Page 57

Well, maybe not here , in the literal sense.

She looked around the austere but comfortable room she and Geva had been given at the monastery the dragons had flown to in their exodus from the temple.

The trip had been both spectacular and terrifying, and she’d spent it clinging to Geva’s back while her team followed suit with the rest of the Court.

They’d finally landed on an island that had to be somewhere in the South China Sea, if her sense of direction was still working. A throng of monks prostrated themselves in greeting to all the dragons this time, not just the Queen and her retinue.

But what would happen after they left this place?

Fate, her irritating inner voice said again.

So she believed it, and she did kind of give them all the benefit of the doubt.

Particularly when one big, red dragon was insistently pulling her into a white-sheeted bed and tearing off the clothes she’d quickly thrown on to meet the Queen. A bed. Yes, a bed would be good.

Oh, Jesus, none of that mattered when he was making love to her. Dragon fucking magic . Followed by the pleasant burn of her tattoo and basking in the glow … a literal glow, she realized. That was new, but somehow not the least bit surprising.

Geva murmured against her sweaty skin. “We may be here for a while, until each of the dragons is given their inheritance and sent home. But if you can endure a wait like this, so can I. I don’t really care where we are. I just want to love you for the rest of my natural life.”

“Which means dragging me along for the next few centuries?” They’d had this conversation already, but Erika still felt overwhelmed by the thought of being held in these arms every night for what seemed like an eternity for her.

“Yes. And others, if they’re willing. It doesn’t just have to be me who you endure. I’m sure we can find someone else equally irritating to distract you.”

She laughed, but the prospect encouraged her. She loved him. Christ, it was crazy, but she did. But was it so bad that she couldn’t imagine five hundred years fucking one man? Still, if there were more of them, would she even want to share? Or be shared?

“Why are you so tense?” he asked, massaging her shoulders. “I’m trying to make love to you, but you keep me on the outside. I don’t understand.”

“No, you don’t. Because you’re not like us!” She cringed over her outburst. She’d never been quite so tied up in knots over her feelings for a man at the same time as wanting him to fuck her until she ached from head to toe. Again.

“I am more like you than you know. Let me in, sweet Erika.”

He nuzzled at her breasts and she opened her legs reflexively because she really, really wanted him between them.

“Stop. I need to talk.” She gripped his forehead just as he was about to sink his sweet tongue into her pussy. God, what a force of will that took.

He sat back and looked at her expectantly.

“Sweetie, you are too perfect for words. When we’re done with this conversation, I promise you can fuck me any way you’d like to.”

Geva grinned wickedly. “So good deeds still garner rewards in this generation?”

“Yes. Yes, they do. But I need to figure out how the hell we’re going to support your fucking brood once we get out there.

I can’t abide homeless dragons in Boston.

And they all seem so … sex-starved and destitute.

I mean, no offense, but the first place we come to all the residents have taken vows of poverty. Frankly, I worry for the population.”

Geva’s brows creased and he nodded sagely. Then let out a hearty laugh.

“You’re worried we can’t support ourselves?”

“Well … yeah?”

He gripped her shoulders and pushed her back against the pillows.

“My love, we are dragons. Riches are our specialty, and we have cultivated them for several thousand years. We want for nothing. And neither should you. You will soon see. Yes, the humans who live here want no riches, but that is because it is their mandate to protect our interests. Different sects of their order have functioned in this capacity for millennia.” He looked around their room with a creased brow.

“They’ve changed since I first visited before sleeping, however. It’s much cleaner now.”

“So where is ‘home’ for these dragons? Another halfway house as destitute as this one?” Erika felt a little bad for being so pissy at him.

The truth was the first meal they’d been served had been one of the most delicious dishes she’d tasted, and the bed they were in was a far cry from sleeping on hard ground.

“I said you will see. We all are descendants of the most prominent dragon citizens. These men are the key masters to our treasure, between generations. You had a father, yes? You’ve spoken of him.”

“Yes. I loved my dad.”

“When he died, what happened to his treasure?”

She had no idea where he was going with his line of questioning but answered. “It’s mine now.”

“And what are you doing with it?”

“Well … nothing. I’ve been away too long to bother. Everything’s locked up tight. Waiting for me to come home, I guess …”

She was lying a little bit. Her father’s estate wasn’t locked up, exactly.

The staff still lived there and kept it up.

When she was stateside, she called regularly to talk to the caretaker, Walt.

Conversations were as much about her life as they were about the continued smooth running of the estate.

Her father had left her enough money to keep it going for at least her lifetime, if not longer. Maybe she had been away too long?

She rolled over and looked up into Geva’s eyes. “I get it. You guys all have a legacy. Lucky bunch you are, I have to say. I wonder what happens to orphaned dragons.”

Geva frowned. “Orphans. Rare enough, but they happen. They’re provided for.”

Erika thought he seemed a little uncertain about his answer, but dismissed it. She wanted to ask him more, but got a little distracted by his exquisite tongue finding its way between her thighs yet again.

Yeah, she could deal with that for a few centuries, and who cared about the rest of the world?

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