Page 141 of The Dragon Queen

So why were my feet moving forward? Why did he stop just short of us, saddlebag slung over his shoulder, completely out of uniform? This wasn’t a king, a prince, it was?—

“Draven?” Brom said his name with far more confidence and not a small amount of anger. “What the hell are you doing here?”

“You told me to choose.” This was as raw as I’d ever heard him. The king looked so much thinner, drawn even. “You told me to choose and I did. Every day since the moment you all left, I worked to make it happen.” He stumbled forward and then fell to his knees. “I worked with the new government to change my role from absolute ruler to constitutional figurehead. I helped them develop a new constitution to help run this government. I worked with my cousin, trying to impart a lifetime of learning in a few months, so Stefan could take the crown.”

“Stefan is king?” I asked, unable to believe what I was hearing.

“He is king and Marcus fucking Lighthands is prime minister.” He raked a shaking hand through his hair. “I told myself it would take days, but that turned into weeks and then months. Turns outthat changing a system of government takes a lot more time than I thought, but…” His hands came to rest on his knees. “I did it.” His eyes squinted as he stared up at the lot of us. “I did it. I am no longer Draven, King of all Nevermere. I’m just…” He shook his head, and it came to rest almost on his shoulder, a look of pure misery on his face. “I’m just yours, if you’ll have me.”

“Pippin?”

Brom’s expression was carefully devoid of emotion as he looked to me for an answer. I would decide Draven’s, all of our fate. Even the dragons hung back, watching Darkspire as he collapsed down into the dirt.

Males protect, Glimmer said, starting off down the road towards Darkspire.And queens, they let them.

“Oh gods, is there any other answer?” I rushed forward, wrapping my arms around the last of my mates and clinging to him, just in case this was a mirage and he disappeared. “Yes, Draven. The answer was always yes.”

Chapter 66

Several years later at Deepacre

As the mother of a young child, I expected to have my sleep interrupted. I just didn’t think that so much of the time it would be by my own husbands.

“Come here.”

Draven’s growl had my eyes flicking open as he tugged me down to the end of the bed. He fell down to his knees moments later, running kisses up my inner thigh. As my head still spun from being so rudely awoken, I realised why.

“Oh gods…”

My hand slapped down on his head, terrified he’d pull away, but that would never happen. I was swollen, hot, and oh so ready for his tongue. Sometimes he liked to tease me with tiny kitten licks, but something possessed him right now. Lips fastened around my pearl, drawing a little shriek from me, before he started up his terrible rhythm.

“I do love that sound.” Flynn appeared at my head, tilting it backwards so he could kiss me. “Do it again.”

“Aren’t we supposed to be meeting with the other local lords today?” Soren was trying to keep a lid on it, but I could hear thestrain in his voice. “Gods, we’ll send them a bird and reschedule.” He lunged for me, fingers closing around my breast, right as he sucked the nipple in.

“Oh, that’s the sort of action I want in on.” Flynn grinned and pulled away, only to latch onto the other nipple and I was lost. My back arched up off the bed, the pleasure overwhelming.

Of course that was the moment I heard a little voice call out, “Mumma?”

“No…” Ged groaned. He kneeled on the bed, absolutely rigid and ready to feed his length past my lips. My tongue ran over them, almost able to taste him, but the sound of my daughter’s voice was too much for me. I began to roll away, right up until I heard the nanny.

“Now, come along, young miss. Your parents are enjoying a good lie in. You and I will go down to the kitchen and see if Cook made some of those delicious scones for breakfast.”

“Scones!”

My eyes watered, because I could see my beautiful little girl running down the hallway, completely enraptured by the thought of scones for breakfast. Lily was the happiest child. She ran through life at full speed, only to trip over and pick herself up seconds later. I loved her with my whole heart.

But I also loved them.

Being a mother, a lover, a wife, seemed a strange tightrope to walk. If I’d thought being queen was going to be difficult, this felt far harder some days.

“So…” Ged rolled his eyes my way. “Are we going down for scones or… Fuck!”

Nanny was an amazing girl from the village. She treated my daughter like she was her own, giving me time to see to the running of the estate and all the other duties of a lady, but right now, my most important task was this. Gripping Ged by the root, then slowly licking up along his length, his eyes locking with mine.

“You little minx.” He shook his head. “You know what that does to me. Makes me want to blow all over that beautiful face.”

“You will not,” Soren growled, pulling away, then glancing at me. “Well, not unless you want to.”

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