Arragh smiled. “It will not be a sacrifice.”
Chapter Four
Myfanwy woke slowly, her mind groggy from sleep as she lay under the furs, and let her thoughts coast back over the events of yesterday. Had it only been a day since her brothers had taken her to the grove and lashed her to the sacrificial oak? Her fears that morning were a lifetime away. Shouldn’t she have new fears for this morning? But all she felt was nervousness at the unknown rituals ahead. Arragh had promised no harm would come to her and she trusted his word just as she trusted the sun to rise.
She snuggled under the covers, thinking of her groom to be. A dragon! Never when she’d talked with her girlhood companions about potential husbands had the possibility of a dragon even entered their minds. And in a few hours, she would mate with him. That perplexed her. Having now seen both male and female dragons, she saw no difference. Was mating between dragons different than men and women? Myfanwy shivered at the uncertain and unknown. She should not dwell on that, but she could not stop any more than she could forget how it felt with his great arms around her, the openness and vulnerability of riding him, her legs wide spread, or the wild pleasure she’d felt, rubbing herself against his hard dragon belly. If this was dragon mating, she hoped they would mate very soon.
Her face flushed at the thought. She was lusting after a dragon! How her father and brothers would denounce her for that. But they were far away beyond the great mountains and hadn’t they given her to the dragon? She would do as a dutiful daughter should and go unprotesting to her dragon’s bed…assuming he used a bed that is.
At her chuckle, Granned came into the room. “You’re awake.” She walked over to the bed and offered her hand. “Come, it will take time to get you ready.”
“You should have woken me.”
“No, you needed the rest. A long journey yesterday, and Arragh to please today.” She grinned a teasing dragon grin, so like Myfanwy’s cousin Blodwyn. “Come on.” As she spoke, Granned tugged Myfanwy with one hand and pulled back the covers with the other.
Myfanwy braced herself for the cold rock under her bare feet but the floor was warm and the air about her felt more like summer than a chamber deep in the earth. She followed Granned into the adjoining room. The deep basin Myfanwy noticed last night was filled with scented, steaming water and Marbra and Rarrp waited on the edge, feet dangling and stacks of fresh folded drying sheets beside them.
“Come join us!” they said as they slid off the side into the basin.
With only a second’s hesitation, Myfanwy eased herself into the water and sat with the others on the broad ledge that served as a bench. Myfanwy leaned back against the smooth rim and closed her eyes a few minutes. This was close to sinful! Warm scented water up to her chin, and a bathing tub big enough to stretch and move around in. And she’d once thought bathing in a wooden tub a luxury.
Rarrp handed her a cake of soap scented with rose petals, and Marbra offered her a soft yellow sponge. “Would you have us wash you?” she asked.
Myfanwy shook her head. “I thank you, but no!” That was approaching decadence.
But the others did not think so. They soaped each other’s backs and legs, laughing and splashing until Myfanwy tossed useless propriety aside and joined Granned in soaping Marbra’s back. As she worked her fingers through the scented foam, Myfanwy couldn’t help noticing that each woman’s skin was a different shade of gray. Marbra was closest to Arragh, Granned was pale as the inside of a field orchid and Rarrp was almost the same blue-gray as the pebbles found by the river at home. But none of them had wings like Arragh. “Why don’t you have wings?” Myfanwy asked and blushed, fearing her question might offend.
It didn’t.
“We do,” Marbra said. “We’re dragons.”
“Why would we need them indoors?” Granned asked.
It was Rarrp who made the best sense. “You don’t understand, do you?” She smiled as Myfanwy shook her head in confusion. “We shape shift. When we need wings, we have them. If not, we don’t. They’d get in the way indoors.”
Myfanwy felt her mouth drop in surprise. “You shape shift? You change?”
“It’s part of being dragon,” Granned explained. “When we need strength or to fly, dragon is the best shape. For speed on land, great cats or deer are faster. By sea, we take dolphin shape.” She shrugged. “And sometimes, of necessity, we appear as human.”
“But why?” Myfanwy was almost too amazed to think.
“So we can travel the world and see what you humans have made of it,” Rarrp replied.
“Which isn’t very much!” Granned said. “You humans often abuse the knowledge we share.”
“I’m sorry…” Myfanwy began, remembering what Arragh told her about fire, “but many of us did not know these were gifts from…dragons.” Her mind still spun at the thought.
Marbra sighed. “That is what saddens us.”
“Enough,” Rarrp said. “We’re not here to lay the faults of humans on Myfanwy’s shoulders. We have to prepare her for Arragh and if we delay, we’ll surely hear him roar!” She leapt out of the bathing pool and reached for two of the drying sheets. One she tossed over her own broad shoulders and the other she held for Myfanwy.
“We’ll have to take care of your hair,” Rarrp said as Myfanwy toweled it dry.
Myfanwy paused. After Arrgh’s cutting there wasn’t much left. She looked at the three women’s hairless heads, and Rarrp’s meaning hit her. “You mean cut it all off.”
Marbra shook her head. “No, remove it. You belong among dragons now. We only have hair when we shift.” She made having hair sound like the great pox.
Wrapping her in a heated sheet, they settled Myfanwy on a bed of pillows by the smaller basin. Marbra rubbed a sweet-smelling paste on Myfanwy’s head while Rarrp brought her a goblet of honey-sweetened juice, tasting of ripe peaches freshly gathered on a summer’s day.
Rarrp refilled the goblet twice before Marbra decided it was time to rinse off the paste. They had Myfanwy lean over the basin and Granned rinsed her with a strange pipe that spewed a rain of warm water. The stream washed away the paste and all Myfanwy’s hair with it. Even her eyebrows were gone! She ran her hands over her now-bald head. Odd was not the word for how the smooth skin felt under her hands. Her brothers would have turned away in shock and considered her shamed but here it would help her look like the others…the dragons.
“Now your arms,” Granned said. Rarrp held Myfanwy’s arms over her head as Marbra used the same sweet mixture on her armpits. That took only a few minutes. Depilating Myfanwy’s legs took much longer, they held them up, stretched them out and then had Myfanwy turn onto her belly, so even the backs of her legs and thighs were left smooth as a baby’s.
“Is this really necessary?” Myfanwy asked as Marbra spread the sweet unguent on the insides of the thighs.
“Of course,” Granned said. “You cannot go to Arragh with hair on your body.”
Myfanwy was dangling her legs over the bathing basin as Rarrp and Granned rinsed when the significance of that struck her. “All my hair? Even on my quim?”
“Especially that on your quim,” Marbra said.
“You can think to offer yourself to Arragh with hair,” Granned sounded horrified.
Put that way… “If it is necessary,” Myfanwy conceded.
“It is,” Rarrp added with almost a sigh. “We must prepare you completely.”
And they did. While Myfanwy lay on her back, legs spread and feet flat on the soft pillows, she tried not to think of the immodesty, the indecency of so displaying her body to others. Her face burned scarlet and her knees shook.
“Be unafraid,” Granned said, stroking Myfanwy’s smooth head. “Marbra will use a soothing potion on your quim. It will not hurt.”
Hurt had been the least of her concerns. But now that it had been mentioned. “How do you know it won’t?”
Marbra turned, a small polished pot in her hand. “It’s what we use on ourselves!”<
br />
At that Myfanwy sat straight up. “You have hair?” She looked at the three of them, smooth-skinned and shining.
“We would if we didn’t take care of it,” Granned replied. “Not as much as you humans but we grow a little on our backs and groins. We take it off as soon as it shows.” Her tone of voice implied that not removing it was unclean. Maybe it was…to dragons.
And she was about to be mated to one.
Myfanwy nodded. “I see.” She did. Without a word, she slid back flat on the pillows and spread her legs.
Marbra’s touch was gentle and confident. In moments, the scented lotion covered Myfanwy’s pubes and she tried her best to relax as she waited the necessary time before rinsing off.
“Your sex is such a beautiful shade of pink, like wild roses.” Sitting cross-legged between Myfanwy’s knees, Marbra spoke as casually as if she was admiring a new sash or a fresh hair ribbon.
Myfanwy stifled a gasp. Her face had to be the color of autumn sage blooms!
“You’re right!” Granned stepped closer and peered over Marbra’s shoulder. “It’s beautiful, so delicate.”
“Let me see!” Rarrp jumped up and joined the others.
Myfanwy wanted to sink between the pillows and disappear. This was impossible, to be stared at while so lewdly spread, to be talked about in such a way!
“Myfanwy,” Granned sounded worried. “What’s the matter? You look distressed.”
Distressed wasn’t the word! But one look at the concern in the dragon’s dark eyes and Myfanwy bit back her instinctive sharp response. She exhaled slowly. “Among my people, we do not comment on each other’s womanly parts.”
Now it was their turn to be amazed.
Granned showed how a dragon’s jaw dropped. “Why not?”
“What a shame,” Rarrp said, “to not admire such beauty.”
“Human ways are different,” said Marbra, a clear note of regret in her voice. She smiled at Myfanwy from between her knees. “Without doubt, Arragh will admire you and give you immense pleasure.”
After those few minutes on the ledge, Myfanwy didn’t doubt it.
Granned sighed. “What a mistake to ignore something so lovely, but…”
“You look at each other’s?” Myfanwy had to ask but almost choked as the words came out.
“Yes.” Rarrp couldn’t seem to hide her amusement. “If we wish.”
“How are you different? Aren’t you pink?” Had she really asked that? Yes, and without a trace of concern, Rarrp propped a foot on the edge of the washing basin and parted the outer folds of her vulva. Her inner skin was pale, like the lining of an oyster shell. “Are all dragons like that?” Heaven help her? What was she asking?
Nothing that surprised a dragon.
“Mostly,” Granned replied and proceeded to show that her inner lips were a little darker than Rarrp’s.
Marbra’s were even paler still, like a marten’s fur in winter.
Displaying one’s body’s hidden places was as unremarkable as nudity in this land of dragons. Perhaps she should ask about how she and Arragh would mate. But even as she thought it, she knew she couldn’t…or could she? It seemed…
“Oh,” Marbra said, as if remembering what they should be doing. “Time to rinse, Myfanwy.”
Her short curls washed away with the last of the sweet-smelling lotion. Myfanwy stared at her depilated body. She did look different. She felt different. Perhaps removing her woman’s hair peeled away the remains of her old inhibitions. After studying the soft planes of her vulva and her now-naked cleft, it was little discomfort to lie on her belly, while Granned and Rarrp held apart the two globes of her buttocks and Marbra removed the last vestiges of hair from Myfanwy’s body.
They’d refilled the large bathing basin with warm water and this time Myfanwy slid into it as easily as the others. But this time, as she moved, the feel of warm water on her most secret places sent strange thrills rippling through her body. Turning her hips and stretching out one leg only increased sensation. A little jump and landing with a splash shot a tremor deep inside and spreading her legs and squatting slowly caused a rush of sensation that had her catching her breath.
“You’re pleased,” Granned said, giving a teasing smile.
“Yes.”
It wasn’t just the water, even the touch of the drying sheets stimulated nerve endings she never knew existed. Until she came to this world inside the volcano.
Tossing aside the used drying sheets, they led Myfanwy to a divan and as she stretched out on her belly, massaged her with rose-scented oil. Their practiced hands eased each knot of tension in her body, working and soothing until Myfanwy was half-asleep and it seemed her bones hung loose in her body. Her breathing slowed and her muscles felt liquid. They turned her over and worked the last traces of strain from her legs and arms and soothed the tightness in her head and face. When they were finished, Myfanwy was amazed she could still stand. She felt loose and supple and spry enough to fly herself if need be.
But they weren’t finished. They gave her more fruit nectar to drink, this time flavored so intensely with raspberries, Myfanwy fancied she could taste the sun in each sip. They anointed her body with a soft cream until her skin gleamed and sprinkled her with flakes of gold so she glistened in the light like gold-veined marble. But marble was cold to the touch and Myfanwy felt her body pulsing with heat and life and a need she only half-understood.
“One last thing.” Rarrp stepped up with a gold-tipped brush in one hand and a saucer in the other and Myfanwy watched in silent fascination as her nipples were gilded. They went hard at the touch of the soft brush and seemed almost to preen as Rarrp finished decorating the aureoles. “Spread your legs,” Rarrp said and expertly decorated Myfanwy’s slit with twin lines of gold that joined at the tip of her sex lips to swirl an inch or so below her navel.
Myfanwy gasped. This was her body that gleamed and shone and instead of the shame and humiliation she’d been taught to feel naked, she gloried in the change.
“It’s time!” Rarrp said and kissed her. “Your mate is waiting.”
Myfanwy swallowed. Arragh was outside. A tremor of anticipation gathered in her groin. She was about to meet him. To mate with him. Her throat tightened. Could she? Could she not? She had given her word as the daughter of Harwed Rees. There was no going back.
“I’m ready.” Her voice sounded tight and hoarse, but her mind was as easy as her relaxed muscles.
“Go then.” Marbra kissed her on the cheek and led her back through the hallway she’d entered the night before. Only one short night? It seemed like a lifetime away.
Granned and Rarrp embraced her and as she neared the opening, stepped back.
“Go,” Granned said as Myfanwy hesitated. “Arragh waits. When you step out the doorway, don’t hesitate, walk straight toward Arragh.”
“You’re not coming?” Myfanwy turned in panic. In a few hours, these women had become friends, her link to her new future.
“To meet your mate?” Rarrp seemed caught between shock and amusement.
“We stay behind. You don’t.” Marbra gave her a gentle nudge.
So, she had to go on alone. She could. She’d been alone in the sacred grove and then she feared death. Now a far, far better fate awaited her. One pace from the opening, Myfanwy looked over her shoulder. “I thank you,” she said, feeling an odd sadness at leaving these women, and turned and stepped out into the sunshine.
Her skin glinted and glimmered in the light but she barely noticed. Arragh took all her attention. He gleamed brighter than the sun, standing with great wings outspread, wings of dazzling gold. There were other dragons watching but she scarcely noticed them. All she knew was Arragh, her intended. Arragh who brought her here over the great mountains, golden Arragh magnificent as the sun. Her heart fluttered inside her ribs. Her dry throat tightened even more as she stepped forward. Her stomach did a little flip with the next step and then her legs moved on their own. She no longer walked. All dignit
y or ceremony aside, she ran toward her golden mate.
Did others feel this seeing their readied mate? Every fiber in his dragon’s body tightened at the sight of Myfanwy—his Myfanwy, his mate—as she stepped from the doorway and hesitated a moment in the light.
At his very first sight of her, in the gloom of that glade, he sensed beauty under the hair and cloth that covered her. Removing that useless shift, he’d been rewarded with pearly soft skin and sweet white breasts, but now, adorned and prepared as a female should be, she was stupendous.
It was as if the heat from the mountain’s core burned inside his chest. This shining mortal was his! In minutes he would take her in his arms and carry her off to the mating pavilion. Dear Goddess. Wild longing to possess roared inside him as she took two steps closer. Her eyes widened at the sight of the assembly but she came on, unflinching and unafraid. And he’d feared the sight of the entire community of dragons would unnerve her. She approached them with dignity and poise, or did until she started running toward him, her arms wide open as his heart. He half-expected to burst with the pride. Instead a wild surge of desire all but took his control.
“Arragh!” she cried, as she ran into his arms.
He caught her round the waist and lifted her off her feet. Holding her aloft, he tasted each glided nipple and watched the response that rippled down to her belly. She was his. Utterly and completely.
“Myfanwy,” he said setting her on her feet. “Come.”
How she trusted him! She took his hand and without question stepped up to stand beside him. Only then did she look around, her eyes wide as if seeing the assembled crowd for the first time.
“There are so many,” she whispered.
“Not as many as there once were,” he replied. This was no time to tell her every last one of them prayed she would alter that. That her human womb would bear healthy young whelps.
“Oh,” she replied. “Will you…”
The first notes of the anthem drowned her question. Her face lit with amazement and her eyes shone with wonder as the voices blended and the chorus echoed off the sides of the crater. Poor bereft human, to live this long and never have heard the beauty of dragon melodies.
Paradox I Page 4
