Page 64 of Seduced By the Dragon Lord (Dragon Lords 2)

The more he thought about it, the more his suspicion surged. He’d never responded to another female with the raw intensity that Jessie inspired. He’d never pined for a woman after knowing her so short a time. Yet he did for Jessie.

Because I’m being enthralled?

He’d been about offer her a boon to ward her away one last time. Send her back to the cottage to prepare herself for a new life far from his kingdom and family, and let her keep her precious freedom as long as she never returned. Now she’d forfeited her freedom. He’d return her to the castle…to a cell in the dungeon until he could determine if what he felt for her was borne of magic or…something else.

She’d never forgive me.

Didn’t matter. If she’d bespelled him, it was she who would need forgiveness…which she wouldneverreceive.

As she bid her vermin farewell and set it on its feet, he wasted no time transforming to his dragon form.

* * *

Jessie’s eyes grew wide with wonder. It was still so astonishing—and disconcerting—to witness a perfectly normal looking person suddenly explode into a living, breathing, jet-sized creature.

Orik stood before her in all his wondrous glory, his azure wings stretched out beside him. Only now did she notice that his dragon form offered no aura, like it was characteristically separate from him. In fact, none of the animals had auras. Did that mean the dragon was more animal than man?

The Orik-dragon bared his teeth, and she could almost imagine it was angrier with her than he had appeared to be in his human form. Beside her, Phoenix hissed, her fur fluffing up until she appeared to be twice her normal size. She clawed and scratched aggressively at the ground. “It’s okay, Phoenix. It’s okay.” Jessie’s words didn’t calm the lema, and she recalled Orik saying that a lema could take down a dragon. It seemed impossible, but a torrent of fear for Orik’s wellbeing flashed through her.

Suddenly Orik leapt at her so fast, her brain only registered the movement once his claw-tipped foot wrapped her in a loose cage and he took flight. Through the space of his talons, she watched the cliff rapidly recede. A spitting-mad Phoenix darted chaotically, zipping like lightning from one edge of the cliff to another.

“That was a little abrupt,” she yelled up at Orik, clinging tight to one of his talons. Her heart had migrated to her throat and was now beating in her esophagus like a chorus of taiko drums. Could he even understand her in this form?

They streamed over the forest, everything below passing in a blur of green. Then he began to rise. Soon they were high up in the air and her irritation was overshadowed by a once-in-a-lifetime view. The sky was clear in every direction, the planet’s surface warping along the horizon. The sun’s rays glinted off veins of streams and rivers carved into the land.

She found herself smiling so wide, it almost hurt. “This is amazing!”

His neck craned a little so that one eye could glance back at her. She angled herself to seen him better through his claws. “Can you do any aerobatics? A barrel roll, maybe? How about a loop?”

He chuffed, and she took it as a grumpy no.

“Just a little one?” she pressed. “Come on. You’re not scared, are you?” She wasn’t positive, but she thought he looked at her as though she were a bit loony. She put her hands together and gave him a beseeching smile. His big eye rolled. Then he began to descend, his angle growing more acute until they were nearly rocketing straight toward the ground, their speed tremendous. Her heart found her throat again. At the last moment he pulled up, and they were suddenly heading straight up into the sky. Wind whipped her hair, the world tipped over. She cried out in jubilance.

Suddenly she was upside down, but the G-forces kept her in place all the way around, screaming with excitement the whole way. Although Orik resumed a peaceful glide once they were right-side up, she couldn’t stop laughing. This was better than a rollercoaster. Blissful adrenaline permeated her every nerve. Once again, he glanced back at her, but this time he might have looked a bit pleased with himself.

“That was friggin’ awesome!” she praised. “We have to do this again. Every day! Promise me.” She wasn’t sure, but it was almost as though he lost the smile in his eyes, and suddenly he was back to the brooding, moody, witch-hating brute. It was almost as if a cold chill rippled through his body and straight into hers.

The castle came into view, and soon after they descended into a gravel courtyard. Orik gently released her, and she dropped from his grasp to land unsteadily on her feet before he made his own elegant landing and shifted to his two-legged form.

She immediately ran up to him and threw her arms around his beefy neck for a quick hug. “Thank you for that. It was so much fun, but I’m afraid I’m going to hound you incessantly until we can do it again.”

Orik remained stiff, not meeting her gaze.

The crunch of boots on rocks made her turn around. Two soldiers approached. One of them addressed Orik. “Captain? What are you doing in the prison quarters?”

Jessie’s heart dropped.

In a cold voice, Orik replied, “Take her to a cell.”

23

As his soldiers obediently hauled Jessie away by the arms, Orik followed, his gut churning with misgivings. What was he to do? Let a witch roam the castle as she pleased? Leave her to cause mischief…or worse, open his family to the dangers of her inevitable treachery?

He had responsibilities. The kingdom relied on him to keep them safe. Hisfamilyneeded him to keep them safe.

Jessie craned her head around to spear him with such a heart-wrenching look of betrayal that it had him second guessing himself. “Orik, don’t do this.”

He didn’t reply, only averted his gaze. Was he overreacting? If Jessie had been planted here as the epicenter of a malevolent stratagem, it would be one hell of an elaborate plan. It meant she’d have to have studied to appear human in order to fool the queen. She’d have to have concealed her magic from them all, which it currently appeared she’d attempted to do. She had only admitted being a witch when she’d been forced to save the lema. He now suspected Phoenix was herfamiliar, a witch’s spirit guardian personified in physical form. According to lore, only powerful witches acquired them.

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