by Delia Castel
“Berrin!” Marigold’s arms shot out, holding him upright. “Are you feeling lightheaded?” Her cry nearly burst his eardrums, and he cried out, clasping his hands over his ears. “Sit down until you’re feeling better.” She ran her fingertips down his cheek.
He winced, closing off his enhanced hearing. “I’m fine.”
She stared up at him with glistening eyes set within a beautiful, heart-shaped face undiminished by soot and tear tracks. In the lantern light, her irises reminded him of an emerald pool he’d once visited in Fafnir island. He was about to lean down and capture those plump, peachy lips with his own, when she spoke. “I’m surprised you’re even able to stand with all that blood you lost today. Let’s go to your room and put you to bed.”
He shook his head. “It was nothing, just a little stumble.” He smoothed a sooty, blonde lock from her face. “We need to talk, anyway.”
“But—”
“I swear to you, Mari. I’m not feeling lightheaded.”
Her brows drew together, and she continued her scrutiny, clearly not believing in his assurances. He could tell her the reason why he stumbled on the staircase. Such a revelation might distress her or result in disappointment if Polaris’ speculations turned out to be inaccurate. Besides, if his brother had wanted Marigold to know that she might be a Princess, he would have mentioned it downstairs. Berrin assumed he was waiting for more information before breaking the news. Telling Matheson his suspicions of her identity ensured he would be more respectful in his dealings with her.
Berrin slid his hand over Polaris’ jacket to the small of her back. “Let’s go to the bathroom. If I faint, you could always call my brother.”
She nodded and continued ascending the stairs. At the mezzanine where the painting of the first Auburn ancestor hung, they took the left fork and reached the first floor. Instead of going straight to his bedroom, he guided her into the family bathroom. The bright gaslights made his eyes burn and water. He blinked several times to adjust his vision.
“I don’t think the bathing pool is the safest place for you,” she murmured.
He nodded, wiping the tears from his eyes, which had adjusted to the light.
She drew in a sharp breath. “I knew you were feeling lightheaded!”
“No.” He chuckled. “I’m still recovering from my first transformation, so I’m not exactly in peak condition. Heat, steam, and deep water isn’t the best thing to combine with blood loss.”
She glanced around the huge, marble-tiled room. “We could put some warm water in a bucket and bathe that way. Is there a spigot?”
Berrin furrowed his brow. What is this how servants bathed in Boreas? Life under the rule of Uncle Hertz was awful from what Marigold had told him, but surely there were bath houses for those not permitted to bathe in their employers’ homes?
He gestured at two teak benches on the left of the room. “This is how we bathe when we don’t have time to use the pool.”
She glanced at where he had pointed and turned back, her beautiful green eyes wide. “Where do you get the water?”
He pointed at the vents in the ceiling. “Look up.”
“Oh,” she murmured.
After taking Polaris’ jacket from her shoulders and guiding her to a bench, he knelt in front of her, placing his hands on her knees. “We need to talk about what you’re planning.”
She tilted her head to the side, as though encouraging him to continue.
“It’s madness,” he exclaimed. “There’s nothing stopping Polaris from going back to the Crown Court and using his influence with Judge Embers. If you weren’t here, they’d have thought up another solution, but—”
“I love how you’re protecting me.” Marigold ran her fingers down his cheek and smiled. “But Matheson lost the case for reasons I can solve. I have to repay your kindness somehow.”
A heavy feeling fell on his chest, making it ache. How could she go so far to help his family after everything she had suffered? Poor Marigold had been incarcerated for almost two years for retrieving her family heirloom. To make matters worse, his own uncle had released her early to serve the rest of her sentence in a brothel. She had made a brave and harrowing escape to Austellus, only to stumble upon two slain dragons. Such an experience would break most individuals, but Marigold hadn’t had time to recover from her shock. Matheson had brutalized her, and Polaris had locked her in the wine cellar while verifying her alibi.
He gulped, and his gaze wavered from her trusting, green eyes. His own behavior to her had been less than gentlemanly. Mere moments after her release from the wine cellar, he had taken advantage of her vulnerable state and had sated himself within her beautiful body.
She leaned forward and clasped his hands. “What’s wrong?”
“I didn’t protect you today,” he said with a voice thickened by guilt.
Her mouth dropped open. “What in the name of Igneous are you talking about? You burnt those two shifters. One of them wanted to maul me, and the other looked like he was going to help.”
“I heard what the probation officer said to you. I heard your cries when he slammed you against the wall. I heard all of that and could do nothing.”
“Berrin.” She let go of his hands and held his face between her soft palms. “You had a sword through your back. You were dying, and you still came to my rescue. No one’s ever done that for me.”
“It’s the least I could do.” His voice shook. “My family has caused many of your problems.”
She gave him an incredulous laugh. “It’s not your fault those bears attacked your home.”
“Uncle Hertz is also a member of the family.”
She shook her head and pressed a gentle kiss on his lips. “You’re not responsible for the acts of that monster. That stable hand from earlier was one of his henchmen. I don’t know how long he worked for your parents, but he would have let the others into the house and found a way to poison them with papaver.”
He clenched his teeth. “I wish I hadn’t burned those bears alive, so we could have extracted the truth from them.”
“Does a new dragon have such fine control over his flames?”
“No.”
“Then you can’t regret your actions.” She gazed up at the water vents in the ceiling. “How do we get this to work?”
“Someone has to sit on the other side of the bench. The weight activates the water.”
Her face split into a heartbreakingly sweet smile, reminding him of a sunny day after storm clouds. Warmth spread across his chest, tugging his own features into a smile. “Let’s get you clean.”
She pulled him down, and sulphur-scented water cascaded down from the ceiling, showering him in its warmth. Marigold straddled his hips. Berrin’s stomach flipped, and what was left of his blood traveled south. His member hardened, and when her fingertips grazed his nipples, he shuddered. “Mari, what are you—”
“Washing the man who saved my life.” The fingers of one hand threaded between the strands of his wet hair and with the other, she reached down and stroked his erection.
Berrin moaned. “D-d-dragon.”
“Huh?” she whispered into his ear. Her fingertips brushed over his balls.
“I’m a dragon.” He clenched his teeth at the onslaught of sensation. Maybe his nerves were still sensitive from having transformed, but if she didn’t stop stroking him like that, he would erupt all over her hand. “N-not… a man.”
“How could I forget?” She gripped the base of his length and rose up on her knees, brushing her nipples against his chest.
His arousal spiked, and he cried, “W-wait!”
“What?”
Through hard breaths, he said, “It’s my turn to pleasure you, remember?”
To his relief, she hopped off his lap and sat on the edge of the bench. When she leaned back, resting her palms on the back of the bench, and spread her legs, his throat dried. His gaze fixed on the thatch of blonde curls between her thighs. He had never seen Marigold in s
uch close quarters, and he hoped he wouldn’t be a disappointment. Instead of asking for directions like an unmated fledgeling, he decided to start from the top and work his way south.
“Lie down,” he said.
Her eyes sparkled, and she positioned herself lengthwise on the bench and lay flat. Berrin balanced himself on top of her and kissed her collarbones. Marigold made a pleased hum and swept her hands over his shoulders and down his back. The press of her skin on his sent jolts of pleasure, far more intense than normal, down to his member. The dragon magic inside him reared, urging him to take his mate and pleasure her into submission.
Berrin ignored his baser instincts and continued kissing a path down the swell of her breast, eliciting the most arousing moans and squeals. By the time he had her nipple in his mouth, Marigold wrapped her legs around his hips and ground herself into his erection.
Berrin let out a shuddering breath and moved his hips back. A disappointed whimper sounded from her chest, so he kissed and licked a fast trail down to her navel, over the swell of her belly, and between her parted legs. He stroked her inner thighs and brushed his fingers against her pretty blonde curls.
Marigold panted. “I need you.”
“I’m yours,” he whispered and kissed the soft, creamy flesh of her thighs. She spread her legs, revealing the glistening petals of her sex. Her intoxicating scent intensified, and Berrin's mouth watered at the sight before him and in anticipation of her taste. Fire burned in his veins, making the water cascading from above feel cool in comparison. His instincts urged him to prepare his mate, to claim her, to mate her until she bore his young.
He pressed a kiss on her opening. She moaned and arched in response. Triumph pulsed down to his groin, and he swirled his tongue over her dark pink pearl. With a high-pitched squeak, Marigold clamped her thighs around his head.
Berrin chuckled. “I didn’t know you had such strong legs.”
“I need your tongue… Please.”
A growl of satisfaction reverberated in his throat. Who was he to deny his mate? A little more gently, he lapped at the bud, eliciting from Marigold soft, pleasured sighs. Marigold buried her hands in his hair, rocking her hips and breathing hard. He closed his eyes, savoring the smooth textures and tastes. His licks turned to open-mouthed kisses, as he devoured her with lips and teeth and tongue.
“That’s it…” her voice was breathy, words urgent. “Keep going!”
Ignoring his aching and pulsing member, he continued pleasuring her. Every single one of his senses had been overtaken by his beautiful mate. She jerked and spasmed and shuddered under his attentions, positioning herself so his tongue lathed her nub. From her cries, Berrin supposed it worked in a similar way to his own organ, except most sensitivity was focussed in that tiny, pink bud. He gave it a gentle suck, only for her to cry out and tug on his hair.
“Berrin!”
Her thighs clamped around him—harder this time, and her hips stiffened. A shriek echoed through the bathroom, and he felt his hair being pulled out by the roots. The notion that he had satisfied his mate to such an intense climax made his pleasure spike, but he urged his wayward organ to still.
When her climax subsided, her thighs relaxed, and she pulled him up by the hair. Her face was flushed, eyelids heavy, and lips parted. “Get inside me, now.”
Berrin’s balls tightened at the command, and he slid himself into her tight, wet heat. Marigold moaned as the muscles of her core fluttered around him, and Berrin licked his lips, trying not to focus on the intensity of her grip. “I-I need to wait for a few seconds.”
“Hurry!”
Her hips bucked, creating the most pleasurable friction around his member. Berrin’s muscles tensed. Clenching his teeth, he thrusted into her. He had to last longer. Squeezing his eyes shut to shield himself from the arousing sight of his mate, he grimaced in an attempt to block out her fevered moans. He fought against the magic swirling in his body and let his hips jerk into the hot, slippery core of her sex.
Berrin didn’t know how long he stayed suspended in this trance-like state, focussing on her needs and staving off his own. Her cries faded behind a barrier of concentration, and the grip around his erection waned to a dull pleasure.
“Berrin!” Her fingernails dug into his back, and she convulsed around his organ.
Any semblance of control he had snapped. All the pleasure that had built up in his groin exploded in a rush. His nerve endings burned, ripping a roar from his throat. Berrin’s arms shook, threatening to collapse. He stiffened his elbows and shuddered as pulse after pulse of fluid erupted from his organ.
When the sensations faded, and he opened his eyes, it was to find Marigold staring up at him with a lazy smile. Berrin caught his breath. “Was that all right?”
With the sweetest of smiles, she slid her fingers through the hair on the nape of his neck, pulling him down. “You’re a very fast learner.”
He let out a relieved breath. “I’m glad you completed.”
“Twice,” she murmured. “Something about you makes me so wanton yet so satisfied. Is it because we were meant to be mates?”
He marveled at the vision lying beneath him. Her golden locks fanned out on the bench like a halo of sunlight, and when she blinked, her amber lashes reminded him of corn silk. “Fate brought you to our doorstep.”
Marigold turned her head, and Berrin’s heart dropped. Had he said the wrong thing? He thought back about how his family—Uncle Hertz, mostly—had been the cause of her problems. Perhaps she had come to the realization that her plans had fallen through. It was no longer possible for her to go to Habilis. It was a dangerous place for shifters, and deadly for dragons. He cleared his throat. “Marigold I’m—”
“Can’t you see that Governor Hertz will break us apart if we don’t do something to stop him? I’m guessing he already knows I’m a she-dragon, and he wants me for reasons other than breaking parole.”
His stomach tightened. “That’s true…”
She turned back to him, her eyes as hard as jade. “If Polaris thinks the best option for saving your family is to pretend Matheson’s mated to me, then what’s the harm?”
“My brother isn’t the nicest or most respectable of dragons.” Even as he spoke, he knew he would give into her. “Look at what he nearly did to you when he thought you’d murdered Mother and Father!”
She wrapped her arms around his neck. “Matheson’s a brute and a drunkard, but if he becomes Lord Auburn and everyone thinks I’m his mate, your uncle might leave me alone.”
Berrin rubbed his brow. He was being irrational for trying to block this plan. Maybe his awakened dragon was affecting his judgement.
“You know I’m right.” She brushed his wet hair off his face. “Think of all the evil Governor Hertz will do with your family’s money. He already ordered your parents’ death, and he’s indirectly responsible for the magical bubble around Chrysos. That dragon belongs in prison.”
He ran his hands down the damp, velvety skin of her arms. “Unfortunately, there are very few crimes that would result in a dragon’s imprisonment.”
“What about murder?”
Berrin cringed. Marigold would be horrified at his answer, but he said it anyway. “That would depend on whether a judge believed he had good cause.”
She pulled herself upright, and Berrin backed off to give her space. “There’s a dragon underneath the House of Corrections,” she said. “The guards threatened to feed us to him if we misbehave.”
He frowned. “Are you sure?”
“I’ve seen glimpses of him myself,” she replied.
Making a mental note to pass on this information to Polaris, he sat next to her on the bench and placed his hand on her thigh. “Uncle Hertz isn’t the sort of dragon deterred by the overturning of a judgment in his favor.”
“I’m doing it,” she said.
He drew back. “What?”
“Going along with the plan to pretend to be Matheson’s mate. It has to be better than si
tting around waiting to see what your uncle does next.”
He sucked in a deep breath. Female dragons were rare, and those as lovely as Marigold were almost non-existent. If she pretended to be Matheson’s mate, his brother would eventually come to his senses and want to make the charade a reality. As the youngest, Berrin’s prospects were limited, and he couldn’t compete with either Matheson or Polaris if either of them tried to claim her. And any manner of dragon could whisk her away from the family with a better offer, potentially overriding her connection to him. He would not let that happen. If the only way they could stay together would be through a haremage, he would be willing to share her.
He placed a kiss on her lips. “I have the utmost faith in your ability to charm even Matheson.”
Her eyes sparkled, and she placed her hand on his cheek. “Thank you.”
Berrin shrugged. It had been a foolish dream to expect to have Marigold to himself. He’d learned at the Academy that dragons shared their mates with their brothers. Even King Vulcan had shared Queen Reina with his brothers.
Marigold kissed him on the lips, wrapping her arms around his neck. Although he wasn’t completely happy about the arrangement, Marigold would become Lady Auburn, which would give her protection from both the law and from Uncle Hertz’ machinations.
Chapter 3
Moments later, Marigold slid her hand down Berrin’s hard, wet chest and over his tight abdominal muscles. After that extremely pleasant experience, she wanted more. Maybe this time, he would be on his back, and she could ride him. Now that his brothers had arrived and were searching the mansion, she could relax and enjoy Berrin’s body.
He chuckled, eyes sparking like faceted aquamarines. “What are you doing?”
Her fingers closed around his stiffening length and it swelled and pulsed in her hand. Licking her lips, she let out a contented sigh slide. Her former fiancé had not been as well-endowed or as enthusiastic as Berrin. “I want you again.”
Berrin moaned, and the sound sent pleasant tingles between her legs. His eyes flashed like blue lightning. “You’re amazing!”
