Page 30 of The Dragon Warlord
“We have an apothecary?” he says, tumbling onto his bed face first.
“There are several.”
“This place is larger than the palace in Mortouge.”
Mortouge. Where he lives with his husband and husband-to-be.
“I recall when I first arrived in Mortouge, thinking it was the biggest thing I ever saw. I was excited to explore, but I didn’t get the chance until almost a year later.”
“Why?” Instead of leaving, I sit at the edge of the bed.
“Corrik locked me in a tower, or well, a special set of rooms.”
“H-He caged a dragon? That must have been horrible. I thought he loved you. Why would he do such a thing?”
“Interestingly enough, he thought he was protecting me. We were an arranged marriage and during our honeymoon, I was abducted by rival Elves. It was a whole thing. It kinda started a war, but I’m not taking full blame—or credit—for that because they already hated each other. That’s when I fell in love with Bayaden. I was his manservant,” he says, wistfully as if we enjoyed it. “We had some great sex.”
“Warlord, I don’t understand. You fell in love with the person who abducted you?”
“Not exactly. The man I fell in love with, Bayaden, was thebrotherof the guy who abducted me. Baya and I hated each other. Gods did we hate each other. He thought I was no more than a flea to squash.” He turns onto his side, wincing. “I suppose it all sounds outlandish when it’s explained like that, but it all made sense at the time.”
If a man like our Warlord had a less interesting life, he wouldn’t be him. “Let me see if I have this. You marry Corrik in an arranged marriage and hated him until you were abducted by another man who gave you to his brother and then you fell in love with that man.”
“Yes, but only because I genuinely believed that I’d never see Corrik again. I thought he was dead, and that we were over. I was trying to move on with my life. I’d been through a lot and just wanted a little corner of peace. I wouldn’t get it, though. This is where the tower part comes in. Baya found out that Corrik was alive and sent me back. Also, Bayaden’s dad—the king of Aldrien—wanted to kill me.”
The Warlord has me in a fit of giggles with each new layer of his ridiculous—but apparently true—story. This eggs him on, and he gets into it, forgetting about his poor backside.
“As a welcome home present, my husband sequestered me in a set of rooms in a tower for my protection because I was nothing but a frail human. He was totally paranoid because of the whole abduction debacle.”
“As if you’ve ever been anything but fierce,” I declare. Sure, he was more breakable as a human, but he was always harboring the dragon in him. A dragon’s attitude alone is enough to conquer near to anything.
“That’s what I said. And who do you think saved Corrik’s arse from the witch wrym? Me. I escaped my tower prison and road across the Elven realms as his knight in shining armor.”
Of course, he did. I wouldn’t doubt him for a second. As he carries on to tell me about the second arranged marriage he found himself in when once again, Corrik was thought to be dead—how many times is that guy going to almost die?—I get the impression he’s trying to impress me.
That can’t be. I push that thought straight out of my head. Why would the Warlord seek to impress me? I’m already his. It’s unnecessary.
“Somehow, I fell for Alrik in all that. You’d love him. He’s massive. A mountain with arms.”
“How does it work with you and your men?” I’ve been curious. He’s told me stories, he talks about them all the time. They seem to have an understanding.
“We’re a bit hard to explain. Corrik and Alrik are brothers, but Elves are polyamorous creatures, which I’ve come to learn means more than just taking more than one lover. They don’t get fussed about things that humans might. It doesn’t mean that they can’t get possessive. Alrik doesn’t like it much if I show up to practice half naked, yet he’ll show me off in front of the whole court with even less clothing,” he says with a wry twist on his lips. “It doesn’t seem to make any sense, and yet it does to us. Corrik encouraged my relationship with Alrik. He said it would balance me and he was right.”
“And Bayaden?”
“That’s … new. He just came back into my life. It was a whole thing, but then Alrik encouraged me to pursue Bay. I suspect for the same reason because he brings me balance. Fuck. I miss him like air. I’ve been missing Bay for a long time, and I only just got him back when … well …” he trails off and runs long fingers through his hair, squeezing a lock of it.
He lets go a breath and closes his eyes with a smile on his face, thinking of his men. He moves too suddenly, and then pain in his sore arse comes to the forefront of his awareness.
“Warlord, I’d better run to fetch you those herbs. Is there anything else I can get for you?”
“Maybe something to knock me out too? I have more discipline tonight. The sleep will assist the healing. I’ll tell you something, I’ve had a lot of arse warmings in my time. This takes the cake.”
I do my best not to laugh at him, but it’s not easy. Trouble and drama follow Tristan around like a prankster shadow.
Wanting to get him some relief, I leave him to drift off. He thinks he needs something to knock him out, but I bet he’ll be fast asleep before I return.
The apothecary is two floors down. As I make my way, I notice the other dragons looking me over. They want to see if the Warlord’s given me any markings other than the bite on my neck. When they see all my unmarked skin, I know they’re judging, and it boils my blood.
