Page 18 of Dragon Rivals of New York

They’re both naked. Finley shifts on her toes, but then Cyrus wraps his arm around her and she calms, holding her chin high. Will Sora be like that when it’s our turn to go into the pool?

“They have to do this naked?” Sora whispers, covering her eyes with her hand.

Jethro chuckles again. That fucking chuckle of his is going to make me knock his teeth in. It’s so light and joyful, as if the world is a delight and not a disaster.

“She’s about to become a dragon,” Jethro says.

“Oh, right.” Sora drops her chin, shifts her weight, clutches her hands together in front of her, trying to make herself small. I hate it.

I cup the back of her neck and squeeze. My thumb and forefinger wrap all the way to her delicate jaw, and I use them to tilt her head up. “Watch your friend.”

“But she’snaked.”

I lean in close and drop my voice. “You will be soon, too.”

She swallows and tries to shake her head, but my grip is too tight.

“She doesn’t have to watch if she doesn’t want to.” Jethro glares from the other side of her.

“Do you want to, Ara’ha? Do you want to know what it will be like when you mate me?”

“Or both of us,” Jethro interjects.

She won’t be mating both of us. The goddess isn’t that cruel.

“I want to watch,” Sora confesses in a quiet voice. “It just feels… wrong.”

“It’s not.” Now that I know what she wants, I keep my grip on her skull. “Watch, Ara’ha.”

Chapter 9

Sora

It’snotuntilmybest friend looks across the pool at me and smiles that I start to relax a little. She knew this was how it was going to be when she invited me. I just wish I had a little more warning. I raise my eyebrows are her, silently calling her out for not telling me everyone here would be naked.

She raises hers back.Would you have come if you knew?

I shake my head.Fine, you’re right.

She smirks.

There’s no one else in the world I could have a silent conversation with like that. Finley is the sister I never had, and she’s about to become a dragon! An honest to goodness real life dragon. I can’t fully wrap my mind around it.

“Do you understand the choice you’re making?” The Queen of the Silver Horde asks.

“I do.” Finley’s voice rings loud and clear through the temple.

“Do you vow to abide by the rulings of this throne and the laws of our horde until death, on penalty of death?”

“I do.”

“Do you pledge yourself to protect and defend every member of this horde until death, and on penalty of death?”

“I do.”

This is a lot more serious than I thought. On penalty of death? What constitutes not acting on this vow? How do they get away with enacting their own punishments in a modern society?

Jethro wraps an arm around my waist. “Don’t worry, lovely. It’s a pledge of loyalty, but we live in a time of peace.”

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