Three days later, she was awkwardly sipping a lovely tea, and wishing she could disappear.

“And so, you’ve decided to stay here in Telenar?”

She should have demanded that he’d let them have tea alone. Talia was feeling quite awkward, scrutinized by dimpled, bubbly Mula Vasili, observed by the woman’s husband, who was pretending to read, and with Vincent standing next to the window, looking out but all of his attention focused on the conversation at hand. She could feel it.

She shrugged. “I don’t know yet. I do owe my sister a great deal and I’ll be glad to be of help to her where I can,” she admitted. “But while her and the King’s invitation was quite genuine, I’d feel awkward here, without a purpose.”

“Purpose?” Mula asked, intrigued.

Talia shrugged. “A job, something to do. I’m an Enchantress, of course, but I don’t quite yet know what that entails. Trips away, I’m sure. But what of the rest of my time? Everyone needs something to do.” Then, she blushed, recalling that she was talking to nobles. From what she knew of nobles, particularly women, they did not, in fact, need anything to do at all to feel quite content with their position. “I mean no disrespect to your station. But I’m used to working. I prepared spells at my parents’ practice each morning and visited patients in need of magical assistance every afternoon - sometimes, I wouldn’t get back home until long after dark. Going to the capital, and then coming down to your wonderful kingdom has been different, for sure. A break, of sorts. It did me good, but I couldn’t think of any permanence without some sort of work.”

She bit her lip and forced herself to keep quiet now. She’d probably made things worse.

A silence followed. Mula glanced at her husband and then her son. Vincent was done pretending to look out the window at all; he watched her. With amusement, if she wasn’t mistaken.

“Sorry, I…”

“I’m a weapon’s master, Talia,” Mula confessed. “I met Viktor in my class. The only man I couldn’t beat in less than three minutes. I still work. Viktor may appear quite the lazy git, but he oversees his principality, down to the welfare of the lowest villager.”

“Oh,” was all she said.

So much for her assumptions.

“And my son,” said she, “Commander of the King’s army, hero of the battle of Norda, is, in fact, so much of a workaholic his cousin has to enforce his vacations.”

“Exaggeration,” Vincent retorted. “I stay at Norda because it’s my home.”

“And you remain planted on the guard tower every day of the week because it’s fun, perhaps?”

Vincent rolled his eyes. “Or perhaps I don’t have much else to do, mother. Besides, you ladies were discussing Talia’s ridiculous assumption that we might expect her to remain seated and look pretty for the rest of time.” He came and pulled out the chair next to hers in the dining room. “If you liked your previous position, we could set up a shop. Mages are valued in our lands. Dragons have elemental magics, but mainly used to fight, and perhaps heal physical wounds. There are bears, wolves, and other shifters in these lands who are often in need of a mage’s science for their ailments.”

Now that he said it, it made an awful lot of sense - a large kingdom governed by creatures who didn’t get sick, yet filled with some subjects who could. Dragons were viewed as monstrous creatures that ate children in Malek and she didn’t doubt that the misconception was spread far and wide through the land. So, mages wouldn’t naturally pick Farden as a potential home.

Her mind spun quickly. What he said made plenty of sense. And she could, in serving her sister’s Kingdom, perhaps, someday, repay the debt she owed her.

Besides…the way they’d talked of that Enchantress who’d taken their defenses down? Talia doubted that the woman was done with them. If - or when - she attacked again, Talia needed to be here.

“The idea has merit.”

Mula smiled. Vincent got up and returned to his window. Twisting her back on her chair to watch him, Talia ask, “What, are you going?”

The question took him aback. “Sorry?”

“Well, you wanted to have tea with your mother and here we are. Yet your tea is cold, untouched, and you just won’t tear yourself from that window. Is there a circus out there that we might also want to watch?”

Had she grown a pair of horns, the Vasili might not have looked at her with more astonishment.

Then, Viktor laughed. “My son,” he explained, “surveys his surroundings at all times. If there’s any danger coming, he wants to know. Therefore, windows are his favorite dwellings.”

Talia patted the back of the chair. “Come now. There are plenty of guards around Telenar. Sit. Herbal tea is also nice cold, so you’re in luck.”

More astonishment from all fronts, but he came, he sat, and he drank his tea, nonetheless.

* * *

“Wed her. If you let her pass you by, by all gods, I shall disinherit you.”

The whispered threat, as Mula kissed his cheeks when they said their farewells, only served to make him smile.

“Love you, too, mother,” was all her replied.

She then embraced Talia, holding on to her very tightly before letting go. Viktor didn’t say a word, but his gaze was telling.

No need for all the posturing. Of course he’d wed her. Still, they wouldn’t be happy when they learned that it only solved half of their problem. Because, by all gods, old and new, good or evil, he wouldn’t risk her to the trials of childbirth. Not when so many dragon females died giving birth; as a human - and not even a Rider - she had even less chance of surviving it. Until a time came when mothers lived to see their children grow, it would be just them in their home.

Which home, he wondered. Talia might not like Norda. Finally, finally, they crossed his parents’ drawing room and closed the door. Only then did he take Talia by the shoulders, pinning her against the closest wall, and dropping his lips to hers.

He couldn’t help himself. He had to know what she tasted like. And now, he did. Wild berries, summertime, and passion. Hot, sweaty sex. Her eyes widened at first and she froze. For an instant, Vincent wondered if she’d fight this, fight him, despite their sizzling attraction, despite the chemistry. Not because she didn’t want this; just because it was who she was. His challenge. The only person who’d ever imposed her will over his - and she did so without an effort, so gently he didn’t even care.

But Talia softened under his lips; instead of pushing against his chest as he feared she might, her hands crawled from his arms to his shoulders, and held him closer.

Coaxing her lips open, he took her mouth deep, long, languorously, as his hands explored her endless perfect curves.

She moaned. He lost it.

Fuck.

He lifted her up and she instinctively wrapped her legs around his waist. Through too many layers of clothes, he felt her heat for him. Her gaze was clouded with raw unapologetic need. She ground against his hardening length, and somehow he stayed upright, although every one of his muscles was tightening so damn painfully. Vincent couldn’t get enough of her. He might even have taken her right there, in front of his parents’ apartment, if he hadn’t wanted more. So much more. His head dipped to her throat and he sucked on her sensitive skin as she begged, chanting “please, please,” like a mantra.

Insanity. This was insanity. No other word for it.

“You need to come, sweet thing.” She blushed so hard. Adorable. “You need to come so bad you’d let me take you here, within hearing range of my parents, in a corridor where anyone could walk by.” She looked right and left and blushed some more. “Bad, bad witch. Let it be known that I’ll always give you what you need.”

He moved the fabric out of the way, pulling the silk up, and opened his own trousers. She gasped. “We can’t…”

He’d pegged her right. An innocent little thing he was going to love corrupting. “And we won’t. Not yet. Not now,” he said, as the length of his dick rested against the drenched fabric of her panties. Vincent pushed it aside, and then they were heat to heat, flesh to flesh. He ground up, thrusting between her pussy lips. She bit his jacket to stop herself from crying out as he carried on. Grinding, grinding, grinding some more. Her hips moved with him and they both started panting hard as they dry-humped each other. He moved harder, taking care to hit her clit each time.

If anyone saw them now, they’d assume they were actually fucking each other’s brains out. They wouldn’t be completely wrong. He smirked, and his dragon growled its approval, trying to coax him into taking more, to penetrate her maddening heat.

Did she know how close he was to giving in?

Her body shuddered and a thick liquid coated his cock. His nostrils flared, taking in her delicious scent. His own release followed. Damn, how long had it been since he’d come in minutes? Not since he’d been a youth, centuries ago, but her scent, the feel of her, her voice - it had all been too much.

“I…” she started and gave up on words after that.

His forehead dropped to hers and he closed his eyes.

“Yeah, me, too,” was all he said, because it somehow summed up how fucked, confused, and unhinged he felt.