by G. A. Aiken
“Good.” She slid her hand behind the back of his neck and pulled his head down. “Now kiss me, complaining dragon.”
“You tell me to kiss you and you insult me. Romantic.” He brought his hands up, slid his fingers into her hair, all while he gazed down into her face.
“This could be a very bad idea, you know?”
“You worry too much.”
“I’m king. I was born to worry.” Gaius tilted her head back, his eyes locked on her mouth. “But, as king, I can also worry later.”
Kachka slipped her hands around his waist, pulled him close. “That is good, dragon. That is very good.”
Gaius kissed Kachka’s smiling mouth, easing his tongue past her lips and taking his time tasting her.
He had no desire to rush this. He wanted to savor. Something told him this would be the only chance he ever had with her, so he wouldn’t waste it by rushing. Instead, he took his time and just kissed her.
Kachka’s hands tightened around his waist, pulling him against her before sliding under his shirt, easing across his back. She traced scars she found there with the tips of her fingers, and the simple action drove him nearly mad.
He released her long enough so that Kachka could pull his shirt off. She tossed it aside and then removed her own. Once she’d dropped it, she was back in his arms, kissing his neck, her hands moving over his shoulders.
At that point, they sort of dragged each other to the ground. Somehow, as they rolled across the grass, leggings were pulled off and boots went flying. Gaius lowered his head and wrapped his mouth around a nipple, his tongue teasing the tip, Kachka’s back arching. He moved to the other breast, and slid his hand between her thighs. As he eased two of his fingers inside her, Kachka tightened her legs around his waist and flipped him onto his back.
Shocked, he stared up at her. “Gods, you’re strong.”
“I know.” She moved until she straddled his waist. Gripping his now hard cock, she pressed it against her pussy and slid down onto it until she completely enveloped him.
She placed her hands against his chest and without moving her hips, tightened her muscles around his cock.
“Wait, wait,” Gaius gasped out, gripping Kachka around the waist.
“Too much?” she asked, deservedly looking smug.
“No, no,” he panted out. “Too perfect.”
She chuckled and pressed her chest against his, her tongue easing across the muscles of his neck while her pussy squeezed and released his cock, over and over again.
Gaius’s eyes crossed and his toes curled.
It had to be all the gods-damn horse riding. Either that or the gods had blessed her pussy, because he didn’t think he’d ever felt something so strong and yet so absolutely wonderful.
She teased his nipples while she continued to squeeze his cock.
And the little viper knew exactly what she was doing. Torturing him! Keeping him under her control!
Gaius couldn’t even think straight. He couldn’t do anything but let her keep going, praying that she didn’t stop.
She didn’t.
She squeezed his cock until he came, hard, his arms wrapped tight around her and holding her against him until she’d wrung him dry.
The big arms wrapped tight around her finally loosened and dropped to the ground. He panted beneath her, eyes closed, sweat on his brow even though it was a very cool evening by Southlander standards.
Kachka placed her elbow on his chest and rested her chin in the palm of her hand.
“Poor dragon,” she said, smirking down at him.
“Huh?”
“You sleep while I wait here.”
“I’m not sleeping. Just getting my breath back.”
Kachka tapped the fingers of her free hand against his stomach. She was teasing him, but only because it was Gaius. She had patience. She could wait until he was ready again.
“You’re a smart ass,” he said, his lips curled into a smile.
“I said nothing. I am just waiting.”
His eyes opened and he stared at her.
“What?” she finally asked.
But he didn’t answer. Not with words anyway. Instead, he quickly pulled out of her, and flipped her around until she was on her knees and he was behind her.
She was about to ask what he thought he was doing, but her words were cut off when he was suddenly inside her once more.
He was hard again. Already!
She’d never had a man come that hard for her and then be ready to go again that quickly. But then she remembered Gaius Domitus was not a man. He was dragon. And now the sounds from her sister’s room late at night made sense. Actually . . . the sounds from all the females in that blasted castle late at night suddenly made complete sense.
Gripping her hips tight, Gaius powered into her with as much vigor as if this were their first time. It was so hard and fast and delicious that all Kachka could do was plant her hands hard in the ground and take it. Something she was not used to doing. But he wasn’t giving her much of a chance to take back control.
Then he slid one hand down around her waist and between her thighs. His fingers gripped her clit and began to squeeze and toy with it.
That felt so damn good, her arms gave out, and she was resting on her elbows, her forehead pressed against the backs of her hands while Gaius stroked her clit again and again. Then he circled it. Then he squeezed the gods-damn thing and that’s when everything exploded around her.
She heard herself scream out into the night, surprising herself more than the birds in the trees.
Then, to either her dismay or her sheer happiness, he didn’t stop. He’d already come once, so apparently he was ready to keep going. And he did, taking Kachka over the edge two more times before he pulled out of her and placed her on her back.
Gaius entered her again, going slow now, staring down into her face until he kissed her.
His kisses, like his fucking now, were slow and sweet, taking his time with both while his fingers played with her nipples or stroked her hair or simply touched her bare skin.
When he finally came this time, she came with him. They gripped each other, groaning and panting into each other’s mouth, their hips grinding against the other until they were both so spent that they were too weak to push their partner away.
Kachka couldn’t even get up and leave, something she would normally do since they were outside. If they had been in her room, she would have thrown him out. But he’d worn her down and she could do nothing but fall asleep in his arms.
The dragon bastard!
Gaius woke up when he felt something balanced on his nose.
It was a loaf of bread.
“What’s happening?” he asked the naked woman who was sitting there, watching him silently.
“Thought you might be hungry.”
“I’m a dragon. I’m always hungry.”
He took the loaf of bread off his face and sat up, his back pressed against the tree they’d happily fucked under.
Gauis tore the bread and handed one half to Kachka. They ate in silence at first until Gaius asked, “Why have you never chosen a husband, Kachka Shestakova?”
She smirked at him. “In love with me already, Rebel King?”
“We both know you’d be lucky if I were. I am a king and,” he teased, “pretty damn benevolent.”
Kachka laughed. “So you say. In answer to your question, I chose no husband because husband and children would lock me into life in Outerplains. I always felt I was . . . destined for more.”
“To be Anne Atli one day?”
“No,” she said, shaking her head. “That is not life for me. Nor the life I desire. What about you? Is this life you want?”
“This is life I have. In the Sovereigns, you’re born into your life.”
“You were not born into your life. You took it from the hide of your uncle.”
“Only because he made me.”
“So you think you would have been happy being just
a royal? A title with no power?”
Gaius let out a breath. “I honestly don’t know. When Vateria took my sister . . . all bets were off, as they say.”
“Meaning?”
“They gave me no choice but to kill them. Each and every one of them. There are, of course, a few of my kin still roaming free. But I’ll find them, too. If I have my way, I’ll find them all.”
Kachka suddenly smiled.
“What?” he asked.
“I was just thinking . . . if you were woman, you would make good Daughter of Steppes.”
“I would?”
“You have strong sense of vengeance. Daughters of Steppes were born of vengeance. The first Anne Atli, it was need for revenge that sent her to take control of the tribes. Once she started, she never looked back.” Kachka studied him closely. “Will you look back, Rebel King? Will you have regrets?”
“The only regret I will ever have . . . is that I let Vateria get my sister. And as long as she still breathes, that account will never be settled.”
Kachka reached into the darkness and brought back a bottle of that damn ale. She pulled the cork with her teeth and took a long swig before handing it to Gaius. Wincing, he drank a bit . . . then worked hard not to immediately spit it back out as it burned its way down his throat. A throat that could spew out fire at a mere thought.
Fire didn’t bother him, but Rider ale did. Interesting.
“Awake now, dragon?” Kachka asked, her smile almost warm.
He handed the ale back to her. “Well, if I wasn’t before . . .”
With their knees raised and Gaius’s back still resting against that tree, Kachka sat on Gaius’s lap, his cock buried deep inside her. Neither moving. It felt good just to sit like this. Enjoying the calm Southland night. Their hands roaming without specific intent.
Gaius seemed to like stroking his fingers against her scars.
“Where did you get this?” he asked, his index finger easing down the raised flesh of her left side.
She glanced at it, tried to remember. “Fell off a horse and onto a spike buried in ground. Which was why my horse reared in first place. Some city, trying to keep us out. It did not work. Nor did it kill me.”
Kachka ran her thumb down the scar on Gaius’s face. It cut across his forehead, past where his eye had once been, and part way down his cheek. “You do not want to tell me about this,” she guessed. “Do you?”
“Not at the moment. It brings up bad memories. Maybe I’ll tell you one day, when I don’t have a beautiful woman sitting on my cock, bringing me extreme pleasure.”
“I am not even squeezing.” She smiled. “Yet.”
“You don’t need to squeeze. Sometimes the pleasure is in the waiting.”
Gaius reached up and pushed Kachka’s hair from her face. “Tell me . . . why did you choose me?”
“Choose you?”
“To fuck. You had an array of dragons to choose from, if you just wanted to try a dragon.... Why me?”
Kachka ran her hands across Gaius’s square jaw. “Honestly? You irritate me less than most males do. That makes you very desirable to me.”
Gaius leaned forward, pressed his lips against her throat, easing up to her jaw.
“Rebel King?”
“Yes?”
She pressed her mouth against his ear and whispered, “I feel like squeezing now.”
He smiled against her flesh. “Then please . . . don’t let me stop you.”
Chapter Sixteen
Gaius awoke under that tree, his arms around Kachka, and looked up into the faces of the Riders surrounding him.
He tapped Kachka’s shoulder.
“What?”
“We are not alone.”
She opened her eyes, focused on her fellow tribeswomen. “What?”
“Tatyana has something,” Marina announced. “A temple. About three to four days’ ride from here. It might be at risk.”
Kachka was out of his arms. She grabbed the clothes they’d tossed aside the night before and, naked, started to walk off with her team.
Before she could get anywhere, though, Gaius reached out and caught hold of her ankle.
Zoya grinned. “He is going to beg!”
Gaius smirked. “I’m a king, Zoya Kolesova—ruler of an empire. I don’t beg. Now piss off.”
Zoya and Marina looked to Kachka, and she jerked her head to the side. With a nod, the women walked away, leaving the pair alone.
“Did you think I was just going to let you walk away?” he asked.
“Did you think that because you are king, I would stay?”
Gaius slowly ran his hand up the back of Kachka’s bare leg. “I thought you’d stay because you’re madly in love with me.”
Kachka crouched down in front of Gaius and, grinning, he slid his hand between her thighs, which Kachka quickly caught and held.
“I have to go.”
“You don’t have to go. You choose to go.”
“I have name to make. Honor to obtain. I do not have time to let a man get in my way.”
“I’m not a man. I’m a dragon. And I want what I want.” He let out a truly regretful sigh, pulling his hand back so he could take hold of her hand. “But I also understand your need to earn a name.” He kissed the back of her knuckles. “So go. Get your name.”
“And you will wait for me like loyal puppy?”
“That I can’t promise. But if death finds you well, Kachka Shestakova, I’m sure I’ll be around. Somewhere.”
She smiled. It stunned him how . . . sweet it was. Her true smile.
Kachka leaned in and kissed him, one hand pressed against his cheek, the other digging into his hair.
When she finally pulled back, she gave him one more soft kiss on his nose. Then she picked up her clothes again and walked off. Never once looking back.
Gaius stood and pulled on his clothes. He returned to the Great Hall, finding that a few, who had avoided the drink of the Riders, had managed to make it downstairs to get something to eat. But many servants were carrying tea and very dry bread up the stairs to those who couldn’t handle more.
Dagmar, sitting at the table surrounded by missives and parchments filled with figures, smiled at him as he entered. “King Gaius.”
“Lady Dagmar. I’m heading home,” he told her flatly.
Dagmar’s eyes narrowed the slightest bit behind those spectacles she wore. “Is everything all right?”
“Everything’s fine,” he promised, since it was. He and Kachka had no commitment beyond what they’d done the night before. In fact, he doubted that woman would make a commitment to any male if she could avoid it. “But it’s going to be a long flight, and I need to go. I just didn’t want to disappear without saying anything to you or Queen Annwyl.”
Dagmar stood from the table and walked to his side. Her voice low, she said, “Is it Kachka Shestakova? Rumor has spread that you were with her last night, and although I am greatly concerned about your taste in females, I can have her killed if she’s displeased you in some way. Do you need me to have her killed?”
Shocked and also trying not to laugh, Gaius shook his head. “That’s not really . . . necessary.”
“Are you sure? It would be my extreme pleasure.”
“No . . . no. Really . . . no.”
“Then why the rush to leave if she hasn’t yet again destroyed some male’s good name?”
“Because I have an empire to run?”
“Something I know your sister can handle in your absence, but I understand your not wanting to be here unless necessary. In case that evil heifer returns.”
“Or I just want to go home. But whatever.”
“Understood,” she said, straightening her back, regal as always. “But, of course, you’ll still need to have an escort.”
“That’s not really necess—”
“Brannie!” the tiny woman bellowed, causing Gaius to jump a bit.
“I’m up!” Branwen the Awful announced as she bounced to h
er feet from behind the banister at the top of the stairs. Her shoulder-length hair was . . . everywhere. Her pretty brown eyes red rimmed. Her human skin alarmingly pale. “I’m up. No need to scream so.”
“King Gaius is returning home today. You’ll need to accompany him. Bring a few Mì-runach with you to ensure his safety.”
Branwen nodded. “Of course.” She turned and began kicking something that started grunting and cursing. “Get up, you sorry lot! We have to move.”
After she did that, she came down the stairs, and stopped in front of Gaius.
“King Gaius, I will be happy to . . . happy to . . .” She covered her mouth with one hand and held up a finger with the other.
Gaius took a step back and let her dart past him so that she could throw up outside. A few seconds later, most of the Mì-runach quickly followed her out.
“Don’t worry,” Dagmar said. “From what I’ve heard of Rider wine, they should be fine in a day or two.”
“That does give me great ease, Lady Dagmar.”
She patted his shoulder before returning to her papers. “Don’t think for a second I don’t hear that mocking tone, m’lord.”
An accusation that just made him laugh, because how could he not laugh at the Southlanders?
Chapter Seventeen
Gaius shifted to human and took the clothes handed to him by a servant before stalking down the palace halls to his throne room. The guards protecting the doors saw him coming and immediately shoved the thick wood open.
With Brannie the Awful and several Mì-runach behind him, he walked into the throne room. Aggie jumped up and ran over to him, throwing herself into his arms. He held his twin tight and swung her in a circle.
“Out!” he ordered those waiting to meet with his sister.
The humans and dragons in human form quickly walked out.
But Brannie and the Mì-runach still stood there, peering around the large throne room, completely oblivious. Gaius knew for a fact that, in battle, Brannie was amazing. Yet when it came to the more social graces . . . yeah, well . . . huh.
Brannie focused on Aggie, brown eyes blinking.
