Page 20 of Wings of Frost and Fury (Merciless Dragons #4)

When Thelise returns, I am sitting beside the pile of supplies she has prepared. She’s carrying a lantern and wearing a golden cloak with nothing underneath. As she walks, the cloak ripples open, showing me tantalizing glimpses of her breasts, belly, and legs.

She disappears into the stable and returns after several minutes, wearing the purple gown beneath the gold cloak. She sets the lantern on the ground and seats herself on my foreleg as if it is a chair. I could get used to her using me like this. I thoroughly enjoy it.

“You made quick work of the mess,” she says. “I can’t even tell where it happened.”

“One of many excellent uses for frost-fire when it is carefully controlled,” I reply.

“Hm.” She leans against my shoulder, and my heart thumps harder in response to her nearness.

“Will you tell me why you were banished?” I ask .

She laughs ruefully. “You know how to suck the peace and happiness right out of a moment.”

“You did the same thing to me earlier, with your talk of the men you’ve fucked.”

“We’ve been over this. You shouldn’t be jealous.”

“I can’t control it. I feel as if you were meant for me alone.”

“I don’t belong to you.” She straightens, rebelliously unsettled.

“No, but I feel as if I belong to you , as if my duty and my joy are to serve you. If you find pleasure in others, it means I am not enough, that I have failed in my purpose. That troubles me.”

“Do you hear yourself, dragon?” She places one hand on my neck. “You only met me today.”

“My spirit has known you before,” I say confidently.

“In some other life, long before the ones we now lead, I was the wind that played in your hair, or the fire that kept you warm. I was a frosty star that watched you on a winter’s night.

Maybe I was indeed your pet—a dog who protected you, or a horse that carried you. ”

She strokes my scales. “I’ve always thought the idea of past lives was silly, but maybe that’s only because beneath my flirting and my humor, I’m a cold skeptic at heart. Do dragons believe such things?”

“We believe that the Bone-Builder guides the cycles of our lives. We are spirits of sky and flame, of frost or fire, who leave the world in death only to return to it again after a few generations have passed. If I ever doubted such things, the bond I already have with you seems like proof.”

“What if I don’t feel the same way you do?”

“That does not change my heart. I will continue to adore you and serve you in all things.”

“Fuck.” Her laugh is shaky, broken at the end. “Promises, promises, dragon. What if I do something that enrages you? I tell lies sometimes. In fact, I’m much better with lies than I am with secrets. What if I trick you or lie to you?”

“I will be angry, but my anger will not change my devotion. I have told lies as well. Sometimes they have a purpose.”

“Would you lie for me?” she asks.

“If I must.”

“Would you lie to your prince for me?”

I hesitate. My loyalty to Kyreagan is two-fold. He is our clan leader, and he is also my friend. “As long as the lie would not harm Kyreagan or my clan, then yes… I would lie to the Prince for you.”

She shifts her position restlessly, as if she wants to ask me something else, but she doesn’t speak. We simply wait in silence.

Eventually I sink into a recumbent position, Thelise reclines against me, and we both doze. I only awaken when I hear the distant beating of giant wings.

I touch my muzzle to Thelise’s hair. “It is time to go.”

“Ugh, Verda, stop,” she mumbles sleepily, batting at my nose. Verda is the name of her dead horse, the one Fortunix ate.

“It’s Ashvelon,” I remind her as gently as I can.

“Oh.” She scrambles upright, blinking. I wish I could burn away the sorrow that floods into her eyes.

“Fortunix is returning,” I say. “We must make the journey to Ouroskelle.”

“Will you carry me?”

“You would trust me to do that? What if I drop you?”

“I have magic. I could help you find me again. And I don’t want that one carrying me.” She jerks her head toward Fortunix’s dark shape descending from the night sky.

“Very well.” I say it solemnly, but my joy at being chosen to carry her overcomes my hesitation, and I lick her cheek impulsively with the tip of my tongue.

She chuckles, then bends to tighten the ropes on one of the bundles she made.

I’m tempted to sniff her rear, to inhale the fragrance from her cunt again, but I restrain myself.

At this distance, Fortunix would see me and question it.

He lands heavily, and when I ask him about the mission, he only says that he delivered the message. No other details. It’s not my place to ask for more information—that’s between him and Kyreagan—so I don’t press him any further.

Thelise ties some of the bundles to Fortunix’s back, and he takes more of supplies in his front claws. It’s difficult for him to ascend from level ground, and nearly impossible without all four legs, so he has to take flight first and then sweep back down to grab the items.

While Thelise is preparing to tie more supplies to my back, I say, “What if I carry those in my claws, and you ride me?”

“Really?” Her voice shrills, excitement tinged with fear. “I was going to ask, but I didn’t know if that would be considered an insult.”

“You’ve insulted me a number of times since my arrival.”

“Yes, but asking to ride you seems different.”

“Your instincts are correct. If you asked another dragon, the request would be considered both presumptuous and offensive.”

“But you don’t mind?”

I glance up at Fortunix wheeling overhead, and I lower my voice. “I highly prefer it. I want you astride me, clinging to my spikes with your lovely fingers, with your legs against my scales. I want to know that your wetness is pressed against me as you ride my neck.”

Thelise smacks my shoulder. “Is everything about sex with you?” By her tone, I know that it’s a playful reproach, so I merely rumble in response.

To prepare for her to mount me, I lower myself as close to the ground as possible.

Thelise takes a drink from a thing she calls a “flask,” then tucks it away and slings her leather bag around her body.

She climbs lightly up my foreleg, using my shoulder to reach my back.

She tries a couple of spots before settling between two of the spikes along the base of my neck.

The press of her legs is just as titillating as I thought it would be.

“I’m tying a rope here, so I have something to hold onto,” she calls.

“Whatever makes you feel safe. Tell me when you’re ready.”

She lets me know when she’s done, and I bound along the meadow, pounding my wings until I manage to catch a breeze off the ocean. We climb sharply, and I hear a faint cry of surprise from Thelise.

“Are you well?” I ask.

“I’m fine,” she replies. “I got an unexpected thrill in my belly when you took off. This is actually quite fun.”

Wheeling around, I dive for the supplies and snatch the bundles up in my claws. Then I bank upward and turn to come abreast of Fortunix.

“Sacrilege,” he snarls. “You should not let the worm ride you.”

“Worm?” exclaims Thelise. “I should turn you into a worm.”

Fortunix chuffs angrily. I think it suddenly occurs to him that she could make good on the threat, because he puts distance between us, flying so far to my right that I can hardly see him through the clouds. His wingbeats are a barely audible thrum, and we’re too far away for conversation.

The distance suits me perfectly. I would much rather be flying alone with Thelise.

“I should have draped pillows over your back, dragon,” she says. “Or fitted you with a saddle of some kind. Or worn something under this gown.”

“Is my hide too hard for your soft little cunt?” I growl. “You didn’t seem to mind it earlier. ”

“You conceal such a naughty tongue behind those sharp teeth, pet,” she chides me. “I would never have dreamed you had such a foul mind. What would your clan think?”

In answer, I growl harshly.

She gasps, and her legs tighten against my neck. “Fate forgive me… that felt good.”

I growl again, elongating and deepening the sound, letting it vibrate through my whole body.

“Oh fuck,” exclaims Thelise.

“Are you wet, little sorceress?” I ask.

“You big fucking bastard.” She laughs breathlessly. “You really shouldn’t—oh shit—”

My growl reverberates again, louder. I sustain it as long as I can, feeding its intensity with all the breath in my lungs, and somehow I manage to fly, too. I’ll be exhausted by the time we reach Ouroskelle, but it will be worth it.

I can hear her panting, whimpering. She’s arching against me like an animal in heat.

Perhaps she is in some kind of heat—maybe we both are.

A heat of opportunity, of joined minds, of needs long unmet.

Our bodies see the chance for a fuller satisfaction than either of us have ever felt, and we can’t stop partaking of the pleasure.

I lift my head and swivel it around until I’m watching her, witnessing the powerful sorceress of Elekstan dragging her tiny cunt against my giant body out of sheer helpless need.

Flying while looking backward slows me down significantly, but I won’t miss the chance to watch her come, out here in the darkness, over the ocean, while she’s splayed astride me.

Last night I caused misery and death to a woman. It feels like a sort of reparation to deliver pleasure and safe passage to another. With everything I’ve lost, everything my clan has suffered, I deserve this bright moment, this instant of watching a beautiful human female climax for me .

I give voice to a low, vibrating roar, and Thelise comes against my neck with a sharp sob of relief. She leans forward, gripping my spikes, panting.

“You will not tell anyone about this,” she gasps.

“Your secrets are mine.” I swing my head forward again, beating my wings harder to make up for lost moments.