Page 138 of The Dragon Queen

“We can.” My men were already heading towards the window, because they knew. Male dragons competed to mate with a queen, and that’s what they were doing. “Choose us, Draven. Choose the future you always dreamed of.” Tears rolled down my cheeks, but for just a moment, I dared to hope. “Choose me.”

“No, Pippin, we?—”

I nodded, because I only needed to hear the first part. Some people are too caught up in the ties that bind them, but I…? I would cut through each one, if that’s what it required to be free. I slung a leg through the window and found Soren there, ready to help me out. Glimmer was already running across the courtyard and scaling Glacier’s neck, ready to leave.

What about the other queen dragons?I asked her.You know Rex will be looking to find a more suitable girl to impress upon one of them.

Humans are strange creatures, she said.They think far too highly of themselves.I snorted as I climbed into the saddle, feeling Flynn settle behind me.Zafira is gone and there are no more captive queens for him to coerce. The wild dragons, they will not leave any of the eggs unattended, not until the hatchlings are ready to be moved, and then…?It will depend on the human’s actions if any of them stay.

For a moment, hope bloomed anew. Draven came rushing out after us, but when the people started cheering at his appearance, he stopped. I don’t think he wanted their adulation, because he scanned the masses with a grim look on his face.Take another step, I thought furiously.Another one and keep coming.

But he didn’t.

“Take me home,” I told Flynn as I placed a hand on Glacier’s neck. “You know where to?—?”

“Always, my queen.”

He reached around, a familiar devilish look in his eyes as he tilted my head backwards and then, before the whole of the capital, he kissed me.

“There’s no going back now,” I said when he pulled back.

“No, there’s not. C’mon, lad!”

Glacier took one step, then another forward, and I raised a hand. Not to wave to the people watching everything that transpired, mouth wide open, but for Draven.

Tell him I will always love him, I pushed towards Darkspire as the massive green dragon landed heavily beside his rider.Always.

He knows.

I had been a wide-eyed country mouse the first time I saw the capital from dragon back. Now I was just pressed tightly to Flynn’s chest, shivering. There was nowhere else I’d rather be, though. If I had the choice between being true to myself or living according to other’s dictates, then I would choose me every time.

Took you long enough.Glimmer looked over from where she flew beside me.A queen decides her own future.Let’s see how ours unfolds.

Chapter 65

Months later at Deepacre

I was made of gold. My skin was warm like the morning sun, yet parts of it ached with a fire that rivalled it. I let out a little grunt, not willing to open my eyes, not yet as I felt hands cover my breasts. Thick, callused fingers found my nipples, tugging on them just to the point of pain, but not beyond it. That harsh sensation awakened something in me, and what a way to greet the morning. I opened my eyes as my hips ground backwards, finding him hard and naked beside me.

Draven?

Part of me wanted it to be him, even though I knew it wasn’t. I had an embarrassment of richness in my bed every night, and one of them would wake me like this in the morning.

“Ged…”

I rotated my hips slowly, feeling the way his length pressed into my softness, already craving the feel of him forcing himself inside me.

“Yes, milady?” His cunning fingers worked faster, forcing twin points of pleasure to spiral within me. “Something you need?”

“We are not playing the lady of the house and her manservant again.”

My voice was all raspy from sleep.

“No?” One hand pulled free to hook my leg up over his hip, opening me for him. His hands slid between my legs, groaning at what he found there. “Then what are we doing, because bloody hell, this pregnancy has you wetter than an otter’s pocket.”

“Mm…”

My moan had a hard edge to it because he was right. “Increased blood flow”, the midwife told me when she came to check on my progress, then nodded to my men. “Though you’ll have no problems getting your needs seen to with this lot, if you’ll forgive me for saying it, milady.”

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