Page 12 of The Dragon King's Assassin

Chapter Seven

I woke up on my pallet, naked and crusted with my own cum. I knew it was mine since his had been absorbed. It had fucking sank into my fucking skin! I shot upright, my heart racing, and through the dim light seeping past the curtains, saw the Dragon King sleeping peacefully on his bed.

Had that really happened or had it all been a crazy dream? Had I undressed and come in my sleep? I rubbed a hand over my belly and remembered the strange tingles. No, that was real. I didn't know what the fuck it was or what it meant, but it was real. It happened. Maybe it was a Dragon thing. He was the first Dragon I'd ever fucked, so I had nothing to compare him to. Maybe they had tingling cum that absorbed into skin. That would be nice. He could come inside me all he wanted, even with that crazy amount, and I'd never be uncomfortable.

If we ever had sex again.

I got up and crept out of the room, then down the hall to the guest bedroom where I kept my things. The attached bathroom was for my use as well. It wouldn't be appropriate for a human assassin to share the Dragon King's shower or, gasp, his toilet. Gods forbid my ass touch the same seat as the King's.

I went straight for the shower stall and turned on the hot water. I needed to bathe before I did anything else. I smelled . . . musky. Not in a bad way. In fact, it was rather nice, like expensive cologne. The scent of Dragon sex perhaps. As nice as it was, it was a clear sign that I needed to bathe. That and the dried cum on my belly.

As much as I wanted to luxuriate in the hot water, I hurried through my shower and dried off just as rapidly. In a few minutes, I was dressed in a fresh set of clothes and back in the King's bedroom. Thank all the Gods of all the races of Serai, King Tarocvar was still asleep. I rushed to the balcony and popped outside, checking that all was well out there before I went in and opened the curtains. Sunlight painted the Dragon King in burnished copper and gold, and I allowed myself a second to admire him and maybe shiver a little as I remembered the night before.

I wasn't stupid enough to think that it had changed anything. I was still indebted to him, and he was still the Dragon King. I had to prepare myself for the possibility of increased indifference this morning and a new courtier in his bed that night. So I let go of the memories and went about my morning routine, heading to the suite door where Reginald would probably be waiting with the King's breakfast tray. I could think about the sex later, when he was fucking someone else. It would make me feel smug and satisfied to hear him go back to his formula, knowing I had been different. I had broken his pattern and made the Dragon King roar.

Yeah, that was enough for me.

“Is His Majesty awake?” Reginald asked as I let him into the suite.

“If he isn't, he should be anytime now.” I went ahead of him to open the bedroom door and yank the nearby cord that activated the enchanted globes within the chandelier. I only pulled it once, so that they came on at their brightest. Then I took my plate off the tray—a custard bun with two sausages—and went to lean against the wall near the balcony as I ate.

“Sire?” Reginald hesitated by the bed.

The King was on his side, facing me, his eyes closed. He opened them suddenly, his stare latching onto mine, and the skin around his eyes twitched. He sat up, stretched, and waved Reginald away. “Take that to my dining room, Reginald. I need to bathe first.”

Reginald blinked, then backed up as the King shifted his bulk out of bed—his naked bulk. He strode past Reginald and into the bathroom without another word.

I took a bite of the bun to cover my grin. The King always bathed at night, just before he summoned a bed partner. And he never worked up enough of a sweat to need a shower afterward. Not until me.

“Well, I . . . yes, Sire,” Reginald said even though the King was gone, the bathroom door already shut. He took the tray down the hall to the King's dining room.

With a grin and a deep breath, I opened the balcony doors and went outside to set my plate on the railing and lift my face to the sun. I felt amazing. I couldn't remember when I'd last felt so alive. So fit. I could have climbed down the palace wall and done laps around the garden. And my mind felt sharper, more focused. Within a minute of being outside, I had a plan for the day. And it didn't involve the King. Sometimes, all you need is a good fuck to clear the cobwebs.

“Assassin,” the King called.

“Yes, Your Majesty.” I strode back inside, set my empty plate down on a table, and followed the King out of the bedroom, down the corridor, and into his dining room.

I took up a position near the door as the King sat down at the table. Reginald had removed everything from the tray and set them out nicely on the table. He'd even filled a dainty cup with coffee and left the cream and sugar nearby for the King to use. But he didn't know what to do next, so he stood to the side of the King's chair, back against the wall, clutching the tray to his chest like a shield.

“You may go, Reginald.” King Tarocvar waved the servant away.

“Thank you, Sire.” Reginald hurried off before the King could do something else out of the norm.

“Why did you become an assassin?”

My gaze shot from the window to the King. “Pardon me?”

“Why did you choose to kill people for money?” He lifted his cup and stared at me over the rim as he sipped.

“No one's ever asked me that.” Then I snorted a laugh. “Probably because I don't tell anyone that I'm an assassin.”

“Not even your lovers?”

“Especially not them.” I grinned. “Many a man has been brought down by a tongue loosened with sex.”

“So I'm the first to know what you do?”

I blinked. “Yes. I suppose you are.”

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