Page 39 of The Fire Dragon's Mate
I came with a yell, my whole body gone stiff as pulse after pulse of molten pleasure shot through me. I hollered again only to stop and gasp huge breaths as I started trembling in his arms. Blinking slowly, feeling dazed, I watched us in the mirror again. Gods, we werebeautifultogether.
Cighyss hummed and rubbed his nose against my neck before licking me like a predator tasting his prey. Had he come, too? Oh, yes… I could feel it now, that warm floating sensation that spread from the core of me all the way out. My fingertips tingled, my knees felt weak, and I couldn’t quite keep my eyes open.
He pulled free of my body, and I moaned as he eased me back down to rest across the table. In a moment, I felt a warm cloth gliding over my inner thighs and up my crack, his promise to flood my ass fulfilled. I huffed a laugh when I felt him kiss one cheek before he scooped me up and carried me to the nest.
For an endless time, I basked in the bliss he’d filled mewith, just breathing in the smoky scent of him and petting his skin while he petted mine. He’d give me little kisses on my face, lips, and eyelids, and I’d sigh in absolute contentment for him.
After a while, my mind cleared enough for me to wonder something aloud. “Why did you leave? Why did you go to Xanthous?”
He nodded slowly and looked away as though gathering his thoughts. “I will protect all of you from any danger, even if that means killing. But when you were shot, I didn’t act to protect you—I reacted out of fear and anger.”
“You were shocked by what they did. Fear and anger are understandable reactions.”
“Mmm, perhaps, but that I killed so many so easily…” He gulped audibly. “It disturbed me deeply. It still does.”
He’d scared himself. I could understand that somewhat. He was a creature of immense power, who had already been falsely accused of horrible atrocities. In that moment, he’d become what they said he was. I hated that for him.
“I wanted to apologize to the king,” he continued, “for taking the lives of so many of his people. To ask him to end the attacks.” Cighyss frowned at me. “He demanded gold. He honestly thought I had piles of gold inside the mountain.”
“King Wolfgang thought you were hoarding gold?”
He nodded, still frowning, like he was confused. “Why would anyone hoard something so useless?”
I smiled, charmed by his innocence. I knew why a king would want piles of gold, but that my dragon had no use for it was beautiful.
“When I told him I had none, he became enraged. Called me a liar because everyone knows dragons hoard gold. I said he was incorrect, that my hoard was princes, and…” He sighed heavily and closed his eyes. “Someone hit me in the head. One ofthe guards, I assume. I didn’t wake until they severed my wings.”
“Gods… I’m so sorry, Cighyss.”
Everything in me cringed in horror at what that must have been like for him. I scooted closer and wrapped an arm around his neck. He fitted himself along my side and rested his head on my shoulder.
“I thought we could speak as men,” he said quietly, “but I don’t think he saw me as one.”
I held him tighter and nodded, rubbing my cheek against his forehead before stopping to kiss him there. Many a king—my father included—could learn a great deal about being a compassionate leader from this dragon. And yet all they saw was a creature to keep in a cage. An animal. A monster.
I kissed Cighyss’s forehead again. “You are a better man than any other I know.”
He smiled like all was right in his world, and I loved him a little more for that. We both knew we weren’t done defending ourselves yet, but we’d take the quiet, loving times that we were given.
Sixteen
AN UNSHAKABLE PRINCESS
The next day, we went down to the bay to dispose of the bodies. The ground was hard and rocky, so Cighyss burned them to ash instead. It was backbreaking and heartbreaking work. I’d never truly considered the uselessness of conflict and now hated how nothing had come of this one. So many lives lost…for naught.
Tennyson went with us and named everyone he could so Eglantine could record that they had been here. He gave small facts like family members, skills, and traits that she recorded as well. They had lived and should be remembered.
There were, unfortunately, several that he didn’t know, but Severn sketched their faces in case we could someday identify them. Of course, that would require us to be on speaking terms with Xanthous, but perhaps we might simply deliver the records to one of the temples. The clergy would be neutral enough to do right by the deceased and those who’d loved them.
But still we all questioned if more ships would come and what we would do then.
By evening, we had our answer. As we were heading to themountain to wash and eat, a single ship sailed into the bay and dropped anchor.
I froze where I stood, horrified by the size of her. As a battleship, her entire purpose was to destroy and with some fifty guns on the three decks facing us, the possibility of our destruction was far too real. When they didn’t immediately start firing, I worried that they planned to come ashore and follow us as we fled into the mountain.
And then they raised two flags. The first, the white one, I knew meant that they came in peace. The second, a flag of half yellow and half blue, meant nothing to me.
“Tennyson?” I hollered, spinning around to find him. “What does that mean?”
