Page 60 of Veiled Flames (Destiny of Dragons #1)

Forty-Three

Rosomon

A s Tynan recounts his ordeal, my heart races as if it were me who faced demons today. It was his first time on a dragon, and it’s almost impossible to conceive of the danger he faced.

And yet, after nearly dying, he burst into my room full of joy and excited to tell me about it.

Instead of letting him share his happiness, I doused it, forcing him to drill me with hatred in his heart.

I feel terrible at how I brought him down from his literal high—although perhaps it’s turned out for the best in the end.

We’ve shared things we might not have, and I feel closer to Tynan right now than I’ve felt to anyone, ever.

And not just because his fingers are still gently stroking between my legs.

“You must have been terrified.” It’s all I can think to say after the shock of hearing his tale.

“I didn’t have time to feel terror.” His chest expands, and he looks more like the Tynan I knew before tonight. And yet I still see the vulnerabilities under his bravado.

“The demons flew at us,” he says with excitement in his voice. “Saxon tried to hold us back, but Xendus and I fought alongside the others, and I scored my first demon kill.”

He’s already recounted this, and more, yet I don’t mind hearing it repeated. “When will you ride again?” I ask.

“Tomorrow. I’ll ride every day, if I have anything to say about it.” He cups my cheek. “I want to spend every moment I can atop Xendus. Every moment I’m not with you, that is.” He kisses me, and one of his fingers pushes inside me, the pressure pulling me further onto his lap.

He leans back from the kiss. “Am I being presumptuous?” His eyes flash more with mischief than doubt. “Can you tolerate being around me more often?” His finger probes deeper and the pressure pulls me closer against him. “Or is your hatred of me too great?”

“My hatred has lessened. Slightly.” My hips pulse, hungrily drawing his finger inside me.

Grinning, I reach out to touch his face, finding his jawline has turned somewhat prickly. “I suppose I can find ways to tolerate your presence, when you’re not on your dragon, that is.” I’m genuinely thrilled for Tynan, but his success spurs my own ambitions. And my determination.

“I’m glad to hear that.” He lifts my hand to his lips and lightly kisses my knuckles, as if we are being formally introduced as scions of two royal families, as if his finger isn’t inside me. We’ve already met as scions, but that night feels a lifetime ago.

His expression turns playful. “How about I get you out of this restrictive corset. Whatever are you hiding beneath it?” He winks. “Clever girl, by the way. Great disguise.”

I don’t tell him that Saxon provided me with the corset. He uses his free hand to search the top edge of the garment, looking for the ends of the laces which are actually tucked at my waist. I don’t tell him that either. His light touch above my bosom, flutters inside my belly.

I grin. “Speaking of disguises and my need for one.”

His hand stills, and he looks into my eyes.

“Earlier, you said the dragon masters might let me stay?” I almost don’t want to ask, fearing his answer might kill my last hope.

“I said they’re considering it.” His tone doesn’t offer the hope I’m looking for.

“Saxon won’t ever let me mount a dragon.”

“He fears for your safety.”

Anger rises inside me. “Over that of any other candidate?” Saxon lied when he said he’d treat me the same as the others. He treats me much worse.

“Hey.” Tynan cups my cheek. “I’m on your side.” His thumb strokes my cheekbone as other fingers tease my entrance. “I most certainly don’t want to see you die, but I can see how much this means to you. If I had a vote, I’d let you try.”

“Thank you.” I touch the hand against my face, and my thumb fondles the pulsing heat on the inside of his wrist. “That means a great deal to me.”

He grins. “And yet none of my good intentions have removed this infernal corset.” His fingers search again. “Must I use a dagger to cut you out?”

“Don’t you dare.” Laughing, I dig the ends of the laces from over my belly and start to loosen them.

“Let me.” He shifts me to straddle his lap, and then his hands both fall over mine, halting my actions as we gaze deeply into each other’s eyes.

“You won’t have further need for this garment.

” He quickly pulls the laces through the bottom few holes, as practiced as any dresser I’ve had. “Now that your secret is out.”

As he continues to pull the laces, hunger grows in his eyes.

Hunger grows inside me too. Hunger to have Tynan touch me and kiss me. Hunger to have him drill me again—even though my channel’s still throbbing and hot from the earlier friction.

He releases the laces from their final holes. My corset falls open, and I lift my hands to hold it together.

“Shy?” He smiles as the backs of his fingers brush lightly over my belly, then they sweep up between the bones of my ribcage.

“No.” I smile back at him. “Just an instinct.” I let my hands drop and the corset falls from my body.

“Holy thrix, you are beautiful.” His gaze is fixated on my bosom, and a fresh bloom of red bursts onto my cheeks.

His fingers stroke over the newly exposed parts of me.

“That corset was cruel to your beautiful skin. It left marks.” Shifting me over his extended legs, he bends to plant soft kisses over the red lines left by the corset.

Then he cups my paps in his hands, as if they’re more delicate than eggshells.

Using the tip of his tongue, he traces along the marks there.

Pleasure and desire race through me like sparks. My breath shudders, and I can’t remember how to inhale.

When my lungs recall their purpose, my chest heaves to refill, and his hands and his tongue continue to care for my paps like precious works of art. Sighing, I resolve to relax and enjoy the soft treatment, but then?—

Holy thrix! He lifts me and his lips latch around one of my nipples, and while fastened to me there, he sucks on it hard, as his tongue flicks inside the suction.

Crying out, I arch into him, and his thumb brushes over my other nipple. My hands slide from his shoulders to his back, and I claw at the fabric of his chemise, drawing it up, wanting to have my hands and lips on his skin, just as his are on mine.

Breaking the seal around my nipple, he grins as he looks into my eyes. “Did you enjoy that? I couldn’t tell.”

“You couldn’t?” I ask. Then I laugh, shaking my head for not instantly recognizing he said that in jest.

He removes his chemise, and I pull in a ragged breath as I take in the sight of Tynan’s bare chest, appreciating the full expanse of his shoulders, and the surging muscles of his arms. His skin is many shades darker than mine, or Saxon’s for that matter, and parts of his chest are decorated with indigo hairs—nearly black—which accentuate and enhance his strong shape.

My fingers twitch, eager to explore, but he sets me on the bed and stands to remove his boots and his breeches.

Now I truly can’t breathe as I take in the full length of Tynan. He’s so long—both his actual height and the length of his rod, now jutting up and away from his body, as if supported by invisible threads from the Great Beyond.

I shift onto my knees and am again reminded of the trainer stuffed inside me. I don’t hate the feeling, and its presence felt amazing when Tynan’s thrusting cock rubbed against it through whatever walls are inside me.

“I want to touch you.” I lick my lips. “I want to kiss every part of you.”

“That sounds lovely.” He steps forward. “But you dictated the terms last time. It’s my turn. This time we’ll do this how I want. Agreed?”

I nod. I’d agree to anything Tynan asked of me at this moment.

“Lie back,” he commands.

I do as he says, lying stretched out on the bed covers. The fire Elly left has died down and my skin starts to pimple from the cool air. Not to mention his saliva drying on my breasts.

Eyes on me, he strides to the end of my bed. “Bend your legs.” His voice has turned deeper, and his instructions take the tone of the dragon masters putting us through our paces. That thought sends another thrill racing through me.

My feet slide on the quilt toward my backside.

“Spread your legs wider,” he says. “Open your knees.”

Again, I do as he says, and the cool air brushes between my legs, reminding me of the dampness still there, remnants of his sense-stealing drilling, increased by his languid fondling as we talked.

Exposed and open to him like this, vulnerable to Tynan in every possible way, I feel wild, wanton, like I’ve become a new person, and I suppose that I have. In so many ways.

Coming up from the bottom, Tynan crawls over the bed toward me, and my channel squeezes, acting out of my control, as if begging him to get his rod inside me. But he stops when his head reaches my exposed cleft.

To this point, he’s been looking into my eyes, his predatory expression heightening my need for him, but his gaze now drops to focus between my legs, as if trying to memorize the look of me there.

“I’m going to kiss you now.” His breath is hot as it brushes my damp and sensitive folds. “I’m going to drink you. I’m going to devour you. I’m going to give you pleasure beyond compare.”

I like these threats far better than any he’s delivered in the past. My teeth come out to scrape my lower lip, and then I lick them, preparing for his kiss.

But instead of continuing up to my face, he parts my cleft folds and kisses me there.

My body tenses. My pelvis snaps up. Undeterred, he shifts his position, hooking his arms around my thighs to hold them tightly in place against his mouth. I try to move my hips, but his strong arms immobilize me as he firmly traces his tongue through my folds.

Crying out, I sit and thread my hands into his hair. “What are you doing?”