37. Clara
37
CLARA
S unlight and fresh air hit her skin before she saw them. Clara’s arms tightened around Drakonis, and she screamed as he flew them up and then fell to the grass. Drakonis’s wings cocooned around her as they rolled in the air and slid through grass and dirt. She felt the earth shake, and a roar in the distance. What had happened to Phaedrus? Had he not caught up to them? So many questions ran through her mind, but it was hard to focus when Drakonis’s scent filled her nose.
Her beloved found her. He came for her. Yes, she had requested it of him, but she never thought…
Well, she had thought but she had never believed it possible. Phaedrus confused her, hinting that Drakonis was the one the Fates told her to worry about.
“Are you alright?” Drakonis groaned, holding her tighter. She caressed his hairline, pushing away dirt and debris. His snow-colored locks were ethereal and didn’t look real. The horns that now protruded from the sides of his crown were deep gold, and they gleamed more than any treasure in the palace. At first glance, one would think he was the carbon copy of Phaedrus. He had the same strong jaw, pointed ears, and beaming scales, opal with a tinge of cerulean.
Her finger ran down his straight nose. While Phaedrus nose tipped slightly up, Drakonis’s was straight. His almond shaped eyes glowed the same icy blue and, unlike Phaedrus, he had a more noble air.
She moved her finger over his high cheekbones down the shadow of his jaw. He was still her Drakonis. Physically he had changed some, but he was still her stubborn, playful, prince.
She stopped with a gasp when he grasped her fingers. His pearl leather wings opened enough to let the sunlight caress his body. Flames looked like they danced along the lines of his body. His battle-ready clothes tore, and she gulped as she watched the sweat glitter from his muscled chest. She bit her lip as her eyes roamed up his thick neck and met his gaze. Flames burned there now. Suddenly, their pleasurable night before her capture came to mind.
Clara held her breath as his fingers roamed her body too. One hand gripped her waist while fingertips from the other ran up her side and over her neck. Her free hand fell to his chest, balling in the fabric that remained. His clawed touch sparked a fire in her veins.
“You’re really alive.” He spoke as if he was a thirsty man in a desert. The ghost of her injury throbbed as he ran his thumb across it, the rest of his fingers cradling her face.
“There might be a tiny scar,” Clara warned.
Drakonis didn’t react. He pressed the pad of his thumb into the base of her throat. He was measuring her breaths.
“You live.” Drakonis brought his face to the crook of her neck, kissing the pulse under her ear. Clara tried to fight back the moan, but it was for naught. The whole time she was in the underworld she yearned to be reunited with him, to feel him. “When I saw you with him …”
Drakonis didn’t need to elaborate. Guilt nibbled at her heart. Phaedrus was kind to her, doted on her even. And she had accepted it.
“There was not a moment you were not on my mind,” Clara said.
Drakonis’s gripped the back of her head, threading his fingers through her hair. She yelled as he pulled her head down, latching onto her lips. Clara opened her mouth, allowing his tongue entrance. Her small hands grabbed his jaw as she deepened the kiss. The logical side of her was fighting her heart. They should go somewhere safe. She had to tell him everything that happened in the Underworld, including the Moirai’s predictions and tell him they must track down the Book of Fate. There was so much more that needed to be done, but all she wanted was to fall in his arms.
Clara felt his growing bulge at her stomach, and she flexed her hips. They were both alive and together again. Time was precious and she wanted to relish it with him pleasurably. Alone.
“Drakonis…” she gasped. Drakonis flipped her over on her back, settling himself between her legs. He barely let her breathe before he was taking her lips again, thrusting his tongue in hers, grazing over her teeth, biting her lips. His wings arched then fell flat on the grass.
“Forgive me my princess,” he gasped.
Drakonis’s moves were quick. She pushed up the bottom of her dress, exposing her naked thighs to the wind. She shuttered at the biting cold.
“But what if someone…”
“I’ll kill them.” Drakonis didn’t let her finish. He released himself, stroking a couple of times. From the darker skin of his arousal, his raised scales looked like diamonds. “We are alive,” Drakonis stated. “We are reunited.” He kissed her neck, where Kazimir had slit it. “We celebrate life. Right now, nothing is more important to me than you. Then this.”
His large hands grasped her thighs, sliding her where he was comfortably between them. He was on his knees, lifting her by the hips. Arousal burned in her lower belly, her heart hammering, and her hands running over his body. Noticing she caught his eye, she opened the tops of her dress, her hardened nipples on display for him.
“Clara…”
She no longer wanted to fight it. Drakonis was right. There was plenty of time to do the things they needed, but right now she needed him more than her next breath.
When Drakonis thrust in, he threw his head back. Clara arched her back, thriving on the familiar fullness. Her hands moved under her hips, steading herself as he continually pushed into her.
“No one shall ever take you from me again.” The nails in her hips tightened. Once locked, his bright blue eyes never left hers. “No man, woman, or demigod.”
“Nor god,” she added. Hades had been adamant that she would be gifted to Phaedrus, but she had to refuse. She was sympathetic to his plight, but this moment, these feelings she felt so deep in her heart, told her that truly she belonged to Drakonis. She could never learn to love another man.
“Nothing, Clara.” Drakonis, on his knees, spread his thighs wider. Her golden legs straightened, Drakonis holding her steady. She used her hands to lift herself from the grass.
“Gods…” she moaned. Somehow her beloved had gotten deeper. Her body arced in a way she didn’t know possible.
“Don’t you dare look away from me,” Drakonis growled. His thrusts didn’t stop as his hand went behind her head, pulling her up. He kissed her again, massaging her buttocks. Clara grasped his head, hair slipping through her fingers. One hand moved up, grasping the base of his horn. Her sister had told her it was something her husband enjoyed. Would it be something that pleased Drakonis?
His body rumbled with a growl. She yelped as Drakonis moved her up and down his flesh.
“Yes! Drakonis!”
Clara was flying high as she grasped his shoulders. Her body acted on its own, craving him as deep as he could go. Her knees at his chest, she pointed her toes towards the sky.
“Nothing will hold me back from loving you now,” he whispered in her ear. “My mate.”
When he called her his mate, something snapped. She moved her body faster, the fire building in her belly. Drakonis met her speed.
“No longer can I live without you,” she gasped.
“You never have to.” Her vision was becoming blurry. “I took you back from the Underworld, my mate. Do you really believe that anyone could succeed in stealing you?”
Drakonis bit her neck and her body exploded. Drakonis didn’t stop but increased his movements.
“I love you Drakonis. I love you so much.”
“Clara…”
Pain was nonexistent as he threw her back onto the plush grass. She held his neck as tight as she could with one hand, their mouths becoming one again. They were as close as two people could get but it still didn’t feel close enough. With a squeeze now to both of his horns, Drakonis grunted. His body became heavy as he finally released, moaning in her mouth.
Their lips released and she hugged his neck, burying her face there. Whatever the reason, she felt more connected to Drakonis than ever, and no matter the future she was never going to let go of this pure happiness and love.
“You know I was running out of things to do, waiting for you two to finish.”
Clara gasped. From the shadows of the trees Nero appeared. He wore no cloak or disguise, only a smirk and a raised brow on his onyx face. Drakonis growled, standing in front of her. Clara’s cheeks were bright red as she inspected her clothing.
“Next time, please do it where Romanus will catch you. I wish to see him finally go mad from his sisters’ choices in lovers.”
Clara covered her face with her hand. Had her family heard what she and Drakonis had just done, she would surely be disowned.
“You are brave to say such things to my face when you failed in your duty,” Drakonis challenged.
Nero’s smirk disappeared, replaced with a hardened expression. His lips were narrow, and his eyes tapered. Clara did not know much about Nero except that he was adamant about his duties. He was proud and loyal to his monarchs.
“Drakonis…” She said, laying a hand on his elbow. “Lord Nero protected me. His plan for my escape would have succeeded had it not been for Phaedrus pushing me out of a tree.”
Nero and Drakonis’s eyes locked.
“I am glad you are safe Princess.” Nero paused, his eyes never straying. “Please recommend any punishment you see fit to my King and Queen.”
“I do not want any more punishments,” Clara answered. “My quest has only begun and I’m already tired of the violence.”
“Your quest?” both men answered. She nodded. She looked around at first, looking for any shadow or source of life.
“You are safe to speak here.” Nero said, as if reading her mind. “We are outside of the borders of Ouroboros, and the Drakaina have made sure no one will follow us.”
“The Drakaina?” Clara asked.
“I released them,” Drakonis added. He stepped to the side, grabbing her hand. “They have lived in waters for long enough. Now they can choose to be on land.”
“They are a good lot to have in our war. Quick and agile as snakes catching their prey, with lungs of sirens.” Clara’s fingers ached to touch one of them. Maybe she would see things that would help her. “Now tell us of this quest you speak of,” Nero said pulling her from her thoughts.
With every detail she could remember, she explained everything. Kazimir wasn’t the only mastermind. She had seen a hooded man in the shadows of his future, which she warned him to get away from. She continued with every detail of Phaedrus from the time she opened her eyes, all conversations with Hades, and her experience with the Fates.
Drakonis was silent. A storm brewed in his eyes.
“I saw the hooded man you speak of,” Drakonis said. Nero cracked his knuckles.
“I did as well. We need to figure out who it is. I don’t like wild cards in a war.” Drakonis nodded.
“I think, to defeat whatever is coming, we need to find the Book of Fate. I cannot see everything, and we need to be prepared,” Clara said.
“If you had not just come from the Underworld, I would be less inclined to believe you,” Nero replied.
“Clara can never speak lies,” Drakonis said. She rubbed the side of his hand with her thumb. He was so protective now.
“She speaks what she perceives to be truth. Her visions are helpful, but if we run across others that she cannot see, then she is forced to rely on a monster or human’s kindness.”
Unfortunately, Nero was correct. The only solid way to prove if someone was always speaking truth was if they had a truthseeker: a magic user that could see into the hearts of all. They were rare, with only mere mentions in books.
“Once we get the others settled in Khepri then we can look into this Book of Fate, Clara.” Drakonis looked at her with a rare smile.
“Khepri?” she questioned.
“It is a land in the deserts of the central kingdom. Quite desolate with no one but the occasional traveler,” Nero answered.
Clara frowned. Drakonis, and the other dragons that had escaped, would have to leave a life of opulence to be in a place so empty and void of life.
“Do not be sad. There are tunnels there that I have used during the War,” Drakonis said. This time he was the one rubbing the top of her hand.
“Thanks to Ragnar and my brother in Lada, they have been renovated so you can live there comfortably.” Nero added. “Unless you wish to return to Oceanus.” Drakonis bared his teeth, his scales raised, and magick floating around his head. “Your woman has options.”
“She goes nowhere I do not,” Drakonis growled. He looked back at his mate. “Do not be saddened. In time we will make it a new home. It will be grander than Ouroboros since it will be something we build with our own hands.”
“Phaedrus told me that he locked many powers in dragons. We must make room so we can get them to their full potential.”
Drakonis nodded. He kissed her on forehead. “Our people will rise from the ashes once more. We will have an army that rivals the great gargoyle army.”
Nero snorted. With a flex of his hand, Drakonis shot a white fire ball in Nero’s direction. Nero deflected it with his own. In that moment of distraction. Drakonis flew to his side, arcing a punch to his jaw. Nero looked at him widened.
“Clara may not believe you deserve a punishment, but you have done much to hurt her.” Drakonis said between punches.
“What does that have to do with you?” Nero countered.
“I’m her mate!”
Clara covered her mouth to hold back a chuckle as the two started tussling like young boys. The road was going to be long, but with such powerful men at her side, how could she fail?
Take comfort in the fact that you will never die.
The familiar voice in her mind made her body freeze.
Phaedrus? She questioned. She felt a caress in her mind, and a low purr in her ears.
I have no doubt things will go as you desire but know that I will walk next to you in your path. The next time someone mortally harms you in that realm is the time I bring you back to the Underworld. This time, Drakonis will not steal you.
How was it that Phaedrus was speaking to her? How could a dragon, that was once in Drakonis, now be in her?
We are connected. He whispered. Drakonis may have you now, my pet, but I am more stubborn than he. I will make you love me more than he.
Her body was numb. He had said such things to her before and she brushed them off.
The faint scar on her neck felt inflamed. She lightly touched it, and froze when she saw a light, then a winged serpent emerge on her arm. The familiar eyes looked back at her, its scaly body wrapping lightly around her waist, breast and shoulders.
Why do you show yourself to me in such a form? Why didn’t you just follow us?
The snake coiled up her arm. The snake nuzzled her from under her chin. She felt cold. Drakonis and Nero were wrestling, not even aware that a demigod was current in their presence.
A shadow he may be, but it was like he was physically with her. As if he was whispering in her ear his final words for the moment were, I’ll see you in your dreams. Drakonis may believe that you two are destined, but only the Fates truly know what is in store.