Page 70 of Queen of the Cursed Egg
After sharing a meal with my mates, we retire for the evening. I head into the shower and wash the grime from the last few days off of my skin. The weight of the world is finally off my shoulders and I feel the fight drain out of me as the water runs off my body.
“Almost ready, my eternal?” Thauglor’s voice echoes in my bathroom and I shut off the water.
“Yes, the hot water felt so good. Sorry I kept you waiting.” I step out and grab my towel and first wrap my hair and horns up. Thauglor offers me another towel and instead of handing it to me he starts pat drying me. “You know I can do that myself.” I smile, watching him take care of me so carefully.
“I know you can. Let me do it. I’ve missed you.” A deep resonant purr rumbles in his chest, more felt than heard. His hands are so gentle on me, caressing every curve. I watch him move, his eyes never leaving the area he’s focused on.
“I missed you too. I came straight home like you told me to.” My voice breaks and I shudder a little. My chest hurts a little at the memory and when I look up, Klauth is standing in the doorway.
“I’m sorry I put you two through that. I had to make the world safe for you and our future hatchlings.” Klauth closes the distance and cups the back of my neck before pressing his lips against mine with a tenderness I didn’t expect.
“I understand.” I almost whisper against his lips as Thauglor moves to stand on the other side.
“I thought I would have had to fight with you more about sending you home. Why was it so easy? Why did you listen? I know your dragoness was at war with you.” Thauglor asks and I draw in a deep breath before answering.
“I couldn’t see the outcome.” I close my eyes for a moment before looking between the two of them. “When I chose to submit to all of my mates, I promised myself that if you asked me to do something in the best interest of all, I would do it. Sending me home so you could go protect and watch over Klauth was in the best interest of everyone, including the continent.” I huff out a laugh. “As much as I wanted to fight you on it, I couldn’t. I submitted, and to break that ancient covenant would be a horrible thing. My word would be worthless.” I reach out and touch my ancient mates. “I trust both of you with everything.” Slowly, I turn my palms up and lower my head, exposing the nape of my neck. I feel two sets of lips on the sides of my neck and I purr softly.
“You are our everything,” Klauth says softly before he scoops me up and carries me into our bedroom.
CHAPTER 48
Klauth
I feellike I am in the middle of one of those scary movies Mina and Balor like watching, the kind where the protagonist knows something terrible is lurking just out of sight. The fine hairs stand on the back of my neck as I walk through the lower part of the nest, each step echoing hollowly in the stone corridors. Something is happening, and my dragon’s senses are on high alert. Every instinct screaming that something fundamental has shifted in the carefully balanced world of our sanctuary.
I step into the war room on the first floor and I find Balor sprawled out with just a blanket over his hips, the fabric barely covering his crotch. His shirt is missing, and the room reeks of sex and pheromones, the musky scent so thick I can taste it on my tongue, making my nostrils flare involuntarily. The air is heavy with the aftermath of passion, carrying undertones of basilisk musk and something distinctly feminine that makes my pulse quicken.
Moving closer, I notice that the back of the couch bears cuts in the leather from talons, deep gouges that speak of desperate passion and barely controlled dragon strength.Maybe Mina needed to blow offsteam? Maybe she was riled up from something that made her angry?The thought sends a spike of concern through me, but you can never tell with our young mate her emotions are as changeable as storm winds. I shrug my shoulders and blow it off, though the unease in my gut refuses to dissipate. Looking at the calendar on my desk blotter, we have a full five to six weeks before Mina goes into heat again, so we’re safe—or so I think.
I look down at the missives left on my desk; the parchment crisp beneath my fingertips, and the one I’ve been waiting for has arrived, its official seal bearing the mark of the temple. Ripping it open with perhaps more force than necessary, I pull the letter out, the paper rustling in the sudden silence. The priestesses from the temple of Tiamat have recalled all the elders. They are under investigation into the deaths of thousands of females over the years, the weight of that number settling like lead in my stomach. From what the missive says, they did not okay the change in protection of the females, their authority undermined by those who would see our kind diminished. A satisfied smile crosses my lips as I look down the list of charges that are being brought against the old elders, each accusation a minor victory for justice long delayed. It’s about time.
Things concerning the temples are run differently now than they were when I was younger. Progress finally replacing the calcified traditions that have cost us so much. Now it seems like the new priestesses will fight the old ways to protect the females on the continent, their courage giving me hope for the future. The priestesses from the temple of Bahamut are helping me push reform and protections for females, their combined efforts creating change I never thought I’d live to see. I finish up with what paperwork I have to do before heading outside to see how the training is going.
That creeping feeling moving up the back of my neck is back, and it is followed up with a chill down my spine that makes me shiver despite the warmth. The sensation is like ice water being poured directly onto my nervous system, making every nerve ending singwith alarm. Shaking my head, I step out into the mid-afternoon sun, the warmth welcome after being underground for most of the morning. The heat soaks into my skin, chasing away some of the chill, but not the underlying sense of wrongness that continues to plague me. Slowly I turn, looking around, trying to pinpoint where whatever it is that’s making me feel so damn uncomfortable is hiding.
“What’s wrong?” Leander walks up and rests a hand on my shoulder, his touch warm and steadying through the fabric of my shirt.
“Not sure. Something doesn’t feel right.” I scan my surroundings, looking for anything out of place, every shadow is a suspect, every sound magnified in my heightened state of awareness.
Leander shrugs, and we walk towards the training fields, our boots crunching softly on the gravel path. “I don’t feel anything,” he says softly and looks around, his prey animal instincts apparently at ease. “I mean, I’m a prey animal surrounded by predators. Nothing feels off to me.” He smiles, and we get to where Abraxis and Thauglor are sparring with some of the young males, the sound of clashing weapons and shouted instructions filling the air.
I watch them go blow for blow with the new trainees, and they’ve come a long way, their movements more fluid and confident than when they first arrived. Reaching up, I rub the back of my neck, trying to get that creeping feeling to subside, the skin there hypersensitive to my touch. Whatever it is, I’m almost concerned that it’s making me react like this, my usually reliable instincts sending confusing signals.
“What’s the matter?” Callan asks as he looks around slowly, his griffon senses apparently picking up on my unease.
“I’m not sure. Something doesn’t feel right.” I huff out a breath as I look around again, frustration building with each passing moment. Not knowing what’s wrong is killing me, the uncertainty gnawing at my nerves like acid.
“Oh, I don’t feel anything off.” Callan shrugs his shoulders, then walks away, leaving me alone with my inexplicable anxiety.
“What in Bahamut’s name is going on? Am I going nuts?” Shaking my head, I walk away from the others, and that chill down my spine gets worse, the cold sensation spreading outward like frost forming on glass. If I don’t figure this out soon, I’m going to lose my mind, the constant state of alert wearing on my already frayed nerves.
Mina drops out of the tree in front of me and almost scares me half to death, her sudden appearance making my heart leap into my throat. “Hello, my treasure,” Mina purrs softly, and her eyes glow softly as she tilts her head looking at me, the luminescence more pronounced than usual, almost hypnotic in its intensity.
The feeling of imminent danger intensifies every instinct screaming at me that something monumental is about to happen. Instincts be damned, I grab Mina and start running with her in my arms. Her body is warm and pliant against mine, but there’s something different about her scent, something that makes my dragon roar to attention.
When we reach the open field, I shift, bones cracking and reforming with familiar pain, and take flight with her in my talons, her weight negligible compared to my dragon’s strength. Every beat of my wings carries us miles away, the landscape blurring beneath us as I follow some primal imperative I don’t fully understand. But for whatever reason, the feeling has not gone away, continuing to drive me forward with relentless urgency. I fly out over the ocean and head to the little island I used to go to think, the salt spray from the waves below misting my scales as we descend.
When I land, I shift back; the transformation accompanied by the usual disorientation as my senses readjust to human form and release Mina onto the white sand beach. The sand is warm beneath my bare feet, fine and soft between my toes, while the sound ofwaves lapping at the shore creates a rhythmic backdrop for the moment.
