Immortal Dragons: The First Four: Prequel + Books 1-3

by Ophelia Bell

  “No,” he said, trailing his fingertips down her chest and tugging the sides of her gown apart to bare her breasts to him again. “I can’t be worthy if there is no challenge for me to meet.”

  “Conquering my enemy wasn’t enough?”

  Nikhil bent his head and hovered his lips over her breast, hot breath gusting over one nipple. As he did, he moved to kneel between her thighs, pushing her legs apart and shoving her gown up. He gripped her roughly by the hips and yanked her against him.

  “You’re no better than any other woman who comes crawling to my bed and begs me to fuck her,” he said roughly.

  Belah gasped in surprise at the hot, hard flesh that pressed against her pubic bone, the base of his cock rubbing at her orgasm-slickened clit. Pleasure burst through her, but not before she caught his meaning. She had decided she wanted him, and as was her habit, had gone about having him as though she were entitled. It didn’t matter that she considered her attention a reward for his performance in battle and the near sacrifice of his life. True, he deserved everything she wanted to offer and more, but to suggest a man like him couldn’t also earn the final prize belittled his abilities and his importance to her empire all these years.

  She had to make him work for it, now that the offer was on the table.

  Nikhil shifted his hips, the friction on her clit enough that she nearly gave in and let him fuck her. His desires were polarized, however, and she read every nuance in his eyes and his aura, without even sinking her powers into his mind to find out more.

  Physically, he desperately wanted more—to bury himself in her and fuck her until she called him her master. But his reverence for her as his Queen, his Goddess, his ‘Iilahatan, held him back. The strongest emotion she sensed in in him was his fear that she may not really be worth everything he had done for her over the years—that all the armies he had routed and the wounds he’d endured were at the behest of a woman who would simply spread her legs for him on a whim. He feared the power she had over her entire kingdom may have been nothing more than an illusion all along. He needed to work as hard for her bed as he had for her glory.

  Belah’s mouth spread into a wicked smile. If it was power he needed to see, that’s what she would show him.

  All it took was an ankle hooked around the back of his muscular thigh and her hands on his wide shoulders and she flipped them both with ease. She landed astride him with her hot, sensitive folds spread across the column of his thick shaft. With swift grace, she had his hands pinned above his head. She tilted her hips to slide up along his length, enjoying the rough groan that escaped him as much as she enjoyed the sensation herself.

  She rarely had the need to make such a display of her basic physical strength. Goddesses didn’t need to get their hands dirty, of course. But if this was what he needed to find her worth the challenge of conquering, so be it.

  Hot lust rose up in her as she stared down at him. He pushed up against her, struggling and more than a little surprised that a female as slightly built as she was could keep him pinned down.

  “I could do this with a breath, my love,” Belah said, allowing a flash of her magic to show behind her eyes. The bright blue light she emitted reflected in his own dark irises, and his eyes widened for a second before narrowing again with pleasure.

  “’Iilahatan, you are so beautiful,” he said, glancing up at his immobilized arms and then back at her, flashing her his own devilish smile. “I will enjoy this.” He lifted his head and sank his teeth into her forearm.

  Belah gasped at the bolt of pain, but didn’t flinch. The hot spike only made her wetter, and she let herself sigh in pleasure when he released his teeth and simply sucked on the bite, teasing his tongue over the bruised flesh.

  “Enough for today,” she said, reluctantly releasing him and standing beside his bed while she straightened her gown again. She let her gaze slip down his body one last time. He left his hands up above his head and flexed his entire torso as luxuriously as a cat, with his hips rising up and his glistening cock catching the sunlight alluringly. She could already sense he was working out a scheme to subdue her the same as he would form a battle plan.

  As much as she looked forward to being his toy, Belah decided she couldn’t make it easy for him. Nikhil was her most devious army commander, after all. He would be her toy first, but she had no desire to break him—only to collar him long enough to remind him she was still in charge, and that he was only conquering her because she allowed it.

  “You’ll stay and continue your recovery until it suits me, and you will refrain from taking your pleasure with anyone else.” She eyed his hand as he stroked his cock. “Including yourself. I don’t give my orgasms away lightly, and neither will you.”

  Nikhil paused his stroking and let his hand fall to his side, his eyes blazing with even stronger lust. “Yes, mistress,” he said gruffly, though his deference didn’t extend to his expression. Those dark eyes and his hard-set square jaw spoke of the kind of determination she had only ever seen on him when he was preparing for battle.

  She left the room with her skin tingling. If his history with her enemies was any indication, that look meant he would conquer her, plunder her, and leave her with no recourse but to fall at his feet and beg for mercy. He had never once lost a battle.

  If he won this one, who would have the glory at the end?

  Chapter Four

  Belah deliberately left Nikhil alone the next day, and the day after. She urged a perplexed Meri to leave him alone too, telling her physician that Nikhil simply wished to spend the day praying that the gods saw fit to heal him, and that if they didn’t he would gladly join them in the afterlife.

  Meri had pursed her lips and narrowed her eyes, ever the skeptic, yet she held her tongue about her belief in the so-called gods. “You are as much a god as they are, mistress. Is he not praying to you, too?”

  Belah laughed. “Perhaps he is, but I doubt his prayers to me have anything to do with his wound.”

  She kept her mind focused on his, even when she was on her throne hearing petitioners, eager for him to slip up so she could punish him.

  Oh, did she long to punish him. To make him fall to his knees, begging her for release. To goad him into taking control of her in return.

  As she heard petitioner after petitioner, that was all she could picture. The days wore on and she satisfied the worries of her people while still fabricating a fantasy in her mind of how Nikhil’s submission might look. She decided she wouldn’t make him kneel, after all. Instead, she would have him trussed up like a calf for slaughter, but she would slaughter him with pleasure, teasing him until he begged for her mercy.

  At the end of the day a week after his arrival, Belah gritted her teeth and ignored him still, spending a restless night alone with only her toys for relief. She considered visiting her harem, but even the idea of her favorite pets had lost its allure.

  The next day, she went to him and informed him that he could attend her with her other advisers during the day. Since he was still technically recovering from his wounds, she would appoint him to lead her war council.

  His proximity to her throne that afternoon made her itch, particularly considering the amazement of the rest of her advisers when he took his seat among them. They said nothing, but she could read every astonished thought as clear as day. They had all expected him to die.

  Nikhil sat silent and watched her smugly as the day wore on. She had more trouble reading his emotions, merely sensing that he was biding his time. Until what? Until he could figure out how to attain the upper hand? As much as she wanted precisely that, it irritated her that she hadn’t taken advantage of his weakness when she had the chance. She should have fucked him that first day, but giving into her own lust would have given him far too much power over her.

  When Belah dismissed her advisers at the end of the day, Nikhil remained behind, simply relaxing in his
seat, his elbow on the armrest and his knuckles resting under his chin, regarding her with that dark, calculating gaze.

  “What is it, Nikhil?” she asked without glancing in his direction. “You have fulfilled your duties for the day. You may leave.”

  “On the contrary, mistress,” he said, his voice ripe with suggestion. “One of my duties is to make myself worthy of you. You have given me no new instructions as the leader of your war council, so I need to know what you desire. Shall I mount a new war against one of our neighbors? Should I conquer the world in your name? I would, if that would please you.”

  The suggestion made her entire body thrum. She didn’t want the entire world conquered, but the idea that he would offer that to her thrilled her. She hazarded a glance over her shoulder to his seat.

  His irreverent posture irritated her as much as it incited a fresh wave of warmth between her thighs. He was taunting her. She wanted him to conquer her, and they both knew it. After she’d offered the challenge, she felt compelled to shore up her defenses, but maybe it was time to go on the offensive and prove again to him how hard she wanted him to work for it.

  She sneered at him. “Get back to your quarters, Nikhil. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

  He shrugged and stood, chuckling as he sauntered through the door into the courtyard outside.

  “Guards!” she called to the soldiers who made up her regular retinue.

  They all stood at attention, their commander calling, “Yes, Empress!”

  “The general has been impertinent and requires disciplining. Take him to my chambers and strip him, then bind him to the braces. I will see to him myself tonight.”

  The commander, a seasoned veteran who had chosen to retire to the court rather than languish without a post, looked confused for a second. He and Belah shared a glance. The quirk of her mouth and her raised eyebrow were enough to let him on to her intentions.

  It helped that they knew their mistress had a nearly unquenchable appetite for sex and required their assistance, on occasion, to facilitate her pleasure. She did have dozens of pets in her harem, after all, some of whom were also retired veterans who often left the harem as quickly as they joined when they discovered that her pets sometimes worked as hard as any soldier. She never faulted them, but she always made sure they enjoyed themselves while they were there. She also avoided mentioning that they were the most pampered members of her harem when they were in attendance.

  This act would make her guards believe that Nikhil had also become a member of her harem, which was one of the most honored positions in her court and very fitting of a wounded general. It was also a position that regularly involved her guard retrieving and securing members in her chamber for her later use.

  She took her time making her way back to her room, stopping on her way to have a leisurely dinner with her physician. Meri was a friend, and a woman she respected enough to tell many of her secrets to.

  “Let me give you more,” Belah said after they’d finished their meal on the balcony of Meri’s quarters, overlooking the torch-lit courtyard below and the tranquil sea beyond. “You have liberty with my harem, but I know that isn’t what you want. So tell me, Meri. What is it you desire? If it’s one of my brothers…”

  “No, it isn’t that, I promise you,” Meri said. “I… I had a dream about you and I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it.”

  “Tell me,” Belah said, sensing Meri’s hesitance. The woman was a skeptic and rarely gave credence to superstition, but she seemed rattled.

  “I dreamed you had a child that turned to ashes. When you tried to gather them up, they turned into a bird made of fire and flew away. It made me so sad I woke up crying. You were sad in the dream too, but not as though you’d lost a child. You were filled with regret so deep it made me want to comfort you. Do you have such regrets?”

  Meri reached out a hand, her eyes watering. Belah’s skin chilled in spite of the warm breeze that blew through. Did she have such regrets? Only one, long past that no one but she and her closest brother shared. That particular secret was buried so deep, she rarely even thought of it herself anymore. That wasn’t to say she wouldn’t have other regrets, in time. Such was the burden of immortality.

  Belah shook off the chill, refocusing her attention on her friend. She took Meri’s hand and squeezed, sensing nothing more than deep love and caring from the woman. This woman deserved a gift only Belah could give, but she wouldn’t push.

  “I have no regrets, Meri. If I ever do, I will let you know. Please consider letting me give you a gift?”

  Meri shook her head. “I know you are a special woman, but I serve you because I love what I do. I need no other reward than your friendship and the already ample compensation I get by living here.”

  Belah nodded. “If you ever need anything, I will not fail you, friend.”

  Meri laughed. “I know you won’t. You never lie, even when it would suit you to do so. But you do like to hide your emotions. You’re in love with him, aren’t you? If you weren’t, you would be telling me exactly how you feel.”

  Belah’s eyes widened at Meri’s display of intuition. But no… she wasn’t in love. Was she?

  “I…” She stopped and closed her mouth again, took a swallow of her drink, and looked at Meri helplessly. She couldn’t lie to her friend, either. She wanted Nikhil on a visceral level, but he had captured her heart so deeply during his time as her commander that she couldn’t deny it. “Yes.”

  Meri sat back and smiled dreamily. “You deserve it. I don’t think I’ve ever seen you in love. It suits you. So, what are you going to do, woo him? He would probably be putty in your hands if you so much as winked at him.”

  Belah laughed, thinking about what she had waiting in her room now. What was she going to do? Oh, she had a multitude of ideas, none of which she would share with Meri.

  “I might wink, but I want to see how he does in his new position first.”

  If her guards had done their job, Nikhil’s current position was trussed up naked in her room, hanging in the doorway that led to her balcony.

  With that thought, she said her farewells to her friend, wishing yet again that Meri would accept her gift. Belah would happily bond the woman just to keep her around longer.

  Chapter Five

  Belah stole into her quarters and paused just inside the shadows of her doorway. Nikhil was there, shackled across the room in the arch that led to her balcony, right where she’d commanded he be put.

  He was glorious, his body framed by the moonlight outside and his tensed muscles highlighted by the lamplight in her room. He stared at her in spite of the caution she’d taken to keep silent. She could be as stealthy as the best thief, but still couldn’t beat her brother.

  He laughed when she paused. “I wondered if part of your challenge was to have me escape, but thought otherwise once I figured out where they were taking me,” he said. “Tell Amun I am sorry for his nose, and tell Neb I’m sorry for his testicles. I didn’t want to hurt them.”

  “No, you didn’t. But you want to hurt me, don’t you?”

  His gaze grew feverish as she stalked toward him and he swallowed hard, struggling against his bonds. His feet were on the floor, but bound to the wall by ropes threaded through a pair of metal eyelets. His arms were upraised, wrists tied with more ropes above him.

  “Tell me what you want, Nikhil,” Belah said, regarding him from several feet away.

  He bared his teeth at her and her pulse raced. Such a wild thing he was. He hated being tied up like this.

  “I want to break you apart,” he said. “I want to fuck every last measure of your arrogance out of you, to be your master and have you call my name while I’m buried inside you. I want to watch you fall to pieces beneath me, thanking me for my scant bit of mercy while I take my pleasure from you. I don’t care if you’re a goddess. Actually, I do care. That makes i
t better. You could probably destroy me with a touch, couldn’t you? Or a breath… isn’t that what you said to me before? So do it. Destroy me with a breath.”

  He grinned at her, and in spite of his foul words, she loved the game, but he couldn’t ever hide his true desires from her. She sensed a mind that was on fire with all the possible scenarios that could result from his volatile outburst. One ending he wished for outshone the others—overpowering her and fucking her.

  Oh, she wanted that, but she wouldn’t let him win the game today.

  Belah shed her clothes as she strode toward him. His gaze stalked her route, his chest heaving and his hard cock bobbing with each inhale. Her nipples hardened and she regretted having to draw this night out as long as she intended to, but Nikhil needed to see her power in effect. Not just a token show of strength.

  When she reached him, she let her nipples brush against his hard chest and let out a hot breath against his ear. She tilted her head to meet his eyes.

  “You will remember all of what I do tonight, but will have control over nothing other than your voice until I wish it, understand? If you ever wish me to stop, you only need say so and I will, but know that stopping sends you back to the army camp and out of my mind forever.”

  She exhaled slowly, making sure Nikhil saw the shimmering blue cloud of her breath. She rested her hands on his chest while the smoky tendrils made their way to his mouth. He tensed, and the sudden waft of fear surprised her, but he didn’t flinch when her breath teased at his nostrils.

  “Breathe, my love,” she said. “You won’t regret it.”

  Aside from asserting control over his body, the breath she gave him would also temporarily enhance his own perception. She wanted him to be her perfect lover. He was already dangerously close to that, anyway.

  Nikhil closed his eyes, and for a moment, Belah enjoyed the helpless, sleeping version of him. His lashes were so dark, and he appeared so serene as her breath took over. A moment later he opened his eyes, raised his head, and said, “I am yours tonight. Do with me as you will.”