17

I can't believe I have her here, between my arms, against my chest. Her heart is thumping even faster than mine. She tugs against my grip, so I release her wrists, and she begins fumbling eagerly with the buttons of my doublet.

"I'm not used to you wearing so many clothes." She vents a breathless laugh. "I need them off ."

"I'll be no help with that," I say. "Meridian dressed me for the ball. I can handle some buttons, but not these tiny ones, or the pins."

"We don't have much time, so—" Her hands drop to the front of my pants, unfastening them and pushing them down my hips. My cock emerges, and she wraps greedy, silken fingers around it. I bite back a groan, remembering Meridian's caution, that we must be quiet.

"I need this inside me." A shaken whisper, her blue eyes on mine, pleading. "I need to feel you."

"Are you well enough, after birthing the eggs and enduring the whip?" I slide a palm over her belly. "Are you sure— "

"I'm sure. I've been healed since then. Kyreagan, please. I want this, before you have to go—please." Tears glitter in her eyes.

Her heart is a jewel, and I don't understand all the facets of her emotions in this moment, but she has told me what she needs, and it is both my duty and my pleasure to provide it.

"Here, by the wall?" I ask gently. "Or on the bed? I haven't used a bed yet… While we were with the rebels, I slept while I was in dragon form, so I could use my human hours for practice."

"The bed." She tugs her undershorts off, kicks them away, and lies down, adjusting the pillow beneath her head. "It's narrow, but comfortable." Her fragrance wafts from between her parted legs, and I inhale through my nose, reveling in the familiar sweetness.

With a focused thought, I return my tongue to its cloven form. Then I leap onto the bed with her and plunge my face between her thighs with a blissful sigh. She sucks in a breath and exhales a tiny sound of shocked pleasure.

I've missed this. The taste of her, the soft wet lips of her pussy that part easily for my tongue. I slide it so deep inside her that it strains at the root, and I wriggle the twin halves until she whimpers.

Pulling back, I reach up and cover her mouth lightly with my hand. "Hush, love."

She nods frantically and twists away from my palm to whisper, "I want you to come inside me. I need your cum to be there, instead of—"

She breaks off the sentence, but the pained quiver of her lips tells me the rest. She thought she was going to suffer the invasion of the young lord I attacked at the party. He won't be harming her tonight, thanks to Meridian; and she knows it, but she needs me to soothe that latent fear. She's affirming her choice, her power. Using me to feel secure again .

And I am all too happy to be used by the one I love.

Sitting up, I draw her body closer, then push her legs up and grasp my cock. I slide the tip over her clit, down her pussy, watching her breasts rise with her eager breath, delighting in the way her thighs tighten and her hips surge, as if she could pull me inside her by sheer force of will.

I'd like to go slowly. But my last hour as a human is expiring soon, and I'll need time to make it back to my room before I shift.

Still, I hold back for another moment, just to admire her arousal glistening on my cock head, to breathe in the earthy sweetness of her scent, to enjoy the way her legs look with the ribbons, the lace, and the elegant shoes. Her face is the loveliest part of her, like a pale flower blooming amid the swirl of her golden hair.

"Kyreagan." Her rosy mouth forms a pout with which I'm all too familiar, and it makes me smile. "If I'm your queen, you need to obey me, and fuck me now."

I reply in my deepest tones, "Yes, Your Majesty." And I slide into her.

She tilts her head back. "Yes, god." One of her hands clutches her pillow, the other reaches for me. I grasp her fingers with my right hand and use my left to hold one of her thighs up as I thrust into her. The gliding friction is just as mind-melting as I remember, and for a fervent second I thank the enchantress for granting me this body and all the pleasures that go with it.

"Harder," Serylla whispers. "Deeper."

My hips rock faster, my body slapping against hers. At the sound, her eyes fly open, and she glances nervously at the door.

I change positions and move forward to brace myself over her, while she curls her legs around me, pinning me inside her. We can be quieter like this, and the angle at which I'm grinding against her clit seems to please Serylla immensely .

She stares into my eyes, a desperate, glorious light shining in her gaze. Her plump lips are parted just enough to let soft little sobs of pleasure escape. They're getting shorter, quicker—she's about to come.

"Come inside me," she pants, her voice jerky from my powerful thrusts. "Mark me as yours. I belong to the dragon prince, and you'll keep me full of your cum so everyone knows it."

Those words thrill through the most primal depths of my soul, and I thrust deeper than ever. I come with a compulsive tremor, a pulsing heat pounding through my cock into her pussy. She comes immediately afterward, with a tiny squeal and a series of sharp, panting breaths. Her fingernails dig crescents into my arms, even through my shirt.

"Yes," she sobs softly. "Yes, yes. Oh my god… I needed that so badly. Oh god…" Her pussy squeezes me again, and more cum surges from my body into hers.

I nuzzle her cheek. "Mine."

She releases my arms, captures my face in both her hands. "You need to get me away from him, Kyreagan."

"I know. I will."

"I'll try to help. I'll try to figure out who the poisoner is."

"Meridian is working on that as well. One of the women at the party has been with the King multiple times, so Meridian plans to seduce her, to find out if she has heard or seen anything important."

"Seduce her? I thought he liked Hinarax." Serylla frowns.

"He does. But I don't believe they have pledged any sort of loyalty to each other."

"He killed two Vohrainians without hesitation, without regret," she says. "I can't decide if I should admire him for that, or be terrified."

"Perhaps a little of both. But so far, he has proved worthy of my trust. "

She lifts her head and kisses me, then moves higher on the pillow until my cock slides out of her. I lean back on my heels and tuck my thumbs against the lips of her pussy, pinning them open so I can see my cum gleaming white inside her pink slit.

"Beautiful." I bend and place a kiss on her clit. She tastes so good I let my tongue swirl over the little peak of flesh, but Serylla pushes me away with a shaky laugh.

"I'd love more of this, but I should go to my room in case someone comes to look for me," she says. "And you have to hide in your chamber before you transform. Kyreagan, you're in so much danger, it terrifies me. Have you seen how many guns they have? More every day, it seems. They could take you down even in dragon form, couldn't they?"

"Not before I did some damage."

"Please be careful. Please control your temper."

"I watched a man grope you tonight, and I did not incinerate him," I say haughtily.

"And you deserve praise for that." She climbs onto her knees and pats my head. "Good dragon."

I give her a disapproving look, and she grins. The smile fades almost immediately, though, and she leaves the bed to pick up her undershorts.

"You make me so happy," she says in a sorrowful tone. "Your very presence is healing. I wish we didn't have to go. I wish we could stay here… or better yet, leave together."

"We'll find the poisoner, and we'll force them to undo what they've done to you," I say. "And after that, if they truly did kill the remaining dragons of my clan, I will carry them to Ouroskelle and feed them to a voratrice, so they will suffer the slowest, most agonizing death possible."

"The eggs will be hatching soon." Serylla's voice softens with longing. "I hope we can be there."

She steps close to help me refasten my pants, and when she's done I kiss her, a slow, savoring kiss that turns desperate, because I can't help it, because I can't let her go and yet I must. She kisses me back just as fiercely, her small tongue lashing through my mouth, her fingers pressed against my neck.

"We have to, Ky. We have to," she whispers against my mouth.

"Fuck." I kiss her again, a swift, hot brush of my lips. We break apart, and she hastily picks up the mask, the belt, and the key. She listens at the door for a moment, then glances at me and says, with a look of beautiful misery, "I love you."

And then she's gone.

I barely make it to the suite in time to strip off my clothes. My bones begin to buzz with the energy of Thelise's magic, and within seconds I transform into my dragon self. I nearly crunch the bedpost with my foreleg, but I manage to pull back and arrange my body in a semicircle, occupying the empty space around the bed. I don't understand why wealthy humans need such spacious bedrooms when their bodies are the same size as those of other humans. But at least their vanity works in my favor.

Aeris enters my room cautiously after the change. "Meridian isn't back yet," she says. "And where's Hinarax?"

Keeping my voice as quiet as I can, which is difficult in dragon form, I tell her about Serylla's warning and Hinarax's flight back to Ouroskelle. "As for Meridian, he should have returned here after taking Hinarax to the tower."

"Maybe he came across something of interest. An opportunity for spying or sabotage." She perches on the dresser, takes out two of her knives, and begins juggling them. I've come to understand that such activity soothes her.

"How was it?" Aeris asks. "Seeing your Princess again? Did you—" She waggles her eyebrows violently.

"Are you ill?" I peer at her. "What is happening to your face?"

She sighs. "God, you dragons… it's a signal. It means did you fuck her?"

"Then why not simply ask me? Why do this?" I attempt to move my brow ridges like she did.

Aeris snorts with laughter. "We humans like to talk with our faces or hands sometimes, instead of saying the actual words. Especially if we're trying to be… diplomatic."

I still don't understand, so I answer her question instead of delving into the idea of talking with faces . "Yes, I fucked her."

"Do you think that was wise? Or considerate? I mean, after what she's been through."

Offended, I scowl at her. "I wouldn't have done it if she'd been averse to the idea. She begged me."

"Did she?" Aeris chuckles. "Damn. And Meridian keeps gushing about his time with Hinarax, too. Dragon shifter dick must be good."

"At first I thought mine was far too small in human form," I confess. "But the Princess assures me it is above average for a human male."

"Congratulations." She chuckles again, but the smile doesn't reach her eyes this time.

"You want to ask me something else."

"So you are getting better at reading humans. I wanted to talk about the thing I told you before—about the female dragon who's hiding out with my sorcerer friend."

"The one who survived the Supreme Sorcerer's curse."

"That's the one. You haven't asked me about it again."

"I've been considering what it means. "

"And wondering if you should believe me?" She catches one of the knives and jams it into the top of the dresser. When she yanks it out, the dark gloss of the wood is marred by a pale scar.

"Are you sure the dragon is female? It can be difficult to tell, for those unfamiliar with dragon anatomy."

"She said her name is Nyreza. My friend has been doing experiments with her blood. Apparently she's immune to magic. Entirely immune."

Nyreza, Saevel's sister. Suddenly it all makes sense. "Her fire never worked properly. I didn't want to bring her to war with us, but her mother and brother begged me to give her a chance. If she's immune to magic, that would explain why her innate magic was blocked."

"I've never heard of such immunity. But if it's true—what if my friend could use some of Nyreza's blood to make an antidote, something to counteract the magical poison in the Princess's veins?"

Hope brightens in my chest. "How fast could your friend produce it?"

"I'm not sure what he would need. It might require something from Serylla—a bit of her blood, tears, or spit—maybe strands of her hair or nail clippings. It's too dangerous for me to send him a written message from here, but I could take samples from Serylla and go to him in person. I hate to leave you and Meridian and the others, but I don't think there's another way. I don't trust anyone else with his location, and he wouldn't let anyone but me through his protective barriers, anyway."

"So you trust each other."

Aeris squirms a little. "He and I used to be married. It was a stupid, impulsive decision. Didn't work out. But we still care about each other. He has done things for me that no one else would. "

"You'll get the samples from Serylla tonight, and leave now?"

"Or I could wait until Meridian gets back, and make sure he agrees with the plan."

"I thought he wasn't your leader."

She rolls her eyes. "He insists that he's not. But you've seen how our group works. What do you think?"

"Still, you don't need his permission for this, do you?" I lift my head higher. "The sooner we can free Serylla from Rahzien, the sooner we can kill him. Meridian promised to help me find and rescue her, and in return I promised to help you destroy Rahzien and drive out Vohrain. Our goals are inextricably intertwined."

Aeris lowers her voice. "Not everyone in this group believes we should wait to free Serylla before we take out Rahzien. We've never had this much access to him, and Odrash thinks we should take advantage of it, before we lose our chance. He likes Serylla, but he would consider her death to be an acceptable loss."

A growl reverberates in my chest. "Until the poison within Serylla is neutralized, I will defend Rahzien from any attempts on his life."

"But you can't do that while you're in dragon form," Aeris points out. "Look, I'll talk to Odrash again before I leave. I don't think he'll make a move without Meridian's blessing. But when I'm gone, watch the others, and be cautious. If Meridian starts joking more than usual, yet at the same time keeping his distance from you, it means he has made a hard decision, one he doesn't want to live with, but one he believes to be necessary. That's when you should worry."

She hops off the dresser and sheathes her knives. "I'll go get the samples from Serylla now, and leave the city tonight. I have my forged papers that identify me as part of Prince Gildas's retinue, so I should be able get back into the Capital, as long as the rest of you haven't blown your cover by then. I'll return as soon as I can, hopefully with good news."

"With the antidote," I reply.

"I'll do my best." She touches the door handle, then turns back to me. "Get some rest. I have a feeling tomorrow is going to be shitty for everyone."