NINE
Time passed slowly, just as it had in the human healing ward in the castle. The difference was, I could feel myself rapidly returning to normal, while previously it had felt more like a slow jog away from death.
Every day, I hoped that the horns would sound with the arrival of the dragons that had been sent away, but every night that wish went unanswered. It was awful not knowing if they were even aware of what had happened to us. What if Gael never found his way back, and spent the last of his days searching through the mortal realm for his people?
I tried not to dwell on that often, but thankfully, Dwyllverys, Myrik, and even Jayne stopped in to keep me company. The Advisor mostly kept his conversations to strictly whatever I had observed during my time in the palace, but it was far from the interrogation I once might have interpreted as. In fact, whereas before he had always seemed to maintain a good distance from us within his home, he no longer seemed to have such compunction. He sat on the edge of my bed, occasionally stroked my hair, and helped Dwyllverys change my bandages when she needed an extra pair of hands.
Was it strange that the attention was so comforting? I found myself pondering that in the quiet moments between visits. I knew that time was incredibly precious—as it had always been since I had first arrived in this realm—and yet here I was, wasting entire days away being pampered and tended to by several Champions of the Queen’s Court.
A knock sounded at my door, and I bade them enter. I was surprised to see the Queen stride in, still as elegant and awe inspiring as ever.
Instead of the white or black I was so used to seeing her don, she was dressed in the most beautiful lilac color. It shone beautifully against her midnight skin, and acted as a soft sigh to the power that naturally exuded from her form.
“Hello, my child.”
“Greetings, Your Majesty.”
“Please,” she murmured. And in that moment, I could tell by the tone of her voice that this was no regular visit. This wasn’t even the regular Queen. “I am the ruler of Dragons, not you. You may call me Malaika.”
My eyes went wide at the statement. Was the holy royal ruler of all dragon kind giving me permission to call her by her first name? I didn’t know what to say, and I was definitely not sure if I actually could follow through with calling her that.
“Thank you. I shall try.”
A gentle laugh escaped her throat, and she lowered herself into the chair beside my bed. It was almost comical, if anything about her graceful and sure movements could come across as something as low brow as physical comedy, but seeing all seven feet of her trying to perch on a seat designed for someone my size was pretty amusing.
“At least you are honest. I suppose in your situation I would have trouble speaking to one such as myself so informally. So far, I’ve held your life in my hands, and ordered against your interests every time.”
“I don’t know about that,” I murmured. “I understand it’s a complex balancing issue. You’re only as powerful as the grip you have on your people, and if you squeeze too tightly, you’ll end up crushing your support.”
Her lavender eyes twinkled at me. “As I have always known, your power of observation is quite sharp. I would ask your forgiveness, but I anticipate that you will tell me none is needed.”
“Well, not to me. But maybe to all the other humans you let get taken captive.”
She sighed, but it wasn’t an irritated sound. More like once laced with disappointment and shame. This was the most open I had ever seen the woman, and it made my heart ache a bit for her. No children. No lover. All she had was her dwindling people, and I knew she just wanted to protect them and make them happy.
“In a life as long as mine, I have many too many mistakes to count. But several stand out as especially egregious, and indulging my children in their panic will always be greatest of them.”
“Will you make it right then?” I asked.
She nodded. “The breeding pens will never make a return. And should we survive this approaching cataclysm, I will make reparations to every human we slighted.”
“Good. That’s an appropriate place to start.” I sat for a moment, twiddling my thumbs—metaphorically speaking, that is. “Was there something you needed from me?”
“Yes, and no. I simply wanted to speak to you.” She stood to leave, but paused before turning. “There is a chance, albeit a small one, that I will die soon. I have ruled for many centuries, and my authority is beginning to grate against some of my unrulier citizens. I simply wanted to make sure that you knew, should I meet my end, to make sure those children who do see the light get away safely.”
My first instinct was to protest. To swear that nothing would ever happen to her. But I realized I would be trying to bullshit a woman who was about nine hundred and ninety-nine years my senior. “Yes. I will do everything I can to make sure they stay safe.”
She let out a long, cleansing breath. “Thank you. I will rest easier knowing that.” This time she did move to leave, nodding to me once more before exiting entirely.
I didn’t have much time to be alone and reflect on the strange encounter, because Myrik was letting himself into my room without even a knock.
“Did I see Her Majesty leaving here?”
“Yes.”
“What did she want?”
“We just had a talk.”
“About what.”
“A talk,” I repeated meaningfully.
“I see.” He shifted a bit before throwing a bag into my lap. I gasped in surprise the instant I recognized the worn fabric and familiar smell of my messenger bag.
“You did get them!” I practically cooed, pressing the lumpy container to my face. “Thank you.”
“After I realized what a moronic stunt you pulled, I figured I might as well save at least something of what you left behind, that way not all would be lost.”
I rolled my eyes in exasperation. “You know, you can rag on my idea all you want, but it’s because of me that all of you got away scot-free.”
He whirled on me, teeth bared in a snarl. “It’s because of you that you almost died and I had to risk everything to go to the capital and barely managed to save you from splattering yourself across the cobblestones!”
He certainly knew how to get my blood going. I was now on my knees on the mattress, my injuries forgotten as I yelled back. “I did what I had to do when your people were too busy fighting amongst themselves to save their own hides! You’re just mad that I thought of what to do and not you. Because that’s the only thing you have to offer, right? If not for your words and plans and plotting, you don’t do a whole hell of a lot, do you?”
“You were reckless! You could have died—no, you should have died in that collapse. And where then would we be? You’re the only person who can see them before they attack. You’re our only edge in a battle that we have been losing for generations!”
He strode towards me, all fire and brimstone, but I didn’t back down.
“Well if I’m so damn important, then why don’t you start treating me like it and talk to me like an equal instead of some inconvenient child!”
“I will be more than happy to treat you as an equal when you start acting like it!”
I gripped the collar of his robes and I wanted nothing more than to throttle him to death. I thought about it, I really did, but when my hands tensed, they didn’t so much get to strangling as they yanked the Advisor to me so I could smash my lips to his in an ardent kiss.
Like a dam breaking, whatever restraint we had vanished. Myrik wrapped his arms around me, nearly crushing me to his frame. But for once, I appreciated the pressure. It burned through me, while also leaving every cell in my body crying for more.
My hands roamed his body as our lips moved against each other, seeking, demanding. I wanted him, oh god how I wanted him. My body called out for him as the only bastion in the torrent of pain and fear I had just recently escaped.
Suddenly I was being pushed backwards, and I fell back onto the bed with an ungracious oomph! But Myrik gave me no quarter. He moved over me, knees posted on either side of my hips, as he kissed me once more.
Where Gael had been all passion, and respect, this kiss was full of challenge and dominance. We were clashing against each other as we had clashed so many times before, but this time the thrill of it was driving me mad.
When his lips finally left my own, I was breathless, but he seemed just fine, nipping his way down my neck and the collar of my dress. I could tell he was breaking the skin, but I didn’t care. I was drowning in pleasure and it was a sweet, sweet demise.
Myrik’s strong hands gripped my hips, pinning them to the mattress, as he continued to move down my body, kissing through the layers of cloth between me and him.
Every cell in my body tensed, waiting for what he would do to me with wanton anticipation.
And then he finished his journey downward, biting at my hip and sending me the most devilish look up the curves of my body. Then he was yanking my skirts upward, letting them pool around my middle in a puddle of fabric. But I didn’t care. All of my mind focused as he found my center, and kissed me tenderly there.
“Oh god!” I cried, my soul trying to leave my body on a cloud of euphoria.
“My name is Myrik,” he growled, grazing his dragon-sharp fangs against my thigh and essentially turning me to Mercedes-flavored jelly. “I would prefer you use it.”
“Yes,” I gasped. “Whatever you say.”
“Better.” And then he returned to the task at hand.
The pleasure, the overwhelming ecstasy was in such sharp contrast to all the terrible that had happened to me that it was almost impossible to comprehend. My hips tried to leave the mattress, but his capable hands kept me pinned while he worked me over. I was shaking, I was sweating, and I loved every single second of it.
It didn’t take long for me to feel that elusive wave rolling through my body, promising an escalating heaven in the harsh pants escaping my lungs. My hand gripped at Myrik’s dark hair, twisting in the thick strands, but even my death grip on that did not seem like enough to chain me to the earth.
When that wave hit, an indescribable moan escaped my throat, and my body arched in my climax. Everything that was bad, and stressful in the world faded, and the only thing that mattered was what I felt in that moment.
I rode the feeling out, then collapsed in a panting mess on the mattress. I had the vague feeling of being disconnected from all of my joints, but it was blissful in its incongruence.
Myrik moved up my body once more, his eyes dark and hooded. “I want you,” he hissed, hovering just above my face.
“Then what are you waiting for?” I shot back, wrapping my arms around his shoulders.
“Do you remember what I said on that first night you entered my home?”
“That you only sleep with women who are incredibly enthusiastic to have you in their bed.” He raised an eyebrow so I took his hand and pressed it to me. “I literally do not know how much more enthusiastic I can get.”
“Point taken.”
Despite the pause for clarification, it didn’t dim the mood at all. If anything, it made me that much hotter for the man posted over me. Knowing that he wanted me was one thing, but also knowing that he needed me to want him as well finally made us equals in this dance we had been doing for far too long.
He struggled with his robes for several moments, before finally freeing himself from the confines of his trousers. His body was obviously crying out for me, and I spread myself for him.
He nudged at my entrance, and I took in a gasping breath. With only that sound for encouragement, he slid forward and we joined as one.
It was almost painful, but I loved the stretch of it. He waited several moments for me to adjust, and I lifted my hips against him when I was ready.
His own pelvis rolled against me, eliciting more of that utterly sinful perfection. Together we moved in and with each other, in a dance that was as old as time itself. His hands gripped me, securing me no matter where they landed. My hips, my ribs, my breasts. His limbs were bands of steel, power incarnate that I didn’t want to break out from, but rather revel and get lost in.
I had earned this. God, I had earned this.
His breath was hot against my neck, and his fangs buried themselves into my shoulder possessively. It was a hickey, but leveled to the highest tier, and I loved it. The pinpricks of pain followed by his warm tongue laving at the error. He was eating me alive, in the most perfect way. It was everything I needed and more.
I could hear him nearing his end, his thrusts losing their rhythm and turning into powerful jabs that drove me into the mattress. The bed was slamming into the wall, and I was sure that we were making an insane racket, but I couldn’t care less. We were both lost in the madness, the heated, burning pleasure that we found in each other.
I had never been able to let go so thoroughly with a partner. It was catharsis and euphoria all wrapped in and about each other.
“God, you’re so perfect,” he hissed. “I’m not going to last much longer.”
I myself was feeling another intoxicating climax hovering at the edge of my senses, and let myself revel in the animalistic nature of it all.
And then it happened. Myrik drove into me with wild vigor, before I felt him spasm within me. He let out a bone-shaking cry, and I could feel myself fill with a very specific type of heat.
That in and of itself was enough to drive me over my own edge, and I cried out with him.
I don’t know how long we flew in that high together, finding paradise in each other’s bodies, until we slowly sank back to reality. He rolled off of me, lest I be crushed yet again, and I curled to his side. We were both slick with sweat and mostly dressed, which was an interesting conflict on sensations that I was used to.
I pressed a soft kiss to his cheek, and he squeezed me gently. Neither of us said anything, but there really wasn’t a need to. Like Gael, I wasn’t in love with this dragon that had gone so far to save me, but I did know that he was incredibly important to me and I would never regret what we had done.
A cold trickle made its way down my neck, and I felt at the slight disturbance. When my hand came away, there was blood on my fingers.
“Oh, you really marked me,” I murmured.
“You didn’t seem to mind.”
I smiled a bit sheepishly to myself. “I don’t. I just realized that this might be hard to explain in the moment.”
“Only Dwyllverys and Jayne will see you, and they will be utterly unsurprised at this development.”
“True enough.” I snuggled further into his side and let out a contented sigh. Everything about this felt right. From our skin on skin contact, to our ragged breathing slowly settling down, to the faint soreness between my legs.
I wasn’t stupid. I knew that this was just the calm in the eye of the storm, but I would enjoy every second of respite they gave me. If there was anything that I had learned, it’s that I needed to cherish the havens that I had, because the hells wouldn’t be too far behind.
I just hoped we all made it out of the other side.