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Sometime later I woke, hoping to turn and find him next to me. I patted the bed but found I was alone, but a soft snore tipped me off. I sat up, still naked but very much recovered, to find that Soren with his dreamy voice and soul-piercing gaze was asleep…on the floor.
And my heart broke.
Chapter Fourteen
I fell back asleep, and Soren was gone the next time I woke up. I was alone. And that made me sad. I should have insisted he get in bed with me, and I had considered it. But that would have meant waking him. And probably implying I was ready to do something I wasn’t sure I was.
We’d been so intimate in the bathtub—and yet, not. I’d never have expected to find myself in such a position. Naked on his lap with his very prominent masculinity poking me between my legs. If he’d pressed his advantage, I couldn’t have stopped him. Wasn’t even sure I’d have wanted to stop him. I knew enough to understand what an erection was and what it meant. At least on a physical level, he was interested. But not interested enough to act on the impulse?
I flopped over on my belly, my head reeling as I did. The fever or whatever it was from last night was not gone, either. Shivers racked my frame. What was wrong with me? I thought back to the ocean the day before when I’d felt like we were all together. When we’d hunted together and fished.
When they’d fished for me. I hadn’t seen them do it, but I knew it had been all of them. And it was such a nice thing to do. I didn’t know dragons were into sharing really. But then, hadn’t they shared everything with me? The suite was filled with things that they had brought in to share with me. Especially my room, but now that someone noticed my love of chocolate, there was a lot of that in the kitchen.
And Soren slept on the floor so I could use his big, comfortable bed. If that wasn’t kind, I didn’t know what was. He could just as easily have sent me off to my own room. Of course, with whatever was making me burn with fever and weakness. The three had decided I wasn’t able to fly myself all the way from the ocean, and anyone who got a glimpse of us would have seen a naked woman riding on the back of a dragon. Quite the sight. Of course, they avoided populated areas and flew pretty high, but I kept looking around for planes.
But I couldn’t stay here in his room all day, so I pulled myself to my feet and started for the door only to remember I was naked. And even if I was soon-to-be mated to all three of the others likely to be in the suite, I was not going to parade through the living area wearing not a stitch of clothing.
I went into the bathroom where I found Soren’s robe hanging on a hook on the back of the door. It was long and heavy and looked more like an old-fashioned scarlet smoking jacket than any robe I’d ever seen, but it would serve. And as soon as I got to my room, I’d dress then return the robe.
With the belt tightly wrapped around my waist and the hem held up so I wouldn’t trip, I padded out of Soren’s room and across the living area.
“There you are, child. I’ve been waiting for you to come out. Come here and let me feel your forehead.”
And there she was, seated on the sofa, my foster mother, Hilda. When I was a little girl, she’d always taken care of me, and before I knew it, she’d checked me, confirmed I was still feverish, and led me to my room where she helped me into my nightgown and tucked me into bed.
She left and returned with a cup of the same tea she always used to give me. It was sweetened with honey and had an herbal flavor.
“We have to do something about this, child,” she said after handing me the mug and settling in a chair near me. “It’s not just you, although you are the only one who is actually sick. There are rumors among the lessors of a revolution. They are tired of being kept down and treated badly.”
“I can’t blame them.” I breathed the sweet steam before going on. “Look how the highers behave toward them. They treat them as if they are almost a different species. We are all dragon shifters, and some of them are losing the ability to fly. Did you know that?”
“Of course.” She studied me. “Did you just learn that?”
“No. Well, sort of. I guess I just thought that they never could fly, that they really were different, but when we went to the ocean yesterday, I got tired and then all this set in, and I was suddenly terrified that I might lose my ability, too. It was all I could do to lift my wings to fly and they wouldn’t let me try on the way home.
“They were right. I’d never have made it. Hilda, something has to change. What do the lessers plan to do for their revolution?”
“I can’t say, but it’s really going to happen soon. We were never supposed to live like this, you know. Once, we were all a lot more equal. If the highers don’t do something soon, either the lessers or the mountain is going to take them out.”
“They really have woken up, haven’t they? I think the highers believe they were put here to be their owners almost. I didn’t see it when I was down there working, or at least not to understand. But what can we do?”
Just then, the door opened and Nico came in to check on me. Upon seeing Hilda there, he narrowed his gaze. “Is everything all right? How is your fever?”
“It’s about the same, I think. It will probably pass soon.” At least, I hoped so because while it wasn’t a very high fever, I was pretty uncomfortable. And worried. For the lessers and for everyone in the caves.
Chapter Fifteen
Soren
It had taken every bit of resistance within me to not claim her fully, make her mine right there in the bathtub of all places. Her soft, supple skin pressed against mine, hot and stinging against my cooler temperature.
Even without the act of mating, something primal kicked in when she was in my arms. So vulnerable by the fever and bared to me completely.
I would fight an army of three thousand dragons if that meant she could live. Looking into her golden eyes, my heart swelled. She was mine for all intents and purposes. I had thought dragons only fully gave themselves to their mates through the act of sex, but clearly I was all wrong.
Everything about her was nestled under my skin.
She was mine. And everything, every cell, every vein, every drop of blood, every emotion coursing through me, every breath I would ever take for the rest of my life belonged to her.
