“I could not work well with it on the Demonworld, but where it seems to be very strong.”
Derno looked at the young again and frowned.
“It is time to get them fed so we can look them over before bed.”
Sofia found herself frowning and then realized she’d been at the village for hours. “I promised Ryluth I would get back in time for dinner.”
“Will they see you tomorrow?” Cenan asked, picking Glym up.
She smiled. “Try keeping me away!” And then she ran towards the gate, feeling free and whole. It was a sensation she was entirely unfamiliar with and she liked it.
Chapter Nine
Dinner was tense. Ryluth was tense, the other Dragons were tense, the females were tense. Lennalth was glaring at the Dutch illusionist, who had thrown up a cartoon face as her own.
Sofia had begun to laugh, then choked then settled into a neutral face. He grinned, she would make him an excellent queen. She was very diplomatic, trying to draw Miene into conversation when the witch appeared to be bent on tweaking Lennalth’s tail.
“Your Majesty, were you aware that Miene’s birth nation lay below sea level? And, they have thrived for centuries,” Sofia said when the cartoon illusion on Miene’s face stuck it’s tongue out at Lennalth, who frowned and gave a low growl.
Ryluth came to attention at the obvious attempt to draw the conversation out of a sticky situation.
“No, uh, I did not,” he tried to get the wedge in there to help her out. He had to hold back a smile as Sofia turned back to him and winked.
“They have windmills and a system of dikes and levees that hold the North Sea back and allow them to claim land for living and agriculture,” Sofia stated as if she was teaching fledglings.
Ryluth looked down the table and all of the females and Dragons had become silent.
“Uh -- Windmills?” He looked at his Dragons, who also looked puzzled.
Miene dropped her illusion and nodded. “Yes, we are always in battle with Njord, who wants our land.”
“Njord?” Ryluth’s brow lifted.
“Ja, he is the God of the Sea,” Miene stated, nodded. “We have had an eternal battle with him desiring our lands and trying to reclaim any that we expose.”
Ryluth looked over at Sofia who gave him a tactful smile and a nod. He had to admit, a tad of his fledgling was still alive within him and he turned to look at her.
“And, who is your God of the Sea, Sofia?”
Sofia’s eyes widened and she hastily swallowed the mouthful of dessert she’d just put in her mouth with a gulp and then she daintily dabbed at the corners of her mouth, looking at him like she was queen of the universe and had just caught him staring at her putting on her clothes.
“I was raised Catholic, and we have only one God of everything.” She stated primly and Ryluth had to work hard to keep his face neutral, instead of grinning like he wanted.
“What is your god’s name?” He kept poking.
Sofia rolled her eyes. “His name is God.”
The women from Earth and even the half-elves nodded as well.
“Do you all worship this god?”
Some heads shook, some nodded. Ryluth was confused. “I don’t understand,” he said, his ability to understand many different people worshiping many different gods was just not possible in his world.
“We have many religions and many gods on Earth,” Miene explained, looking around before a prim, Sofia-like look came over her features. “However, Christianity and Islam are the most prevalent. Buddhism and Hindu are right after them. But we also have pagans, Wiccans, and the like.”
Ryluth looked to Sofia who nodded. She smiled at him. “However, to answer your question, in ancient times, Neptune was the God of the Sea close to my home.”
“Neptune? He was not Njord?” Lennalth asked, staring at Miene, whose illusion had dropped as she stared hungrily at his Captain of the Guard.
“Here, Threlzin is the god of everything,” Avrae, a rare, Earth Dragon said when the quiet had dragged on. His brown scale tones were reflected in his hair and eyes in his human form.
Sofia sat up, nodding. “Your King and I were studying Threlzin today,” she said. “We are trying to find out as much as we can about this curse in hopes of breaking it.”
“Why would you do this?” Lennalth asked.
Sofia stared at him for a moment, taken aback. “Because no race should live like this,” she said quietly, yet firmly. “Your young know a father’s love, but not a mother’s and that is a crime. Even the Demis had that much if they wanted it.”
The entire room became eerily quiet as everyone looked at her, and Ryluth could feel her discomfort in being the center of attention, but she did not bow under the pressure, she stood firm.
“I have met two of your fledglings and their fathers. Those poor babies are so hungry for a mother’s tender touch that I must try my best to find a way for them to know such a thing, and more, perhaps, when they are adults, the love of a female mate.”
Everyone nodded, even the females who had come with her.
“We cannot leave here until we find the secret to breaking this curse,” she said.
“We know the secret, dear,” Sythe, an older Dragon said boldly. “It’s just that no one wishes for a female to die to cure it.”
Every female there but Sofia gasped. Kjersti Westgaard, who had been very quiet the entire time she’d been on Wushin looked hard at Sofia.
“You knew this.” It was not a question that Kjersti put forth, but an accusation.
“I found out this morning and began looking at the curse and the events that led up to it and immediately thereafter,” Sofia didn’t wither under the Norse healer’s glare. “There has to be a way for everyone to come out of this better than they were before. I refuse to give up one more female when I can avoid it.”
Ryluth sat back in his chair and considered Sofia, wanting her more now than he had before and he didn’t think he could become any harder without turning into stone. She was a dragon in her own right, wanting to protect his world as badly as he did. He had chosen very well, he decided. Sofia would be his queen because they would figure a way to break this curse, together.
The voices around the table rose in a cacophony of those wanting to help, the females, and those saying it could not be done, the Drakkos.
Sofia merely had to clear her throat to gain a silent room and Ryluth smiled at her. She was perfect and she would be his.
“Of course, we would appreciate any help you can give us,” she said quietly, looking down the table at all present. “Mainly we need translation of ancient Dragon texts and accounts from that period, for those of you fluent in that,” she then placed both of her hands on the table, one on each side of her plate. “We have to find a way to break the curse so that no females die, and no Drakkos die.”
“You would subvert the will of our God?” Sythe glared at Sofia as if she’d just spoken the most foul blaspheme of all.
Ryluth glared at him.
“She is trying to find a way to appease Threlzin and bring females back to our world. I would think that would be the goal of every Dragon here.”
Sythe had the good sense to look abashed, which was about the only thing that stayed Ryluth’s hand as he had a strong desire to lash out against the Dragon for speaking to Sofia as he had. Questioning her motives as he had.
“We are currently working in my office and any and all of you are more than welcome to come help us if you so desire tomorrow morning,” he stood up and put his elbow out for Sofia, she gracefully stood up and took it. “However, tonight I would like to get some rest. I recommend you all do the same if you wish to help.”
He then led Sofia out of the dining room and towards his wing and their rooms. They had just begun climbing the stairs when Sofia’s hand jiggled on his arm. He looked over and her shoulders were quaking and her face was screwed up in bottled laughter. Then, all of a sudden, she doubled over, laughing. He just
watched her, a smile on his face.
“Oh Lord, did you see his face?” Sofia chortled. “’You would subvert the will of our god?’ So hilarious!” she cried out then her laughter redoubled until she finally sat down on a stair, holding her sides.
Ryluth could do nothing other than sit down beside her, knowing it was very unlikely anyone would come this way for a while as this was his private wing and only Lennalth had any call to come here and he would be kept busy with his windmill goddess if he was any judge of his oldest and best friend.
Sofia’s laughter had died down and she sat, chuckling and wiping her eyes.
“What a pompous windbag,” she finally said and looked over and up at him.
Ryluth was entranced by her dancing eyes. He bent his head down and pressed his lips to hers. His eyes widened in shock when she pressed the tip of her tongue to the seam of his lips. He was not a stupid Dragon, he let her in, and was rewards with the sweet, warmth of her. She tasted like heaven.
He wrapped his arms around her and gently pulled her closer to him. She didn’t stiffen, didn’t fight him. So, he did what any male on any world would do, he deepened the kiss. Sofia slowly melted into him and he gloried in the feel of her in his arms. He leaned back on the stair just above the one they sat on and leaned her back in his arms. The more he kissed her, the more she responded, the more was laid waste to his determination to only go as far as she would allow. When he found his hand wanting to make its way towards her soft breast, he had to pull back.
She stared up at him, wonder in her eyes.
“I took advantage, Sofia,” he said, unable to tear his eyes away from her beautiful gold ones. She looked thoroughly kissed, which was wrong because he’d not even begun a proper assault.
“You cannot take advantage of the willing, Ryluth,” she chuckled. “I don’t know whether you noticed, but I was not struggling or pushing you away.” And for a moment, in her eyes, he saw the amazement that she hadn’t been. Her smile widened and she had a proud glow. Ryluth sat a little straighter, knowing he had given that to her. He stood and extended his hand to her.
“I will escort you to your room, Lady Sofia, and bid you goodnight with no more stops or advances,” he teased and bowed.
She laughed and stood. “At least you managed to look slightly less bilious that Sythe Dragon.”
He rolled his eyes. “There is one in every group. The person who is so hidebound they cannot get out of their own way.”
“I think Cassie used to work with a bunch of people like that,” she told him as they walked towards her door. “She calls them pricks.”
It was Ryluth’s turn to collapse into laughter. Sofia laughed along with him.
“We really shouldn’t laugh at them,” she tried to stop laughing and could not.
“I think it’s OK as long as it’s not right in front of them,” Ryluth chortled.
“Why do they have to make it so hard to do?”
Sofia leaned against her door and Ryluth caught her there, his arms on either side of her.
“You are a treasure, Sofia Sforza,” he said before dipping his head and gently biting her lower lip. Her eyes closed and she shivered, so he kissed her properly and once again, she received him in eagerness. When he found himself pressing himself against her, but then realized her arms were around him, and she might have actually pulled him in closer to her.
“We must stop, Sofia,” he whispered against her mouth. “Or I will forget all of my manners and honor.”
She did freeze then and stared at him. He grimaced and stepped back.
“I didn’t mean I would take you against your will, Sofia,” he kept his hands to himself when all he really wanted to do was hold her and keep her nightmares at bay. He watched her nod and relax.
“Will you breakfast with me?” He asked, wanting every single moment to be spent with her, preferably in his bed as he continually sank himself into her soft body, listening to her sounds of pleasure. He almost closed his eyes, lost in that fantasy, but she nodded and then quickly disappeared behind her chamber door.
He walked down the hall to his chambers, slapping his thigh with his hand, needing, desperately, a night flight to cool off. He turned back and headed for the stairs to the roof.
*****
Sofia got ready for bed and saw a stack of books on her nightstand with a sticky note on the top. They were from Cassie.
“Lauren suggested these would be excellent primers for love making knowledge - C”
Sofia huffed a laugh, but grabbed one and turned to the back and read the description of the book.
“Hot, human emotion, searing through the epochs of time!”
“Hmmm,” she said and laid that book down, picking up another. She liked the cover, it was... racy? It had the image of man’s torso, his face in shadows and a cat of some sort that Sofia was not familiar with. The man’s form was very impressive. She found herself staring at it and wondering if Ryluth’s muscles showed as well as the man on the cover did. She opened the cover and began reading, although reading was not her go to hobby, as it was for Lauren. She firmly expected to be bored within minutes, but found herself drawn in from the first paragraph. She quickly saw why Lauren had added this book to the others. It was a story about a woman who had been brutalized, because of her race, and found herself, in later years, drawn to a male who had been told he could never have her because of her experiences. She had found herself growing angry at those who said they cared for the girl. How dare they make that decision for her? But then she was drawn to the love scenes. Her entire body was warm and moist. She remembered her embraces with Ryluth in each scene and wondered if it would feel like it was described in the paragraphs of the book.
She looked up from the book, finally, and realized it was nearly dawn. She had completely lost herself in the book, never noticing the time passing. But she was in a state that she had never been in before, and if she understood the scenes in the book correctly, she was sexually aroused. That had never happened to her. Ever. She didn’t know what to do. She knew, intellectually, that women could take care of themselves if they were so inclined, but she had no practical knowledge of how to do that, and it flustered her. She jumped when a knock came on her chamber door and she dropped the book on the floor.
She rushed over to the door to find Ryluth, freshly attired, standing with his hand raised to knock a second time. He didn’t move. He sniffed the air and he gulped and took a step back.
“I can’t...” he closed his eyes. “I can’t be around you when you scent of desire,” he groaned and began to turn to walk away.
She couldn’t take care of this herself, but someone could, and frankly, she was desperate. She grabbed him and pulled him down to her and kissed him for all she was worth. As she kissed him she backed up, pulling him into the chamber, then she kicked the door closed.
“Sofia... we can’t...” he tried, and failed to stop kissing her.
“I need, Ryluth,” she said, chewing on his bottom lip before allowing her tongue to delve into his mouth, loving the taste of him.
He sniffed again and then appeared to come to some decision, and he stopped fighting her.
“I will go only as far as you want,” he promised and Sofia felt the vow snap around them both.
He picked her up and strode to the bed, laying her on it and immediately following, laying on top of her, while she was busy kissing his face. She felt his hand on her thigh and her entire being hummed. This was nothing like before. She was anticipating this, wanting this. It was a wonder how exquisite the mere touch of a male’s hand could be when a female was in a like frame of mind. So, this is what her friends had tried to tell her. Ryluth made her want to find out where this went. Surely, nothing could be like what she’d read in the book. Only men enjoyed the sexual act, but Sofia found she was admitting to herself that she wanted this, and that she might, indeed, enjoy it.
Ryluth slid to her side, still kissing her, so he could bring his hand up to he
r breast. Her eyes rolled back in her head when he began softly massaging her breast, and then he flicked her nipple through the t-shirt she wore to sleep in and she threw her head back, moaning and arching her body towards his.
She almost froze, not knowing how to touch him, and being who she was she made that known.
“I don’t know how to touch you,” she moaned into his mouth.
“This is all about you, Sofia,” he said, kissing her chin and along her jaw. “At this point, anything you could do would draw out your... discomfort.”
“Oh,” she said, and looked down into his amethyst eyes, which were fevered.
“Let me...” he said, kissing her neck and Sofia found herself feeling as if she were about to fly apart.
He somehow managed to get her t-shirt off her and then he began his assault on her breasts with his mouth. She screamed when he finally put his hot, wet mouth over her nipple and she could feel the pull all the way down to her sex. She wanted his hands there, touching her.
“Please...” she begged, not even knowing what it was she was asking for.
Ryluth did know and he swiped one, hot finger down her sex, making her entire body shudder. And then, the male put his finger in the one spot on Sofia that was screaming for attention and she came apart, screaming and clawing at Ryluth.
It took her several minutes to catch her breath and open her eyes, and when she did, Ryluth was leaning his head on his hand, looking down at her, a smile on his face.
“Is that the first time?” He asked, not altering his expression one iota.
“I don’t even know what that was,” she admitted.
“Would you mind if I showed you more?”
Sofia was still feeling... wound up so she nodded.
“I need the words, Sofia,” he said before lowering his mouth to her breasts again, kissing them and bringing her back to nearly panting.
“Yes, Ryluth,” she nearly yelled. “Show me more.”
She could nearly feel his smile around her turgid nipple.
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