by Ruby Dixon
I squirm with pleasure. Aron doesn’t have to include me in his “job.” He’s the God of Battle, after all, but he likes to get my thoughts on things, and I love that he respects me enough to listen. “Of course.”
“After dinner,” he amends. “You must be hungry. Shall I feed you?” His eyes gleam with intensity.
“Maybe later.” I pat his chest. We both know that feeding me usually turns into some hardcore sex. The man gets wildly aroused when I eat a piece of fruit, and well, I do too. “We need to talk about something important.”
He turns my hand over and presses a kiss to the inside of my wrist, his tongue flicking against my skin. “More important than me feasting between your thighs?”
Unf. This man makes me crazy with lust. He’s good at distracting me, and it makes me super hot that he’s this affectionate in front of the Faithful—his army of soldiers who’ve earned their place at his side. There is nothing I’d like more than to drag him to our private chambers, jerk his pants off, and suck on his length until he’s pulling my hair. I’m all aroused but I really did want to talk to Aron about important things. “We have a…I don’t know if you’ll call it a problem,” I begin, a little worried.
He looks up from raining kisses on the inside of my arm. “Problem?” He frowns, and his other hand tightens around my waist. “You did not eat yesterday, either,” he says, remembering. “What ails you?”
Thunder crashes overhead, different from the booms that normally accompany Aron. This is rage—and fear. He’s worried about me. The others quiet in their seats at the table, the massive hall going silent as all eyes turn to us.
Awkward.
I pretend to pick a piece of lint off of Aron’s battle-tunic. “It might be nothing…”
“Woman,” he growls.
“Has a name,” I remind him.
“Faith.” His eyes flash brighter than any lightning and he grips my wrist tightly. “Tell me what is wrong. Has someone bothered you? Do I need to destroy them?”
“You romantic,” I tease.
He doesn’t laugh.
I bite my lip. “I’m not trying to scare you. I’m just…”
Aron’s jaw clenches and he pulls me tight against his chest. He leans in close, his breath mingling with mine. “There is nothing to be afraid of, my Faith,” he murmurs. “You know I will cross the Aether to keep you at my side. If I must invade the Underworld once more—”
Oh gosh, now he’s getting super worked up. I pat his chest, trying to calm him down. “Nothing as bad as that. No need to go to war. I just…” I try to think of a delicate way to put it because I’m not entirely sure what he’s going to think. Or if he’ll even like the idea at all. My stomach clenches and not for the first time in the last few days, I feel sick. Really, really sick.
What if Aron hates this?
“I’m pregnant,” I blurt.
He stares at me. “With a baby.”
I slap his chest. “No, with a fucking roasted chicken. Yes, with a baby!”
Aron’s big hand goes to my stomach. He presses lightly against it. “Here?” His voice is low, smooth, impossible to read.
“Do I need to give you an anatomy lesson, big guy?” I half tease, but I’m quietly freaking out. Aron’s a god of battle and thunder. He likes destroying things and going to war. How’s he going to handle a baby? “It seems that because I’m still mortal-ish, I’m in the weave. Yulenna saw a new thread coming from mine and I’ve been sick the last few days and my boobs inflated and—”
Aron’s hand goes to my breast and he cups it thoughtfully. “They do seem larger.”
I slap his hand away, conscious of all the Faithful staring. “Aron,” I whisper. “You haven’t told me if you’re happy or not.”
“I never thought,” he murmurs, and then caresses my stomach again. “Truly?”
“Truly.” I watch his face, anxious.
“And…it will not harm you to give birth to my child? To a god?” He looks worried for a moment. “I will not have you in pain, Faith—”
I shake my head, cutting him off. I realize his reluctance is fear—fear of losing me again. Sometimes when I sleep, Aron comes in from the endless battles and just holds me for hours on end because he’s terrified of losing me again. I love that. And I love him. “I’ll be fine. We’ll talk with the god of family if we have to. You said he was back, right?”
“Gental? Yes.” His gaze flicks over my face and then he cups my neck. “This is…you’re certain, Faith?” When I nod, his face splits into a boyish grin. “A child.”
“Or a roasted chicken. You guess which one.”
He laughs again, the sound booming and not unlike the thunder that constantly rolls across the Plane of Storms. He gets to his feet, me in his arms, and tilts his head back, shouting to the heavens, “I am to have a son!”
“Or a daughter,” I chime in as the keep erupts in cheers.
His eyes really light up, then, and I can tell he fucking loves that idea. “A daughter of battle.”
“Or whatever he or she wants to be,” I tell him primly.
Aron laughs, the sound so full of joy that it makes all my worry disappear. He’s not a man that can hide his emotions, and it’s clear he is utterly thrilled. “A child,” he roars again as the Faithful thump their mugs on the table in appreciation. “Our child!”
More thumping.
He looks at me, his eyes alight with fierce pleasure, and then turns on his foot and storms away from his throne.
I cling to his neck as he carries me down the hall. “Where are we going?”
My gorgeous Aron grins down at me. “I am going to worship my anchor’s body, because she has given me the greatest of gifts this day.”
For a man that’s pure arrogance, he sometimes knows just the thing to say. I lean against his chest and sigh happily, knowing that I’m going to have hours of sweet pussy-licking to look forward to. If there’s one thing Aron loves, it’s to go down on me, and I am all too happy to receive. “I suppose if I must appease my lord’s hungers,” I say, pretending to be long-suffering and patient. “Then I must.”
“Your lord is utterly ravenous for his beautiful, mouthy anchor,” he says, kicking open the door to my rooms. “And one good mouth deserves another.”
So it does. So it does.
Author’s Note
Hello there!
It feels very, very weird to have this book out in the world. I’ve been sitting on it for so long and not mentioning it to anyone that it’s almost become a THING. Like, now that you have read it, we have to enter into a super secret pact to never share what we have learned. Except…I hope you love it and tell all your friends about it, because that’s how books succeed, right?
So I’m just going to have to get over it. ;)
The reason why I feel weird about this book is that it’s been several years in the making. If you’ve followed me along at all, you know I like to publish on a monthly schedule. Sometimes I run behind, and then I’m scrambling to catch up. There’s never a ton of ‘boredom’ time because I’m always moving onto the next project. However, two (maybe three?) years ago I got into my head that I wanted to write a fantasy romance. A big, fat, filthy one with all of the tropes that I love. I wanted to give it enough time to be as long as it needed to be. I didn’t want to rush the story. I loved the idea of it being slow burn but still sexy as hell. I loved the idea of a portal fantasy
There was ZERO time in the schedule to do this, and why would I take away from Ice Planet Barbarians or Fireblood Dragons or anything else, right? So I backburnered it for a while. Then, I made a file and said, Ruby, you can work on this, but ONLY a little every day after you’re done with your regular work. So I did. I started in February 2017. I worked on it a little bit at a time, and it was my secret play project when I needed a break, or the thing to look forward to at the end of a long writing session.
And I told no one about it. Well, I told Kati about it, because I tell Kati everything. :) A
nd I told a few readers about it or left hints that I was working on something on my downtime, but I didn’t say what or when, because if I mention I’m working on something…people want to know when it will come out. And since this was a side project, I had NO idea. So I worked on it here and there when I could, and it became my secret, my precioussss.
Cue January 2019. Still not done. My husband took me aside and said I needed to work ahead if I ever wanted to get this book done. I knew he was right. So I did. Ever since January, I’ve been pulling double shifts and long, long writing days to try and make time in my schedule to finish this book. I finally carved out about a month of nose-to-the-grindstone writing…
And here we are!
Faith and Aron have their happy ever after, but there’s still a million stories in the book that I didn’t get to tell. There wouldn’t be enough time in my day to go over how Yulenna first felt when she was taken by the Spidae, or if Markos ever gets a badass Cyclopae lady, or if Rhagos gets himself an anchor of his own…or what the blood glacier is. #feelsbadman
Those are stories for another day. :) Hopefully I can wedge more of them in my schedule at some point.
(Speaking of stories, if you want Mathior and Halla’s story, they’re in The King’s Spinster Bride which I wrote a while back!)
I hope you enjoyed this. I hope it made you laugh, made you cry (maybe a little?) and made you turn the pages faster. More than anything else, I hope you’re entertained!
I would love for you to leave a review. Tell me what you thought! <3
Ruby
The Pantheon of Aos
The High Father, Ruler of All
The Twelve
Magra, Lady of Plenty
Tadekha, Goddess of Magic
Riekki, Peacekeeper and Knowledge-bringer
Anali, Lady of Light and Health
Belara - Goddess of Beauty
Aron, Lord of Storms, Butcher God of Battle
Kalos, One of the two Dark Brothers, Lord of Disease
Gental, God of Family
Kassam, Lord of the Wild
Rhagos, Lord of the Dead, one of the two Dark Brothers
The Spidae, Lords of Fate
Vor, God of Seas
More books, you say?
Want to read more of my backlist but don’t know where to start? I’ve got a few suggestions! Everything is in Kindle Unlimited, so click away!
I want more fantasy romance!
Beauty in Autumn
The King’s Spinster Bride
I like my heroes to be dangerous dragon shifters!
Fire in His Blood
Fire in His Kiss
Fire in His Embrace
Fire in His Fury
I want to try ICE PLANET BARBARIANS!
Ice Planet Barbarians
Barbarian Alien
Barbarian Lover
Barbarian Mine
Want More?
For more information about upcoming books in the Ice Planet Barbarians, Fireblood Dragons, or any other books by Ruby Dixon, ‘like’ me on Facebook or subscribe to my new release newsletter.
If you want to talk barbarians on Facebook, there’s also a fan group called Blue Barbarian Babes who love to discuss everything on the ice planet! I’d love it if you check them out.
If you want to hear what I’m reading or follow the rest of The Club authors (Ella Goode, Kati Wilde, Alexa Riley), join our Facebook group, The Book Fort!
Thanks for reading!
<3 Ruby