Page 56 of Wings of Frost and Fury
“Nothing,” she says.
“You gave me someone’s face? Who?”
She backs away as I advance on her. “Just… someone.”
“A human.”
“Yes.”
“A man you fucked?”
She sucks in a breath and glances away from me.
With one swift movement of my forepaw, I sweep her legs from under her. Before she can rise, I pounce, pinning her to the ground on her back.
“You made me look like one of your human lovers? A man from your past?” I snarl. “Who was he? Did you love him?”
“No,” she gasps. Lightning from her fingers dances against my claws, but I ignore it. It barely tingles.
I hold her down, careful not to put too much weight on her ribcage. Thelise lets her lightning dissipate, realizing that it doesn’t affect me. She lies there, arms outspread, her body entirely at my mercy.
“Do you understand how that makes me feel?” I growl. “Knowing that you gave me the face of a man you desired? Perhaps you still desire him. Perhaps you never wantedmeat all.”
“That’s not true,” she says breathlessly. “My feelings for you are deeper than your form, Ashvelon. It’s not your face—it’syou, whether you wear scales or flesh. Even like this, as a dragon, I find you so fucking desirable.”
My voice deepens to a rumble. “Is that so?” My claws curl into the neckline of her dress, tugging it lower. Frost-fire burns at the back of my throat, a by-product of my anger, and yet there’s heat of another kind in me, too. Despite what she has done, I still want her with a lust that’s inexpressibly powerful.
I can feel my cock hardening, prodding at the opening of my genital slit, nearly exposing itself.
A storm of black wings and claws crash onto the ledge of my cave. Kyreagan, Prince of Ouroskelle, stands in the entrance, with the woman he captured on his back. She looks astonished at the way I’m pinning Thelise.
I move backward off Thelise with a chagrined snort, willing my cock to stay in its hiding place. A few more moments, and the situation would have been very embarrassing for me.
“Oh god,” says the girl on Kyreagan’s back. “Was he about to kill her or fuck her?”
“I was wondering that myself,” the enchantress quips, rising from the ground. “Hello there. I’m Thelise.”
13
Princess Serylla is sitting comfortably on the dragon prince’s back, looking quite at home there.
It’s a shock, to be sure. I had no idea she was one of the women who were captured.
It feels odd to introduce myself to someone I recognize, but I know she doesn’t remember me. We only met a few times when she was very small.
There’s a thirteen-year difference between our ages, but it doesn’t show. I’ve learned to touch up my appearance with magic and keep myself looking young with the same spells those three court ladies wanted me to work on them, all those years ago. And why shouldn’t I use such spells on myself? Most people would, if they could.
When I left court, Serylla was five and I was eighteen, nearly nineteen. I’m not sure how much she has been told about me, but she seems more curious than frightened. She’s not myproblem at the moment. My priority is the irate black dragon who is bristling and growling at me.
“Witch,” he snarls. “What have you done to us?”
I treat him the way I usually treat angry men who think they’re important—with innocence and humor, and a slight twist of disdain and deprecation. I pretend I’m not scared of them in the least, even if I am.
I laugh, and I pat Kyreagan’s nose before wandering over to Ashvelon’s nest and pouring myself another drink.
I explain the spell to the Prince the same way I explained it to Ashvelon, except without any mention of my previous experiment on the big gray dragon, or my other successful transformations. Unfortunately, Kyreagan doesn’t seem to appreciate my calm, my humor, or the results of the spell.
“You will reverse this, or you will die,” he declares.
