The Dragon's Rose Page 26

  Nevertheless, he rushed off, returning several minutes later with a steaming tankard, and a spoon.

  “I thought it might be too difficult to drink directly, so you might need the cutlery,” he explained quietly.

  I managed a smile and tried to sit up. I got most of the way there, but I was feeling dizzy again, and my body didn’t seem to want to cooperate. Gael noticed of course, what didn’t he notice, and helped pull me up, arranging some pillows behind me to lean against.

  I tried to whisper a thank you, but only another wheeze come out. “It’s fine. You can tell me everything later,” the Prince said comfortingly. “For now, think you can try at least a sip to whet your throat?”

  I couldn’t nod, and couldn’t speak, so I just settled with cautiously opening my mouth. The action only caused a slight wave of discomfort, but it faded quickly as I waited.

  The Prince looked uncertain for a moment, but recovered enough to carefully spoon out some of the liquid and deposit it on my tongue. I was grateful that I didn’t dribble some out of the corner of my mouth like an idiot, and let it slide to the back of my throat.

  The relief was almost instant. It was a warming, pleasant sensation, and I found myself able to swallow without the vicious stabs of agony. I waited a few moments, eyes closed while I savored the rich, homey flavors, before opening my mouth again.

  Dutifully, the Prince gave me another spoonful. I had to wonder a bit at the irony of a dragon royal serving me, a lowly human peasant, but I was too distracted by the delicious tea to concentrate on that for long.

  It was so strange. I had expected something sweet, or bitter, and definitely tasting only of plants. But the drink he served me was layered with salt, and undertones that were more in line with broth than the leafy-water I was used to. I certainly wasn’t complaining, but it was an interesting surprise.

  After a few more spoonful’s, I felt like I was ready to risk talking again.

  “Y-you saved me.” It was raspy at first, and much breathier than I would ever speak normally, but it was better than just a few minutes ago.

  “Of course. You have my deepest apologies that you were ever put into that position in the first place. I don’t know what Myrik was thinking, returning you to the pens dressed as you were, with our scent all over you.”

  “He was just following the Queen’s orders. And honestly—” I winced, my throat protesting at its use, so I sighed and opened my mouth again. Thankfully, Gael understood and spooned another bit of tea onto my tongue. I let it slosh around and do its magic a bit before swallowing to continue. “I would have been fine if this woman hadn’t shown up. I thought the plan had just started, but she’s pregnant. And she certainly didn’t seem happy about that.”

  The Prince’s face darkened at that. “That must have been Ashlynne. She was a wild woman that Jayne happened across when he was wounded and hiding from a hunting party. She found him, and nursed him back to health in his human form, and then he revealed himself to her and took her.”

  “That’s not how you’re supposed to show your gratitude, last I checked.”

  Gael nodded. “I know not what made him think that was honorable. The Queen thought as much also, and there were talks of banishment. But then it was discovered that she was with child and…” He rolled his shoulders uncomfortably. “That’s when the first talk of interbreeding began.”

  “But how do you know it’s viable? She’s still with child, what if it can’t survive on its own? Or just turns out to be completely human?”

  “My lady,” the Prince said softly. “Ashlynne has been with us for six of your years. This is her third child, and all of them have been healthy, live births with no defects. It was upon the birth of the second that the Queen could no longer fight the will of her people. We’ve been preparing the pens, and learning from her how to take care of you ever since. That is most likely how she knew to even go to the pens, or who you were. As a mother, she is allowed free roam wherever she wants.”

  “Except her home.”

  “Yes. Except that.”

  I didn’t know what to say, so I just opened my mouth again for him to pour more tea. How could I feel so attracted to a man whose people were doing something so terrible? Was I a monster that it didn’t seem to affect my opinion at all?

  But then the spoon was gone and it was his calloused hand gently touching my neck. The appendage was warm, and a welcome relief against the soreness still lingering there. “They bruised you quite badly. There was much to clean up after Cyphus laid still, but I’ll never forgive myself for assuming you were being tended to. It wasn’t until the morn that I heard that you had been left there over the night, I flew to you as quickly as I could.” He shook his head and I saw him visibly tense. “But when I saw them surrounding you, hurting you, it took everything in me not to set our own meadows ablaze.”

  The passion, the utter respect in his tone made desire pool in my belly. “But why am I so important to you? You don’t even know me. I could be a liar, and a spy.”

  His lavender eyes flicked to me, and instead of suspicion, I saw a knowing kind of resignation. “I cannot explain it, and you would think me a fool if I tried. I only know, from the moment you uttered my name, that you were not sent here by happenstance. I do not know whether it is the spirits that still hide in the depths, or fate, or what have you, but my world has never so narrowly focused on one human.”

  My face flushed and my heart picked up its tempo, and for once it wasn’t because I was terrified. Far from it. As silly as it sounded, I felt myself being drawn towards the Prince in all his shimmering, muscled glory. From his striking face, to his kind eyes, to his scent to his seemingly genuine desire to protect me from all harm.

  “I believe you could be the one who’s meant to save my people, if that’s not too audacious a claim to make. I’ve never met a human willing to stare down a dragon with nothing but their righteous fury and wit to see them t—”

  He stopped talking, but that was probably because I was kissing him. It hurt a bit to move, but it was a delicious sort of pleasure-pain that filled me as I pressed myself to him.

  He didn’t react at first, and I worried I should stop, but then his strong arms wrapped around me and pulled me to him like a vice.

  Appropriately enough, fire burned in my belly as our bodies touched, spreading throughout my veins in an exhilarating scourge. His hands were so large, gripping my back and side, squeezing me like a man holding onto his last lifeline in a vast ocean.

  My mouth worked against his, begging, pleading, reveling in his affection until suddenly he broke away.

  The sudden cut off in contact was jarring, and it took all of my maturity not to pout like a spoiled brat.

  “My deepest, humblest of apologies,” the Prince blurted, sliding off of the bed to kneel before me. Now I was really confused, and had no idea where he was going with this. “You were brought here against your will, and I have no right to take advantage of that. I did not save you in return for some sort of payment of the flesh, and I am truly shamed if my words made it seem so.”

  “Oh goodness. You silly, noble man.” I couldn’t help but laugh at the moment, although it probably wasn’t what the Prince wanted to hear. It’s just he was so…so lovely. So genuine.

  “I do not understand what humor you find in this situation, Lady Mercedes.”

  I reached up and pulled at his chin so he would look at me. “Just thinking how funny it was that you would say such kind words about me being powerful enough to save your people, but then thinking that you could force me to do anything that I wasn’t a willing party to.” I let go of his face and pulled him to me. “Or a happy instigator of.”

  “You’re saying that you did not kiss me because you felt you had to?”

  I shook my head. “Nope. Just got kinda caught up in the moment, which you’re currently kinda killing. So, if you can let down all those rules, protocols and what’s proper for a second, I’d like to kiss you again.”<
br />
  The resulting smile on the dragon’s face was almost devilish. “I think I can accommodate that request.”

  His mouth crashed to mind once more, and I let myself get swept away in the passion. At first I told myself that I only needed a little make out session, some much needed positive attention with something I was quite familiar with after so many days of uncertainty and surprises. But as my hands tugged at the thickly woven fabric of his tunic, and his scent filled all of my senses, I felt the growing desire for more.

  Gael seemed to be feeling much and the same, slowly moving forward from his kneeling position until I was flat on my back on the ornate bed, and he was over me. I didn’t release him for a second, even when he positioned his knees on either side of me.

  “You’re so beautiful,” he breathed, breaking away from our kisses to nip at the length of my neck. When I thought of what those teeth could do to me if he so wanted, I only felt myself grow hotter. That probably was not an appropriate response to possible lethal weapons, but I didn’t care. I was sinking into a blissful, burning celebration of my body and I wasn’t going to stop it for anything.

  Our bodies moved against each other, rising and falling against each other in a needy rhythm. My fingers wrapped around the thick belt at his waist, and I yanked at it insistently. He laughed, and disentangled himself from me and worked the buckle. I didn’t waste a second, yanking his tunic up and over his head.

  I let a giddy laugh bubble up out of my throat, letting my tongue’s tip languidly travel along the muscled scape exposed to me. The skin of his torso was much paler than his face and arms, and dotted with scars. My fingers traced along the toughened echoes of past wounds, wanting to feel and get to know everything I could about this compelling Prince.

  He was on his own mission, his strong broad hands wrapping around my waist. I felt him squeeze a bit, then suddenly flip me over.

  I gasped in surprise, unsure of what was happening next but thrilled with the display of strength. I heard the ripping of laces behind me, and then the constrictive bodice loosened. I breathed in gratefully, before being whirled once more to face Gael.

  He was breathing heavily, and I could hear my own echoing in kind. “Are you sure you wish to continue?” he rasped.

  “I think I might kick your ass if you try to stop.”

  “Fair enough.”

  He pressed himself to me once more, and through a series of frantic actions, we rid ourselves from the last barriers between us. I could feel his body’s full response to me, urgent and pressing against my thigh. God, it had been too long since I had felt so wanted, so recklessly and vitally desired. It made every single action seemed that much more intense and erotic than it should be.

  Yet despite his obvious ache to know me intrinsically, he continued to pour all of his attention into me. No inch of me remained unworshipped by his lips, and his fingers carefully, delicately slipped into my center.

  They worked against me in a counter rhythm that had my hips rising to meet his palm and my body throbbed along every nerve with pure, unadulterated pleasure. It was almost too much for a woman to bear.

  And then finally I was cresting over that building wave of ecstasy in my middle, sending me crashing into a blinding pool of full body rapture. I felt myself burst into a sweat, and my toes curled, before I finally sank back down into after-bliss.

  That seemed to be all the signal the Prince needed, and I finally felt him press himself to me. I gasped once more, and he paused in concern, but I urged him on. He filled me, almost to the brim, and when he rocked against me it was almost impossible to breathe. This was what I had been craving for so long. The utter, complete and total completion that came with another person who was truly your equal.

  What started out as a measured, slow rush of mutual appreciation quickly descended into animalistic passion. My fingernails scored down his back, and his teeth broke the skin along my neck and shoulders. It was fire and brimstone, an unstoppable force of two people seeking solace in each other.

  I felt myself soaring to that mind erasing peak again, spurred further by each thrust, bite and movement of the Prince. And when I reached it, I didn’t hold back. I wrapped my legs about him and a heady moan burst from my swollen tips.

  Gael wasn’t far behind me. I felt his surges against me lose all rhythm, and his breath devolved into short gasps. Suddenly, he let out a roar that rattled me to my core. I held him to me, taking all of it in, before he slowly sank to me, breathless.

  Neither of us said anything, because nothing really needed to be said. I wasn’t sure where we would go from here, but it didn’t seem to matter. The important thing was that for the first time in a while I felt safe, and content with the decisions that led me here.

  Gael rolled off me, but pulled me flush to his side. He was ridiculously warm, but I loved the heat of it. He nuzzled the back of my neck, and I felt his breathing regulate. It was in his arms that I slipped into a blissful sleep.

  CHAPTER NINE

  I woke up sore, but blissful. My throat was a bit angry again, so I rolled to Gael to request more of that tea. But instead of the hunky, furnace-warm Prince, there was only empty bed. I sat up in concern, and tried to call for him, but I found my voice had returned to its raspy state. I could barely eek out above a whisper.

  Wrapping myself in the clearly expensive sheeting, I peeked my head out of the door to see an unfamiliar, empty hall. Curious, I padded out onto the stone floor until I found the staircase that I recognized as the naturally carved staircase that I had seen on my first visit. I was in the Prince’s cave-set home, just on the second floor.

  I rasped for him again, and I heard a clatter from the kitchen and the sound of dashing footsteps. He appeared at the bottom of the steps, face flushed and smiling like a husband after a wedding night. Wow, he made me feel like the most magical, desirable woman in…however many universes there were. I honestly wasn’t sure at this point.

  “You’re awake!” he said. “How are you feeling? Are you alright?”

  I nodded, but gestured to my throat.

  “Oh, of course! I’ll make more tea. I made you breakfast as well.”

  Before I could even move, he bounded up the stairs until he was beside me. Offering me his arm, he practically glowed as he beamed at me. “When I woke this morning, I almost expected you to have disappeared like a dream. But you were still there, like some goddess that I could only ever dream of.”

  “Wow, you really know how to talk to a girl, don’t you?”

  He shrugged as we descended. “I just think it is silly to act as if I do not feel the way I do. I am drawn to you. Why hide that? If you are using me, then so be it, that is something only time will tell.”

  “Well, it’s refreshing. And fyi, I’m not planning any sort of dramatic betrayals currently.”

  “Currently?”

  “You never know,” I said with a mischievous wink.

  He laughed as he deposited me at the same table we had first eaten together, then busied himself once more. It was soothing to watch the giant of a man be so entrenched in taking care of me. I certainly was no virgin, but I had never had a partner who seemed so enraptured with just the idea of me. Gael was clearly not a one night stand kind of man.

  And yet, he wasn’t coming on too strong. I felt like I could say I wasn’t interested and had fallen madly in love with his rival, and he would bow and escort me to him without an objection. That wasn’t to say he was some sort of whipped, lovesick puppy. He wouldn’t let me just betray his people, or try to harm anyone, but he didn’t seem to have the same ideas of possessing a woman as property as everyone else did—even the Queen.

  He turned to me, setting a block of thin wood in front of me that was piled with food—only some of which I recognized. It was far too much for me to eat in one sitting, so I pushed it to the center, figuring we would share. That was, until the Prince set another small wooden square at his own seat that had easily twice as much savory fare.

>   Subtly, I pulled my own plank back to me and started to dig in. I briefly had the worry that maybe some of this dragon food wouldn’t be digestible to me, but I doubted the Prince would make such an error and quickly dismissed it.

  “I sent a hawk to the tailor again this morning. No doubt she will be pleased at how full her purse is this moon. I’m taking you to the Queen again on the morrow.”

  I looked up, my mouth embarrassingly full of some sort of mushroom looking thing. It took me several seconds to chew and swallow, but the Prince waited patiently. “Why? Isn’t she going to be pissed that you went against her orders and took me out of the pens?”

  “I saved your life. She will surely understand.” His large hand reached forward to wrap around my own. It was so tender, I didn’t quite know how to react. This was so different than relationships in my time, where everyone was trying not to get hurt or end up the idiot. Somehow this Champion could be so honest and open, and still in a position of great power. “After Cyphus, it is clear you are a valuable addition to our people. I will be requesting you to be adopted by her, to be an honorary child of the Mountain.”

  Okay, now I set the fork down. “Wait, you can do that?”

  He nodded. “You need a sponsor, but with me backing you and you already saving us from total distinction, I do not foresee there being much objection.”

  I had a hard time believing that these proud—and somewhat racist—people would let me in just like that. “Has that ever happened before? A non-dragon being adopted? Like, is this a thing, or some obscure loophole that you’re trying to exploit?”

  “There have been a handful of other instances. Long ago, there was a dwarf who risked her life to ferry a stolen egg from a foreign land all the way back to its home. An Elf who cured the scale rot that was plaguing the mountain. A nymph whose forest was felled by humans, and came to my ancestors, begging for asylum. In the end, she is the one who helped them create the impressive gardens you see sprawling through all our territory. In fact, the whole meadow was her work.”