“You’re surprisingly good at that,” she says.
“Come up, Ashrac, and I shall hold you in front of me.”
“No way. I want to fly.”
I wouldn’t believe it if I didn’t see it. He runs three steps and launches himself up. Wings appear and the next thing I see is a small dragon flying up to the top of the tower. I almost lose my seat.
“Fly swiftly, Ashrac. Your uncle will not be happy. Hold on, Bride of Laryn, and I will get you to my castle safely.”
I adjust myself and tighten my legs. This is Acasia, I now have no doubt. She’s rescuing me from the blue dragon. I feel I can trust her even though she is no longer human. She has been in my shoes and somehow survived. I hold on tight with quivering muscles as we fly from the tower.
Chapter Eight
Laryn
Ashrac almost changes my mind. And, “Give her time,” are the nearly forgotten whispered words from my last bride. “She will love you sooner and you will have more years to enjoy one another.”
I shake my head, which sends water flying from my freshly washed hair. The dragon who held and loved sweet and innocent Maleah no longer exists. Twenty-five years of loneliness have hardened all feelings of love. If I don’t love my new bride, it will hurt less when she dies. I have a plan to keep love from happening. Sarn is a fool and his grief for his deceased bride, Calista, a waste of his time. I vow to hold my emotions back and take from my bride only what I need to stay sexually satisfied. Nothing more. She will learn quickly and bow to my iron will before the sun goes down this day.
I’ve set up the tower room to hold her. It will keep her away from the inner castle and from my sight as much as possible. I will take her out into the sunlight occasionally for her health. That is all. My manservant can feed her and bring her the items she requires. I can’t help that she will love me. Staring in the mirror, I know it to be inevitable.
I pull on a pair of comfortable jeans that I stole from the Earth realm. I’ve had these for years and haven’t been to that realm in a long time. I have little need for additional servants, so it’s of no consequence. The ladies there are delightfully wicked, though. My cock stiffens at the thought and I head to my tower and my waiting bride with a hard-on that will not be denied. Maybe, just maybe, this one will not cry when I take her maidenhead. If so, I will reward her with the bauble of her choice. From one of my lesser collections of jewels, of course. She will not know the difference and she will be happy. Humans are easy to please if you give them enough shiny objects. It only satisfies a dragon if we steal our treasure. I won’t tell her that. Maybe she will make me slippers as Maleah did. Each year a new blue pair. I have the last set she knitted. I will not think on them. As a matter of fact, I will dispose of them and never think of Maleah again.
Later, though. Now it’s time to deflower my bride.
I enter the tower at mid-level and unbar the door that leads to the inner sanctum. My nose immediately picks up a scent that causes my anger to flare. Acasia has been here. I’m sure she searched for Ashrac, though for some reason, I didn’t sense when she crossed into my realm. I only sense my nephew every so often because he’s so small and his magic undeveloped. I’m staring up at the top parapet when it occurs to me to look down.
Her door is open. I scream as I charge down the stairs. I will kill her. Not my bride but Acasia. She wouldn’t dare. I burst into the room to find it empty. Fire leaves my human throat and the bedding goes up in flames. My bride will pay dearly for running from me, and I will have revenge on Acasia.
I leave the room, leap to the sky, and shred my pants without thought. A jolt of electricity curls inside me as Acasia passes through my realm and into Bastian’s. She will beat me to her castle. I don’t care, though. The bride is mine and Acasia has no right to her.
I whip through the sky—my wings beating to the pulse of my anger. I surge through the realm into Bastian’s territory and begin yelling his name. “Bastian, I will kill your mate for this. Return my bride.” He doesn’t answer, which doesn’t surprise me. The love-sick coward. Why is he so special that his mate turns into a dragon? Why not Maleah, whom I loved with my entire being?
I finally see Bastian’s great tower sticking out of the clouds and put on an additional burst of speed. They will rue the day they messed with Laryn, the mightiest dragon to ever live. Bastian’s red tail swoops out of a cloud and hits me upside the head. I shake my jaw and turn to seek the fucker who has disappeared into the clouds again.
“Calm down, Laryn,” he whispers into my mind.
“Return my bride, you ugly, red-spawned demon from hell,” I yell back with a bellow that should have blown away his castle. His tail comes out and wallops my back legs. My front talons strike through the cloud to the side of me and I feel the satisfying grind of nails against armored scales.
A well-placed punch to my jaw is my reward. I shake my great head, spin, and charge through another cloud only to find him gone.
“Let me know when you tire so we can land and discuss this like mature men.”
“That’s why your mate has you so pussy-whipped it’s laughable. We are dragon and not men at all. I will kill you, Bastian, along with Acasia.”
His strike comes from above this time and his talons sink deep into the unprotected juncture where my wings meet my back. He furls in his wings and takes us both toward the ground. He doesn’t release me as we crash and roll. Our wings tie up together as we go head over tail. Bastian’s giant jaw captures my throat before I can stop him. The pressure grinds against my windpipe.
“You will never threaten my mate again, Laryn,” Bastian grounds out no longer able to control his temper.
“She stole my bride” I snap. His hold doesn’t relent.
“And you stole mine first.”
I’d spew fire if I could get it past Bastian’s grip on my throat. “So this is revenge for something I did twenty-five years ago?” His teeth press down just a bit harder and I continue. “I have done everything so you will grant me forgiveness. It does no good because you can’t forgive yourself. You did not guard your greatest treasure close enough. You failed her, Bastian. I only took advantage of an incompetent dragon.”
Ashrac’s quiet voice enters my head. “You would harm my mother, Uncle Laryn?”
Oh, hell.
“Release me, Bastian, please.” Ever so slowly, Bastian’s jaws open. I shift. It’s the only way I can truly control the fury eating at my insides. Ashrac is standing about twenty feet away. I beckon with my hands. “Come here, Ash.”
He looks uncertain and it wounds me deeply. “I would never harm your mother or you.” I glance up at Bastian. “Or your father.”
Ashrac shifts to human and leaps so fast I almost don’t catch him. I wrap my arms tight around his small body and heft him up. “I love you, Uncle Laryn,” he says as he squeezes me tight. “Your bride is afraid of you and I asked Mother if we could keep her. I didn’t mean to make you angry, Uncle Laryn.”
I glance over his shoulder to his father who stands by and watches me hug his son. It’s the first time Bastian has willingly allowed me to touch him.
Bastian shakes his head in seeming irritation. “We’ve always known where he is when he visits you, Laryn. I forgave you a long time ago, but you know how stubborn I am. I couldn’t bring myself to say the words.”
Guilt, relief, and sadness wash over me. Twenty-five years wasted because of my foolishness. I stole Bastian’s bride and he has a right to hate me. “My bride,” is all I can manage as I hold tight to my nephew and try to keep tears at bay.
“I will speak with Acasia and we will bring your bride back to you.”
“She is very beautiful, Uncle Laryn.”
I set him down. “Yes, she is. She belongs with me, Ash. You need to convince your mother of that.”
He stares at me with his serious dark eyes flashing red. “Do you promise not to frighten her again, uncle?”
The last bit of fight leaves me and I
place my hand over my heart. “I promise, Ash.”
He turns and runs. His dragon form replaces the boy as he shoots skyward. “I will tell her she must return to you, Uncle Laryn. She will be so happy that you will be nice, I know she will.”
“You’ve promised him, Laryn.”
I turn and meet Bastian’s gaze. “I have and I will keep my promise, or at least try. The pint-sized, ball-of-nothing female attacked me with a sword at the claiming ceremony.”
Bastian, still in dragon form, rears his head back and blows fire with his laughter.
I can’t help myself, wimp that I’ve become in the last few minutes. I wait until his laughter subsides before saying, “Am I truly forgiven, Bastian?”
His goliath head nods once. “Yes, my friend. I will invite Sarn and Tahr over for cards and they will forgive you too.”
Now I feel apprehension. “I don’t trust Sarn.”
“And we shouldn’t. We both know the anguish over a lost bride. I fear he loved Calista more than his previous brides. Her death has not been easy on him.”
I shift and launch myself into the sky. “Hurry and return my bride, Bastian. I would hate to rekindle our feud on the day it’s settled.” I fly away and leave my new bride behind. It’s killing me. Everything inside me pushes for me to turn around and kill everything in my path. Bastian knows this. He will return her quickly. I trust him.
Chapter Nine
Roxanne
“And he fought my father, and they fell from the sky, and they made the ground thunder, and they…”
“That’s enough, Ashrac,” Acasia ruffles his hair and gives his shoulder a squeeze. “Roxanne doesn’t know our ways and you frighten her with talk of fighting.”
Frighten? Who me? The last thing I’m afraid of is two warring dragons. If I’m lucky, neither will walk away unscathed. Acasia and Ashrac glance my way and I’m not sure of the response I should give. No response gets me past the awkwardness of the moment. Acasia is now in human form and I have so many questions.
“We must return her, Mother. Uncle Laryn says he will not scare her again. She is his bride and he is quite angry that she left him.”
Wow. Dragon children are very forgetful. “May we keep her, Mother? May we please? She is the finest treasure,” were his exact words.
“I will not return to that bully,” I utter with angry conviction.
“Ash, go find your father so Roxanne and I may speak privately.” She pats his bottom and pushes him slightly forward. “Go on now.”
The child turns to me right before he exits the room. “He says you’re beautiful and I think so too.” Ashrac turns and runs out yelling at the top of his lungs, “Father, Father. Mother says you must entertain me so she can talk bride stuff to the bride.”
I bite my lip to control a smile.
Acasia doesn’t bother. “He puts words into my mouth all the time. He’s a complete rascal with no shame whatsoever.”
“He’s precious.”
“And that too. Please have a seat, Roxanne. There is much we must speak of.”
I cross to two large chairs and take the farthest one. Acasia takes the other. “I’m not going to like what you say, am I?”
Acasia’s smile disappears. “It’s more of a story about dragons. Laryn should tell you, but I fear he is quite stubborn and holds to the old ways.”
My anger at the stupid dragon is at a low simmer. “It won’t change my mind. If I return, I will kill him or die trying.”
It’s an hour later and I can’t stop wiping tears from my eyes as Acasia finishes her story, “...again and again they must find room in their heart to love once more knowing it’s for but a blink of their existence.”
I can no longer stay seated. I pace the confines of the room in my distress. “You mean they love their brides even when the bride grows old? Then when she dies they mourn until their turn to claim a new bride?” Acasia’s gaze stays on me, red flashes of light shining in her eyes every time I look at her.
“Yes. I am the first female dragon in thousands of years. To this day Bastian and I do not know what made our union special.”
I stop and turn to face her. “Why must they put such fright into the village and make the people go through the entire claiming ceremony? It makes absolutely no sense.”
“It’s Hera’s curse. It instinctually guides the dragons. That’s how they know their true bride and can separate her from the ones offered.”
My anger gets the best of me and my voice hardens. “Why have you not returned to the village and told this story? You owe it to those women who live in fear their entire lives.”
Acasia immediately looks sad. “I do owe it to them, but I can’t. Neither I nor Bastian can cross into that realm any longer. We tried. It’s dead to us. We actually feared Laryn would be unable to cross even for his claiming. We don’t know how or even why it all works the way it does. You are here, so obviously Laryn was successful at the claiming. I fear they will continue every twenty-five years, minus Bastian’s turn, until all have transcended to dragon. That could take thousands of years. We have no way of knowing.”
I plop back into the chair and cover my eyes. “I must return to the blue dragon, but I truly don’t want to. I spent my life training to kill him and I’ve failed.”
Acasia places a hand on my arm and her gentle voice soothes me. “You haven’t failed. I know it’s hard now. I also know the next few months will be harder. Someday you will love your blue dragon as much as I love Bastian. It’s what the claiming is all about. When you meet Sarn you will understand the complete desolation a dragon goes through when a bride dies. Tahr’s bride, Meagan, is still alive but old and frail. You will see how he worships her. Then you will truly understand the gift granted to us so that we may love a dragon.”
Chapter Ten
Laryn
I’ve created divots in the carpet from stomping back and forth. It’s been three hours since my return. One more hour and I will ruin what I’ve fought for these past twenty-five years… peace with my brothers. But I will have my bride back. Dragons are not known for patience. One hour!
Suddenly, my dragon radar goes on full alert as Bastian crosses into my realm. Acasia and Ashrac are not with him. My bride is. She may have no magic, but the invisible bond created by the claiming is in perfect working order. I feel her deep inside me. It doesn’t help my disposition. I don’t want Bastian alone with my bride.
Bastian’s voice rings through my head as he says, “That’s enough, Laryn. Your bride is safe from me. Acasia would kill me if I so much as looked sideways at your trinket.” My hands fist at the term trinket. I don’t know why it bothers me, though. Bastian continues before I can blare back into his head. “She wishes to be dropped off at the room in the tower that you provided. No wonder she left at the first opportunity.”
“It’s a nice room,” I grumble. “If I keep her too close, I will care about her. This way is safest.”
Now I receive laughter before his reply. “And how has that worked for you? I thought you wiser than that. We have them so we may fall in love. The sooner the better. It gives us more time.”
Those were nearly the same words Maleah said before her death. It doesn’t matter because I will have none of it. “Deposit her at the chamber. Tell her I will be there shortly. It would help my disposition if she waits on her knees.”
He doesn’t speak further, though his laughter sounds in my head until he’s in the tower. A short while later, my patience at an end, he tells me she is ensconced in the room. “You are invited to cards at my place two weeks hence. Be sure to bring your bride. My son is quite taken with her.”
A grunt is my only reply. I can take it no longer. Dressed again in another pair of jeans, I charge to the tower. A few feet from the door, I grow nervous. What should I do? Earlier, I would have just thrown it open. Now I’m at a loss. I pull my fingers through my slightly tangled hair. This is stupid. She left me and must be punished. My hand goes to the doo
r, but before I can touch it, she throws it open.
A blade jabs into my neck and I’m absolutely speechless.
“Stop right there.” She gasps and then looks me up and down before her gaze returns to mine. “It is you. Don’t think your muscled chest and pretty face will make me soften to your touch. I demand respect.” She stomps her foot against the floor with her last words.
I’d laugh if I wasn’t in so much shock. The point of the sword digs deeper. This can go one of two ways. I can knock it from her hand and have her over my knee for the spanking she deserves or I can… try Maleah’s way. It doesn’t need to turn into love, though companionship would be nice. “Let us sit down and discuss the options open to you.”
Surprise is written plainly on her face. She slowly lowers the blade and steps back. “You may enter,” she says as she makes a sweeping gesture with her hand. “This conversation would be simpler if you put on a shirt,” she mumbles under her breath.
That makes me smile. I look toward the sitting table so she doesn’t see it. I pull out a small chair. I had no plans to spend any time in this room, so I did not have the appropriate furniture delivered by my servants. The chair groans beneath my weight. She hears it too and looks dubiously toward the wooden legs.
She expertly slides her blade into a hidden sheath behind her neck. I hadn’t noticed because her untamed dark hair swirls around her head. I wonder how the strands feel, and my fingers rub together in expectation.
She sits very prim and proper with her back perfectly straight. Just as I’m ready to say what’s on my mind, she speaks. “Acasia cautioned me to keep my guard up against you. She says you sometimes have a nasty disposition. I warn you that mine is the same.” She barely takes a breath before continuing. “I have trained my entire life to kill you. A sad story told by a female dragon does not change that fact.”
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