Chapter 2
Sir Keyon
Something weird was definitely going on here. When Leofwine said he’d gathered enough evidence to sanction a raid of Lord Adelmar’s property, I’d immediately put a team of knights, squires, and medics together. Even Prince Cyneric gave me a handful of his men, saying he wanted to see Adelmar in custody as soon as possible so he could pay for his crimes.
The unsettling thing that led to this dinner was the invitation I’d received from Lord Adelmar to visit. He mentioned wanting to discuss some kind of business venture, but I couldn’t imagine why a lord wanted to team up with the knight general. We did not perch in the same aeries, so to speak. Since Leofwine and I had a pretty good idea of what was happening behind closed doors at Adelmar’s mansion, and it wasn’t a secret that I was in charge of tearing down trafficking rings, this invitation was either a trap or a desperate bid to buy my silence.
As I was not a fan of traps, I decided to combine the raid and the dinner. This gave me a couple days to get a sense of the area, the security, and possibly the location of the slaves. That would minimize the risk to my team, which I always kept at the front of my mind. I’d left them approximately six miles away from Lord Adelmar’s land with strict instructions to raid only when my signal was given.
The lord and his lady wife had—of course—welcomed me with gracious, open arms. They’d shown me around their property and mansion, trying to impress me with all the gold and jewels they had in their collection. I wasn’t going to lie; as a dragon, my fingers twitched at the sight of a particularly pretty set of star sapphires, but I knew better than to let them distract me. I had my own hoard I’d collected over the years at home. Also, I had a feeling that a lot of their collection was acquired through bloodshed. No, I had no interest in their tainted treasures.
Dinner was even more awkward. I’d been asked to keep an open mind over the next couple of days while they made their business proposal, and they began putting pressure on my not-so-open mind as soon as we got to the table.
“So, Sir Keyon. Are you mated yet? You have been of age for quite a while,” Lady Adelmar inquired, sipping at her iced sangria.
And we never will be! Toast added vehemently.
That was it. I was officially in a black mood. I forced a smile on my face and took a sip of my own wine. It was quite good. Toast was immune to pretty much every poison, so I wasn’t concerned about them trying to kill me this way.
Let them try, Toast snarled.
“I am waiting for my fated mate,” I said simply. It was the best excuse I could give for why I was never seen touching a female or woman. Even though I doubted I’d ever come across her, I had a small hope that if there was anyone Toast could work to accept, it’d be our fated mate.
“And thank the Sun God that whole fiasco is over! All our unmated went forever without their proper bonds,” she replied with a dramatic wave of her glass. “Really terrible that our own princess got pulled into that mess.”
I shrugged, not feeling very sympathetic. I wasn’t sorry to hear about how her tale ended. The female had been a pest. Well, all the king’s daughters were pests, but she’d been the worst. I couldn’t count the number of times I’d caught her waiting nude in my chamber. Toast and I had pushed our luck on several occasions trying to remove her without touching her. I smiled at a particular memory where we’d grabbed a straw broom and whacked her out with it.
“Well, I’m still holding out for my mate. I’ll put my trust in the sacred bond,” I continued.
“Indeed,” Lord Adelmar said in a bored voice, clearly not paying attention to what I was saying. He crooked a finger to call a servant over and whispered something in his ear. Not sure why he bothered whispering when I had phenomenal hearing. He was asking to have his favorite readied, and I hid a frown in my glass. Was he about to show his hand now? Seemed early.
“Mates are fine and all, but does anyone truly need a mate?” Lord Adelmar asked smoothly, and his wife pressed her lips together in irritation. “Present company excluded of course, my beloved,” he said, tapping his wife under the chin. She relaxed a little but still seemed annoyed. I’d be more than annoyed if I were her; one didn’t talk to mates like that. I’d have helped her flip the table.
“What makes you say that?” I inquired, nodding to a servant who placed a large bloody roast before me. I took a bite, and it was fucking phenomenal. So far, this meal was the only good thing about this mission.
“I’m just saying that a male doesn’t always have time for a mate. Let’s say you mated. Wouldn’t your lady wife be unhappy with how long you’d be away on missions?”
I kept my temper in check, but this lord was really tempting my wrath. I wondered if he’d forgotten he was addressing the king’s knight general, but I doubted it. He was testing me.
“So, what is your solution for my hypothetical, failing love life?” I asked wryly, swirling the contents of my glass.
“I’m just thinking it’d be nice to have someone at home instead of trying your luck at a brothel,” Lord Adelmar said with a shrug.
One of the other nobles at the table spoke up for the first time, breaking the din of clinking utensils and mastication. “Which we know the king is working to dismantle that market as well,” he complained with a sneer. He wiped sauce off his double chin, which wobbled when he shook his head disapprovingly.
“And you are?” I asked, taking a casual bite of my meal.
A pig dragon, Toast interrupted.
What have pigs ever done to you, Toast? I replied, suppressing a smile.
“Duke Gero,” he said shortly and refused to engage further. I made a mental note to give that name to Leofwine. Everyone here was potentially involved in the slave market.
“So, what do you mean by having someone at home? A girlfriend?” I inquired innocently to the lord. He snorted and shook his head, looking away as though imagining a grand scene.
“Nothing as demanding as that. Just someone who’s always available to entertain.”
“So, if not a mate, a girlfriend, or a whore, are we talking about a sex slave?” I just went for it, tired of the bullshit.
“Oh, I wouldn’t put a name on it right away. You’d be doing them a favor if anything, but let’s leave that business for tomorrow. Come now, enjoy your meal!” the lord said and offered a bite of his roast to his lady wife. Her nostrils flared for a second, and the smallest trail of smoke curled out, but she accepted his food and nodded in approval.
A delicious scent meandered into the room, and it made all the hairs on my body stand on end. It was like sweet spring grass after a rain with a touch of agave. Sweet and earthy. My mouth salivated, and I wondered if this was dessert—if it was something new and foreign to me.
Dessert has never smelled so good, Toast admitted. Smells like they used agave syrup. I rather prefer that nectar to sugar.
So do I, I said eagerly, hardly able to focus on my dinner now. Why was I feeling so giddy over a dessert course? It was like I was a six-year-old again.
The scent became stronger when a woman walked into the dining hall with a jug of wine. My heart nearly stopped beating, and my lungs almost caved in because she was the most beautiful creature to have ever lived. I was frozen, terrified because of the predator in me. If I moved, I worried that she might run like a swift doe, never to be seen again.
Her unusual, fog-grey hair ran straight over her shoulders and down to her hips, like a cloudy waterfall. Fortunately, her hair was pinned back with gold barrettes at her temples so I could see her face.
It dawned on me that even though she looked divine, she also looked to be in bad shape. She was heavily made-up, but underneath it all, I could see that she was extremely pale; I couldn’t tell if that was from illness or genetics, though.
Her large eyes were as dark and sweet as brown sugar, framed in thick charcoal lashes. They were beautiful, but I could see her fear and confusion in them, especially when her charcoal brows were drawn in anxiousness. Behind it all, she looked dead inside, like her hopes and dreams had long since departed.
Her nose was beautiful and sloped up ever so slightly, as though she had the grace of royalty but not the snobbishness. Her pale lips… I could best describe them as gentle. Not too wide and not too narrow, they were full and kind, as though only loving words were allowed past them.
At this point, I was painfully erect, and it felt like all my nerve endings were firing.
Your dick is a traitor, Toast accused.
I think you’ll find that you’re the traitor to my dick, I snapped back. You’re the one preventing me from living my life the way everyone else gets to.
I’m doing it to protect us!
Shut the fuck up.
After that exchange, I was surprised that Toast didn’t protest my gazing at her body, which looked like it was made for sex. That thought made me uncomfortable—almost sick—and I adjusted myself in my seat, frowning into another sip of sangria. I had no doubt I was looking at a pleasure slave, and I was sure they’d nurtured her body to look the best it could. I tried not to stare at her charitable breasts when she leaned to pour wine into the other guests’ glasses. Similar to what fell across her thighs, her breasts were wrapped in a tight, gauzy fabric. Her waist flared into wide, enticing hips, and her legs went on for days.
“Ah, there is our lovely Elpis. Our most beautiful dancer, yes?” the lord said, and I tried to snap out of my haze to pay attention to him. He looked down to his lady wife who nodded an agreement, but I stared skeptically at the slave. She was no dancer. She was weak; she didn’t have the musculature a dancer would have, especially at her age. Come to think of it, this slave was rather old to be in this role.
Is that scent coming from her or the drink she’s carrying? I asked Toast in confusion.
No woman smells that good. It is from the drink, Toast said flatly, but I sensed his unease. No... that was sangria in her hands.
“We’re thinking of sending her to the academy. Would you like to witness a performance, Sir Keyon?” the lady wife asked with a sly edge to her voice. What a joke, sending a slave to an academy. How stupid did they think I was?
“That’s not necessary, Your Ladyship. I’m sure she’s a fine dancer,” I replied, and the slave, Elpis, fumbled with the wine container. I released a breath when she didn’t drop it. I wasn’t sure what these people did to slaves who made mistakes, but I didn’t want to witness it firsthand.
The woman frowned, then filled the lady wife’s glass. Lady Adelmar chuckled and eyed my utensil, which I had accidentally folded in half. I fixed it haphazardly, and she said, “Be a good girl, Elpis, and show our guest some of your dancing.”
My heart rate sped up as she approached me. What kind of dancing was this? She could dance anywhere. Why was she—
No. Nope. Fuck to the no. Nuh-uh, Toast protested when the slave straddled my legs without touching me. I leaned back immediately to avoid contact .
Do NOT make a scene, Toast. We can’t afford to screw around here.
It’s the screwing I’m worried about! he argued. What?
You need to pull it together. Do it for the slaves, Toast. This will be over in a minute. I promise I won’t let her hurt us, I said, trying to keep my dragon from taking over and destroying the dining hall. One wrong move, and this whole place could go up in flames. Toast was the very last dragon you wanted to trigger.
My body was brutally on edge while the slave swayed over my lap and legs. Her arms, thighs, and torso fluttered like a flag in the breeze and ran like a ripple over water. Even though her dance wasn’t fed with strength, she was beautiful and graceful. When she leaned back and gestured to the sky like she was pleading to the gods, my eyes caught on the gold of a chastity belt. That was odd. How could a pleasure slave this old still be a virgin? I was starting to have so many questions, and I needed time to think, but this woman was incredibly distracting. Her scent was also driving me mad.
That smell is definitely hers, I said to Toast. Is this female our mate? Don’t mates have strong, desirable scents? That was what all my mated friends have said.
We don’t have a mate, Toast said stubbornly.
Toast, you have to verify this for me! That’s your fucking job, I argued.
Our job is to rescue these slaves! Toast snapped back in a decent argument. Damn him for appealing to my sense of justice. I gritted my teeth and stared at the woman performing over me. I eyed the grooves of her hips that looked like they’d be perfect handholds. Gods, I wanted nothing more than to rip that chastity belt away and impale her virgin flesh with my cock. Fuck! Fuck, shit, fuck! I needed to calm the shit down. It wouldn’t be good if Lord Adelmar noticed how much she was affecting me.
See? She’s already causing trouble, Toast said, reading my thoughts.
Fuck off, Toast. Be useful or shut your trap.
Fine, I’ll be useful. She matches the description the king gave us. She’s probably the one we need to escort back, he said sullenly.
My eyes jerked back up to her face. I almost wondered how I didn’t see it. I wouldn’t call her hair silver, but the cool grey was unusual and—in my opinion—close enough. Brown eyes was a yes. Pearly white skin? Well, she was very pale. She also looked like she’d never seen a drop of sunshine in her life. I couldn’t imagine that helped with a slave’s complexion… or mood. The Sun God gave so we could take; His gift was energy, light, and joy. I wished I could take her outside right now, but our god was already retiring to make way for the Sky Gods’ starlight.
The more she danced over us, the more anxious Toast got. The more anxious Toast got, the more anxious I got. I gripped the armchair, trying to restrain myself from doing… something. Shoving her away with a plate? Bending her over the table and fucking her like a rabid beast in front of everyone? My thoughts were as knotted as my stomach.
Her movements slowed, and she spun off of me as though I’d scared her. When her hand brushed against mine, a spark of pleasure raced up my arm, and Toast—thoroughly startled—shot me out of the chair, which went rolling away on the ground. I was shocked because I was expecting a much more dramatic reaction from him. Skin contact would normally trigger him into running away completely, but he stood still and gave control back to me, seeming confused. Fuck, I was confused as well. What the shit?
M-mate. Mate ricks. May tricks… She may… make tricks on… Toast fumbled for words in a panic, sounding like his brain had completely broken. Mine. Mind… fuck… Women are a… mindfuck...
The fuck is wrong with you? I asked my dragon, genuinely concerned and a little freaked out over his behavior. Could an inner beast have a stroke?
I was still aware of our audience, and I gathered myself as if I’d just been startled by one of Leofwine’s infamous cellar spiders. “That’s enough,” I gritted through my teeth. “Thank you, Your Lordship.” My eyes fell onto the slave, and she was frozen, hands shaking slightly in fear.
My heart sank into my stomach, knowing that I’d caused that. I hoped she wouldn’t get in trouble because of my outburst. I’d better try to clean up this incident. I dragged my chair back to the table.
“Sorry about that,” I said, clearing my throat. “Your dancer was doing too good of a job. My wings almost popped right out!” The table erupted into approving laughter, and the lord chuckled, nodding to a servant to remove his dish.
“Ever the young, hot-blooded dragon,” Lord Adelmar noted with a sickly sweet smile. “Our Sir Keyon knows well the value of a beautiful female.”
“Indeed, I do,” I replied with a smirk but felt revolted with myself.
Elpis seemed to snap out of her trance and continued refilling the glasses at the table. I noticed a younger noble slide his hand up her thigh to rub what he could touch of her bottom, but the lord snapped his fingers at him in a signal, and the noble stopped, looking surprised. Was this common behavior when the knight general wasn’t visiting? Maybe I shouldn’t wait another day to scout the area if I could prevent further abuse to this slave. I was one second away from ripping off that man’s hand.
Don’t risk the mission over her, Toast whined. She’s probably full of diseases .
What the fuck? She’s a slave. She doesn’t have autonomy over her body. Whatever state she may be in is not her fault, I raged back at my dragon. You know what? I don’t want to hear from you for the rest of the night. Get lost.
She’s driving a wedge between us already!
No, you are!
I tried like hell to hide my fury at the table. All I wanted to do now was retire to my room. I couldn’t stand anyone within twenty feet of me right now. The only one who wasn’t pissing me off was the poor slave, who was standing at the corner of the room, waiting for the wineglasses to get low.
“Ah, you must be quite tired, Sir Keyon. It’s been a long day of flying for you, no?” Lord Adelmar asked, tilting his head and stifling a yawn of his own.
“It has, Your Lordship,” I said honestly. “I am quite ready to hit the nest.”
The lord nodded to Elpis and said, “Lead him to his guest room. Take care of him if he is not tired enough.” I stood from my chair but was barely able to contain the look of horror that wanted to crawl onto my face. Did he really just command her to please me if I asked for it—in front of all these people? Oh, that was a bold fucking move on his part. He seemed pretty confident on what he was going to try to sell me on tomorrow. He was practically showing his slave off to me.
Elpis’s face gave nothing away when she bowed and led me from the dining hall. I strode after her, wondering if I’d be able to keep myself from killing Lord Adelmar when my knights arrived. He was asking for it. He was practically begging for it with how he paraded his ‘dancer’ around me. How was he so confident? I didn’t understand why he thought he had me in the bag. I needed to be extra careful.
Elpis led me to a guest room, and a dragon-shifter was waiting patiently by the door. She was dressed smartly in slacks and a button-up; perhaps she was an administrator. She simply nodded at me and opened the door. Elpis led me in, and the female closed it, leaving me alone with the slave. I noticed that my small, innocent bag of luggage was in here. I wasn’t worried that anyone had gone through it. Unless you could perform espionage with socks, there was nothing in there to find.
I opened my bag to pull out some pajama bottoms, hoping Elpis would leave on her own, but I only heard her sit down on the floor. I sighed and turned around, looking down at the beautiful female who was staring expectantly at my shoulder .
“You’re free to go, Elpis,” I whispered as quietly as I could and made a shooing motion with my hands. She looked confused, glanced down at my stubborn erection, and frowned up at me. She reached to unbutton my pants, but I backed up before she could touch me. I tripped and fell back on the bed, hissing at her to stop.
Her mouth was practically gaping at my refusal to let her ‘tire me.’ She looked fearfully toward the door again and tried to climb up after me on the bed.
Don’t let her touch us! Toast yelped.
I’m trying! She’s a female possessed!
I backed away when her hand shot out to hook onto my belt. She clutched at it in victory, but I loosened it, and the belt slid off into her hands. She frowned and threw away the belt. I scrambled for my bag and held it between us as a shield.
“Elpis!” I hissed. “Stop! You don’t have to do this! I won’t tell them!”
She snorted in frustration and tried to shove away the bag. I didn’t want to hurt her, so I let go of the bag but slipped again and fell against the wall. My head smacked against the stone, and I collapsed into a heap.
Did they just fuckin’ wax these floors? I grumbled to myself.
Elpis jumped over, and tears started streaming down her face. She turned to look at me from different angles, panicking and trying to see if I was injured. I reached back and felt only a small bump. That would heal in a couple minutes.
See? Women are dangerous!
Toast… do you understand that we got hurt because we were trying to avoid her? Worst thing that would have happened if she’d gotten a hold of us would be getting the best handjob in the kingdom.
He didn’t have a comeback for that one this time.
“It’s ok, Elpis,” I whispered and sat up with a groan. “I’m fine. I won’t tell them.” She continued to stare back at the door, and I could practically smell the terror emanating from her. “Will you get punished if you don’t do anything?” I asked tiredly and scooted up against the wall. She nodded as she stared down at the floor. I rubbed my hands over my face and sighed. Oh gods, this was about to get stupid.
“Alright, Elpis. I’m going to help you, but you have to promise to not make me laugh,” I said, raising a warning finger, and she nodded vigorously. Her wide, brown-sugar eyes looked curiously up at my shoulder, and I cleared my throat.
“Ahhh! Oh yeah.” I grunted, acting like Elpis’s lips were wrapped around my cock. She placed her hands over her mouth and turned away, holding back giggles. The corner of my lips curled up in a smirk, and I kept going. “Mmm, you like that, huh? Like my big cock sliding down your throat?” Elpis was keeling over in a ball, shaking with suppressed laughter. “Ah, yeah. That’s how your dragon likes it. Mmm. Mmm. Oh yeah!”
Elpis put a couple fingers in her mouth and moaned to join my fake fellatio performance. “Elpis!” I hissed, nearly laughing. “Don’t make me laugh!” She grimaced and covered her face with her hands, but I could tell she was having the time of her life.
“Ahh, yeah, that’s it. Don’t stop, beautiful. Don’t stop; you got it. You got me. You want to swallow? You want a taste of the knight general?” I groaned out and almost faltered when I scented Elpis’s arousal. She had scooted against the wall and was pressing her thighs together. Her face was no longer pale. She was no longer laughing.
Flamin’ shit! Stop turning her on! Toast cried.
I’m almost done… I said distractedly, incredulous that my vocal acting had affected her so strongly.
“Ahhh, yeah, that’s it. Drink your dragon empty. That’s a good girl,” I said finally and rested my hands behind my head. I stared at Elpis, who was shifting uncomfortably, and felt kind of bad. Well, at least that lady outside would be satisfied. Hopefully she wouldn’t be punished for anything that’d happened this evening.
I watched Elpis leave and changed into my sleepwear. Several minutes later, there was a knock on the door, and I opened it to find that the dragon-shifter had returned .
“I’m sorry that our Elpis was not satisfactory,” she said, bowing in an apology. “She’ll be punished.”
“No,” I denied, completely thrown. “What are you talking about? She did great.”
She narrowed her eyes. “We always check their mouths.”
And there it was. There was the next horror. When I thought I’d seen it all... It was like clockwork. I glared coldly at her and ground out, “I gave her water. I’m not a barbarian. Do not punish her. She pleased me.”
The female shrugged. “It’s too late,” she said and departed. I slammed the door closed and roared into my pillow. Pacing angrily, I tried to contain my rage but simply ended up scorching a wooden table until it disintegrated into a fine black powder.
That female was dead too.