Page 18 of The Wrath of Ashes
“Because you’ve had a lifetime so far of suffering. You deserve to be tended to and spoiled. Jeron has been a fine attendant to me and wished to serve you.”
“So, he’s been in your bed.” There that coldness was again.
“Yes. I see no need to hide this from you. A dragon’s needs are more intense than a human’s. I’m left to understand. I choose a new one every so often so as not to grow attached. They are paid well, and it keeps me from becoming… What was it you thought of the earl? A promiscuous rodent?”
Asha snorted.
“It’s true! But I’d never do to you what Earl Tippin did to his mate. The moment I felt you, no other male would do. If I do not have you, I will have no one else as long as you breathe.”
“You say this, but bed your servants.”
“I bedded servants who were trained to do nothing more than relieve my stress in the most basic of ways, as they taught me how to pleasure a male in a way he deserves. I am experienced for you, but I do not expect you to believe me on word alone. None have ever given you a reason to trust.” Rath rested his chin on Asha’s head. “Anything you ask for, I will get. Anything you want done, you need only say so.”
“And if I want no more to do with you? If I do not want to be a dragon, or thisAshen oneyou speak of?”
“I cannot change what you are, but in three months, if you cannot stand me, I will give you all the riches you can carry and let you be on your way. I won’t keep you prisoner.”
Asha remained silent for a lingering moment and sank back a little bit into Rath’s chest. “It’s a deal, then. Three months, but what happens if I want to stay? Do I become prisoner or property?”
“Neither. You’ll be my mate, my prince, my equal.”
“Equal! Ha!” Driven into giggles, Asha leaned back, settling against Rath.
“I mean it!”
“I’ve heard men say a multitude of things to woo a woman.” Asha’s body brought emotions and sensations through Rath, the way he leaned and moved, subconsciously inviting Rath to press into his backside.
“Okay. I’ll counter this. I won’t engage in intercourse with you until I mate you before the court and nobles. This, I vow.”
“Mate…in front of people?” Asha tensed.
“Marry. We don’t call it marriage; we call it mating. We will join our lives.”
“Mating is an act of copulation.”
“Not with witnesses, it isn’t.” Rath shuddered. “What I do in my nest with my mate is my business, not everyone else’s. Thank you.”
“Nest?” Asha perked up at the word.
“What? Dragons don’t sleep in beds. We’re not designed to lay flat and prone like some sort of fish. We were meant to curl into someplace warm, like you in the hay, when I found you. You were so comfortable there inyournest.” Rath pulled Asha in and kept their path above the others, gliding on the frigid air. “I’ve a nest already prepared for you, the best of all nests, and I’m so very proud of it. I look forward to seeing your reaction.”
“Nest… That’s why I did that?” Asha stared down at Heckle’s neck and reached forward to stroke along his scales, tracing them like he longed for his own. “Have you fucked another in this nest?”
Rath bristled and reached for Asha’s face, turning so they could look one another in the eye. “Listen to me when I say this. Jeron has been in my nest for my own comfort, but I have sex with no male in my nest. You will be my first if you so choose. Only you, and only once the world knows you are mine.”
Chapter Eight
Asha
“Listen to me when I say this. Jeron has been in my nest for my own comfort, but I have sex with no male in my nest. You will be my first if you so choose. Only you, and only once the world knows you are mine.” Rath’s hand pressed warmly into his cheek, forcing them to see eye to eye. In the waning light of the day, Rath’s horns glittered with their gold and Asha shuddered.
Magic flowed through him like a promise, pouring from his merest touch, and Asha melted against him, his very breath dependent on that touch. Whatever magic, power like static that bubbled in his veins, Rath owned and controlled, pulling him in until their cool lips touched. The spark as they connected intensified and Asha whimpered, taking a deeper breath than he’d ever taken in his entire life, as if the air from Rath’s lungs sated some hidden long craving. And the rightness that fulfilled him with that simple brush of lips made his heart flutter.
Rath didn’t force his tongue or take the kiss deeper, but leaned into it, parting with the gentlest of noises, a peck of pure innocence before he pulled back. “Asha.” The way he said it, like an oath. Rath pulled Asha tighter in and adjusted his grasp. “The only thing holding me back right now is thread, and I made a promise to you that I will keep. So, for the time being, while your very fine bottom is in my lap, behave.” His dark laugh made Asha’s cock ache and his hole twitch for something more than stolen olive oil and a finger in search for that elusive spot.
“Sorry. I—” Asha gasped as Rath’s hands adjusted the reins to guide Heckle down into formation once more, where any could see them.
“We near home. When we land, Jeron will take you for a bath and whatever you wish for. And then you may join me for dinner.”
