Page 59 of Scion of Chaos

Then it stops, the waves subsiding. Asterius drops his hand into the water and lifts the cloth again.

“Why did you stop?” I ask, breathless.

He glances over his shoulder, then nods and looks up at me.

But he doesn’t speak. Instead I hear Erebus in my mind.

“Typhon requests permission to speak before he shows himself to you. You’ll need to reach out to him, because he can’t kiss you the way I could. But he is open; all you need to do is find him.”

Asterius begins the utterly distracting process of rinsing the soap off my pussy while I attempt to close my eyes and focus. I reach out my mind the way I did when I sought out Erebus earlier. I can sense his dark presence, a silent observer in a mental corridor, but move past him, seeking a more prominent presence farther away.

What I find is confusing at first. The presence reaching out to mefeelsenormous, but the image projected to my mind is just a man. A very handsome, veryyoungman. He’s dressed in nothing but a simple loincloth-style wrap like Asterius wore, and he’s fit and handsome, but with a lean, lithe body still soft around the edges like he’s just barely hitting adulthood. He’s almost angelic in appearance, with golden curls and blue eyes, and he looks positively anxious.

“You don’t have to be afraid,”I find myself saying, which is ridiculous becauseI’mthe one who should probably be scared.

“I have waited a long time to meet you. I don’t want to mess up,”he replies, his voice smooth, but deep.

“If what I’ve been told is true, we’ve already met.”I move closer, closing the mental distance. He’s only a little taller than me, so it’s easy to meet his gaze.

He studies me with uncertainty, then lifts a hand and traces my cheekbone with one finger, gliding it down to my chin.“You are more beautiful than I remember.”

“I don’t even know if what you see is really me. I’m pretty sure this isn’t you, is it? It’s just a mental projection.”

We both take in his shape, and he shakes his head.“No, but I’ve had centuries of practice creating the ideal human shape I would assume, if I could.”

“I thought you were a dragon. Can’t dragons take a human shape?”

“I am a dragon, and more, but that magic has eluded me. This is why I wanted to speak with you this way—to give you a chance to know me as something other than the monstrous shape you’ll see when you open your eyes. And if you still want me, this is what I will show you when we are connected mind to mind.”

“I’ve learned that it takes a lot to frighten me,”I say.“Let me see you, Ty.”

With that, I open my eyes and wait, staring into the distance. Asterius has stopped touching me and stands, then turns to sit on the ledge I’m still standing on, the warm water cascading over us from above. My pussy tingles and throbs; he left me hanging, but I’m not bothered. I kind of love that we have the freedom to take this slow, that I have no obligations at the moment, other than getting to know these creatures whose images I managed to conjure from my mind before I even learned they were real. There is no real urgency other than my desire to understand them and my place in this world.

“That may change once Vesh tracks down our quarry, so don’t get too comfortable,”Erebus warns, but I brush him off.

“Let me enjoy this, okay?”

When Typhon finally appears, I hold my breath. The shadow on the wall behind him confused me with its mass of darkness and writhing shapes, but then his heads come into view, followed by his enormous, magnificent body. His tallest head nearly reaches the cavern ceiling, an enormous dark green dragon head on a thick, scaled neck. His slitted eyes meet mine and he dips slightly, as if bowing.

Then the writhing mass of smaller, serpentine heads appear, and I think my brain breaks. I inhale a sharp breath and grab hold of the horn at hand beside me.

“Sorry—sorry,” I blurt when Asterius glances up at me. “I’m not scared,” I call when Typhon retreats a step. “Just … a little surprised. You’re beautiful. You’re…resplendent.”

The torchlight glints off his shiny scales, and the jewel-like effect is truly dazzling. Every one of his heads is a different color, some shimmering with a spectrum. Every pair of eyes that watch me are a different color too, and they areallfixed on me.

The effect is electrifying, and I absently stroke my palm up Asterius’ thick horn, aware of the tactile rush. He casually wraps his hand around my ankle and slides his hand up my leg.

“Shall we get back to what we were doing?” he inquires.

“Wait,” I tell him, then to Typhon, I say, “Please come closer. I trust you.”

I step down into the water, letting out a little yelp of surprise when I discover it’s not as shallow as I thought, but my head and shoulders are still above the surface at least. It’s easier to swim, though, so I breaststroke across the span of water between us.

The closer I get, the harder my heart pounds, and I slow and rest my feet on the floor a few yards away from Typhon’s legs; any closer and I’ll be underneath his heads.

“You’re huge,” I say, striding a little closer. “I’ve seen dragons, and they’re big, but I’ve never seen onethisbig. Not even Stuart, Gray, or Murdoc, and they’re Guardians. They’re supposed to be the biggest, aren’t they?”

“I am not just any dragon.”

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