Page 37 of The Sun God’s Prize (Child of Scale and Fire #3)

She doesn’t know what to do, or what she really wants, but I let her figure it out, let her kiss me, her long hair covering both of us, though I do help her rid herself of her robe and the shift that hides her from me.

Her breasts are warm against mine, the tight, hard nipples brushing my skin, and she moans when I gently squeeze them both, rolling them between my fingers and thumbs.

Sheelan straddles me, mouth rushing the journey to my ear, to my throat, and she’s panting when she stops, lips above mine, eyes so sad I cup her face in my hands.

“I’ve never—” she stops herself abruptly.

“I’ve more than enough for both of us,” I tell her, sitting up and turning her over, laying her out in the pillows.

These Sunnish women and their sex cravings unsatisfied are going to be the end of my heart, I’m sure of it.

But it’s different with Sheelan than it was with Brem.

The hard-bodied fighter was nervous too, but eager, and wanted to have what she’d seen the others take.

In this sheltered temple, it’s clear that while the men are happy enough to satisfy themselves, none have guided the daughter of their god to the same pleasures.

I’m not opposed to being a teacher again, when required, and it’s hardly a burden.

She’s a gorgeous thing, and the kinspark dances between us in its stirring joy at our lingering touch.

Sheelan slides her hands into my hair when I bend to kiss her, taking my time to suck that lower lip that pouts outward, to nibble her chin, and breathe my way across her jaw.

Her hands slide down to cup my breasts, but don’t linger, and when she touches me, her hand shakes.

I guide her thumb to my clit before I show her how to circle by doing the same for her, and she’s as wet as I am by the time I slide down between her thighs and lick along the folds of her pussy.

I don’t have one of the cleverly shaped dildoes the ladies at the Dome prefer, so my fingers will have to do, and Sheelan seems to appreciate them when I slide two deep inside under my questing tongue.

Her clit is bigger than mine, easy to suck, her thighs quivering before she closes them around my head and pulls me to her scented skin, both hands deep in my hair.

I plunge into her, had meant to take my time, but she’s not interested in being slow, writhing to the steady build of her orgasm, and when she comes, she squirts, soaking my chest, my hair, spilling down across my breasts.

She pulls me up to her immediately, her hungry lips sucking and biting at mine, and I find myself on my back again, Sheelan eagerly eating me as though my cunt is her only meal and she’s been starving all along.

I gasp at her firm tongue, how she plows me with three fingers that curve as mine had done. Teeth nip my clit, and I cry out in shock at the sensation, the firm sucking following cresting into release—

— there are hands on my hips, lips on my neck, a dick deep inside me from behind, a mouth devouring me whole as fingers twist my nipples and we’re all together as I come —

Sheelan sits up abruptly, staring at me, face glistening from my wetness, and for a moment, I’m worried she might bolt. But she throws herself into my arms, hugging me tight, trembling all over again.

“Was that…” she whispers the question in my hair.

“The kinspark,” I say. “They’re waiting for us.”

She exhales against my neck, and I shiver. “I can’t leave my father,” she says.

“I know,” I tell her. And rise, leading her to the bath.

You’re wasting time . I open my eyes to the voice in my head. The dragon sounds almost petulant.

Kinspark , I remind her. I have to nurture it. And I won’t rush her .

She’s one of you , she mutters. She has no choice . Did she know? And didn’t tell me? More fucking secrets. But no, she sounds bemused by the fact. Bring her .

I’m going to , I tell her.

Beloved , she whispers then, so filled with sorrow that my heart clenches against it.

I’m not exactly beloved in this place. Too many legends .

There’s something wrong with her. I sit up slowly so as not to wake Sheelan, covering her in a thin sheet, shielding her with cushions, before I rise and fetch a robe.

I’m doing my best here , I tell my dragon mistresse . Because that’s what she is, like it or not. Even she treats me like a playing piece.

I’m no threat to them anymore , she says, querulous, that distance I’ve felt between us growing more so. She feels absent, as though her mind drifts, and though she’s warned me how little time remains, this is the first instance that I believe her.

I’m losing her, and I can’t do this alone. Dragon , I call out to her. What about Aurous?

I should have crushed this god thing a long time ago . She hums softly for a moment, then sighs. Where are you, sister? Neem, I’m so lonely .

I’m here , I say, chest tightening further, grief waking, tears trickling unbidden. I surprise myself, offering the only comfort I can share. I’m here, sister .

Neem . She breathes the gold dragon’s name into my mind.

They’ve killed me, too. I was too late, and they’ve done me in.

Save her . Something seizes my mind and I’m falling to my knees, hands pressed to the sides, because if I don’t hold it together, my head will burst from the weight of her command.

Find her egg. The Flame has failed me, but you will not.

Save my daughter. She’s all that matters now .

She retreats a little. I’ve given everything to protect her. She’s all that ever mattered .

I will , I tell her, weeping openly now. I’ll find her . I must. The kinspark demands it, a gushing fire racing through me, the draw now so powerful that I stagger to my feet.

She’s gone then, flaring out, leaving me bereft, even the kinspark abandoning the pressure that just drove me up and forward.

I find myself near the garden, my head aching, spinning.

It’s a long time before I stagger to the low table where a pitcher of water waits.

My hand shakes as I pour, and I gulp two full cups before I’m able to stop.

Is she dead now? The dragon whose magic brought me here? I don’t know, but I fear she is. At least, now I know why she manipulated me, why I’m here in the first place. If this egg of hers exists, if she didn’t just share some delusion in her passing, this must be the reason she brought me south.

Her daughter. Aurous. It has to be. A new dragon… I can’t comprehend what advantage a new dragon will mean for us. And yet, what good is a hatchling in a battle against the ancient magic of a murdered dragon?

There’s only one way to find out. I have to escape. This must take priority, no matter the cost. If only she’d trusted me with this before...

No. It wouldn’t have mattered. I am where I am, how things have turned out. I can’t change it. All I can do is take action.

I’m turning to wake Sheelan, to ask her to help me, when my door opens.

And Hallick enters, unwelcome. Not that he gives a shit, or even seems to realize I couldn’t care less what his problem is, because he’s already talking before the door is once more firmly closed.

“I need your help, daughter of war,” he says.

I bark a laugh, because this is too much, especially now. “Fuck you,” I say.

He doesn’t respond to that obvious reply, beginning to pace, his cloying scent reaching me and reminding me where this all began. And who is responsible. “I had hoped to stall the Sun God,” he says, “but it’s clear now that we’re out of time. Unless we act.”

“Whose fault is that?” His, of course. I tsk, dealing with him not on my agenda for the moment.

“What are you talking about?” I don’t glance at the bed.

I will not draw attention to Sheelan. But there’s no way she’s still sleeping, he’s too loud.

Hopefully, she’ll stay hidden and keep quiet long enough for me to get him out of here.

“They’re planning an invasion, you stupid cow.” He snarls at me, lowering his voice to a hiss, hands clawing in front of him.

I glare back, dead cold, closing the distance so fast he’s scrambling to retreat, his back slamming into one of the archway pillars to the garden, dark eyes wide and terrified.

He has no idea that the black-clad warrior is bare inches from him, staring at me from her defensive position, and hears everything that follows.

“Say that again,” I tell him, soft and threatening. “Just the same way.” I fucking dare you.

I fucking dare you.

“Like it or not,” he says, jerking himself under control, even if I can still feel him trembling from the mere inch between us, “we’re in this together, Remalla.” He’s dropped the princess part, far too familiar, but I don’t correct him.

“I’m sure you like to think so,” I say.

“You don’t understand,” he says, still quietly.

“He knows .” Hallick licks his lips, his stench overpowering at this distance.

The man who loves to intimidate, to manipulate, who I expect is behind much of what ails the Overkingdom, has lost his propriety, if not his motivation.

“About the magic .” He whispers the last word, waiting for me to be shocked.

“What, gold Neem’s magic you fuckers stole from her when you killed her and corrupted to rewrite the entire history of the kingdom?

” I tilt my head at him, watch him absorb how much I know with grim acceptance and grudging admiration.

“Or that you’ve tainted the Sun God and his heir with that same poisoned magic of a dead dragon? ”

I see the dark warrior flinch, the barest movement, but that’s all as Hallick goes on.

“Drakonkin heir,” he says, though it sounds like an accusation. “Daughter of Heald, you stand in two worlds, and both are under threat if we don’t act.”

I take one step backward and cross my arms over my chest. “Go on,” I say.

If nothing else, maybe he’ll finally tell me the rest of the truth he began to in the cell beneath the Citadel.

At the very least, he’s signing his own death warrant because the order warrior who watches us will act in her Sun God’s best interest and take what she hears to her masterre .

I won’t get to kill Hallick personally, but it will do.

The Chancellor’s tense stance unwinds slightly, though he’s still nervous despite his height advantage.

I’m sure he has a weapon of some sort under that black robe of his, aside from the dick he seems to wield against Vae and Vivenne—and who else, for surely there are many.

A dick that I’ll tear from his body before I let it touch Sheelan.

But he hasn’t tried to use a blade of another kind on me, no dagger held out for protection, just shaking hands pushing back his slick, black hair, pale skin ashen.

“Everything we’ve done,” he snarls, “has been for the good of the Overkingdom.” Liar, but I let him go on.

“We’ve been trying for years to force the magic to spread, to protect our lands from the threat of the south.

” A south we’ve been at peace with, as far as I know, not even mentioned in Mother and Vivenne’s wintertime imagined battles, the border ignored as they sparred their fantasy wars to overtake the entire north.

“But he has ways to block us.” The Sun God does?

“That’s why I’ve come, to find the source of his power and undermine it. ”

Wait, he thinks the Sun God controls the barrier to the diseased magic. He doesn’t know about the other dragon. Why does that truth send shivers of relief through me? Perhaps because, for once, I know more than he does? No, nothing so petty.

If he goes near her egg, I’ll do more than kill him. I swear, he’ll wish himself dead many times over before the dark takes him.

“You’re asking me to be sympathetic to your failed invasion plans,” I say. “You do know how insane that sounds?”

“Why do you think we did this?” He tosses his hands, seems to realize how close he comes to striking me, and retreats, calms himself a little.

“The Sun God is going to ride to the headland, take Winderose, and steal Neem’s magic for himself.

And without your mother, with only what remains of Vivenne,” his disgust can’t be disguised, “to lead the forces of Heald, the massive armies of the Sun God will devour us, and all will be lost. He will be free to rewrite the history of our world to his own pleasure. And none will stand against him.”

This is an old story, then. Far more to it than was suggested before. I used the term “our” when I accused him of manipulation, but it’s more than that, the collective pronoun far more intimate. “You were part of the plan to kill Neem,” I say.

Hallick nods, jaw tight. “It was my idea,” he said.

***