It had been more than a week since my incredibly strange encounter with Kavryiss. I hadn’t seen him much since then, aside from a few nights guarding Sillevia’s room.

A purple shifter who acted as a representative to the D’Karr sought me out while the D’Sharr was busy. Probably plotting different ways to make my life miserable. The representative, Jakartez, ushered me into Boradrith’s quarters for the first time since his son had returned to Dobromia.

Boradrith wasted no time finding his way inside me. He didn’t even bother removing my clothes or kissing me this time. In fact, he didn’t do much of anything. The whole arrangement lasted just a couple of minutes before his body released into mine.

I lay on his bed of furs and wrapped my legs around him, my pant leg still hanging onto my left calf.

“I’ve missed your touch,” he said sweetly, nuzzling into me and pressing his forehead against mine. “I’m glad I could steal some time to see you.”

“Wait,” I breathed. “That’s it?”

“I’m sorry,” he cooed, brushing his thick hand through my hair. “But I have to go. We have an operation happening that I have to oversee.”

“I haven't seen you in so long. Stay with me,” I said, running my finger through his beard.

Boradrith’s yellow eyes followed mine, and he settled back into the bed, pulling me on top of him and tickling my sides. I slapped his hands away and erupted with laughter. He smiled at me in the charming, enchanted way he always did and then traced the back of his fingers over my stomach.

“I want to create another with you,” he breathed.

“One isn't enough?” I giggled, grabbing his hands and laying them flat on my thick hips.

“I want a whole brood,” he explained with a grin, his eyes widening as though imagining it already. “I want them all to look like you, and think like you.”

“Well, that can be arranged,” I said, biting my lip.

The golden shifter reached back between my legs and began to breathe hard into my neck. I could feel him stiffen and gesture for me to move on top of his penis. I laughed politely and leaned down to kiss his mouth.

“Oh, stop,” I teased in a whisper and batted his hands away. “Aren't there enough mouths to feed already?” I said and immediately hated that I’d used Kavryiss’ expression.

“My love,” he said lustfully. “I can't spoil you enough.”

“I know,” I said with a sweet but firm demeanor. “But isn't everybody... isn't food scarce?”

“Not for Plovoeus,” the shifter said, still tracing his touch up my body and back down again. “He'll always be taken care of.”

“Not according to Sillevia,” I scoffed.

“Why, what did she say?”

“Something horrible,” I said with a roll of my eyes. “That she’d use Plovoeus to feed the others when the time comes.”

Boradrith looked genuinely horrified by his mate’s reaction. He pulled me down toward him so that my hair made a curtain around our kiss.

“The way she treats you is unbearable. I'm sorry, Diana,” he said parentally, wiping the hair from my eyes and holding it behind my ears. “I certainly hope it goes without saying I would never do that.”

My eyes went wide, and I laughed. “Good!”

“I always take care of you. You are my...” He paused and then tapped my nose, waiting for me to guide his words.

“Family,” I said with a genuine smile.

“Family,” he nodded. “You mean everything to me. You are mine.”

I nodded my thanks and leaned in to kiss him once more before bashfully beginning, “Athena was saying that, um, the other dragonlings are being pushed out of the way for Plovoeus.”

“Of course,” he said matter-of-factly, as though I should feel pampered by his response. “I told you. I take care of my family. Besides! You worry too much, my love. Soon we won't need to worry. My son has brought back an instrument that's going to change everything.”

I raised a brow at him and cringed inwardly as his mention of having a son who wasn’t Plovoeus.

“A machine that will destroy one of the suns. Soon everything is going to go back to the way it was. We will flourish. With you here, all of you, we'll prosper even more.”

I nodded slowly. “So... you don't plan on going back to the Earth anymore?”

“If this works, we wouldn't have to.”

“Oh,” I said quietly. “And Tredorphen? He's going back?”

“No, of course not. He belongs here, with me. He will take over when I'm gone and lead our people. He's smart. That's what I love about him. It's what I love about you. Just look,” he said breathlessly and pointed out the vast window of his quarters at the view of the new, metallic city building day by day. “Look at what you've done for us already.”

“Right,” I said with a distracted dismissal. “So, our son isn't in line for leadership anymore?”

“Well… no?” he said with a confused frown. “Tredorphen is in line. Then Plovoeus.”

My heart sank. I thought the whole point of our conceiving was to create the ruler he desired…

“Besides,” he continued, almost jovially, “Sillevia would demand it.”

I could feel my face growing hot with incredulity as the words tumbled from his mouth. “Excuse me?” I coughed. “I thought she wasn't going to be a problem. Silly me.”

“Diana... Diana...” he said quietly, stroking my hair. “Just a little longer and all of that will be out of the way. It won't be long now. But, of course, our son is still so young. Tredorphen has been trained his whole life for this.”

“Of course,” I repeated coldly.

With that, the dragon king sent me on my way in haste, saying he’d spent too much time speaking with me already. I stepped out from his quarters and blinked in surprise as I saw one of our former security detail standing in the hallway.

Her name was Alexa; she had deep chocolate skin and short black hair, completely exotic and lean. She was everything I wasn’t. My eyes followed her in what felt like slow motion as she caught my eyes in surprise.

“Alexa?”

The beautiful girl raised a brow nervously and clasped her hands together, offering me a nervous smile, nodding, her eyes to the floor as she gave me a shy bow.

“Was I assigned a security officer?” I asked in confusion.

“Um, no, ma’am,” she said in a smoothly flowing, feminine voice. Her eyes still evaded mine and I felt as though all the life drained out of me, slow and dripping. It was so real to me I began to fear I would slip in it.

“Oh,” I said, resolute as I looked back at Boradrith’s door. “I see.”

Afraid to move, Alexa simply hovered in a half curtsey, waiting for me to say something. I put my chin up and watched her, giving her a dismissive, quick flick of the wrist.

Kavryiss was right. The D’Karr had other mistresses.

And I was just a stupid girl.

I made my way back to the Vorteous wing with slow, heavy steps. A sob elbowed its way up my throat, but I swallowed it quickly, sinking into a weighty numbness.

A breeze rushed by my body, and I looked around to find the air as humid and thick as it ever was, as though I had imagined the wind.

The walk back to Vorteous from Boradrith’s quarters took forty minutes without shifter assistance. I pitched myself through one of the steep windows that lined the massive staircase that started at the bottom of the pit and worked its way up, spiraling to the topside.

I looked down at the immense drop below and then up to the stars, watching as the lights from various shifter quarters and buildings lit up in the night. The buildings were situated on the side of the cliff, protecting us all from the heat. The rooms looked so small from the window; it was like looking up at a thousand floating lanterns.

I sat there for some time, just inches from falling to my death, when I heard Kavryiss’ voice spiraling up the staircase. I quickly hoisted myself out of the window and spun on my heel, fixing my hair and pretending I was going back down so I could bump into him.

He walked up with Tredorphen and Marina at his side, the two males deep in conversation. I caught the purple shifter’s eyes, and I watched as his pupils trailed after me.

“Oh,” Tredorphen said quickly when he noticed me, “Diana,” he said formally.

“Hello,” I said quietly, averting his gaze and busying myself in my bag. I fished out a large folder and handed the papers to the D’Karr’s son. “My research,” I insisted. “The Western sun is the older one, easier to destroy. The Eastern one is hotter. Those are the bullet points, but the information’s all there if you want to go through it yourself.

Tredorphen looked down and scratched at the cleft in his chin, his eyes roving around the papers. He nodded his thanks and I looked to Marina as though she were still a commanding officer. For a moment, I forgot who I had become.

I watched Tredorphen grab his wife's hand, and I set my jaw with a wave of emotions crashing over me like a violent storm. One changing thought after another. The two remained where they were, clearly not done with Kavryiss' company.

I walked between them so that I was just a foot away from the purple shifter. I set a hand on his bare, muscular chest and stood on my tip-toes. I leaned into his ear and whispered, "Wanna play?"

The expression on his adorably full face was that of pure shock when I pulled away from him. It was so genuine it made me smile. I felt numb and full of lust and revenge.

"Take me to the water," I whispered.

He nodded his dismissal to Tredorphen and without another word we made our way from them. He threw my arms around his shoulders and pulled me closer. His immense, thick wings spread out before us and it took only a second before we were headed skyward.

The sky was dark and full of fog, clear of the sun that I had grown to resent. The night air was crisp and cold, and my skin relished the reprieve. The stars here outnumbered anything I had ever seen before.

In a short time, we landed on mossy ground topside. A vast lake was spread out before us and seemed to glow and hum. I looked into the waters that radiated a yellow light and looked to Kavryiss. "What's in there?" I said evenly.

"Nothing dangerous," he said, and I decided to believe him.

I marched up to him and threw my jacket to the ground, hastening to undo the buttons of my blouse as his eager hands found the small of my back. I leaned up and kissed him, pressing my tongue against his and tasting his spit, taking it into my mouth in heaps as our mouths wrestled for domination. I let out a loud moan as I reached down the front of his armor and found he was already hard.

The length of him filled my hand and then some, causing heat to radiate from my core. I grinned in the midst of our kiss, causing our lips to part. He set his hand gently on the back of my head and ran his fingers through my hair, pulling me closer and kissing from my mouth to my jaw, down my neck and back again.

"Take this off," he said as he looped my finger through the fabric of my pants. He grabbed the fabric of my jeans until it was bunched in his fist, forcing my pelvis close to his. "I said off."

I offered a seductive smile, and I threw my shirt to the ground and slipped out of my jeans, kicking it violently out of the way.

Kavryiss quickly followed suit, unstrapping his complicated leathers and letting them fall to the ground.

The two of us stood like school children, assessing the other’s body. He was sexy from head to toe, locks of deep brown curls falling thickly at his shoulders and full cheeks covered with stubble. Matte amethyst scales rushed across his body like water droplets, and I wondered what they might feel like.

Boradrith's scales were hard as rock: scratchy and dangerous. They could fend off Weredragon teeth, claws, and even swords.

I moved my hand along Kavryiss' body and my body filled with sex and desire as my hands glided easily across the slippery scales that covered him. His hands equally slipped down my backside and between my legs, exploring every inch of me.

I pushed him off me and walked toward the water, gesturing a 'come hither' finger his way as I splashed into the liquid below. He followed after me and pressed me up into the ledge of the water, the crumbling, muddy surface hitting my back and offering me somewhere to stand underwater.

Kavryiss found my mouth once more and spread my legs open. I directed his hands to my favorite area and started moaning almost immediately, letting out a loud sigh of surprise as he guided himself into me with his free hand.

His eyes met mine in a way I'd never seen before with a lover. I lifted a leg instinctively to open myself to him, and he grabbed both my wrists and pulled them above my head. He used a free hand to massage my breast and leaned in with tentative kisses once more, his tongue curiously making its way into my mouth as he thrust into me, water splashing up around us and crashing against the wall behind me.

I could feel it against my face: the cool water trickling down over my skin as though I’d never felt rain before. It had been so long. I dug my nails into the purple shifter, letting out guttural moans that got louder and louder the harder he thrusted.

The yellow light from beneath the pool flooded up around us, and I moved Kavryiss’ hand back down beneath the cold water, encouraging his touch as he filled me thickly.

With the rhythm of his body and hand moving in unison, I felt the flood of warmth and ecstasy wash over my body in a bursting climax. I moaned and cried into his neck so deeply that I could feel my own breath ghosting back onto my face.

Kavryiss grabbed my waist and continued pounding into me, splashing the waters almost uncontrollably until suddenly, with just one drawn out breath, he finished.

I listened to his breathing turn from ragged to steady, and he finally looked at me. I swallowed my emotions and pushed away from him gently, unlocking our bodies and moving deeper into the water.

With one swift movement, I lay on my back so that I was floating in the water. Before long, he joined me, grabbing my hand as we both used the water for balance. Floating to nowhere.