Page 51 of Queen of the Cursed Egg
Thauglor stands and closes his office door, the heavy wood meeting the frame with a solid thunk. He locks it, the mechanism clicking into place, before coming to kneel before me. The rustle of his clothing and the soft creak of leather are the only sounds in the silent room. “I feel the turmoil under the surface. A memory surfaced?” He tilts his head as he presses my knees apart and slips between them, the warmth of his body a welcome contrast to the coolness of the underground chamber. His forearms rest beside my thighs as he looks up at me, his sapphire eyes reflecting the low lamplight, turning them into pools of liquid blue.
“You can say that.” I close my eyes and lean forward to press my forehead against his, breathing in his scent of smoke and cedar.
The tingle starts at the base of my skull, a gentle electric current that spreads outward, as he raises a hand to caress the back of my neck, holding my forehead to his. The memory plays the raw truth of it. The grueling hours of strength training instead of playing when I was little. The taste of salt as tears mixed with sweat, and the sting of wounds reopening with each movement. Then what happened today. The females of my flight have little to no strength and the fear that caused me. It was the jealousy that surfaced that frightened me more. Jealous of the fact they were safe enough to be children when they were children. Their bodies unmarked by training, their eyes clear of the shadows that have always lived in mine.
Thauglor pushes further through my memories to the ones I haven’t dealt with yet. Where I wrenched my father’s smaller dragon into the sky and tore his very body asunder with my breath weapon. The hot spray of his blood across my scales, the sickening crunch of bones between my teeth. The numbness that still rests in my chest over it has kept me distant, a cold void where emotion should be.I don’t know how I feel about what I did.
My children are safe, my mates are safe, and my flight is safe. At least for now, and from him. When Thauglor releases me, he smiles softlyand kisses my lips with a tenderness I don’t feel I deserve, his mouth gentle against mine, tasting of smoke and something uniquely him.
“You are a good female, Mina.” I get ready to protest and he presses his finger against my lips, the pad slightly callused from handling weapons. “With everything that has been done to you, you have the biggest heart I have ever had the honor of knowing.” He takes both of my hands in his and kisses my knuckles, his lips warm against skin that still bears the faint scars of countless fights. “I would wait another thousand years for the chance to be your mate. My dreams of what my mate would be like pale in comparison to you.” He leans forward and kisses my lips again, sipping at the bottom one, the sensation sending a shiver down my spine.
“Hearing you call to me in the egg was like the heavens opened up and Tiamat herself was calling me. I felt safe, loved, and protected for the first time in my existence with you.” He reaches up and cups my cheek, his palm warm against my skin. I feel the tears roll down my cheeks at his words, hot and salty, leaving cool tracks in their wake. “I would shoulder all the pain you ever endured if I could. But it made you who you are. You are perfect just how you are. If anyone doesn’t like it, I’ll melt them on the spot.” The way he smiles at me makes me laugh, the sound startling in the quiet room, almost alien to my own ears.
“I believe it. You melted Lysander, and you didn’t even see me yet.” Leaning forward, I kiss his forehead, tasting the salt of his skin.
“I knew all I needed to know about you by how you protected me and Klauth. You went to war to take me back from an ambush drake, unshifted in the middle of a gauntlet. If that’s not love, I don’t know what is.” Thauglor stands and offers me his hands, the calluses rough against my palms as I take them.
We leave his office, heading towards the surface to leave the lower nest. The air grows warmer and lighter as we ascend, the distant sound of voices and movement getting clearer with each step. “Youneed to take a break. We’re going to go for a flight.” The minute we hit the fresh air, the cool mountain breeze sweeping away the stuffiness of the underground, he takes off running and shifts, his human form melting away in a cascade of cracking bones and rippling muscle, replaced by scales as black as midnight. Several beats of his massive wings, the sound like thunder in the clear air, and he clears the trees, heading towards the clouds.
I laugh a little; the wind carrying the sound away, then take off at a run and shift to catch up with him, my transformation sending waves of heat through my body as scales replace skin, bones reforming with familiar discomfort. Thankfully, my iron dragon blood grants me several gifts, like warping time. Several seconds pass and I have caught up with Thauglor and choose to fly under his right wing, the air currents created by his massive body making mine rise and fall in rhythmic harmony. I raise my frill several times to touch the underside of his wing, the membranes meeting with a soft whisper, making him look over at me, his dragonic eyes flashing with playful joy.
He leads us past Blackhaven and into the mountains to the north. The air grows thinner and cooler as we rise, the scent of pine and snow filling my nostrils. We crest the mountain peak, and below us is a waterfall and a small lake, the water so clear I can see the sandy bottom from hundreds of feet above. There’s a large sand beach, but it’s not big enough for Thauglor to land, the white expanse tiny compared to his massive form.‘I’m going to shift and land on your back. Then you can land on the beach,’he says into my mind, his mental voice warm and intimate.
I slow to a glide and hold myself steady, wings outstretched to catch the updrafts, until I feel the weight of his human body on my back, the heat of him a stark contrast to the cool air rushing over my scales. The beach has enough room for me to land easily. As soon as my feet hit the sand, sending up small clouds of white particles that catch the sunlight like tiny diamonds, he leaps off and glides to thebeach, his wings catching the air with a soft snap. In my mind, I’m laughing at him.‘Why didn’t you just shift and fly to the beach?’I whisper into his mind as I shift back, bones cracking and reforming as I return to human form, the sensation both painful and familiar.
“Honest answer? I wanted to see how Klauth does it. It’s quite nerve-racking.” Thauglor flexes his wings several times, the membranes catching the light, showing the intricate network of veins beneath the surface, then motions to the oasis he brought me to, his arm sweeping in a grand gesture. “Welcome to my second greatest treasure.” I can tell this place means a lot to him, the emotion in his voice making it rough around the edges.
“Tell me about this place.” I look up into his sapphire eyes and smile, breathing in the clean mountain air mixed with the fresher scent of water and the sweet aroma of wildflowers that dot the beach.
“A lifetime ago, I carved this oasis out of the mountain for a mate I hadn’t met yet.” His tone sounds wistful as he focuses on the blue water, its surface rippling slightly in the gentle breeze, reflecting the cloudless sky above. “I set up my display along the ridges of the mountains leading here.” He pauses and looks south, I’m guessing remembering how it looked, his eyes taking on a distant quality, seeing something from long ago. “Abyssal dragons torched my display. For whatever reason, they didn’t torch here. They just destroyed my trophies.” He turns to look at me and offers me his hands, palms up, inviting. “Let me show you. I think I can share my memories with you.”
The minute my hands contact his, I feel like I’m being yanked back in time, the world around me shifting and changing.Everything was wilder, the oasis wasn’t as established as it is now, the vegetation sparser, the waterfall more violent in its descent. He looks at himself in his dragon form in the water, the reflection shimmering and distorting with each ripple. He was just developing the white scales on his maw, small patches of ivory against the dominant black. His dragon isn’t much different fromAbraxis’s, though perhaps a bit larger, with more pronounced ridges along his spine. He takes flight, and I look at the grand display of skulls and bones lining the rocks, bleached white by sun and time, arranged in intricate patterns that speak of power and skill. He circles his display several times, taking in all the hard work he had done, the wind rushing over his scales, the sun warm on his back.
Eventually, I’m pulled out of the vision, and I’m blinking several times, trying to adjust to the present again, the sudden shift making my head spin slightly. “Wow. You did so much work; it was amazing, the size of some of those skulls. I would have landed if I had seen it.” I smile up at him and move in to hug him tightly, the solid warmth of his body grounding me back in the present. My poor war-torn drake, his body bearing the scars of his long life, each one a story of survival.
“I refused to pay the bride price. I’d rather risk insanity than take a female I felt nothing for.” He wraps his wings around me, the leathery membranes creating a cocoon of warmth and shadow around us, and we stare at the water together, the soft lapping of waves against the shore a soothing rhythm.
“I was hoping to find my mate so that the betrothal didn’t happen.” I laugh to myself, the sound echoing slightly against his wings. “Lucky for me, my mate and my betrothed were the same person.” Carefully, I rest my head on Thauglor’s chest and listen to the steady beat of his heart and the birds singing in the trees, their cheerful melodies a counterpoint to the deeper sounds of the waterfall.
“I understand that completely.” He kisses the space before my horns, his lips warm against my skin. “I wish to offer you my oasis as my mating present to you. This is all yours if you want it.” He opens his wings, letting in the sunlight again, momentarily dazzling after the dim cocoon we were in, and we look at the water together, its surface glittering like a field of diamonds.
“It’s perfect.” I hug him tightly, looking over the oasis, taking in the lush vegetation, the clean sand, the pristine water. “When it’s time to give you an heir, I want to come here. You created life where there was none, so I feel your heir should be created here.” I step back and look up into those sapphire eyes of his and see a sea of emotions behind them, too complex to name but all centered on love. He knew I needed to step away for my mental health. In turn, I am trying to heal the scars over his heart and show him the love he deserves.
“That would be amazing, my most precious treasure.” He kisses me softly before pulling me down to sit on the sand, the fine grains warm against my skin, shifting to accommodate our bodies. “Let’s enjoy the peace and silence for a while,” he offers, and I can’t think of anything better to do. The sun warm on my face, the sound of water and birdsong in my ears, and the scent of my mate beside me—this moment, perfect in its simplicity, is exactly what I needed.
CHAPTER 35
Klauth
When my mateis not at the academy, she is working with and training the females in her flight, including Cora. The sharp scent of sweat and determination hangs in the air, mingling with the earthier aroma of packed dirt from the training ring. Abraxis’s parents are here visiting for the afternoon. The father’s scent heavy with dominance and old pride, his mother’s perfume too floral and artificial for my ancient senses. Her mother is already protesting about the training, her high voice grating on my nerves like talons across a stone.
“You need stronger males here, not the females fighting,” Cerce says as she leans against Vox, the silk of her dress rustling softly against his leather jacket. Her lips are pursed in disapproval, painted an unnatural crimson that stands out against her pale skin.
“Besides Thauglor and I, there are no males stronger than Mina.” I motion to the lower level of the flight, the movement sending a warm draft across the training yard as my ancient power briefly manifests. My eyes track Mina as she moves among her trainees, her steps silent and predatory, her form fluid as water.
“Vox,I already showed you what we figured out. The mages have been systematically weakening the dragon race by not allowing older dragons to live.” Tilting my head, I look him over slowly, my gaze as physical as a touch, making him shift uncomfortably. “Your oldest progeny is thirty-four, which means you are under a century old.” I lean back against the low-lying wall, the rough stone cool against my palms, and wait, tasting his growing indignation in the air like bitter ash.
“Abraxis is powerful. He’s stronger than I am,” Vox proclaims, his voice carrying across the yard, making several of the female trainees glance up momentarily. Abraxis winces, the sound of his teeth grinding together audible to my enhanced hearing.
