by Eric Vall
The broken death curse was a mass of black energy that curled itself into a tangled sphere above Valerra’s body. It twitched and spasmed sporadically as King Rodion’s power restrained the darkness, but then the darkness grew smaller and smaller until it disappeared into nothingness.
At the same moment, Valerra’s breathing eased, and she let out a deep sigh, but her eyes remained closed. Her muscles relaxed under my hand, and the scent of death vanished from her.
“It’s over,” Alyona sighed in relief as she sat on the bed next to Valerra. “She’s free of it.”
“Why hasn’t she woken up?” Ruslan asked from where he and the other two Elders had been watching quietly.
I glanced over Valerra and summoned her status. I knew the death curse had been removed from her, but while the scent of death was gone, I wasn’t sure if there was anything else ailing her.
Classification: Dragon.
Condition: Exhausted due to burden placed on body by death curse. Spiritual sea currently healing itself.
Priority: None.
Danger: Stable.
Status: Healthy.
“She’s fine,” I breathed out as I felt the tension of the day drop off my back like a ton of bricks. “She’s just sleeping. There was a lot of stress on her body, she’s exhausted.”
“Go and rest,” King Rodion instructed as he sat down on the edge of the bed and glanced at me. “I shall watch over her until her spiritual sea settles.”
There was no way I was going to say no to a free pass to my bed. So, I staggered away and to my bedroom as I tried to figure out why King Rodion’s power had been so familiar to me. There was still a large amount of the king’s power in my spiritual sea, and it was a comforting presence to me. It was almost like I was standing in front of the Dark Lady of the Nine Heavens again. But it wasn’t an exact copy of her power, it was just the etherealness of it that was similar. Almost as if I’d been blessed by some higher power.
Well, whatever, the only thing I wanted to do was sleep and have a moment to relax.
I stripped carelessly, but almost reverently placed the Sword on the nearby dresser. Finally throwing myself into my bed had to be the happiest moment of my life. It had been a long day, especially if I considered the fact that I hadn’t slept the previous night. I went straight from fighting demons to practicing lightning magic and then to fighting demons all over again, not to mention traveling a thousand years back in time.
Anyone would be exhausted, and I definitely was.
I was almost asleep when the door to my room opened. There was the sound of shifting silk and the creak of leather, and it was clear just who had entered my room. I weighed my options. I could sit up and ask what they wanted or I could wait and see.
With a yawn, I rolled onto my back and carefully peeked out from under my lashes as the bed creaked. The sight that awaited me was a beautiful one. Laika and Alyona were both naked as they crawled toward me on the bed.
There was no way I was going to pretend to be asleep, not when I knew what they wanted, and I was perfectly willing to give it to them.
As desire and adrenaline surged through my veins, I sat up and yanked the two gorgeous women toward me. They let out matching yelps of surprise as they came face to face with my bare chest, but their surprise faded, and matching expressions of desire took over.
“What,” I began huskily as I raked my gaze over their bodies, “are you two lovely ladies doing? Sneaking in here like this.”
“Valerra is still in my bed,” Alyona replied in a breathy gasp, and she traced a languid pattern on my chest with her nails. “Laika offered for me to sleep in her room, but the bed is rather lonely without you.”
“Oh?” I tilted my head to the side as I brought my hand down to firmly grip Laika’s thigh. “And that’s why the two of you ended up here? Because you’re feeling lonely and want to talk?”
“We most definitely do not want to talk.” Laika’s lips fell into a pout as her tail shifted from side to side. “If we wanted to talk, we would have stayed clothed.”
“There’s a lot of different ways we can talk.” I dragged my hand along Laika’s thigh until I brushed my fingers against the soft flesh between her thighs. “If you don’t want to talk, though, we can just go to sleep instead.”
“No, please,” Laika whined as she thrust her hips against me. “Don’t tease us like that.”
“Evan, please,” Alyona added as she grinded against me, too, “I need you now. We both do.”
That was the breaking point for me, and I wasn’t able to hold back. Not when both of these gorgeous women were so desperate for me to show them just how much I adored them and their bodies.
I slanted my mouth over Alyona’s bare breast as I applied pressure to Laika’s slick entrance. Then I licked and suckled all over Alyona’s sweet flesh and pulled out soft cries of pleasure from her.
Laika bucked on my fingers as I pressed deeper and deeper inside of her. The warmth of her walls made it seem like I was wrapped in a molten vice of slick velvet, and she only got tighter the more I thrust my fingers into her.
Our three bodies were entwined as passion ignited between us, and I buried myself into the two women. Alyona gasped and Laika panted as I brought them to the edge over and over again until they were both trembling underneath me.
I engraved their taste on my tongue and into my memory as I feasted on their euphoric love for me. Even as they gasped and pleaded for more, half mad with desire, I brought them in closer to myself. All I wanted to do was to keep the two of them in my arms, to bury myself into their soft flesh and sweet skin until even time ended.
We were like that for hours, and we rediscovered each other’s secret places even as the three moons rose high in the sky. Eventually, Laika and Alyona collapsed, exhausted from our nonstop lovemaking and filled with my dragon seed, and I was the only one left awake.
I tried to follow them into the dark oblivion of sleep, but it eluded me. So, I left the two sleeping beauties in my bed and got dressed quietly before I snuck out of my room. I ended up sitting on the doorstep of the building, and I was just quietly looking up at the stars when I realized I wasn’t alone.
I looked up, and King Rodion had appeared beside me with a quiet expression on his face.
“Come with me, Evan, let us drink.” King Rodion nodded in the direction of one of the empty tables in the town square.
“What are we drinking to?” I asked as I followed behind the king, and we walked to the table closest to the nearby garden.
“We drink and celebrate the coming morning and everything that has been accomplished within the time you’ve lived in my country,” Rodion sighed as he sat down at the table.
His fingers twitched, and two small, stemless cups appeared on the table. A slim ceramic jug appeared next to the cups as well, and when the King poured out the liquid from the jug into the cups, it was a shimmering crimson.
“I’ll drink to that.” I shrugged as I clinked my wine cup against the king’s.
“I thought you would.” A smile twitched on King Rodion’s face as he drank from the cup. “The Lords of Hatra have ever been quite festive and quick to smile.”
“You saw me that day.” I didn’t beat around the bush and just went straight to the point. “When Hatra and the port cities were attacked by demons.”
“I did.” King Rodion set down the small cup and looked up at the sky. “It was such a strange moment that it has stayed so clearly in my memory. It was a surprise to see a son of Hatra bear the blood of a dragon in his veins, but so much has happened that such a thought was shoved away. I never thought it would take a thousand years for my curiosity to be sated, but I am a patient man.”
“Is that why you told me to go get the Sword?” I asked as I poured more wine into my cup to drink. “Because you knew I would come back with the Sword and minimize the casualties back then?”
There was a hum from the Sword at my hip and a slight brush against my mind fro
m Miraya.
“When I saw you through the mirror,” the king began, “I knew you would be the pebble that would send hundreds, if not thousands, of ripples throughout our world. You bring change, and you will tip the scales of power in Inati. Perhaps you’ll be able to end this eternal war, or perhaps you’ll fuel the flames of war. Either way, I’ve already made my choice.”
“Yeah?” I lifted my cup to drink again and wondered about this eternal war with the demons. “And what choice did you make?”
“To entwine my fate with yours.” A fiery determination filled King Rodion’s eyes as he looked at me. “There is little I can do from the Breach, but I am needed there, and those closest to my heart have suffered for it: Alyona and this country. This country, no, this world needs more than just one sun. There are three moons in the sky, so why shouldn’t there be another two suns protecting this world from darkness?”
There could be only one thing he was talking about when it came to two other suns in the sky. King Rodion was called the sun that protected the world, so if there was a second one, that other sun would be Alyona. But for the King to mention a third sun, there was only one reason for that.
At least I thought there was. I needed to be sure, though.
“I know Alyona is the other sun,” I began as I stared up at the night sky, “which makes sense, she’s your daughter and the divine princess who will protect this world alongside you. But … do you mean for me to be the third sun?
“Nobles have been pushing for me to pick a companion for my daughter.” King Rodion shrugged as he tilted his head back. “Who else but you is able to stand on the same pedestal as my child? I see great things in your future, I’ve known it since I first saw you a thousand years ago. You would be the only one worthy enough to bear the burden of ruling alongside my beloved daughter.”
“You’re talking about marriage.” A smile crossed my face as I thought about marrying the divine princess. “For me to marry Alyona and become this country’s prince.”
“I am.” The king nodded as he picked up his wine cup again. “How else would you accomplish your goal of ensuring the walls of Hatra el Shamash will never again fall? Or the desire that burns inside of you to lay waste to all the demons that attack our world?”
“You think everyone is just going to accept their princess being married off to a dragon?” I snorted into my wine as I remembered how the Green Glass Sect viewed me. “Changing people’s perception of dragons isn’t going to be an easy task, not when my kind has been so violent towards mortals and vice versa. An army, perhaps a small one, was brought to Hatra’s doorstep all because of a rumor. Can you imagine what would happen if I stepped through those gates and proclaimed to the entire kingdom I’m going to marry their precious and divine princess?”
“Ah, but you’re not just a dragon, are you?” King Rodion shook his head before he took a sip of his wine. “You’re the heir to the House of Hatra el Shamash. You’re the wielder of the Sword of Healing, chosen by the Sword itself when your city was in the most danger. Even the Blue Tree Guild, famous throughout all of Rahma for never pledging themselves to any lord, has bent to your will. Not only that, but you have the favor and blessings of the Dark Lady of the Nine Heavens. Not to mention, you have the approval of the king himself. What is there you cannot accomplish if you put your clever mind to it?”
“It’s hard to argue when you put it that way,” I chuckled into my wine cup as I leaned back. “You might even give me a bigger head with all those compliments. But Hatra has no power yet, and as my lady mother would put it, Hatra is of little consequence now. Maybe in a few months, things will be different. Hatra needs time to grow and rebuild. We need to establish trade and a source of income, and that won’t happen overnight.”
“There are ways to change that,” the king remarked with a sly expression on his face. “There are ways to speed up the city’s growth and consequence.”
“Oh?” I snorted as I let my imagination go wild. “And what are these ways? Will you have me going city to city healing people and eradicating demons? Maybe bandits and slavers who’ve sneaked in from other kingdoms, too. Prove myself to both the people and the nobility as the only choice and become their legendary hero.”
Even as I said those things, I had half convinced myself and realized the plan I’d come up with wasn’t half bad at all.
“You said it yourself.” King Rodion shrugged with quite a bit of amusement before he poured more wine into his cup.
Wait a minute.
“You’re actually serious?” I asked as I narrowed my eyes at the king. “You’re not joking or anything, right?”
“I am quite serious about this.” The levity faded from King Rodion’s eyes as he stared at me. “What better way to showcase Hatra’s divine son, a gift to them from the heavens, than that?”
“So, I’m divine now?” I laughed. “What’s the plan? Are we gonna say I hatched from an egg that fell from the moon? No one is going to believe that. Wouldn’t it be far better to say the Elders found me in a cave and raised me? And then when the Blue Tree Guild and the Princess arrived, I was in one of the caves in the forest hunting down stone giants.”
“You have a point.” King Rodion leaned back as he looked up at the three moons in the sky. “Perhaps I’ve spent too much time at the Breach, and the lines of reality have blurred for me.”
“That’s a bit dangerous for a king.” I shook my head and put down my wine cup. “You could end up becoming some sort of tyrant if you weren’t careful.”
“Yes, yes it is.” King Rodion glanced over at me and hummed in thought for a moment. “That is why I have decided to turn to you. A dragon who has bound himself to humanity. Most of your kind have turned their backs on us. They are not to blame, though. Evan, this world has been cruel to everyone who lives in it. People warring against each other for no reason other than greed and fear of change. Stagnancy is poison, even if you’re long lived and have seen hundreds of winters pass. Such poison would kill even the strongest among us.”
“Well, if it’s poison we’re fighting,” I replied as I smirked up at the three moons in the sky, “that’s something I can heal. We just need to let the putrid blood flow out and allow fresh blood to take its place.”
“A fine analogy.” There was a secret sort of smile on King Rodion’s face as he rested his chin in his hand. “I’m sure you wouldn’t be averse to the sight of rotten blood while protecting the healthy blood.”
“You’re looking at a top rate dragon here.” I grinned back at the king. “Just wait and see, I’ll purge Rahma of every hint of corruption.”
“I have faith you will,” King Rodion laughed. “Outrunning a dragon once they’ve caught your scent is nigh impossible.”
“When are you heading back to the Breach?” I sipped gently from my wine cup and savored the bittersweet taste of the wine. “Isn’t it dangerous for you to be away from it for too long? I’m not sure how long it took you to get here, but it’s a bit of a pity. Alyona would have loved it if you stayed longer, and I’m sure you could have taught me a trick or two.”
“You’re right, I’ve stayed too long as it is.” The king ran his hand through his hair as he looked back up at the three moons. “I will have to leave this coming day, I cannot delay any longer. I’ll have word sent to the nearest cities for them to deliver aid to Hatra. Their finest architects and craftsmen will come to aid you in the rebuilding of the city. Materials and supplies will be brought by them, so do not worry about any expense. That is the least I can do for you and this city.”
“Thank you, Your Eminence,” I replied, and I couldn’t help the bit of sarcasm behind my words.
If all of this had been offered before hand, the city of Hatra wouldn’t have ended up in the state it was in now. But things were different now.
“No.” King Rodion shook his head as he shrugged. “We are to be family, are we not? When it is only our family, you need not pay any heed to the titles and proper manne
rs demanded by society.”
“That sounds good to me, Rodion.” I poured more wine into the cup and drank from it. “I’ll drink to that.”
We toasted to that, and I leaned back in my seat to look up at the night sky. I was already imagining the months to come.
Rahma was going to have a new prince, and I was going to raise hell.
But why stop with just Rahma? It was a nice place to start, but I was a dragon.
I wanted everything in my horde, so this world was going to be mine.
End of book 2
End Notes
Thank you for reading Dragon Emperor! I hope you really liked it. I’ll start working on the next Dragon Emperor as soon as this book has 100 reviews, so leave a review right here!
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This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
Copyright © 2019 by Eric Vall
