Chapter 21 #2
She dried off and dressed, disappointed to find the cottage empty. Where was he? She put her hand to her Dragon. Find him.
Her Dragon jolted at the command like a dog released to find a treat. She followed her instincts to the meditation hut. No surprise. He’d looked at it with the longing of a man who needed solace.
It was late afternoon, though the sun was still high in the sky. She followed the labyrinth, walking into the sanctity of the octagonal building. The blinds let in dim sunlight, the only light in the open room. No chairs, only mats and a few people sitting in lotus positions. None were Cyn.
She wandered through some of the other gardens, finding most of them empty. The sound of running water on the other side of a thick hedge caught her attention. She followed it to a wooden gate. A waterfall? She opened the gate and froze.
She’d found him all right. He stood naked beneath a showerhead, his hands braced on the wall, facing away from her.
His head was bowed, as if he were in pain.
She automatically put her hand to her throat, feeling it tighten and go dry all at once.
Why was he showering out here? Goose bumps covered him.
The lack of steam coming from the water made her realize it wasn’t warm either.
His position reminded her of someone under arrest. She shivered, wondering if he’d done this before. Atoning for the people he’d killed. For her parents.
His wide shoulders tapered down to narrow hips, to a tight ass made even tighter because all his muscles were clenched. The body of his Dragon trembled, its wings shrinking close to its body. A tremor passed through him, making him flex his fingers.
She approached slowly, her heart as tense as his muscles.
The Dragon’s head turned and looked at her.
It seemed to be pleading for her to stop its torture.
She reached through the water and ran her hand down his back, over the lines of the Dragon’s body.
He didn’t jerk, making her wonder if he’d known she was there all along. Of course, no one snuck up on Cyn.
He, in fact, did not turn to her but flattened his hands against the walls. “Ruby, what are you doing?” His voice was hoarse. From cold or something else?
“I could ask you the same thing.”
He turned to her then, and she saw turmoil in the embers of his eyes. “T-taking a shower.”
“Mm. A cold shower in the cold air.”
The water was cold, already numbing her fingers. They remained on the indent of his lower spine, where the Dragon’s tail dipped to his tailbone. Droplets sprayed her like ice chips. She’d forgotten to put on her coat.
“It f-feels good,” he said.
“No, it doesn’t.” She reached for the shower to turn it off, but his hand clamped over hers, still fast despite how numb it must be. It felt like a glove of ice.
“Ruby, I’ll meet you back at the cottage later.”
She ran her other hand back up to his shoulder, now half in the shower’s spray herself. “I forgive you, Cyn.”
He didn’t seem to register her words, staring fiercely into her eyes.
“I forgive you.” She placed her palm against his cheek. “For killing my parents.”
He shook his head. “No, you don’t get to f-forgive me.”
She arched her eyebrow. “I can do what I damn well please.” He gave her the expression he wore whenever she questioned a command. “You don’t get to tell me what to do on this one.”
He gripped her wrist as if he were going to pull her hand away. But he held fast. “I don’t want your forgiveness.”
“You do want it. You just don’t think you deserve it.” All those words he’d said to her earlier tore at her, how he wanted her, how the thought of not having her hurt so badly he thought he was actually bleeding. “You do deserve forgiveness. And me.”
He groaned, so obviously fighting what she was offering. She stepped fully into the stream with him, pressing her body against his. His Dragon became a deeper, more vivid blue. He resisted, remaining stiff as she kissed the Dragon through the water, up his pecs to his collarbone.
“It’s the magick here,” he said on a raw whisper. “I warned you—”
“It’s not magick. It’s everything about you, Cyn, your honor and loyalty, and even the fact that you’re resisting for me.
But all I want is you.” She kissed the hollow beneath his jaw as he stared at the wall with the ferocity of his resolve.
She wrapped her arms around him, continuing to kiss the bristle at his chin.
He broke, burying his face in her neck and pulling her so close that her body was crushed against him. “Ruby,” he whispered, the one word a plea, a thank you, and a declaration felt by her Dragon.
Mine. His.
She nodded, tilting her head back and relishing his surrender. She dug her hands into his hair. “Come back to the cottage. Let me warm you up.”
He held on for another second before releasing her and shutting off the water. His hair stuck out in wild strands, but his eyes entranced her. That was where the magick was.
He grabbed the towel on a shelf but wrapped it around her, carefully drying her even as he trembled. “Let me get another towel,” she said, searching for a door to get inside the building but finding none.
“I’ll put this on.” He pulled on the sort of garb she’d seen some of the other residents wearing.
She took his cold, stiff hand and led him to their cottage. As soon as she closed the door behind them, she went to the bathroom and got a towel. He’d already stripped out of the now wet clothing. His Dragon shifted, its eyes as fiery as its human’s.
She removed her cold, wet clothes under his watchful eye.
As if she were the most gorgeous, sexy woman in the world.
She did move with a new kind of sensuous grace now.
It coursed through her as she approached him with a dry towel.
She dried him the same delicate way he had done for her, rubbing the towel over his hair and mussing it even more.
He took the towel and tossed it aside, tilting her chin up and taking her mouth.
His hands pulled her close, one tangling in her hair, the other sliding down her backside.
Despite the cold, his body—all of him—was hard against hers. His tongue slid against hers, brushing the edge of her teeth, and she found it difficult to focus on all the different sensations rushing through her. She was no longer cold, not with the heat of his hands, his body on hers.
He maneuvered her to the bed, sliding down with her and kissing her as though he couldn’t get enough. In between kisses, he said, “Ruby, if I make love to you, my Dragon will consider you mine. I didn’t get a chance to tell you that part. Your Dragon will consider me yours. It’s—”
She gripped his face, touching her nose to his.
“My Dragon already has it in its head that you’re mine.
Ours. Whatever.” She kissed him hard, pulling him down so she could feel the weight of him on top of her.
She sank into the soft mattress under him, feeling fully encompassed.
For so long, she was the tough one, or so she thought. Now she gave in to his strength.
Need.
Not only her need, but her Dragon’s. Its craving roared through her, nearly sweeping her away. She held on to control, even as its heat licked through her.
Cyn rolled them to the side and nibbled down her neck, sliding his hands around to cup her butt and pull her tight against him. He met her eyes before kissing her again, wrapping his body around hers.
She pushed him back onto the bed and straddled him, breathless at the sight of his naked body against the moss green sheets. She leaned down and kissed his beautiful Dragon, feeling its heat beneath her lips. Her Dragon stirred where it touched the side of his stomach.
He caressed her breasts, rubbing his thumbs over her nipples. He’d said he wanted to get lost in her, and she knew the feeling of that madness. She left a trail of kisses across his ridged abdomen and then lower. He let out a sound between a growl and a sigh.
She worked her way back up, slowly, and then wrapped herself over him.
His arms slid around her, squeezing her tight against him for a few moments.
Then he rolled her over and pulled her onto his lap, facing him, encircling her waist with his arms. She eased onto him.
And in the way her Dragon had filled an emptiness she’d harbored since adolescence, Cyn filled her soul.
She’d never had sex in this position before and relished how close she was to him.
She wrapped her legs around him and kissed him.
He devoured her. His intensity shot from a slow easing in to flying.
He gripped her as though he’d never let her go, invading her mouth the way he invaded her body.
And hers welcomed, no craved, that invasion.
Her Dragon responded, pulling her into an intensity that equaled Cyn’s.
She sucked on his tongue, bit his lower lip, and nipped his neck.
He had awakened her, as a Crescent and a woman, and she felt both aspects as they moved together in a heated frenzy. Then he rolled her over, lifted her legs, and placed pillows beneath her butt. Sometimes she didn’t know where she ended and the Dragon began.
“You’re beautiful,” he said on shallow breaths.
“Mm,” was all she could manage.
He threw his head back, eyes closed in pleasure, and let out a roar that sounded like, “Mine.”
Mine, her Dragon answered back.
She watched him revel in the sensations, and then he buried his face in her neck and squeezed her close. She closed her eyes and sank into the feeling of being possessed. Claimed.
Cyn lay down beside her, still intimately joined with her. “I like your hair loose like this.” He pulled it over her shoulder, coiling a lock around his fingers, then tugging her close for another kiss.
She rested her cheek on his chest. “Just like the Dragon Prince.”
He drew lazy circles on her back. “Too bad he dies in the end. I’ll bet they could have been happy.”
“Very, very happy.”
Her body sated, fatigue now set in. She dozed, for how long she didn’t know. When she woke, Cyn was watching her with sleepy eyes. He smiled at her, and the sight filled her heart.
“Let me show you the lights,” he said, his voice husky.
“Mm, you already did.”
His chuckle reverberated through her. “I mean, the aurora borealis. I heard one of the guys say that because of the impending solar storm, the lights are more spectacular than ever.”
“And leave this bed?”
But it was clear that he wanted to show her a different kind of magic. She eased up on her elbows and searched for the clock. She’d been asleep for three good, deep hours. “I’m starved.”
“We’ll eat, take in the lights, and then maybe we’ll have time for more of the other kind of lights before Jay gets back.”
* * *
After dinner, Cyn led her up a dimly lit trail to an overlook with a view of the small valley below. Three of the benches were occupied by people sitting quietly in the shadows.
He led her to a bench, dropping down onto it and pulling her onto his lap. His arms encircled her, his chin resting on her shoulder as they sat in silence. The feel of his body against hers made her more content than she’d ever been.
Her Dragon purred. She purred, too.
“There,” he whispered, pointing toward the right of the star-glittered sky.
She saw the first ribbon undulating in a vibrant green.
It swirled around, rather like the fog in a Deuce’s eyes, and then disappeared.
Another wave of lights flickered like miles of blue fire.
She inhaled deeply at the magic of it, the surreal beauty.
He squeezed her tighter, sliding his hand beneath her shirt to rest against her stomach.
“Incredible,” she whispered. “Like ghosts dancing in the sky.”
“Yes, incredible.” She heard the awe in his voice, too, the reverence.
When she turned, he was looking at her.
The Book of the Hidden
Garnet angled her body into the warm spring.
Hedges all around the castle garden afforded her privacy, but it wasn’t her nudity she worried about.
It would not do for her staff to hear their queen crying.
Even seven months after his death, her heart ached for the prince who was dark of hair, but not so dark of heart.
Ribbons of magical lights danced like ghosts and fairies in the night sky. As steam wafted up from the water, she prayed again for the end of her heartache. It wasn’t good to steep herself in such sadness, but she mourned silently now, her tears dropping into the water some believed to be magickal.
A rustle in the bushes drew her attention to the wooden gate that was now opening. Who dared enter—
The Dragon Prince stepped inside. His smile lit the night. “Garnet,” he said on a breath, coming close and kneeling near the edge of the spring.
“‘Tis cruel, whoever you are, to come here looking so much like him.”
“I am he, my love.” The endearment had come to mean something during their time together, and she heard meaning in the way he said it now.
“You brought me back.” He gestured to the skies filled with ribbons of light, and then to the spring in which she sat.
“I could see and watch over you, though I felt so helpless. I saw that you loved me, rather than merely tolerated me as I thought.” He reached for her hand, his fingers closing around hers.
“Your love, along with the magick here, brought me back.”
He was real. Alive, flesh and blood. Tears came faster now, free of the pain that usually accompanied them. “I didn’t know I loved you until you were gone.”
He tugged gently on her hand. “Let me see you. Both of you.” He pulled her to her feet, his eyes taking in her face before moving down to the lushness of her pregnant body. “Amazing. Beautiful. A miracle.”
When she looked into his face, he was gazing at her.