Authors: G. A. Aiken
Tags: #Science Fiction & Fantasy, #Romance, #dragons
“I’ll do that. Is that where you’re heading?”
“I don’t know. I don’t know what I’m doing right now.”
“I understand.” She stood again, and her size roused Dagmar’s suspicions. “You’re not a dragon, are you?”
“Me?” She laughed. “Gods, no! I wish. I’d love having a tail.”
For the first time in hours, Dagmar smiled. “Wouldn’t we all. Uh…”
“Eir,” she kindly reminded her.
“Eir. Yes. If you go that way about a half a league, you’ll find a dead dragon.”
Eir stared off in the direction Dagmar pointed. “Really?”
“There might be something you can scrounge off of him. He had a pouch. Might have something in there you could use.” She held up her satchel. “It’s as big as this. Although on him, it’s just a pouch.”
“All right.”
Dagmar pointed off in front of her. “And out there somewhere, not sure how far, though, there are a couple of other dead dragons. You might be able to get something off them as well.”
Eir grinned at her and Dagmar counted at least twelve scars on that face, one of them a huge gash that ran from her hair-line to under her chin. “Thanks. I owe you one. For the socks,” she added and laughed.
“You’re very welcome.” Dagmar rubbed the wolf’s head and back as he got to his feet. “Take good care of this one. He has a wonderful temperament.”
“Only when he’s in the mood.” She pulled her heavy pack on and headed off. “Good night to you, Dagmar.”
“And to you, Eir.” She smiled at the wolf. “Good-bye, new friend.” The wolf nuzzled her nose and padded off after its handler.
She watched them disappear into the woods until the door of Esyld’s house opened. The dragoness walked out, using a wet cloth to wipe blood from her hands. “It’s done.”
Izzy stared at her mother. The early morning light poured through the bedroom window she stood in front of, making her look even more beautiful than Izzy already thought she was. All that curly, long black hair and that soft, womanly body. Not at all like Izzy with her giant feet, too-long arms, and absolutely no curves to speak of. There wasn’t much about herself that she’d consider womanly…or soft.
She was just plain old Izzy whose life was completely unraveling at the moment.
“What do you mean I can’t go?”
“Was I unclear in my wording? I’m not sending you off to war. You’re barely seventeen winters.”
“My eighteenth is a few months off.”
“Then it won’t be a painfully long wait.”
How could her mother be so flippant about this? Everything Izzy had been training for, everything she wanted to do was moments from her grasp. They wanted her to go with one of the legions to fight a baron lord near the Southland coasts. He’d created his own army and was said to be preparing to march on Dark Plains. Annwyl, as always, wanted to attack first.
Izzy’s entire training unit would be going, and it could be the perfect opportunity for Izzy to prove her worth to Annwyl. How could her mother just take that from her?
“This isn’t fair.” She hated that she sounded like a whining child, but it
wasn’t
fair!
Talaith sighed and faced the window, looking out over the courtyard. “The world is not fair, Izzy. But you’ll go nowhere until I give my leave. And don’t bother trying to get your father to change my mind. We went round and round about it for the last two days, and my mind is made up.”
Izzy knew if her father couldn’t convince her mum, no one could.
Tears filling her eyes, Izzy stormed out of her mother’s room and down the castle stairs. Her comrades, a few of her fellow trainees heading off to the coast in the next day or so, called to her as she quickly walked through the courtyard, but she ignored them, wanting to be away. She even heard her father call out to her, but she ignored him as well as she ran out the castle gates and toward the river. Once she reached it, she stopped at a random tree and punched it. Bark flew everywhere and the five-hundred-year-old tree jerked a bit. Then Izzy burst into tears.
None of this was fair. She was a good soldier. Very good. And she had every intention of being the best warrior. She wanted to be the Queen’s Champion. Hell, she wanted to be the Queen’s General one day. But all that took work and time. Every moment delayed seemed to take her dream farther and farther from her until it was nothing but the pipe dream of a silly girl.
“Why are you crying?”
Izzy turned toward the voice, her gaze rudely examining the girl standing in front of her. She had straight black hair that reached her shoulders and black eyes. She sported a large wound on one side of her face that appeared nearly healed up and she wore a chain-mail shirt and leggings but no surcoat. Izzy would guess they were about the same age, but Izzy damn well knew better.
“You’re a dragon.”
“I am. I’m Branwen the Black.”
And based on that wound on her face and the other bruises and scratches, Branwen the Black had been in battle.
Izzy hated her.
“I’m Iseabail, Daughter of Talaith.”
The most difficult, uncaring, unfeeling mother in the world!
The girl stepped closer, not realizing how jealous Izzy was of her at this very moment. If Izzy had a temper like Annwyl’s she would have hit her by now. Oh, if only she had a temper like Annwyl’s!
“So why do you cry?” she asked.
Izzy swallowed back her tears and anger. “My mum.” She swallowed again, almost losing that battle to her tears. “She won’t let me go off to combat with the rest of my comrades.”
“How old are you?”
Izzy glared. “How old are
you
?” she shot back.
“Eighty-three.”
“Oh.”
Damn
.
Then Branwen grinned. “But for dragons that makes me about your age, I reckon. And me mum gives me such a hard time. She acts like I’m still a hatchling. She won’t let me go into any battles by myself. I always have to be by her side. My brother’s not yet a hundred and he gets to go into battle by himself. It’s not fair.”
“It’s not! But they never see that, do they?”
“No, they don’t. Becomes a real pain in the arse, doesn’t it?”
Izzy finally smiled. “It does.”
Branwen looked Izzy up and down.
“So you done crying now, Iseabail, Daughter of Talaith? Because I must tell you that from experience, tears never work with the mothers. Only the fathers. So why bother?”
Now Izzy grinned. She simply couldn’t hate Branwen. “You’re right. Why bother? And everyone calls me Izzy.”
“All right then, Izzy.”
“Oy!” a voice called from a distance behind them. “Branwen! Where are you, you dizzy cow?”
Branwen sighed. “That’s me idiot brother and me cousins.” She tugged Izzy’s arm and together they began to walk. “So what does your father say about you going off to war?”
“He fought on my behalf. I know he did. But if he can’t convince my mum…no one can.” Feeling comfortable, she added, “My father is Briec the Mighty, by the way. Not my blood father, but…you understand. My mum’s his mate.”
“Briec?” Branwen stopped and looked at her, her dark eyes wide. “You’re Briec’s daughter?”
Her sudden eagerness surprised Izzy a bit. Although Briec’s brothers and sisters had been welcoming, the other dragons—“the idiot royals,” as her grandfather would always mutter—had been tolerant of her, but she could easily tell they didn’t consider her anything but another human and a possible meal.
“Aye,” she said with a bit of confidence. “I am.”
Branwen slapped Izzy’s arm and Izzy grunted in pain. “Well then, you sobbing cow, you’re me cousin!”
Izzy blinked. “I am?”
“Aye! I’m a Cadwaladr. Briec’s cousin. Me mum is your grandfather’s sister. Which makes us second cousins…I think. Anyway, we’re kin. Ya know? Family.”
“All right then.” Izzy couldn’t ignore Branwen’s eagerness. She seemed so happy to know her.
“This is brilliant! Changes everything.”
“It does?”
Branwen threw her arm around Izzy’s shoulders. “Tell me, cousin, have you ever played Run and Jump?”
“No.”
“Well as your older cousin, it’s my right to teach it to you. That’s the beauty of blood relations.”
“Will it upset my mother?”
“Beyond comprehension, I’d wager.”
Izzy didn’t even hesitate. “Then lead the way, cousin.”
He could smell incense and herbs, fresh vegetables, and what smelled deliciously like stew.
Gwenvael slowly looked around him, confused about where he was and yet for some strange reason recognizing this place. It was a house. He’d dreamt about it long ago, yet he knew he’d never been here.
Maybe he wasn’t awake after all. He couldn’t really tell at the moment. He closed his eyes, but he caught those scents again. And, above them all, he scented her. His nostrils flared and his eyes opened again, his gaze searching her out. She was sitting at a small eating table beside the pit fire built into the wall. She had a metal cup in front of her and her head in her hands. Her head scarf and spectacles lay on the table, and her satchel was at her feet.
Seeing her there, alive and well, did more for him than anything else could.
Her head lifted from her hands and she turned in his direction. He smiled at her, but she didn’t smile back. Instead she lowered her head and squinted at him.
“If you can’t see me, you lazy sow, put your bloody spectacles on.”
Her back straightened and she glared. “I see you perfectly, which is barely at all.”
“You’re keeping me waiting?”
“Until the end of time.”
Gwenvael stuck his lower lip out, shuddered a bit. “But I’m in such pain.”
“By all reason, have you no shame?”
“Not an ounce.” He held his arm out, hand open for her to take. “Now come here.”
Putting her spectacles back on, she rose from the chair and moved across the room. She placed her hand in his, and he tugged her close until she crouched beside him.
“Are you all right?” And he was no longer teasing, because he needed a straight answer to his question.
“I’m fine.”
“Good.” He kissed her knuckles. “Where are we?”
“The Outerplains between the Southland and Northland territories. By the Aatsa Mountains.”
“How the hell did we get here?”
“You brought us here.”
“I did? I don’t remember.”
“What do you remember?”
“Kissing you.” He grinned. “In the library stacks.”
“That, of course, you couldn’t be kind enough to forget.”
“Not ever. But do tell me, Lady Dagmar, why do I hurt? Did you try to skin me alive with your hidden passion?”
“My hidden…oh. Forget it. You’ve been through hell the last few hours is what happened. Kidnapped and tortured and a pitch battle with Horde dragons.”
“Really?” He lowered his head and his voice. “Am I fiercer to you now that you’ve seen me in battle? Do you want me more than you ever thought possible? Are you ready to take me at this moment?”
“Perhaps when the scabs fall off.”
Not knowing what she meant, Gwenvael looked down at his body. Horrified, he sat up. “What is this? What’s happened to me?”
“Calm down. It’ll heal quick enough, I’m sure.”
“Heal? I’m hideous!”
“You’re alive.”
“Hideously alive!” He covered her face with his hands. “Don’t look at me! Look away!”
“Stop it!” She pulled at his hands. “Have you lost your mind?”
Gwenvael dropped back to the bed, turned his face toward the wall. “You know what this means, don’t you?”
“Gwenvael—”
“I’ll have to live alone, at the top of a castle somewhere. I’ll hide from the daylight and only come out at night.”
“Please stop this.”
“I’ll be alone but not for long because you’ll all want me more. You’ll lust for the beautiful warrior I once was and pity the hideous creature I’ve become. Most importantly, you’ll want to soothe my pain.” He looked at her again. “Don’t you want to soothe my pain? Right now? Without that dress on?”
“No. I do not.”
Dagmar tried to stand, and Gwenvael caught her hand, pulling her back down. “You can’t leave me. I’m tortured and brooding. You need to show me how much you adore me so I can learn to love myself again.”
“You’ve never stopped loving yourself.”
“Because I’m amazing.”
She yanked her hand away, but Gwenvael simply caught it again and dragged her until she was on top of him.
“Let me go!”
“Not until you kiss away my torturous brooding.”
“I’m not kissing anything away.” Dagmar froze. “And move your hands, sir.”
“But they are warm and comfortable where they are.”
He was impossible! To think she was actually
worried
about him. Why? What was the point of worrying about someone who was insane?
“Get your hands off my rear.”
“Not until you kiss me.”
“I’m not kissing you.”
“It’s because I’m hideous!”
“You’re not…” Why was she arguing with him? Didn’t that make her
more
insane than he was? “Release me.”
“Kiss me, and I will.”
“Fine.” She leaned down and planted a quick, closed-mouth kiss on his lips. “There.”
“You can do better than that.”
“No. I can’t. So just—” Dagmar gasped when his hands squeezed her rear through all her layers of gown and undergarments. And with her mouth open, he swooped in, rising up and kissing her hard. In seconds his tongue had invaded her mouth and swirled insistently around hers.
That was all it took. She melted against him, her hands reaching up to frame his face. Her stomach tensed, and everything went wet and warm between her legs.
She wanted him. Beyond reason, she wanted him. No matter how strange, demanding, or annoying he seemed to be.
His grip on her rear tightened almost to the point of pain, but she didn’t mind. Nor did she mind when he pulled her so close she could feel the hardness he had for her between his legs. Taking his time, he rocked her sex against his groin, the hands on her ass not only moving her but squeezing her cheeks each time.
She began to groan, the power of a climax beginning to grow inside her.
“What are you doing?”
Strong hands grabbed Dagmar’s arm and yanked her off Gwenvael.
Stunned, panting, and incredibly aroused, she could only stare at Esyld, unable to speak.
“He’s still healing!” the dragoness chastised. “He doesn’t have the energy for all that sort of thing.”