The Dragon Lord's Pet

by Loki Renard

  In taverns and public houses throughout the realm, the news of the birth of the royal heir was being eclipsed. In the aftermath of the king’s birthday celebrations, there were three words whispering their way across the land, passing from mouth to ear, spreading faster than dragon fire.

  The Obsidian One

  “Did you hear?” a peasant hissed to his friends. “There are tales that a black dragon was seen at King Casimer’s court. That she tried to attack him.”

  “Those are not tales,” a merchant replied. “Dozens of courtiers saw it happen. It was a small female dragon, her flight form barely of any size, but with an impressive flame.”

  “I heard she was bigger than Casimer himself, that she tore the throats out of a dozen royal guardsmen before being stopped by the High Lord Vitomir.”

  “Where is she now?”

  “Chained in the royal dungeon in shackles of dragonsbane, if they have any sense.”

  “Pshhh… if they have any sense, she’ll have been killed on sight. A black dragon is an omen of ill-luck.”

  “Nonsense! A black dragon is an omen of good things to come.”

  “It depends how you read the texts.”

  “Or if you bother to read them all,” a priest in the corner snorted derisively. “Not a one of you has come to worship in years. You’ve forgotten the ways of the older ones, the world eaters. The obsidian dragon may as well be a bunny that delivers chocolate eggs to your beds for all you know or understand of the prophecy.”

  “Alright, old man,” a farmer snorted right back. “We don’t pour our gold into your coffers anymore, that’s true enough, but there was a black dragoness that tried to kill our king. That’s real, not your stories.”

  “If that’s real, then the stories are real, which means your decision to starve our coffers of gold is going to have effects, you fool.”

  “Leave the old man alone.” Someone grabbed the farmer’s arm before he could respond to the old priest’s taunt with a solid fist to the mouth. “His time is done. We’ve a new heir to celebrate. Let’s drink to little prince Vadim!”

  Vadim!

  Everyone mumbled the word and threw drink down their throats, but their minds were occupied with the shadow of a black dragoness.

  Chapter Nine

  Being caged was tedious, and though she was still very much intimidated and even somewhat afraid of him, Lilly soon found herself eager to see Vitomir when he came to get her. The room he kept her in was not used by anyone else and in the hours she was not being toileted or bathed or… used, for want of a better word, she was left very much to her own devices. That was the worst punishment of it all. The minutes stretching by with an ever increasing sense of regret.

  When she had arrived in the dragon realm, she had known only hate for the king. Lazarus had been clear on that, instilled it in her, sharpening her mind as much as he had sharpened her blade. She had known one thing above all others: that Casimer had to die.

  Now she was not so sure. Here, her father was seen as a criminal outcast and so was she to a lesser extent, and yet the punishments had been unusual, but not cruel. She was being shown some form of mercy, twisted as it was though the lens of a dragon’s gaze.

  She was curled up with her thoughts when the door opened. Vitomir walked in and she scrambled for the door of the cage.

  “I’m not coming to get you out just yet,” he said before her hopes could rise too far. “I have meetings to attend this morning. You, I will see later on.”

  “But… I’m bored,” Lilly said, clinging to the bars of her cage. “Please…”

  “I know, which is why I’ve brought you this.”

  A heavy leather-bound tome dropped through the bars. She caught it in both hands and looked up at him in confusion.

  “What’s this?”

  “It’s a book of dragon script. We dragons find it easy to pick up your primitive walking language, but it is time you learned how to read and speak high dragon.”

  She leafed through the book and saw that it was marked with strange pictographs or glyphs, none of which made any sense to her.

  “Human language is a dance of subject and objects,” he explained. “The dragon tongue does not require that tension. Once you learn to read this script, you will find that thoughts and images seem to leap off the page in complete forms. There is none of this word by word drudgery that is reading human script.”

  “Huh?”

  “A common learning phrase in your language: the quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog. In dragon tongue you would express the jump and then the fox and the dog. Action proceeds all other parts of language. So, roughly, one would say: jump quick brown fox lazy dog.”

  “That sounds like the lazy dog is doing the jumping.”

  “It sounds that way because we are communicating in your very linear script. When you learn to read as dragons do, you will see how it all becomes quite unnecessary.”

  She frowned down at the book, doubtful. “It still sounds, I don’t know… dumb.”

  His brow raised and she was glad that she was behind the bars because she was sure she would have earned herself a swat had he been able to touch her.

  “Terribly sorry our language—the language of your blood—sounds dumb to you, pet, but I promise you, it is a thing of power. Our language is one of the ways we move material and matter. Learning to speak properly involves using every part of yourself, not just the human small mouth noises.”

  She turned it over in her hands and shrugged. “So this is a ‘teach yourself dragon’ book or something?”

  “No, but it is the simplest book I own and we can work through it from time to time, teach you something of the world and language you have claim to.”

  He pulled a small sheaf of papers out from his coat and handed them to her. Much like the book, they seemed to be handwritten, but in a more casual hand. His hand. When she opened them up, she saw that he had provided rough translations of some of the symbols, a basic alphabet and some word meanings.

  “That should be an effective key,” he said. “Even when I am not here, you can work on this material. Try to figure out the first page as best you can before I return.”

  “You’re giving me homework, you mean,” she said. “Or cagework.”

  “I’m giving you something to keep that agile little mind of yours occupied and save you from neurosis,” he said with a smile. “Now, to work, my pet.”

  He left the room and she sat, staring after him, turning the book over in her hands. Just when she thought she knew what to make of him, he surprised her. Thus far he had been a lusty dominant dragon whose primary interest in her seemed to revolve entirely around the conquest of her body. He called her pet, he treated her like an animal. He barely acknowledged that she had a mind… and yet now he was obviously making an attempt to educate her.

  She felt a glimmer of hope and a little warm glow at the realization that maybe he was starting to see her as something more…

  Chapter Ten

  Vitomir spent a great deal of time training his pet over the next days and weeks. There was much to teach her, and the sex was only the beginning. She was remarkably receptive to his instruction, though she remained rebellious at times. As the days went by, he softened progressively, rewarding her for that which she submitted to, and punishing her for that which she did not. He did not let himself forget that she was essentially a prisoner there for punishment and she was yet to atone for what she had done.

  “Time to return to your cage,” he said as a day’s training drew to a close. She lay next to him, her eyes half closed in contentment, her sex filled with his seed.

  She let out a little whine, and truth be told, he felt the same internal whine at having to send her away to remind her of her place, but he did not voice it.

  “Before you complain, you can use the facilities,” he said, gesturing toward the bathroom.

  “I guess that passes for kindness from you,” she said, sliding out of the bed.
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  Vitomir watched her pad across the floor. He did not stop her and demand that she kneel and crawl, but knew he probably should. Or perhaps not. He rarely got to see her figure in that natural position. As alluring as her rear was when crawling, it had quite an appeal walking away as well.

  He watched her until the door closed behind her, admiring her form. She was quite a stunning little thing, and he could not stop thinking about how it had felt to be inside her, to feel her flesh like molten fire around his. In all his years, Vitomir had never experienced such intense coupling. Every time he entered her he felt his spirit soar. There was conquest and there was heat and there was rebellion and there was her willing slick slit that gripped him so tightly as he plundered her pussy. All traces of virginity had been thoroughly erased from his pet.

  “I never thought I’d be so glad to use a bathroom,” she said as she returned, sliding into the bed with a languid stretch. “Or lie on a bed.”

  “Enjoy it a little longer, pet,” he said. “Then you go back to your cage.”

  She cut her eyes at him, the beautiful deep blue sparking angrily between her dark lashes. As submissive as she could be when caught in lustful embrace, she was always irritable when it came time to be returned to her cage.

  “When are you going to stop punishing me,” she said. “I’ve done everything you’ve asked. I’ve let you…”

  “You haven’t let me do anything. I’ve done it to you and you’ve submitted to it,” Vitomir corrected her, sitting up to land a hard slap on her rear. “You think a few rolls between my sheets is all it takes to atone for an attempt on a king’s life?”

  “I didn’t try that hard,” she mumbled, rubbing her bottom where his hand had met her skin.

  “You tried hard enough to cause chaos,” he said. “Lilly, you are in trouble. You are going to be in trouble for a good long while. How long would you be punished in your realm for such an act?”

  “I’d probably…” Her shoulders shrugged a little. “I’d probably have life in prison.”

  “So not a few days or weeks in a cage, but decades,” Vitomir snorted. “You are already receiving great mercy from me, pet. Don’t push your fortune, lest it fail you.”

  Her lower lip slid out below the top lip, giving her a pitiful expression and her eyes welled a little as she looked at him. “But I don’t like the cage,” she sniffed, her entire demeanor so perfectly helpless and pathetic that Vitomir was tempted to give in and say she could stay with him. He pushed the temptation aside.

  “Then you had best be a good girl while I am training you.” He stretched and stood. It was time to put her back where she belonged.

  He knew she thought he was being cruel. But he would have much preferred to have her curled up with him all night. It would have been perfect to feel her tender body against his, to enjoy her as he pleased. In time, she would earn that right. Giving it to her now would only spoil her.

  “I don’t want to go back,” she pouted again. “I’m hungry. Can’t I at least eat before you put me in there?”

  It had been quite some time since she had eaten, Vitomir could at least acknowledge that. It would not do any harm to feed her.

  He called for food to be brought to the room, but the little smug smile on her face at having delayed being caged did not last long. Every moment could be turned to an opportunity, and this was no different.

  In minutes a servant brought plates of sliced meats and fruits and vegetables. Vitomir had them placed on a little table next to the bed and turned to his pet.

  “Kneel,” he said, pointing to the side of the bed.

  She dropped to her knees on the floor, pleasing him with her obedience. It was difficult to read the expression in her eyes. He did not think it was true submission, but there was certainly less anger than there had been in the beginning. She was no doubt confused by the circumstances she found herself in, her body and mind addled with the power of their lovemaking. Even Vitomir felt somewhat disoriented by the experience.

  It had perhaps been a mistake to mate with her so soon; he was now connected to her in a way he had not been before. It felt to him as though some deep part of them had forever merged, sealed and bonded in the fire of their lovemaking—but she was still his prisoner and she still needed to be trained.

  “You say you are hungry, pet?”

  She nodded.

  He took some smoked meat in his fingers and held it toward her. She understood what he intended immediately, a soft blush breaking over her nose and cheeks as she parted her lips and took food from his fingers.

  “Good, no?” He ate some himself, enjoying the tender strips of aged meat that practically melted in the mouth. He fed her a little more and she took it almost as though she had been trained like this from the beginning. There was no doubt that she was a smart little thing, capable of learning quickly, so when he felt her nibble at his fingers, he knew it had not been an accident.

  “Uh uh, little pet,” he chided. “You’ve been far too eager with those teeth.”

  He watched as she tried not to smirk and then failed. Shaking his head, he picked up some fruit and ate it, looking down at her as he decided what to do with her.

  “A gag,” he said. “You will certainly need one of those.”

  “No!” she whined quickly. “I won’t bite again, I promise.”

  * * *

  “Naughty, pet. Very naughty. I showed you leniency, and look what you did.”

  Lilly squirmed under his golden gaze. She had not been able to resist the urge to nip his fingers, though she didn’t really know why entirely. She already knew that taunting this man was a bad idea. He did not play by any of the rules anyone in the human world played by. He could do anything to her—so why would she tease him? Why didn’t she hate him now? He was making her kneel, he was feeding her from his fingers, and all she was really worried about was whether or not he intended to actually keep her, or whether he would get bored and cast her out.

  She should have been praying for him to throw her out, hoping for any kind of escape. He was a stranger who had collared, cuffed, caged, fucked her—and done so many humiliating and even painful things.

  Maybe it was because she knew she deserved some kind of punishment for what she’d done. The moment she’d come through the portal and seen the faces of those around her, she’d had to work to cling to the hate she’d been taught. When he’d thrown her to the ground and she had shifted below his talons, her very first feeling had been one of pure relief. He had given her something to hate, something to fight against.

  The truth she was yet to admit to anyone, including herself, was that she was very confused. Lazarus had primed her to commit an act that was not truly in her nature, but she had pretended to be fierce and aggressive to please him. She would have twisted herself into almost anything to earn his approval. And yet, now that she was in the custody of Vitomir, she had no urge to escape back to him.

  It was all so much to think about, to even try to puzzle her way through. She didn’t know what was in her own mind, let alone her heart.

  “Eyes on me, pet.”

  She lifted her gaze to him and everything got a lot more simple. His golden gaze held her as he extended his fingers, another little morsel for her stomach. She took it without teeth and swallowed it down, still looking at him.

  She needed him. He was like magnetic north, giving her some way to orient herself in this strange world where she was an enemy of the state. It was too big a burden for an eighteen-year-old to bear on her own. If not for him, she would have crumbled. She could never have stood being imprisoned alone for years. She could never have managed the solitude and isolation. His taking her had been a mercy of sorts, one she couldn’t yet bring herself to thank him for, but one she knew she owed him for.

  “I won’t bite again,” she promised more softly.

  He quirked a brow and wiped his fingers on a napkin. “We will see, pet. Come up here.”

  She slid up onto the bed, emitti
ng a soft whimper as he took hold of her and guided her to lay face down across the soft coverlet. His hand ran down her back, over her lower cheeks and slapped her lightly. He seemed to be waiting for something, though she really didn’t know what. For long minutes, he spanked her gently, making her rear sting without making it really hurt.

  A knock at the door drew Vitomir from the bed. There was some quiet murmuring at the door and then he returned, his hand full of leather straps with silver buckles and something else she couldn’t quite make out.

  “Stay face down, pet,” he ordered. “Eyes front.”

  She felt him move her hair out of the way, and then begin to apply the straps to her body, buckling them together so that they formed a lattice across her naked form. He rolled her from her front over to her back, lacing the straps around her breasts after the fashion of a very minimalist bra. When all was done, straps ran from her head and shoulders, around her breasts, down her stomach between her legs, and up the crevice of her rear. Every sensitive erogenous zone was touched by the harness, which culminated in a strap that ran between her teeth, effectively gagging her.

  “That will keep my boots safe,” he murmured, tightening the straps until she felt held very snugly and secure. It was not clothing in any sense of the word, it did not cover, and as she squirmed beneath his touch, she felt the subtle way it rubbed her swollen pussy, the leather straps around her breasts holding them high, putting her pink nipples on display.

  He toyed with them a little, teasing them into erectness before adding a little extra surprise—two little clamps that clipped over the buds, holding them quite firmly. She let out a gasp through the gag and put her hands up to stop him, but Vitomir tutted and swatted her hands away.

  “Hands and knees,” he ordered. “Knees spread.”

  Lilly took up the position with another little whimper of complaint. She did not know what was in store for her, but she knew it was unlikely to be pleasant. He had some twisted plan in mind; that much was obvious.