Page 21

Even as Kaspian helped me to my feet and I made exclamations of astonishment (a lot of “What the fuck just happened?” and “Was that really a goddess?), men and women in medieval armor surrounded us. I jerked back, but then they saluted Kaspian. A group within that group—all male, all massive, and all emitting an air of importance—separated themselves from the others and came forward.

One of them offered Kas his cloak. “Your Majesty, the city and our dread have been in a panic since your disappearance. Sir Galver and Sir Hapsedes saw you get pulled into a column of light. We've searched for you everywhere. I can't express how relieved we were when you were sighted above the city, coming through yet another portal of light.”

I stared at the man. His words sounded strange, but I understood them. Were they English? Had to be. And yet, as I recalled the Goddess's words, I realized they weren't. Something had blossomed in my mind by simply being in her presence. Or maybe it was this world. Kas had learned English in seconds. This must be what he had experienced. Except now, I was speaking his language.

Holy. Shit. I'm in another world. And that guy over there has wings! So does that guy! Except they're different wings. Angel and demon wings. Are there fucking angels and demons here? Oh, fuck. Is this what we based heaven and hell on? Is Serai the source of all human myths? Do not freak out, Met. Keep it together. You've got Kas with you, and that's more than he had when he got to Earth.

“Thank you.” Kaspian slung the cloak around his shoulders and fastened it. “The Goddess took me to another world to claim my mate.” He put his arm around me.

Mate. Right. We were married. Mated. Whatever. What the fuck is happening right now?!!!!

As if Kas could hear my mental breakdown, he whispered to me, “I am here. You are not alone.”

Meanwhile, the soldiers in the special group inclined their heads to me while the other group murmured to each other in amazement.

“This news compounds our joy, sire.” The guy made a fist and pounded it on his metal chest piece. “Congratulations on your mating! To have the Goddess herself take you to another world to find your mate is the greatest honor. I doubt the dread will need much convincing to accept him. On my part, I offer my acceptance now.” He turned to me and bowed. “Welcome to the Aravult Dread, King's Mate.”

The other soldiers cheered as Kaspian grinned.

I looked from Kas to the soldier. “Thank you.” I held out my hand. “I'm Demetrius. Call me Met.”

The man blinked, but quickly took my hand. “I'm honored to meet you, Duke Demetrius Met. I am Sir Vadron, one of King Kaspian's guards. Now, I will guard you as well.”

“Thank you. Nice to meet you, Sir Vadron. But it's just Met, not Demetrius. Met is short for Demetrius.” I looked at Kas.

He nodded. “You're doing well, Mate. Don't be afraid. I will look after you now.”

“Holy fuck, Kas. This is your world. I'm on another planet.”

“Yes. And here, you are the alien.” He winked at me.

“I'm the alien!” I hooted. “That's fucking awesome.”

The soldiers stared at me. I stared at the ones with wings. And the big one with sparkling gray skin.

“Uh, is that gray guy a vampire?” I whispered to Kas.

“A vampire?” Kas frowned, then his expression cleared. “Ah. You mean a blood drinker. No, he is a Ricarri, one of the mountain people. We don't have blood drinkers here.”

“Oh, good.”

“The Eljaffna are not indigenous to Aravult.”

“The what now?”

“Eljaffna. Those are the blood-drinkers of this world.”

I swayed. Vampires. They have vampires.

“Easy now, Mate.” Kaspian steadied me. “You will adjust quickly. I'll help you.”

“Welcome to the Aravult Dread, King's Mate.” Another man said. “Please, accept my cloak. You are not dressed properly for our world.”

Right. I still had that stupid hospital gown on. I took the cloak and swung it on. “Thank you so much. This, uh, isn't appropriate for my world either.”

Then another man came up and welcomed me. And another. I shook hands and said nice things as Kaspian smiled and kept me upright.

At last, Kas said, “I need to get my mate to the castle. We are still bonding, and he needs time to adjust to our world.”

The big men around us snapped to attention.

“Sire, forgive us for delaying you!” Sir Vadron said. Then he turned and shouted, “Make way for the King and the King's Mate!”

During the introductions, a carriage had rolled into the meadow. A fucking royal carriage like the Queen of England rode in. The covered kind, not the open sort that she rides in to wave at people. Oh, wait, she's dead now. The King of England rides in it. I guess his wife is Queen, so the new Queen rides in it too. Oh, fuck, never mind. Who gives a fuck about the British Monarchy when I was married to a royal Dragon? It was his carriage, and it was nicer than anything on Earth. Even the wheels were adorned with gold frills. An emblem of a big white bird stared at me when the team of white horses pulled the thing around and stopped it before us.

“Come, Mate.” Kaspian escorted me to the carriage.

One of his guards hurried forward and opened the door for us. Kas helped me into a plush, blue interior, and then climbed in after me. The guard shut the door, and we were off.

Everything had happened so dramatically and so fast. I had gone from firefighter to the mate of a fire-breathing dragon. I wanted to ask Kaspian about our bond and what it meant exactly, but I was too fascinated by the city we rode through. I barely restrained myself from hanging my head out the open window and gaping at the people on the sidewalks.

I saw the angels and demons again. Okay, probably not angels or demons. The ones with feathered wings varied in their coloring—both in skin and feathers. There were black, white, speckled, gray, brown, and every other kind of feather you could think of. Other than the wings, they looked human, with skin ranging from dark to light. The other winged people had membranous wings like dragons. Those guys did not differ in coloring. All of them had dark skin, dark wings, and long faces. Although humanoid, they were distinctly not human. I might have been scared by them if not for the way they smiled and laughed, interacting with their fellow citizens as if it was perfectly natural for them to be there. Which, of course, it was. I was the unnatural one. The alien from another world.

Yup. And they stared back at me as if they knew it. It had to be the royal carriage that drew their attention, but sitting there, on a velvet cushion, the metal horse stuff jingling as the horses clomped down a cobblestone street, I felt every inch the alien. Unnatural. Unreal. Or maybe surreal. Yeah, that was the word. Real but not. More than real. In another reality. Realm. A lot of words with the root “real” in them.

Most of the folk on the street looked human, though their features were odd. Men lurked in the shadows, faces half hidden by the hoods of their cloaks, and men like that soldier, with gray skin that glittered in the sunlight. Those guys were big. As in tall and muscular. Some of them were even bigger than Kaspian's guards. In contrast to those giants, there were little people, no taller than two feet. But they didn't look like little people from Earth. These people were proportional, just short.

“Holy fuck!” I whispered and drew back from the window. “It's fucking Aquaman. No, it's . . . fuck, what's his name, from Hellboy . The water guy with the gills. Except that he's dressed like Captain Jack Sparrow.”

“What are you talking about, Mate?” Kaspian, all grins now that we were in his territory, leaned over my shoulder and peered back at the men we had passed. “Ah. Those are Neraky. They're sea-dwellers, but they can breathe air. Most of the Neraky you'll meet will be sailors. Merchants. But I believe those were pirates.” He grinned at my wide eyes. “We tolerate them as long as they don't cause too much trouble.”

“Pirates. Pirates with gills.”

“Oh, yes. And claws. And sharp teeth.” He snapped his teeth at me.

“Your guards. What race are they?”

“I thought that was obvious. They accepted you into our dread.”

“Kas, I don't know what the fuck a dread is or why they accepted me into it. Remember how it was for you with English? You only understood the words that you were familiar with the meaning of.”

Kaspian chuckled. “Ah, yes. Don't worry. I will explain our world to you as you explained Earth to me. Firstly, a dread is a community of Dragons. They are the Dragons of one kingdom. Our dread is the Aravult Dread.”

“So, all those guys are Dragons like you?”

“Yes, they are members of my dread of noble families. Only nobility may serve the King.”

“Holy shit.” I frowned. “Kind of elitist, but I'm not surprised. Dragons.”

“I don't like the way you said that.”

“Oh?” I smirked. “So now you understand why the way you say humans pisses me off?”

“I told you why. Now, you will explain your tone to me.”

“Oh, come on. You know why. We've already established that you think your people are better than others.”

“Yes, and we've already established that it's for good reason—Dragons are stronger than all the other races and the Gods gave us dominion over Serai.”

“Uh-huh. And humans are pathetic little beings without magic.”

“Mate, you are human, and I treasure you.”

“But I'm not your equal, am I?”

“Of course, not!”

“Ha!” I pointed at him. “That's what I mean by elitist.”

Kaspian rolled his eyes. “Fine, then I am an elitist. But once the entire dread accepts you, you will be a Dragon.” He smirked at me. “That will make you an elitist too.”

“First, being of an elitist race doesn't automatically make you an elitist. Second, what are you talking about? I thought they already accepted me?”

“When a Dragon king takes a mate, his entire dread must accept him or her. His mate will have a certain amount of power within the dread, so they must approve of the mate.”

“The entire dread?”

“Yes.”

“How many Dragons are in a dread?”

Kaspian shrugged. “A few thousand.”

“A few thousand ?! What if one of them says no?”

“Then I must choose between you and my crown.”

I gaped at him.

“Don't worry, Mate.” He picked up my hand and kissed it. “I will choose you. I will always choose you.”

My heart melted, but even as that happened, I panicked. “That's really sweet, Kas, and I appreciate it. Thank you. Truly. And thank you for saving me back on Earth.” I paused. “Back on Earth. Holy shit.”

“Mate?”

“Uh, yeah, uh. Thank you, but I don't want you to give up being king for me. Doesn't that worry you?”

“Did you not hear my knights? Those are sons of noble families and they all accepted you instantly. The Goddess sent me to you, Demetrius. There is no greater endorsement than that of the Dragon Goddess. My dread will accept you.”

“But what if they don't?”

“Then I will take you to my home enclave where we will live out our eternal lives in leisure and bliss.”

“Our eternal lives . . . so, it's true? I'm immortal?”

“Yes, as I said. I didn't lie to those terrible humans. There was no point since I was planning on killing them. When we mated, I gave you my essence. In that essence was a piece of my immortality. It would be cruel otherwise.”

“What do you mean?”

“For the magic to bind an immortal Dragon to a mortal human would be cruel without the shared immortality. Because when a Dragon's mate dies, they usually follow. Such a mating would be a death sentence for a Dragon.”

“If I die, you're going to die? Holy shit. Talk about codependency.” I shook my head. “This is too much. We haven't even fallen in love yet, and you—”

“What did you say?” Kaspian's lighthearted demeanor changed in an instant, his eyes narrowing as he leaned into my face.

I jerked back. “You don't love me. Do you?”

“You're my mate!”

“Yes, so you keep saying. You said it's stronger than a marriage. Eternal. And we're immortal, so that means we'll be together forever. That's a lot. But do you love me?”

“I must. It is inevitable.”

“Do you love me, Kaspian? Right now, at this moment?”

He settled back. “I . . . suppose not. But I will.” He took my hand. “And you will love me. We formed a bond quickly and that was necessary, it's how it's done with Dragons. But now we have the chance to fall in love slowly.” He lifted my hand and kissed it again. “We have eternity.”

“Okay, you don't have to do all of that.” I motioned at his kissing with my other hand.

Kas narrowed his eyes at me.

I shifted my hand into a palm-up surrender. “Or do it. Whatever you want. Go on with your bad self.”

“Now, that is a more proper attitude for a king's mate.” He nuzzled my neck. “You are mine now. I will take care of you, and you will submit to me in all ways.”

“Whoa!” I jerked back. “I didn't agree to that shit! When did you become a dom?”

“You are my mate.”

“I know! But I'm not your property .”

“No, you are worth far more than mere property. But you do belong to me.”

“Hold on.”

“And I belong to you.”

“Well, that makes it a little better,” I grumbled. “But you don't get to boss me around just because you spread your essence all over me. That's what it was, wasn't it? Your cum. You just kept coming and coming. I thought it was a Dragon thing.”

“It is a Dragon thing. In particular, a Dragon mating thing. And yes, that was essence, not ejaculate. Although, it was ejaculated.” He shook his head. “The point is that we were—” Kas shuddered and groaned as he bent forward.

“Kas!” I laid my hand on his back.

“Mate,” he whispered and turned his head to look at me. “I need you. It's been too long.”

“What do you need me to do?” I slid to the floor of the carriage. “What's wrong?”

Kas sat up, his cloak spreading to reveal an enormous erection.

“Oh.” I blinked. Then I glanced out the open windows. “Um.”

Kas jerked on the ties to either side of him and curtains whooshed down over the windows. “Bend over that bench. Now!”

Even as I turned, Kas flung my cloak aside. Then the hospital gown got torn apart. Seconds later, he had me spread wide and was working his way deep.

Okay, so maybe I could submit a little.