past my security?" He turned to the two men who were still standing there at rapt attention.

Neither dared look at him.

"I simply walked in unaccompanied." Gwendolyn responded.

"And they allowed you entry?" The Duke raised an eyebrow of incredulity.

"I didn't ask their permission. I just walked in, along with a group that were also walking in."

For a moment, Erden saw red. It looked like he was going to have to retrain every single warrior within his organization about security protocols.

He turned back to Gwendolyn, his eyes softening. It wasn't her fault. She was simply doing whatever it was that Gwendolyn did.

Whether that went against regulations or not, that was of no concern to her.

"Well now that you've gotten my attention, what can I do for you, Lady Gwendolyn?"

Gwendolyn smiled and tried not to show her frustration.

"I have been here all day working. I figured you could join me for dinner."

Erden reached out for her hand.

"I did not realize you were part of the design team that arrived earlier today or I would have sent a group to welcome you."

He led her to the elevator and took her to the Main Deck.

"To make up for my poor hospitality, please join me for a simple dinner at this time."

Gwendolyn nodded. "It would be my pleasure."

She expected him to take her to the main cafeteria where the troops normally took their meals, but the Grand Duke bypassed all that and led her into his private dining room.

The barely used room looked cold and uninviting, with little in the way of creature comforts.

Along one wall was the huge glass windows overlooking the deep darkness beyond. On the floor was a dark brown area carpet that did its best to cover some of the bare metal floor surface.

It did have a nice long metal table surrounded by a dozen metal chairs, but that was the only furniture that the private dining room offered.

Erden pulled out a chair for her and she sat, feeling the coldness of the metal leeching the warmth of her buttocks and legs away.

These chairs needed some serious cushions or covers, Gwendolyn mused to herself. It would be a cold dinner indeed if one's body was cold while trying to eat a warm meal.

As the staff brought in placemats and dinnerware, Erden concentrated his thoughts on the breathtaking woman seated before him.

Although he hadn't known that she had arrived with the design crew, once she began walking around his ship, he had known and followed along, wherever she went, throughout the ship.

He didn't want to tell her that he had been watching her lithe form wandering around his ship like a bewitching fairy, touching everything with her fairy dust.

He did not want her to feel creeped out, but this ship, as well as the Wyvern Fae, was a warship and this was wartime. Shipboard monitors were crucial and integral to the safety of the crew.

Everyone who stepped foot onto a warship knew that there were cameras everywhere, capturing visuals of everything that happened onboard in the event of enemy infiltration.

"So, how is the work going, Lady Gwendolyn?" He tried to make small conversation.

"Please call me Gwen." Her eyes danced. "It's a big ship and we've only covered a small section. It will take a few days to gather all the information we need to get started."

Erden nodded, feeling his heart getting pounded to a pulp by her brilliant blue eyes. "Will you be coming back after today?"

"Of course. There is a lot of work to do, and I have to be here to make sure things go as smoothly as possible."

He nodded again. It would be an interesting few days while she was here.

He didn't know how much work he would be able to get done, since he hadn't been able to concentrate much on what he needed to do.

Erden found himself completely taken in by her beauty. He had pretended not to care, acting as if he was doing a tremendous amount of work.

Meanwhile he had been unable to keep his mental focus on what he needed to do. His eyes kept following Gwendolyn around as she walked from area to area, directing and commanding the team of designers.

With her wandering around his ship, he was a hopeless quivering mess!