With that cryptic statement, he left me, body thrumming and mind whirling. His dragon?
What had just happened?
8
Rhysander
The following morning, I lingered longer than I should in my rooms. I was avoiding her. Which was what I should have been doing in the first place. I didn’t need to get to know her to mate her, for fuck’s sake.
My dragon couldn’t be trusted to be in the same place alone with her. He had never reacted in such a way to a woman, not even to my former mate. With her, he had been quiet and still as the ice river. At times, I’d thought he’d gone dormant like the rest of my kind.
I shouldn’t have let myself lose control, shouldn’t have let my dragon forge the blending of minds. But he’d tasted her interest with her so close, scented her desire on the air, and his need had overwhelmed my control. So much so I couldn’t resist blending my mind with hers.
The connection had been strong, stronger than I’d ever felt with anyone. I’d been a mere spectator as our minds wound together, and our impulses took over. I could still almost taste her; feel her skin under my touch. My fangs elongated, and my claws tore through my pants where my hands were gripping my thighs. Scales peppered my skin.
“Stars,” I spat and finished dressing in ceremony finery, careful not to tear the fabric with my claws until they retracted. My father had worn the same when he was boundtomy mother. I’d forgone the tradition with my first ceremony, but I donned the gleaming white cloak and breeches this time to honor Elena’s station as princess.
The sooner we got this over with the better. The capital was driving me mad, that was all. Once we were back in the cool, clear air in the Northlands where things made sense, my dragon would be back under control.
The ceremony was to be held mid-afternoon. Before then, I needed to speak with my future mate. What happened last night couldn’t happen again.
For both our sakes.
* * *
Her rooms thrummedwith activity when I could slip away from my own preparations a few hours later. Maids and guards milled about, their chattering a low buzz in the air. They quieted as I grew closer.
“Leave us,” I ordered.
Once the room emptied, I lingered a moment, mired in the scent of her. Much like I had been to her voice, I was drawn to her scent. I wanted to bury my nose in it and paint it on my scales. If I had less of a hold on my control, I would have found her, put her thighs over my shoulders and tasted her scent from the source.
Furious with myself, and with her for evoking such urges, I turned and strode to the bathing rooms. Steam billowed from the semi-opened door, carrying her scent mixed with floral notes to my twitching nose. I followed it without a thought, cursing myself the entire way.
I find her in a cavernous soaking tub more the size of a small pond. She’d arranged herself along the far side, her head resting against the wall and her body floating in steam and bubbles. She couldn’t have looked more appetizing if she tried. I wondered if she’d let me take a bite, then gave myself a brief shake. It was getting to where I didn’t know if my thoughts were mine… or the dragon’s.
Our shifter form represented the deepest, animalistic versions of ourselves. Paired with magick older than living memory, they were powerful. For weaker shifters, they were sometimes overpowered by their animal selves, ruled completely by their inner beasts. It seemed when it came to Elena, my beast wanted to come out and play.
Something in the air must have alerted her to my presence, because she shifted, making the water ripple out away from her, and opened her eyes. They widened even farther when she saw me take a seat at the edge of the bathing pool.
“You shouldn’t be in here,” she said, panting a little. I tilted my head, watching her breasts flirt with the top of the water. I inched closer, hoping to see her nipples revealed through the bubbles. As though she knew what I was thinking, she slipped farther into the frothing water, obliterating my view.
“Shouldn’t I?” I responded, when I could pull my gaze back up to hers, which was flashing with fire.
“If you don’t mind, Lord Blaque, I’d like to get ready for the ceremony.” When I didn’t immediately agree to her request, she added, “Without your help,” through gritted teeth.
“Much as I’d enjoy assisting you, that’s not why I’m here.”
She gestures with an impatient hand. “By all means me why you’re here, take your time.”
I wondered if she knew her brown eyes turned to slits when I annoyed her. “I wanted to talk to you about what happened last—”
“We need not talk about it,” she said before I could finish. Was she embarrassed? I almost purred. There were delicious acts my dragon wanted from her that would make her more embarrased than one kiss.
The candles she had lit on the lip of the bathing pool flickered across her face. I enjoyed seeing her bathed in flame this way.
“We do. I must apologize. I was not… as in control as I would have hoped.”
Her lips parted for a moment before she pressed them together. “You weren’t in control?” she asked.
