Page 461 of Kingdoms of Night

Where the elves were lithe, she was broad. Where an elven woman might have hesitated or accepted his advances, Tanis was a firestorm in his arms. She never stopped moving or telling him what to do, and he found he quite enjoyed that.

An entire afternoon disappeared in that forest. An afternoon that went by so fast he thought it was a blink, and yet at the same time, he made so many memories that he would never forget.

The first time he pressed himself against her, skin to skin. The sound she’d made when he entered her. She whispered encouragement against his shoulder before she bit down so hard he had a mark for hours to come.

He loved her, he realized later. They’d tangled their legs together and her hand rested over his heart.

The realization came so quickly that she must have felt the way his heart raced. Tanis sat up on one elbow, the long tangles of her hair falling over her face. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” he murmured, easing her hair behind her ear. “I’ll tell you later, my dragon.”

“Is it something bad?”

“No.” She was too far away from him again, he decided. Rowan scooped the back of her neck and drew her down for another kiss. “No, it’s wonderful, but I am not quite ready to tell you yet.”

The fear in her face eased, and he wondered if she knew what he meant. Perhaps she felt the same way, and neither of them knew how to say it just yet. He was all right with that. They could wait.

She laid back down on top of him, her head on his chest. “Are you happy here, Rowan?”

What kind of question was that? He was with her, and while this might not have been the life he dreamt of, it was made infinitely better because he was with her.

He trailed his fingers through her hair, detangling the mess they’d created. “Yes.”

“Are you sure?”

What would make her question that? After the afternoon they’d spent together, he had thought she’d be more confident.

But then he tried to put himself in her position and realized that she was nervous he stayed here only for her. She remembered the stories of Umbra. She’d seen the memories of the place, and knew that there was more there. Many different creatures, people, places. There were buildings taller than the clouds and individuals who wanted to progress both magic and the lives of others.

Perhaps she wondered what she could offer him that was better than that life. And if, someday, he might wish to return while she knew she had to stay here.

“I am certain that any life without you would not be a life worth living,” he sighed. “Before I came here, I was a man without purpose. Lost, you could say. My family had expectations of me, but they were not expectations I had any intention of living up to. Elves are boring. We lead quiet, unassuming lives. And that was not my destiny.”

“So you traveled across the sea to save your sister, hoping you would find adventure.” She laughed. “You could have done something much less dangerous to get that adventure, you know.”

“I know.” He rolled over her, pinning her legs down and bracing his arms around her laughing features. “But then I never would have met you. I never would have seen the wonder in your face when you saw all the magic I could do.”

“You can’t do much magic.”

“I can! I caught you in that net of vines, didn’t I?” Rowan leaned down to nibble at the cord of her neck. The damned swan-like length lived in his thoughts all the time, and it was so hard to focus when she was right in front of him like this. “And I think what we just did is a kind of magic as well.”

“I suppose it is.” She wrapped her arms loosely around his shoulders, tracing the muscles of his back as he moved over her. “I never thought it could be like this, you know.”

“Like what?” He lifted his head to listen to her. This felt important.

“Enjoyable.”

Oh, his heart broke. He’d never thought what it was like for dragons or her expectations of what they’d done. He had only thought about the elves, and elves enjoyed sex. No one he’d ever had sex with had been a virgin, and though she’d never told him otherwise, he had to assume that this was new to her in this form.

Just the thought of that had his mind reeling. She had children. Eggs that were still dormant beneath miles of rock and stone, and yet, this form was entirely new to her. Something she had yet to experience or explore.

“Ah,” he said, trying his best to not sound as though that affected him too much. “Well, then. I suppose that shouldn’t surprise me. But it does.”

“Is it different for the elves?” Tanis looked up at him with wide eyes. “Do you all enjoy it?”

“Uh...” Well, he couldn’t honestly say yes. He knew there were some men in his clan who were known for not being interesting or fun to lie with. The women teased them until they got better at it, though. “If someone doesn’t enjoy what we just did, then most of the time the next conversation is about how to make it better. No one wants their partner to not enjoy... this.”

That sounded awkward. He hadn’t intended for it to come off like that, but here he was. Awkward as ever with her because he didn’t have the faintest idea how to make any of it sound real to her. Or good. Or like he was serious about her enjoying herself, no matter how long it took.

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