Page 109 of The Dragon Queen

“Heavenly,” I replied, urging him on because the desolation was pushed aside with each word.

“Flynn is a terrible cook but a surprisingly good baker. Apparently, he annoyed the cooks of his father’s estate so much they put him to work, baking the house’s bread.”

“So we won’t starve,” I said. “I’m no good in the kitchen, but I’m a dab hand with a needle. I can card wool and spin yarn, knit passably well.”

“So we’ll be well fed and have clothes on our backs.” His hand smoothed down my spine. “The dragons can bring down meat, evenfind some stray animals for us to create a small holding somewhere up in the north.”

“Beyond Dragon Home?” I asked.

The area was mountainous, bitterly cold, with difficult terrain to traverse. The people who lived there were few and far between, but notorious for being a secretive, clannish sort. A perfect place to hide. For just a moment, I could see it. A stone cottage we built with our own hands, the dragons helping quarry stone or perhaps we would find a suitable cave complex and carve out a living space for us and them there. Glimmer would rise to mate when she was old enough and bear her eggs in the depths of the cave, not troubled by greedy humans.

“Far enough away that they would give up the hunt for us after some time,” he said, obviously warming to the topic. His voice took on the rich resonance of a born storyteller. “We’d live a quiet life, a simple one.” He glanced back at me. “In some ways, a very difficult one.”

“Harder than the one we have now?” Despite being the one suggesting we indulge in this fantasy, I inserted that pain back into the conversation. “Surely ploughing a field and grinding grain wouldn’t be as hard as this?”

“Would it matter if it was?” There was something almost tentative about his question. “If each one of us was forced to work our fingers to the bone every day to keep us alive.” The backs of his knuckles grazed my cheek. “Our children.”

It felt like my heart seized in my chest. Every woman in Nevermere was raised to believe she would become a mother, and women of my class more than any other. It was the most useful thing we could do, give our husband heirs. Draven, the court, the general, the whole country would expect the same from me. The queen dragon produced more baby dragons to create more Royal Riders. The queen produced more princes to carry on his father’s name. But no one, literally no one, had ever suggested having a child with me just for the sake of it. An expression of the love we felt, brought into the world, our son, our daughter, to be cherished until they too found the other halves of their hearts. I couldn’t say a thing, my throatclosing up as I considered something almost every commoner took for granted in our realm.

“If that’s not what you want?—”

“No.” I clung to his hand. “That’s not it. I do.” Because I could see us then, walking across a field of wheat we had planted, hand in hand with our children. Helping them traverse the bumpy soil, making sure they didn’t fall, as the last rays of sun turned everything to gold. “It’s just… No one’s ever asked me if I wanted to have children before.”

“I didn’t want to broach it in the first year of our marriage. Mother made me promise to give you a year to find your feet, enjoy married life first.” I let out a little chuckle at that, almost able to imagine her lecturing her son. “Then the world went to hell, and bringing a child into it seemed madness, but…” His hand slid down my tunic and I could feel the warmth of it even through the thick leather. “I admit I got some satisfaction from the idea of thinking of you swollen round with my child.”

His breath and mine rattled in the silence, getting louder and louder by the second. Great plumes of condensation formed from each pant, wreathing us in temporary clouds that fell apart seconds later. I knew what would happen when his head tilted sideways. Mine did too, because I knew this dance. He was mine and I was his, and damn what anyone else had to say about it. I claimed him just as he claimed me in the chapel that day, and if I was truly queen, then the world would have to learn to accept that.

Now you understand.

Glimmer’s voice was little more than a whisper inside my head, driven out as I tugged Brom’s head down. This was what we should’ve been doing, rather than tearing each other apart with harsh words. His mouth on mine, the way he took over, tugging me close, not allowing even a sliver of space between us. Taking over the kiss, forcing my lips apart as he let out a little moan, right before he plundered every inch of my mouth.

Mine. My Brom. I don’t know what the hell Draven was thinking, letting him go the first time, but I would not make the same mistake. I would either rule with my men by my side…

Or I wouldn’t rule at all.

Brom whipped off his jacket, lying it on the ground before placing me upon it. Always gentle, always considerate, right up until the point he wasn’t. He stared at me like I was the last woman on earth, as his hands smoothed over my shoulders. My chest arched up and into his hands, my nipples aching for his touch.

“Gods, Pippin, I was trying to be noble here and make the right choice, but damn me if I can this time. I let Draven walk away from me, but I can’t…” His fingers moved lightning fast as he unbuttoned my shirt, then my pants, peeling them off. “I can’t let you go.”

“Good.” I moved to do the same, stripping him bare, because despite the night chill, there couldn’t be a thing between us. My hand wrapped around his length and I felt the slick smear across the head, heard his hiss of appreciation. “Because you won’t get far without me. Glimmer would never allow Obsidian lift a wing to take you away from me, so…”

I pulled him down, reversing our positions so he lay across his jacket now and I straddled his hips. I moved slowly, conscious I had his entire attention as I shifted, letting his length slide along my seam. He parted my folds, my wetness coating him enough that I could rock my hips back and forth, feeling the start of the stimulation I needed.

“Give up any thought of nobly stepping aside.” I shifted then, feeling the head of his cock against my core, the initial stretch making me shiver. “And accept that you are mine.”

“Always…” he gasped as I slammed my hips down.

Chapter 53

Was this what it would be like to fly a dragon myself? I wondered as I worked myself up and down. The wild pleasure, the flames that were fanned higher each time I slammed down, surely it couldn’t be better than this. It wasn’t just that it was Brom, that he was mine and I was his, but that this pleasure was stolen. That’s what had my nails digging into his chest.

“You marking me?” he rasped, hands going to my hips right before he threw me down on the ground. He was pulling out, then slamming back in again as soon as my hands and knees hit the ground. Brom wasn’t so careful now, didn’t make sure I was on his jacket. My back arched, craving that ferocity. I thrusted back into him, meeting him stroke for stroke. “Every time I see you walking around camp, men stopping to stare, I want to do just that, make clear to the world that you’re mine.”

“Do it.”

I didn’t even know what I was agreeing to, but his slowing strokes told me everything that I needed. My hips worked faster, forcing him onwards. One hand clamped down on my hip, regaining control, keeping me almost immobile as he forced me to take his length over and over again.

“If we flew away from all of this, we could be in our marital bed right now,” he growled. The commander had been shoved aside to let the man run free. “You could’ve stopped taking your tincture.”

---