Derrick smiled at her. “If you don't want me, that's fine. I will give you a bucket of gold and send you on your way.”
“Send me where?”
Eirrick shrugged. “Wherever you want to go, I suppose.”
Brighid’s gaze dropped. “I don't have any place to go. The College is the only place I knew and I can't go back. Not after… Well. They will think that you, being a Viles—"
“Dragon.”
Her head came up.
“We are not ‘Viles’. It is a derogatory name you humans tried to pin on us. We are dragons.” He took her hand and led her back to her mound, which stood utterly still where she had left it. “And if you have nowhere to go, then perhaps you had best stop pretending to try to escape. I’ve seen children with missing limbs make more spirited attempts than that.”
Brighid glared at him but didn't speak. He lifted her onto the horse and opened its control panel. "What makes you think I don't want to leave?"
"Name the place you want to go and I will take you there."
Uncertainty crossed her face. "Will you really?"
"Yes."
He set the settings for her horse to a war mode and it snorted and stamped its metal hooves. The human shrieked as Eirrick swung onto the horses back behind her And grabbed its reins. After inputting instructions to the other mount to return to the ship, he rode hard to the transport waiting to take them back to space.
He had intended to take his bride back to the other women again, but when he found the ship in a state of chaos he instead hurried to find his brothers. They were in the war room and all stopped to stare at Brighid when he brought her in.
“Go wait with the women,” he ordered but Lorro held up his hand.
“She is the reason for us being here.”
Eirrick wasn't sure how to respond to that. He glanced at the others and they all nodded with severe expressions. Brighid remained where she was until he took her hand and lead her to stand before his brothers.
“How is this my bride’s fault?”
“The Atlantica priest Jyah has declared that he will wipe out opus and reclaim her.” Lorro narrowed his eyes at Brighid. “Apparently she is his wife.”
She was already married?
“I’m not.” Her voice squeaked. Eyes rounded. Breath came in quick gasps. Hands trembled. “I’m not his wife. He was going to claim me but I was taken before he could. There was no claim. No ceremony. No… no… night.”
Just looking at her, Eirrick could see how scared she was. And not, he thought, because of his brothers’ accusatory glares. Her eyes remained on him, as though pleading. But pleading for what?
“This priest. You fear him.”
Brighid shuddered and nodded.
Eirrick paused a moment. His flames heated as he considered what a man would have to do to make her fear him that much. She shook as though standing in a puddle of freezing water. He turned to his brothers and laughed.
“A priest of Atlantica,” he said. “Do we fear such a pitiful creature now? Brighid is mine. My wife. If he couldn't prevent her being taken then he doesn't deserve to have her. If he wants to die, I will be more than happy to rend his head from his neck.”
Lorro and a few others smiled. Some still looked concerned.
“I will meet this Jyah on the battlefield. I will strike him down with his own spear and mount his head on it. I will feed his flesh to the ravens and when word spreads, all will know that we are not cowards. We do not let mere priests cow us!”
Lorro thumped his fist to his chest. One by one the others did the same, last of all Eirrick. He bowed his head in thanks to them and turned back to Brighid. With that decided, they would need to plan their strategies. He took her by the hand and led her back to the harem. He stopped by the door and gently brushed his fingers against her cheek.
“You never have to fear this Jyah again,” he promised.
Brighid nodded. She leaned into his touch and, slowly, raised herself to her toes. A quick brush of her lips on his and then she was gone.
Eirrick smiled. Perhaps they had made some progress today after all.
Chapter Five
Brighid
The other girls in the harem chatted eagerly among themselves about the coming battles, as though violence and bloodshed were something to be excited for. Brighid couldn't bring herself to join in the conversation, so she sat off to the side with her arms wrapped around her middle. How many men would die because of her?
The harem matron, who only gave her the name Aunt to call her, came to sit beside her. Aunt was a formidable woman but had offered Brighid comfort when she first arrived. She was comforting to have with her.
“Are you well?” Aunt asked her. Her eyes were the same steely bile as all the Viles–Dragons were.
“As well as can be expected,” Brighid answered truthfully. “With that disgusting man out there…”
“Eirrick won't let him touch you.”
Eirrick. Another reason for her melancholy, albeit for a much different reason. Brighid glanced at the other girls, who pretended not to take an interest in whey they were saying.
“Eirrick…” she started hesitantly. “Is he… and mean, does he…”
“Spit it out, girl.”
Brighid ducked her head. “Does he still take girls from the harem? He hasn't touched me but I know men have needs women do not share.”
Aunt snorted. “That is horse dung. Eirrick is no animal and you are no cold fish waiting to be acted on. I have seen the way you look at him. You desire him, don't you?”
Brighid’s cheeks heated so rapidly it was a wonder she didn't burn.
“Eirrick is to die for,” one of the other girls purred. “His touch is deft and the things he can do with his mouth! He likes it, too. The best lover I ever had.”
Brighid found herself glaring at the girl and tries to stop. She certainly had no right to feel this rising swell of jealousy… did she? She was his prize, the woman he bought. And yet his words came back to her. I am yours. Could it be they were genuine?
She huffed out a breath, trying to push aside the confusing emotions. It didn't matter, not when Jay was out there, hunting her down. Her trying to show a lack of interest didn't stop the other girls, though. They all began to croon about Eirrick and how he compared to the others. According to them, Brighid was very lucky.
And she did think she was too. Eirrick may have been terrifying at first but the more she got to know him, the less confusing her emotions actually were. If she could let go what had been forced down her throat by the College, she might actually be able to surrender everything to him and trust him.
Unlearning a lifetime of propaganda was a difficult thing, though.
One of the girls wandered over to them. “As soonest you were on board he stopped calling for a girl to warm his bed. I was tempted to give your throat a smile with my blade. To have him taken by a weak human? I didn't think you were worthy of him.”
Brighid blanched, resisting the urge to clutch her throat as her gaze dropped to the knife at the girl’s hip.
“Speaking of warming his bed…” Another of the girls frowned. “You need to warm his bed before he goes into battle. He is doing all this for you and—"
Aunt spoke, tone hard. “The girl does have to warm anybody's bed. She did not ask Eirrick to do this. She did not promise him anything. She didn't even want to be here, she was stolen from her home and sold by auction. If it were any of you, would you be warming your captor's beds? No. She decides who and who not to share her body with.”
The girls actually looked contrite and regretful. Brighid wasn't sure how to take that. Surely it was her duty as Erick's wife… so what if she didn't have a choice to be here? He had given her that choice and she chose to stay. And he had done so much for her… Is he really as good as they say?
She brushed the hair from her face and focused intently on Aunt. “He told me he wouldn't touch me until I wanted him to… does he mean it?”
<
br /> Aunt nodded. “Eirrick is one of my most honorable boys. He would never do anything without your consent. None of my boys will. And yes, Eirrick is arrogant and I’m certain he thought you wouldn't be able to resist his charms for two nights but he will not bed you until you are ready.”
The girl who said she wanted to kill her cocked her head to one side curiously. “Why haven't you allowed him to bed you? It is clear you want him.”
Brighid pressed her thighs together, wondering if they could smell the moisture that pooled there as she imagined Eirrick and her twined and made to be one flesh. “I suppose the thrill of being able to say no. In the College, we were always obedient. Our bodies weren't ours. They belonged to the goddess and our future husbands. I saw girls whipped and made to sleep with their hands tied to the bedposts to keep them from touching themselves intimately. Those who broke their vows were drowned.”
The girl scoffed. “No way is that real. She’s lying. I bet you aren't even a virgin.”
Brighid’s brows furrowed. “I don't expect you to understand. I might have been given a place in the temple and lived in the college with its gold but I wasn't more than a slave. Jyah chose me and he would not have allowed me to say no to him. And nobody would blame him for constraining me to my wifely duties.”
“Rape you, you mean,” Aunt said angrily. “To be forced to engage in sexual activity against your will is rape. I don't care what bullshit they fed you about wifely duties.”
Brighid hadn't ever considered it that way before. She had always been told that rape was a defilement of Atlantica virgins outside of her allowed couplings. She shivered as she thought of all the women who had been punished for something they had no control over. The more she learned about the dragons the more she realized they weren't the barbarians she always feared–her own people were.
“Well, I am free of Jyah anyway. Even if he defeats Eirrick to reclaim me he would never marry a girl who might have had another man. He only wants me back so he can punish me. Drown me in the sea for breaking my vows.”
"But you haven't." Aunt frowned at her. "I knew that the Atlantica Colleges were barbaric but I didn't realize they were that barbaric. He would kill you for something even if you had no choice in the matter?"
Brighid glanced at her and lowered her gaze to the floor. Even though she knew that it was the way she had grown up and there was nothing she could do about it now, she felt ashamed of the past attitudes she used to have that it was well-deserved. Until Jyah came she had thought that there was something that a girl had to do in order to receive that sort of attention. But she had been perfectly obedient to everything she had been taught and she still found herself on the receiving end of his attention.
Aunt put a hand on Brighid's knee. "Listen to me, child. There is no dishonor in partaking in physical pleasure and there is no blame in things beyond your control happening to you. If you were a victim of something, then the blame is fully on the person who did that to you."
"Jyah always looked at me as though I was naked, no matter how many clothes I wore," she blurted. "Eirrick isn't like that. Even when I think I see desire in his eyes… it's like he's looking at me. He wants me, not my body."
"And you want him." Aunt smiled at her.
Brighid chewed her lip. An admission of desire at the College was almost as bad as acting on it. But she wasn't at the college. She was here with these women who had utter control over themselves. They chose who and when they were with and there was no shame in it. And according to their own traditions, she was married to Eirrick. They still had feasts every night, although since Jyah's proclamation of war, the meals had been much more subdued.
She turned her mind back to Eirrick. "I do want him. But I'm also afraid. Not that he would do anything, not after all this time. But he's so big. The wives that came to talk to us always talked about the pain and how we were meant to sacrifice for the pleasure of our husbands and for our duty to give him babies."
The girl who had said she wanted to kill Brighid made a strangled noise in her throat. "Pain! Those priests are idiots, then. There isn't pain when it's done right. And believe me when I say that Eirrick knows how to do it right. He's soft and sweet and treats his women like the greatest treasure… maybe I should slit your throat after all. I want him again."
Brighid glared at her, which earned a laugh. She turned back to her own thoughts as the girls resumed chatting about other things. If she did go to Eirrick, who would she find was telling the truth? She closed her eyes as she imagined his mouth over her body and a tightness built in her. She wanted him. She knew he wanted her.
So why should she hold back any longer?
Chapter Six
Eirrick
A long day of raiding Jyah's supply lines left him exhausted. Eirrick washed the blood and sweat from his body, frowning as his muscles began to stiffen. His training routines hadn't been able to keep his flexibility as sharp as he would have liked. And it was understandable. For him lovemaking was a key part in his fitness, allowing him to stay limber and take on incoming foes with greater durability.
But he would not betray his new wife, not unless he decided to set Brighid aside. He could still give her money and set her up on a nice planet where she could make her life as she saw fit. Doing that would mean never seeing her again… just the thought of doing that hurt.
It was odd, he never considered that he would be so attached to a woman he'd never even slept with…
The door opened and he turned with a snarl, the flames rising up his throat. But it was Brighid who stepped into the room. Her dark hair was loose around her shoulders and her thin gown revealed that she was not wearing a bodysuit underneath.
Desire stirred in his loins but Eirrick kept his gaze on her face. "I didn't send for you."
She didn't speak. Instead, she undid a tie at the back of her neck and let the gown drop. It pooled around her feet, revealing her body fully. Her tight pink nipples stood at full attention, her breasts plump, the curve of her hip flaring and then sloping back down over her shapely thigh. Eirrick felt himself swell and let out a shaky breath as he allowed his eyes to trail down her body before returning to her face.
"Do you want me to touch you now?" His voice came out husky.
Brighid stepped forward. Her eyes seemed to smolder as she smiled at him. She took both of his hands and moved them to her breasts while she nodded. "I want you to touch me. And so much more…"
She ducked her head there, a flush rising in her cheeks. Eirrick traced his thumbs over her hard nipples before tucking his fingers under her chin and lifting her face to his. It was clear that she was uncertain, that she didn't quite know what to do. But the desire was just as clear, from the smoldering in her eyes to the delicate scent wafting off of her. He leaned forward, slowly so she wouldn’t be surprised and sucked her lower lip into his mouth. Her eyes fluttered closed and she moaned softly.
Eirrick's arms banded around her as he moved to nibble on her earlobe. Some women liked that… and by the way Brighid shuddered and leaned into him, she was one of them. She moved against him, rocking herself up to the balls of her feet and back down to rub herself along his length.
The rock pitched to one side. They stumbled together. Brighid shrieked as he pitched the other way. Eirrick wrapped himself around her as the fell, bracing himself to break the impact. They rolled over and knocked into the wall.
Eirrick tucked Brighid under his arm and dragged her into the main room, where he rolled her under the bed and activated the safety restraints that would keep her in place. Her eyes were wide and terrified but he managed a grin at her.
"Don't worry, Dove. This will be over before you know it."
She nodded, eyes still huge in her skull and braced herself against the sides of the restraint field. Eirrick wanted to continue to reassure her but he needed to move. He scrambled back to his feet and raced from the room. The ship shook a few more times but lighter tremors that indicated that they were caused by
the canons firing back at their attackers, not taking more hits.
The young warriors that were assigned to protect the ship and their women from invaders lined the corridors. Eirrick didn't acknowledge them as he dove into the nearest ejection bay. He streamlined himself like a torpedo in it and sucked in a deep breath, fueling his flames until they burned so hot that his skin started to change color. Out in the freezing vacuum of space, a dragon's fire was the only thing that kept him from freezing.
The bay launched him into space. The cold was like a punch to the stomach. As soon as he felt the freeze he shifted shape. His wings sprang out from his back and scales coated him, keeping his heat from leaking too quickly from his body.
A small fighter ship dove at him, sending off blasts of red energy. Eirrick flapped one wing to spin himself away from it, still within the Dragons' ship's atmosphere and gravity pull. The fighter doubled back and Eirrick lithely twisted beneath it. He grabbed the propulsion engine and tore it askew, then used his weight to flip the fighter around and pointed it at another.
Another ship came at him. He barely managed to dodge its attack. As it flew by, he saw the symbol on its side. A blue circle with a sword piercing through it. The symbol that the warrior-priests of Atlantica carried.
Eirrick's flames flickered. He dropped onto a ship passing below him and peered through the clear cockpit. A priest stared back up at him. With a roar that released half of his fires, Eirrick tore through the ship and yanked the priest out. He tossed the attacker over his shoulder and beat his wings to land on the outer shell of his ship. His heart pounded as cold seeped through him. His head swung back and forth, keeping an eye on the battle raging overhead while searching the surface of the ship.
There! A fighter had latched itself to the bulkhead, sitting so low that it was almost part of the larger ship. Eirrick scrambled over the shell of his ship. Once he got to the fighter, his sharp claws lashed out. They tore through the side of the fighter like it was paper and soon he had exposed the cockpit to space.
It was empty.
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