“Don’t,” the king rumbles, and seizing my face with both hands, he crushes my mouth against his, and releases his own sound, a long, deep groan rife with need that sends a thrill coursing through me.
I ache to touch him, to be closer; I ache for things I have no name for, and only the sound of laughter from someone walking by outside prompts a momentary return of rational thought.
“Wait,” I breathe, drawing back for air while clinging to my dwindling reason. “Wait.”
“Why?” he grinds out, but when I lift a hand to his face, he stills.
“Tell me,” I say.
His eyes shift back and forth between mine. “What?”
“Tell me you’re done with the threats. You said you would. Tell me you’ll allow me to come and go as I please, that you’ll keep your word.”
I see it then, his first form. I see it in the flame that sparks in his eyes, in the sharpening of his features. That part of him would rather I forget what he said, would rather wriggle his way out of the bargain we struck and hoard me in his room like some battle-won prize.
I can’t let him.
“Someone tried toshootyou,” he says.
“Then they’re unlikely to try the same method again.”
This doesn’t seem to please him.
“What if someone tries to take you from me?” he growls.
As if paramours are beating down my door. I’m tempted to laugh, but I don’t dare, not with that murderous look in his eyes. Instead, I trail my fingers lightly down his cheek. “Then you’ll come for me, won’t you?”
Shutting his eyes, he presses into my touch. “Always.”
I can’t help wondering what kind of fool I am. I’ve only known this man, this dragon, a matter of days, and yet I wholeheartedly believe this. Absurdly, I feel somehow…connected to him, as if our souls already knew one another before I spotted his gleaming horns from the deck of that ship. Perhaps I’ve been bewitched.
Perhaps I don’t care.
Leaning forward, I kiss him this time, my touch softer and less sure than his. He’s a king and likely kissed dozens of women, while I know nothing save what I’ve been told by my mother and older sisters. They covered the workings, yes, but not what to do when you’re trying to keep your head about you, and the one you’re kissing lifts his hands to touch you with all the delicacy of a priceless gem, and you feel as if you’re going to sink into an endless pool of desire, and—
Someoneclears their throat.
I startle back, fully aware that my face is on fire. Rally stands at the tent’s entrance, his expression carefully blank. The king scowls at him.
“Can you not see she’s kissing me?” This he says as if his guard set out to deprive him of some indescribable new treat.
“I’m afraid I didn’t, Your Majesty.”
I lift my eyes just long enough to shoot him a grateful look.
“What is it then?” the king asks.
“You have another challenger.”
So soon? I’m shocked, but the king only throws his head back in a groan. “Tell him to come back tomorrow.” He leans in as if requesting I start kissing him again.
“It’s a wyvern,” Rally says. The movement is likely intended to be subtle, but I mark the way his eyes flick my way and back again.
There’s an immediate shift in the air, like the brewing of a storm.
“Who?” the king says.
“Seltzen.”
