Chapter Seventeen
Varis
In the bath of their chambers, Varis soaked, his breath coming out in short, panting huffs. A pale hand reached out to daub a soft rag over his temples. The bitter ichor of poppy milk still lingered on his tongue. “I’m sure I’ll be fine.”
“I’m sure you will be. Ghreid will sate your needs after this, but you need to let the change take you.” Jeron, Asha’s attendant, offered Varis a sweet smile before combing through his hair with widespread fingers.
“I feel great, honestly!” Varis tensed and adjusted his body beneath the water. Every inch of his body itched fiercely. “Jeron gave me medicine. Asha told me what to expect. It’s not too bad.”
Varis breathed with a hiss and relished the sensation of his head aching, scalp stinging.
Ghreid stood in the doorway of the bath, arms crossed, the scent of arousal thick and fierce.
Asha shot him an annoyed glance, but otherwise remained silent about it.
“We’ll be out of here the moment we’re certain he’s stable. Then you two can defile your nest.”
“Been there, done that.” Varis laughed, the drunken flow of poppy milk swimming in his head.
“Many times, in fact.” Ghreid’s hungry voice from the other side of the room earned a glance from Varis and a blown kiss. Jeron nodded in approval as Asha did his best to look away and clear his throat.
“Oh, play coy all you like, new brother. You’re as amorous as I for your partner.” Varis sighed and twisted in discomfort, his spine aching and twisting, but the pain was dulled, like an echo of pain, a bruise. “Not the pain in my ass I wished for!”
Jeron aided Varis in turning over, folding his arms over the edge of the tub.
The sharp pains growing made Varis hiss and snarl, but Jeron showed no fear, even when Varis’s jaw ached and sharp points pricked his tongue and lips, new teeth growing from the ones that existed prior. “F- fuck, that stings!”
“Once the wings come, that’ll be closer to the end…
It’s… Not the most fun part.” Asha’s voice grew distant, and Varis snarled, his back searing as if he were being lashed, bearable, but unwelcome.
“So that’s what that looks like… I wish the first shift was closer to what it’s like to glamor and obscure. ”
“It’s because glamor only changes your appearance. Your greater form requires much energy, and the lowest energy state for a dragon is somewhere more reptilian than human, but small.” Jeron did something to Varis’s hair and worked on washing the limp strands, his scalp stinging.
“Even with the blood gone…” Asha cooed gently and slid from the edge of the tub to walk toward Ghreid. “Red horns.”
“He’s a spectral.” Jeron pulled away from Varis. Ghreid nodded from the doorway. “Slath will have a joyous time painting him.”
“Be honest, my mate. Am I attractive?” Varis locked his blurred gaze upon Ghreid and found hesitant wonder in his gold eyes, a glassine sheen.
Ghreid choked on his words, mouthing the word. Spectral.
“Isn’t former queen Inessa a spectral?” Jeron glanced toward Ghreid.
The golden dragon approached and knelt before Varis, cupping his hands at his face. “Yes. Blue with a gold shimmer, gold markings, and her horns were black and forked.”
“What’s that mean?” Varis parted his lips and extended a tongue that stretched foreign from his mouth. Pointed.
“It means…” Ghreid didn’t finish those words as he leaned in and took Varis’s mouth in a long, drawn-out kiss.
Asha cleared his throat from somewhere near the door. “He’ll need tenderness and sleep, but the change is done.”
Varis pulled away, lust burning through him. “Tell me, my mate.”
Ghreid opened his mouth and closed it a few times before leaning in, lips brushing Varis’s ear. “It means you are well suited to bear children.”
“Spectrals are said to be blessed with abundant fertility.” Jeron splashed about in the water nearby Varis, and the water gurgled away.
“Lucky me.” Varis leaned forward and hummed as Jeron threw a towel over his shoulders. “Now carry me to our mirror.”
Ghreid agreed, smiling for all the world like Varis was the only one in the room.
Which, that became true soon enough as Jeron bowed and excused himself.
Through the bathroom and into their bedchamber Ghreid carried Varis, coming to stand before the long dressing mirror by their wardrobe closet.
Varis leaned his head over, and his world froze.
He had horns, but they were more like an ox or bovid creature of some variety, coming over his head with a thick sweep, but shorter, both curling up at the tips, aimed back, streamlined in a way that would keep his body agile in water.
Scales in a dark indigo framed his face and shoulders, petering out to his bronzed flesh to nails so dark they appeared black, despite the indigo sheen in the dim light.
With a gentle roll of his head, Varis took in his limp tail, the belly a salmon color that melded with his flesh in a speckled pattern not unlike the very lacemaker beasts he’d made peace with over time.
And his wings, the same pattern, flecked with that same pale blue in a way that almost glowed.
Ghreid held Varis there, admiring every inch of him. “You, my mate, are the most beautiful dragon that has ever bore horns.”
Varis glanced up, eyes meeting Ghreid’s in the mirror.
For a moment, Varis saw his own once-coppery eyes, full of a metallic flame, like a candle in a copper kettle’s belly.
His once-white sclera had turned black, and ears pointed back.
Varis wouldn’t have called himself beautiful. Exotic, certainly.
“I do not understand what it is that you see as beautiful, but I see you and my heart sings. Your gold is glittering and fine to me, alive in a way only your coin is. Your teeth are like pearls amid the sea floor, treasures I wish to search out and taste. I long to feel them on my skin. Your eyes, glittering and deep, hold more worth to me than any amount of wealth, and your scales are like a hoard more spectacular than anything else. I will jealously guard them.” Varis petted over Ghreid’s face and drew him into yet another kiss.
Ghreid rumbled into their kiss, lips hot as sin, scalding with every branding peck and lick. “You were made for me, and I will love you.”