Page 28 of Firebird (The Fire That Binds #1)

XXVII

MALINA

I stood at the entrance to Julian’s private terrace in his bedchamber. From here, I could see a corner of the street where his guests were being carried in their litters down Palatine Hill to their own homes. I remained in the shadow of a column so no one could see me.

When all of the litters seemed to be gone, hearing no more of the sandaled bearers clomping along the stone street, I finally exhaled a sigh of relief.

But then I felt him near me. When I spun, my breath caught. He stood only a few feet away, having moved with predatory silence. His eyes burned so bright, like sparks of glowing embers.

“I know you’re angry.” I was aware he wouldn’t want me to dance, to be in the line of sight of Ciprian. “But I knew that I could solve two problems at once. You had no entertainment, and I, of course, am a dancer. But also”—I gulped hard as he stepped slowly toward me—“I knew that I could tether Ciprian and the emperor. I could make them sleepy and want to go home.”

It was strange, that knowing, when the idea had come to me in the kitchens while Ruskus argued with Kara over what to do since the dancers weren’t coming.

I felt it—a hard, strong pulse of power light me from within. It was the same sensation I had when Julian’s dragon responded to my tether, when he gave me some of his own strength. I knew then and there that I could tether a powerful, dangerous man like Caesar. So I didn’t hesitate. I knew what I must do to end this awful night.

“You put Ciprian into a coma.” He walked closer slowly.

“Good,” I whispered from the shadows. “Then you won’t be able to fight him tomorrow.”

“How did you do it?” He stopped only inches from me, his voice gruff as he began to remove his toga. “Sleep isn’t an emotion.”

I stared as he unwound the fine red material, his eyes lit from within. “Isn’t it? Anyone can feel sleepy.”

“It’s more than that.” He dropped his toga to the floor and then lifted his fine white tunic beneath over his head, revealing his entire nude body, his muscles locked tight. His wound was reddened but completely sealed and mending. “Sleep is a physicality,” he stated calmly, while I couldn’t seem to catch my breath.

His body was so beautiful, so strong and powerful. His cock hung half-hard as he reached down and stroked it. I was no virgin, having explored sex a few times with Hanzi the year before our village was attacked. But Hanzi had been more of a boy, not a man, and certainly not a dragon of Julian’s proportions.

“E-every emotion is a physicality,” I whispered breathlessly.

“Indeed they are, Malina.” His voice was velvet dark as he stepped even closer. “And my emotions have run riot through my blood all night.”

He reached his hands beneath my hair to the knot where I’d tied the strip of red cloth and slowly unwrapped the bandeau from around my breasts until I was bare. I remained perfectly still.

“The emotions you stir in me have become all-invasive. A painful physicality I can no longer endure.”

“Julian, I—” I’d lifted my hands to his chest, but he quickly wrapped my wrists in one hand and pressed them over my head, against the column at my back.

He lowered his head until we were eye to eye. Heavens, his gaze was feral.

“I may burn in Tartarus for all the evils I’ve done.” His large hand mounded one of my breasts, squeezing till I whimpered with pleasure. “But by the gods, I’ll fuck my mate before I’m sent there.”

His mouth was on mine, a deep growl vibrating up his throat as he stroked his tongue inside. I could do nothing but accept him as he pressed his hard body against mine, pinning me to the column, his thick cock against my bare stomach as I lifted onto my toes to reach him better. Heat pooled between my thighs, soaking the fabric I’d tied beneath the skirt to hide my sex while I danced.

He broke the kiss on a grunt and fell to his knees. He went for the fabric of my skirt, his claws out as he slashed through the material and ripped it off, making sure not to cut my skin.

“Julian.” I sank my fingers into his hair right before he roughly pushed my thigh over one of his shoulders and opened his hot mouth on my sex .

“Juno save me,” I murmured, my head falling to the pillar behind me.

Julian ate me with ravenous intensity, and I could do nothing but whimper and rock my sex against his mouth.

“More, Julian. Gods. ”

He’d retracted his claws and slid one hand between my thighs, then pumped two fingers inside me. His glittering gaze was on me as he licked out with his forked tongue over my clitoris.

I gasped, then I was coming too soon. He pumped his fingers faster and sucked my throbbing nub into his mouth as I climaxed on a deep moan, thighs trembling, fists clenching.

Before I’d even come down, he lifted me in his arms and carried me deeper into his bedchamber, into his private lair, sliding me between the canopy curtains and onto the center of his bed. I bent my legs and opened my thighs as he settled between them, but he sat back onto his heels. Then he grabbed my hips and propped my bottom on his lower thighs. Gripping his cock, he wet the head along my folds.

“I need you, Malina,” he growled, a desperate yearning creasing his face.

I moaned as he sank slowly inside me, then gasped when he grabbed my hips and thrust to the hilt. A full body shiver went through him, then he ground his hips in a sensuous circle, allowing my body to stretch and accommodate him. Exquisite pleasure filled me at the tight sensation.

His eyes slid closed, his brow furrowing like he was in pain as he murmured, “Gods help me. So good, sweetheart.”

He made that low purring sound deep inside his chest when he began to thrust, nice long glides that made me whimper as I fisted my hands in the sheets. His golden gaze made a slow trek from where he impaled me all the way up my torso to my breasts and then to my face.

“Sweeter than I could’ve imagined,” he said in that cool, unaffected way. But I caught the roughness in his tone, the passionate longing in his eyes.

My desire met his, an innate need to feel him everywhere. I raised my arms, unable to reach him.

“I need to touch you.”

Slowly, he leaned forward and braced his hands on either side of my head, widening my thighs as he lowered his body to mine. We both groaned as I skated my heels up the backs of his thighs.

He lowered to his forearms, his face inches from mine. But he didn’t kiss me. He scooped one of his hands behind my head, cradling me tenderly while he stared with searing heat in his dragon-slit eyes.

“So beautiful,” he whispered.

I coasted my palms to his muscular back. Then he withdrew and impaled me deep. I whimpered at the intensity and clawed my blunt nails down his back.

“Yes, my firebird,” he murmured, pulling out to the tip and thrusting back in. “Mark me all over.”

“More,” I begged.

His dark growl vibrated from his chest, sensitizing my nipples as he began to thrust faster, deeper.

“Unh… yes, Julian. Need more of you.”

He angled his mouth over mine, kissing me hard as he drove into me, over and over, his cock swelling bigger when I scraped my nails hard down his back again. He nipped my lip but didn’t break the skin, even while his canine teeth had sharpened. He hadn’t gone half-skin but parts of his dragon were pushing through, needing to be known. To be seen.

Panting, I plunged my fingers into his hair and pulled his head closer so I could whisper in his ear. “Is your dragon fucking me too?” I shivered, knowing full well the dominance drenching my skin and pressing into my soul was that of the beast that lived inside him. “Is he claiming me too?”

He ripped away and out of me so fast I gasped. He flipped my body, my cheek pressed to the mattress, my bottom in the air. Then he drove his cock deep and scooped one hand over my sex; the other gripped the front of my throat as he blanketed his large body over me, pressing against my back.

I was perfectly pinned by his cock and his body. I couldn’t move. And it was glorious.

A guttural rumble rolled from his chest, his mouth at my ear.

“That’s right, Malina.” He stroked inside me slow and deep now, with precision, his forefinger rubbing my clitoris in a circle, his other hand cradling my throat gently. “You’re mine.” His voice was so deep, I hardly recognized it. “This sweet pussy, this beautiful body, your bright soul.” He pounded harder. “It’s all mine .” He squeezed my throat tenderly. “Tell me.”

“Yes,” I whispered as he nuzzled his mouth below my ear, licking and nipping my neck. “I’m yours.”

That deep rumbling growl returned as he stroked and rubbed and squeezed and sucked me. “You’re burning me up, firebird.” He started to thrust faster. “I knew you always would.”

His overpowering body held me in an iron grip while he impaled himself deeper and deeper inside me. Beyond my sex and right into my soul, my dragon breathed fire, blazing his way, leaving a fiery trail I knew would scar. He was leaving his mark as well.

I screamed my climax, knowing I’d never be the same. That no man would ever replace Julian. He was indeed the one the gods intended for me. Our tether vibrated with emotion—a myriad of need and want and desperate, overwhelming, obsessive affection. Love.

He grunted on every thrust, finally driving himself inside me one last time, his grip on my sex and my throat spasming and squeezing as he emptied his seed inside me. His groan was more animalistic, gruff and grating, as he held himself deep, his cock throbbing with release.

He panted and nuzzled my neck. “Malina.” His voice broke with emotion and he softly pressed his lips to the skin of my throat. “What have you done to me?”

“No more than you’ve done to me,” I breathed.

Gently, he pulled from inside me and rolled me beneath him.

His gaze captured me, wholly and completely. The fire had dimmed from within his eyes, but they still glowed with a preternatural luster. The beast lingered close by. But it was the deep affection I saw there that gripped me so tenderly.

We said nothing as I traced the sharp lines of his face with the tip of my forefinger and he simply stared, both of us breathing hard from our coupling.

“I don’t want you to fight Ciprian tomorrow,” I finally said.

He searched my face, still gazing in wonder. “I have to.”

“When will you and Trajan implement your plan?”

There was only one plan, but even in the quiet of his bedroom I feared to say revolution or rebellion. Or more clearly, assassination. I was afraid that if I said those kinds of words aloud that somehow the emperor would know.

Igniculus. He was a terrifying beast of a dragon. Even in his human form, he was horrifying. The way he watched the room, seeming to be always calculating.

“Soon,” Julian replied, sighing as he rolled to his back, hauling me with him onto his chest.

I wrapped my arm around his waist and snuggled close while he pulled a blanket over us.

“Your uncle,” I said softly, “is terrifying.”

Julian stroked a hand down my back over the covers, soothing me. “He’s a madman.”

“How did he turn out so differently than your father? Your father seemed a good man.” From what little I knew of him, he sounded like the polar opposite of his brother.

“Did you know my uncle was born in half-skin? ”

I sat up, wanting to see Julian’s face. “Is that unusual?”

He nodded. “Most Romans are born either in human form or dragon.”

I winced. “How could a woman survive the birth of a dragon?”

“If they’re in dragon form or half-skin, there is a soft membrane that coats them. And they have no horns at birth.”

“Oh.” I exhaled a breath, and his mouth quirked into a smile at my ignorance. “I didn’t know.”

“How could you?” He stroked a hand over my hip. “Depending what form we are born, the gods tell us which will rule them most. The man or the beast.”

“Or the woman. There are female dragons.” I tried to tamp down the instant flare of jealousy at seeing that noble lady flirting with Julian tonight.

“Yes. When a dragon, man or woman, is born in half-skin, it is believed by some that the dragon will be forever twisted.”

“How so? A dragon in half-skin is simply another form of their animal.”

“No,” he said, staring at me while twirling a lock of my hair. “It is not. When in half-skin, we are neither man nor beast. We are an unnatural creature, both fighting for dominance. We’re taught at an early age how to control our bloodlust while in half-skin. It’s like the beast is fighting for domination when we are in between. It is never good to remain in half-skin for too long.”

I laid my cheek back to his chest. “You do on the battlefield.”

“And there, our primary goal is to kill the enemy. So there is no need for control. We can let our primal urges take hold. That is why after the battle is over, the general demands the men return to human form back at camp. That is also why it is illegal for a Roman to shift into half-skin in the city unless he’s attacked and needs to defend him- or herself.”

“I’d think your uncle wouldn’t care. ”

“He doesn’t want random killing. He needs an empire to rule over, after all. Allowing dragon madness to take over would be disastrous to the citizens, particularly the plebs.”

“Why does he even care about the plebs? Seems he only cares about the needs of the patricians.”

“Because though the plebs don’t have the power of the dragon, they do hold the power of the people. If there is civil unrest among the plebs, he will be blamed and hated. And that sort of hatred bleeds into both classes when we all live and work in the same city.”

“There must’ve been civil unrest when he began taking dragon bastard children from homes and throwing them into the gladiator pits.”

He paused, his hand still ghosting softly up and down my spine in a soothing sweep. “Yes and no. There were some protests, of course, but my uncle took care of them quickly and quietly and by the cover of night.”

“He killed the plebs who protested?”

“Of course. Then he had the praeco give a long series of lectures to the public in the forum about the sanctity of marriage and that only children born in wedlock were true Romans.”

“That’s ridiculous. He can’t actually care about the sanctity of marriage? From what I’ve heard, he’s a whoremonger himself.”

“You don’t know the half of it. He’s beyond a hypocrite, but he does know how to manipulate. And he knows the tradition of Romans holding sacred marriage and family.”

“So he played upon their guilt and shame, the mothers who had children out of wedlock?”

“Yes. And he lied and told them that the gods would punish them by bringing dragon madness upon them, that the bastard children were an aberration and would go mad and kill them in their sleep.”

“What a horrible lie.” I thought of sweet Stefanos and how I knew in my soul he could never hurt anyone, least of all any of us, his family.

“It was,” he agreed on a sigh. “As a final insult, he gave all of the plebs twenty-five denarii and threw a festival where he furnished the bread and meat in the forum, showing what a gracious emperor he was.”

Igniculus truly was a monster.

A sharp memory invaded my mind. One of the man who’d told me about my village so long ago.

“I was told that it was dragon madness that caused the attack on my village.”

Julian’s hand stopped stroking, spreading warmly on my back. “The Romans attacked in half-skin?” he asked gently.

“They did.” I remembered the carnivorous gleam in their eyes. “We hadn’t done anything against the emperor. Our village was so small and far away from other Roman provinces. It never made sense to me why they’d come in and simply murdered everyone.”

He wrapped both of his arms around me and hugged me close, pressing his mouth to the crown of my head. “I’m sorry, Malina. It sounds as if they were taken over by the bloodlust.” He squeezed me again, whispering almost to himself, “Thank the gods you escaped.”

“I used to curse the gods for letting me escape.”

He rolled us both onto our sides, facing each other. Propping himself on one elbow, he cupped my face with the other. “Why would you do so?”

I scoffed. “Really, Julian? To be the only one of my village, of my family, to survive that nightmare? I thought perhaps the gods had spared me for a reason. And when I was able to help the Celts in battle, I believed perhaps the gods had set me there for that purpose.” After all, my bunica had always told me as much. That I could save the people. “But then the Celts were defeated.”

“By me,” he added sourly.

“By you. And I was taken into captivity.”

“By me.”

“Yes.” I scowled .

“So you believed your purpose was for naught. That the gods had abandoned you.”

I didn’t answer, because that’s exactly how I felt.

He trailed his fingers down my throat and lifted the coin I still wore around my neck. I’d removed my slave collar for the night but I never removed the coin he’d given me.

“You were spared by the gods for a purpose.”

“What?” I huffed. “To be your lover?”

“To be my wife.” He pressed his forehead to mine. “To be my partner in this infernal world. To be my helpmate as we crush the Roman Empire and build a new one.”

My heart catapulted faster, blood humming wildly through my veins. “You truly want all of that.”

“To build a new Rome? I’ve told you so.”

I pulled away so I could see his eyes better, then shook my head shyly. “Not that.”

His widening smile made my belly turn over. “For you to be my wife?”

“I saw a rather beautiful Roman lady at your party. She seemed rather fond of the position.”

His chuckle made me angry. “You’re jealous.”

Shoving him away, I turned over and threw off the covers. Before I could extricate myself from his bed, he had me around the waist and hauled me back to him, laughing fully now.

“Stop it,” I demanded. “Let me go.”

“No. Never,” he murmured into my ear as I half-heartedly struggled to get free. He pinned my arms and squeezed me closer. “That woman is a dim, dying light compared to you. Gods, Malina. You were so fucking beautiful tonight, it hurt my heart to even look at you. And yet, I couldn’t look away.”

He sucked in a breath, nuzzling into my neck. I couldn’t help but tip my head at an angle so he had more access. He growled .

“Do you know what that means among dragons?”

“What are you talking about?”

“When you bend your throat and bare your neck to me?”

“It means I want you to kiss it.”

He chuckled and pressed a chaste kiss to my sensitive skin. I shivered.

“It means you’re submitting to me. That you’re offering yourself to me.” He pressed his now hard cock against my bare backside. “Are you offering yourself to me, Malina?”

“You’ll take me anyway,” I snapped back, arching my back and rubbing my bottom against his hardness.

He hissed in a breath, his hand on my stomach rising to cup my breast. He rolled and pinched my nipple till I moaned.

“Tell me you’re giving yourself to me,” he demanded, pressing soft, light kisses up and down my throat.

“Always,” I breathed out softly, sincerely. “Always, Julian.”

On a groan, he sank inside me, my core sensitive and raw from our rough coupling before. He seemed to know, because this time he slid inside me with gentle, grinding pumps. He massaged my breast, pinching lightly, opening his mouth with feathery brushes along my neck. Then he began murmuring sweet, insane things that had my body clamoring for more of him.

“So beautiful, my firebird.” Kisses to the base of my throat where he lapped at my pulse. “I want to take you to a dark cave. Far away.” Gentle, deep strokes of his cock. “Where no one can find us. Where I can keep you forever. And fuck you over and over.” He pinched my nipple till I cried out at the sting, then he coasted his hand to my stomach. “I’d fill you up till you became round with my child.”

“ Our child,” I corrected on a gasping breath.

A grating rumble of satisfaction vibrated from his chest. He gripped my thigh and lifted my leg. I let it drape back until my ankle wrapped behind his thigh. He slid his fingers into the slick that was left over from our first coupling .

“I want to make a mess of you,” he whispered, pinching my clitoris lightly.

I jumped and whimpered, reaching back to curl my fingers into his hip.

“I want you drenched with me so every dragon knows you’re mine.”

Arching my back, I angled so he could go deeper. “So drown me, Julian.”

He did. He drowned me in his desire, his adoration, and his love. When the tether pulled tight at the end, an overwhelming wash of that unconditional emotion poured into my body and soul. It was as real as my heart thudding erratically in my chest. It was a living, breathing entity. I was immersed, engulfed in love. And it was the finest moment of my life.

I remember weeping when we were done and his soft murmuring, soothing me with “Shh, I’m here” until I finally fell asleep.