Page 40 of Dragon Lord
“Are youmydragon, then?”
“Yours and no other’s.”He rolled her under him and grinned at the catch in her soft breath.“And you are mine, now and forever, my Lady Einin.”
“I am yours with all my heart, my lord dragon.”
He made love to her gently.
And then…
And then his sweet Einin raked her nails down his back and demanded, “Now take me like you did in the cave at Fern Lake.”
’Twas another yearbefore Belisama visited Einin, on a clear summer night.
Of course, she wouldn’t have been Einin if she didn’t draw her sword at the deity.Draknart was out flying and not expected to return ‘til dawn.Einin hadn’t gone with him.She’d been tired more and more lately, probably old age catching up with her at last.But she didn’t think about any of that as she stood ready to defend her home and the man she loved.
She faced down the goddess.“Don’t you dare curse him again!”
Belisama chuckled, the sound strange coming from a column of light.“I’m not here for his stubborn arse.”
“Don’t you hurt the people of the village either.”
“I can see what he likes in you.All that fire and strength.”The goddess’s light intensified.“It is what made me decide to visit and give you my blessing.”
“I’d rather you didn’t—” But Einin was too late.
Her skin crawled as if a hundred mice ran up her legs.Then her arms twisted and her nails turned into talons.Right before leathery wings sprouted from her shoulder blades!For a moment, she couldn’t say anything, because her mouth was full of giant curved teeth.
“Why?”she roared when she could speak again, her transformation complete.
“You can’t very well birth a dragon pup in human form,” the goddess told her in a condescending tone, as if she’d expected Einin to have more brains, and she’d been disappointed.
Einin dropped to her dragon belly, the air rushing out of her lungs.“I’m a century old.”
“Perfect for a dragon’s first offspring.”
Einin stared.A baby.A baby dragon.Both.Any child she had with Draknart would likely be a halfling.Joy filled her to bursting.A son or a daughter…
“A daughter,” Belisama informed her.“I don’t expect her to become my priestess, but she’ll always be welcome in Fae Land.As long as she doesn’t call mefaerie godmother.”
“Thank you, goddess,” Einin rushed to say, but the column of light had already disappeared.
A child.
Einin couldn’t catch her breath.In her dragon form, her laboring lungs sounded like the blacksmith’s bellows.
A child!
She gingerly stood and took stock of her new shape.She wasn’t as large as Draknart, but close.She had scales, lighter than Draknart’s, more green than black.Her tail was slightly shor— As she whirled, the bony barb on the tip caught on the bedclothes, and she swept them all to the floor.
“First thing we’re going to need, is another bed,” she muttered, then headed up the staircase that seemed to have shrunk since the last time she’d climbed it.
Long before she was ready, she was standing at the highest point of the tower, on a widened windowsill, darkness gaping below her.Yet nothing could scare her enough to keep her from finding Draknart.
A child.A daughter!
She pushed away and spread her wings.
I’m flying!
