Chapter 12
Joris
I felt the overwhelming upset before I even heard anyone.
The residence wing of the castle was dead when it wasn’t during construction hours since Sagan was the only royal in the castle.
And I was the only prospective mating candidate who had had their interview and had been settled in one of the few finished rooms.
I was also glad that Benson had listened to reason and changed security so we didn’t have open access to the residence wing. That was insanity when too many of these candidates would want to be prince instead of the queen’s partner.
I thought it was ridiculous we were staying here at all, but I also understood it was inconvenient for us to take up all the guest rooms. I even understood the valid, reasonable ones who were being pushed into this that they didn’t want to spend possibly years in rooms they didn’t feel they could settle into.
It wasn’t like we didn’t all come from rich families. I liked having my space too. I would have been annoyed at losing the space of a study and whatnot. So… Valid.
But we were now cut off from the top floor where Sagan and any visiting royal would stay.
No. Fucking. Shit.
Sometimes I wonder how Benson got his job. I really did.
And I hoped he stepped up now because she deserved better, and given how well she’d already handled the shit thrown at her, I thought she’d be a much better ruler than her father was. May the gods give him peace in the afterlife, but… It was how I felt.
But the upset and rage I felt heading towards me distracted me out of my reading. With permission, I’d borrowed some books from the De la Rosa library and was looking into helping Sagan on something.
Apparently, she wanted another type of help.
I heard muffled talking and then a clear voice say, “Two rooms down on your left, Your Majesty.”
She barely bit out a thank-you and I was already on my feet heading to the door. There was no need to play games or make her deal with more drama.
I opened the door right as she stepped up to knock, too much surrounding her and in her eyes even if she kept her mask locked into place. “Please, come inside, Your Majesty.”
“Thank you,” she whispered, relief cutting through some of her upset when she clearly understood she’d made the right choice coming to me.
And I always, always wanted that to be how she felt. No matter if it was to my bed or—I always wanted that to be how people felt around me. The world—and people—were too much drama and problematic.
I wanted to always be the port in the storm where people could feel safe and where they could find sanity. Comfort. Be heard and take a break.
And somehow I was seen as weird or an oddball?
That always made me sad if I was honest.
I closed the door behind her and let her into the sitting area, frowning when she didn’t say anything. I could feel the upset, but also now the nerves coming off of her.
But this was something I couldn’t push her on. It was no different than if she was inebriated. She was distressed and not in her head. It would have been pressuring her—it wasn’t wrong, but it wasn’t in my nature.
Or maybe a bit of both.
However, she was struggling.
“Give me at least a hint so I can help, Sagan?” I whispered, trying to at least make it easier.
She huffed and then paced, freezing when she moved closer to the couch and saw what I had. She leaned in and then did a double take, glancing over at me. “You—Raquel gave you access?”
I nodded. “She set up the new procedure you wanted to protect your extensive family libraries. Well done on that. I have a few suggestions if you’re open to it. Benson wasn’t.”
She sighed and rubbed her face. “To be fair, we’re both very underwater, and knowing who to trust—we were supposed to trust the elders and now it’s like we don’t want to trust anyone.”
“Fair,” I accepted. “But he should still listen to all ideas and be smart enough to know which to implement. Or discuss them with you who is the boss. Not just ignore them like he knows all.”
She licked her lips and lost more of her upset. “Very fair. I will bring it up with him.”
“I would actually suggest your Uncle Fraser might be a better one, and I would take that off your plate if you decide to tell him about our alliance—should you decide to agree to it.”
Almost softness filled her eyes. “I trust you, Joris. As much as I can. You’re plainly on my side and have shown that already.” She gestured to what I was looking over.
“The high priest needs to go,” I chuffed, beyond furious. That piece of shit kept doubling down on his bullshit, and as someone devout to his belief in the gods, I was beyond furious. It was all his selfishness and desire for power.
And that was before I took into account how amazing Sagan was.
She licked her lush lips and suddenly I didn’t care about the high priest. She stepped closer and was still overwhelmed by too much for me to lock into any one thing. “How does it work?”
“What work, My Queen?” I whispered.
She shivered. “What you offered. How does it—tell me what to do.”
I mirrored her movements and stepped closer. “No, you tell me what to do, Sagan. That’s the whole point. I give you whatever you want. You’re the boss here.”
And that was what she needed.
Constantly, she was being shut down or dismissed. At every turn she was being undermined or demeaned. She needed someone to let her be the queen she was.
Even if it was sexually and for a night so she could keep it together.
She closed the distance between us and stared up at me, her huge chest heaving as she chuffed while her large, pretty deep red eyes flashed power. “Worship your queen in every way I need.”
I groaned and cupped her head as I kissed her. Her lips were just as soft as they looked and she responded beautifully. She fisted my shirt and took control of the kiss, pushing her tongue into my mouth and demanding I give her what she needed.
It was what I’d always wanted. Most of the submissive men I’d met wanted to be told everything and every step.
That was fun too, but this was better than drugs for me.
She was coming into her own and exploring her power.
Knowing what she wanted and watching her realize she could demand it… Fucking intoxicating.
I didn’t want to be a well-trained and dead inside pet. I wanted a strong woman to lead me and know herself well enough to tell me exactly what she wanted.
And trust me enough to give it to her.
“Too tall,” she growled after kissing a bit more.
“Yes, My Queen,” I purred and lifted her under her ass.
I draped her legs around me and she wrapped her arms around me and devoured my mouth.
I kissed her that way for a while, never more satisfied in my life by just a kiss before I brought her over to the couch and set her on her feet.
“Let me undress you and give you relief.”
She shivered. “Do it and impress me or you won’t have me.”
I moaned and almost came in my pants. There wasn’t—fuck, she was magnificent.
I slowly undressed her and kissed every inch of her skin as I did.
She was shy revealing the areas she was clearly self-conscience about, but…
I liked that too. The mix and balance from her were like the best perfume of pheromones for my dragon.
But it was also more than that. She’d been training. To some species that would be gross and they’d think she should shower first.
To a dragon? Oh no, her scent was what turned us on. She’d worked hard and that was a woman we wanted to “mate” with.
She also smelled like victory even if she was frustrated and had come to me so upset. So it had been a challenge, but she’d won in the end.
But obviously with a cost to herself.
I sat her on the couch and pulled her to the edge of it. No reason she shouldn’t be comfortable while I enjoyed my favorite treat.
“You’re starting there?” she hesitated, not seeming against it but also… Curious?
Then I remembered the drama and issues about her breasts. I glanced at them and then up at her. “They are amazing. Beyond—all I’ve heard from other female dragons I know is their jealousy. I have…”
She sat up frowning. “What?”
I licked my lips and decided if she could open herself to me, I could too. I cupped her face and brushed my lips over hers. “It’s not you. I have—it’s—”
“You’re safe with me too, Joris,” she whispered, warming me in a way I wasn’t used to.
“I can’t get hard unless I’ve got pussy on my lips,” I confessed. “No matter how aroused or excited. It’s like… I just can’t.”
She tried to hide her reaction and I braced for the revulsion or rejection I was so used to. There was sadness, but shock filled me when it stemmed completely from how hard that must have been for me to deal with.
But then that cute confusion came back. “Can I ask how we’re going to have sex if you can’t be hard unless you’re pleasing me orally?”
She was too much. She really, really was too fucking much.
“No, I mean—I need your juices on my tongue, My Queen,” I purred. “I need to taste you to get hard and then I’ll stay hard, that taste—it’s the key that turns the ignition on.”
“Oh, oh,” she breathed, her eyes filling with heat. “That’s… Interesting.”
More than that. She fucking liked it. A man who was so into her body and desire that he couldn’t get off unless it was about her.
Fuck, she was perfect for me. I wanted to curse the gods that she was born of a life I couldn’t fit into, but that was for another time.
Right then, it was about us being together and me giving her what she needed.
Another kiss and some attention on the best fucking breasts I’d ever loved on and then I tasted paradise. Kissing her thick thighs revved me up, but when I tasted the ambrosia of her juices, I was instantly rock hard.
And I wasn’t even a rock dragon. I was a medicinal dragon, which came in handy often.
Especially when I wasn’t a small dragon.
Anywhere.