Chapter 6 Raoul
CHAPTER SIX
RAOUL
I’d faced armies without flinching. I’d negotiated treaties with hostile clans while maintaining perfect composure. I’d buried my parents and assumed the throne at twenty-three without shedding a single public tear.
But Adele Thornwick explaining thermodynamics while naked in my bathing pool had nearly undone me.
My cock had hardened the moment she’d started gesturing enthusiastically about convection cycles, water droplets sliding down her pale skin, her eyes bright with passion.
What kind of male got aroused listening to weather theory?
Apparently, this one.
I grabbed a towel and wrapped it around my waist, leaving the bathing chamber before I did something phenomenally stupid like get back into the pool and kiss that brilliant, oblivious woman.
My low growl rang out.
“Raoul?” Adele’s voice followed me. “Are you all right?”
“Fine,” I called back, my voice strained. “I’ll collect our breakfast. Please join me when you’re finished.”
The only thing I needed to attend to was the situation beneath my towel.
In the sitting area, I opened the door wide enough to speak through the gap. “Leave it there. I’ll collect it shortly.”
Geoff’s eyebrows rose, but he bowed and set the tray on the hall table before departing.
I closed the door and pressed my forehead against the cool wood, willing my body back under control.
“Behave,” I snarled at my traitorous anatomy. “She was talking about atmospheric pressure, for fire’s sake.”
But she’d also been gloriously naked, her curves pale and perfect in the steamy water, her wet hair clinging to her shoulders, and when she’d gotten excited about longitudinal data collection, her whole face had transformed with joy—
No. Not helping.
I focused on the cold door against my skin, on my breathing, on anything except the image of Adele rising from the bath, water streaming down her body, her skin flushed from the heat…
“I think I used too much of your hair soap,” Adele said from directly behind me.
I spun around and immediately regretted it.
She stood not far away, wearing my tunic again, damp tendrils of hair curling down her back, the fabric clinging to her wet skin in ways that should be illegal.
The neckline had dipped off one shoulder, exposing her collarbone and the graceful curve of her neck.
Her legs were bare, and I could see the shadow of her nipples through the wet cloth.
She smelled like my soap. Like she belonged to me.
My cock, which had been showing promising signs of cooperation, immediately betrayed me again.
“My hair feels great, but…I don’t know. Maybe duller?
Not a great word but it fits,” she said, seemingly oblivious to it poking the front of the drying clothing.
“Mine will be here today, so no worries. I didn’t realize dragon shifters might need different proportions for hair care, but now that I think about it, your metabolic requirements probably affect everything from—”
I didn’t hear the rest.
I was already moving, crossing the room in three strides, yanking the window open, and diving through it headfirst.
I shifted mid-air. Bones expanded, muscles transformed, and wings burst from my shoulders. Within seconds, I flew in my dragon form, spiraling down through the valley in a controlled dive that was the exact opposite of how I felt inside.
The morning air rushed past my scales as I plummeted toward the valley floor, pulling up at the last possible moment to shoot skyward. I needed altitude. Distance. Space to think about anything except my wife’s mind and body.
I’d noticed everything when she’d climbed into the bath. I’d tried not to look, but my eyes had betrayed me as thoroughly as my cock.
She was lush. That was the word that kept circling my mind.
Generous curves that looked soft and warm, exactly the kind of body a dragon wanted to curl around and protect.
Her breasts were full, peaked with rose-colored nipples that had tightened when she’d entered the hot water.
Her waist dipped inward before flaring to rounded hips, and her thighs were thick enough to cushion a male’s hips perfectly if he were foolish enough to—
I banked hard, changing direction violently enough that my wings protested.
This was madness. We’d agreed on a professional partnership. Cordial distance. No intimacy.
Except my dragon side didn’t care about agreements. It knew what it wanted, and what it wanted was currently standing in my chambers wearing my clothing, smelling like my soap, rumpled and thoroughly appealing.
I flew harder, pushing myself toward the mountain peaks where the air grew thin and cold. Physical exertion had always been my solution when emotions threatened to overwhelm me. Fly until exhausted. Fight until drained. Work until numb.
But no matter how high I climbed or how fast I flew, I couldn’t escape the memory of Adele’s face when she’d talked about her research. That unguarded enthusiasm, the way her whole being lit up. She said most people found her scattered nature irritating. I found it captivating.
She didn’t perform for me. Didn’t try to be anything other than exactly who she was.
She’d arrived two hours late to our wedding and apologized by explaining what she was working on.
She’d agreed to a loveless marriage with obvious relief.
She’d studied my naked body with the same clinical interest she’d shown the bathing chamber’s geological features.
And somehow, impossibly, that made me want her more.
I looked down, furious to discover I was still erect. In dragon form, it was less obvious but no less uncomfortable. But if any of my people looked up and noticed their king flying around with a hard-on, I’d never live it down.
Raoul Emberforge, Dragon King of the Emberforge Territories, renowned for his iron control and perfect discipline, unable to master his cock around his new wife.
The humiliation was almost enough to cool my ardor.
I forced myself to slow down, to breathe, to think rationally. This was simple biology. Adele was gorgeous, and I was a healthy male dragon in his prime. Physical attraction was natural. It didn’t mean anything beyond basic instinct.
The fact that I wanted to hear her explain weather patterns for hours while I watched her face light up with passion was merely appreciation for her intelligence.
The fact that I’d given her my chambers and felt satisfaction seeing her in my space was practical hospitality.
And the fact that my dragon side purred with contentment every time she said my name was…concerning.
No. I wasn’t becoming attached. I’d learned that lesson too well, too young. Attachment led to loss, and loss led to the kind of pain that carved permanent scars into your soul.
My parents’ deaths had taught me that caring deeply meant suffering when the inevitable separation came. Better to maintain distance. Better to keep everyone at arm’s length where their eventual departure couldn’t destroy you.
Adele had agreed to exactly that arrangement. She wanted her research and her freedom, not a husband who hovered and demanded emotional connection.
So why did her easy acceptance of our loveless marriage feel like rejection?
I circled one more time, letting the cold mountain air finally cool my overheated blood. When I was certain I’d regained control, or at least the appearance of it, I angled back toward the palace, diving toward my open window with the precision that came from years of practice.
I shifted mid-plunge, my dragon form condensing back into my regular shape before I passed through the window opening. My feet hit the stone floor, absorbing the impact with bent knees.
Because I’d left naked, I still was.
Fletcher lay on the sofa still, his droopy eyes following my entrance with what looked like a mix of disapproval and amusement, which should have been impossible for a canine.
“Not a word,” I told him, feeling ridiculous for addressing a dog.
He huffed and closed his eyes.
I stalked to my bedroom, needing clothing as armor against whatever came next. The door was ajar, and I pushed through without thinking—
Adele stood in front of my tall bureau, using my hairbrush on her damp hair, studying her reflection in the mirror mounted above. She’d pulled my tunic higher on one shoulder, but the other side had slipped down, and she hummed while she worked through a tangle.
She looked utterly at home in my bedroom, using my things, wearing my clothes.
Mine, my dragon side growled deep inside me.
I must’ve made a sound because her gaze met mine in the mirror.
“Oh, you’re back. I hope you don’t mind that I borrowed your brush. I couldn’t find mine, but of course it hasn’t arrived yet, and my hair was a disaster after the bath—”
“It’s not a problem.” I crossed to my closet, yanking open the heavy doors with more force than needed. Inside, I grabbed the first pair of pants I touched and pulled them on.
I didn’t bother with a tunic.
When I emerged from the closet, she’d finished with her hair and had moved to the sitting room. I found her kneeling on the floor beside Fletcher, whispering to him while stroking his ears.
“And I’d love to explore the cave system,” she said softly.
“I’ve never seen a volcanic mountain from the inside before.
The geological formations alone would be fascinating, but if there are multiple chambers with different temperature zones, I could conduct experiments comparing thermal retention in natural versus constructed environments.
And Raoul mentioned weather records going back three centuries, which is exactly the kind of longitudinal data I need for my predictive models.
Do you think he actually meant it when he said I could access them?
Sometimes people say things to be polite. ”
She actually doubted me. The uncertainty in her voice made my chest tighten.
When she smiled, my knees nearly gave way.