Garen shook his head. “He’ll hunt for himself. We won’t see him again until morning.”
“Will he hunt in dragon form?” she asked off-handedly, watching Garen’s face. A muscle beside his eye twitched in surprise, but he didn’t look up at her.
He sat beside the fire, turning the spit to cook the meat evenly, watching the flames. “What makes you think he’s the dragon?” he asked in reply.
Kara bit into her own apple, leaning her back against a smooth boulder. She’d only had the schooling her mother had given her before she died, but she wasn’t a stupid girl. “A handsome man like him having to purchase a poor farmgirl to bear him children? There has to be a reason.”
“You think him handsome?” He did look up then, quirking a thick brow.
“I have eyes in my head, Garen. Mervyn’s a handsome man.” Which was true. But she didn’t elaborate on the fact that, handsome or no, he held no appeal for her. She could keep secrets too. “He’d have no trouble finding himself a willing woman or charming a father into agreeing to a marriage. He’s no poor prospect. It’s the only explanation that makes sense.”
The smell of the meat cooking was making her mouth water. Garen shrugged. “Perhaps. But wives have expectations.”
Kara threw her apple core at him. He wasn’t watching her this time and the rind hit him smack in the forehead. He glared, rubbing his head. “What the hell was that for?”
“Because I’m angry. Because, as you so eloquently put it, wives have expectations... but I’m no wife. I’ve been bought and paid for, for one purpose only, and apparently have no right to expect anything. Not even honesty!” She crossed her arms over her heaving bosom and glared.
He blinked at her in surprise, staring. Then he sighed and began turning the rabbits again. “He’s the last of his kind.”
Garen spoke so softly it took her mind a minute to comprehend the words. Some of her anger drained away. It was a mournful roar, then. Lonely. “That’s why he.... Mervyn...” she quirked a brow, “Wants a woman to bear him children?”
“Yes.” He gave a curt nod. “To save his... people. And...” He stared into the flames.
“To feel less alone?”
His lips quirked the slightest bit. “I imagine so.”
Kara brushed grass from the hem of her skirt. “Well, why didn’t he just come to me as a man and say so then?” she huffed. “I would have considered his bargain.”
“Would you?” Garen’s brows curved upward. “I think not many women would say the same.”
She shrugged. “Not many men would say I have a lovely arse.” She grinned at him. Garen snorted.
“Course they would.”
Kara shook her head. “No. I’m not as slender as the village girls. I have an arse. And hips. And a bit of a belly, just here.” She smoothed the fabric of her skirt over her abdomen, where her stomach did curve slightly outward just above her pubis. Garen’s eyes dropped, following the motion of her hands. The flames of the fire leapt, reflected in his bright blue gaze.
“I know,” he said, voice a bit gruff. “‘Tis why I... told Mervyn of you.”
She sighed, flicking a bug from her sleeve. “Perhaps he shouldn’t have come to me as a man. Men are so often poor at expressing things verbally. Now, if he’d come to me as the dragon... well, then I’m sure we could have come to an understanding without all this disgusting exchange of gold for property.”
Garen plucked off a small bit of the rabbit’s meat, popping it into his mouth to test it for doneness. At her words, he began to cough and splutter. Kara watched him, face impassive, until he got himself under control. He took a deep gulp of air.
“You would have him, in that form?” His voice was deeply raspy from the coughing fit. That, and the intensity of the question, made her shiver.
She bit her lip, watching him from beneath her lashes. “Don’t I have to? In order to propagate the species?”
“Mmmph,” he said. She wasn’t entirely sure it was an agreement. He plucked the rabbits from the spit with deft fingers and handed her one on a wide platter. She set the platter aside to let the food cool. Garen did the same with his. “Most women--”
“I thought we’d already established my relation to ‘most women’.” Her lips quirked up at the corners as she watched him blink at her in surprise. She tore a steaming piece of meat off the rabbit and popped it into her mouth, licking her fingers clean of grease.
Garen watched her chew and swallow, clear blue gaze riveted to her mouth. When she reached for another piece, he got to his feet. “Stay by the fire. I’ll return shortly.”
“Your food will get cold.” She smiled.
“Tastes much the same either way. Stay here. You’ll be safe by the fire ‘til I get back.”
When he reached the very edge of the clearing, she called out to him. “Garen!”
He turned halfway back, scowling at her. She licked rabbit grease from her thumb. “I would. If he asked.”
His nostrils flared. He spun on his heel and strode out of the clearing without looking back again. She watched him go, listening to the fading sound of his footsteps and eating her rabbit. As soon as she could no longer hear his retreat over the crackling sound of the flames, Kara got to her feet. She wrapped the leftover food in a bit of oiled cloth, but didn’t bother shinnying up a tree to tuck it away. She doubted any forest animals would get too close with the scent of dragon so near.
Her hand axe was in her pack, covered with her second best nightgown. She grabbed it, just in case, and moved to follow Garen into the woods. Luckily, the moon was bright enough that she didn’t have to use a torch to follow his tracks. She moved slowly, quietly, through the trees. She’d only walked a few minutes when she heard the splashing.
Kara slowed further, placing each foot carefully before moving the next. She didn’t want so much as a twig to snap and give her away. She made her way like that from tree to bush to tree until the pond became visible through a break in the underbrush.
She sucked in a short breath. This was not what she had expected to see. Garen stood waist deep in the still, clear pond. His clothes, all of his clothes, were piled on the bank. He scooped water in great handfuls over his head and shoulders and scrubbed a palm against the thick furring of dark hair on his chest. He clutched a handful of ferns and was rubbing them over his skin, following the heavy trail of hair as it thinned slightly over his muscled stomach.
And then lower. Kara bit her lip, holding her breath as his hand disappeared below the water line. It reappeared a moment later and she released her breath in a quiet whoosh. He tossed away the limp ferns and strode through the water to the pond’s edge. Her fingers tightened around the handle of the axe as the water level dropped lower. Garen’s back was to her, revealing the sleek, wet muscles of his shoulders, the ridge of his spine, and the upper swell of his backside.
His side was to her when he bent to yank up another handful of the leafy green fern. He waded back into the deeper water, toward her, but an ill-timed cloud passing across the moon blocked her view. By the time it passed, Garen was once again submerged to the middle of his broad, well-muscled chest. She couldn’t hold back her sigh of disappointment.
Not a minute later, she was rewarded, however. Finished with his ablutions, Garen rose out of the water, a brilliant beam of silver moonlight making every inch of his wet skin glisten. There were a lot of inches. Kara swallowed heavily, warmth twisting low in her belly at the length of his muscular thighs, water droplets clinging to the wiry hair. And his cock... Her mouth went dry.
Even soft, it dangled midway down his thigh, the round, fat head mere inches from his knee. Granted, she didn’t have much to compare it to... little Jamie and a few of the village boys who used to bathe at the stream near the farm... but Kara was pretty sure Garen was somewhat extraordinary.
She shivered at the thought of that immense shaft pressing between her legs and licked her suddenly dry lips. What would it be like to be with a man like that
? Her belly twitched and her sex throbbed. She clenched her hands at her sides.
Garen stepped out of the water at the pond’s edge and smoothed a big hand through his wet hair. But he didn’t move toward the pile of his clothes. Instead, he stretched, muscles rippling. One second, Kara was admiring the play of moonlight over his broad shoulders and the flat plane of his belly, and the next, she was staring in awe at a great black beast that leapt into the air.
Its huge wings spread wide as it climbed higher, above the trees. Moonlight glinted off scales as dark and gleaming as jet. His massive body was thick with muscle and fully seven feet long, not including the tail. The tail itself was perhaps another five feet and nearly a foot across even at its thinnest point. The end was wide and flat like a spade.
As he swooped lower, light gleamed off the wicked ivory of his long claws and horns. Kara was surprised to see his front legs end in something that resembled hands. They were huge and covered in ebony scales, but the claws tipped long, broad fingers. As she watched, he wheeled away into the night sky, soon disappearing among the stars. Kara made her way back to the campsite and rolled herself into her blankets beside the fire.
When she slept, she dreamed of being covered by enormous black wings and a tongue that tasted like the kiss of flame.
***
Kara kept her eyes squeezed shut in mortification. She’d fainted. She had never, in her life, fainted. Including the time one of the carts carrying their crops into the village had broken an axle and pinned one of the farmhands’ legs beneath it. The sight of blood bothered her little. Apparently, the same could not be said for the idea of shedding her own.
She’d been fine when they’d arrived at the keep earlier. The towering edifice of harled white stone had drawn a gasp from her, but nothing more. It was lovely, true, and larger than any dwelling she’d ever seen, but she was not a milksop. She didn’t faint in girlish delight at the thought of a pretty castle.
Not even when Garen and Mervyn had escorted her inside the great hall with its intricate stone carvings and fireplace big enough to walk into. The walls were lined with finely woven tapestries depicting ancient battles, lords and ladies, gods and monsters. Kara even spied some thread of gold entwined among the depiction of a great winged dragon with scales of luminescent cream. The beast swooped down upon a vast desert. Below him, the sprawled form of a nearly naked woman lay upon the sand, long, dark hair fanned around her head. It was a lovely piece. The weaver had rendered the woman’s face exquisitely, sweetly beseeching the dragon’s rescue. It gave Kara a soul-deep shiver to look upon it.
But none of that had driven her into a faint. In fact, she’d been intrigued and impressed by the grandeur of the keep. She longed to explore the other rooms and what they held, to look down upon the valley from the lofty battlements. Would she be able to see the village from here? Or her father’s house?
As she trailed inquisitive fingers over the silken wood of the long dining table, Mervyn and Garen spoke in heated whispers behind her, too low for her to hear. The golden haired man spun suddenly on his heel and stalked away, leaving her alone with Garen. Sparks kindled along her spine as his gaze lingered there. She turned slowly to face him.
“Is everything alright?” They’d barely spoken since she’d awoken in the morning, though the last leg of their journey had been spent in fairly companionable silence. Garen motioned her toward the wide stone staircase that swept upward from the hall.
“I’ll show you your quarters.”
Her quarters. Her bed. Would he come to her there or would she go to him in his chamber? Her belly clenched with desire at the thought. She recalled the sight of him beside the lake, naked skin shimmering with silver moonlight, his thick cock hanging between his muscular thighs. Kara licked her suddenly dry lips. “That sounds fine.”
She made to move past him but one large hand gripped her elbow, forestalling her. She looked up into his cool blue eyes in question. His sculpted lips pressed into a hard line, almost disappearing among the dark curls of his beard. “Now that you know. About... him. Will you stay?”
“A bargain was struck. I’ll honor it. I told him so.” She straightened her shoulders, insulted he would ask. But Garen shook his head, eyes darkening with intensity.
“Nay. You needn’t. I’ll take you back straight away if that’s what you wish.”
Kara’s mouth dropped open in surprise. “And the gold?”
He shrugged, as if a chest of gold meant nothing to him. Looking at the castle, she supposed it didn’t.
“It’s yours to keep. Either way.”
“Why?” Her heart thumped against her chest and her thighs quivered. She thought she knew. He wanted her there by choice, not force. He wanted to know she wanted him. The throbbing between her thighs proved she did. She was even now struggling not to press her body to his muscled frame and kiss those handsome lips. But he didn’t know she knew his secret.
Garen’s gaze slid from hers, glancing up the stairs. “He... regrets not coming to you as a man. Or otherwise.” She saw the slightest quirk of his lips at that. “He would have you happy here. Not hostage to your family’s fate.”
His voice was gruff, almost angry. But Kara understood. He didn’t like the idea that he’d forced her. She didn’t either, she thought, with a wry twitch of her mouth. She studied him slowly. From the top of his shaggy black hair to the tips of his worn leather boots. He was posing as his own servant, though she still wasn’t sure why, but these clothes were definitely his. The slim Mervyn would be swimming in the trousers that hugged Garen’s muscled calves and thighs and molded to his sculpted buttocks.
Would she stay? If she did, she’d have to share her bed with this man. This creature, she reminded herself. Though how could she forget the great sweep of his ebony wings and the way the moonlight shone from his ivory claws? And share not just her bed, but her body. Bare him children. Children like him. Her womb spasmed and her nipples tightened at the prospect. Kara knew her mind was already made up. It had been since the moment beside the fire when he’d told her the dragon was the last of his kind, and she’d realized it was he, not Mervyn, who trumpeted his sorrow into the night.
She had left her father’s farm for his sake. His and Jamie’s and Gertie’s and Sarah’s and Penelope’s. But she would stay for hers.
Kara straightened her shoulders and lifted her chin. “Are you going to show me to my quarters or not?”
She’d seen the flare of understanding, and desire, in those bold blue depths and the reality of her decision slammed into her, sucking away her breath. And for the first time in her entire life, Kara fainted.
***
She gingerly opened her eyes, and gazed up at the ceiling high above her. It was painted with the sprawling night sky, momentarily disorienting her, as late afternoon sunlight still poured in through the windows. She blinked several times, clearing her vision and taking stock of her surroundings.
The room was vast, larger than the great hall. From the rounded walls, Kara guessed she was in one of the castle’s enormous turrets. But it wasn’t the walls themselves that stole her breath; it was what lined them. Shelf after shelf of books, rising toward the painted ceiling on every side of her. She loved books, but even among the entire village there were only a handful. She’d read them all a thousand times. Looking around as she returned to consciousness, she thought she could spend a thousand lifetimes in this room and not read every tome even once.
Something brushed her cheek, making her jump. She shot to a sitting position on the low couch she’d been laid upon, knocking several of the plush pillows to the floor. Suddenly, her corset felt too tight. She sucked in wheezing breaths, staring at the sable scaled behemoth lounging at her feet. The library was so large that even with the massive beast stretched across the middle of it, he did not touch either side.
“H-hello,” Kara managed, swallowing past her heart, which was lodged halfway up her throat. He observed her with eyes like many-faceted jewels
the same clear, brilliant blue as they were in his human form. His tail brushed languidly down her arm, patting gently at her hand in greeting.
Good thing, too, because its muscled length flared into a spade-like tip easily wider than both her hands put together. If he struck her with the full force of it, it would pulverize the bones in her hand, she had no doubt. But his touch was light. Kara turned her palm upward, catching the powerful tail in a loose grip. He made a strange, deep rumbling nose in his chest as she rubbed her fingers along the smooth surface of his scales.
They were beautiful, silken to the touch and yet when she tapped her nails experimentally against them, they seemed as hard as the stone beneath her feet. She moved to run her fingertips against the grain of his scales, but he drew his tail from her grasp, shaking his great head.
“Not a good idea?” she asked, lips twitching. He shook his head slowly from side to side. “Okay, then, I won’t. Were you... watching over me?”
This time, the massive beast nodded, eyes locked with hers. Kara exhaled a long breath, biting her lip as she perused the relaxed bulk of the beast in front of her. “Is it... is it okay if I touch you?”
Light flared in his jeweled eyes and he gave a rumbling huff. Kara laughed. “I’ll take that as a yes.”
Still, she approached him cautiously, breath uneven. He was sprawled on his side, hind legs sprawled out, wings furled as if he’d been resting while he waited for her to awake. His arms, more sleek than the bulky hind legs, were stretched in front of him, long, curved claws rasping lightly against the stone floor. He’d twisted only slightly to raise his head and look at her. Kara reached out with both hands, cupping the massive jaw in her palms. She stared into his face, studying his horned countenance.
She ran her fingers over the scaled ridges of his lips and wide nostrils. The outcrop of his brow was thorny with scaled protrusions like prickly eyebrows. Kara stepped closer, reaching up with both hands to stroke the smooth ivory of his great, curved horns. They were hard and warm to the touch, satin against her palms though the very tips were gleaming sharp.
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