Page 55 of The Dragon Queen Complete Series Collection

Chapter 55

“I’m trying to do the right thing here and you are making that very hard, my lady. So very fucking hard.”

Some instinct had me pulling away and licking a broad stripe up his cock. Soren let out a hiss when I got to a place just under the crown, so I sucked on it experimentally and words failed him, to be replaced by inarticulate grunts. But he recovered soon enough.

“You feel so very good…” My mouth could act like the sleeve my hand had created and I sucked the head until it felt like it swelled in my mouth, then fed him in deeper. “Pip… Pip…” He guided my head forward then stopped and I soon found out why, my throat convulsing around him, forcing me to pull free. “Not that deep, lass.” He wiped the tears that had sprung up away from my cheeks. “You are doing so very well. We can stop now.”

“No, we can’t,” I choked out.

Somehow, crouched at his knees I knew that. What we did had a weight to it and it rolled us forward, his hand on my skull, mine wrapping around his manhood. We came together now at a slow, rocking pace.

“That’s it. That’s it, lass. You’re taking me so fucking well.” The curse was uttered between clenched teeth, followed by a hiss. “Such a good girl.”

That steady stream of filthy endearments, it had me moving faster, harder, testing my throat’s limits, but not so far I gagged again. And then I began to slither my tongue back and forth.

“Pippin… Pippin… We should’ve talked this through first. I’m getting close, lass. I need… You need…”

He jerked me away from him, using the hand on my head to tilt my face so that I was staring into his eyes, as he fought to catch his breath.

“Do you know what comes next?” he asked, his other hand dropping down to stroke his cock.

“Your seed?—”

“My seed will come rushing out and, if you keep doing that, it’ll erupt into your mouth. Is that what you want?”

“Is it more enjoyable for you?”

“That’s not the point—” he started to say.

“It is.”

I moved closer, ready to resume things but his hand tightened around my throat.

“Pleasure works both ways.” His thumb brushed across my lips and his pupils flared as I sucked at the tip. “Do I want to feel your throat swallowing me down? Yes, Pippin, yes. Because then when you return to the keep, part of me will be inside you, claiming you as mine, even though I’ve no right to you.”

He let out a sigh.

“Other men with powerful families, men like Flynn would be a better choice. They can protect you in ways I can’t. I’m just a low level petty officer. I have to follow orders in ways those in the nobility don’t have to. I have no family to speak of that can influence the outcome.”

He pulled his thumb out and looked at me with such tenderness I felt a flush of a different heat. A softer, gentler, more all-encompassing one that reminded me of how I felt about Glimmer.

Enough with these stupid human rules . He will be a fine mate, she observed.

But we wouldn’t get a choice in that, and he seemed to know it, even though he had been spared the queen’s little speech, so there was a very real sadness in his eyes. This might be all we would have, just the sounds of the waves and the feeling of the sun on our skin and… I straightened up, still having to crane my neck, and tugged his head down to kiss him.

Glimmer was right. He would make a fine mate, because in that moment I could see it all, the life we might have. A husband who was all softness in our private quarters, then fierce as a lion with the latest set of recruits. A man who’d be a good father to any children I might bear, who’d be there with me every step of raising them to be fair and decent people. Of growing old together. Watching him step away from active duty and towards me, spending our twilight years in a kind of shared peace I could almost taste right now. I wanted that with all the selfishness of a child and fought the urge to scream like one because I knew I couldn’t have it.

I would be Brom’s wife.

Did that make Soren’s kisses taste all the sweeter? Did I press harder, snake my tongue along his before pulling away with bee stung lips? It did make me drop down, bending over the part of him that paid homage to me and I licked and sucked him until he grew so hard it was as if he might burst.

“Gods… Pippin… Pull away if you don’t want— Gods! I’m coming!”

I don’t know what I expected, but what I got was harsh blast after blast of warm saltiness, filling my mouth before I swallowed it down, my mouth sucking and sucking until he forced me away from him.

“Too sensitive,” he rumbled before sweeping me up and into his arms, the two of us lying in the warm sun, my back pressed against his chest, his lips against my neck. “I’ll never forget this.” I heard his words but didn’t reply for fear of him sensing the tears that fell from my eyes in a slow trickle. “I’ll never be able to forget you, Pippin.”

We lay there half naked, the sun beating down on us, the wind soothing away the heat, making our eyes go heavy. I saw Glimmer looking over at me through one eye and when hers fell closed, so did mine.

“Well, well, looks like you two got some sun,” Flynn said with a smirk when we approached the table in the mess hall. We had awoken sad and sorry for ourselves in more ways than one. It was as if as we pulled on our clothes and armour, we pulled back on our identities as rider and cadet. But Flynn was right. Our skins were flushed an angry red. “An all over tan perhaps?”

“Shut up,” Ged said, smacking him upside the back of his head before sitting down himself. “Where were you two anyway? Apart from avoiding the prince’s wrath.”

“And he is wrathful,” Flynn said with a shake of his head, dropping a chicken bone onto his plate. “Whoever actually did commit the prank better thank his lucky stars you claimed responsibility or they’d be facing the whipping post in the morning.”

“He’d whip a cadet?” I asked.

“He’d whip someone who locked him forcibly in a confined space.” We all looked up to see Brom had joined us and when I saw he carried a long box in his hand, my heart sank. It might not be for me, but if it was…

“You’re saying the prince is afraid of small places?” I asked.

“I’m saying nothing of the sort.” Brom’s voice was cool and clipped, making me wonder if he resented the burden that had been put upon him and for a moment, I felt a flush of sympathy. Then he brought the box around to my side of the table and set it down beside me. “A token of my regard for you, Lady Pippin.” He reached over and flicked the latch, opening the lid to reveal a pair of gleaming knives with adorned hilts so pretty each man craned his neck to take a look.

“They’re queen’s daggers,” Soren said in a hushed tone.

“They are.” Brom’s long fingers plucked one out of the box and offered it hilt first to me. I could barely feel my own fingers when I took it. “My family have been avid collectors of antiques for some time and when I got my father’s approval to make an offer to Pippin, he sent me these.”

Glimmer looked up from where she was eating, licking her muzzle clean with a long forked tongue before coming closer. She let out a curious little hum when she saw them, and I saw the stones in the hilt shimmer in response.

“Thank you, Brom,” I said, my voice the perfect mix of courtesy and grace, if I did say so myself. I nodded regally to him, the effect ruined no doubt by my sunburnt skin and raffish attire, though I was thankful the redness hid my blush.

“Let’s leave the wing commander to talk with Pippin,” Soren said, getting to his feet and then nodding to the others.

“But Pippin accepted my flowers,” Ged said, rising, but doing so very slowly. Flynn followed suit.

“We’ll do something together tomorrow,” I told him. “Whenever you have the free time, I’ll make myself available.”

“She accepted your flowers, not your ring, you idiot,” Soren snapped at Ged. “You’ll be forced to watch Pippin be courted by many men if the flowers on tables are anything to go by and you’ll do so with good grace. Otherwise, I have some spare time?—”

“Not laps. You can’t make me run laps anymore. I’m a fully-fledged rider now.”

I waited until they were gone before I turned to Brom, catching his hazel eyes watching me closely. If she hadn’t… If I wasn’t being forced into this situation, I would’ve welcomed his regard, his gift. They were beautiful and with keen edges, a quality I was beginning to expect he shared, but I would soon have plenty of time with him in order to find out, wouldn’t I? I let out a sigh, then dragged my eyes down to my plate.

“Just give me some time with Ged. I’ll fall for you not long afterwards, though we may need to make a bit of a show of courting, so it looks plausible. You can wine and dine me, or whatever you had planned, so everyone sees me slowly falling under your spell.”

He didn’t reply at first, making me feel more and more tense as the silence stretched on before he finally broke it with a sigh.

“There are times I wonder what I did to have the gods turn their faces against me so firmly.” My eyes jerked up to look at him, but he stared out over the hall, as if the answers could be found there. “I want to do every single thing you describe, Pippin. I fucking…”

His breath came out in a hiss.

“I had it all planned, all of it: I wasn’t sure of the outcome, but I’d be in the running, I’d make sure of that. I’d show you…” He dared a brief sidelong look at me. “I’d show you all the things I thought might please you and devote myself to finding the ones I missed if those others weren’t suitable. I’ve spent less time planning missions than I have on my courtship of you.”

He reached out to take my hand, then paused before shaking his head and doing it anyway. Whatever objections I had seemed to evaporate. The queen wasn’t there to observe and control, and neither was Draven. There was only Brom.

“You don’t know me. You haven’t had the chance to do so. I’ve been trying so damn hard to keep the wing together and… I could’ve borne it, when I knew you were promised to Draven, but now…?”

His brow creased and real pain flared in his eyes.

“Now I need do nothing and you’ll come to my bed, to my side. You’ll carry my heart around with you as sure as you do that dragon, but…”

A sharp little shake of his head, that’s what made me hate the queen all the more, because right then I knew it wasn’t just me she was brutalising, it was him too.

“But I’ll never have yours. Never. You’ll bear my presence with the same fortitude you’ve shown when you’ve faced a multitude of challenges, but…”

He raised my hand to his lips and pressed a kiss to my knuckles, then jerked himself to his feet.

“Take all the time you need with Ged, with any man that pleases you. I’ll strive to make this process as painless as possible and ensure the queen stays off your back.”

He bowed and that’s what really broke my heart. It was a courtly, formal gesture. But it was polite and correct and utterly without passion, just what he was forcing himself to be and at that moment I felt like I’d lost something terribly dear.

He will be a good mate too , Glimmer told me, coming closer to bunt her head against mine. You’ll see.