Page 77 of The Dragon Queen

“Draven would have me whipped for that.”

“I don’t care about Draven, any of them.” His eyes met mine, and for a moment his strokes slowed. “Not right now. They’re not here, but you are.”

I’d given him permission, that’s what this felt like, to let whatever part of him was kept tightly leashed go free.

“Just me?” he panted out. “Just you?”

“Just us,” I said, reaching up with my spare hand, giving into the need to stroke the side of his face, one I felt every moment I was awake. “Just us.”

That broke something inside him. His brows creased, his expression reflecting the agony of ecstasy. Every time he plunged inside me, it felt like he was doing so much more than rutting. He was burrowing himself deeper into me, into my heart.

And I welcomed him in.

It was the sound of the dragon’s hum that brought me back to my body, to the world. Sweat cooled on our skin, which was a good thing, as my body drowned in a heavy pleasure. It stirred like a sluggish tide, the water too heavy to be shifted by the moon’s pull, and yet that celestial body would not be denied. I spiralled up, up and he followed me, driving me forward, my nails snagging on the stone as I held fast. His little sob heralded the moment when he felt my body clamp down on his, a low growl making clear that this would not be enough. He watched me pant out a series of gasps as bliss flushed through me, but he powered through each one.

“Not enough…” he ground out. “More.”

I blinked, unable to believe what he was asking for, right as my body responded. Usually orgasm washed through me, a welcome tide that went back out again, leaving an almost melancholy sweetness behind, but not now. He wanted more, and so my body gave it to him.

I was already flying too high, but I couldn’t seem to regret it. Slightly terrifying, bliss suffused my body, even as my heart beat too hard, too fast. My fingers clawed at the stone, lest I tear Flynn open to get at the heart that beat just for me, and that’s when I found it. I wasn’t reaching my peak anymore, because that indicated a long,arduous climb to the top and once there, the journey was over. Instead, I was like a stray feather caught on the wind, buffeted back and forth. There was a pleasure to that I didn’t understand until now. I didn’t matter, nothing mattered, just us.

Just them.

One can only rub their fingers against stone for so long before the stone bites back. A single drop of blood, I felt it drip free, right as we both fell from that cliff one last time. Flynn’s entire body shuddered with the effort of it, emptying everything he had into me, but he wasn’t the only one to use me as a receptacle. Something dislodged from the carving, smooth and hard. A crystal egg, I thought dimly, right as Glimmer and Glacier’s song rose a pitch. That should’ve been enough to warn me of what was to come. The stone grew warm, then hot enough for me to want to drop it instantly, but instead, my fingers spasmed around it. Flynn’s eyes went wide, mine as well, right before this world dropped away and another took its place.

Hadrian–I knew it was him without a doubt as I craned my neck and stared at the battle taking place above me. His brassy roar threatened to shake the stones of Dragon Haven to their foundations, right before he spun around to face the queen dragon.

This was not the way it was supposed to be. If humans weren’t involved and Kaida rose to mate, Hadrian might’ve put himself forward as a potential candidate. He’d have flown hard, trying to catch her, sometimes there was even some scrabbling midair, claws raking, jaws snapping, as she forced him to prove that he was a worthy sire of her eggs.

But that fight would’ve never looked like this.

I’d watched the coursing hounds go leaping through the grass on Father’s estate one year when the rabbit numbers grew too plentiful. That’s what these dragons reminded me of, the way their bodies lengthened, providing the least amount of resistance against the air as they speared through it. Wings were snapped against their bodies, gravity yanking them down towards the earth.

Only to collide with each other.

“Kaida!”

I knew her, Queen Inara. We were all taught about her hubris, her brilliance, when we studied history, but I never expected to see a young woman, skin milk pale, the freckles across her nose standing out plainly as she snarled her instructions.

“Kaida, burn!”

Queen dragons had fire breath? I’d never been taught that, and Kaida dragon did as she was directed, opening her jaws and letting out a great gout of flaming breath.

I knew Hadrian had survived, that’s what got me through this. His wings flapped out and he back winged, even as flame licked his bronze scales. They were brighter then, his body leaner and more agile as he twisted in the air.

This is not the way, young queen, he told her. Not Inara, but Kaida.You know this in your bones.

But I saw it then, the stone gifting me an omniscient view of the battle, showing me what I needed to see. Another stone, much like this, was set into a very familiar looking necklace, one I’d seen around the neck of another queen.

Was that where Raina found it?

In some vault, locked away with all the other treasures of Queen Inara, she’d been drawn closer, lured by the glitter of gold, kept in place by the dull lustre of the dragonstone. Larger, more opaque, more powerful than the one she already wore, somehow Raina had known that, right before she put it on.

Kaida’s scream brought me back to the vision, it was full of inarticulate fury.

Queen Inara rode her dragon in more ways than one. She used the connection with her bondmate to force her anger, her will on Kaida. The queen dragon shook off Hadrian’s suggestion, wheeling around in the air and launching herself at him.

Was this what a war fought between two dragons looked like? I knew academically that was what would happen when the Royal Riders met the Duke’s traitorous force, but the reality was far worse than I had anticipated. I’d seen dogs fight, a madness coming upon them, one that would not be satisfied until fangs rended flesh, until your enemy was left screaming, bleeding. I couldn’t keep pace withthis fight, the dragon’s thrashing as they slashed through the air, teeth clamping down, necks whipping back and forth.

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