Korven's Fire: Dragon Prince of Wye

by Nancey Cummings

“Understood.” Korven’s arms tightened around her, squeezing the breath out of her lungs.

  “If I may speak boldly, Your Highness.”

  “Have I ever wanted it any other way?”

  “Be careful down there. But you could do worse.” Without time for a reply, Olver hit a button on the panel and the pod windows tinted black. There was a brief moment of freefall as the pod sank through the floor and, ultimately, away from the ship. That was the moment Adelle lost her fight with her stomach.

  She turned her head, ashamed as hot bile and all the wine from last night splashed on her, Korven’s arm and the bedding. Mortified didn’t begin to cover it. She could self-immolate from the heat of her blush. “I’m so sorry.”

  “Are you well?” The genuine concern in his voice prompted Adelle to turn her face back toward him. She searched his visage for judgment or revulsion and found none.

  “Besides the funky taste in my mouth, I’m better.”

  “There is water in the storage compartment but we can only reach it when we land.”

  In the meantime, she was laying on his chest, breathing her funky stank breath all over him. Charming. As close as they had been to having sex last night, Adelle had completely killed off any chance she had now. Nothing killed the mood faster than having a girl vomit on you and your bed.

  She turned her face away. The only sounds were the gentle hum of the pod and the thudding of Korven’s heart—two hearts—beating in a syncopated rhythm.

  “How long until we land?”

  Korven rolled her over until they were both on their sides. Above them stretched their destination and estimated arrival. “An hour. I can burn the thrusters now. Computer, calculate arrival if we engage the engines now.”

  The test blinked. New arrival: fifteen minutes.

  “Your choice,” he said.

  An hour stuck in the pod together or get her butt on land and save the tattered remains of her pride. Dignity was long gone. “What about the pirates?”

  “We are far enough way they will not detect our heat signature.”

  That sounded like bullshit. “Won’t they be looking for us?”

  “No. They have Ragnar.”

  Olver’s words tickled at the back of her mind. “Why did Olver call you ‘your highness’?”

  Korven gave her a squeeze and pressed his lips to her forehead. “When we land, little one.”

  Korven

  The pod rocked as it entered the atmosphere. Adelle closed her eyes and groaned, hands rubbing her stomach.

  “Soon,” he said, smoothing down her rumpled hair.

  The on-board navigation would not allow him to pilot the escape vessel but scanned the surface and gave him a choice of optimal landing locations. The planet was uninhabited but capable of supporting life. Mostly covered in water, the pod headed toward a large island near the equator. Initial scans showed signs of animal life but nothing larger than a tapas, a knee-high domestic animal kept for milk and wool. Still, even a tapas could be dangerous with sharp teeth and an aggressive attitude. And Adelle was his to protect.

  Korven saw the surprise in Olver’s eyes when he refused to let Adelle go. Yes, logically, she should have remained on the ship. The pirates wanted to ransom Prince Ragnar. They had no interest in a Terran mechanic. But Korven wouldn’t let her go. She was his. The fire in his blood burned for her and her alone.

  His grandmother would not be pleased.

  Korven’s resolve hardened. Let his family be displeased. This was his life and this was the female he wanted to make his wife. Hadn’t Adelle given him permission to build a nest for the both of them? And he would. He’d build a temporary nest while they waited to be retrieved. Once retrieved, they would make their way back to Wye. He’d have time to woo Adelle properly. He’d build a fine nest on Wye. Or orbiting Wye. Where ever she desired.

  First, they needed to get through the next few days. He needed to provide shelter, food and water for his mate.

  The navigation finished the planetary scan. He selected an open meadow as a landing site which was an easy distance from a lagoon and near trees to provide cover. Water and shelter. Done.

  He needed to protect her. Even from himself.

  Before Korven could fixate on that idea, the pod landed roughly with a bounce.

  Adelle moved, trying to sit up. He pulled her back. “Wait.”

  The pod scanned the immediate area of air quality and life forms. After two minutes, the computer chimed and the lid slid open. Fresh air rushed in, warm and salty.

  Adelle sprang out and stumbled toward the tree line before falling to her knees, emptying her stomach. His heart hurt to watch her suffer and do little to ease her pain. He opened the storage compartment and emptied out the supplies until he found his target.

  Korven handed Adelle a bottle of water and a tablet to ease her headache. She mumbled a thanks and took them, swallowing the tablet immediately. He led her to a tree and set her down underneath the shade.

  “I should help you… do something.” She tried to stand up but his hand pinned her in place. She was too weak to fight him for long, despite the defiance flashing in her eyes.

  “You will help me by resting.” His voice was firm, authoritative. He was not an unreasonable male but he would not let his mate’s own stubbornness harm her.

  She sagged against the tree. “Fine. I’d just get in the way right now anyway.”

  “Good. Rest. The pod is equipped with some basic supplies. Let me take inventory.”

  With the situation assessed for predators and Adelle recovering, Korven took a moment to look at the landscape. Really look at it.

  Lush tropical plants in every shade of green, ranging from deep green to a frothy lightness that was almost like pure sunlight, crowded his senses. Warm, humid air filled his lungs and slapped against his skin. He tilted his head back, letting the sun warm his face. Too long on ships and space stations, he had not experienced real sunlight and humidity in ages.

  And he was burning up alive. Out of a regulated, controlled climate, he grew acutely aware of exactly how high the Fever had raised his temperature.

  The pod landed in a small clearing of thick, verdant grass. Trees circled the perimeter and just through the foliage he could make out the sun glinting off the waters of the lagoon. Perfect. This was an acceptable location to await retrieval.

  Korven unpacked the supplies and took inventory. They had water for a day, factoring in the heat, and enough ration bars to last three days. They could supplement the rations with fruit. He could hunt.

  His teeth snapped in delight at the idea. He had not had a good hunt in ages.

  The rest of the supplies were the typical survival scenario items: tent, reflective blanket, water purification tablets, a collapsible plate and cup, emergency flares and a medical field kit.

  The tent set up with a snap of his wrist. Packed as a flat disc, the structure expanded in air and unfurled around the pod. The rounded dome was large enough to surround the pod and then some. The top was a heavy fabric which blocked the hot sun. The sides were a mesh, letting in the sweet breeze. Additional fabric panels could unfurl at the top to provide privacy or block out the elements. Spongy foam covered the ground, spilling around the pod.

  Sweat pooled in the small of his back. Overheated, his fingers unbuttoned his shirt. Korven hesitated for a moment, Wyer modesty ingrained into his being.

  Silly. There was no one here except Adelle and she’d see him without his shirt and all his other clothes if he had his way.

  Korven grew hard at the thought. His way was wicked and delicious and involved nothing more than his cock sinking into the hot, wet heat of her pussy.

  He removed his shirt, dropping the fabric to the ground. Stiff at the shoulder from Adelle’s sick, it needed to be washed. He needed to wash. She needed to wash. A rumble started in his chest, pleased at the thought.

  He glanced toward the tree line, at Adelle sitting in the shade. The water bottle was near her mouth
, paused in midair. She watched him with a fevered fascination.

  One layer left.

  He unwound the bindings around his chest and let the fabric fall to the ground. Slowly he stretched his wings, the leathery membrane confined for too long. Flexing his shoulders and his wings, the sunlight warmed every part of him.

  “What the hell is that!” Adelle rushed toward him.

  He caught her hand just as she reached out to stroke the sensitive membrane. Touching of wings was an intimate act shared between family and lovers. He wanted her to stroke his wings but not yet. Not until she understood the significance. “My wings.”

  “You have wings!” Her eyes went wide with wonder. “That’s amazing!”

  Then they narrowed.

  Ah, there was that delightful brain working. She pieced it together.

  “Why don’t the other Wyer have wings? And why did you hide yours?”

  “Only the royal blood has wings. I am a Wyvern.”

  She glanced at the tent and then back to him. He gave the wings a flutter, showing off. And why shouldn’t he preen for his mate? His scales were a vivid green, covering all the vital organs. They sparkled in the sun. His wings were a deeper green but no less pleasing, and they were well formed.

  “Why doesn’t Ragnar have wings?”

  Ah. She dropped the “prince”. Clever female. “Ragnar has not matured.”

  She snorted. “He looks mature.”

  “When a royal Wyvern reaches sexual maturity, the wings develop.”

  “Are you telling me Ragnar hasn’t hit puberty yet?” She blushed as she asked the question. So curious the way the foulest profanities spewed from her mouth but she blushed like a maid at the mention of sex.

  He wanted to take her in his arms and explain everything about Wyer biology, about the Fever, about taking a mate and his family’s expectations—and his plans to spurn them—but he could not overwhelm her. Too much happened. Stress levels were high. He could see her pulse jumping in her throat.

  How he longed to lick the cords of her neck, savoring her sweat and salt in the heat.

  Korven’s fingers flexed into a fist and he slowly relaxed the digits. One revelation at a time. “Wyer biological development is not like Terrans.”

  She snorted. “Okay, Your Highness, then explain why everyone pretended Ragnar was the prince and not you.”

  Clever female. She put the pieces together: the escape pod, the deference everyone on the ship gave him. Korven smiled.

  “Ragnar is my cousin. Technically he is Lord Ragnar. He is, also, the head of my security and my body double.”

  “Is his name even Ragnar? Is Korven even your name?” She folded her arms over her chest.

  “Yes. And yes.” He smoothed back the hair from her forehead. The humidity in the air made it cling to her skin. “My formal name is Prince Ragnar Korven bin Venn Searra, Prince of Wyer and the Three Moons, Guardian of the Celestial Mother.”

  She snorted, unimpressed with his titles. “So what? Do I have to call you ‘Your Highness’ now?”

  “I’d rather you didn’t.” He was Korven in private. He never wanted Adelle to call him anything but his name. Well, husband, but that was a matter to discuss later.

  His family would not be pleased but his mind was made. Adelle was for him. She took the discovery of his wings in stride and she was not even upset with his deception. Clever, capable and stunning in her exotic Terran beauty, could there be a more perfect female?

  “You lying fink!” Her fists slammed into his chest. She rained down ineffective blows. He could tell she put all her fury and strength into the strikes but he feared she did more harm to herself than him.

  “You will hurt your hands.”

  “Yeah!” Another blow but the frequency slowed. “What are you made of? Stone?” Another blow but this time she frowned and shook her hand, as if trying to get feeling back into the appendage.

  “I’m made the same as you.”

  “Bullshit. I don’t have wings or scales and I’m certainly not a prince pretending to be… to be…”

  “Yes?” He raised an eyebrow, waiting. “And what did I pretend to be, exactly?”

  “Nice! Interesting.” She threw up her hands in frustration. “Interested in me.”

  A growl rumbled loudly in his throat. At the same moment he reached for her waist, she stepped back in alarm. “I am very interested in you, Adelle Scott. Do not doubt that.”

  “Why the deception?”

  “For exactly the reasons that happened today. A prince far away from his home is a prime target for pirates. My grandmother, the Queen, has indulged my wanderlust but she insisted on a body double.” His hands firmly gripped at her waist, pleased at how her curves fit his hands.

  “And Ragnar hasn’t reached maturity,” she mused. “So you had to keep your wings hidden.”

  He nodded.

  “Who else knows? Was I the only one in the dark?”

  “Just Ragnar, obviously, Olver and Derix, and the captain.”

  “The pirates—can you trust the captain?”

  “Providence has been a friend of Wye for decades. I do not doubt his loyalty.”

  “Well someone gave up our location today and took the wrong prince for ransom.”

  “Olver and Derix will review the transmissions of Ragnar’s guests. We will find the traitor. Or the pirates could have just gotten lucky. Ragnar was hardly low profile.”

  She nodded, then pulled away, as if remembering that she was covered in sick. “I smell.”

  As did he. “I find your scent intoxicating. However, we should wash the bedding and our clothing. There is a lagoon through the trees.”

  Chapter Nine

  Adelle

  She had never seen so much water in her life. “Is it supposed to be pink?” Pictures of Earth’s oceans were always blue or blue-green. Not to say the pink lagoon was anything less than amazing. It was completely amazing, like out of a fairy-tale. White sand circled the placid pink waters, the area surrounded by the dense tropical forest. Bird calls sounded and leaves rustled.

  “Algae. Harmless to us, if the scans from the pod are accurate.”

  Adelle approached the water’s edge. Her shoes sank into the white sand. “Can we drink it?”

  “Yes but we should use the purification tablets.”

  She nodded. Her stomach was tender enough. She wanted to avoid further punishment with alien algae and bacteria.

  Shedding shoes and pants, Korven stepped into the water. Staring at his naked backside, all Adelle could process was that Korven didn’t wear underwear. Not that she was staring at the naked ass of a genuine prince, a prince who was very interested in her, and a naked prince that was fucking gorgeous. Just… She didn’t have the words to express how tasty his buns were at that moment and how badly she needed to sink her teeth into them.

  And the wings. Dragon wings. There was no other way to accurately describe the leathering membrane stretched between boney forearms. Was that the right anatomical term? Adelle was never one to watch nature documentaries and it’s not like there were many wild animals running around where she grew up.

  Stretched, the wings were approximately as wide as his outstretched arms. Not terribly long, they stopped at his lower back and folded compactly, which explained the odd hump at his shoulders under his clothing. He stretched his arms over his head, wings flexing. Now he was just showing off.

  “You coming in or just admiring the view?” he asked.

  She needed to wash. Layers of funk from the kitchen, the wine and then unpleasantness in the pod clung to her clothing and skin. She felt gross, which was a new sensation. Normally Adelle could work all day in the engine room, sweating and rolling around in grease but she never felt as filthy as she did at the moment in last night’s uniform, ogling the gorgeous prince in the pink water.

  Shoes and pants were easy to remove. She hesitated at the shirt but told herself that bras and panties were just like a bikini. Korven was hot,
yes, but she wasn’t ready to be naked with him, no matter what she claimed in her drunken flirting last night.

  Korven turned to face her, giving her an eyeful of the royal jewels. Her blush burned furiously. “Don’t be shy. The water’s fine.”

  Adelle tossed her clothing and the bedding into the water before carefully wading in. “Just like a bikini,” she chanted under her breath.

  The water was odd.

  Like weird.

  Warm and wet she expected. She did not expect the resistance on her legs as she waded into it. Or the squish of sand and mud under her feet. Knee deep she stopped, testing the surface tension of the water. Her hand hovered just over the surface, barely touching, then pressed down, sending ripples in all directions. So weird.

  “You going to stay in the shallow end like a poussin?”

  She had no idea what that meant but it couldn’t be good. “I can’t swim.”

  “Truth? Isn’t Earth mostly water?”

  “I grew up on an orbital.” There were no pools or bathtubs on an orbital space station. Water rationing restricted bathing to a three-minute mist shower.

  Korven took a step toward her, his wings flexed forward and splashed. His carefree laugh almost made the splash bearable. Almost. Startled, she jumped back and lost her footing. She fell into the water, her butt bouncing on the sandy bottom of the lagoon and water rushing over her head.

  Her arms flailed and her legs kicked but they never seemed to make contact with solid land again. There was only water, horribly vast quantities of water, invading her gasping mouth, muffling sound and stinging her eyes.

  A firm hand grasped her upper arm. Korven hauled a still thrashing Adelle to her feet. “Relax. The water is only knee deep.”

  “You bastard! I can’t swim! Why’d you splash me?” Furious hands wiped the water from her face and pushed back her hair.

  “Well I didn’t know you were going to panic, now did I?” He stroked her arms, bringing calm back. “You’re all right. I got you. I won’t let you drown.”

  Her right hand connected with his chest, hurting her more than him. “Asshole!”