Drayce paced in front of the fire, Artemis, Cloven, and Zorander had multiple screens up both of them plotting and planning strategically how to capture Satin back, and he sat nursing a tumbler of basilisk mourning for a wife that had only been gone a few hours, but felt like a few years.
Where is she sleeping tonight? Is she thinking of me too? Has she wept for me? Cried out for me?
He hoped that she knew how much he hated leaving her there. He swore that he could choke Alistair and Rhython with his bare hands. How do you capture your daughter? But then again, how do you start a war with your daughter’s new family? He couldn’t imagine treating a daughter he’d bore and loved for almost twenty-five years in such a callous manner.
“Drayce, are you listening?” Zorander’s deep voice broke into his reverie.
“No, Sir. Sorry.”
“Son, we need you focused. Do it for Satin. This plan won’t succeed without your attention to detail. We need your skills with this.”
“Brother.” Cloven clapped a hand on his shoulder. “I know this is difficult; there isn’t one of us—or the soldiers—tonight that didn’t feel the loss of Satin. I know she’s your wife, and you’re devastated, but I want you to know you have the support of all of us. And we’re not going to stop until we can get her home. But you need to focus, brother, her safety and well –being depends on you doing what you do best. Command.”
Looking up at his brother, he smiled. It was rare to find Cloven in a serious, compassionate moment, so when they occurred, you had to appreciate them. His brother was a good man, he knew that, and tonight he was glad to have him on his side.
“Thank you, Cloven. It means a lot. I’ll focus. I need to get her back…help me get her back.”
“I will, Drayce, I promise. I swear I’ll put my life on the line to bring her back to you.” Cloven’s eyes misted with tears and Drayce had not a shred of doubt that he could rely on his brother’s word.
Nodding silently, Drayce walked over to the desk, looking at all the screens. “No, you have that all wrong. See this here. It’s wide open over here; it’ll leave us vulnerable. We need Artemis and Onyx there, that’s the weakest point of the battle at the castle, it’s where we had trouble tonight. If Onyx and Jade fill this spot, I’ll come around with Scarlett like I did tonight, and we’ll break down the stronghold they have with this turret.”
“Yes, I knew something didn’t seem right here.” Artemis filled in the areas that Drayce had pointed out.
Cloven smiled, slapping Artemis on the back. “There isn’t anyone who can break the fortified wall that Onyx and Jade made—that’ll be sure to give us victory.”
“While we do that, we have to come up with a plan for how to distract Rhython enough to capture Sapphron and leave with him.”
“I have an idea for that.” Artemis brought up a new screen and wrote out his plan. The men revised and amended where necessary.
It wasn’t until the early morning that the plans were firmly in place and the men felt satisfied that they would go off without a hitch.
“It’s time for some sleep; we’ll start at dusk today. She’ll be home by night, Drayce.”
“I need her, Father, I’m not sure I can survive without her. It’s been a short time, but my soul needs her to survive.”
Zorander approached him with a full tumbler of the basilisk. “Drink this, all of it. You’ll stay awake all night if you don’t, and we need you rested for this battle. It’s the battle of your lifetime, son. The battle for your wife.”
“That it is.” Nodding solemnly back at his father, Drayce tipped the glass up quickly swallowing the liquor and emptying the glass. “This should do the trick.”
“It should. Sleep well, men, we’ll have her back by tomorrow. We’ll all be happy to see that sassy girl again.”
The men all laughed, climbing the stairs to the bedrooms, anxious to sleep.
Satin woke before dawn, she should have been exhausted from the battle and capture last night, but instead, she lay worrying about Drayce.
What is he doing right now? Is he missing me? Is he planning my rescue?
Getting up, she quickly donned her riding habit from yesterday, dragging her tail through the opening left for it in her pants. Turning to the mirror, she marveled again at her new appendage. Her mind immediately went to Drayce’s anus, her barbed tentacle pressing insistently against his little hole until it broke past the barrier, swirling and slithering up into him.
His moan would be filled with a sleepy morning quality, and he’d arch his back stretching, peeping only one eye at her and grace her with a lazy smile. Climbing up onto him, she’d ease herself down on the length of his cock, her eyes rolling as he filled every bit of her channel, her cunt stretching to accommodate him.
Satin reached her hand down to rub her clit, quickly making sure the door was closed and slipping back into bed to cover herself with a blanket for added security if someone walked in on her pleasuring herself.
Will Drayce punish me for masturbating? Wouldn’t it be okay if he wasn’t around?
She hoped so. Her goal was to make sure she had the scent of her arousal on her skin, raising the aggression level of Azure. She closed her eyes resuming the fantasy, and her tail slithered through the slit, easing its way to her channel. That’s right….back to her fantasy. Drayce filling her walls squeezing around his girth, the hiss of air being sucked through his teeth would make her giggle out loud. Drayce would lazily growl, “Brat, you’ll pay for that later with your ass.”
The threat would have her hips swaying and her face flushing with the imagined humiliation of an over-the-knee spanking. But until then she’d fuck him senseless, her tail pistoned in and out of him, while she rode his cock wildly, her keening loud and anxious.
“Christ, look at your breasts!”
But Satin didn’t need to look down to know that her breasts were flopping up and down, waving like a flag in a windstorm, her need making her insane. Her head thrashing and with hard slam, she thrust down onto him with such force that he hit the mouth of her womb and she screamed with her orgasm. Her body stiffened, and her tail thrusting the barb penetrating him with a loud screech it locked into place, and his semen spurted into her, filling her with his hot seed to overflowing. She spasmed and continued to ride the pole of his sex, her pants and frantic need climbing again, regardless of the fact that he was softening within her, but his tail had locked within her as well and the sting of it especially when she jerked upward catapulted her over the cliff, and she shivered, gritting her teeth with the orgasm.
This time she would collapse onto his clammy chest, their sweat mingling, as each of them gasped for air, stroking and rubbing each other’s bodies and leaving gentle kisses along their limbs. It was when they began to ease into a slumber that their tails released and coasted out, falling limp.
Easing her eyes open, Satin had no idea how long she’d slept, but her hand was still in her pants, her fingers sticky with her arousal, and she wiggled her hips, stretching awake, easing her fingers out of her sex, wiping them casually along the bed sheets.
A loud rap at the door had her darting from the bed, standing with her hands on her chest, panting with fear.
“Satin, come to Father’s office. He wishes to see us. Now.” Rhython’s heavy footsteps quickly left, not waiting to see if she had woken up or even heard him.
Grabbing a mirror from the bathroom, she brushed her hair, and then finding a new toothbrush in the closet, she brushed her teeth, doing her best to make sure she was presentable for the day.
Turning to check her outfit, she wondered if she should put her tail into her pants, hiding it, and then decided that her tail had become part of her now and it was something to be proud of. She would not hide her gifting and the new title just because she was home again.
All the years she’d spent here as a child, wishing and praying to the Gods to be a Dragon Warrior. She ran her finger along the shelf housing her dolls, each made of fine china with intricately painted faces and beautiful blonde, red, and black hair. She had imagined them as beautiful princesses marrying their handsome prince.
Is my prince coming for me? Will he scoop me up onto his red dragon, breathing fire down on our enemies?
She shook her head at the silliness of the fantasy, but a corner of her heart wished and hoped like that of the little blonde girl years ago. Swallowing past the lump in her throat she brushed away a stray tear that snuck out of her eye, inhaling deeply she prepared for the verbal spar that waited for her in her father’s den.
The hallway by his battle office was cold, the dirt and fieldstone floor keeping the cold instead of chasing it away. She rubbed her hands along her arms brushing away the chill of the morning.
Rapping on the door, the sullen voice of her brother spoke, “Come in.”
Satin entered, shutting the door behind her, the latch catching before she released it.
“You need to show your brother how to make the dragon fly upward and what commands you use for the fire.” Alistair barely lifted his head while speaking to her, waving his pen in her direction.
“Why?” Addressing Rhython, she narrowed her gaze at him. “Were you already trying to make Sapphron fly today?”
“If I was, what business is it of yours? He belongs to me now, and the sullen idiot of a beast is stupid, he doesn’t even listen as well as a horse.” Rhython tossed the paper in his hand into the trash, stalking across the room toward her. “You’ll show me how to make them mind; I need to know the commands.”
“What you need to do is bring him back to his dragon warrior. He misses Zayvoc, Sapphron hasn’t chosen you. You don’t understand; dragons choose their riders, not the other way around.” Pivoting she said, “Father, will you speak some sense into him. These are sensitive animals; they aren’t toys.”
Ripping his glasses from his face and dropping them with a clatter to the desk, Alistair rose from his desk, his long white hair draping over his shoulders. “No, daughter, it is you I’ll address. It’s bad enough that you left us, against my orders, to marry that man. Now I’ve lost having my dragon warrior and Commander, but I’ll force you to be mine, and you’ll train your brothers and any other men the boys deem necessary. Is that clear?” Resting his hip on the front of his desk, he crossed his thick muscled arms over his chest.
It’d been awhile since she fought with her father and she wasn’t sure she had the stamina today, but it appeared she’d have no choice. “Father, you can’t keep me here. I’m a married woman. I’m Princess Quinn, Dragon Warlord, and Commander; you can’t just whisk me away to Zelora and expect the citizens of Trexotera to ignore my absence. You’ll have caused a crisis over there, and there will be an uprising, the consequences of which will be far-reaching and no doubt, devastating for your empire.”
Standing the old man roared. “Do not dare to talk to me in such a manner!”
His voice rumbled through her, and she began to tremble, her body shaking like a leaf. “I’m s-sorry, Sir.”
“Go to the fields and teach them what you know. I’ll be watching through the cameras, you better not deceive us, or you’ll die. Your prince won’t ever see you again. That should make your compliance assured.”
She stood rooted to the spot, unable to move, frozen with fear.
How dare he speak to me this way? He’s gone mad in my absence. Perhaps he’s always been mad.
Satin watched him flop into his chair, putting his reading glasses back on to work on the holo image in front of him, stunned with the knowledge that he’d just threatened to kill her.
Rhython grabbed her elbow so harshly that her shoulder popped and he dragged her unceremoniously toward the door. “Come along, stupid. Did you forget how to walk? You heard him, you answer to me now.”
She stumbled behind her brother, doing her best to gain purchase on the floor of rough stones.
He flung the heavy wooden door open to the back of the estate, and she threw her arm up to shield her eyes from the bright, morning sun. “God, it’s so bright. I can’t see.”
“Stop your whining. Move!” With a shove to the small of her back, he thrust her forward, and she stumbled once again barely keeping herself from falling into the wet dirt below. Her shoes sunk into the earth, caking around the soles.
Moving her arms a bit, she could see Azure and Sapphron in the field; their loud screeches filled the air. Sapphron flapped her wings helplessly.
“She’s upset. The beast is used to gentle care. Obviously you and your handlers haven’t been kind to them.”
“They’re not children; they’re dragons. I would think they’d be used to harsh treatment, it toughens them up, keeping them aggressive.”
“Shows what you don’t know. They only feel loyalty to those who love and care for them, they don’t submit and protect anyone who just disciplines, they need to feel loved.” Satin flung the gate open, approaching Azure.
“Wait! You can’t just—” Rhython stopped midsentence, leaning on the gate to watch his sister stroke the huge beast.
“What were you saying, brother?” Satin let her sarcasm drip from her tongue. “That’s a good boy, Azure. Come along, baby; I’ll get you your breakfast. That’s right, bring your friend with you. How are you this morning, Sapphron? I know, sweetling. You miss Zayvoc, we’ll find him for you.” She plodded through the mud with the placid dragons following close behind, both purring happily.
“Don’t go making promises to those stupid animals that you cannot keep, girl. And what is that damn noise?” Rhython approached but stopped dead in his tracks when Sapphron swiveled her head, snorting hot steam in the boy’s direction.
“We call it purring; they do it when they’re happy and loved. You mean you didn’t hear it this morning while you were yelling and beating them. I see the marks on their legs from the whip. Be forewarned brother; they keep a tally of wrongs done to them and by whom. They know when discipline is deserved and when it is cruelty, use your whip judiciously, or you’ll find yourself incinerated.”
Stepping into the dark, cool barn Satin looked around to see where the hay was kept. Finding the bales along the back wall, she grabbed a couple of hooks and heaving the heavy hay; she walked slowly toward Azure. The placid animal gently wrapped his teeth around the square bale, relieving her from the burden and dropped it at Sapphron’s feet and then took the second bale for himself.
Laying on their haunches the two slowly took their breakfast, and Satin stroked their noses, once again impressed with the kindness and strength of these wild animals.
“Where is her owner?”
“We don’t have him; your people brought him back to your planet.” He thought he’d approach the orange dragon, but Sapphron snorted his way, not stopping her breakfast, but growling deep in her belly.
Satin giggled. “You’ve done it now, Rhython. You’ll have to work doubly hard, if that’s even possible, to win her to your side.”
Scowling he kicked the toe of his shoe in the dirt. “This is why you should have been up and in the barn early. Now, you’ve ruined it by not telling us, first.”
“Don’t blame this on me, you dolt, your bad manners and lack of compassion did this, not me.”
“Fix it!” He shouted, leaning forward to scream at his sister.
Sapphron rose to her full height, her golden eyes turning red and orange with anger.
“Sapphron! Halt!” Pulling her dragon whip from her waistband, Satin waved it in front of the beast. “Down, Sapphron. No!”
Peeping at her from the corner of his eye, the dragon regarded Satin for a moment before spinning back toward the man before him. Sapphron had barely taken a step, and Satin slapped the whip against her leg. “Bad Dragon!” She lashed the animal’s leg twice more in succession, and Sapphron with a low whine, laid back down, resting her head on the floor in obedience.
“You don’t charge after him. No!” She wagged the whip in front of the dragon’s face, hoping the warning came through loud and clear. Satin could only imagine what her father and the other heathens here would do to this poor animal if she burned Rhython. Even though he deserved some form of punishment, burning him to death didn’t quite seem appropriate…at least not yet.
“See! You whipped her, how come she’s not angry with you?”
“Because, brother, Sapphron knew she deserved it because she didn’t listen to my command to halt, and when she moved forward against my desires, and she received the spank of my dragon whip, my disappointment made her react forcing her submission. Her devotion to me surpassed her hatred for you, but I’d spend a good deal of time winning her over.”
Rhython flicked his wrist at her. “Whatever. How do you get these things to fly? That’s what we were trying to do this morning.”
“They will fly after treats or toys, but during battle, they fly on their own.”
“What? Toys and treats?” His eyebrows were furrowed.
“Yes.” She rolled her eyes at her brother, forgetting exactly how dense he could be. “Come along, dragons.” Looking around the barn, Satin found a few pieces of kindling wood and boards, along with some treats for the lazaps and walked out of the barn with the dragons in tow.
She flung a kindling in the air and shouted, “Azure, soar!”
The large dragon flew up to catch it in his teeth and he roared dissolving it with a burst of flame. Swooping overhead, circling the barn and the house before landing at her feet and laying calmly before her.
“Shit!” Rhython’s eyes were bugging from his head. “It’s that easy?”
“Yes, when they want to listen.” She smirked in his direction.
Tossing another kindling into the air, she shouted, “Sapphron! Fly!”
The orange beast, almost double the size of Azure, leaped up like she was a small purgedox. Instead of burning the stick, Sapphron clung to it tightly, soaring around the grounds, gracefully swooping over their heads, screeching as she was just over them, and then flying so high into the sky that they could barely see her.
“Is she coming back?”
“Oh, sure. She won’t abandon me…or Azure. She’ll be back.”
It was then that the yellow-orange colored animal came into view, and soared gracefully to the ground near Azure, dropping her stick onto the ground at Satin’s feet.
Clearing his throat, Rhython stuttered, “D-do you ride her?” He nodded toward Azure.
“Yeah, he chose me—he’s my dragon.”
“Show me.” A bit of arrogance slipping into his halting question from before.
“Sure.” Dropping the treats and wood to the ground, she climbed up onto Azure’s back, situating herself between the plates since there wasn’t a saddle. Hanging on tightly, she whistled, and the enormous animal rose to stand on all fours, snorting and pawing the ground, more than ready to fly, but waiting for the command. “Azure! Soar!”
The shimmery blue dragon bent his knees, and with a bounce that jolted Satin, making her heart fall to her belly, Azure shot straight up into the sky and when they were losing momentum and drifting downward just a bit, his gigantic wings flapped, the slapping of the leathery skin slicing the air, was an unmistakable sound that made her adrenalin pump. But when her dragon screeched diving toward the ground, Satin couldn’t help but screech with him, the wind pushing her hair straight behind her, the breeze cold and biting on her cheeks.
As if to scare the devil out of Rhython, Azure targeted his descent directly toward her brother. Darting out of the way with a shout and a wave of his fist, Azure missed him by only a couple feet and swooped straight up again, except this time the beast circled the estate, giving Satin a view of her homeland that she’d never seen before. She missed the green hills dotted with white specks which were the familiar snogoors. Her large stone castle was a mess, burned and huge holes cut into the façade. She felt a twinge of guilt, knowing it was her new husband and his planet that had done this, but she quickly reminded herself that it was the greedy, selfish ways of her father that had done this—not her or Drayce.
“Azure, down boy.”
With a low growl, ending on a whine, her dragon slowly landed, dejectedly resting his chin on the ground looking ever so forlorn. She knew how he felt; she felt the same way—it was time to go home. Hoping against hope, Satin could only believe that Drayce and his army would return tonight
“I want to try.” Rhython stood with his hands fisted at his sides, and his lips thinned.
“It’s not going to be as easy for you; you know that, right?” She walked over to Sapphron, stroking her long neck, even the beast was giving him some side-eye. “Come over. Slowly!”
Rhython shuffled over, his hands out in front of him like he could ward off any attack that way. The absurdity of it all had Satin laughing inside.
“Easy, girl. Rhython is going to ride you. Easy, Rhython.”
Rhython’s toes were right up to the animal.
“Pet her side, slowly.”
Her brother pushed his red hair back off his face, taking a deep breath, and with a shaky hand he ran it along Sapphron’s side. A low growl from within the beast’s belly had Rhython jumping back.
“Sapphron!” Satin dragged her name out, pulling her dragon whip from her belt. Instead, the dragon whined, dropping her head in defeat once again. “Don’t you dare make me regret helping you, this animal trusts my opinion, she trusts me completely, and if you ruin it I swear I’ll use this whip on you!”
His pale, skinny neck worked to swallow, and he nodded his head in agreement. “I’ll be kind to her, I p-promise.”
“See to it you do. Okay, Sapphron. Ready.” Pointing with her dragon whip, she said, “You may climb up onto her.”
Looking unsure, his trembling hand grabbed onto one of the ossified plates on the dragon’s back, hoisting himself up, and seating himself between the spikes and holding on for dear life, if his white knuckles were an indication.
“Are you ready?”
“Me?” Rhython’s voice cracked, and he pointed to his chest.
“Yes, you! Are you ready?”
“Yes.”
“Sapphron. Fly!” With a loud roar, the dragon flew upward, spewing fire in a spectacular display of force that was done, she did not doubt, for Rhython’s benefit only. Sapphron swooped, burning trees and fence posts along the way, making sharp and dramatic turns, her brother barely able to cling to the slippery scales. And then with little transition, they spiraled straight for the ground, nose-diving at a perilous speed, before the nimble animal landed upright and tossed her head back, she roared shooting flames ten feet from her mouth.
Satin laughed out loud, holding her belly unable to contain the mirth while witnessing Rhython’s face turn pale with fear, she wondered if he may faint. “This was done for your benefit, Sapphon just wants you to know who’s really in charge.”
Sliding down and running away from the dragon, his chest heaving with his heavy breathing, he coughed and bent in half, his hands on his knees gasping for air. Standing upright he pointed at the dragon and said angrily to Satin, “She could have killed me, and you’re laughing at her antics.”
“Calm down, you pussy. She didn’t hurt you; she scared the shit out of you, there’s a difference. Probably not unlike the way you scared the shit out of her this morning. See the correlation?”
Pausing, he looked over at the dragon and back to Satin, and with a grimace, he pushed that annoying lock of hair out of his way, it refused to do anything, it seemed, but hang in the middle of his forehead. “I guess. But she …it scared the daylights out of me.”
“I bet.”
“Do you think she’ll fly with me tonight?” His voice was filled with hope, and she knew what he wanted the answer to be, but she couldn’t lie to him either.
“I doubt it, Rhython. She’s pretty attached to Zayvoc, and as one of our main dragon handlers, they’re attached to him as well. To be honest, I’m surprised she let me ride her, that was my first time on her back.”
“But since you have ridden her, and there’s no one else who has, she may allow it. We won’t know until tonight.”
“Do you think we’ll be battling again tonight?”
She looked up at the sky, her heart aching to see Drayce and Scarlett break through the atmosphere and swoop down to rescue her. “I hope so. If I know my husband, he’ll be here without delay.”
“You love him, Satin?” His face and voice softened.
“Yes, I do, Rhython. Very much so, more than I thought was possible.” Her eyes filled with tears, and she swiped at a stray tear that leaked down her cheek.
“I know, Father doesn’t agree. But I hope he gets you back; you deserve him.”
“Thank you, Rhython.”
The long, lanky man walked up to her, kissing her cheek before walking back toward the barn. Shouting over his shoulder, he said, “Thanks, Sis, for helping me ride Sapphron.”
“You’re welcome.” She watched him enter the barn and turned back to find both dragons watching him closely and then both calmly closed their eyes to slumber in the paddock. She walked away to let them sleep, gathering their strength for tonight, and decided that she’d do the same. Hopefully tomorrow she’d be back at the Quinn Estate.