Page 33

Asha

Asha paced the bedchambers he’d only recently co-opted.

They’d been Rath’s chambers until something in his mind clicked and they’d become theirs .

There were plenty worse things a bedroom could have been.

The theirs part was the problem, though.

He yearned for Rath, craved him and couldn’t think of a thing he wanted more.

Lyss had been a nightmare, goading him with the prospect of cock in places.

He’d beaten her senseless with a throw pillow on more than one occasion as they lounged about.

Jeron and Nadi had included themselves, all joining in the group effort of desensitizing him to the prospect. In its own way, it helped.

So, when Pryd had to go out and run some errands to prepare things and Kensing made himself comfortable—the real party started.

From out of nowhere, the male produced a glass vial of pills, several kinds of herbs rolled into hard, brown spherical pellets, labeled only with three dark and foreboding Xs. Asha stared at it. “Is this poison?”

“To the wrong person, probably? If I were to take this, I’d have to trust Pryd to keep me hydrated.” Jeron rolled the bottle in his hands.

“Did you?” Jeron raised a brow.

“Trust him?” Kensing stared at the bottle. It wasn’t full, but Asha wasn’t certain if it was by design or he’d taken some.

“Yeah.” Asha stared at the bottle, not wanting to analyze the somewhat private expression Kensing wore. It was filled with uncertainty, shame, and a little longing.

“I trust him. He may be a little silly at times, but he cares.” Kensing rolled the bottle in his palm before handing it to Asha. “Take four of them.”

“Four?” Jeron’s eyes flew wide open.

“If he were human, I’d be preparing his funeral. He’s a dragon, though.” Kensing gestured at Asha from head to tail.

“What does it do, exactly?” Lyss, asking the real questions, raised a brow.

“For us, it just makes us slavering messes. For you, it’ll make you slick and ache for it. You’ll want for nothing less. Your dragon will purr and it will very likely increase the chances of you conceiving,” Nadi said. “I wouldn’t take it lightly.”

Asha stared at the bottle. “I swallow them?”

“I don’t think that’s how one makes a babe, but you can try.” Lyss picked at her teeth and earned a glare from Nadi.

Asha snorted, and Kensing gave Jeron a knowing glance. Graduates of the same finishing school as it were, they understood much of dragon biology. And apparently, from the herbal nature of those pills, botany .

While the rest of them bickered about the effects of the pills, Asha fumbled the bottle and dumped the tablets in his palm.

His warm tea sat beside him as he contemplated.

“On the one hand, I’m not sure if I’m ready for the whole egg thing.

On the other? I need something to make me brave enough to do this. If it means I can finally be with him…”

“Maybe you shouldn’t do it just ye—” Jeron reached a hand out just as Asha downed the four pills, chasing them with the hot tea. “Well… Um…”

Nadi and Kensing blinked in surprise and glanced at one another before she spoke. “That should make things much easier.”

“Easy isn’t half of it. I want to be comfortable with it.” Asha chased the pills with more tea and sighed. “But I will be soon.”

“You’ll be something, soon.” Jeron coughed as Kensing stared. Either from shame or anxiety, or maybe even the pills, blood flushed into Asha’s cheeks, burning like the very fire he’d breathe.

“Ready to finally take your place at his side?” Nadi stood and extended her hand to Lyss, a sign they should all proceed.

The two made a strange couple, but it felt right.

Asha never knew a woman could love a woman that way—the lack of penis and all that—but the details of which were something Asha was far too smart to ask Lyss about for fear of getting a play-by-play.

“So, who should I aim for when I throw the bouquet?” Asha grinned and Nadi looked away, cheeks pinkening. There’d be no bouquet, as it was not a part of dragon ceremonies.

Kensing’s lips twisted as he worked to stifle a fleeting expression away. “Aim for me. I’m ready to find my forever.”

And Asha hoped he did.

***

It was a blur from the moment Rath approached him, their eyes locking. His heart overflowed and the shame of what they were about to do faded away.

All that gathered around knew they’d couple, knew they’d be united in body and soul.

But more importantly, this nagging feeling burrowed deep within himself would get to come free.

The beast that had risen to the surface of his skin, demanding he mate with Rath, would be restrained by human flesh no more.

Their lips touched, words exchanged, and Asha’s mind realized all at once what he was. A dragon.

They shed their clothes, caring nothing for those around them—though their onlookers held only joy.

The shift happened spectacularly. The world around him shrank, and Rath morphed before him, a constant with him as they rose and filled far more space together than they had any right to.

Their fire, it burned from Asha, seeking the sky.

“Look,” Rath growled as they rose to their full height, spreading their wings and lapping at one another with long tongues over smooth scales.

Asha listened. He turned his head in the direction that Rath nudged him, eyes fluttering open.

The colors of the world around them blossomed into a chromatic display, making gold seem euphoric in spectrum, their scales a rainbow of shine and patterns that made his very core tremble.

But the moon?

Asha forced himself to stare at the rising orb in the sky and froze.

It was beautiful. Rainbows formed concentric circles and rings around the moon itself, the orb a pulsing mass of raw energy and magic that made his mind snap to one thing and one thing alone. Sex.

Things had to happen before sex, though.

Instinct had them circling one another, necks gliding with gentle gestures to stroke their scales.

Rath could speak in his dragon form, so huge, so beautiful and a scent that made Asha mad. “Do you love me, yet?”

Asha could only purr, growl, and rumble. But in his heart, he said yes.

“Speak, my love. Speak your words proudly,” Rath said, spitting flames into the sky.

Asha’s jaw couldn’t make the words, his throat too raw and new, but forcing air forward and straining allowed him to choke free a raspy, “Yes.”

Rath purred and stroked his cheek along Asha’s, rumbling into what must have been his ear—though Asha had yet to see his full form. “Our bargain is fulfilled.”

Rath’s words made Asha’s heart melt for a brief second before he flew off, pushing free of the stone promenade to dive below, great wings spreading to catch his fall. Asha had waited so long for that. So long to taste the sky. His dragon, all instinct and magic, ran and plummeted after his mate.

There were no lovers of flowers in the sky, there were only dragons, and dragons loved dragons, regardless of scale or horn.

Asha, human born and fearful, felt as if he’d begun a new life, born into new blood.

Born into fire. As he thought this, he blew flames as he swept around Rath in a flirtatious sweep.

Rath, bearing a certain slyness in his eyes, dove through clouds that from the ground seemed so substantial, but were mere striations of mist, leaving dew across his scales.

Every breeze and whip of wind, cold patch of air and warm current made his belly roll and heart flutter.

A flick of tail and tap of wing made Asha call out with delight, something between a roar and a crow of joy, vibrant and musical.

He didn’t trust his skills at tagging Rath back quite yet.

Probably wouldn’t for a while. He could still chase, though.

The thrill of the cold air and the shine of the ever-present moon above made him bold and brash.

As they twirled in midair, Rath spread his wings to halt his flight, his body shifting in a collapsing display until nothing but his more human form remained. Without warning, he landed atop Asha, strong thighs clenching to his neck. “Follow my guide.”

Asha, very aware of Rath’s bareness seated atop him, faltered in midair, but pointed back toward the castle, where Rath tapped and pulled his neck toward, flying above their friends, family and court toward a parapet made for a dragon’s landing.

Unsure of what to do, Asha circled it once and Rath ordered him to land, to be gentle as he swooped down, remembering how he rode Heckle.

It was easy, too easy as he did so, gliding down and settling with a few flaps of his great wings. The masonry held steady beneath him, and Rath dropped down, beckoning Asha to shift. “Please, come to me.”

Asha obeyed, soaking in the cold and sky, the dimming light welcoming him into warm, bare arms. For the first time, he gave no thought to Rath’s bareness, no fear of judgment or uncertainty. His body shuddered and he wanted nothing more. “Bed me.”

“I will. You understand, though? That moon above us and what you took? What you are?” Rath rested a hand on Asha’s chest, fingertips sliding down until his dark claw tips rested over his navel.

“If it is what the fates desire. If it is what I am meant to be. If it fulfills me like I’ve dreamt of since my first flustered thoughts.

” Asha forced himself on Rath, capturing his king’s mouth for the fiercest of kisses.

His body, more human than not, still bore his tail—something that would take time to hide away—and horns that he wanted to wear with pride.

They were his crown, the jangle of metal atop them a reminder that he was far beyond reproach.

Still, Rath pulled back with a studious glare.

“But is it what you desire? I’d hate for our union to create an egg you do not want, a child you aren’t prepared to love.” Rath nuzzled Asha’s cheek and groaned with pleasure at his answer.

“A nest is meant to hold eggs. A couple is meant to fruit. And you have far too many brothers with free time on their hands—might as well leave them a few nephews to curtail, no? If we’ll be up a dozen times a night feeding little ones, we’re in good hands to do it. ” Asha nuzzled back as Rath laughed.

“Dragonlings are much easier than babes, but there’s only one way for you to find that out.”

Asha pawed a single hand near trembling down Rath’s chest, stopping at a transition of scales, gaze not ready to lay upon what would be buried so deep inside him soon enough. “Oh?”

“I’ll just have to get you pregnant, first.”

Asha’s mind went hot and blank. He had no idea why the threat made him weak. “Yes.”