“Is that your home?” I wondered aloud. Or maybe I thought it.
“Ancestral palace to the Dragon-Clan. A short ride from Haran.”
“I’m eager to see it.” I was, truth be told. Something had happened on our journey north I couldn’t put into words. A shifting of heart, maybe. I’d had his blood on my hands. The threat of losing him had bound us together more thoroughly than magick ever could.
I let him hold me until the ship docked and his soldiers disembarked. His hand was on my arm as he led me down the rough-hewn wooden planks where another carriage was waiting in the slush-brown snow.
Leisha climbed inside when Rhys took my arm. I turned back to him with a quizzical expression.
“You aren’t riding in the carriage,” he said with a mischievous grin.
“I’m not?”
“We’re going to fly.”
My responding smile was automatic. “We are?”
I’d been too afraid after our binding ceremony to enjoy our first flight together. It was considered taboo for shifters to fly with those who weren’t their mates, so I could never ask Gideon to take me to the skies. I was certain he’d say no, anyway.
“Would you like that?” he asked softly.
Rhys with a softer side. Who would have thought? “I would. When do we leave?” I couldn’t mask the excitement in my voice or the bounce in my step.
Rhys chuckled and pulled me close to his side. “As soon as the men leave.”
It took a good portion of the day for the ship to be unloaded, the supplies distributed to the new carriages with fresh horses from the clansmen in Haran. Leisha kept her distance from everyone, not daring to set foot outside. I decided to give her space until we could talk alone. It had been a trying journey for everyone.
“How will this work?” I asked warily, as we moved from the trails to an empty plain. We’d only flown short distances so far.
He led me to the center of the plain and turned to face me, my hands in his. “You’ll ride me, of course.”
The responding flush in my cheeks, despite everything we’d done, made him kiss me, long and deep. I felt the energy of his dragon in his kiss, the raw power and possession. I wasn’t bound to Rhys alone, but to his dragon as well.
Rhys pulled back and turned, motioning for me to place my hands on his shoulders. I did as he instructed, nerves and excitement jangling in my belly. The scales appeared again, but they solidified and thickened, no longer the same texture as his skin. If I weren’t watching him with my own eyes, I wouldn’t have believed it. His muscles swelled and changed until he was seven feet tall, eight, ten, then fifteen, twenty.
Finally, I sat between the shoulder joints, a dizzying distance from the ground. His muscular body, as blue as his eyes, bunched and twitched beneath me. I could feel his breath and heartbeat thudding through my own, like we were one organism.
“Hold on,” he ordered.
“To what?” I screeched.
My scream of terrified delight filled the air, then was swallowed by the whoosh of wind as Rhys’s powerful legs launched us skyward. I wedged my knees into the crevice above his shoulder joint and gripped two spiny protrusions on his neck like reins.
The ground flew away as we glided into the clouds. Exhilaration pumped through my body, making me feel as though I were lit from the inside out with Rhys’ everlasting fire.
I was flying. I laughed aloud, lifting my hands into the air. I was flying!
Rhys dove and I squealed, holding on to the spiny horns. It was freezing so far aloft, but I didn’t care. I never thought I’d get to experience flight in my lifetime. It was a secret dream I didn’t dare express to anyone, other than myself in my most desperate times. I’d watch the children in the capital testing their wings when I was young, and bitterness would overwhelm me. I’d never be like them. It hadn’t been fair to a little girl who had been so different already.
The view stole away any lingering sadness. From atop Rhys’s back, I could see everything. It was magickal. The patchwork of landscape displayed tiny farms and splotches of ponds and lakes. Ribbons of rivers ran out to meet the ocean. Ahead were the powdered peaks of Rhys’s castle. My new home.
When I began to shiver, Rhys’ large head turned to me and his eyes roamed over my body. Except, this creature was his dragon, wasn’t it? What a strange feeling to know he’d been with us when we... well... The dragon quaked beneath me and I realized he must be laughing. I frowned at him, and he turned forward. Then his scales began to warm, much like Rhys’s had that first night when we met. With the heat coming from his body, the frigid temperature didn’t seem so awful, making the rest of the flight pleasant.
I only got nervous when Rhys descended from the clouds. The insignificant dots I observed moving around from above became carriages, and people, and livestock. The peaks, which had been the size of my hand, now filled my entire field of vision. They were magnificent.
Nestled in the center of the mountain range was an ancient castle. My heart leapt in my chest. This was Rhys’s home. Our home now, I supposed. The structure rose from the mountain itself, its southern face carved from the stone. It must have taken hundreds, if not thousands, of years to make, considering the striking level of detail. The castle spanned the length of the lower range, turrets protruding from everywhere, reminding me of the spiny “reins” in my hands.
Rhys aimed, not for the grand entrance with doors twice the height of his dragon, but for the uppermost turret. The turret had an opening about thirty feet high with another identical opening on the other side. I realized, as we grew closer, it must have acted as a landing point for the Dragon-Clan, when they were all able to shift into their dragon form. Now, there was only Rhys, who landed in the turret with lithe grace.
He kneeled, his muscles bunching underneath me, and allowed me to climb down from his shoulders. I already missed the skies. When I was on my feet again, which felt odd after flying for so long, Rhys stood, extending to his full height in front of me. I’d never seen a dragon up close before, and Rhys in his full dragon form was awe-inspiring.
I stared at him for a long while, studying. His tail curled around me, pulling me closer. I made an inarticulate sound and held on to it where I could so I didn’t fall. It was nearly as long as he was tall and rippled in every shade of blue imaginable. The underside was like burnished gold, glinting in the sunlight. Once I was close enough, his tail rested around me, protective and demanding at the same time. The foot-long spines at the end winked and hissed as they scraped against the stone.
Gathering my courage, I took a step forward and touched one of his back feet. It was tipped with vicious claws in the same burnished gold. I imagined them cutting through flesh like the edge of a razor. His haunches were thickly scaled on the outside, and leather-soft with a fine coating of light gold fur-covered scales. I reached out a hand and touched them. It reminded me of moss clinging to stone. The gilded fur and scales covered him from groin to neck.
What was most impressive were his wings. I gestured with my arms, and he spread them out wide for me to admire. They spanned the entire area from archway to archway. The webbing was the lightest blue, almost white, and was attached to massive spines to bear the weight. At each joint, there were bony talons and more on the entire bottom section of his wings.
His arms were as powerfully muscled as the rest of him and his clawed hands were wicked sharp. Atop his head, rising out from behind curved, pointed ears were two long horns the same gold as the spines on the tip of his wings and tail. I studied his face, searching for some semblance of the man who was my mate. As I did, his eyes narrowed and he bared his teeth in a smile that was more of a grimace, making me laugh.
There he was. My mate.
I gestured for him to come closer and he crouched again. Reaching up, I caught one of his hands that was easily twice my size. He let me climb into his palm, where I sat. Carefully, Rhys brought me up to his face, and I tried not to look down.
Everyth
ing about him exuded danger. His canines were menacingly sharp, visible from underneath his wide grin. Smoke unfurled from his nose in streams of grayish-white with every breath. In his full shifted form, it was no wonder humans and shifters alike were afraid of the mere whisper of his name.
He was power and magick and immortality all in one being.
And he was mine.
Reaching up, I laid a hand on his snout, tentatively at first. He stilled underneath my touch, ears flattening against his skull in submission. Submission to me. This powerful creature, submitting to me. My hand caressed his scales with reverence. The connection between us began to thrum. I swore I could almost hear it out loud.
Heat speared into me when I met his eyes. It didn’t make sense, but I wanted him. Blue eyes turned molten.
“Don’t be scared,” he said into my mind.
“Why would I be scared?” I asked. He didn’t frighten me anymore.
Then, he shifted back to his human form gradually and rapidly all at once. His hand jerked and closed around me. I yelped as I fell to my rear. The dragon in front of me shrank, wings and tail retracting. When he was about twice as large as a human, his features blurred, smoothing and reshaping until Rhys’s face was staring back at me. As he shifted, I slid down his hand, grasped firmly in his arms, until I was standing in front of him with my hands on his chest.
I looked up into his eyes and smiled. There weren’t words to communicate my gratitude, so I reached up and kissed him.
16
Rhysander
This wasn’t supposed to happen.
She wasn’t supposed to care for me. And there was no denying it. I could feel what she was feeling through the blending of our minds. We were only supposed to be together long enough to break the curse and make a son. I’d never planned for emotions to be involved.
I tried to reason through it, apply cold, hard logic, but her mouth was pure chaos. Her hands on my dragon were my undoing. He was anything but logical, ruling the bestial, wild parts of me, overwhelming my good sense. Goddess help me, but I didn’t want to fight her anymore.
Members of my household rarely came up to the aviary, having no use for it other than the view, and even then it was depressing for them. So if I were to flip her skirts up and take her right here, no one would be around to interrupt us. Again, like she could read my mind, she pulled me to an alcove inside the stairwell that lead down to the main levels of the castle.
“Eager, little pet?” I asked as her arms wrapped around my shoulders and she pressed herself to me. She trembled. My senses were still highly attuned to her and my dragon was wishing he’d never let me shift back.
“Yes,” she said plainly. I could smell her cunt. I bet if I reached underneath her dress she’d already be wet for me.
I threw my senses out to see if anyone was near, and we were alone. At least for a while. The men were hours away and the others would know not to disturb two new mates.
“Turn around.” My voice was harsh with need. The scent of her was driving me mad.
She did as I instructed and my breath came out in a hiss full of steam and smoke. Without my instruction, she gripped the skirts of her dress and drew them up over her hips. My claws shredded her sweet little underthings. I didn’t care. I’d replace them.
Her breath hitched as I pinned her to the wall. I considered for half a heartbeat if I was being too rough with her. Up to now our bed play had been gentle to an extent, but when I parted the scraps of material to caress her thighs, she lifted her ass to me, beckoning me with the sway of her hips.
“Now,” she pleaded. “Rhys, now.”
I meant to be gentle, meant to woo her with touches and draw her slowly to completion, but when I pulled my cock free of my breeches and lined it up with her opening, she reached a hand back to grip me. The groan that exploded from my chest was more of a growl, more beast than man.
She stoked up and down my length and I had to press my head hard against the stone wall in front of me to keep from spilling myself all over her hand. Arching, she fit the head of my cock to her sweet, wet cunt and eased herself back. Fuck, how I liked when she took control like she was the master of the beast inside me.
Her head fell back against my shoulder at the first thrust and she balanced herself with hands against the wall. I’d like to say I seduced her, made it last, and made her scream, but I could only say one with good conscience. It was wild. It was violent. It was dangerous. I was no better than the animals in the forests, fucking her with a savagery that she matched and invoked in equal measure.
I ripped the bodice of her gown to reach her breasts, needing to fill my hands with her curves. She made a sound of objection, then I felt her mind cloud with pleasure as I captured her nipples between my forefingers, tweaking and rubbing them with relentless focus until her hips were rocking back and forth over my cock. Our grunts filled the little alcove, along with the sound of my cock driving into her wetness and her little pleas.
If I had been planning to keep my dragon from wanting a piece of her, too, he had other ideas. When she felt my skin shift into scales, I could have sworn her heat clenched around me. I tried to control it, tried to bring him back under control.
She gripped the hand covering her breast. “What are you doing?”
“Give me a moment.”
“What’s wrong?” she asked.
I laughed a little. “It seems I have little control where you’re concerned.”
Her hips ground against me, pulling a groan from my throat. “I don’t want you to have any control.”
“Keep teasing like that, woman, and I’ll make you regret your words.”
“I’m not afraid of you, Rhys. I’m not afraid of him either.” She tried to reach through the connection like I did when I wanted to tease or talk to her and failed. She blew out a breath. “I don’t want you to hold back. I want all of both of you. Tell your dragon to come out and play.”
She would be the death of us, I decided. I let loose of my control, pinned her completely against the wall and let my dragon fuck her until she screamed her pretty little throat raw for the both of us.
Elena smiled ruefully. “What are we going to do about this?” she asked, her voice raw and throaty. I liked it too much to feel sorry. Or maybe I was simply an unrepentant bastard. The animal inside me liked having her wear our mark, liked having her covered in our scent, and walking like she’d been claimed good and hard.
There was no putting her dress to rights. What was left of it would smell of sex, even to the least trained nose. I shed my cloak and wrapped it around her shoulders. I couldn’t resist kissing her plump lips again.
“I’ll summon a servant to get you a dress to wear until the carriages arrive with your things.” With her hand on my arm and her other holding the coat closed around her, I moved to the stairwell.
I didn’t want to be concerned, but I was. That didn’t mean I had to let her know. Skimming her mind with mine, I let her stream of thoughts wash over me as we made the long trek down to the main floors, passing living quarters, guest quarters, entertaining quarters, servants quarters, and more. Every time we needed a new room, we simply dug deeper into the mountain to suit our needs.
Is it wrong that I’m already thinking about having him again?
I wonder where his rooms are.
Goddess, these stairs go on forever.
My thighs are killing me.
I miss my father already. I wish he were here.
I wonder what his family is like?
Her thoughts blended together, feeling them flow down the connection and fill me with inner light, inner peace. I hadn’t felt either in so long, so long I welcomed them as much as I was afraid of them. I feared I’d also come to crave them when and if they were ever gone.
We came to the lower floors and a door, which would lead out into a main hall where I could flag down a servant. “Wait here,” I told her.
“Where are we?” she asked, peering through the
crack in the door when I opened it.
“This is the guest floor. It’s less traveled, but I’ll be able to find a servant for some clothes. If we go any farther down, we’re likely to run into someone else on the stairway before you’re dressed.”
She clutched at the cloak. “Do I get the tour once I’m presentable?” she asked.
“Only if they end in my private rooms,” I answered.
I slipped out into the hall and strode to the washrooms where the linens and cleaning supplies were kept to maintain the rooms, even though very few people visited the castle these days. There, I found Merry, one of the maids who had been with the Blaque family for many years longer than I’d been alive.
“Lord Blaque! We didn’t know you were back.” Merry was as much a mother figure to me as if she’d been the one who’d birthed me. “Come, we must get you something to eat.”
Merry solved every problem with food. From boils to broken bones. She wouldn’t be satisfied until everyone around her was as round and pink-cheeked as she was.
“No thank you, Merry. I’m here with my mate, Princess Elena. I’m afraid we’ve had some... troubles during our journey and her clothes were ruined.” I leaned in closer. “She doesn’t want to meet the castle in such a state.”
Her blue eyes twinkled with feminine knowledge. “Oh, I’ll bet they were ruined. Where is she? I’ll deliver them to her.”
“I’d rather do it, thank you, Merry. I’ll wait here for you to return.”
“Yes, Lord Blaque. I’ll return in a jiff.”
I waited for her by the supply closet with the scent of lemonfruit juice and candle wax wafting through the air. Underneath was the slightly damp scent of stone and earth so characteristic of the mountain. Home. I’d just had her, but already I wanted Elena again. I wanted her spread on the bed, my bed in this castle. By stars, I wanted to claim her as mine like I’d never wanted anything in my life.
Pressing a hand to my head, I waited for the feeling to pass, but it didn’t. The bond between us, the thread that connected us after the binding ceremony felt stronger than ever. Moored in bloodshed and sex, it had strengthened since we left Aurelia, despite my best efforts otherwise. It was like a link in my navel, my heart, my cock, and my head had fused and connected me to her, always. Even this far away, I could feel her, sense her in a way I never had before, not even to my former mate. With her, the connection had been more like an abyss, something for me to drown all the best parts of me in.
Deal with the Dragon (Immortals Ever After Book 1) Page 12
