Page 16 of A Book of Royals and Deities

His lips slam into mine with enough passion to burn a fire through my soul.

When he breaks away from the kiss after thoroughly destroying my ability to think about anything and anyone else but him, Ziven takes my hand before we walk together, straight into the dark dragon’s cave. The opening is tall and narrow before stretching into an immense dome, where every curved wall is a shimmering black stone. It spreads everywhere and sparkles in the fires in puddles of burning oil dug into the ground. It reminds me of the Decidere. There’s a pit, a massive black circle with a red ring around the edge. I hear wings when I’m close, but Ziven doesn’t stop, leading me past. “Is that where the dragons come from?” I question, pointing at it.

“No, they are over here.” Ziven leads us into a big tunnel entrance full of jagged edges.

My eyes tug back to the giant pit, and there’s a strange tug in my chest towards it. “You do not go down there,” Maeve snarls inside my mind, and I jump.

Ziven frowns at me, and I explain. “Maeve doesn’t want me to go down there…but why?”

“I believe these caves existed far longer than we did, and the truth of them was only known to the Twilight Dynasty. This might have been my land, but the mansion and caverns belonged to the Twilight Dynasty. My father told me once that their claim dated back to the beginning of our race and we should never argue it. They were here before the fae walked our world—Pennitan. The caves that the dragons live inside look like roots of a tree, and that is the deepest part. There are some places you don’t go. Sometimes I hear dragons down there, but no one who has dared to go down has come back.” He meets my eyes. “My mother said dragons that are made of shadows live down there, and they’re not alive and they are wild. My dragon warned me never to go down there too. Every dragon warns their rider not to.”

“Shadow dragons sound terrifying, though,” I admit.

“Who knows if dragons even live down there? Our dragons do not speak of it, and Maeve’s demand says enough. Whatever’s down there, they’re dangerous.” I find myself still drawn to it as Ziven leads me further into the cavern.

I turn around as I hear a whoosh of wings, right before Brythan comes flying out. He’s a beautiful dragon, and he suits Ziven in every way. My head whirls to Ziven as he starts singing in a language that I’ve never heard before. The singing’s almost like a chant, a beautiful sound, and his dragon seems to be calmed bythe echoing song. Brythan lands right in front of him, and a huff of smoke floats around Ziven’s feet.

He looks powerful. Unstoppable. Every inch a dragon-riding king of the Moon Dynasty. When he stops, I clear my throat, oddly affected by the song. Or him singing it. “What’s that language?” I ask.

Brythan sniffs me, blowing my hair around my shoulders in a smoky huff, and I try not to be super intimidated by this giant dragon. Ziven reaches out to stroke Brythan’s snout. “I was taught it by my mother. She had a slightly strange history. My mother was born to witches, or at least, that’s what people used to call them. They knew this language, and she taught me the songs when I was young. They are lost to most now. They can calm dragons. I’ve never heard many from the Sun Dynasty sing the old song of the dragons, and I assume they don’t know them.” He strokes my arm. “I’ll teach you.”

“Thank you,” I whisper back, knowing how much it must mean for him to share a part of his mother’s history with me.

He nods to Brythan. “Come.”

“You want me to ride your dragon?” I blurt out. His silver eyes settle on me, his hand still touching his very big, living dragon. Riding Maeve is scary, but Brythan? When we don’t have a bond?

“Yes, with me. You’re my entwined mate, and we can be guests on each other’s dragons. They see us as one person.” Good to know, and very romantic, but still I’m not convinced he won’t throw me off in the sky. I have a suspicion Maeve would do that to Ziven if he tried to ride her. Ziven tugs me forward and Brythan surprises me by leaning down, lower than he does forZiven. It’s kind of cute. “If he didn’t want you to ride, he would have made that very clear by now. He is as mean as I can be.”

“No wonder you two get along, then,” I mutter. Ziven laughs as he pushes me up by my waist, and I have no choice really but to climb up. The back of Brythan is rather smooth, almost like a saddle shape. It’s been etched into the spikes and smooth back. I climb up, moving towards the front of his neck. Ziven is behind me in a second, and I nestle myself back between his thighs as he holds me.

“Fly,” Ziven commands. We both know he could have commanded in his head, but it’s a warning for me to brace myself. Brythan charges out of the dragon cave and jumps up, flapping his wings and diving into the skies. I can barely breathe at the force of his takeoff, but flying with Maeve got me used to this. I laugh into the wind as Brythan speeds across the forest tops, slowing into a glide towards the sea. I gasp as Ziven turns my head to the side, his lips trailing down my neck to my collarbone, his hand sliding under my shirt in the same breath.

“What are you doing?” I shout over the wind.

“Taking what I want.” His words get into my ear and send shivers down my spine. The good kind. His hand cups my breast, slipping underneath the bra to rub over a hard nipple until I gasp in pleasure, unable to do much but let my head fall back to his shoulder. I’m equally as on fire with need as I am cold with fear from the flight. The mixture of the two is mind-numbing until I can only feel the intense pleasure. We are thousands of feet up, on a dragon, and doing this was not something that I thought was possible. Ziven doesn’t seem to care as his other hand sinks below my leggings too, finding me absolutely soaked for him. He groans into my ear, and I shudder as he slides one finger, then two, deep inside me.

“Fuck,” he whispers in my ear. “I’m desperate to be inside here, to fuck you until you’re mine.”

I am his.Fuckis definitely the word for this. Mind-blowing pleasure starts building inside me as he pumps his fingers in and out, his thumb grazing my clit. Teasing, pushing, and it’s all too much. I scream to the wind as my orgasm hits, and I clench around his fingers, my orgasm so intense that I feel like I’m going to pass out. Ziven is dangerous for me. I’ve known it since the moment I met him, but moments like this?

He marks every inch of my body and soul, and I would have it no other way. If he is danger, then what does that make me for loving every second of him? I almost forget where we are as I come down from the high of my orgasm, an orgasm so intense I nearly blacked out. He isn’t even inside me yet, and he can do this. I feel like a shaky mess as he removes his fingers, and Brythan dives on a silent command. Ziven’s dark chuckle echoes in my ear as I see the cliff appearing. Brythan lands on the edge of the highest point, which overlooks the entire sea for miles until it hits the barrier of magic.

I want him. I need him.

Ziven climbs off first and I slide down after him, right into his arms. The world fades away as he picks me up and I wrap my legs around him, feeling him hard as he presses into me at the same time he slams his lips onto mine. I moan into his mouth as he carries me onto the smooth stone ledge by the edge of the cliff, kissing me deeply enough that the cold stone at my back doesn’t register. His dragon takes off, leaving us alone in the night, and I swear the moon itself hangs brighter, higher as we lie beneath the stars.

He tears at my clothes, and I pull his until he takes them off. I stare up at him, my mouth going dry as I take in every inch of the Moon king. Of my mate. His hard length is just as impressive as I remember, thick and long and damn near massive. There isn’t an inch of anything soft about him, from his rippling muscular lines on his stomach to his chest and arms, to his shoulders. Everything screams power except for the way he looks at me. There is burning desire, want, and when he looks at my body, his body tenses. My scars. Ziven leans down and kisses them, each and every scar, until I’m panting for him.

He kneels and parts my legs, lining up the tip of his cock at my entrance. He slips in just an inch, and I remember exactly how he stretches me. Ziven cups the back of my neck, tugging me up to meet his lips as he pushes further inside me. He pulls out, just a bit, before slamming right into me all the way, and I gasp as my back arches. He groans.

“Fuck, Storm. You’re so fucking beautiful and tight around my cock.” He grabs my chin and makes me look at him. “Do you know how many times I’ve stroked my cock thinking of you, remembering being inside you when you were in heat? Do you know how fucking insane you’ve made me feel?” He thrusts into me again and again, pushing me right towards another orgasm.

“You make me feel the same,” I whisper, and he groans again, kissing me as the pressure builds up. He reaches between us, his thumb swirling on my clit, and I scream his name to the skies as I explode around him, taking him with me. Ziven fills me with one more thrust, kissing me breathless until we’re both left staring at each other. “I love you.”

He kisses me very softly and not like I’d ever expect a ruthless fae dragon rider to be able to kiss like. “I love you too, Storm.”

Chapter Ten

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