Page 74 of Earth Dragon
Shannon did as he asked, Ewan’s gaze following her.
He kept the small smile down.
Her father did not know her at all.
As the lord went to stand behind the chair hosting the restrained king, Shannon obediently claimed the prescribed place next to her father.
Do it, Ewan thought.
Then he remembered that it was too early. They had to wait for their most honored guests.
As a shimmer appeared in the air not far from Ewan’s feet he knew that it was the door that had opened. The awaited coconspirators were arriving. And they were in for one unexpected surprise.
Ewan turned his eyes back on Shannon, who was keenly watching the door.
Shadows began to move in the shimmer. They were about to be joined by Lord Taggarts closest. Those who had been a part of the scheme from the very beginning. And once they had been apprehended, this entire nightmare would be over.
Ewan thought these thoughts might be running through Shannon’s mind as well. She was beginning to look triumphant.
Her father’s hubris would be his undoing.
As the shadows grew darker and those behind were a breath away from breaking through, Shannon brought her left hand out from the folds of her gown. She turned to her father and without a moment’s hesitation raised her left arm, smashing the real crystal against his forehead.
“Eriga rigos, rigos laga,” she said, her voice echoing through the quiet.
Blood magic on blood magic.
Light refracted as the entrapment spell was broken, its foundation rent asunder and split apart into a thousand tiny rainbows.
Ewan felt the earth beneath him rise up around him in response as the earthmagic tunneled its way to him, brightly glowing and released from its imprisonment. It flowed into him without restraint, and he found himself laughing at the sensation, at how it filled him with knowing. This was right. This was what he had always wanted for himself. To be a good king, to carry his father’s legacy. To build with his hands on what his ancestors had built before him.
His gaze met Shannon’s through the flurry of elemental magics in the air and she looked exhausted, but relieved. She smiled brightly when she noticed his happiness.
However, there was no resting on their laurels.
He swiftly got to his feet, looking over at Lady Marigold who, though still lying down where she had landed, held one hand out to the door. This time she was keeping it open. She gave him a wink.
The plan had worked perfectly.
And here came those as guilty as the lord to conspiracy against the crowned heads, the elemental magics, the laws of the land and the natural order.
They stepped into a room believing they were headed to victory, and instead met four kings with elemental powers fully restored.
A queen who was one of the most powerful sorceresses in the kingdoms.
Two queens who had shifted into their dragon shapes for good measure.
And a former traitor who was tying her unconscious father to a chair.
Chapter 18 - Shannon
Ewan’s hands were gently caressing the inside of her thighs, coaxing her to part them for him. She did so, but slowly, wanting to see if he was going to use his fingers or his tongue. When his head began to sink down toward the ache he was already producing with his touches, she leaned her head back with a soft sight of contentedness. Once his tongue was lapping at her, she was smiling at the air, biting one finger to not make too much noise.
She had realized how easily sound carried out to the hallways when the servant had come knocking her first morning waking in Ewan’s bed. She didn’t want their lovemaking to be the talk of the castle. Not before they had been officially mated, anyway.
He moved up again, kissing his way across her stomach, nibbling at one breast playfully before he hovered over her on those strong arms of his.
“I love you,” he said.
