Chapter 15

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

ERAX

M y queen is a dragon rider.

Fuck, if I didn't desire her above all else before today, watching her claim and ride a dragon of her own has sealed it for me.

She is my end, wrapped in soft curves and rose gold hair.

With the others, we run outside to watch as my queen flies over the kingdom in her new dragon. Noble whistles. "A fucking ice blue dragon? None of the ice dragon eggs hatched before."

I grin. "Isn't she amazing?"

My other riders crowd round in shock as they watch the sky with me. Her dragon lets out a roar, a high-pitched one that reminds me of dolphins. Dragons in the cave, including mine, who stopped me from going to them earlier, roar back. I don't know what that means, but my queen is trouble. It's no shock to me her dragon would be too.

Ivane moves to Noble's side. He is an excellent rider and fucking lethal in battle, but he has a backwards view on women which means we never fully get along. His family are all the same and see women as somehow less than us, or just things to own and have our kids. It's stupid because women are generally smarter and more capable than most of the men I know. If I had to pick someone to be a new rider, I would have picked my wife. "Did she have a calling, Noble? I'm not believing my eyes right now."

"If she did, she probably never understood it." Noble answers, glancing at me. "Why did you bring her here?"

I don't like the tone, but he is my best friend, my brother in every way but blood. It's been that way since we met as kids. Noble was the boy I took into the keep with me at thirteen and taught how to bond to a dragon even when my grandmother forbade it. I knew I needed an army of dragons to take the Drifting kingdom and save everyone. At sixteen, he was at my side as we invaded. "For the truth. And to let her see the eggs and dragons from a distance. The egg came to her and she took it. It reminded me of..."

I drift off, pushing down that memory. There are few things I'm not proud of in my life and that one time. It is the worst of my memories of things I did to get the throne and make peace. All I ever wanted was to make a new world where dragons could live in peace with us, and I've done everything to get here. I push the memory away, like I always do, and focus on the skies. The curse, the assassins, they can fuck off for a moment. Her dragon is huge, nearly as big as mine, but slenderer and quicker. I can't help but grin like she can see me from down here. I'm so fucking proud of her. My wife is a fucking dragon rider. I always thought that we were not perfect for each other, and this was for the kingdom.

Then I kissed her, and she tasted like home. Mine. She is fucking mine.

When I fucked her for the first time? I knew no one was going to compare, and I was fucking done for. The more I get to know her, the more I believe that she has no idea what her parents were like, and how completely and utterly amazing she is for all she has survived. My cock is already growing hard from even thinking of fucking her again and I carefully adjust myself before my trousers strangle me. Noble is watching the sky, his arms crossed, and he doesn't look happy. "Those dead eggs. She brought them back. How?"

"Maybe it is her gift," Babken moves closer. The bulky man crosses his arms, watching. He has always focused on logging the dragon gifts and working with the riders since he became one. "A rare gift she has been blessed with. I've not even heard of it in any of the dragon fables we have on record. How did she do it?"

"Who gives a shit? If she wasn't just useful for opening her legs for the king, now she has the potential to make new riders." Adryn laughs, and I see red. Deep, blistering, crimson red. He doesn't even notice me move. "Heirs and dragons, what a good whore she?—"

I punch his stupid fucking jaw to slam his mouth shut. Blood sprays as he rears back and Noble grabs my shirt, pushing me away as Adryn crawls backwards with wide eyes. His jaw is broken, and his wails of pain are worth it.

"You might be one of my riders, but she is my queen! Disrespecting my queen is disrespecting me." I kick him back, forcing him to his knees. "Watch your fucking words or you will lose your tongue. You don't need it to ride in my army."

He stands and wisely walks away. I rub my knuckles as I turn back to watch my queen. It's not the first time I've punched Adryn over something dumb about women that has come out of his mouth. Noble is friends with him and the only reason I haven't ended the bastard's life is because of that friendship and the fact he is one of my most skilled riders. Adryn should be more careful with my wife's name on my lips, especially when that wife is his queen and can heal dragon eggs. I will hopefully have more new riders soon to replace him.

We've lost far too many dragon eggs over the years to the grey and we never knew what caused it. Perhaps Zepheira is right. Perhaps the dragons have never been the same since the attack and their grief carries to their womb. Ever since that attack, the dragons have let only me and Zepheira near their eggs. But they let Maelena, we all saw it and how she healed their dying eggs. I'm glad she is my wife when this new power came to the light of day. Our enemies would have made her a dragon flying goddess princess to be saved if they found out. Now this will be seen as a blessing on our happy marriage and a gift from the gods themselves. Noble speaks first and nothing really shuts him up, so it's no surprise he barely keeps quiet for a few minutes. I'm glad he stopped me from killing Adryn though as I might have done for saying a bad word against Maelena. "Ad is a prat, but he means she suddenly bought a great potential to bring our kingdom to a point where we are invincible and at peace. No one can stop you now. No one can stop us."

It's all I have wanted since I first climbed into a mountain. I found a dragon egg to bond with. I was fucking terrified as a teenager, but I had no choice that day. Ever since I was kid, I knew I was different to everyone else around me. I had powers, and I had to hide them from everyone but Noble. He had his own powers, his own dragon calling, and he listened when I told him the truth. We worked together to get our dragons. When I touched the egg for the first time, I knew that the dragon was mine and we would remake this world. A black egg hatched in my hands and, working on instinct alone, I took it into the water nearby as he exploded into a massive dragon who I thought might eat me. She didn't.

We flew instead. Once I was in the skies, I knew what I had to do with the power and knowledge I had. I knew I wouldn't be able to do it alone, and Noble didn't question me when I sent him for his dragon egg. In the years that passed as I planned my war, I collected riders from every village I could and followed every rumour of magic that I could hear. Every single teenager or man I found was happy to have an answer of why they had magic and what their destiny was. I never once found a woman with magic and now I have.

I was always looking for her.

"The witches," Noble quickly hushes over their name as my blood runs colder than the ice dragon above. The curse will not touch my queen now, not when she is powerful and has a dragon. This is a protection even I cannot just give to her. "There are no mentions of a female rider. She could bring doom to us all."

Logic goes out of the window when superstitions whisper in the air.

"Women as riders are dangerous!" Zaal, one of my newer riders, shouts and several of them agree. The smart ones don't and move to the side, like they expect me to explode. Dragon riders' tempers are usually worse than a normal man's. A normal man doesn't have the fire of a dragon burning next to their soul. It doesn't just make them abnormal. It can make them dangerous.

I tilt my head to the side and let each one of them see the anger stirring in my eyes. I have done everything for them, for my kingdom and the only person off limits to my riders is my wife. She is one of us now and they will welcome her. Or I will make them.

"My wife can clearly ride a dragon that is bigger than yours and better than any of you have done before." I raise my tone. "When the queen comes back, you all better fucking bow to her, and then go ask your females if they feel a need to come to the eggs."

When no one says anything, my anger rises.

Fucking morons.

My dragon riders are loyal to me, but their judgement needs to be readjusted. I should let my queen and her dragon freeze all their balls off, then we will see how much they like being male dragon riders.

When her dragon lands, my riders stay behind as I walk to her across the field as she slides down the dragon's wing, nearly falling over but she stops herself. The dragon looks at me with sea blue enormous eyes, sniffing the air and snarling a little before going flying off into the sky, straight towards the cave to rest.

Tugging my cloak off, I go to wrap it around her, but she turns, looking up at me. Her pale cheeks are flushed from the cold air, but her eyes are wide with joy, and she is smiling. Fucking she might as well knock my kneecaps out with that smile.

I'm surprised when she jumps into my arms, wrapping them tightly around my neck before she kisses me.

She fucking kissed me.

I groan as pleasure surges in my balls, and I want nothing more than to rip her clothes off and fuck her in front of everyone here until she is dripping with me. The kiss is short and sweet like her, but it's the first time she's kissed me. Blood rushes straight away from my head to my cock within seconds before she breaks away.

Maelena steps back and blinks a few times, her awareness sinking in. That delightful coyness that makes my cock hard. "I'm – I'm sorry, I?—"

I grab her neck, tilting her head back. "Don't you ever apologise for kissing me. I'm your husband. You never need to apologise for kissing me or doing anything to me except trying to kill me, perhaps."

Her eyes sparkle with that same old defiance. Fuck, I love that look.

"I'm not apologising for that."

"Really?" I cock an eyebrow. I wrap the cloak around her shoulders and pick her up, making her gasp. She holds onto me as I carry her back to the castle, and I expect a fight, but it doesn't come. She lets me carry her. "You must be tired or in shock if you're letting me carry you. You're the first female dragon rider in history, Maelena. Congratulations."

"Fighting you is tiring. Just for now, I'm going to let you. Then you can show me the truth."

She swallows a yawn and my eyes flicker to her lips. I want to taste her again, but she is exhausted and sleep will claim her soon enough. I need to be holding her when it does. I set her down on the bed in our room and she curls up at my side, yawning once before falling into a deep sleep.

I watch my wife. The first female dragon rider and wonder if there will ever be a time she won't hate me for what I did to get us here.