Page 29 of Dragon Fight

“Can’t make this last,” he rasped out against my lips, before nipping and biting me with kisses along my throat. He needn’t have worried, because I was right there with him. My pleasure swelled with the tide, growing and growing.

Pippin.

But it wasn’t trailing away. This wave just kept swelling above me.

Pippin!

Bigger and bigger, it felt like if it took form it would tower over the cliffs themselves, ready to smash down on the land beyond and flood it entirely.

PIPPIN!

“Fuck, love, here it comes.”

My teeth sank into his shoulder, stifling my cry as my whole body went rigid, the breath I sucked in filling me with a golden light that just seemed to expand and expand until—

“Bloody hell, what do the lot of you think you’re doing?”

Draven’s biting comment brought me plummeting back to earth as surely as if I’d leapt off the cliffs after Glimmer. I opened my eyes to see that he was standing in the water, fully clothed, holding her, and she was sodden and gasping. I felt the rush of Flynn’s seed pouring out of me as I pulled myself away from him and dropped my feet back down to the sea floor. I waded over to the prince, who didn’t seem to know where to look. His face was as pale as milk, but his eyes flashed furiously as Glimmer hacked out mouthfuls of seawater, then sucked in air.

“What the hell happened?” I demanded.

“I could ask you the same! A wave came and dumped on top of your dragon, dragging her under—”

“Oh, no!” I snatched her up from his hands and waded out of the water, up onto the beach, to where I could drop down with her in my arms.

Glimmer was a burnt-orange colour rather than her normal bright gold. She coughed and gagged piteously, and tears filled my eyes with guilt at my lapse and sorrow at her distress.

I’m sorry, I said.I’m so, so sorry.

I called for you!

Her voice was plainly accusatory.

I know. I got distracted and—

“What the hell were you thinking?” Draven snapped. “I know all of you are determined to pursue this madness, but to do it in plain sight of anyone who might be out walking the cliffs?!”

“And who would be up there, now?” Brom countered. “And, more’s to the point, why weren’t you keeping an eye on Glimmer? She was with you and Darkspire, after all.”

“Yes, what wereyouso focussed on?” Flynn asked the prince, in a dark voice.

“The potential consequences if someone saw the lot of you cavorting,” Draven retorted, but that response just set Ged to laughing.

“Cavorting? Say it straight. Flynn was fucking Pippin. Andyoucouldn’t keep your eyes off them. You wanted to be right where we were, witnessing her pleasure, sharing it—”

“Careful, lad,” Soren said, but Ged shook his head.

“Here and now, he’s not a prince and you’re not our drill sergeant, just as Brom isn’t the wing commander. Under sun and sea, all men are equal, and all of us were focussed on our girl.”

My attention was entirely on Glimmer so I caught little of their arguments. Her breaths still sounded watery and rattly, and when Soren dropped down beside me, I looked up at him through eyes misty with tears. He nodded reassuringly at me, then scooped her up, resting her belly against his thick forearm, before thumping her sharply on the back right between her wings.

The seawater she’d swallowed came up, followed by her breakfast, to make a stinking pile on the sand. I picked her up and held her close, feeling her body shivering against mine as she tucked her snout under my arm. My thoughts and emotions tumbled around and around. I’d determined that I wouldn’t allow my upbringing to make me feel ashamed, and neither would I show embarrassment at whatever activities I engaged in with my dragonriders. Even the prince’s scathing glares couldn’t touch me. But where Glimmer was concerned? Guilt weighed me down.

I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’ve been letting the men distract me, getting caught up in other things. And I shouldn’t have.You are my first priority, always, I told my dragon.Always.

She showed her agreement with a sigh, and relaxing totally limp in my arms.

19

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