Wyoming Dynasty (American Dragons Book 10)

by Aaron Crash

  Steven and the women unpacked. Aria and Tessa would be sleeping with Steven, while Quinnestri and Hwedo would have their own rooms.

  Then they got to work. Tessa and Quinn would study, while Steven, Aria, and Hwedo would train.

  Tessa had cast Divination magic to find tomes on Lyran myth stories, and she’d piled the books up on a table on one of the landings below. She was reading through them, as was Quinnestri, though the elf queen kept having to wipe tears off her face. She said the books made her homesick.

  As for Steven, Aria, and Hwedo, they swung out over the ocean, on their wings, swooping, breathing fire, and giving Hwedo a chance to shine.

  She was an excellent flier, and she loved to give Aria advice on how to improve herself. The Malian dragon was a marvel: when they’d first arrived, she was violent and weepy and unsure of herself. An hour later, she was her arrogant self again.

  Steven reached out with Connexra, since Aria was now a Morta creature. You’re being very patient.

  Aria raced down below him, a dark red splotch above the waves. The more insecure Hwedo feels, the louder she gets. It’s rather comical.

  I’d call it tragic, Steven sent.

  Perhaps, Aria replied. However, she is powerful. And she is an excellent flier. It’s interesting that we were forced to exile her because there is a good chance we’d have never defeated her any other way.

  That made Steven wonder—what was luck and what was skill? Liam and Tessa had been brilliant during that battle in Yellowstone.

  Hwedo flew close to Steven. Her body was a dark purple color, which lightened at the edges of her wide wings. She was half as long as Steven, yet she was sturdily built, muscled and beautiful. Her fresh dragon fragrance was touched with a little musk from their exertion.

  “Your beard is so short, Steven!” she called out in surprise. “You are but a babe! And your Indian girl is tolerable. You say she is your best flier? Well, I am here now.”

  “You shouldn’t underestimate any of us. Aria is full of surprises.”

  Let’s show her the Black Napalm, he sent to his wife.

  He breathed out ArcticWind.

  Aria spat out the black, tacky flame, and it struck the ice, melted it immediately, and dripped down to the ocean below. She roared away, swooped down, nipped Hwedo’s tail, and swirled a BlackBlood tentacle around the purple dragon’s wrist.

  Hwedo cut through the tentacle with a lungful of ShadowFlame. The smell of burning Morta was stripped away by the wind as all three sped away.

  Hwedo banked around, hung in the air, and laughed. “She is not to be underestimated! So she is a dragon that uses a different kind of energy? I’ve never even heard of such a thing.”

  Steven rose up in front of the dark purple dragon. “And that’s why competition in my Escort is stupid. Everyone has their specialty.”

  Hwedo nodded and winked at him. “I enjoyed our fight on the balcony, in more ways than one. We shall have a good time, you and I, when you come to your senses.”

  “Come to my senses?”

  “When you decide you want to fuck me, which is obviously what you want.” She sniffed fire and dashed away.

  Aria drifted up on her wings. “Sabina said I should try the next Exhalant. I’m curious to see what my ElectroArc will be in this form.”

  “We need a target,” Steven said.

  Hwedo streaked by. “I’ll use my Magica Defensio. I can withstand any attack you can make. I’m far stronger than you children!”

  Aria let herself drop, caught a breeze, and went soaring after the purple dragon.

  Steven wasn’t so sure this was a good idea.

  Hwedo spun and cast her shield spell. A circle of dark purple light appeared in front of her.

  Aria hit the force field with her lightning, which wasn’t bright, but a dark red that turned black as the fingers of electricity struck Hwedo’s shield. It wasn’t just electricity—it was also liquid Morta. The crackling fluid swept over the shield and struck Hwedo, electrocuting her.

  And unlike normal lightning, it continued to zap her, the black arcs racing up and down her body. Aria’s Black Napalm was superheated Morta, and this new stuff was electrified Morta.

  Hwedo’s shield spell vanished. A look of terror filled her eyes as her wings stopped working, and she plummeted toward the ocean.

  Steven didn’t know how to turn off that lightning. The energy wasn’t tearing off Hwedo’s scales or destroying her wings. No, it had merely switched off her central nervous system, and she was falling. He dove toward her and slid a shield spell under her to keep her from crashing into the ocean.

  Aria went around and reached out with her claws to pull the sparkling darkness off the purple dragon. Once the last bit of electrified Morta was gone, Hwedo flapped her wings and went soaring across the ocean.

  She came around, and the three met in the sky before racing down toward the eastern balcony. All three landed and turned human.

  Hwedo was smiling. And she was naked. Steven took a second to appreciate her breasts, two scoops of flesh with textbook-pretty nipples and so much supple skin. She had a little patch of black hair between her legs, but he only got a quick peek.

  In seconds, the Malian dragon was on Aria. Steven wasn’t sure what Hwedo’s reaction would be: more violence or enthusiasm. It was enthusiasm.

  Hwedo pulled the very naked, very surprised Indian dragon into a hug. “That was a spectacle, Aria! Your powers are amazing. Your lightning flowed over my shield, like water, to finally touch me. And then? I was helpless. When you pulled it away, I was fine. This would be very useful in restraining people versus killing them.”

  Aria hugged Hwedo back, and then the two parted. Steven’s eyes went from one set of breasts to the other. Both were so beautiful.

  “Thank you,” Aria said to the Malian dragon. “I am very pleased. I could feel the energy change in me. I think my Toxicity will be like Steven’s.”

  “Poisonous wind?” Hwedo asked.

  Steven thought about making a fart joke but figured he’d take the classier option. “No, I can breathe acid.”

  Hwedo nodded. “Yes, Rahaab experimented with different kinds of Toxicity.” At the mention of her former Prime’s name, her face fell. Her eyes went to the horizon.

  Aria reached out and squeezed Hwedo’s arm. “Wait, just one second, okay? I want to get my Animus Daggers and try the sticking lightning with them.”

  “Sticky lightning is a very good name!” Hwedo clapped. “I’m not sure I could’ve come up with a better name.”

  Steven saw she was so caught up in the moment, she’d said something half humble.

  Hwedo caught him looking. “See? You can’t keep your eyes off my tits. I see you looking, Steven Drokharis.” Her eyes twinkled. She was so cute, with her wild curly hair rising above her adorable face.

  For the first time, he was getting a peek at the real woman, not the scared widow of a dead Alpheros or the arrogant victim of a long exile in the desert.

  “You’re gorgeous, Hwedo,” he said.

  “Do I still have to petition to be your wife?” she asked.

  Steven shrugged. “Probably, but that’s seeming less and less like a good idea.”

  Hwedo’s smile grew ever more brilliant.

  Aria returned, still naked, but with her daggers. She tossed one to Hwedo, who looked at the weapon, frowning. “Where is the blade?”

  “You cycle your Animus through it. You might not be able—” Aria was cut off.

  Hwedo held the dagger with a blade of flame coming off it. Steven felt the heat coming off it.

  Hwedo grinned. “Inferno blades. Or, should I try lightning?” And then, the purple dragon had lightning sparking from the hilt, a crackling blade of electricity twelve inches long.

  Aria raised her hilt, and yes, she was able to channel the sticky lightning through the dagger, part electricity, part Morta.

  Steven watched her and Hwedo fencing with the knives, fighting, not giving each ot
her an inch. They danced around the balcony, sweating, lunging, before pulling back.

  Hwedo let the magic in her hilt die. She stood straight. “Hit me with the weapon, Aria, to see if I have a similar reaction.”

  Aria struck Hwedo, and she fell, convulsing, to her side, until Aria swept the Morta off the Malian dragon and back into her own body.

  The Indian woman helped Hwedo up.

  Steven came over. “Okay, the next time we need a guinea pig, it’ll be me. I hate watching Hwedo take all the damage.”

  The Malian dragon furrowed her brow. “For one, I’m not a pig. Also, you hate watching me get hurt?” Her smile showed all her teeth.

  “Yes,” he said. “I don’t want to see you get hurt.”

  Hwedo gave Aria her Animus dagger back. She walked up to him and settled her arms around his neck. She looked into his eyes. “This is my official petition to join your Escort. Will you have me?”

  He wanted to say yes. He wanted to take her into his bed right then. Unfortunately, there were reasons to say no. For one, there were already women lined up for the job. A second reason, and it was a big one, was he wasn’t sure how well Hwedo would fit in at the Infinity Ranch. Having a conceited alpha female walking around would only complicate his life more.

  He didn’t answer.

  She leaned in and kissed him softly. No tongue, just her soft lips, and just for a second. She stepped back, turned, and walked away. Sweat shined on her sleek skin, and her ass cheeks rose and fell hypnotically. Then, when she knew she had his complete attention, she stopped, turned her head, and gave him a look that got him harder than he already was. “I await your decision. I told you before, there are certain things I like when I fuck. It would be a pity if you never found out what those things were.”

  She walked off the balcony and into her room.

  Aria sidled up next to him. She leaned forward to look at the front of his pants. “Oh, you do like her, don’t you?”

  Steven turned and pulled Aria in close. “Thank you for being kind to Hwedo. I know she’s not easy.”

  Aria rolled her eyes. “You collect troubled women, Steven. It’s what you do. Mouse, Zothoric demon women, conniving Texan twins. You don’t like easy women.”

  “That’s not true,” he protested. “Zoey, for example, is very easy.”

  “Oh, the same Zoey that couldn’t be away from you for five minutes without weeping?”

  Steven winced. “Yeah, I forgot about that.” He thought about the others, and yes, none of them were particularly easy. Then he remembered the mother of his daughter. “Wait, Sabina is totally chill.”

  “She was,” Aria agreed, “but motherhood is taking its toll on her. I worry.”

  Steven had faith the Latina Magician would figure things out. He hoped she would join them at the Mont-Saint-Michel Aerie. She needed a break.

  They decided to have food brought in. They had a favorite restaurant in the village below. They could do a take-out order: steaks in a creamy pepper sauce, literal French fries, and some kind of vegetable something. There was an apple tart they liked as well.

  Before, they’d had to pretend to be out-of-towners, staying in a hotel. Now, Aria went down with Tessa, as world-famous celebrities, one a dragon, one Merlin’s daughter.

  The five of them ate in the dining area. The fries were hot, salty, and fresh. The steak was tender, but it was the sauce that really put it over the edge.

  Tessa poured him some wine. “So, I talked with this nice French guy. He’s excited to start using an IEG for his restaurant. And he has a nephew with Parkinson’s. There’s a list he’s on to get healed, though those kinds of diseases might need an orb to really work. Like my brother’s MS.”

  Tessa filled Hwedo’s glass next. “I heard about your skills, Hwedo. Aria said you were amazing.”

  “Of course, because I am amazing.” The Malian woman caught herself. She had a spare set of desert robes, but for now, she was wearing one of Aria’s red dresses. It hardly fit Hwedo since she was so much taller and built more powerfully, but the tight dress did accentuate her flexing muscles. “Thank you for your praise, which is justified. However, I must take a moment to appreciate your Aria. The sticky lightning is both unique and powerful. This Morta core of hers makes one wonder about the extent of her abilities.”

  Quinnestri gestured to Tessa. “Sit and tell them what we learned.”

  Tessa sat in the cushioned chair on Steven’s right. He was at the head of the glass table. They ate off black silk placemats. The dining room, like most of the rooms, had a more modern charm than their other Aeries.

  The barista cut a hunk of meat off, drag it through the sauce, and then chewed it down. Her eyes fluttered. “Oh, yes, this is delicious. As to what I learned? It’s kind of embarrassing.”

  “Why?” Quinnestri asked.

  The barista shrugged. “Oh, I got pastries for tomorrow morning. And I’ll have coffee, of course, and mochas for our elf queen here.”

  Quinn blinked at Tessa, a clear sign that the barista was stalling. “Okay, fine, I got caught up in Lyran magic theory. And not only that, they have a section on marital arts, which I need if I’m ever going to be able to master StellarFlight.”

  Steven brought up the Path of the Mirror-Souled Dragon.

  TESSA HAD SOMEHOW CHANNELED IonClaws into her revolvers, but that was at the top of the Pugna branch of the skill tree. Most of the time, the abilities built on one another. Because she’d skipped Magica Impetim to get to Incanto, she’d never be able to throw magic missiles of her own.

  To get StellarFlight, she needed DarkArmor and SerpentGrace, and yet, Tessa wasn’t a Warling, she was a Magician... that was the flavor of her Animus. Generally, with humans who had the Animus, they had to specialize. Warlings could access the Pugna abilities, Morphlings were given Transformatio, and Magicians, of course, could master the Veneficium branch of the skill tree. Only Dragonkind could use Exhalants.

  Tessa cleared her throat. “So, Steven, okay, we know that Umbra had her very bones enchanted with SerpentGrace. I was thinking we might be able to do that for me, though if we mess it up, I only have one skeleton. From a little research I did, there is the possibility that casting spells on my bones will make them explode. And I like my skeleton, a lot. It would make sex very difficult if I didn’t have bones.”

  Hwedo snorted. “You can’t bone without bones!”

  The awkwardness after the joke killed the room.

  Tessa faked a laugh. “Uh, good one, Hwedo.”

  “I am very funny,” the woman said, smiling. Steven couldn’t quite tell if she was clueless or being a bit subtle. In either case, it was good Mouse wasn’t there. Or the twins. It wouldn’t have gone well.

  “Okay,” he said. “Keep going, Tessa.”

  “So, the Lyra have the Veneficium skills, but those are divided into four major branches: Flesh, Soul, Spark, and Tide, which matches our ideas of the elements. We have earth, air, fire, and water. See how they’re similar?”

  Tessa saw the confusion on his face. “See, Steven? That’s why I’m embarrassed. I got sidetracked. Quinnestri did better though, on that whole farmer, fisherman, soldier, scholar stuff.”

  Steven couldn’t help but grin at the barista. “Good thing you’re pretty. You’d never make it in school.”

  “I didn’t make it in school,” Tessa said. “But I love this.” She nodded. “Okay, their Bellicosia skills, which match the Dragonsoul Pugna abilities, are an amalgamation of the four magics. The punchline to all this? Quinnie thinks I could get DarkArmor and SerpentGrace if I learned a bit of Lyran Bellicosia.”

  “But aren’t those elven abilities?” Steven asked.

  Tessa shrugged. “So? It’s just magic. And the Lyra are creatures of Animus. It’s why we get mojo from them when we orgasm.”

  Hwedo perked up. “All of the rest of this isn’t very interesting to me. However, I like this talk of orgasms. I think we should continue to talk about that. And Tessa, do you unders
tand this petition process to be one of Steven’s wives?”

  Steven glanced at the ancient female dragon. Sometimes, she seemed strong and wise. Other times? Not so much. “Wait, so if the Lyra have Animus, can they become Dragonskins?”

  The silence that fell was deafening.

  Quinnestri turned pale and fixed her eyes on the table. She seemed to have stopped breathing.

  Hwedo broke the quiet. “Does Quinnestri want to become a Dragonskin? Is this why you’re all quiet? I don’t understand how that could be possible. The Alpheros mated with humans, the results were the Dragonsouls, literally humans with the souls of the dragons. That is how they can use Transformatio to change shape. The Alpheros didn’t fuck the Lyra, did they?”

  The elf queen looked up. “They did. Our peoples were close until the Great Devouring of the Alpheros. Then we severed ties, to protect ourselves and to hide. Yet, I have never heard of any elves trying to become dragons. Why would we? We’re Lyra, which means we are superior.”

  Hwedo snorted.

  Steven gave her a warning glance. She just gave him a proud, somewhat bored, look.

  “What if this wanderer, this unlucky number, was an Alpheros?” Tessa asked.

  “A lost dragon,” Aria whispered. “Then why wouldn’t he simply come directly to us? Why would he be playing games with us?”

  Steven didn’t know, but it was clear Quinnestri had been floored by the very idea of a Lyra having access to the Dragonsoul skill tree.

  Still, they weren’t any closer to discovering the identity of this Collidium.

  Everyone was lost in their thoughts for a moment, and it was clear Tessa was excited about the possibility of gaining access to combat abilities that might help her get StellarFlight. And she wouldn’t need to enchant her bones to do it.

  Aria took Tessa’s hand in hers.

  Quinn turned her head to stare at Hwedo, who stared back. They gave each other secret smiles, and the Lyran queen reached out to stroke the Malian woman’s face. “I saw it before, during the fight,” the elf said. “I know what you like... both sides of what you like. You can have me, Hwedo, and that will satisfy part of you. As for the other part? I cannot give you what you desire. Steven can.”