by Loki Renard
“Where is the child? The adoption agency woman will be here soon.”
“I gave him back,” Lilly said, glowering at the old man she had once called Father.
Lazarus’ face contorted with rage. “What do you mean, you gave him back?”
“I mean I went upstairs, opened a portal, and I gave him back to his parents, because that’s where he belongs.”
Lazarus drew in a breath that sounded like hot wind blowing across dead leaves on a stone floor. His gnarled hands formed two fists. “Foolish girl, you have ruined everything!”
“I’ve ruined nothing. You underestimated me.”
“As a duplicitous whore? Yes, I suppose I have.” He stalked closer, his features twisted with rage, his bile flowing freely now that he was no longer playing even a fraction of the part of father. “You’ve betrayed me. And I’d put money on it that it was for the same reason women always betray themselves in the end. Some hard cock drives all sense from your limited brain. How many of them fucked you while you were in the dragon realm? Don’t deny it! You stink of dragon seed.”
“You left me to their mercy,” she snarled. “I do not think you expected them to show it. Because you don’t understand them. You do not understand honor, or joy. You do not even understand love. All you understand is power, and that has made you weak.”
“Weak! You call me weak!”
“You are weak. Real dragons do battle with fire and talon. You wage war with teenage girls and infants,” she snarled. “You are not worthy of Casimer’s time or interest. You were barely worthy to perish in this realm.”
There was a sound of metal scraping softly, her sword rising from the scabbard.
“You will not harm me, child of a whore,” he laughed, making no move to defend himself. “You will show mercy because you believe in the lies the weak tell themselves. You will swing that sword high and you will bring it down, but you will not cut so much as a hair on my head. You do not have the nerve or the spirit. You are like Mika, like that little bastard prince. You are of tainted, diluted blood and you have never been a daughter to me.”
She lifted the sword high, her eyes filled with tears of rage. He was wrong. Oh, he was so very, very wrong.
The blade swung through the air, singing toward his neck. A fraction of a second before it made contact with the traitorous scum that had fathered her, a portal snapped open behind her, two strong arms wrapped around her waist, and she was dragged back into the dragon realm.
“Let me go! Let me kill him!”
She tried to fight her way back, but the portal had already snapped closed. She tried to open another one with the portal trinket, but that was yanked from around her neck by a large hand and thrown across the floor. She was back in the dragon realm. Trapped in the dragon realm.
“That’s one thing I will not let you do,” Vitomir growled in her ear as she fought furiously, not really understanding that it was him, but knowing whoever it was had stopped her from ending matters as they needed to be ended.
“Let me go back and finish him,” she snarled, her eyes still filled with angry tears.
“No,” he said firmly, unwrapping her fingers from the hilt of the blade. “No,” he repeated as the sword fell to the floor. She was still fighting him as he turned her around, his golden eyes looking deep into hers, and repeated the word again. “No.”
“Why?” She wailed the word into his face. “Why are you saving him?”
“I am not saving him. I am saving you. That was one act you would never forgive yourself for,” Vitomir said. “Hell will take Lazarus. He will never have another opportunity to act against this realm. Casimer will ensure that, believe me.”
“But he can still turn into a dragon. He can still manipulate people. While he draws breath, we are all in danger. For all you know he is about to open twenty portals and send thousands of… of…”
“He is dying, Lilly. We know it. We saw it. You saw it. He has very little life left in him, and what awaits him will not be pleasant. Don’t you see what happened when he realized he had failed? He taunted you. He wanted you to bring that blade down on his head, but killing him now would be a kindness he does not deserve. Forget him, pet. Forget he ever existed, for soon, he will not. He has failed, don’t you see? This was the last attempt of a desperate man. He threw all his resources into this, and at every turn he was foiled. He will not try again, because he cannot try again. There are no great armies massed on our borders. He had enough sway and enough money to hire one mercenary force, and their massacre left him with a huge target on his back. Fate is descending on him rapidly, pet. You do not need to lift a finger to harm him.”
“I won’t be free until I know he’s gone.”
“You won’t be free until every thought and deed does not revolve around him. You’ll be free the day you wake and you don’t think about him, or his actions, but instead about yourself, your new life, me.”
“I won’t ever forgive him. Not ever.”
“Then don’t. Forget him.”
He wasn’t going to let her go back. He wasn’t going to let her have her revenge. She let out a wail of anger and collapsed against him, sobbing with rage for all she had lost and all she had never had. She struggled too, squirming and pounding her fists against his chest. Vitomir took it easily, let her exhaust herself against him until finally she had no more energy to fight or to scream and all she could do was whimper.
* * *
She did not know how long she had been held in Vitomir’s arms, but the sudden opening of the door behind them and the booming of the king’s voice brought her swiftly back to reality.
“You there!” Casimer exclaimed.
A terrible fright gripped Lilly, a sense of guilt that didn’t make any sense, but was no less powerful for it. She turned in Vitomir’s arms to see the king stalking toward her, his pale eyes fixed on her. What had happened now? Had she somehow committed another sin against the crown?
She sank back against Vitomir as Casimer closed the distance between them. Every audience she had ever had with this monarch had been bad, and the churning in her gut made her suspect some new and terrible thing.
The king stopped before her and broke out into a warm smile, reaching out to clasp her hands in his much larger ones.
“Thank you,” he said. “Thank you a thousand times.”
“No need to thank me,” she said, lowering her eyes. “I had to do it. It was the least I could do.”
“It was far from the least you could do. It was an incredibly brave and selfless act. You could have been walking into any number of traps. You could have been harmed terribly, but I did not see even a hint of concern for yourself in your eyes when you went to retrieve my son. You were as brave as any of my guard could have been.
“I know your time here in this realm has not been easy. I cannot imagine that Vitomir was an easy master… but in spite of your ordeal, you were willing to sacrifice yourself for an innocent life. And, Lilly, I cannot thank you enough. Not just because you saved Vadim, but because you showed me that mercy is not always a mistake. The small mercy I showed you in the beginning has been repaid a thousand fold.”
“It would have been better to just kill Lazarus in the beginning,” she mumbled. “Then you wouldn’t have needed to show me mercy, because I wouldn’t have existed to come here and try… well… you know.”
“I showed him mercy of a kind. He could not see it. I showed you mercy of a kind too. It was no easy pardon, to be put into Vitomir’s care, I am sure. I have a feeling you have received the most arduous training of any female of human blood. I am sure that you suffered at times. But you did not become twisted. You showed me that you were worthy of all the mercy in the realm. My son owes his life to you, my wife owes her heart to you, and I, I owe everything to you.”
Lilly stammered something that didn’t make any sense and blushed. She had no idea how to take praise of this kind. It was overwhelming, so much so that she found herself turning and h
iding her face in Vitomir’s chest.
“She has been through a great deal today, sire,” Vitomir said. “Forgive her for her reticence.”
“I understand,” Casimer said. “Take good care of her, Vitomir. She deserves to be spoiled.”
Epilogue
Deck the halls with bells of rraawwwerrrrrrrrryy!
Carols sounded different when sung by inebriated dragons, but Lilly was starting to enjoy them immensely. In the very hall she had once burst into with hate in her heart and steel in her hand, she now sat curled in Vitomir’s lap while all around her celebrations of a new kind were in full swing. Christmas had come to the dragon realm, and it was all thanks to the man who held her tenderly as a magical kind of mayhem unfolded around them.
After rescuing the prince, Casimer had been prepared to offer Lilly almost any reward. The open offer had spurred her imagination into overdrive and led to all sorts of what Vitomir had dismissed as ‘nonsense.’ He had vetoed her more outlandish requests before they reached the king’s ears, and finally had outright told her that he, not she, would decide what her reward would be. Some pouting had followed, but now she was glad for his insistence, for this was everything she could ever have wished for and more.
It was the first Christmas the dragon realm had ever experienced, but the palace had thrown themselves into it and as a result the new tradition had already spread to quite a number of noble houses.
“Good Christmas,” Vitomir said, handing her a colorful stone chest. The dragons had not gotten into the idea of wrapping up boxes, but they were master craftspeople and so they had created many little chests. The one he gave her was marked with bands of bright ruby and gold. In many cases, she was sure that the box was worth a lot more than whatever was inside it.
“Happy Christmas,” she smiled back at him through the tears in her eyes. She still could not quite believe that this was happening. He had made her dearest dream come true, and all those who had once run from her in terror now gathered around and celebrated with her.
Suffice to say, the dragons did not understand the finer points of the celebration, and Lilly had overheard some fascinating theological discussions. One was taking place right behind her at that very moment between a rather inebriated lady dragon and several members of the royal household who displayed varying grasps of the concept.
“We’re celebrating the birth of a baby in straw, I gather.”
“That can’t be right.”
“The son of a god, they say.”
“So it was a baby eater of worlds.”
“I don’t believe humans have a concept of world eaters.”
“They wouldn’t, would they. Silly squishy flightless little things.”
“From what I’ve gathered, it’s a celebration about giving and sharing and receiving and having and new life and saving the world and general good will and something about a ninety-day return policy if the tags are still on—though the latter ritual appears to have been added more recently.”
“Covers all bases then.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Something about a game played with a ball and a bat and tight pants.”
“Hm. I like the cake. And this nog of eggs. It pleases me.”
Lilly giggled at their commentary as she snuggled into Vitomir’s arms, set the box upon the table, and opened it. Her jaw dropped. She was looking at a shining circlet of shimmering diamonds several rows deep all mounted on a silver band an inch or so wide.
“Oh, my god,” she gasped, turning to look into his handsome face. “It’s… that’s… beautiful.”
“Since you broke the dragonsbane collar you have not had one. But every good pet deserves a collar.”
Vitomir rumbled the words as he took the collar from the box and slid the jeweled piece around her neck. Lilly beamed as he clipped it in place. Truth was, she had missed the comforting weight of the collar, and this one was so beautiful she couldn’t imagine herself resenting it as she had done the first.
“You can take it off whenever you please,” he said. “And you can put it on whenever you like, because you’ll always be my pet and I don’t need a trinket to prove that.”
Their lips met in a passionate kiss as the chorus started up again, their rumbling voices growling through familiar carols and making them strange and wonderful and incredible all over again. Horns swelled, voices rose in rampant celebration, and beneath the white starlit sky, Lilly and her lord were as one.
The End
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Additional Books in the Dragon Brides Series
The Dragon’s Pet
When her plane goes down near the front line of the ongoing war between humans and dragons, Aria comes face to face with one of the enemy, and then the terrible beast transforms before her eyes into a huge, devastatingly handsome man. Taken captive and brought back to the dragon’s lair, she quickly discovers that he intends to keep her as not only his prisoner, but his pet.
Her captor wastes no time in stripping her bare, placing a collar around her neck, and putting her shamefully on display. Aria’s attempts to escape are sternly punished, but even with her cheeks blushing and her bottom burning both inside and out, she cannot hide her helpless arousal as her new master takes her hard and thoroughly, enjoying her beautiful body in every way he pleases.
After she learns the truth about the cause of the war, Aria is forced to question everything she was taught, and soon her former enemy has claimed her heart as completely as he has conquered her body. But when the need arises, will she do what she must to protect the one she loves, even if it means being branded a traitor to her own kind?
Buy on Amazon
The Dragon’s Captive
Graduate student Kate Ferrier has been obsessed with dragons for years, but when she manages to construct a portal and enter their realm she is promptly captured by Vilka, a powerful dragon lord who, like the rest of his kind, can also take the form of a huge, handsome man. Believing that she could not have reached his world without help and wanting to know who sent her, Vilka decides to interrogate Kate in the most intimate, humbling way imaginable.
Stripped bare, spanked thoroughly, and put on shameful display, Kate finds herself quivering with desperate desire as her naked, helpless body is tormented with pleasure more intense than she would have thought possible. Soon she is blushing crimson as she begs her stern, handsome captor to take her long and hard, and when Vilka claims her at last she is left utterly spent.
Though a part of her delights in wearing Vilka’s leash and collar, Kate is not ready to spend the rest of her life as his captive. Determined to get herself home, she sets about creating another portal, but to her horror her efforts inadvertently awaken an ancient beast of immense power. With everything they love in peril, Kate and Vilka are forced to work together, but can they stop the terrifying creature before it wreaks unimaginable destruction on both of their worlds?
Buy on Amazon
The Dragon King’s Pet
Eighteen-year-old Mika Ferrier has never concerned herself much with stories of the war between men and dragons, but her life changes in an instant when she is pulled through a portal that appears suddenly in her room one night. She awakens in an opulent palace in the company of a huge, handsome man who explains that he has taken Mika captive for her own protection.
After Mika is stripped bare and spanked thoroughly, her owner sets about training her, and soon she has been fitted with a leash, collar, and tail. Yet even as she blushes crimson while kneeling naked at the dragon king’s feet, Mika cannot help yearning for him to take her in his arms and make her his own. But can she dare to hope that one day she will be more than merely his pet?
Buy on Amazon
Leashed by the Dragons
Nineteen-year-old orphan Brianna Packard learned quite a bit about getting out of tough situations over many years spent fending for herself, but nothing could have prepared her for the moment she is grabbed off the street by two powerful dragon shifters intent on bringing her back to their world, training her as a pet, and then selling her to the highest bidder.
Though Valkimer and Chak expected that taming a human female would be a simple task, Brianna turns out to be as clever as she is beautiful, and when she escapes it is no small feat to recapture her. Determined to master their feisty little captive, they waste no time in stripping her bare and spanking her soundly, but that is only the beginning of her punishment.
When she continues to defy her new owners, Brianna soon finds herself bound and on display, with her bottom on fire both inside and out and her naked body teased until she is quivering with helpless, desperate desire. By the time her captors are convinced she has learned her lesson, she is all but begging them to take her in any way they please, and when the two handsome warriors claim her at last the pleasure is more intense than she would have thought possible.