Page 63 of The Dragon Queen Complete Series Collection

Chapter 63

When I woke, it was to the gentle morning sunlight that managed to fill the ruins of the cavern. That and Ged’s gaze. He watched me so carefully, so closely, that I found the haze of sleep falling away abruptly.

“How are you?” There was wariness in his tone, as well as concern, but also love. I smiled in response to his question and was met by obvious relief. “You must be sore.”

I moved my hips experimentally to test that theory.

“Not sore, but there’s an ache.” He paled at that. “A good one.” He hissed and pulled me closer so I was sheltered by his body. “I’ll feel where you were, where Flynn was, all day.”

“I admit something about that makes me very happy,” he said, then shook his head. “Perhaps we should…” His voice fell away as I reached down and found him hard and wanting. “You don’t have to do that, you know.” He was trying to be oh so gentlemanly, but I didn’t want that. “Zafira’s heat is over. It’s just us now.”

Which is exactly why my grip tightened when he tried to pull away. What had happened last night was a fever dream of sensual pleasures. Pippin the queen had taken Ged as her mate last night. But Pippin the woman? She needed her own moment. He stared into my eyes, nodding slowly as if he understood and then rolled up into a seated position, bringing me with him so I was straddling his lap.

“You want me.” His expression was naked, vulnerable, his eyes searching mine for clues. “It wasn’t just for last night. This is real.”

I traced the line of his forehead, the broad cheekbones, the lean planes of his face, finally touching the parts of him I’d wanted to reach out for since the moment we’d met. His eyes became heavy-lidded and his expression softened as he leant into my caresses.

“I’ll always love you, won’t I?” I said.

I spoke in a small voice, partly terrified about how he might answer. His eyes flicked wide open again as he stared at me.

“You love me?”

“I—”

“No, Pippin.” He grabbed my hand and put it against his heart. “You love me? Because I’ve loved you from the moment I saw you. No mud or pigs could obscure that. You were so fucking beautiful and determined to survive. It was a light that burned inside you, which is why they had to work so hard to try and extinguish it. I love you with my very soul?—”

I pressed my mouth to his, hoping it conveyed what I felt, then I pulled away to make sure it did.

“You’re a good man, Ged. Of course, I love you.” It felt so very good to say the words, to admit something I hadn’t even allowed myself to contemplate. And with that he wrapped his arms tight around me, holding me so close I could feel the frantic beat of his heart. But while Zafira’s lust might not be riding us anymore, there was another equally, if not more potent one that burns between two people that have found love. “And I need you, Ged.”

“Fuck, what the hell did I do to deserve someone like you, love?”

We moved together until he was buried within me, his thumb on my pearl, soothing the burn from him being inside me again so soon and turning it into a deep pleasure. We moved together in small, rocking movements and as we did, my eyes met his. We looked into each other’s hearts, our souls as the movements grew faster and choppier, feeling something else swell along with the pleasure.

All that was him, that was what came flooding in. His woody scent, the feel of his body, the strength of his arm, but so much more. The way he seemed to chase my pleasure with complete focus, reading my every reaction in order to please me. And the feeling that was created from being together. This wasn’t only my pleasure or his, it was ours, and we were joined physically because we had no other means to express this newfound bond.

“Ged…”

“I know, love. I know.”

He stroked me through the first waves of it, then joined me soon afterwards, both of us clinging to the other as we felt that rush.

“Knew you stayed back to watch over Pippin for a reason.” We looked behind me to see Flynn standing there in just his pants, smirking at the two of us as he came closer. He squatted beside me and then said, “I thought we were going to see how Pippin was feeling this morning before anything else continued.”

“I did,” Ged told him.

“And how do you feel, Pippin?” I answered him by leaning his way, though Ged stopped me from pulling away too far. But Flynn took the offer as it was, grabbing my jaw and kissing me slowly and very, very thoroughly. “Good, I think, and probably wanting a wash.”

All of a sudden, memories of the night before flooded in. The damp mess between my legs, the grimy feel of sweat and… I flashed back to Brom’s display last night. And other things.

“Gods, yes,” I said, pulling free of Ged to get to my feet, only now aware I was completely naked.

I’d been brought up to feel shame about that, that only my sworn husband was to see this, but for some reason I couldn’t seem to find the requisite horror. I stood between them, completely naked and I didn’t care a jot. Flynn plucked a shirt from the pile we’d slept on and slipped it over my head, the scent of him heady in my nostrils.

“Far be it from me to deprive myself of the sight of a beautiful woman, but there might be shepherds using the track down to the river and I’d hate to have to beat a man bloody for looking at you.”

Glimmer rushed towards me when we walked to the upper level and I scooped her up.

You are well? she asked. From memory the taking of a mate the first time can be a difficult thing for humans. I’m sorry if there was pain, but it was necessary.

Was it now? I held her close, her weight such that it was becoming a strain to do so, now, but I wanted her close to me, regardless. We need to speak more about your memories and how you feel so certain about these things.

But you saw them too , she replied, staring up at me. I saw them. We both saw them.

We looked around the amphitheatre, now having an inkling of what this place was. This was a ceremonial space, made for the coronation of human queens and dragon queens alike.

I did remember them, though somehow I felt like what happened raised more questions than answers.

But not now. You smell rather strongly and Glacier promised to take me into the water.

Who was I to deny the whims of a queen dragon?

We came across no shepherds on our way to where a wide pool was fed by the river, the male dragons flying down to join us. Glimmer clung to Glacier’s back and he dunked her into the water then tossed her up on his back again with his muzzle when she began to splutter. She jumped in again though, her wings seeming to provide some sort of buoyancy. Glacier nudged her with his nose when she looked like she was floundering, then pulled her out when she’d had enough. The men were already stripped bare and luxuriating in the water which had me pulling off my shirt and jumping in to join them.

“Imagine if it’d been like this when we went to the quarry that day,” Flynn said with a mischievous grin. “I was thankful for the temperature even though the water was bloody cold that day. I was hard as a stone.”

“Pippin is still a lady, even if she deigns to lie with the likes of you,” Soren snapped, then softened that with a smile. “I was the bloody same, and feeling terrible for it.”

“Why?” I asked him, swimming closer until he was forced to grab a hold of me. “Would it have been so bad, to show me that you wanted me?”

“You were Draven’s intended.” Those words killed the good mood, my smile fading. “And it felt wrong. I could be your father, Pippin.”

“But you’re not.” I smoothed his hair back over his shoulder. “A very handsome, dashing uncle perhaps…”

“Pippin.”

I smiled in the face of his scowl.

“Part of what I love so much about you, Soren, is you ensure we’re all doing our best, meeting expectations, pushing us further. But this? You can’t advise me who to love or who to take to my bed.” When I touched his lips, he pressed a kiss to my fingertips. “You can only accept or reject my offer.”

I realised then that part of me kept half expecting that he would take the second option. He was a good looking man, no matter what he seemed to think, and the girls at the keep?—

“As if anyone could ever reject you.”

I kissed him then, softly and sweetly, because this seemed to be a time for togetherness, not hunger. But his words? He evoked Draven at every turn, whether he wanted to or not and perhaps that’s what prompted Brom to speak.

“Pippin, we’ve been talking.”

“Of course, you have.” I turned around and Soren held me on his lap. “What must I do now?”

“Marry me.” Everyone went so very quiet, it felt like I could hear every bird call, every creak of a tree. “Perhaps I am not the one you’d choose, but?—”

“But this is an equal partnership,” I snapped. “I meant it last night. If I can’t have each one of you then…” I went to pull away but Soren’s grip tightened.

“Listen to him, lass. He has his reasons.”

“When we return, the queen will redouble her efforts to get rid of you, of Glimmer. She’ll use the Duke of Skane’s blatant manoeuvring at the ball as a pretext. Marry me. Do what she said she wanted and make it look to the outside world that you belong to me and Harlston.”

“But behind closed doors…?” Flynn’s smile promised a thousand sensual delights. “It’ll be just as you say. You’re ours and we’re yours. We might have to pay off some of the girls, make it look like we’re enjoying other women, but…” The smile faded then and he became so deadly serious, I could see the similarity to his father in his face. “But there won’t be anyone else, not for me.”

“Nor me,” Ged and Soren said.

“We have to find a place in the world where we can be accepted as we are. Perhaps over the seas…” Flynn continued. “The dragons could fly that far, I’m sure of it, but it’ll take some planning. We just need to neutralise the queen for enough time that it takes for us to find a way. Marry Brom now, and then marry each one of us when we’re safe to do so.”

But we wouldn’t be allowed that. Even I could see it. Queen Raina on the one hand and myself and my riders on the other, we’d all declared ourselves last night, sending out a challenge to the other side as sure as if we were angry dragons.

“This isn’t the kind of proposal I was brought up to expect,” I said with a small laugh. “I’m sorry… Yes, of course, it's a yes.”

“Then perhaps this will do better.” Brom moved forward, looming out of the water. And did I imagine a gleam in his eyes as I stared at the water running down his chest? He reached out and took my hand in his and then said the words. “Pippin, beautiful girl, dragon queen, will you do me the greatest honour of being my wife? I promise to love and devote my life and Obsidian’s to making you the happiest woman in the world. I don’t have your heart yet, but I will strive to earn it every day.”

He will make a very good mate, indeed , Glimmer told me.

“Yes,” I said, again, to the intensity in his eyes and the grip of his hand, to the vision of a future he proposed, one I would cling onto. “Yes, Brom, make me your wife.”