She yawned and squirmed even closer. “I rather like your cock when it’s standing at attention.” She wiggled her ass.
Talon shook his head. “Tempting, but not only are we not alone, but we have a long day ahead of us tomorrow. You need your rest, princess.”
She opened her blue-gray eyes and gazed at him. From the soft glow of the fire, he saw her sad smile. “The boys and Pearl are all sound asleep. If we’re quiet, they’ll never be the wiser. And…and I’d sleep so much better…afterwards. That is, if you aren’t still too awfully angry with me. I’m sorry Talon. What I did was horrid and unforgivable. I wouldn’t blame you if you never wanted to…” She rubbed herself along the length of his hardening cock. “Well, you know, make love with me.”
It was true, he was still angry with her, but the question remained, was he so very angry he’d deny them both pleasure?
He thought about it, really thought about it. Yes, she’d tied him to her bed and drugged him. Yes, she’d tricked him into eating friggin cat. And yes, he had no illusions that she’d do it all over again if she deemed it necessary. She was as stubborn as the day was long and would, without a doubt, do whatever she needed to do whenever she felt she needed to do it in order to accomplish her goal. But then, wasn’t that the definition, the very essence of a true leader? And wasn’t that one of the qualities he loved best about her?
Mia didn’t do anything half-assed. If she believed in something enough to attempt it, VoT and high water wouldn’t keep her from her goal. Just as all of the other true rulers before her.
He ran his hands up her ass, and this time when she shivered it wasn’t due to the cold. “I suppose I’m not so awfully angry with you anymore. At least not right at this moment.”
Mia sighed and wiggled against him once more. “Well, then?”
Talon chuckled. “I’ll have a promise first, princess. No more trying to run away from me, no more tying me down, no more drugging, and God Draka knows, no more tricking me into consuming things no self-respecting barbarian would ever put in his mouth. Deal?”
Mia kissed his lips, and then his chin, and then his neck before forging a path southward. “Deal.”
Talon almost laughed as he smacked her on the ass. “Now uncross your fingers and say it again.”
Instead, Mia punched him lightly. “I do mean it, really I do. It’s just that sometimes even the best laid plans go awry, and one must do what one must do.”
All playfulness left her countenance, and she looked him straight in the eye. “As God Draka is my witness, I promise you this. After this quest is long over and forgotten, even when we’re both old and gray, I’ll still love you, Talon Starkweather, with all that I am and all I ever hope to be. There’s no power on or in Albrath that can change how I feel about you.”
“You mustn’t,” he whispered.
“But still, I do,” she whispered back.
****
Mia met the breaking dawn of a brand new day in Vile with a smile on her face even the cold, even the thought of what was to come, even a deep sense of foreboding couldn’t curtail. And though what happened today might very well determine her fate, she couldn’t seem to wipe away the remnants of last night’s silly grin.
Talon had made love to her, really and truly made love to her, and she’d made love to him right back…finally.
They hadn’t simply had sex, fucked, tupped, or played hide the sausage, and neither had they boned, banged, or bumped uglies. And they certainly hadn’t had plain old intercourse, diddled, doinked, or did the nasty. And without a doubt, they hadn’t just gotten it on, porked, screwed, shagged, or even played slap and tickle. What they’d done was so much more than any of those words could possible begin to describe. They had made wondrously, glorious, one man, one woman love with each other, and it had been amazing.
After her declaration of her true feelings, they’d cocooned themselves between the firs and shut out the entire world. There was no need of further conversation, not with words, anyway. Instead, Talon had told her with his body, with his very soul that he loved her and always would. And even if he did believe they could never be together as man and wife, at least last night, he’d touched her as if he’d been her husband. He’d kissed her with reverence, caressed her with tenderness, and took her with infinite care. Just as if she were precious, as if she were priceless.
The madness of barbarian lust had been far, far away last night, and in its place had been a slow steady burn, a joining, a melding of two souls, a benediction to life itself.
Ever so slowly, Talon had entered her, his cock burying, tunneling, stroking deep and sure, over and over. He’d even trembled in her arms, as she’d trembled in his, and when they could hold back the damn of release no more, they’d locked their arms about each other, kissed deeply, and poured out their pleasure into each other’s souls.
After it was over, they’d lain spent and quiet. Only the sound of their ragged breathing disturbed the silence of the night.
Then Talon had taken her hand in his and whispered, “As God Draka is my witness, after this quest is long over and forgotten, even when we’re old and gray, right or wrong, I’ll still love you, too, princess, with all that I am and all I ever hope to be.”
And then they’d slept.
She took a deep breath of frosty, cold, morning air, wrapped her fir cloak closer around herself and shivered as Talon, Pierced, Wally, and Alistair stepped from the tent and out into the new day. Pearl had been up and about for hours. Mia had heard her leave and return, and she’d also listened to the dragon’s lamentations about the lack of game. But then what would be the purpose of warm blooded, living, breathing creatures in a place that reeked of only cold death? And though last night under the warm firs with Talon had been perfect, last night was over, too. It was a brand new day, and the time to start this third and final quest was upon them.
Prickles of anxiety and trepidation skittered along her spine.
“So, what’s the plan?” Pierced grumbled. “And I’m hungry. Do we have anything left ta eat? Ya can’t expect a gnome ta go questing all day long on an empty stomach.”
Alistair chuckled. “When aren’t you hungry?”
Pierced winked. “For you, big guy, always.”
Mia simply shook her head. Though she was infinitely glad Pierced and Alistair were no longer bickering, she was also anxious to get under way and get this over with.
Talon beat her to a response, however, as he pointed back toward the tent. “The plan is, we’re going to hunt hydra, and if memory serves me correctly, there are still a half dozen or so apples and some bread and cheese in my pouch. Eat up.”
Then he lifted a wayward tendril of her hair off her cheek and tucked it back behind her ear. “This is your quest, princess, and your orders we will follow. But I do suggest we get the camp packed up and get on our way quickly. We have a long day ahead of us and not a lot of daylight to waste.”
Mia nodded, and her stomach did an uneasy flip as she lifted her chin and stiffened her spine. “Let’s do it.”
He leaned in close. “Stay close to me, Mia, please. I have an uneasy feeling about this place.”
She shuddered. “As do I. But don’t worry. I’ll stick so close even Pearl won’t be able to tell where I begin and you end. I promise.”
Pearl harrumphed.
****
Where the VoT was she?
This was just like his friggin’ nightmare, only worse, because he was wide awake, and she was really and truly gone.
Talon turned in a circle, desperately trying to gauge his whereabouts. Black ice crunched beneath the heels of his boots and spread out in front of him for as far as the eye could see.
And in the distance…what was that?
He squinted through the mist, and then his mouth gaped open. Mile after mile of staggering high walls of jagged rock filled the horizon. He shivered, yet his lungs burned. She had to be here somewhere. One moment she’d been right by his side, and the ne
xt…
He scrambled up one slick hill before tumbling hard down the other side. Sharp splinters of debris nicked his shin and his ankles, but he welcomed the warmth of his own blood seeping out and coating his skin with its heat. The bright red splotches of liquid were the only source of escape from the never-ending chills running up and down his spine.
Cold, he was so very cold. His fingers had long ago lost all sensation and so had his feet. But he couldn’t stop. He was getting close. He could feel it. He could feel her presence and her fear.
Mia needed him.
He gathered his courage, yelled back toward his companions, picked up his frozen feet, and ran on sheer desperation and determination alone.
Pearl was following fast on his heels, her breath hot on his neck and her screams echoing throughout his mind. We must get to her, master. Faster, we must go faster. I can see it in my mind. It has her in its claws. Hurry, we really must hurry.
Fear for Mia out-weighed his fatigue, and furiously, Talon pumped his legs. Every step and every breath he took burned deeper and deeper throughout his entire body and he recognized it for what it was. An ice burn. If he didn’t find Mia and shelter soon, they’d all be lost.
It wasn’t wise to ignore an ice burn. He remembered them well from growing up in Bane. An ice burn was a cold so cold the tiny air pockets in one’s lungs froze solid the moment the chill, icy winds accosted them. It was a burning cold, a numbing cold, a freezing solid cold, a cold unto death.
He paused a moment to get his bearings. Odd. Though this place was undoubtedly covered with thick sheets of ice like his homeland, it certainly wasn’t anything like Bane.
Bane was flat, Bane was wide open spaces, Bane was beautiful in its simplicity, and Bane was bright blue skies and even bluer water. This place was horrid and rocky and mountainous and dark and dreary and lonely and lost, so very, very lost.
So where was Mia? He had to find her. It had taken her. A dragon of solid ice had swooped in and carried her away before he’d even had a chance to react. A heaviness of spirit filled him, and wearily he sank to his knees.
“You mustn’t give into the despair,” Wally yelled. “We’ll find her. We know it flew in this direction.”
Talon forced himself to rise and trudge onward, though every step caused his entire being to ache and the wind threatened to rip his limbs from his body.
Wally suddenly gripped his arm. “I know yout don’t want to hear this, but yout must leave us behind. We’re only slowing yout down. Be sensible man. Climb onto Pearl’s back and go find our girl. We’ll be all right. I’ll watch after Pierced and Alistair, and we’ll catch up to yout.”
Talon shook his head. “I can’t leave a man behind, let alone three. It goes against my barbarian code of honor.”
Wally pushed him toward Pearl, and so did Pierced and Alistair. “Code be damned. Go get our Mia back.”
Talon nodded and hefted himself onto Pearl’s back. “North,” he yelled. “Stay true north, and you’ll find us. I’m sure of it.”
With that, Pearl took flight, and Talon didn’t bother to look back.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Mia couldn’t stop shaking, and she wasn’t sure if it was due to the cold, the fright, or both. Her heart pounded in her chest, and her breaths came in quick, shallow little spurts as she gripped Queen Adrina’s spear so tightly in her fist her fingers had gone numb.
The spear had been the one thing she’d been able to hold onto when the ice dragon had scooped her up and carried her away only a few grains of the hourglass ago.
She sat huddled in a huge make-shift nest of some sorts, upon a flat patch of ground, surrounded by round, glowing ice-orb thingies, and she tried her best to concentrate on the conversation going on around her.
The ice dragon that had captured her was having a discussion of sorts with the biggest, scariest creature Mia’d ever laid eyes on. And other than closing those same eyes, covering her ears, and shutting out the world like the coward she now knew herself to be, what other option did she have but to watch and listen?
“I brought you a gift, oh great Azurinna. A warm blooded gift. I found it wondering close to our borders,” the dragon said.
The eight-headed, sixteen-eyed, two-winged, four-legged, ice-scaled monster that Mia was fairly sure was one of the ice hydras she’d been sent here to find let out a sound that was almost a chuckle. “And what is it you expect in return, for this…offering?”
The dragon shuffled its feet. “An egg perhaps? Or two or three or a hundred. After all, you’ll still have thousands to watch over and hunting has been scarce. Activity from VoT has slowed to a trickle of late, and anyway, I hunger for something different, something powerful, something cold, very cold.”
The ice hydra gasped. “One of my eggs? Do you really think I’d give you something as priceless as one of my offspring in exchange for this…this…tiny warm-blood? Impossible. Put her back where you found her—she’s an innocent—and go about your job, dragon. If you wish to eat this day, then feast on the soulless who continue to sneak across our borders from VoT. It is your purpose, after all.”
The dragon screeched. “I’ve grown sick of the soulless. They have no taste, no texture. I want hydra eggs. I demand them. It’s close to the time of the great hatching, and we both know you grow weak. I will feel the power of an unborn hydra pour through my veins as I devour it this day.”
Azurinna bellowed. “Not from my eggs, you won’t. I am the last of my kind, and I’ll be lucky if even half of my eggs survive the hatching. Every millennium their numbers grow less and less. But still, they must be of sufficient quantity to keep the good and evil in this world balanced. It’s what we’ve been tasked to do since the beginning of time. And what your own brand new soon to be hatched ice dragons will do. I’m not asking to eat your young, am I? Go now, and leave mine be.”
The dragon screeched once more and shot straight up into the air. “I don’t care about my young, you greedy bitch,” it bellowed. “They can fend for themselves. But if you refuse to part with a few of your own eggs, then I shall destroy them all.”
The last thing Mia expected from a dragon made of pure ice was a stream of fire, but that was exactly what shot forth from the creature’s mouth a heartbeat later, landing upon a group of icy orbs. They began to melt, and the light inside them to fade.
The ice hydra screamed, the scales of her chest expanding and contracting while a thick, icy white torrent of fog flowed from her mouth covering her eggs in a layer of protection.
The dragon laughed. “Don’t be unreasonable, Azurinna. We both know you don’t have the power left to protect them all. Give me a few as I’ve asked, or lose many.”
The ice hydra shook all eight of her heads. “Never, dragon. I’ll die first.”
The dragon cackled. “Then I suppose you shall die.” And fire once more shot forth.
This time when the hydra’s chest started expanding and contracting, Mia couldn’t believe what she saw. Right there, right within range of her spear, beat a bright red heart. All she need do to complete her quest and earn the right to be a ruling queen of the barbarian nation was to plunge the spear upward. It would only take a moment, one quick thrust.
Still, she hesitated.
In truth, she probably didn’t even have to kill Azurinna with her own hands if she didn’t wish to. Looking, really looking at the hydra, Mia could see that the dragon was right. The eight-headed creature standing so proud, so regal, defending her nest to the death was weak, and not just a little weakened, but very old and very weak. All she really needed to do was stand here, let the ice dragon do the dirty work, and then reap the rewards when it was done.
She shook her head. But what of the ogres? What of the promise she’d made to them? If Azurinna died, any chance to get the hydra to repair Queen Adrina’s spear would die with her, and that simply couldn’t happen.
Mia was locking her knees in place and steadying her arm, preparing to defend the ice hydra
with her own life when Pearl with Talon on her back came flying into view.
Fear for the man she loved filled her heart as their own dragon dipped and spewed forth a thin line of fire. Mia held her breath as the ice dragon retaliated with a river of liquid heat in response. Pearl managed to barrel roll out of the way at the very last moment. But she had no way of comprehending she was not much more than a dragling herself. Still much too young to be facing such an adversary.
The ice dragon was full grown, a hunter, and a trained killer. Pearl was, well, Pearl was, for all intents and purposes, a pet. A very treasured pet, a part of the family even, but a pet just the same.
Mia couldn’t chance Pearl being hurt or killed, and she couldn’t take the chance Talon would be thrown off the young dragon’s back to his death, either. And she certainly couldn’t count on help from the hydra. Azurinna would have no idea whether Pearl was friend or foe.
She stiffened her spine and locked her knees once more. She must act, and she must act now. So she steadied her hand and waited for the ice dragon to come within range.
The ice dragon itself wasn’t paying her any mind. It only had eyes for Pearl. And when it finally flew close enough, Mia sent a quick prayer up to God Draka that for once her aim be true and hurled Queen Adrina’s spear skyward.
With a loud crack, the spear shattered the outward scales of the ice dragon and didn’t stop until it was deeply imbedded in its chest. With a look of complete surprise, the icy, cold dragon fell to the ground below, dead.
Mia was filled with a combination of elation and disgust. She was infinitely glad Azurinna and her eggs were safe but was horrified she’d taken a life. Even though that particular life had needed to be taken. Tears threatened as the finality of her actions sank in.
It was probably a good thing she’d failed at her quest. She obviously didn’t have the stomach for it. There were many times a ruler had to make hard choices, even if that meant taking a life. And that was something she never, ever wanted to do again.
She took deep breaths to calm herself and tried her best not to think about what would come next.
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