Chapter 31
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KATALENA
Sirrus pulled wet sand up over my feet, waiting until the next wave swept in before he did it again. The heavy substance weighed them down. He did it with intention, like he meant to bury me on the beach where the four of us lingered.
Once Zovai and I returned from the library, Endre and Sirrus had found their way back to their chambers, sweating and exhausted. Endre had no words but to listen to Zovai’s account of bringing me to orgasm on his fingers and trying it himself. He seemed desperate, burying his face in my neck as he made me writhe beneath him.
Not one word was spoken by him, even when I went to sleep, limp and sated and overwhelmed with their attention. Still, they hadn’t let me explore them with my curiosity, though I longed to do so.
But Endre seemed tired, and so we had not left their apartments that day. Or the next. And now, on the beach, staring out at the glittering waves, I was entranced by more than the infinite water. As I had been for the entire day.
Varíwas happily ensconced in the laboratory with Mesene, sleeping in that damn mortar bowl. I would have to find him one to keep in whatever room I lived in because he liked it so much.
Sirrus scooped beneath my feet and allowed them to sink deeper. “Will you bury me up to my neck?” I asked him.
“No.” Pale blue eyes glittered. “In fact, I should have begun with only one foot, so you were open for me.”
I flushed. “I am innocent, but not entirely.”
Tilting his head, he looked at me and ran a hand up my calf to the back of my knee, pulling my leg from the sand and lifting it to his shoulder. “And what does that mean, Princess?”
“That you cannot possibly be satisfied by one-sided pleasure.”
My back hit the sand as he pounced, body lining up with mine. He wore nothing, and one glance downward showed the shifting colors of his skin into shimmering glitter and the long, hard length of him. But he made no move further than that, dragging his mouth up between my breasts before taking my lips. “Is that so? Because I think I could happily spend a century between your legs and call it true happiness. These nights have not been long enough. Especially sharing.”
They’d pleasured me to pieces again, and despite less sleep, I felt rested in a way I never truly had before.
“I hope you don’t wait a century,” I told him, “because I want more.”
He laughed softly, glancing to our left. “If you’re that tempted, perhaps you should rouse Endre.”
Following his gaze, I saw where he looked. Endre was stretched out on the dark sand, his opal skin shifting colors in the sun. One arm was slung over his eyes to block out the light and his chest both rose and fell in slow, even breaths. “He’s sleeping?”
“He is.”
“And he won’t mind?”
Sirrus leaned down and pressed a kiss beneath my ear. “No, he will not.”
I rolled out from beneath Sirrus, savoring the feeling of the sun and the water on my bare skin. It was the first time I’d ever been bare outside, and it felt as wonderful as it did indecent. They assured me that no one from the city would see me, and I believed them. The very suggestion made smoke pour from their mouths.
Endre was beautiful up close. Still as he was, the way his skin sparkled made it look like he was mid-movement. His fiery and jewel-like black scales were gorgeous, but this was entirely different. It was more.
I didn’t want to wake him, but I couldn’t stop myself from reaching out to touch him. Zovai lurked in the shallows, watching with an amused smile on his face.
Slowly, I lowered my mouth to his skin. Right along the place where it began to shine. He was warm. A little thrill went through me. They’d kissed me, and I’d kissed them. But the difference was stark. This felt tender and intimate in a way I’d never experienced.
This felt powerful.
Endre sucked in a breath, and I looked up to meet dark eyes, looking at me from where he’d lifted his arm.
“Can I touch you?” I whispered.
He nodded once.
I spread one hand over his stomach and splayed my fingers wide. The muscles beneath Endre’s skin shifted as he tensed, and I looked at him. “Are you all right?”
“Nothing about you touching me could ever be wrong, Princess.” His voice was gravel.
“But?”
“But if I don’t hold myself still, I will put you on your back and ruin you exactly like I promised.”
I smiled at him, keeping my eyes on his as I lowered my mouth and kissed him. He hissed out a breath and squeezed his eyes shut. “Lena.”
All I did was move my mouth lower. Warm skin made warmer by the sun. And where he had been soft with sleep, he was now hard, cock straining toward the sky like a beacon calling me toward it.
My palm circled around the thickness of him, and I marveled at the blend of softness and strength. “Lena,” he said again, sounding desperate.
“How do I make you feel the way I feel?”
“You don’t have—” His words cut off when I glared upward, and suddenly his fire met my determination. The barest hint of a smile through his desperation to keep still. “Up and down. Squeeze me as you move.”
I followed his instructions, watching his skin shift as I did. It shone in the sun, and the shimmer made me wonder if he would taste to me the way I seemed to taste to them. They acted like my body was the stars’ gift, and I wanted to know…
But first I would do this.
“Harder, but not faster.” Endre’s hand curled into a fist, and he covered his eyes once more, every muscle straining with the effort not to move. His other hand curled into the sand. I smiled. I liked making him struggle. The only time I’d even found a shred of weakness.
Behind me, Sirrus laughed. “You’re enjoying this too much, Lena.”
“Is there such a thing?”
“No,” Zovai answered. “No, there is not.”
I needed my mouth on him. I couldn’t explain the urge, nor did I have the desire to try. All I knew was it would bring him pleasure and I wanted to see this dragon come apart for me the way I had for them.
My lips barely brushed his skin before he moved. Suddenly Endre stood before me, his hand in my hair, holding me just out of reach of where I wanted to be. Something about the way he towered over me and looked down filled me with heat. Desire pooled between my legs, making me squirm, and the victorious smirk on Endre’s face told me he knew it.
“Slowly,” he instructed. “If you’re going to explore with your mouth, do it slowly.”
“Here.” The closeness of Sirrus’s voice made me jump. He knelt behind me, lining his body up with mine. “Let me help.”
Endre released my hair and Sirrus took hold. “Why slowly?”
A low sound groaned into the back of my neck. “Because he doesn’t want to hurt you.”
Before either of them could stop me, I leaned forward and touched my mouth to him. Tasted him with my tongue.
Oh.
He tasted rich and dark. The hint of smoke reminded me of his scent and the salt on my tongue was like the sea air surrounding us. “I don’t know how this could hurt me,” I murmured.
Endre was covering his face with his hands and Sirrus pulled me back far enough to whisper in my ear. “Your mouth on his cock won’t hurt you, Princess. But if he takes your head and fucks your mouth and throat the way he wants to, it might.”
The image in my head sprang to life, raw and wild, drawing more arousal down through me like a gathering wave. “That can happen?”
“That will happen,” he assured me. “Now finish your exploring. I’m rather enjoying Endre so out of sorts. And if you really want to drive him mad—drive any of us mad—” Sirrus took my hand and guided it toward the round softness hanging beneath Endre’s cock. “Lick us here. Suck us here.” The words turned into a groan like he could come from simply imagining such a thing.
Endre was still as the mountains behind us, face still covered with his hands.
I took the softness between my fingers and held it. Weighed it the same way they did with my breasts. It was pleasantly heavy, and that same unspoken need to taste it gripped me.
It was just as soft on my tongue as I imagined. More. I wanted more of it.
Suck us here.
Could I fit the two orbs in my mouth? Now that I touched them, they felt separate yet whole. I tried, Endre’s cock heavy above. Yes, I could fit them both. My mouth had never been so full, but I liked the feeling. Loved the way he looked down at me now with nothing but black fire.
I sucked.
Endre’s hands gripped my hair. His fingers dug in with a nearly painful grip and a growl rolled from his chest. The eyes looking down at me flashed yellow, pupils morphing into thin, reptilian slits and back again. His beast was so close to the surface, and that wild, untamed and untapped part of me wanted to know what would happen if he let it out.
Wondered what would happen if they were less careful with me.
I moved, releasing him and instead touching the tip of his cock once more. Tasting the tip of him. Watching his muscles flex and harden as he held himself back from fucking my mouth. I squirmed as I knelt, trying to relieve the desperate desire between my legs.
He was so big I didn’t see how I would even take half of him in my mouth, let alone all of him. I’d never seen any other men bare, but surely not all men could look like this? Perhaps it was common among dragons. From hearing the whispers, I would be grateful for it.
Sinking deeper, I closed my eyes at the sound he made. Like he was in pain and he never, ever wanted it to stop.
“Endre.” Zovai’s tone was different. “Flyers to the northeast.”
My dragon’s eyes snapped open, fully golden. Sirrus, still behind me, had me up and away in a flash and into the dress they’d peeled off me the second we touched the sand. I didn’t have any shoes—we hadn’t bothered.
I peered out from behind Sirrus, curious. I saw nothing, but I didn’t have a dragon’s eyes. Trousers appeared on their legs, and I gasped. “I didn’t know you could just make things.”
“He can’t,” Sirrus said quietly. “It’s an illusion.”
“Why?”
Endre had already made it clear he didn’t care about people seeing him undressed. Stated he would have walked to my room naked. So why now?
“Stay behind me,” Sirrus said. “No matter what. Understand?”
Fear I hadn’t felt since my first day arriving rose in my chest. I stepped closer to his back, leaning my forehead against his spine. “Yes.”
I peeked once more, not moving from where I stood, and this time I saw them. Dragons coming straight toward us. One with golden scales that shimmered in the afternoon sunlight as the dragon became larger and more visible. It appeared molten, and it was beautiful. The other was harder to see, and so far, I had not seen a dragon like them. Their body was brown and mottled. Not shining. Like they could disappear into rocks and not be noticed. I shuddered.
The dragons around me weren’t pleased by the approach. This wasn’t mere possessiveness. If anything, they grew more tense with every thrash of wings.
Black sand flew into the air as the dragons landed hard in front of us. They shifted. The golden dragon changed into his human male form. Long dark hair and stark features like I’d never seen. Pale, like he’d never seen sunlight, with hair so deeply blue it rivaled black. The shifting color in his lower body was indeed gold. But that was all I saw before he turned in a whirling motion, clothing wrapping around his body in a wave. It didn’t feel like an illusion. Now I could see the difference.
The other I’d barely been able to watch because I’d been so entranced by the sight of gold. His human form was male as well, and for all the world he could have been a soldier in the Gleiran army. Close-cropped hair and a plain face. Was this a dragon from a different place? A kind I hadn’t yet encountered?
When they bowed, I froze. As royalty, I’d been bowed to every day of my life. I knew the bow of someone sincere compared to a bow of mockery. This was a bow of utter disrespect, and the smile on the golden dragon’s face when he straightened proved it.
“Your Highnesses. Greetings.”
“Relkym,” Zovai said tightly before acknowledging the other, plainer male. “Pelbas. You’re a long way from home.”
I noticed both Endre and Zovai had converged. Closer to Sirrus and I, but also intentionally drawing the dragons’ gazes to them on either side. Away from me.
“The Elders, upon hearing disturbing reports that you failed in your duty, sent us to ascertain the truth,” Relkym said. “And to tell you in no uncertain terms that you are to fly to Doro Eche with no more delay. If you do not appear before them in two days’ time at dawn, they will order you by force.”
Endre unleashed a snarl that echoed off the mountaintops. “You’re out of line.”
“Tell that to the Elders.” Then the dragon sniffed. I tucked myself back into Sirrus’s shadow. I’d barely been looking an inch, and I didn’t think he’d seen me. It didn’t seem to matter. Sight wasn’t needed to hear the sneer in his voice. “And it seems the report is true. Show us the human.”
“If you think you have the power to command us, Relkym, you need a reminder of who we are,” Sirrus said with icy coldness. I knew what he could do with that coldness, and at the moment I was grateful.
“I have no need to command you. Not when you yourself are commanded for me. Show us the human.”
“No.” Zovai’s tone was final. “Go back to Doro Eche.”
Endre, just close enough for me to see him without moving, smiled viciously. “And who was it that submitted this report you speak of? Tell me now.” Power laced the words and made them shudder through the world.
“Siolli,” the second dragon said.
The curses that fell from Sirrus’s lips would have made my jaw drop days ago. Now I felt the anger behind them and knew something was wrong. Deeply, deeply wrong.
“And what did Siolli say?” The words were velvet in the quiet.
“That you had betrayed your own kind for a human whore, and were rampaging around Skalisméra maiming dragons who spoke valid complaints. That you were flaunting your sexual exploits in the city, and you refused to listen to reason.” Pelbas, the second dragon, continued. “We have been commanded to see the human, your Highnesses. We must.”
My mind whirled. We hadn’t done anything?—
The library. The dragon we’d heard in the library had been Soza. Either her or someone who told her.
Pressing my forehead into Sirrus’s back, I closed my eyes. Knowing what I did now, I knew there was no way to avoid this. My dragons could not override a command from the Elders. Sirrus growled, but he gripped my arm and moved me, pulling me around and keeping me against his body. “There. You have seen her. Are you pleased with yourselves?”
Pelbas snarled and launched himself at the two of us.
I never even saw Endre move. He simply appeared in front of Sirrus and me, hands snapping Pelbas’s neck with ease. His dragon form exploded, claws tearing the body limb from limb before tossing the pieces so far into the sea we could no longer see them.
He shrank back into his human form and stared at Relkym, chest heaving. “Would you like a turn?”
The golden dragon only smirked. “I look forward to you being dragged before the Elders against your will like the traitors you are.” He took a step toward Endre and lifted his chin. “I look forward to you watching her burn.”
Both dragons moved. Relkym’s golden form flew backward, narrowly avoiding Endre’s jaws closing around his neck. Zovai slammed into him a moment later, casting him into the sea. And for long moments, there was nothing.
Water ruptured toward the sky, casting rainbows in a hundred directions as Relkym took to the air and sped in the direction from which he came. Sirrus’s arms held me hard against his body until the dragon was nothing but a speck of glittering dusk in the sky.
All at once the illusion of clothes vanished and Endre fell to his knees.
“Endre.” I ran for him, falling beside him. “What’s wrong? Did he harm you?”
Zovai lifted me from the ground. “Endre is not injured. But we must return to the city. Now.”
“What just happened?” I asked, dread sinking in my stomach.
He went to shift, and I caught him by the arm, stopping him. “Zovai, please.”
In one movement, my lips were under his, a kiss meant to calm and comfort as much as it was meant to tell me I was his. Theirs. But it didn’t answer the question.
“Please,” I murmured.
Zovai pressed his forehead to mine before he looked at the others. All their eyes were filled with misery. “We are out of time.”