Page 35 of Bride of the Black Dragon
Xaren’s face darkens, but he doesn’t stop touching me. In fact, he moves to lay beside me on the bed and wraps one arm around me as he continues his relentless teasing of my clit.
“I won’t take you tonight, little dove,” he growls, looking down at me. “I cannot. But I can be sure you won’t be whipped tomorrow.”
“How…how can you do that?” I ask, panting.
“Like this.” Without warning, he stops touching my clit and slips two long fingers into me instead.
Before I can even cry out, there’s a short, sharp pain and then I feel warmth flowing from me.
“There.” Xaren withdraws his fingers and I see that they’re bloody. He sits up and pulls out a pocket handkerchief and wipes them casually while I lay there, looking at him, halfway between pain and pleasure.
“What…I mean, what…?” I can’t quite make the words come out.
“I took care of your maiden barrier for you,” he informs me. “You’re no longer intact.”
“I…” I’m still not sure what to say. “Thank you, I think?” I pant out at last. I’m not in pain anymore—except for a bit of a dull ache inside. But it’s less painful than the cramps I have once a month. Honestly, I’m surprised at how little losing my barrier hurt.
“You’re welcome, little dove. There, you see—you’ve lost your maiden barrier without having to endure me taking you.”
His words are bitter and I can tell he thinks he’s done me a favor by not taking me—not subjecting me to his body on mine or his cock inside me.
How can I tell him I don’t feel that way—that I don’t find him repulsive or horrifying, which is clearly how he sees himself?
“Xaren…” I sit up and scoot closer to him, because he has moved away from me.
“My job is done—you’ve gotten what you came for,” he growls. “Why don’t you leave now, little dove? You can sleep more comfortably in your own rooms.”
“I don’t want to leave,” I say softly. “Why did you use your fingers on me instead of your…you know, your male parts?”
He laughs bitterly.
“Are you complaining? I spared you, little dove. Who wants a monster rutting in them? Not you, I assume.”
“You’re not a monster and you shouldn’t assume things,” I say. I reach for the curtain of hair that covers his bad side—the side where his Drake is trying to come out. But before I can sweep it aside, his hand is on my wrist, squeezing so hard it hurts.
“Don’t,” he bites out. “I showed you once and I saw how you reacted. You don’t need to look again.”
“You scared me that first night,” I say indignantly. “You didn’t give me a chance to know you. Please…” I make my voice softer. “You’re hurting me.”
“Forgive me.” He loosens his grip at once but doesn’t drop his hand. He still holds me firmly, not allowing me access to his face.
“Please let me look,” I say pleadingly. “You shouldn’t hide this part of yourself—not from me. I’m your wife.”
“Through no fault or desire of your own,” he says, but at last he drops his hand. “Very well. If you want to see how hideous I am again.”
“I don’t find you hideous.” I push the curtain of hair aside, looking at the jagged scar that mars the side of his face once more. The burning gold Drake eye follows my moves, the slitted pupil narrowing as it looks at me suspiciously.
I take in the scar…the golden eye…the glossy black scales around the edges where his Drake has come partway out. It’s strange—no doubt of that—but I don’t see it as ugly, not anymore. It’s just Xaren—this is a part of him. Part of the same man who rescued me when my horse went mad, who took my whipping, who stood up to the Queen on my behalf.
He’s been protecting me almost from the very first—putting himself between me and danger. How can I help having feelings for him now?
Carefully, I lean closer and press my lips to the scar where it starts just above his eyebrow.
Xaren’s breath catches in his throat and he jerks…but doesn’t quite move away from me.
I let my lips linger and then I kiss lower, continuing down the path the knife made in his face. He closes his eye to let me kiss him there and I feel the soft brush of his lashes against my lips. I kiss down his cheek and his strong, bristly jaw and I end with a soft kiss right on his lips. I don’t know quite what I’m doing—I only know I want to prove to him that he’s not hideous and that I care for him.
His breathing is hoarse and uneven when I pull away and I see that his eyes are uncertain.
