Chapter Eight #2
“Dragons have magic, and you are a dragon.” Ghreid reiterated his earlier statement but didn’t push. “But we can take measures to wait until you are ready to embrace that.”
“Are there others like me I can speak with? Before I engage in some magic transformations, I would rather like to be informed. I rather like my body how it is, and the demon I know versus the demon I do not.” Varis gestured toward Ghreid, specifically his horns.
The temple of Alim had many evil deities, often called demons, and one might suppose dragons could fit the bill.
“Of course. My brother-in-law was a stable boy in Monsmount in some fox hole of an earldom not that long ago. Then again, he turned out to be Rammolian royalty hidden away in the end.” Ghreid waved a hand.
“Now, he’s king consort of Sauria. But until you have what you need, I will happily sleep in a guest room. Please, take my nest.”
Varis frowned, staring up from his plate. “Absolutely not. I’m unsure about yourself, but I will be fucked this evening, with Baltheir and Alim as my witness!”
“Quite the exhibitionist, wishing for the gods themselves to watch our performance. And you wish for me to fuck you?” Ghreid licked his lips as Varis signaled for an attendant and politely requested his plate be taken and dessert served.
“How long has it been for you, Lord Dragon?” Varis sat back as an attendant plated pudding and fruit for him.
Ghreid flinched, his cheeks searing embarrassingly hot. “A bit longer than two years.”
“You? Trouble getting a bedmate? You are pretty and sociable.” Varis huffed.
“Dragon royalty… Upper class… We do not take lovers. We have servants that—um…” Ghreid cleared his throat.
Rydel, returning from his errand, spoke from the doorway.
“What my liege is trying to say, is that dragon princes are not given an option to take lovers. They are assigned servants every few years that will serve any needs they have. It is an arrangement that prevents bastards and messy entanglements.”
Varis nodded sagely. “So there are no former lovers I must fend? This is delightful.”
“Quite.” Ghreid cleared his throat, put off of his desert.
“But, what my liege will fail to tell you is that he’s only taken one bedservant, and the arrangement went sour. He’s been to the citadel several times in search of a new one, but none have ever caught his eye.” Rydel gave Ghreid a put-upon look.
“That’s enough, Rydel. You’re dismissed.” Ghreid took a deep breath and buried his anger. The male spoke out of turn and while Ghreid encouraged it sometimes, that was not one of those times.
“No, no. You are not dismissed. Who is this male to you, Lord Dragon?” Varis stared Rydel down. The human wasn’t much past his prime years, only a few odd graying hairs in his otherwise handsome features.
“My personal attendant,” Ghreid grumbled.
“You, attendant, who feels comfortable speaking to my Lord Dragon such. He is either an endearingly submissive male or unendingly kind. Which?” Varis stared Rydel down before taking a single aggressive bite.
“Kind. But he neglects himself often and necessitates a firm hand.” Rydel returned a cold look toward Ghreid before Varis dismissed him with a gracious thanks.
“And you, Dragon—”
“What happened to the lord part?” Ghreid glanced at Varis, tamping down annoyance.
“I replaced it with curiosity. Why is it that you’ve had a sour arrangement? I, myself, have had encounters, a lover for a short time, nothing messy or entangled.” Varis’s coppery eyes could milk secrets from stone itself.
Ghreid stood abruptly and swept around the table to pull Varis’s seat out.
He leaned down and braced the side of the male’s face and locked him into a possessive kiss.
Tongue thrust against tongue, and Varis cried out in shock before melting into the demand.
When he parted, something of Ghreid’s dragon bled through.
A growl curled in his throat. “Because I am greed itself. I am a beacon of want and desire. Nothing I have is enough unless I have it all, and a bedservant does not give me all. A bedservant doles out affections one ass cheek at a time, an oiled hole, a firm hand. Those are pauper’s baubles when I crave everything a male is and has, from the tips of his toes to the very top of his head.
From your lips to your tail. I will possess you.
You will bear my mark. I will lavish you in gold and finery.
None will see you as anything other than a fine treasure they will envy. ”
Varis hissed as he sucked in a breath and stared at Ghreid with eyes far too coppery to be human.
Bits of his dragon already lay within him, beckoned by so much time in the moon’s light.
“If what you say is true, then understand, you may have me. I may be in your bed. You may have your dick buried so deep in me, it threatens to never retreat—but you will never own me. Because I will own you, pretty bauble, golden treasure.”
Ghreid snarled and hoisted Varis into his arms, and struggled to keep his dragon at bay. “You toy with the very nature of a beast. You do not know me.”
“I know that whatever that dream was, promised me a release like no other, and treasure may be gold, but I demand your pearls draped over every inch of me.” Varis bit Ghreid’s lower lip as they met for another fierce kiss.
“Attendants. Out! Dismissed for the day. Quell the fires and do not return until morning!” Ghreid’s snarl preceded exactly ten seconds of control as footsteps from all directions scattered.
Satisfied, Ghreid slammed Varis onto the table, shoving aside plates and cutlery to cage the male in with his arms, slender legs framing the dragon’s strong hips.
“One hopes you have oil,” Varis gasped.
Ghreid licked his lips and chuckled. “You won’t need it.”
Ghreid could smell slick. Arousal. Feral desire.
Mine.