“Good temperature, right?” Brynn grinned as he, Sharpe, Canavan, and Argon joined her in the water.
“It’s amazing. I feel like, all my life, I’ve never quite been able to take a bath that was hot enough. The servants always make them about a hundred degrees. It’s okay, I guess, but this... it’s like it’s made just for me.”
“This whole planet seems to be made just for dragons,” Argon said thoughtfully. “I wonder why we’ve been living on Telia II this entire time.”
“Evolution?” Sharpe hazarded. “If we started on Telia II, there wouldn’t be any reason for us to leave until the elves started hunting us to extinction.”
“I guess it’s the only explanation,” Canavan added.
“It’s a pity we ever have to leave,” Alora sighed, “even though I know it’s important for us to go tell my father what’s happening and gather all the other dragons together.”
“Would you stay here if you could?” Sharpe asked. The other dragons all seemed to focus their attention on Alora. She sighed deeply.
“I’d love to, but I’d have to get my father to agree.”
“Surely he wants you to be happy,” Canavan countered.
“I wish it were that simple.” She shook her head and tried to stop her lower lip from wobbling as reality kicked her in the gut. The moment she got back to Nidia, she would have to resume her duties. It royally sucked.
“Here.” Brynn maneuvered himself, so Alora was sitting on his knee in the water. Canavan put an arm around her, just under her chest, and Sharpe did the same from the other side. Argon even got in on the reassurances, sitting on a rock opposite her and lifting her feet onto his knees. Brynn massaged her shoulders and kissed her neck while Argon rubbed her feet, and Canavan held her hand with his free one. Never in her life had she been snuggled so comprehensively or by so many people at the same time.
“It’s all right, Alora. There’s nothing to worry about.” Sharpe’s words didn’t reassure her though, and she began to cry.
“It’s impossible,” she sniffled. “I’ve had the most wonderful time with you four, and as soon as we land on Nidia, it will have to end. But if I don’t ask my father to intervene... well, that’s not an option, is it?”
“Why will it have to end? We can take good care of you, and this planet needs someone to run it. As far as I’m aware, you’re the only person qualified to do that.”
“Me?” Alora blinked through her tears as she tried to make sense of what Canavan just said.
“Yeah. So... what we didn’t tell you about pearl dragons... uh... Argon, you tell her.” Brynn looked uncomfortable.
“Pearl dragons were historically the rulers of dragons. You are our queen.”
Alora stared around the dragons in horror. “But I don’t want to run things. I want to let go and have sex and snuggles and learn how to fly and how those tattoo things work...”
“Delegate. But dragon society is fragmented and brittle at the moment. We need you far more than the rest of the galaxy does,” Argon said.
“Dragons need something to believe in,” Brynn added.
“They’re scared and fighting for their lives out there. They don’t know who to trust. But everyone knows the stories of the pearl dragons. They’ll recognize you as their queen as soon as they see you in your dragon form.” Canavan’s words were the ones that finally swayed her.
“I guess that is a compelling reason for me to stay with you here on Telia I. Also, can we maybe give it a name that reflects our dragon heritage a bit better? At the moment, even the planet’s name is in the shadow of the elves.”
“See? This is what we mean. This is why the dragons need you.” Brynn squeezed her shoulders encouragingly.
“Yeesh, I must be the only princess in the galaxy who ever got kidnapped twice by slavers and ended up leading a dragon resistance to a brave new world.” And just like that, she was on board. When doubts reared themselves, she shoved them aside in favor of what she was rapidly thinking of as her duty to the other dragons.
Chapter 17:
The next morning, Brynn held Alora’s hand and tried to be supportive while she embarked the ship. When she stopped to look soulfully over her shoulder at the planet that would become their home, Brynn knew she was going to be happy on Telia I—or whatever she ended up naming it.
“C’mon, princess, let’s get this over with.” Brynn chastely kissed her cheek, and the brief contact with her skin made his blood surge straight to his cock.
She turned and walked the rest of the way up the cargo ramp, and Brynn tried to make his erection go away. This was ridiculous, he wasn’t a youngling with no self-control, so how did she keep having this effect on him?
More to the point, while he was trying to be confident and supportive, he wasn’t sure if the emperor of the galaxy was going to decide four scruffy, tattooed dragons from a backwater outer planet were good enough for his daughter.
In the cold light of day, Brynn didn’t know how Alora would ever convince her father to let her come back here, but he didn’t want to be the voice of doubt when even Argon was encouraging her.
***
“Your majesty!” The voice of a well-oiled servant brought Alora back to real life, and she didn’t like it at all.
“Inform my father of my arrival. Tell him I need to speak with him urgently.” Truth be told, she didn’t need anyone to announce her presence, but she also didn’t want a servant hovering around her right now.
“Are you going to be all right?” Sharpe asked.
“Yes.” She smiled at him and nodded. “Because you four will be with me. Right?”
“Always,” Argon replied to general nods of agreement.
Taking a deep breath, Alora headed to the throne room, flanked by four dragons. The gilt and dark teal decor seemed showy and unnecessary after her time away.
She knocked, and the tall, expensive redwood door swung open, held by another servant.
The most important man in the galaxy was practicing his putting with a big golf club. Alora was supposed to have a working knowledge of golf, but she was far more interested in crazy golf because at least that was entertaining. Anyway, golf had originated on Earth, and according to Earth tradition, the so-called sport was male-dominated. Alora had very little interest in any activity that suggested she was inadequate because she had a pair of boobs.
“Daddy?”
Five heads turned toward her, and she suppressed a giggle.
“Alora. Thank goodness you’re safe! When I didn’t hear from Grand Vizier Devizes, I thought he must still be searching for you.”
Alora set her jaw as the doors closed behind her. “He found me. He tried to sell me as a sex slave, along with a man named Kurzon.”
“What? This is an outrage! Where are they? I’ll tear them apart with my bare hands!” Her father’s face flushed a deep red, and his expression was thunderous as he waved the golf club menacingly.
“They’re already dead.” Alora stared at the floor. “I accidentally... uh... accidentally turned into a ginormous dragon. And I killed them.”
There was a clatter as the Emperor-Paramount dropped his golf club in shock. Alora noticed he didn’t ask her if she was sure she’d really changed into a dragon or a myriad other questions that would imply he had no idea of her species.
“So, you knew, then?” Alora wanted to be more surprised. “How are you even alive?”
He turned to the servants at the doors. “Get out! All of you!”
They scurried away, and Alora was alone with her father and four dragon daddies.
“Did you know?” she pressed.
“That you were a pearl dragon? Of course. You’re not a half dragon, silly girl. You are cloned from my DNA with some minor alterations, such as your gender. I was cloned from my mother, and she from my grandfather and so on, for millennia. The court physician ensures we are all sufficiently full of conundrium carbide to keep us humanoid.”
“And... we came from
Telia II at one point?”
“No. We never set foot there. Wretched planet. There was... ahem... a rift in thinking when the other dragon subspecies went there. We chose to settle here, on Nidia, because the outlook seemed better. The entire royal family of pearl dragons came. All twelve of us. And now, there is only you, my dear. And I, of course.”
“Was mama a dragon, too?”
“My wife? Goodness, no. Nidian, through and through. Probably rotating in her grave at the thought she married someone who wasn’t humanoid.”
“Is that why you survived the explosion?” Alora asked.
Her father nodded. “It would take more than a trifling bomb to kill a pearl dragon.”
“Trifling? It took out the whole of Government Prime!”
“I am aware. It’s being rebuilt as we speak, as are parts of the palace. Some of my ministers weren’t so fortunate, and we are in mourning as a galaxy.”
“If you’re a pearl dragon, why didn’t you take care of the other dragons?” Argon demanded. Alora’s stomach wavered a little, in case her father was offended by Argon’s impertinence.
The emperor-paramount chuckled. “It would have made sense, wouldn’t it? Except, we warned all of you not to go to Telia II, and you wouldn’t listen. You deposed us. Had a nice little revolution, and what responsibility did we have to you all after that? There’s no helping some people.”
“When was this?” Alora asked.
“Oh, about two thousand universal standard years ago.” He smiled wryly. “My grandfather. The other sub-species were quite insistent they had no need of us, by all accounts.”
“We need Alora,” Sharpe said, and Alora heard the urgency in his voice.
“Daddy, they are in real bad shape. All the dragons are being hunted by elves, and we need to move them.”
“You believe they will allow you to assist them?” The emperor-paramount raised a brow in doubt.
“These four have asked me. They might not all want someone to lead them, but it’s what they need. And I know you’ve got an entire galaxy, but if we used to be their royal family, surely it’s time that was restored, for everyone’s sake. They can’t take care of themselves. They require help.” Alora hoped the other dragons wouldn’t take her words badly.
“You are my daughter, and you need to be ready to replace me. You understand your first responsibility is to the entire galaxy?”
“I know that,” Alora nodded. “I’ve been told my entire life.”
“Good. Because there’ll be no one to remind you while you’re off gallivanting with the common dragons. I’m not in any danger of kicking the bucket any time soon. Go and play with fire.”
Alora’s heart soared. “Thank you! There’s one more thing though. The dragons need a planet of their own. There’s one in the same system as Telia II. It’s currently called Telia I, because it’s closer to the sun, and it’s never been settled for the same reason, but I want to rename it and claim it for the dragons. I’ve been to the surface. There’s no humanoid life there.”
“Fine, fine. Have all the details sent to me, and I’ll get my new Grand Vizier to draw up a protection treaty as soon as I employ a new Grand Vizier.”
“Uh, can I make a suggestion, Daddy? It seems like anyone who wants to be a Grand Vizier should just be drowned on the spot.”
“Indeed.” The Emperor threw his head back and laughed. “But they are rather useful for busy emperors who enjoy eating, sleeping, and partaking in the occasional round of golf. You and I can take care of ourselves as you discovered when you fired my previous Grand Vizier.”
Alora didn’t like the idea another power-hungry man might enslave her in the future even if she could burn him to a cinder quite easily.
“One last thing? We’ll need some peacekeeping forces, transport ships, and such to help remove the dragons. The elves are quite hostile if somewhat ineffective.”
“No can do, cupcake. I’m awfully sorry, but we’re on the brink of war with the cyborgs just now, and I have nothing to spare until this misunderstanding is cleared up.”
Alora gasped. “Is Zanthia okay? They wouldn’t hurt her, would they?”
“She’s fine. Rather unfortunate incident with one of the outer planets. It’ll all be over by the new year, you mark my words.”
Alora nodded but resolved to get in touch with her friend, anyway. It had been far too long.
“If that’s all, I have work to do. Grand Vizier Devizes was a ghastly fellow, but he did keep my time well-managed. If the elves cause any issues, tell them to bring their grievances to Nidia along with the five years of back-taxes they owe the Interplanetary Alliance. I believe the total is several times higher than their annual GDP from eco-tourism.”
“Will do.”
“And good luck. Think of this as leadership experience.” Which was emperor-speak for insisting Alora didn’t bother him with her problems or hurdles. She sighed and nodded, then left for her bedroom. At least he hadn’t put her to death for premarital sex with commoners.
On the way, Canavan leaned in and murmured, “Finally, the stupid hippy elves have shot themselves in the foot. Who knew they weren’t paying their taxes?”
“My father. Off the top of his head. The day something actually surprises him is the day he’s too elderly to run the galaxy.”
“A war with the cyborgs, though...” Sharpe trailed off, looking thoughtful. “That sounds ominous.”
“It sounds like everything’s under control,” Alora countered. “We have our own problems. Like how in the stars are we going to move a planet’s worth of dragons across outer space?”
“That is the big question,” Argon mused. “I think we need to spend some time on that before we tell anyone else about our plans for Telia I.”
Alora nodded. She opened the door to her bedroom and gazed around. Somehow, the fifty-feet square room seemed small and cloying. She wondered what she should take. Most of it was frivolous, useless stuff she had only needed because she had lived on Nidia. Party gowns, expensive jewelry, tight, high-heeled shoes... why would she keep any of it if she didn’t have to?
Opening the closet, she picked a few things and stuffed them into a bag, then opened the top drawer of her dressing-table. At the back, it had a secret compartment. She pulled out a small box and opened it to check the contents were still there. A printed photograph of her as a child, holding her mother and father’s hands. A simple piece of blue ribbon her mother had tied in her hair for her sixth birthday party. A pressed flower from a family holiday when they had managed to elude the paparazzi long enough to go on a nature walk together. A handwritten birthday card from her grandparents. None of it was worth any money, but these items were Alora’s most treasured possessions.
Satisfied, she closed the lid and put the box in the bag. She grabbed her tablet and turned to leave.
“It’s all so bland, isn’t it?” she remarked. “You’d think after twenty-seven years in this room, barring time spent at schools, I’d have made more of a mark on the place.”
“The humanoid traditions of filling a small indoor space with an accumulation of useless objects completely baffles me,” Argon replied. There was general agreement among the dragons.
“How will I run an entire planet without a big palace full of furniture, expensive princess dresses, and stationery?” Alora suddenly wondered.
“Effectively,” Sharpe said.
Alora couldn’t help laughing. “I suppose the princess will live in a cave with one cavern for each of her mates?”
“It will be pretty unusual if you decide to stay with just the four of us,” Brynn pointed out. “Most dragon females move on after laying their eggs.”
Alora’s heart twinged with sadness at the thought of leaving her men.
“But... no one will have to do that anymore. Not once we have a safe planet to live. I grew up here on Nidia where people pair up for life, and I think that’s kinda important. On our dragon planet, I want all the baby dragons to h
ave the security of knowing all their parents. Females and males will bond for life if they want to.”
She stopped talking to concentrate on walking down a long marble staircase. It was the type designed to make public figures slip over and look graceless on intergalactic television. She had never understood why people still used polished marble for flooring, it was the silliest display of wealth—except for the Grand Vizier’s gold toilet on the spaceship she’d blown up.
“Are you saying... what I think you’re saying?” Sharpe asked.
“Do you wanna bond for life?” Brynn asked.
“With us, he means,” Canavan clarified.
Argon remained silent.
Alora stopped at the bottom of the stairs and turned to look at them all. “Yes. If none of you had other ideas.”
“Be certain of what you’re saying,” Argon urged her.
She was about to reply, but suddenly, pressed her lips together as they approached a group of tourists who immediately started pointing their tablets at her and taking photos as a hapless tour guide attempted to stop them approaching the princess. Two servants opened the main doors, and she stepped out, realizing she probably wouldn’t walk through these halls again for at least several centuries. Alongside the sadness at leaving everything familiar to her and saying goodbye to her father, for the time being, a ginormous weight lifted from her shoulders, and she took a deep breath, realizing she was free to choose her own path for the first time in her life.
Crossing the sweeping driveway, she stopped at the ship and waited for Brynn to open the cargo bay door. Only once they were inside did she finally address Argon’s words.
“I’m completely sure. I would like all four of you to be my daddies forever. I feel queasy thinking about being apart from any of you. I can’t even imagine how the other females feel when they have to leave their males and their eggs behind. Nobody will need to spend their lives running, scared, or alone.”
Argon squeezed her hand and smiled. “Some people will insist on holding on to the old ways out of stubborn pride.”
Flame Daddies Page 13