Master of Swords

by Angela Knight

Kel stared at him for a long moment as the watching crowd waited breathlessly. Lark thought she glimpsed a suspicious sheen in his crimson eyes. “It would be a great honor, my Liege,” he managed at last. As the cheering rose again, he started to drop to one knee.

  Arthur hooked an arm around his neck, dragging him back to his feet. “Oh, cut that out. You know we don’t do that anymore.”

  The stunned amazement in Kel’s eyes lightened into a grin, and he thumped the former High King on the back.

  Arthur turned toward the waiting Magekind. “As much as I’d love to celebrate all day, the sun is getting dangerously close to the horizon. We’ll meet to postmortem this mess tomorrow, and then we’ll all get drunk again.” He waved a big hand. “Scram.”

  Gates began hastily opening as Majae started transporting their male allies home.

  As Lark turned to cast one of her own, she saw Bors standing off to the side, lost in thought. Gawain, following her glance, moved over to their friend. “How are you holding up?”

  “Honestly, better than I expected.” He took a deep breath and blew it out. “When we were fighting Richard, I finally realized something in him really was missing. And it always had been. Maybe it was a conscience, maybe it was a soul. Whatever it was, he just never had it. And there was absolutely nothing anyone could have done to give him one.”

  “No.” Gawain slapped him on the back and threw another glance at the sky. “Now let’s get out of here before we all get sunburn.”

  “Where do you want to go, Bors?” Lark asked.

  He smiled. “My own bed’ll do.”

  After he vanished through the portal she cast, she conjured a final gate. As Gawain reached out and took her hand, she looked at Kel. “You coming?”

  “No.” He was staring skyward, his face naked with longing. “Actually, I think I want to fly.”

  “Enjoy it, brother,” Gawain told him as he towed Lark through the gate and into his own bedroom.

  “I can’t believe he walked away from Dragonkind,” she said as she undressed them both with a gesture. “Think he’s going to be okay?”

  “He’ll be happier with us than he ever was with them,” Gawain told her, falling into bed with a sigh. He looked up at her, looking deliciously sexy as he sprawled there nude. “Think we’ve got time for a kiss before the sun comes up?”

  She grinned and leaped into bed, landing on the mattress beside him. “Let’s give it a shot.”

  Their lips met in a hot, silken slide, tongues swirling in a passionate dance of love and relief. Lark lifted her head. “I love you.”

  “And I love…” He broke off, his eyes sliding closed as the Daysleep hit.

  With a happy sigh, she wrapped her arms around his powerful waist and rested her head against his shoulder.

  She was asleep almost as fast as he was.

  Lark was the first to wake. Which meant the sun had not yet gone down, though the windows that filtered out the light left the room in darkness. She lay still against him, listening to the slow, reassuring thud of his heart. She’d had a nightmare about feeling his heartbeat stop today as Kel’s blade pierced it. She shuddered.

  She’d come so close to losing him.

  But I didn’t, Lark thought, half-wondering. I did it. I saved him.

  And he saved me. And we saved everybody.

  Slowly, she ran a hand along the warm rise of his chest, savoring the ripples and hollows under her fingers. Silken hair curled under her nails, forming a trail downward. Mischievous, she followed it along his abdomen to the soft sleeping weight of his cock.

  He didn’t, of course, wake. It would be another hour before the Daysleep would release him.

  With a sigh of resignation, she released him and rolled from the bed. After last night’s fight, she felt grubby. Time for a shower.

  Or, better yet…

  She padded to the French doors at the end of the room and slipped through the curtains that covered them. Holding the fabric panels carefully closed with a spell so no light would flood beyond them, she opened the doors and stepped out on the balcony. Gawain wouldn’t burst into flames if the sun touched him, but she didn’t want him getting a sunburn either.

  The sun hung over Avalon’s fairy-tale skyline in a huge flaming ball, painting the sky in shades of crimson and gold. Closing her eyes for a moment, she savored the warmth on her naked skin before padding across the balcony to the railing.

  Kel had constructed an immense pool on the ground just outside Gawain’s window, designing it to look like a natural pond. Extending her magical senses, she realized it was so deep, she could easily dive off the balcony and plunge into its cool depths without risking a broken neck.

  Regretfully, she decided against it. Instead, she summoned her magic and floated over the railing like a leaf, drifting slowly downward until she sank to her neck in the water. It was the perfect temperature—just warm enough without being too hot. With a sigh, she dove under and let it stroke over her body and through her hair as she swam. Finally surfacing, she rolled over on her back and allowed herself to float.

  Something huge flashed by overhead with a glint of blue scales and the whip of a long tail. “Hi, Lark!” Kel called.

  Startled, she jerked upright in the water and conjured a bikini. “Ummm, hi!”

  “Watch this!” the dragon soared upward again and went into a barrel roll, simultaneously breathing flame. The plume of fire corkscrewed around him. “Cachamwri’s Egg, I love doing that.”

  He circled around again in long, lazy beats of his wings, then transformed to human form and drifted downward, a big, handsome man in tailored slacks and a silk shirt.

  She grinned at the child-like pleasure lighting his handsome face. “You seem to be enjoying your freedom.”

  “Oh, I am.” He flung himself down on the grass beside the pool. “You have no idea what it’s like to fly again after being trapped for so long.” The smile faded from his face. “Thank you for saving him.”

  She snorted. “Believe me, it was my pleasure.”

  Kel grinned wickedly. “Or it will be once the sun sets, anyway.”

  A blush heated her face at the thought. “Bad dragon.”

  Kel laughed. “Baby, if you weren’t taken, I’d show you how bad a dragon I really am.” Wickedly he added, “Think they’ll let me in the Ladies’ Club?”

  Lark grinned at him. “Since you’re a brand new knight of the Round Table, hell yeah. Planning to pick up a girl?”

  “Or two.” His grin broadened. “Or possibly even three. I’ve got sixteen hundred years of celibacy to make up for.”

  She laughed. “Have fun, dragon.”

  He rolled to his feet. “Tell your Truebonded I’ll be by later. I miss having the big lug in my head.”

  “He misses you, too.”

  Kel flashed her a look. “Not with you in there.”

  Lark watched him saunter away before banishing her suit again. She definitely wanted to be ready for Gawain’s arrival.

  Floating there, she watched the sun sink, her anticipation rising as it got closer and closer to the horizon. Her smile began an outright grin as it disappeared.

  A moment later a deep voice rumbled from the darkness overhead. “Would you like some company?”

  Lark craned her neck back. “What do you think?”

  A naked body cleared the balcony railing in a long, graceful dive and plummeted downward. He hit so cleanly there was scarcely a splash as he disappeared.

  Lark smiled in anticipation and drew in a breath.

  Just as she expected, strong arms pulled her underwater against the long, muscular strength of his body. She wrapped her arms and legs around him as he drew her into a kiss. Lazily, they dueled with tongue and lips as they floated slowly to the surface, the water slipping along their skin in a warm caress.

  Their heads broke the surface, but they went right on kissing, enjoying the slow rise of passion through their Truebond. Gawain’s erect shaft lay against her belly, heavy and t
aut with need, just as Lark’s nipples pressed against his strong chest.

  She’d felt his pain. Now she could feel his urgent desire growing hotter and hotter as each second passed. In his mind, she could see everything he wanted to do to her, everything he wanted to feel with her.

  And she couldn’t wait.

  Legs twining together, they kicked lazily, just barely treading water. Even the sensation of his skin sliding against hers was breathtaking, echoing as it did from his mind to hers.

  Experimenting, Gawain cupped her breast in a big, warm palm. They both moaned at the sensation. He bent his head and covered one stiff nipple with his mouth, his tongue lazily circling, his teeth gently biting. Lark let her head fall back with a groan.

  A wicked thought flashed through his mind. “Let’s…”

  She grinned. “Oh, yeah.”

  They swam to the edge of the pool. He levered himself out, then eagerly pulled her into his arms. Kissing with sweet, burning greed, they tumbled to the grass together. He left her lips, biting his way gently along the jut of her chin and down her throat. Even as he played, her fingers traced their own luscious patterns over his skin, teasing trails of heat through him. He groaned and began kissing his way slowly downward to the eager thrust of her breasts.

  There, Gawain paused, sipping at first one nipple, then the other. Sighing in delight, Lark worked her fingers through his wet hair and held on as he slowly feasted. Experimenting with the sensations, he used tongue and teeth and even the tips of his fangs until she squirmed, gasping at his rising hunger and her own increasingly desperate need.

  Now, she managed through the Truebond.

  But I want to play, he purred.

  You’re driving me insane.

  Gawain laughed. Oh, I know.

  And it’s my turn. Quick as the thought, she rolled him over on his back and straddled his chest, her head over his groin as she caught the smooth, delicious jut of his cock in her hand.

  With a mock growl, he dragged her up and spread her legs over his face until he could reach her sex. As he gave it that first wicked swipe of his tongue, she engulfed the head of his cock in her mouth.

  They both groaned at the storm of sensation. His. Hers. It was hard to tell where one went left off and the other began. Entranced, Lark lowered her head still more, taking Gawain’s big shaft deeper and deeper.

  It felt a little as if she’d suddenly acquired a giant clit. The sensations when he suckled her were more concentrated, but it was delicious either way.

  Eagerly, they pleasured one another, each lick and stroke building their shared arousal into a blazing, almost unbearable pleasure.

  When he finally slid two fingers into her slick and juicy depths, they almost came on the spot in a shared detonation of pleasure.

  I’m not going to be able to last, Gawain thought.

  Try. She swirled her tongue over the aching head of his cock.

  Teasing wench. Two can play that game. He suckled her fiercely and thrust his fingers deep.

  She yowled around his meaty cock, shivering at the delicious, blazing heat. They certainly can.

  The muscles of her thighs were jerking, and his toes were twitching. We’d better…

  Oh, yeah.

  Lark had no idea who had thought what.

  He rolled over with her and reared just long enough to rearrange them.

  Then, his body braced over her on muscular arms, he started working his cock into her. The sensation was so stunning, they both cried out at the sweet, sliding friction of skin on skin, hard into slick.

  She wrapped both legs around him as he sank deeper and deeper. All the way to her heart.

  At last he could go no farther. Panting, they clung together, his body hard and sweat-slicked against her small, soft one.

  Knowing they’d both come if they moved, they froze like that, staring breathlessly into each other’s eyes.

  Lowering his head, Gawain kissed Lark slowly, lingering over the taste of her mouth. She swirled her tongue between his lips in a teasing little caress.

  It felt so damn good to hold him. To be held by him.

  I could stay like this forever, she breathed in his mind.

  I can’t. His grin flashed. My dick won’t let me.

  Slowly he began to thrust, keeping it gentle though his body wanted nothing more than a hard, plunging ride. She stood it as long as she could before she had to start thrusting her hips, wanting more of him, faster.

  Obeying her need, he lengthened his strokes, working deeper, harder. Lark curled her legs around his muscular backside and held on as the storm began to whirl again.

  It seized them again in a delicious rush—the feeling of his cock in her core. Slick and hard, soft and tight, sensation volleying back and forth between them, each adding to the next.

  His vampire appetite suddenly escaped his ruthless hold, and he dropped his head to her throat. Knowing what he needed, Lark threw her head back with a soft cry.

  His fangs sank deep, deliciously stinging and hot. Gawain began to drink even as his hips worked.

  She came, her entire body ringing with it like a bell, triggering his. Climax fed climax into a whipping firestorm. Distantly she felt herself scream, saw him lift his head to bellow.

  It seemed they melted in the heat, fusing in a single great red pulse that went on and on.

  Lark lay sprawled under his delicious weight, unable to move. Even thinking seemed too much effort in the slowly cooling aftermath of all that pleasure.

  Finally, sensing that he was a little heavy for her, Gawain rolled over with a groan and pulled her on top of him. She sighed and collapsed, boneless as a dishrag.

  She heard his lazy thought. Looks like it’s time for another Round Table wedding. Those are always fun.

  Lark’s lips curled into a grin. “Why, Gawain, was that a proposal?”

  He lifted his blond head and grinned at her. “Would you say yes if it was?”

  “I think you know the answer to that.”

  “Yeah.” His grin broadened. “As a matter of fact, I do.” Suddenly the smile faded, and he searched her eyes with his. “I love you, you know.”

  “Yeah.” She brushed back a lock of his hair. “As a matter of fact, I do.”

  “And?”

  “And what?”

  “You know.”

  “Know what?”

  His green eyes began to glitter. “Do I have to tickle it out of you?”

  Lark started to jerk away, but his powerful arms tightened. “Oh, no you don’t!”

  “Oh, yes I do.” Long fingers found her ribs and dug in, forcing a shriek of laughter from her lips.

  “I’m going to turn you into a frog!” she panted between giggles as he tickled her ruthlessly.

  “Ribbet. Come on, Lark, say it out loud.”

  “I love you!”

  His hands froze on her ribs, and the merry laughter in his eyes. “Yeah,” he said, his voice hoarse. “That’s what I thought. Say it again.”

  She twined her arms around his strong neck. “I love you. Love you, love you…”

  He dragged her close.

  Love you.

  A week later, John McGuin gave the bride away before a delighted Magekind assembly. It was impossible for even Lark to tell whether he or Tristan was more shamelessly proud.

  Kel, meanwhile, lost the ring and had to conjure a new one.

  The moment Arthur pronounced Gawain and Lark husband and wife, the gathered Majae filled the air with a blinding display of magical fireworks.

  Deep in their kiss, neither noticed.

 

 

 
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