Talia was exhausted, physically and mentally. Still, she had the sense to ask, “Where are we going?” when Vincent took the wrong turn, once they’d reached the family wing.

“My apartments,” he replied simply.

“Oh.”

She bit her lips.

“Where we shall both sleep,” he added.

She giggled nervously, avoiding his gaze. Naughty thoughts had been plastered on her face, no doubt.

“I certainly intend to give you cause for all that blushing. Later. You’re tired.”

He said it like her being tired meant that he’d have her sleep, and, no doubt, when she was hungry, he’d see her fed, and when she was sad, he’d do his best to make her smile.

Vincent Vasili was everything one might wish in a man, and she wished she had the gall to tell him so.

When they reached his room, she found that she belonged here. There were dark wood furnishings and red curtains and bedding. One wall was covered in books, another one, with paintings. Someone had left a violin on a bench.

“You play?”

“Badly, and never in public,” he replied.

“You’ll play for me?”

She didn’t quite word it like a question, possibly because she knew the answer already. A nod. “I’ll play for you. Now get in bed, before I change my mind and decide to keep you up.”

She half wished he would. Self-conscious throughout the ordeal, she worked on the ties of her dress and finally let it drop on the floor, thankful she’d worn her pretty new lingerie today.

“You could pretend to look elsewhere,” she admonished Vincent, who was shamelessly gazing at her.

“Oh, Talia. Trust me when I say I couldn’t.”

She hid under his covers. “Where shall I lie? Might you have a favorite side of the bed?”

“Whichever one you’ll pick.”

It was his turn to get undressed and she now understood why he hadn’t looked away. Watching him remove each piece of clothing made her ache, want, desire. She bit her lip.

“Come on, little temptress. You’re tired, so, for now, let us go to sleep.”

His joined her, and, as promised, invaded her side of the bed, his strong arms caging her in, cocooning her.

Fading, she wondered how she’d ever slept any other way.

Talia woke up in the way she wanted to be awakened the next day, the day after that, and again, each morrow until the end of time. Noises she hadn’t believed herself able to make came out of her mouth. She wondered if she’d died and had reached the high heavens, until she opened her eyes.

Vincent’s head was buried between her legs, doing ungodly things with his tongue, teeth, and lips. She seemed to have regained consciousness quite late in the game, because it had all just started as far as she was concerned, and her body was already at its limit, needing release, toes curled, every part of her so tense it hurt.

She was close, so close to falling over the edge, and yet the man pulled back; her jaw dropped in shock and betrayal. And he was grinning, like he was quite proud of his actions.

“You’d leave me like this?”

She sounded astounded and hurt all at once.

“Not if you’re a very good girl,” he replied, crawling up so that they were at eye level. As he got on top of her, she felt his hot and heavy manhood brush against her heat. Oh, not that brand of torture again! The tease would be the death of her. “But this time, I’ll have you come around my cock.”

Oh.

Her eyes were wide open. So was her mouth, thinking of it. He didn’t intend to tease her then, he wanted her, here and now.

Her insides clenched.

“I want you, Natalia Astria. I want you at my side, commanding Norda, as my equal. I want you next to me until the end of time. You’ll be a princess of the realm, my wife, and the queen ruling over my world. I wish I could give you a pleasing courtship, months of flirting, and getting down on one knee before the realm. I tried, but the truth is, I’m a beast. A beast who wants, and needs, to claim every part of you.”

Finally, she managed to make her frazzled brain recall how she was supposed to do the speaking thing.

“That’s all well and good, but why aren’t you inside me yet?”

He chuckled, but there was an edge to his laughter. “Oh, you’ve asked for it,” he said.

His hands seized her waist and before she knew what was happening, with an inhuman speed, he’d flipped her over on all fours. She looked back at him just in time, as he penetrated her deep, in one sudden thrust. Talia cried out. If she could have formed a word, she might have asked him to stop, move away; his invasion was painful.

Then he moved a little out, and back in, and it wasn’t painful at all. Vincent did it again, and she found herself saying, “Oh!”, surprised by just how pleasurable one little movement could be.

Chuckling, Vincent practically withdrew from her all the way before plunging back in, and this time, angling her hips towards him, she outright moaned. He quickened his pace and she moved to meet him, panting, begging for more.

This time, Vincent didn’t deny her her release; when he felt her tightening, he took her deeper, harder, quicker, until she screamed at the top of her voice, and relaxed onto the bed.

“Oh, sweet thing,” said he, ever so softly, “bless you for thinking we’re done already.”

He flipped them both, and the next instant, he was lying back, with her on top of him. Fuck. The new angle made her heat immediately grow hotter and tighter against the hard length that had never gone down inside her.

“Come on, sweet thing. Show me how one rides a dragon.”

The King had been right the previous night: it was late in the afternoon before they surfaced.

* * *

“I insist,” she said, and Vincent sighed, giving in, like she’d known he would.

“Fine. You can play with the dragon this evening. But we have plenty of work now.”

That’s how, a few hours after the Council met, where she’d repeated the details of her meeting with Nimue, Talia found herself in the garden, lying down next to the blue beast.

“Would you like me to read something?” she asked, moving to get one of the books she’d brought with her.

It turned out, the dragon didn’t much like it when she moved. A low, rumbly warning resounded when she managed to get to her feet.

“I won’t be a second.”

His little growl was resigned this time.

The dragon’s glowing eyes were fixed on her as she shuffled through the volumes.

It occurred to Talia that a sane woman might have felt a certain degree of fear, in her shoes. But she didn’t. She knew that the creature wouldn’t hurt her.

Still. He was a wild thing; his fire might be useless against her while she wore her maille, but he could still eat her whole. His front teeth were almost as tall as she was.

Something wet and cold fell on the tip of her nose and she lifted her head towards the sky. Oh, great. It was starting to rain. Time to go back inside, then. She regretted that their playtime had been cut so short.

The dragon made that funny sound again - not quite a growl, just something to call her attention.

“What?” she asked, turning to him.

He’d moved a little, curled in a half circle with one of his wings pulled up.

“Oh.”

Timidly, Talia tiptoed to him, uncertain that she’d read him right. She watched him, careful for any sign that he’d had enough of playing with his human.

He didn’t make another sound, so she put her palm on his belly.

It was very different from what she could have imagined of a dragon. The scales on this side were softer than the ones on his back, as if polished. They weren’t blazing hot; just radiating a delicious warmth.

“Well, don’t mind if I do.”

She sat on the ground, her back against his heat.

“Once upon a time,” she read, “in the fair Camelot…”