by Cara Bristol
* * * *
O’ne ducked behind a pillar and watched as H’ry entered the enclosed courtyard with the swimming pool. She took a huge risk sneaking into his personal chamber each evening. Her night vision was as sharp as her day vision, and she would sit in his chair, hold his clothing to her face, and breathe in his scent while watching him sleep. When she sensed him wakening, she’d leave, carefully avoiding the string he’d placed across the portal.
No good can come of this obsession with the human, the dragoness warned.
You are right.
Then why do you not heed my words?
Temple construction was progressing rapidly, her precious freedom burning so quickly, soon there would be nothing left but ashes. Her acolytes had been enjoying their independence and chattered nonstop about the wonders they’d observed. Their quarters were fragrant with the musk of happiness. Some had partaken of the pleasures of the flesh. They’d taken care to purify afterward, but sex hormones wafted on the air, too.
O’ne didn’t chastise them because she’d issued no restrictions on their freedom, had told them to go forth and live, and her transgressions were far more egregious than anything any of them could have done. She burned, she lusted, she coveted a human male.
The Eternal Fyre had never been without a temple. All norms had been suspended. They couldn’t cloister in chastity when they didn’t have a temple to retreat to, when they didn’t have a Fyre to serve, so the acolytes reveled in their temporary autonomy. She wished she could embrace the independence. In her dreams, she soared on the thermals with H’ry, sharing the world with him from on high. Except for the flight from the landing pad to the desecrated temple and then to T’mar’s palace, she hadn’t seen Elementa.
To contemplate taking him for a flight would be crazy dangerous…wouldn’t it? The dragoness hadn’t said too much about him lately. Perhaps her animosity had waned?
Wouldn’t you enjoy seeing Elementa? she asked.
With the human male? After I torch him, sure.
What would it hurt to accept him?
The fact that I will kill him at the first opportunity is the only thing preventing you from abandoning your duty.
I would never renege on protecting the Eternal Fyre! she snapped. To her detriment, she had put duty before personal satisfaction with one exception—when she’d killed those who’d taken her daughter. And she’d paid for the act with the sacrifice of her dreams, her desires, her freedom.
Fool yourself, but you cannot fool me. Your deepest desire is not service.
There is no temple right now. Why should she not be relieved of her responsibilities like the others?
We are the temple. The sacred fyre burns within us.
She wasn’t invincible but near to it. Even in woman form, she could conjure fire from air or expel it from her being. With a flick of her finger, she could kill. Should she require reinforcements, she had the fealty of every single dragon. They feared her, but there wasn’t one who wouldn’t give his life for her. Not that she needed them to. She and the dragoness had an army’s strength, stamina, and firepower.
All of which rendered her near untouchable.
In more ways than one. Other than Rhianna and Helena who’d embraced her, and H’ry, who’d kissed her, no one had a laid a finger on her in thousands of years.
Perhaps if you sought a concubine, you would not be so tempted, the dragoness suggested.
That is unprecedented.
But not forbidden. Why do you prefer to flirt with danger?
Because it wasn’t physical release she sought—but peace, contentment, belonging. In H’ry’s arms those needs had been soothed—and contrarily heightened.
Feeding her desires had increased them.
To kill a craving, you had to starve it. Thus, the intent and purpose of cloistering—to separate oneself from bodily pleasures and secular pursuits. Perhaps she had erred in granting the acolytes a taste of independence. Look what it had done to her. Somehow though, she sensed they would handle the freedom better than she had.
Unworthy. Why had the Eternal Fyre chosen her?
H’ry had kept to his promise not to seek her out. He had to be aware of the desecration, and that she’d moved into T’mar’s palace. Helena would have kept him informed. Obviously his feelings hadn’t run as deep as hers. Perhaps he has forgotten me already. Perhaps I was only a novelty to him.
The dragoness was right. H’ry posed a danger to her peace of mind no one else did. He caused her to burn with want, to crave his company, to long for the impossible. This obsession had to end here. There would be no more nighttime visits. She would not come again.
Turning away from temptation, she fled for the safety of her chambers.
Chapter Seventeen
“Dim overheads and perimeter lights to 25 percent,” Henry ordered the room. It wasn’t moonlight but close enough.
He stripped to the altogether, tossed his pants and shirt onto a waiting chair, lowered himself into the waist-high dark water, and began a competition-speed race down the length. He made little splash, cutting through the water with fast, precise strokes. If he could tire himself out, he might be able to fall asleep again.
He’d completed two lengths and had started on the third when the sensation of being watched crawled over him. He raised his head and sucked in a mouthful of water. O’ne stood next to his clothes.
He dropped his feet to the bottom and stood up. Why had she come? Why now when he’d gotten himself under control? Okay, not really. But he would have, and this visit would result in a setback.
His gaze roved over her alabaster-smooth face and then followed the braid of white-white hair down to a coil at her feet where bare toes peeked from beneath the hem of her gown. Seeing her like this, he could forget she was a near-deity, perhaps a full goddess. He saw flesh and blood woman, and, when he raised his gaze to her face again, the longing in her amber eyes dashed any hope of doing the smart thing and sending her away. He wouldn’t be able to deny her anything. Whatever she offered, he’d take. Whatever she asked for, he’d give.
“I, uh, heard about the temple. I’m sorry,” he said.
She clasped her hands in front of her. “I thought you’d come see me.”
“You asked me not to.”
“I hoped you’d break your promise.”
He’d teetered on the verge many times. “I’m kind of on lockdown, and I didn’t know how to find you.”
“I’m staying on the far side of the palace.”
Had he known, nothing could have kept him away. Not even his promise.
She canted her head, her eyes quizzical. “Helena didn’t tell you?”
“I forbid her to talk about you.”
She had prohibited her from mentioning his name, but his words hurt, and she flinched. “My apologies, then, for disturbing you. I shouldn’t have come. It won’t happen again. Please, continue with your swim.” She rushed for the exit.
Let her go. Let her go. “O’ne! Wait!” He started to leap out of the pool then realized he was naked.
The wall melted away. In two seconds, she would be gone.
“I wouldn’t let Helena talk about you because it hurt too much. I missed you too much,” he said.
She halted.
“Stay. Please.” Why torture himself like this? It would be best for both of them if she left.
His breath caught in his lungs when she didn’t respond, didn’t speak, didn’t look at him. Then her shoulders slumped. “I missed you, too.” She turned around. “I tried to stay away, but I couldn’t.”
She raised her hands and then let them fall. “But nothing has changed. I can’t offer you anything. Construction of the new temple will be completed soon and then…”
His heart thudded with pathetic hope. “When will that be?”
“In about a week.”
He offered her a smile. “That’s more than two days.”
“So, it is.” To his relief, she advanced farther int
o the room, pausing by the chair with his clothing. She glanced at the garments.
“Um—if you’d toss me a towel, I’ll get out of the pool,” he said.
“Or I could join you.”
Heat spiraled, lighting up nerve endings. “Can you do that?” he asked hoarsely. “I thought dragons avoided water. It won’t put out your fyre, will it?”
She laughed, a girlish sound filled with such lightness and joy, he fell for her all over again. “Our fyre is a manifestation, not a real flame. Dragons don’t immerse themselves because they are hydrophobic, but there’s no danger. On Earth long ago, I had no choice but to bathe in rivers, and I came to enjoy it.”
She undid the shoulder fastening, and then her gown puddled at her feet. The light and his gaze gravitated toward her and caressed her smooth, pale skin. She had rose-tipped smallish breasts and a narrow waist flaring out to mature hips. She reminded him of the Madonna, womanly but holy. Temptation did indeed pave the road to hell.
She slipped into the water with a small splash.
He was so fucking done for. It killed him, but he had to give her one last chance to leave. To save them both. “Are you sure about this?”
“This is the only thing I am sure of.”
“It will end.” A horrible, hopeful part of him ached for her to contradict him, tell him they would make it work, because god or fyre or pixie in the sky help him, how would he let her go again?
“Yes. It has to.”
“Parting will be painful.” Was he reading too much into her visit? Maybe she didn’t feel as strongly for him as he did for her. But if he was a diversion, a way for her to kill time until the temple was ready, he wanted her anyway.
“Pain can’t be avoided—so why not grab joy and pleasure whenever we find it?” She slid her palms up his chest and pressed her lips to his.
He groaned and pulled her hard against him, letting her feel the effect she had on him. He kissed her with awareness this hello would end in a forever goodbye. He drowned in the feel, scent, and taste of her, warm cinnamon and a heady exotic spice. Their tongues mated and caressed. He roamed his hands over her shoulders and spine and lower, to cup her ass and haul her closer. She moaned, and his blood turned molten. Time would race on, but he refused to rush this. If he could, he would slow time to a standstill. “How about we swim?” he suggested.
“I don’t know how.”
“I can swim for both of us. Okay if I turn up the lights?” He wanted to see her better.
“How’s this?” She stepped back and raised her palms. Like fireworks, lights shot from her palms into the air to form tiny floating, glowing flames.
Yet…another reminder of what she was, the inappropriateness of this assignation. Fuck it. He didn’t care. If he got fried to a crisp, he didn’t care.
Her gaze turned hesitant as if she feared she’d gone too far. She was the most powerful dragon in the world, possibly the most powerful being in the galaxy, and her vulnerable expression slew him.
“Perfect. Like you.” He pressed a soft kiss to her mouth and then wound the rope of her hair around her waist and secured the end in the coils.
“Why did you do that?”
“Safety.” Her braid was strong and long enough to secure a boat to dock—but it could also get sucked into the pool drain. If there was one. Draconian tech continued to impress him, but better safe than sorry.
The water lapping at his waist covered her breasts. “The pool is an even depth. If you need to, you can stand up at any time.” He flashed a grin. “But you won’t need to. Just hold onto me.”
“Like this?” She wrapped her arms around his neck. Her abdomen pressed against his erection, her soft breasts against his chest.
“Hang on. Here we go.” He secured an arm around her waist and then pushed into the water onto his back, O’ne lying atop him. When she was settled, he used both arms to propel them through the water.
“This is almost like soaring through the air!” she exclaimed. “Can all humans swim?”
“Most can to some degree.” His lips twitched at the awe in her voice, and then he teased, “Can all dragons fly?”
Her expression was solemn. “Oh yes!”
He kept his strokes firm but slow and steady. “How soon after birth do they fly?”
“Four or five years. They’re born in demiforma and have to learn to shift first.”
He laughed.
“What’s so funny?”
“It’s a challenge for a human parent to corral a toddler who has learned to walk. They get into everything. I can imagine trying to control a baby dragon flying around.”
She giggled. “Yes. It’s a challenge.” Then she sobered, amber eyes clouding. “I never got to see my daughter fly.”
They reached the end of the pool. He held her tight and rolled onto his feet, pulling her into an embrace. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to trigger bad memories.”
“You didn’t.” She lifted her shoulders. “I am grateful you have given me an opportunity to speak about her. I haven’t been able to do that with anybody.” Her lips curved into a sad smile. “I assume she could fly. She wasn’t old enough for me to know. She was born in demiforma, but her features were softened. She didn’t have much of a neck frill, and her snout was very short. Wings don’t sprout until a dragon can shift, so…”
“What was her name?”
“M’re. It means, my fyre.”
He hugged her, and she buried her face against his throat, no longer a demigod but a woman who’d suffered a terrible loss. He would carry her pain if he could, soothe her hurts, protect her from all things bad and evil.
Slender arms gripped his waist. Pillowy breasts melded against his chest. Rounded hips cradled his still-hard cock.
She lifted her face. “Kiss me.”
He brushed a kiss of comfort across her lips.
“No—like you mean it.”
“Oh, babe, I mean it.” She was a fever in his blood, an ache in his groin, his weakness, his obsession. He claimed her lips in a raw surge of need and carried her, her feet dangling at his shins, to the pool deck. Her braid had come unwrapped from around her waist and half floated in the water.
He groaned, and his lips fused to hers in a heated surrender to a force beyond his control. Desire and desperation thrummed a heavy beat. He boosted her up to capture a beaded nipple in his mouth. He sucked, drawing it tighter and harder, before treating the other, and setting her on her feet again. She threaded her fingers through his hair, scratching his scalp, lighting a fire in his soul.
When her soft hand wrapped around his hard-on, the blood in his veins turned molten. Her touch was tentative, unpracticed, and all the more erotic for it. Every awkward, passionate caress stoked the flames.
How had he lived without her? How would he continue when they had to part? Don’t think about that.
Retreat was not an option. For the first time, he felt connected to his dragon essence. Something inside, some small but essential force, needed her, craved her, would always seek her. The tie could not be severed. It would always be there. To be with her was the purest joy; to live without her an agony.
He cupped her face and kissed every feature: her closed eyes, her temples where wayward strands of wet hair curled, the tender lobes and whorls of her ear, the smooth line of her jaw, and those sweet lips. One last kiss, and then he scooped her up and settled her on the pool deck.
“What are you doing?”
“You’ll see.” He grinned, parted her thighs, and lifted her feet to his shoulders.
She was bare, which he assumed was natural. He lowered his head and brushed his mouth over her sex, eliciting a gasp of shocked pleasure. Her anatomy wasn’t entirely like a human woman’s, he did not detect a clitoris, but when he slipped a digit into her channel, he discovered raised ridges ringing her passage. He pumped his finger in gentle exploration, and she arched her neck and moaned. Ah… He grinned in understanding.
He alternated between finge
rs and tongue to stimulate the sensitive rings. When her frenzied movements and heightened cries of pleasure drove him to the near-breaking point, he pulled her off the ledge into the water.
She grabbed his hair with both hands, tugged his head down, and pressed her lips to his in an open-mouthed kiss.
He lost himself in her exotic, bewitching scent and taste. Senses heightened, and his fyre twisted and curled, snapped and crackled like an exploding sun, shooting out tendrils of rapture. How he longed for this coupling to be the beginning of a life together instead of the beginning of another end, this one final.
He turned a blind mind’s eye to his bleak future and poured all his emotion into his kiss. His cock throbbed and ached, and her teasing hands, bolder and surer, ratcheted up the desire.
Take. Claim. Bite. My mate, mine. “I need you now.” He pressed his lips to her neck and nipped.
“Yes!” she gasped, canting her head to the side. “Again.”
He nipped, a little harder.
“More.”
He bit her on the other side of her neck as he positioned her over his cock. “Wrap your legs around me,” he growled, but she was already locking her heels against his ass. Planting his feet wide apart, and holding her buttocks, he thrust into her welcoming, tight heat.
Buffeted on waves of fiery sensation, he moved with a desperation he couldn’t define. Water smacked against the pool’s edge, splashed over the sides. Urgency that was more than sexual burgeoned inside, driving him toward…what? What?
She dragged her nails down his back as she pressed her face into the crook of his neck. “I need…I…need.”
“What, babe. Tell me.”
“You. More. Faster.” She moved against him.
He was lost then, unable to deny her anything. His body took control, thrusting harder, faster, discovering it was exactly what he needed, too. Flames shot higher, extending more tendrils. Searching, searching…
And he discovered what the ridges in her channel could do. They tightened and released in rhythmic contractions around his erection.