61. Aurora
AURORA
We spent the next few weeks going to classes, caring for our dragons, and—in Ryse’s case—doing more research.
“Here—look what I found,” he said to me one evening, after we’d both gotten into our sleep clothes—I in my nightshirt and him in his sleep trousers. “It was hidden behind some of the older books at the back of the library.”
He was sitting at his desk, and he handed me an ancient looking manuscript, bound in soft leather.
I took it carefully, wondering if I would even be able to read it. But though the language and phrasing were antiquated, it was also most definitely in the Common Tongue. After a moment of puzzling it out, I realized what it was.
“This is someone’s journal!” I exclaimed, flipping carefully through the yellowed pages. The dates were from more than a century ago and the handwriting was neat and rounded.
“Not just someone—I believe that was written by a female rider—a woman who rode a Golden Queen.” Ryse’s eyes danced with excitement. “Read what she says near the end.”
I wanted to start at the very beginning, but Elleena—for that was her name—seemed to have been a very prolific writer. There were pages and pages about her dragon—a Golden Queen named F’reya—including her weights and measurements and how much she ate every day.
All of that would be extremely useful—it would give me a point of reference to refer to as L’eesha grew. But if Ryse told me to look at the back of the journal, I knew he must have a reason.
“We are leaving,” I read aloud, as I looked at the very last page. “Head Master Jorgen says that the Madling threat is no more and so there is no more use for the Golden Queens.”
“What? They kicked them out after she and her dragon helped defeat the Madlings?” I exclaimed, incensed on behalf of the ancient rider.
“Keep reading and you’ll see why,” Ryse said grimly.
“Jorgen says it is a burden to keep feeding the queens, who are far and away the largest of dragonkind,” Elleena had written.
“But I believe his true motivation is to gain complete control of the Academy. He does not like it that a single Golden Queen can command all of the Wings at once as a woman rides and guides her. He feels—as do the other Professors and the Heads of the Academy—that it is wrong to let a woman have so much power over men. And so, though I and my fellow Queen Riders have never used our power for anything but directing the Wings to dispel the Madling threat, we are to be exiled for the sin of not being male.”
“That’s awful!” I exclaimed, when I looked up from the journal again. “They were kicked out just for being women!”
“Not just women—women in power,” Ryse corrected me. He frowned. “There have always been men like that Head Master Jorgen who think women are beneath them. I’m not surprised that as soon as they had no more use for the Queen Riders, they sent them away.”
“And then they made rules that women could never be dragon riders,” I said indignantly.
“Well, the joke is on them, isn’t’ it?” He gave me an amused look. “Because here you are.”
“Yes, but you and I both know I can never let anyone know I’m a woman,” I told him, frowning. “If anyone ever found out, I’d be kicked out just like Elleena was. And who knows what would happen to L’eesha?”
The thought made me shiver—I couldn’t lose my dragon! I would rather die.
“You’re right,” Ryse admitted with a sigh. “But it’s too bad the Academy has become so hidebound and set in its ways. There was more to the Golden Queen riders than just directing the Wings in the Madling Wars, you know.”
“There was?” I flipped carefully through the old journal. “What else?”
“Well, supposedly there was healing in the hands of a Queen Rider. There’s even an account of her healing a Madling bite in there.” Ryse nodded at the journal in my hands.
“What? But no one can heal a Madling bite!” I protested. “All the texts agree—once you get bitten, you’ll go mad and eventually die—there’s no way around it. The only question is whether you’ll spread the madness to anyone else before you go.”
The thought of that made me feel cold all over. That was my secret fear—that my father really had been bitten by a Madling, as he had claimed, and had decided to do away with himself before he could infect Auren or me.
If that’s the case, then it’s your fault he died, whispered a little voice in my head that I tried desperately to silence.
“I’m not sure, but it sounded to me like she somehow channeled the power of her dragon to heal the bite.” Ryse sounded thoughtful. “It could be a lie, I guess, but why would she lie in her own journal?”
“And why did she hide it?” I said. “Do you think she wanted to leave a record behind to let people know what had happened? Where the Queens went?”
“Possibly.” He nodded. “The books I found it behind were in the farthest part of the library archives and hadn’t been moved in years. They were covered in dust.” He sighed. “What I was actually looking for was another dictionary. I’m so close to getting this prophesy translated.”
He pointed to the book written in the Root Tongue that had the pictures of the Golden Queens and the Madlings in the margins.
“So that’s what you think it is—a prophecy?” I asked, frowning.
“Possibly. Or a warning. I know it starts with a word that seems to translate to ‘Beware’ and then there’s a part about not forgetting the past lest it cloud the future or something like that.
” He shook his head in frustration. “I wish I could figure it out. I feel like it’s important, somehow, but I don’t know why. ”
“You’ll figure it out.”
I went over to where he was sitting at the desk and wrapped my arms around his neck. Ryse turned to face me, and I pulled his head against my breasts, with his face buried between them.
He sighed happily and wrapped his arms around my waist.
“Mmm, you always know how to make me happy.”
I laughed.
“If this is all it takes, you’re pretty easy to please.”
Ryse looked up at me, his golden eyes full of affection.
“All it takes is you, little one. I’m so glad you’re a woman and not a man.”
That made me laugh again but I sobered after a moment.
“Would you have not loved me if I had turned out to be a man?”
“No, of course not.” He looked serious. “I fell in love with you before I was sure what you were. And I fell in love with you—not your body. But it would be kind of awkward to have sex with another man, since I really don’t find the male form attractive at all.”
“But would you?” I asked, nudging him with my breasts. I liked the way his scratchy jaw felt against my soft skin. “I mean, would you have sex with another man?”
“Only if that man was you,” he said firmly. “But it’s much nicer that you’re a woman—I love how curvy you are.” His hands roamed up and down my waist and hips. “And how good you taste…” And he pulled open my nightshirt to take one of my nipples into his mouth.
“Oh, Ryse!” I exclaimed breathlessly but didn’t try to stop him as he sucked my tight peak deep into his hot mouth.
He held my eyes with his as he sucked first one nipple and then the other and by the time he finally let the second peak slip from his lips, I was feeling extremely hot and wet between my legs.
“Ryse, when are we going to, you know, go all the way?” I asked him breathlessly. We had explored each other’s bodies in many ways, but he was always adamant about not taking my virginity.
“When it’s safe,” he said, frowning a little. “We can’t right now—I might get you pregnant. And no matter how good your Dragon Glass charm is, I don’t think it could hide that.”
I had to admit, he had a point. But I still wanted to be closer to him—wanted to know him completely.
“But I want to know you,” I told him. “Really know you.”
“In time. For now, why don’t you just let me make you feel good tonight?” he murmured.
His hand drifted between my legs, but I winced and moved away.
“Sorry,” I apologized. “It’s just with all the sweet grass L’eesha has been taking lately…”
“Oh, of course.” He nodded knowingly. The past three nights in a row, L’eesha had been having growing pains which meant that I had been touching myself a lot and I was nearly raw.
“But I still want to be with you,” I said, feeling sad. “It’s just I’m so sensitive down there right now.”
“Well, maybe I can make you feel good a different way,” Ryse murmured.
Ducking his head, he pressed a kiss to my belly.
I felt my breath catch in my throat.
“What are you saying?” I asked.
“It’s not what I’m saying—it’s what I’m doing. Let me show you.”
And taking me by the waist, he moved me over to the bed and laid me down on it.
He hadn’t done this before so I couldn’t help feeling shy when he pulled my nightshirt off and spread my thighs.
“What are you doing?” I asked, looking down at him as he knelt at the side of the bed between my legs.
“You’re too sensitive right now for touching, so let’s try kissing,” he murmured.
“You want to kiss me there?” I asked breathlessly.
“Of course, I do.” He gave me a slow smile and ran his big, warms hands up and down my inner thighs. “Look at this soft little pussy—how could I not want to kiss you there?”
My heart was pounding, and I felt my cheeks getting hot, but somehow I didn’t want him to stop.
“Well…if you’re sure,” I said softly.
“I’m sure.” He kissed my inner thigh, and I shivered, loving he contrast between his soft, warm lips and the scratchy stubble on his jaw. His hot breath teased the soft blond hair on my mound, making me shift on the bed.
I expected him to start kissing my pussy right away, but Ryse kept on kissing my thighs until I was practically squirming with desire. I could feel myself getting wetter and hotter until I couldn’t stand it anymore.
“Ryse!” I begged at last. “What are you doing?”
He looked up at me.
“Taking my time—savoring you,” he murmured. “Are you ready to let me kiss more?”
“Yes,” I whispered. “Please…”
“All right.” Leaning forward again, he began kissing my outer lips.
I bit back a moan as his mouth landed at the top of my mound next and the next moment I felt the tip of his tongue at the top of my slit.
“Oh!” I gasped as his tongue slipped into me and stroked against my sensitive little button.
My hips bucked involuntarily, making his tongue stroke me again.
God and Goddess, he was right—though I was overly sensitive between my thighs, his tongue was able to please me because it was so much softer than his fingers.
Ryse growled softly and looked up at me as I shifted my hips. As he held my eyes with his own, he licked me again.
“Ryse!” I gasped and somehow found that my fingers were in his hair, tugging him closer. It felt so good I didn’t want him to stop.
He made a deep, eager sound in his throat and pressed deeper. At the same time, his hands slid inward, and he parted me with his thumbs, baring my inner core to him completely. Then he gave me a long, firm lick with the flat of his tongue.
“Ohhh! God and Goddess!” I cried, my hips bucking again as my back arched and I pulled him closer.
My reaction seemed to drive Ryse crazy because he wound his arms around my legs, split my thighs even wider, and devoured me.
“Ryse! Oh Goddess!” I cried, calling his name like a prayer.
Before I knew it, my fingers were locked in his thick black hair, and I was grinding shamelessly against his face.
I lost myself completely as he pushed my pleasure higher and higher.
My heart was pounding frantically and my whole body was tense with need. Close, I was getting so close…
Ryse seemed to know exactly what I needed. He growled hungrily as he sucked and licked me, nearly making me cry as my pleasure finally peaked, washing over me like a plume of dragon fire, burning me up from the inside out.
“Oh…Oh!” I cried, my back arching helplessly and my toes curling as fireworks exploded behind my eyes. I had never had such an intense orgasm, and it felt so good I didn’t know if I could stand it!
I don’t know how long the pleasure lasted but at last I collapsed, panting, feeling completely worn out.
“Mmm, how was that, little one?” Ryse placed one more tender kiss between my thighs before climbing onto the bed and gathering me into his arms.
“It was amazing,” I whispered, still slightly dazed. I looked up at him. “Is that how you felt when I tasted you? When I, er, sucked you?”
He rumbled laughter and stroked my hair out of my face.
“Oh, yes. I love the feeling of your mouth on me.”
“I love the feeling of yours on me too,” I admitted. I sighed happily and cuddled against him. I could hear his heartbeat in my ear, and I loved it.
“Good, because I love tasting your soft little pussy.”
Tilting my chin up, he kissed me gently on the lips and I tasted my own secret flavor on his mouth. It was delicious and I kissed him back eagerly.
In that moment, I knew that I had never felt so happy and secure in my life. I had a man who would keep my secret, who loved me unconditionally and I was bonded to a Golden Queen dragon. I hoped this peace and security would never end.
So of course it ended almost before I knew it.