Page 32 of The Wrath of Ashes
“Rath. I’m—” Asha practically melted once he hit the water. The crawling sensation that dominated his body made him writhe and pant. His cock, raising to full mast, ached fiercely as Rath’s bare body touched his own. “Are we going to share a bed—nest? Will youhave atme?”
“I promised, Asha. Now, Jeron. We talked about this. Help.” Rath’s stern tone went soft as Jeron ran off, his footsteps quick.
“Until the world knows I’m yours. Until we are mated before the court and nobles.” Asha repeated the words, and they soured on the tip of his tongue.
“I regret making that promise now.” Rath leaned down and took Asha’s mouth in his own. They’d shared kisses before, but the way Rath’s mouth owned his, how it shot straight to his cock, made his balls ache. Kissing alone was so close to making him spend himself.
“You saidsleep. It is not sleeping we will be doing in that nest.” Asha’s body burned with how badly he wanted to touch Rath, to have him closer, against him, bodies rubbing, to have the dragoninsideof him.
“How I wish I were fae and that promise could be twisted. Intent matters. But what matters more is that we do not act rashly. Let us calm one another, and if by morning we feel the same—I will set our date.” Rath didn’t move to pull away, to end their affections. He continued kissing, even as the ache in his balls intensified, overshadowing a growing headache.
“I’m sorry I didn’t listen about the moon.” Asha squirmed and winced through a fierce stabbing sensation that made his head throb. A piercing pain shot through his jaw, twisting his gut. And the very ass he wanted Rath to have his way with hurt, like his spine was being stabbed and pulled, the scars of his back stinging as well.
“I’ll be the one apologizing to you. You’re so ready to be a dragon that I had little chance to restrain you. You are desperatefor your wings.” Rath cradled Asha and kissed along his neck and cheek, breathing hot and heavy over his ear. “You’re so beautiful, and you’ll be more beautiful when I see your scales.”
Asha squirmed as the pain in his backside ripped and burned, but he’d had worse lashings before. A fullness in his mouth made him part his lips to wheeze out a sharp cry of pain. “Hurts…”
“It does. I can tell.” Rath pulled Asha in and held him tight, breathing slowly as the pain ravaged him.
Jeron returned soon after, a vial in his hands. Rath waited no time in clawing it from Jerson’s reach and tipping the contents back into his mouth.
A white film pooled at the corner of his lips before he descended on Asha, thrusting his tongue deep.
Bitterness coated his tongue, astringent and hot. Every drop, Asha swallowed. The kiss deepened and his breathing evened. Every ache of his body settled and his cock, ragingly hard, subsided.
A heaviness veiled over him from two fierce anchors of pain atop his head.
“Sleep, new dragon. Breathe fire come morning, and if so, you wish still, we’ll move that date.” Rath sealed his words with a soft kiss.
Chapter Thirteen
Mezerath
He had limited time before the poppy milk kicked in. Jeron’s trembling gaze met his own before they both took in the bare form of Asha in his arms. “I had thoughts…”
“I would have thought him to be more…colorful.” Jeron frowned and took in Rath’s mate, his newly erupted horns a pearlescent sort of ivory, curved up and out, adorned with a smaller protrusion halfway, a perfect perch for his adornments and chains to come. Rath ran a finger over them as he sank lower into the water.
Rivulets of blood pooled at the edges of the horns, and from Asha’s back floated two limp wings, as white and studded with an opalescent fire as the scales he’d seen trailing his arms outside.
It was an understated sort of translucence, finely inlaid over his tawny flesh. The form of scales in dim light was indiscernible until a flicker of candle’s flame, sunlight, or the bright glow of a mage’s crystal caught them. They’d whiten more overtime, Rath knew, as he’d seen with his sister-in-law—until her accident. Hers had been a fierce sort of red, a complement to Galatan’s gold.
“He’s beautiful all the same, like an opal. He is like fire,” Rath said, letting his mate’s body slacken and cleanse. Before his eyes, Asha healed, his dragon’s blood more than ready to take form.
“Should I get any ointments or salves?” Jeron wrung his hands and stepped back, procuring towels as Rath rose, climbing from the water with his limp mate. Dragging the floor beside him was something Rath so desperately wanted to see and hold, his tail. With hair a few shades fierier than what he was bornwith adorning the tip, he curled it reflexively. A whimper caught in his throat, bright lips parting to reveal his new fangs.
Even his ears, once mostly round, had a folded nature to them, as if they were molding into a fine point. It would take a few shifts into his greater form to equalize his static form.
“Will he ever look like himself again?” Jeron peered at Asha with eyes full of concern dancing in their citrine depths.
“He is himself.” Rath stepped onto textured tile and lifted Asha enough for Jeron to wrap a towel about his waist.
“But, he is hum—was human…” Jeron reached out to touch Asha’s forearm and reached for his horn before drawing his hand back. “Apologies, that’s not right.”
“To touch his horns?” Rath blinked in surprise. “But you’re his valet?”
“And he has not given you or I permission. And you are his mate, so your hands should be the first on them, should he agree.” Jeron bowed politely and stepped away, casting his gaze downward as Rath made his way to his, now their, nest.
“You’re right. I’m glad I gave you the opportunity to serve him, Jeron. Will you part from us when your contract is up?” Rath rushed to their nest and settled in with him while Jeron fetched them nightclothes. Asha would have to wear something of Slath’s or Ghreid’s to compensate for his tail until he learned to hide it. The appendage left no questions as to his mood, and Rath wondered if Asha would be the same. It was so instinctive.
