by Celeste Raye
“Thanks for sharing that,” she said quietly, crossing her long leg over the other. “I know you’re not a man of many words.”
I watched her legs with guarded interest and briefly wondered if I should use this moment of relative quiet to kill her. Choke her and leave her to the fire. Then I looked back at the Zallu and imagined it ripping my leg apart for taking down its new little friend. I’d been in exactly one exchange with a Zallu before, and they didn’t mess around.
“A taciturn,” Diana said softly, the thick glaze of sleep tugging at her voice. “That's fine. That's hot.”
I swallowed and narrowed my gaze at her: the glowing fire illuminating her delicate features. “You must be kidding.”
She laughed and waved me off and at that moment, I began to wonder what it must be like to set my hands on her, to feel the delicate parts of her body. I wanted to feel her breasts and get a taste of them: a taste of her skin. The more she spoke, the more the lust rose up in my body. I could feel myself harden under her gaze: from a hateful passion or a newfound respect, I wasn't sure.
“So, if you could do anything, what would it be?”
I bit my lip at the comment and thought, I’d rip your clothes off. Instead, I swallowed hard and said, “I'd stop fighting. I’d leave the pits. Come back up and take our desecrated lands and make them beautiful again. We used to live in the most envied planet in the system. Now we live in a hole in the ground.”
Diana raised her finger in protest. “For protection.”
My brows rose and quickly lowered. “So they say. We used to have creatures come try and fight us for our land, and we thought they were pond scum. We had rich resources. Now we're just as they were.”
“Fighters,” she said passionately, as though she were correcting me.
I laughed. “Desperate.”
“Well then… How would you do things differently?”
I shook my head. “I'm not big on making a difference.”
“That’s too bad,” she said, almost seductively. “Is it because you don't know how, or because you don't feel like you can?”
I thought on the question and couldn’t seem to find the answer or just couldn’t say it out loud. She let the silence hang between us and then uncrossed her legs, stretching them out and rubbed her hands up and down her calves.
“I think you can,” she said finally.
I looked at her and smirked. “Hm.”
“Do you know how long humans live?” she asked, and I shook my head. “Say we have eighty years. That's, what?” she said quietly, counting on her fingers one after another. She twirled her tongue and concluded, “Maybe one hundred and six ‘full cycles’?”
“It’s actually more like—”
“—Not a math assignment,” She interrupted, and I couldn’t help but chuckle. “My point is... You guys live ten times that long.”
“So…” I ran my cold hand across my forehead and then frowned, perplexed. “Sorry? What is your point?
“Humans eighty years to make a difference, and we try like hell. Shifters live for a thousand, and you’re just hoping to survive.”
I frowned, suddenly realizing she wasn’t being sweet with me; she was telling me off. A deep heat rose up in my chest, and I set my jaw. “Shouldn't that make you sympathetic to us?”
“No,” she said stubbornly. “Take over a planet, force an alliance with the Earth, just do something. You're not even trying.”
“Pardon me. It's not as easy to secure a treaty when your people are dying off.”
She shrugged playfully, giving her patented ‘So?’ expression. She leaned hard against the metal behind her, and I could feel the heat radiate from her body. “I think you can.”
“Is that so?”
“Why not? You're strong, and you're smart enough. You've crawled your way up the totem pole; you're running around for the D’Sharr. You should be able to get whatever you want.”
“Yeah,” I laughed. “Not all of us have riches at our disposal. Not all of us—”
She cut me off, and I speared her with a hard gaze as she said, “I think you're just a coward.”
“I think you're spoiled and delusional,” I snapped. “You want to rule, just like every other self-serving creature, and once you realize Boradrith will toss you aside like the rest of them, I bet you'll be the first in line to leave us.”
She cocked a brow and scraped her teeth along her bottom lip in fury. She turned to me, our bodies so close that our thighs were touching. Then she slapped me across the face. Her hand mishit, and I could feel her stiff fingers crack against my mouth, mashing my lip against my teeth in a pang of sharp pain. Dots of blood trickled down the center of my mouth, and I bore daggers through her with my eyes.
“Take that back,” she seethed.
I turned to her and nearly growled with the deep, dragon’s roar. I grabbed her shoulders, my claws emerging and digging deep into her skin. I should just kill her now and get it over with.
Diana swallowed hard and tried to pull away, but my grip was firm. I slammed her into the metal behind us.
“Boradrith loves me,” she said sharply.
“Boradrith loves many, many women,” I corrected, enunciated my words. “And besides, you don't love him,” I quieted, loosening my grip gingerly.
Diana’s dark brown hair fell in front of her face, and she jerked from my grasp, flipping it out from her sightline. Her breasts heaved with heavy breaths, and we glared at one another as though breaking the contact would send us careening down a dangerous cliffside; like something unseen surrounded us and we were too afraid to look.
I wanted to tell her she was a pawn; that she’d be in better sorts if she left the D’Karr and gave the D’Sharr no reason to hate her. But before the words could leave me, Diana leaned in and just barely grabbed my lips with hers, stealing eye-contact the whole while.
Her lips softly grazed mine with their sticky pull. The kiss was hesitant and aware, as though she were testing me. As our lips found one another, her contact became more aggressive than before, more passionate.
I released my grip on her shoulders and found her face, bringing her closer to me and dancing my mouth around her delicate features, my stubble scraping against her skin as I went in hungrily for more.
My tongue invaded her small mouth, and the taste of her filled my soul, sending a wave of pleasure through my body. I could feel myself getting hard as she pressed her body into mine.
I slipped a free hand down to her waist, my fingertips tickling their way up her shirt until they were splayed out over her breasts, squeezing them and holding the weight of them in my palm.
I felt a spark of electricity run from the back of my neck down to the pads of my feet, and she pulled away suddenly, taking a firm grip on my hands and leading them out of her blouse.
"I think we should leave," she whispered.
"Is that right?" I said slowly, unbelieving.
"Yes,” she said in a sultry tone that I don’t think she meant to sound like.
My eyes flicked back and forth from hers; her eyes were searching me for some alternate ending to our brief tryst. Then all at once, the lust that once glazed over her stare fell away and she stood from my company.
“Let’s go,” she snapped.
Diana
It had been more than a week since my incredibly strange encounter with Kavryiss. I hadn’t seen him much since then, aside from a few nights guarding Sillevia’s room.
A purple shifter who acted as a representative to the D’Karr sought me out while the D’Sharr was busy. Probably plotting different ways to make my life miserable. The representative, Jakartez, ushered me into Boradrith’s quarters for the first time since his son had returned to Dobromia.
Boradrith wasted no time finding his way inside me. He didn’t even bother removing my clothes or kissing me this time. In fact, he didn’t do much of anything. The whole arrangement lasted just a couple of minutes before his body released into mine.
<
br /> I lay on his bed of furs and wrapped my legs around him, my pant leg still hanging onto my left calf.
“I’ve missed your touch,” he said sweetly, nuzzling into me and pressing his forehead against mine. “I’m glad I could steal some time to see you.”
“Wait,” I breathed. “That’s it?”
“I’m sorry,” he cooed, brushing his thick hand through my hair. “But I have to go. We have an operation happening that I have to oversee.”
“I haven't seen you in so long. Stay with me,” I said, running my finger through his beard.
Boradrith’s yellow eyes followed mine, and he settled back into the bed, pulling me on top of him and tickling my sides. I slapped his hands away and erupted with laughter. He smiled at me in the charming, enchanted way he always did and then traced the back of his fingers over my stomach.
“I want to create another with you,” he breathed.
“One isn't enough?” I giggled, grabbing his hands and laying them flat on my thick hips.
“I want a whole brood,” he explained with a grin, his eyes widening as though imagining it already. “I want them all to look like you, and think like you.”
“Well, that can be arranged,” I said, biting my lip.
The golden shifter reached back between my legs and began to breathe hard into my neck. I could feel him stiffen and gesture for me to move on top of his penis. I laughed politely and leaned down to kiss his mouth.
“Oh, stop,” I teased in a whisper and batted his hands away. “Aren't there enough mouths to feed already?” I said and immediately hated that I’d used Kavryiss’ expression.
“My love,” he said lustfully. “I can't spoil you enough.”
“I know,” I said with a sweet but firm demeanor. “But isn't everybody... isn't food scarce?”
“Not for Plovoeus,” the shifter said, still tracing his touch up my body and back down again. “He'll always be taken care of.”
“Not according to Sillevia,” I scoffed.
“Why, what did she say?”
“Something horrible,” I said with a roll of my eyes. “That she’d use Plovoeus to feed the others when the time comes.”
Boradrith looked genuinely horrified by his mate’s reaction. He pulled me down toward him so that my hair made a curtain around our kiss.
“The way she treats you is unbearable. I'm sorry, Diana,” he said parentally, wiping the hair from my eyes and holding it behind my ears. “I certainly hope it goes without saying I would never do that.”
My eyes went wide, and I laughed. “Good!”
“I always take care of you. You are my...” He paused and then tapped my nose, waiting for me to guide his words.
“Family,” I said with a genuine smile.
“Family,” he nodded. “You mean everything to me. You are mine.”
I nodded my thanks and leaned in to kiss him once more before bashfully beginning, “Athena was saying that, um, the other dragonlings are being pushed out of the way for Plovoeus.”
“Of course,” he said matter-of-factly, as though I should feel pampered by his response. “I told you. I take care of my family. Besides! You worry too much, my love. Soon we won't need to worry. My son has brought back an instrument that's going to change everything.”
I raised a brow at him and cringed inwardly as his mention of having a son who wasn’t Plovoeus.
“A machine that will destroy one of the suns. Soon everything is going to go back to the way it was. We will flourish. With you here, all of you, we'll prosper even more.”
I nodded slowly. “So... you don't plan on going back to the Earth anymore?”
“If this works, we wouldn't have to.”
“Oh,” I said quietly. “And Tredorphen? He's going back?”
“No, of course not. He belongs here, with me. He will take over when I'm gone and lead our people. He's smart. That's what I love about him. It's what I love about you. Just look,” he said breathlessly and pointed out the vast window of his quarters at the view of the new, metallic city building day by day. “Look at what you've done for us already.”
“Right,” I said with a distracted dismissal. “So, our son isn't in line for leadership anymore?”
“Well… no?” he said with a confused frown. “Tredorphen is in line. Then Plovoeus.”
My heart sank. I thought the whole point of our conceiving was to create the ruler he desired…
“Besides,” he continued, almost jovially, “Sillevia would demand it.”
I could feel my face growing hot with incredulity as the words tumbled from his mouth. “Excuse me?” I coughed. “I thought she wasn't going to be a problem. Silly me.”
“Diana... Diana...” he said quietly, stroking my hair. “Just a little longer and all of that will be out of the way. It won't be long now. But, of course, our son is still so young. Tredorphen has been trained his whole life for this.”
“Of course,” I repeated coldly.
With that, the dragon king sent me on my way in haste, saying he’d spent too much time speaking with me already. I stepped out from his quarters and blinked in surprise as I saw one of our former security detail standing in the hallway.
Her name was Alexa; she had deep chocolate skin and short black hair, completely exotic and lean. She was everything I wasn’t. My eyes followed her in what felt like slow motion as she caught my eyes in surprise.
“Alexa?”
The beautiful girl raised a brow nervously and clasped her hands together, offering me a nervous smile, nodding, her eyes to the floor as she gave me a shy bow.
“Was I assigned a security officer?” I asked in confusion.
“Um, no, ma’am,” she said in a smoothly flowing, feminine voice. Her eyes still evaded mine and I felt as though all the life drained out of me, slow and dripping. It was so real to me I began to fear I would slip in it.
“Oh,” I said, resolute as I looked back at Boradrith’s door. “I see.”
Afraid to move, Alexa simply hovered in a half curtsey, waiting for me to say something. I put my chin up and watched her, giving her a dismissive, quick flick of the wrist.
Kavryiss was right. The D’Karr had other mistresses.
And I was just a stupid girl.
I made my way back to the Vorteous wing with slow, heavy steps. A sob elbowed its way up my throat, but I swallowed it quickly, sinking into a weighty numbness.
A breeze rushed by my body, and I looked around to find the air as humid and thick as it ever was, as though I had imagined the wind.
The walk back to Vorteous from Boradrith’s quarters took forty minutes without shifter assistance. I pitched myself through one of the steep windows that lined the massive staircase that started at the bottom of the pit and worked its way up, spiraling to the topside.
I looked down at the immense drop below and then up to the stars, watching as the lights from various shifter quarters and buildings lit up in the night. The buildings were situated on the side of the cliff, protecting us all from the heat. The rooms looked so small from the window; it was like looking up at a thousand floating lanterns.
I sat there for some time, just inches from falling to my death, when I heard Kavryiss’ voice spiraling up the staircase. I quickly hoisted myself out of the window and spun on my heel, fixing my hair and pretending I was going back down so I could bump into him.
He walked up with Tredorphen and Marina at his side, the two males deep in conversation. I caught the purple shifter’s eyes, and I watched as his pupils trailed after me.
“Oh,” Tredorphen said quickly when he noticed me, “Diana,” he said formally.
“Hello,” I said quietly, averting his gaze and busying myself in my bag. I fished out a large folder and handed the papers to the D’Karr’s son. “My research,” I insisted. “The Western sun is the older one, easier to destroy. The Eastern one is hotter. Those are the bullet points, but the information’s all there if you want to go through it yourself.
&nb
sp; Tredorphen looked down and scratched at the cleft in his chin, his eyes roving around the papers. He nodded his thanks and I looked to Marina as though she were still a commanding officer. For a moment, I forgot who I had become.
I watched Tredorphen grab his wife's hand, and I set my jaw with a wave of emotions crashing over me like a violent storm. One changing thought after another. The two remained where they were, clearly not done with Kavryiss' company.
I walked between them so that I was just a foot away from the purple shifter. I set a hand on his bare, muscular chest and stood on my tip-toes. I leaned into his ear and whispered, "Wanna play?"
The expression on his adorably full face was that of pure shock when I pulled away from him. It was so genuine it made me smile. I felt numb and full of lust and revenge.
"Take me to the water," I whispered.
He nodded his dismissal to Tredorphen and without another word we made our way from them. He threw my arms around his shoulders and pulled me closer. His immense, thick wings spread out before us and it took only a second before we were headed skyward.
The sky was dark and full of fog, clear of the sun that I had grown to resent. The night air was crisp and cold, and my skin relished the reprieve. The stars here outnumbered anything I had ever seen before.
In a short time, we landed on mossy ground topside. A vast lake was spread out before us and seemed to glow and hum. I looked into the waters that radiated a yellow light and looked to Kavryiss. "What's in there?" I said evenly.
"Nothing dangerous," he said, and I decided to believe him.
I marched up to him and threw my jacket to the ground, hastening to undo the buttons of my blouse as his eager hands found the small of my back. I leaned up and kissed him, pressing my tongue against his and tasting his spit, taking it into my mouth in heaps as our mouths wrestled for domination. I let out a loud moan as I reached down the front of his armor and found he was already hard.
The length of him filled my hand and then some, causing heat to radiate from my core. I grinned in the midst of our kiss, causing our lips to part. He set his hand gently on the back of my head and ran his fingers through my hair, pulling me closer and kissing from my mouth to my jaw, down my neck and back again.