Chapter XX Trajan #2
I then stalked back outside into the rain and flew to the small veranda where servants usually fed the fire that burned beneath my bath chamber and heated the pool.
Puffing my chest with dragon fire, I blew a steady flame into the furnace.
The flames immediately licked up around the kindling and wood, burning fast and hot.
Once back inside the bath chamber, I shook off the dragon and shifted back into my human form, even while the beast protested with a growl. Lela watched me with interest, no longer quivering.
The rain had soaked her body nearly clean of the blood of the men she’d killed. I grunted with satisfaction, that she’d murdered those who’d come for her, so proud of her using her powerful gift.
I stepped down into the water, slowly beginning to warm from the furnace. Typically, I didn’t bother to heat the water. As a Sapphirus, I was comfortable in even the coldest depths. But I needed to warm Lela, needed to comfort her any way I could.
“May I wash you?” I asked gently as I stepped in front of her where she sat on the edge.
“I would like that,” she answered, her voice steady and sure. The thunder still echoed outside, the storm turning day into night.
She wore a cream-colored dress that was a second skin, clinging to her breasts, belly, and thighs. I noted the black dragon belt-like embroidery around the middle. I could imagine Fausta was dressing her for the escape when she had uninvited visitors.
Lela lifted her arms so I could get the dress over her head. By the time I gripped her around the waist and gently lifted her down into the water, steam was rising from the surface.
She let out a soft moan and closed her eyes as she lowered beneath the water up to her neck. The tightness in my chest eased, but I guided her to sit on a lower step that kept most of her body immersed beneath the surface.
Lifting the bottle of lavender oil, I poured it onto a soft rag, wading to her right side. I took her hand and lifted her arm. Taking my time, I held her hand and rubbed the rag up and down both sides of her arm and right shoulder, removing any excess of blood.
“You know, after I’m in battle in half-skin, I always get this sort of electric buzz from the magic of transformation, from using my dragon’s strength and abilities.
Julian used to call it being blood-drunk because we always felt it after combat.
But it was more like being intoxicated by dragon magic. ”
When I lowered her right arm into the water, she immediately lifted her left. I took it without a word and repeated the same massaging and washing treatment. Then moved to sit on the step behind her, the water lapping at my waist. I set the rag on the edge of the bath.
“The look in your eyes, it reminds me of that.”
She turned her head to look up at me, the confidence in her gaze a drug all its own. “I suppose I am blood-drunk. More so than you and your warriors might be.”
I smiled. “Move one more step down and lean your head back.”
She eased down onto the next step, keeping her elbows on the stone for balance. Then she tipped her head backward until I cradled it in my hands, her long black hair fanning wide in the water.
She stared up at me with the most vulnerable and trusting expression I’d ever seen.
It shot me through the heart like one of Diana’s arrows, and I wondered if the gods knew what torture it was to gift me with such a stunning, powerful woman that I might have for the moment, but who I could not keep.
Using one hand to cradle the back of her neck and head, I reached for the bottle of lavender and poured it over her hair.
Her body floated straight in the steamy water, oil glistening along its surface and soaking her pale skin and feminine curves.
She was more divine than Juno herself, a queenly beauty.
My queen.
With both hands, I massaged the oil into her hair and scalp. I used my hand to cup water and wash the oil away at the top of her head. She kept her eyes closed, her body relaxed.
“Sit up,” I said softly.
She obeyed, yet again satisfying the possessive beast that ruled me. I washed the rest of her hair with the lavender oil and draped it over one shoulder to hang down her chest. I then oiled her back, massaging softly along the blades of her shoulders, where wings might project if she were a dragon.
Taking my time, I massaged down the channel of her spine and her flared hips, feeling the tension easing in her body with each soft touch. Not just her tension, but also my own.
Exhaling a heavy sigh, I pressed my forehead to the back of her head, my hands cupping her delicate shoulders.
“I was afraid,” I confessed, “afraid they’d taken you.”
She let out her own deep sigh. “They tried.”
We were both quiet. I let her go and turned to step out, but she caught me by the wrist. I was thigh-deep on the lower step. She stood in the bath, her breasts shimmering above the water.
“I was afraid I’d never see you again.”
She tugged me down a step. I followed, helplessly, staring in awe as she pressed her palms against my bare chest. Her exploration of the curves of my shoulders and back down to my abdomen was torture. My cock hardened beneath the water.
“Lela,” my voice rasped with desire, “what is happening here?”
She coasted her soft palms up my neck to cup my face, her thumb brushing the bristles on my jaw.
“I want you, Trajan. But a part of me is afraid.”
“Then we shouldn’t.”
Her expression burned with the same fire I saw when I found her in the blood-soaked room, a triumphant goddess watching over her spoils.
“I will not give in to fear this time. It has ruled me for far too long.” She swept the pad of her thumb across my mouth. “It will rule me no longer. I want you now, Trajan.”
I closed my eyes a moment, pressing a kiss to the pad of her finger. “Then you shall have me.”
Gently, I spread my hands on her waist and turned, lifting her to one of the highest steps. “Lean back on your elbows.”
Her gaze burning into mine, she did, which thrust her breasts upward. I groaned, forcing myself to go slow. I lowered to my knees in the water, scooping my hands beneath her buttocks and lifting.
Her mouth fell open as she watched me skate my mouth up one thigh, pressing soft sweeps of my mouth to each silvery scar she’d put on herself, coasting to the other inner thigh to do the same.
She bit her bottom lip, still watching as I trailed my mouth higher.
Then I slid one hand between her thighs, parting her plump lips.
I licked out with my forked tongue, my dragon very present in this moment, elongating my canines as well. She sucked in a breath as I dragged my tongue along her slit. Then she groaned, eyes rolling closed as I kissed her cunt deeper—with lips and tongue and breath.
“Ah.” The first cry of pleasure escaped her lips. My cock hardened at the sweet sound. “Kiss me deeper,” she urged, rocking her cunt against my mouth.
A purring growl vibrated up my chest and throat to her swollen clitoris.
“Yes, like that,” she whispered breathily.
Ecstasy poured through me at the mere sound of her pleasure. I nuzzled my nose through her mound, wanting to drown in her scent, a constant purr rumbling in my chest. I lifted and bent one of her legs, draping it over my shoulder.
She sank her fingers into my hair, her blunt nails scraping my scalp. I groaned and growled against her clit, while she rocked against my mouth. I slid my tongue inside her with soft thrusts.
I opened my mouth over her slit and sucked softly, flicking her swollen clit.
“Gods, yes,” she breathed, letting her head fall back. “Ah!” she cried, undulating her hips with her orgasm as she fisted my hair.
I purred, opening my mouth over her entire sex, sucking at her core. A whimpered moan escaped her as I continued to lick, until her soft moans eased as she came down from her climax.
She combed her fingers through my hair while I licked every drop from her cunt.
“I’d forgotten what pleasure was like,” she whispered.
I lifted up, bracing my hands on the step outside her thighs, realizing she would have likely had sex with her betrothed, even before the wedding.
“I am glad that you had pleasure before Rome,” I told her honestly. I pressed a kiss to the inside of her knee. “Let’s get dried off.”
I stepped out, grunting at the painfulness of my hard cock, and dried myself quickly with toweling as I walked to my own wardrobe. As I searched for a tunic for her to wear to sleep, I heard her walk up behind me.
“What are you doing?” she asked.
She had another towel wrapped around her body, her shoulders damp.
“Finding us tunics so we can get some sleep.”
“No,” she said emphatically, taking my hand and leading me back into the bedchamber, dragging me to the bed.
When she turned to face me, determination pinching her brow, she said, “We’re not finished.”
I blew out a breath, almost afraid to take this step with her. What if she hated me after, if I hurt her?
“Are you sure?”
“Trajan, I’ve been muzzled and voiceless for years.” She pressed her palms to my chest again, drawing a purr from my dragon. “I want you to hear me and know it for the truth. I want you, not just for my pleasure. I want to give it to you too.”
“I don’t want to hurt you,” I admitted.
She bit her bottom lip, glancing down at the giant tent beneath my towel. “Let me lead then,” she said then added, “Lie back on the bed.”