by Serena Rose
Suddenly his tone shifted, and he gently lowered me back to the floor. “All you have to do is tell me where they are.”
There was silence for a long moment, and the tension was palpable. But Gael remained silent and Prince Julian let out a hateful roar. “Fine! But you brought this on yourself!”
He stood, leaving me on the ground, and landed another kick on my back. “Go ahead, men. She’s all yours.”
Gael started forward, the guards barely catching him in time. “They’re in—”
“You have a spy!” I cried, as loud as I could.
The whole scene froze and I swear you could have heard a pin drop.
“What was that?” Prince Julian growled, his face dark and foreboding.
“How do you think we responded to your exchange so quickly? There’s another seer right here in your midst, and he’s been sending me messages through the dreams we share.”
I was yanked upwards and shoved so I was barely a breath away from the maniacal Prince. “You better not be lying to save yourself.”
“I’m not,” I stammered. “And I can prove it to you. I know his name, and it’s not something I could know if he wasn’t a spy.”
“Tell me.” The royal shook me. “Tell me!”
“Perin!” I blurted, trying to keep my head stable. “His name is Perin.”
He stopped shaking me, but I was being shoved back into my cell before my equilibrium could fix itself. By the time my vision wasn’t making several duplicate versions of my cell, both Gael and I were locked up again with only the three guards for company.
A slam of the door at the end of the hall told me where the Prince and his crew had hastily retreated to. We were in the meat of our plan now, and most likely had less than an hour window.
I just had to get rid of these guards and—
The doors banged open once again, and I froze in my approach towards the soldiers. Was the Prince returning to drag me along with him? I hoped not. That would pretty much ruin everything.
Except it wasn’t hunting boots I heard against the stone floor. No, it was something softer, and with shorter strides.
“Hello men, I’ve come with your refreshments.” I knew that voice, but it couldn’t be possible.
Yet surely enough, the portly figure of Carva came into view, pouring each of the soldiers some wine and giving them what looked like a ration of bread and summer sausage.
“Glad ta see this bitch has been contained,” she said with venom as she served them. “I heard she killed a man right here.”
“And I’m going to again,” I answered, unable to hide my smile as I made eye contact with her.
“Is that so?” the dark-haired woman asked, taking several steps away from the soldiers to taunt me from the far edge of my cell. “Because you’re going to have to beat me to it.”
If the guards thought there was anything amiss to her statement, they didn’t say. But that was probably because they all began choking out of the blue. I watched, startled at the display as they gagged, threw up and generally made disgusting messes before collapsing into very still piles.
“I guess they couldn’t hold their ale,” the woman said with a laugh before crouching over the nearest body.
“What are you doing?”
“What does it look like? Trying to find a key. It’s not like we can pretend you fed them poison this time.”
“Don’t worry, I have that covered.” I reached up and loosened my braid from the very tight bun it had been styled into. As my hair loosened, I pulled a key from the center of it.
“How did you…?”
“Turns out I put this in one of the pockets of my dress without realizing it. I knew they wouldn’t have time to change all the locks here, so it was pretty easy to sneak this back in.”
Carva whistled. “Not bad, I have to admit.”
“Thanks.” I quickly unlocked my cell and crossed over to Gael. “Help me get him to his feet.”
Carva rushed to his other side, and we were able to get him upright—for the most part. Despite being on the edge of death, Gael was laughing lightly.
“You really are amazing, you know that?”
“Save your congratulations for if we actually get out of here.”
“Yeah, about that,” Carva murmured. “There’s still four guards at the door. I didn’t expect so many.”
“Don’t worry,” I replied. Soon there won’t be any.”
“Really? How do you figure?”
“Because I just sent them on a wild goose chase, but where the goose is a mass murderer with abilities that shouldn’t be possible.”
“You really are a ruthless woman, aren’t you?”
I shrugged. “A girl’s gotta do what a girl’s gotta do.”
We started moving, although it was slow going. When we reached the door, I knelt and pressed an ear to the surface. I could still hear voices on the other side, so I held up a hand to wait.
Several moments passed, and I was briefly worried that my plan had fallen apart, but then a horn blasted through the air.
“That’s their attack alarm,” Carva breathed. “It means an enemy made it past the walls.”
“And all soldiers close into the inner sanctum to protect the nobles, if I read that protocol correctly,” I answered.
And sure enough, the men on the other side of the door yelled several things in alarm before taking off.
“Did that really just work?”
“You’d be surprised what a little reading and misdirection will do for you.”
I pushed the door open with my free arm, and then we were off.
It was a slow and arduous walk, with every second spent worrying that some soldier would round the corner and catch us. But screams and blasts within the castle told me that their collective attention was very much occupied.
I wondered what Perin would think of this. Would he be amused? Enraged? Respect that I had bested him at his own game? I supposed I would find out eventually. There was no way the palace was actually going to kill him before he slipped away.
“What are we doing? We’ve passed at least three other servant’s halls that could lead us out.”
“They’re not the right ones.”
“What do you mean, not the right ones?”
“Let’s say we somehow make it without a servant spotting us and deciding to take matters into their own hands to curry favor with their masters, once we get out what would we do? Walk him past the gates? Then down the main road? Then just shimmy our way to the dragon lair?”
“Oh, suppose I didn’t think that far.”
“Well I did.” Finally, I saw it. A ratty little half-door that was almost completely covered by a sculpture. “Behind here.”
We set Gael down and pushed the thing over. I would have liked not to damage the art, but it wasn’t the time to be delicate. Quickly, we picked the Prince back up and hurried down the hall.
“Why aren’t there any torches in this one?”
“Because it’s closed. It’s also why there was a statue in front of it.”
“Oh, why’d they close it?”
“It’s unstable. Part of it already collapsed.”
“That’s not very reassuring.”
I didn’t answer her, but instead kept pressing on. It was difficult to move through the pitch black, and both of us kept tripping on debris, but eventually I could see a light flickering against multiple slats of broken wood.
“What’s that?” Carva asked.
“That, my friend, is the Calvary.”
When we reached the illumination, that overwhelming giddiness returned to me again. We had made it.
Peeking between the slats of wood, I saw a hooded figure sitting atop a small wagon loaded with several different sized barrels. “Myrik!” I called.
The figure turned, and I saw a blessedly familiar flash of teeth. “Congratulations, your plan worked.”
“Yeah, yeah, just help us get the Prince up there and get us o
ut of here.”
We worked quickly, or as quickly as we could with so much dead weight. The dread of being caught still hovered over my head as we pushed Gael through a gap in the debris, then squeezed through ourselves. From there, we each shimmied into a different barrel and Myrik placed false tops over us. Normally there was no way any of us would fit comfortably, but the wagon had a fake bottom that was almost a foot above its real floor, allowing each of us to spread our legs out with only our upper halves encased in the faux-containers.
“Don’t make a sound,” Myrik warned.
“Really? I thought this would be a great time to sing a little ditty.”
He mumbled something under his breath, but I didn’t catch it before he walked off. Soon, we were lurching forward, and I heard the clip-clop of horse’s hooves as he took us away. Next he would have us out the supplies entrance and we would be on our way with no one the wiser.
Tears dripped freely down my cheeks.
We had made it.
After everything was said and done, we had beaten the humans again, without a single loss of life. It was impossible, and yet that’s what happened.
And I was beginning to think I knew how to beat them permanently.
CHAPTER 12
The celebration when we returned home was massive. For the first time since ever, every dragon that saw me was glad that I was there. There were no arguments, no accusations of treason, only gratitude.
But I couldn’t enjoy it.
I spent every moment of every day by Gael’s side as he recovered. Dwyllverys promised that he would be fine, and that his dragon anatomy would heal much faster than my own, but that didn’t matter.
I sat by him as she stitched up his wound. I watched as his bruises faded from a deep purple, to a range of shades, to light yellow. I slept by his side each and every night.
If Myrik thought anything of it, he didn’t say anything. I wasn’t sure where things were with him, but I couldn’t really worry myself with that while Gael slept.
If that was one thing that was truly infuriating, it was the dragon’s hibernation. Apparently, that was how his kind healed, and I had never known it. They stayed unconscious through the entire healing process until they were basically almost better. I’m sure it was great for managing pain and shock, but it was terrible for conversation.
Most of the time I sat alone in the silence, nausea from worry coming and going. I didn’t mind the reprieve though; I felt exhausted all the way down to my bones. Even if the Prince was up, I wasn’t sure I would have enough energy to do much.
“If there was not such a deep frown on your face, I might think you were an angel.”
I looked up from Abuela’s journal, my heart soaring to see two lavender eyes gazing at me. I gasped audibly, and my hands flew to one of his.
“Gael!” It was hard not to shout at full volume, but I contained myself. Barely. “You’re finally awake, thank god.”
“And did you think I wouldn’t? Surely, after you worked so hard to find me, it would be terribly rude of me not to thank you profusely. Not that mere words will ever be enough to compare to what you have done for me, but I am content with searching through all of them until I find ones that seem like they might suffice.”
Tears welled in my eyes, I was just so happy to see and talk to him again. For a few days there, I had been sure that we were never going to meet again, that I could never tell him how much he meant to me as a friend and guardian.
“Come,” the golden-haired man murmured, holding his arms out. “After the trials we have been through, I would very much like to hold you again.”
“I don’t want to hurt you,” I mumbled, barely resisting his offer.
To that, he laughed. “As you have seen, it would take far worse than a little bit of pressure to harm me. I promise, I am basically fully healed. It will be fine.”
I eyed him suspiciously. Sure, I knew dragons had some mountain-blessed healing abilities, but returning from the edge of death in less than two weeks seemed a little too ideal.
“Come now,” the Prince wheedled, his voice low enough to practically be a purr. “After everything I’ve survived, you’re not going to make me beg, are you?”
I sighed, so thoroughly wrapped around his finger. How could I say no, after all? I knew what he had been about to say in those dungeons. He was going to sacrifice his people just to save me. And while that was definitely idiotic, it certainly had a way of making me feel special.
“Alright, well if you’re going to be a brat about it.”
I rose and sat on the edge of the mattress as the Prince sat up, only to have him pull me onto his lap. His arms wrapped around me, strong and sure, and he gently pressed me to his chest.
I could hear his heartbeat, and it was as strong and sure as I could have hoped for. My eyes fluttered closed, and I let myself sink into the contentment for a moment.
Was this what happiness felt like?
For so much of my life I had felt like some sort of video game character, going from objective to objective to objective with no real purpose or drive beyond survival. But here…here I had purpose. I had a mission. What I did mattered intrinsically to hundreds—if not thousands—of people. My decisions had weight, and often took a physical toll on me. It was difficult, and often harmful, but I had never felt so complete.
“Every morning I will thank the gods that they sent you to such unworthy folk.”
I looked up dreamily just as Gael pressed a tender kiss to my forehead. It was soft, and warm, and filled with so much devotion that it was hard not to cry again.
“You’re not unworthy. Just stubborn.”
He smiled against my cooler skin, before continuing down my face. Like the faintest whisper of a kiss, he planted little touches of affection on each eyelid, then the tip of my nose, then each cheek.
And finally, my lips.
It was so unlike what few other kisses we had shared. The desire was still there, but there was a gentle sort of reverence to it. Like just being there, in the moment with me, able to touch slowly and tenderly, was enough.
It was beautiful, and it was healing. We didn’t have to rush. We didn’t have to get swept up in a torrid ball in our desire. All we had to do was feel.
I wrapped my arms around his neck, letting my fingers playfully flit through his long hair. He continued to lavish my face, neck and shoulders with adoration. Was this what it was like to feel worshipped? Because I was definitely feeling pretty worshipped.
We stayed that way for quite a while, enthralled in each other, before Gael’s hands began to move across my body. Seeking, stroking, caressing. Slowly, he lowered me to the bed and posted himself over me. If I wasn’t a selfish person, I would remind him that he had only recently come back from the very precipice of mortality and scoot him back into bed with only cuddles as an extracurricular activity.
Too bad I was a very selfish person.
His kisses continued down my body, pausing only at the collar of my tunic. I had taken to keeping my men’s clothing since my return, and I think the Dragon Prince was only just now noticing it.
A smile on his face, he pulled at the lacings and gently tugged the fabric down my shoulders. Eyes hooded with a type of devotion I had never experienced before, he loosened the breastbands Dwyllverys had provided to me, and laved his adoration on one of the pastel peaks.
I gasped my appreciation, and arched up into him. He rolled and flicked that tender point with an expertise I didn’t know he had. My mind began to lift from my body, and I happily let it go.
He took his time with that breast, before dutifully returning his attention to its sister. I felt myself growing wet for him to touch my core, and tried to rise to grind against him.
“Please,” I begged breathily, anxious for something to soothe the growing torrent within me.
“Patience,” he murmured, finishing his ministrations and continuing downwards. “I want to feel all of you.”
And he d
id. Licking and laving attention down my middle, until he came to my hose. With another slightly sardonic smirk, he yanked them down and threw them to the far side of the room.
When he settled back down to me, he devoutly continued down my hip, then to my inner thigh, to the back of my knee. It was as blissful as it was torturous, but I loved every second of it.
He gave the other side the same treatment. Slow, and sensuous, and driving me absolutely bat shit crazy. It was cruel. It was perfect.
It was everything.
And when he finally did turn his attention to my core, I physically lifted from the mattress. With every ministration, he raised me to another level of ecstasy that I didn’t know was possible.
I finished much more quickly than I ever had, the blinding wall of light enveloping me with absolutely no mercy. Every neuron of my brain was electrified and I drowned in the rapture of it all.
When I came to, I was breathing hard, and Gael looked quite satisfied. But I wasn’t content yet, and pulled him to me. “Please,” I begged again. “I need you.”
That was the straw that broke the incredibly patient camel’s back, because then Gael was freeing himself from his own trousers and aligning with my very needy entrance. And when he slid in, I couldn’t help but feel like everything was right in the world. Sure, plenty of bad things could and would happen, but we would always have this little slice of haven in each other.
He thrust against me, powerful and wanton and heated, and I lost myself in his rhythm. It was like a long hit from the purest drug there was, and I was definitely high on his euphoria.
I can’t say how long we moved against each other. Giving and taking, gasping and panting, crying each other’s names and proclamations of unadulterated pleasure. But when the golden dragon reached his completion, letting out a bellowing roar that shook me to my very bones, I felt thoroughly satisfied.
“Thank you,” I whispered as we settled beside each other, tangled in the sheets but having no desire to extricate ourselves.
“Thank you,” Gael returned, placing one last kiss to my sweaty brow. “And thank you for all the times to come.”
