Of Steel and Scale (The Drakkon Kin Trilogy #1)

Chapter 9

Not that I for one minute suspected that would, in any way, be hard. All evidence so far suggested the exact opposite. Still, I wasn’t about to go in there smelling of blood and grime, either. I might be looking forward to the promised bath seduction, but the last thing I wanted was for it to be happening in water as foul as I currently smelled.

I quietly bypassed my room and headed down to the thermae, placing the bow and quiver on a nearby bench before stripping off and climbing into the spring.

As the bubbly water tingled across my skin, a young bathing attendant appeared and placed a towel on a nearby bench. “Can I get you anything else, ma’am?”

“A scented soapweed—the verum, I think—and a robe. My clothes are... well, worse for wear.”

A small smile tugged at her lips. “Shall I send them for cleaning?”

“Yes. Thank you.”

She fetched the soapweed, then gathered my clothes and silently left. I quickly scrubbed the grime from my skin and hair, then tossed the soapweed into the refuse bin and climbed out. As I toweled myself dry, she reappeared, several robes held over her arms. After a moment, I chose the one that was all but sheer aside from a few discreetly placed panels. I did have to walk back to my room, after all, and while as a soldier I might be well used to walking around naked, there were the sensibilities of the palace guards to consider.

After retrieving the bow and quiver, I headed out. The corridors remained empty of traffic aside from the few discreetly placed guards who studiously looked the other way as I passed. Once inside my room, I tucked the bow and quiver into the storage cabinet to the right of the door, then swept my gaze across the room. Shamoke steamed lightly on a heating pad sitting in the middle of the table, and there were also breads, cheeses, and a covered tray of what smelled like roasted meat. The bed platform was empty, so I headed toward the bathing facilities, discovering Damon lounging in steaming water, his arms resting on the sides of the bath and his eyes closed.

“Whoever approaches,” he murmured, “you smell too good to be my wife.”

“I do love the way compliments simply drip from your lips.” I walked past the bath over to the shelving to grab the soapweed. “Did you really tell Maree that you intended to seduce me in the bath?”

His eyes cracked open. “She told you that?”

“There are no secrets when it comes to Maree.”

“Huh.” Though his gaze remained thin slits of blue, I had the distinct impression I was being very thoroughly examined. “I like that gown, by the way, but it hides entirely too much for my liking.”

“The gown is almost sheer,” I said dryly.

“It’s the ‘almost’ that disappoints.”

I laughed. “Would you like me to wash your back?”

“I would rather you join me in this bath.”

“I will. In time.”

He closed his eyes again. “Rest assured I will hold you to that promise.”

I smiled and knelt behind him. After dipping the soapweed into the steaming water, I started washing him, slowly brushing the balled netting across his right shoulder and then down the muscular length of his arm. “What did your father want?”

“Are we really going to discuss our parents at such an important moment in our relationship?”

“Indeed we are, because the consummation celebrations have been canceled and we have the entire night ahead of us. Is it not better to get words out of the way, so our mouths can be put to better use?”

He chuckled softly, a sound that reverberated deliciously through me. “Put like that, I have no option but to agree.”

“Wise man.” I swept the matting across to his other shoulder and then down, keeping my movements slow and rhythmic. “Why didn’t your father leave?”

I already knew, but there was a tiny part of me wanting to know if he’d answer honestly. A part stirred to life by my mom’s comments.

“He wanted a report, as the guard said.”

Tension rippled briefly through him, telling me that wasn’t all his father had wanted. “And?”

“And he ordered me to keep him updated on events. He even handed me a scribe tablet linked directly to one in his private chambers.”

I frowned at the deeper edge in his reply and swept the matting across his right shoulder again, then down to his chest and the sculpted magnificence of his abdomen. A soft sound escaped his lips, but he didn’t move, and he certainly didn’t open his eyes.

“That suggests he doesn’t trust my father.”

“He doesn’t trust anyone.”

“Even his sons?”

“Particularly his sons. Or, at least, this son.”

“But you’re his heir.”

He shifted fractionally, resting his head between my breasts. “I’m both his greatest asset and his greatest bane. Something he needs but does not want.”

“Then why not disown you and simply make Tayte his heir?”

One shoulder rose fractionally. “As we’ve both noted, his decisions sometimes make no sense.”

An answer that really wasn’t. He knew the reason. He just wasn’t willing to tell me yet.

I ignored the sliver of disappointment and continued washing him, sweeping the netted soapweed across every inch of his washboard perfection, leaving no part of his torso untouched. But when I finally followed the sharply defined V that led down to his groin, he caught my hand and tugged me around the side of the bath.

“Time for you to join me, I believe.”

“But I’ve already had a bath.”

“So the divine scent emanating from your skin would suggest.” He opened his eyes and pinned me in a sea of blue. Just for a moment, it felt like I was falling, drowning, and there was definitely a part of me that wanted to do nothing more than lose myself in promises so visible within that glorious sea.

But shadows haunted the deeper depths, and until I knew their source, I could not risk falling. I would not set myself up for heartbreak. Not again.

Then devilment flicked through the blue, and his grip on my hand tightened. Before I knew what was happening, he’d dragged me into the bath with him. I came up spluttering and coughing, shifted position so that I straddled his lower thighs, then whacked his chest with the soapweed.

“That was not polite.”

“No, but you’re now in the bath with me, so I don’t really care.”

His fingers trailed up my waist and circled my left areola, then the right, both of which were now very visible through the robe’s wet material. His touch was so light and yet so heated, and my nipples hardened as desire curled through me. It was all I could do not to press into that teasingly delicious caress.

I swallowed heavily, dunked the soapweed back into the water, and continued my ministrations. This time, when I swept down the V to his hips and on to his groin, he didn’t object. I gently washed around the base of his cock but ignored his magnificent length, instead sliding back on his legs to wash his thighs. His fingers caught the robe’s ties, stopping me from retreating any further.

“My calves and feet do not need your tender ministrations,” he murmured, tugging at the ties until they came undone.

My breath caught as he parted the robe and his fingers brushed my skin, making me shiver in delight. “You don’t like you calves or feet being touched?”

“Oh, I do,” he said, voice seeming to come from somewhere deep in his chest. “But right now there are other parts of my body needing your attention more.”

I smiled as he slipped a hand around my waist and slid me back up his legs.

“And what would they be?” I whispered, leaning forward and brushing my lips across his mouth. “This?”

“No.”

I moved my mouth down to his chin. “This?”

“Definitely not.”

“What about this, then?” I shifted and caught his right ear between my teeth, lightly nipping as I pressed my mound against the hard heat of his erection and gently rubbed up and down.

He sucked in a quivering breath and then said, “No.”

“Ah.” I trailed kisses down his neck and shoulders, then continued on with my hands, sliding down his torso, gently caressing every glorious inch before once again following the deeply cut V to his groin.

He caught my hands before I could touch. “That way lays danger.”

I grinned. “And this is bad because?”

“Because I suspect I am more primed than you.”

“I wouldn’t bet on that, husband.”

“I’m not one for betting. I am one for ensuring.” Wickedness gleamed in his eyes as he raised my hands to the top of my head and held them there. “My turn to touch and tease, wife.”

“Oh, please, feel free.”

He smiled his devilish smile, brushed his lips across mine, then proceeded to echo my earlier movements, kissing my cheeks, my neck, my ear, each sweep of his lips a delicious torture. His kisses drifted down my neck and along my collarbone, branding me, making me shiver. When the water prevented him from going any further, his switched lips for hand, and plucked and teased my nipples breasts with the precision of a maestro conducting a band of one. The shivers grew, and the deep-down ache bloomed, curling upward through my body, demanding and needy.

He slid his fingers down my stomach, brushing across the line of hair as he shifted his thighs, forcing mine wider, giving him easier access. When his finger slid across my clit, I shuddered, a deep moan of delight escaping my lips.

He chuckled softly, his grip on my hands shifting, drawing me close enough to claim my lips and kiss them hungrily as his fingers continued to tease and explore. When they finally slipped inside, I gasped in pleasure and rocked against him, wanting more. Needing more. He chuckled again, and the heated rhythm increased, first with one finger, then with two as his thumb grazed my clit, causing havoc. I moved with him, riding his fingers, my shudders increasing and my breathing harsh and fast. Then my orgasm hit, wave after wave of pleasure fiercer than anything I’d ever experienced. I shuddered and shook and moaned, barely even aware that his touch had left me, too caught up in the backwash of pleasure. Then his hands found my hips and he lifted me up and on to him.

And oh, it was glorious. He was glorious.

Thick, and hard, and so damn big it felt like he was slipping inside forever.

And yet it felt so right. Felt so perfect. Like I’d been specifically designed to sheathe this man.

“Look at me,” he whispered.

I opened my eyes and stared into the blue of his. Saw the hunger there, the recognition of perfection. Saw, deeper in those glorious depths, the surprise and perhaps even a little fear—a realization that this moment, this exquisite, beautiful moment, might never happen again, because fate and the plans of others could rip it away from us both.

But before I could catch that thought and worry on it, he began to move, and everything else but this man and the pleasure rising between us disappeared. With his hands on my hips and mine on his shoulders, we moved as one, slowly at first but with ever increasing urgency, until my body shook with the force of it and all I wanted, all I could think about, was release. His, mine, ours.

When it came, it was explosive, wrenching a cry from my lips as his body went rigid against mine and his seed exploded into me.

It took forever to come down from the dizzying heights of completion. When I could finally breathe with something close to normality, I closed my eyes and rested my forehead against his. But for a long time, neither of us moved any further. Then his hand slid around the back of my neck, holding me still as he raised my face and kissed me long and slow. Heat and desire that have been well and truly sated, stirred, and deep inside, his cock twitched, suggesting it wouldn’t take long—or all that much encouragement—for him to become erect again.

And I was perfectly okay with that.

“I guess I should have asked this before I pulled you into this bath,” he murmured, his lips moving ever so slowly down my neck. “But are you protected against pregnancy?”

I laughed. “Indeed I am. And it’s probably just as well, given the fullness of the load I just received.”

“In my defense, it has been a while.”

“That’s not what the rumors would have us believe.”

“Rumors cannot always be believed.”

“So I’m not to believe all those statements about your legendary stamina? Your ability to rise to the occasion again with very little rest?”

The fact he was already half erect inside me again did confirm the latter, but I decided not to mention that.

He grinned. “I’m more than happy to prove both statements, but I suggest we do so out of this bath. Pruned skin is not exactly a good look, at least on me.”

I laughed, caught his cheeks between my hands and kissed him, then lifted myself from his cock and stepped out of the bath. He followed me out and, once I’d shed the dripping gown, swept me up in his arms and carried me over to the bed, where he proceeded to show me just how long and hard a Zephrine prince could go.

I woke to the heat of Damon’s body pressed against mine, the warmth of his breath teasing my neck, and his hand draped loosely across my waist. For several minutes, I did nothing more than lie there, enjoying the closeness, knowing full well it could be some time before another moment of peace such as this happened again.

Last night had been... well, a revelation. I’d always enjoyed sex, but I’d also always been very wary of letting all my guards down and losing myself in the moment and the man. Thanks to our marriage and the irrevocable nature of it, there had been no such worries with this man, and the end result had been mind-blowing. I’d never felt such a deep connection with another before, and while that might in part be because I’d always held back, I very much suspected it went deeper than that. And that was both scary and exhilarating. While the promise of a bright and perhaps even loving relationship had become a tantalizing possibility, I was well aware that the secrets both he and his father were hiding could yet destroy the fragile framework we’d started to build. While I really hadn’t inherited Mom’s seeress abilities, per se, they sometimes bled through to my instincts, and they were definitely twitchy about the information they were withholding and what it could do to us .

I knew I’d have to confront him about my—and Mom’s—suspicions, but I also couldn’t help the desire to push that moment away for as long as possible.

But now was not the time to be gnawing over personal problems. I had a mission to complete, and I needed to get moving if I wanted to arrive at the aerie just after dawn.

Slowly, carefully, I slid from under Damon’s arm and out of the bed. I’d forgotten to tell him about my mission last night and I really wasn’t up to a discussion about it this morning. I was a soldier, and until I left Esan’s dark and glorious halls for those of Zephrine, I still had a job to do.

He didn’t stir, not then, not when I ran a bath, and not when I dressed. But that was hardly surprising. Maree’s potion could only stave off the utter exhaustion caused by his blood magic for so long, and the man’s monumental effort in bath and bed would probably have shortened its “working life.”

I strapped on my sword, then walked back to the bed, leaning across to drop a kiss on his bare shoulder. He stirred briefly, murmuring something I couldn’t quite catch, his hand sweeping the blankets as if searching for me. I placed mine over his briefly, stilling the movement, then I forced myself to leave him be when I wanted nothing more than to climb back in beside him. After gathering the rest of my weapons and Mom’s short bow and map, I left.

The corridors were shadowed and quiet, the candles flickering in the wall sconces doing little to chase away the pre-dawn darkness. By the time I padded down the stairs, the guards had the front doors open. I nodded a greeting to them, then ran down the steps and over to the stables.

Mik must have heard me opening the side door, because he appeared on the upper landing that ran down the middle of the stable block, hastily pulling on his overshirt. While he and all our other stable hands had their own living accommodation down in the common quarter, they often used the loft compartments upstairs rather than head home between shorter shifts.

“Is there a problem, Lady Bryn?”

“No, Mik. I’m just here to grab a couple of things.”

“You sure you don’t need a hand?”

“Yes, but thanks.”

As he nodded and disappeared, I grabbed a couple of carrots from the tub kept near the door and walked down to Desta’s stall. She greeted me with a soft nicker and accepted the carrots in a regal manner. I smiled, rubbed her silky nose, and then headed down to the tack room. The smell of well-oiled leather hit me the minute I entered, and I breathed deep, sighing in pleasure as I walked through the racks of saddles until I found the section holding those designed for our largest coursers. I hadn’t remembered to contact the saddlers, and one look confirmed there was very definitely nothing here that could, in any way, be adjusted to fit Kaia’s back. The saddle trees just weren’t wide enough. Breaking them was pointless—I might as well just ride her “bareback” given how uncomfortable broken saddles generally were for both rider and mount.

I continued on to the area holding all the tack. One breastplate was never going to get across Kaia’s chest, and while I could certainly strap a few of them together, anchoring them would be a problem given there now wouldn’t be a saddle. Attaching them directly to a girth also wasn’t an option; aside from the positioning of her front legs and wings making that difficult, it would probably take a good number of them to get around her barrel. But maybe I could join a number together, sling them around her neck, and then fashion a simple U-shaped harness to anchor it—and me—to one of her spines. If I attached a couple of stirrups, that might help me maintain balance, especially given the wind turbulence I’d probably face. I had strong thighs—something Damon had discovered last night during one of our “lighter” moments—but riding a courser bareback would be vastly different to riding a drakkon.

Of course, if she turned upside down I’d probably still fall off, but at least if I was roped onto the girths, I’d just dangle from her neck rather than fall to my death.

Won’t turn upside , she commented. Uncomfortable way to fly.

I grinned. Good morning, Kaia. Have you been listening to my thoughts all night?

No. You mate. Thoughts tedious.

I laughed and shoved girths, ropes, and some D-rings to connect everything into a rucksack, then lashed the short bow and quiver onto its back and headed out. After collecting Maree’s promised packs of medicines, I headed for the gates. Mom, Kele, and two soldiers from my scout group—Sora and Jax, the former our wiry, middle-aged forward scout, the latter much younger, but possibly one of the best swordsmen I’ve ever seen—were waiting for me. Between Sora and Jax was a simple litter on which a freshly killed boar lay stretched.

“Is this a goodbye or good riddance greeting party?” I asked with a grin.

“I figured you’d forget to pack true necessities, like scribe pens and supplies for yourself, so I did them for you.” Mom motioned toward the litter with her free hand. “I also included a meal for your drakkling.”

“Gria was fed yesterday?—”

Gria always hungry. Will eat.

“And she is also what in human terms would be called an adolescent,” Mom continued, in obvious agreement with Kaia, though I wasn’t entirely sure the two were currently connected. I certainly couldn’t feel her presence along the mental lines. “Trust me, there is no filling man, woman, or beast during that growth period.”

“I wasn’t that bad?—”

“I beg to differ.” She handed the pack she was holding to Kele, then motioned her and the others to move out. Once they had, she returned her attention to me. “There’s a climber’s body harness in the pack. I thought it would be a useful means of attaching yourself to whatever rig you manage to construct for Kaia.”

“I hadn’t even thought of that.”

“Didn’t think you would, given your habit of scrambling over all sorts of mountainside with the barest of gear. I’ve also included additional webbing and bone straps, just in case one or both of you get hit.” She caught my hand and pulled me into a fierce hug. “Please, be careful.”

I hugged her back with my free arm. “I will.”

“You’ve the map?”

I nodded. “Where’s Father?”

“Sleeping. He was supervising the harbor’s clearing most of the night.” Her smile creased the corners of her eyes but couldn’t erase the sadness and the fear that cloaked her. “I was under orders to wake him before you left, but the man is not infallible no matter what he thinks, and he does need to sleep sometimes.”

“He’ll be mighty annoyed.”

“It wouldn’t be the first time, and it’s not like you won’t be coming home to us.” Her gaze met mine steadily. “No risks.”

“No risks,” I agreed, then stepped back. After a slight hesitation, I gave her a nod and walked away.

The weight of her gaze followed me through the gates and into the courtyard beyond.

Because she knew, like I knew, that the mere action of flying Kaia out to Jakarra was perhaps the biggest risk of all, and even if I did survive that, there was no guarantee I would survive whatever might wait on the island.

I caught up with Kele and the team. After I’d tied two of the three packs I was carrying onto the litter, we moved on, making good time up the mountain. Maneuvering the litter through some of the narrower tubes was sometimes tricky, but we did eventually reach the aerie with the boar and the packs in one piece.

The barrier shimmered as we approached, sending brief waves of red and gold running across its surface before fading into invisibility again. The drakkons were little more than larger shadows against the soft red glow of heat coming from the sands of the hatching caves.

“Wow,” Sora murmured softly, her gaze on Kaia’s dark outline. “They are huge.”

“That they are.” I took the back end of the litter from Jax, then motioned Kele to the front end. “Sora, you and Jax will have to wait out here.”

“Why can’t we go in?” Jax asked.

“Aside from the fact the entrance is magically barred and not tuned to either of you,” Kele said, before I could answer, “we’ve spent hundreds of years decimating their numbers, and they’re a little annoyed by the whole situation. They’re likely to eat strangers, and to be honest, I can’t say I blame them.”

Jax grunted. “Shame, but at least I can see them from here.”

“You can,” I said, “but neither of you are to mention their presence here, and that is an order.”

Túxn only knew, the last thing we needed was a stream of curious onlookers scrambling through the tunnels to catch a glimpse of them.

As Kele and I went through the barrier, the magic flared to life once again, briefly slowing our steps. Its sharp needles raced across my skin, pinpricks that seemed designed to taste who we were before letting us fully go through. It wasn’t unpleasant, more uncomfortable.

A small price to pay to keep the drakkons safe.

Gria remained where we’d left her last night, curled up into an overly large ball. She didn’t move once we entered the cavern proper, but Kaia’s head snaked around. Her dark eyes held a bloody glow in the reddish light coming from the sands. Wind strong. Wings healed. Good day to fly.

It could take me a while to get used to being on your back, Kaia.

You ride runner. Won’t fall.

She obviously had more confidence in my balancing skills than I did. We removed the packs, rolled the boar off the litter close to Gria, though the drakkling didn’t wake, then Kele gave me the pack she was carrying.

“I expect a full report of what it’s like to be aloft on a drakkon,” she said. “No details to be spared.”

I laughed and gave her a hug. “And I expect a jug of mead to be ready and waiting for me when I get back, as per usual.”

She grinned. “I expect your man might have other ideas on that front.”

“Nothing gets in the way of our downtime, not even a well-endowed man.” Nothing other than the upcoming move to Zephrine, and that was at least a few days off yet. “And we have a tradition that must be followed.”

“Indeed.” She stepped back, saluted, then grabbed the rolled-up litter and retreated. I waited until the three of them had gone, then picked up the pack and walked over to Kaia.

What carry?

“Two packs are supplies I might need for the island. The third and fourth has supplies for me, and the ropes and girths I need to fashion a means of tying me onto you, so I don’t fall to my death if we suddenly part company.”

Best not part, she said. What wood on back?

“A short bow with arrows. We think it might penetrate winged ones’ armor and kill them.”

Kill birds too?

“Maybe.”

We hunt?

“No, because we haven’t enough arrows at the moment.”

Get enough.

“We’re working on it.”

Work faster.

I laughed. “Are you always this bossy?”

Am queen.

I laughed again, emptied the pack containing the girths and whatnot, then pulled out the climbing harness from the smaller one Mom had given me. Kaia watched in fascination as I sorted through everything and then joined all the girths together. After warning her what I was about to do, I asked her to hunker down, tossed one end of my girth rope through the valley between the last two spines at the base of her neck, then caught the two ends and joined them using another D-ring, creating a complete ring.

I stepped back and glanced up at her. “Is that okay? Not too tight?”

She moved her neck around. Is good.

“Now I need to work on the bit that’ll keep me on.” I hesitated. “I need to get up to your neck. Could you...”

Before I could finish, she stretched out her front leg, providing a scaly ramp for me to climb up. I grabbed everything I needed, then scrambled past her claws, up her legs, and across her shoulder, gripping the decidedly wicked-looking spur jutting out from the wing’s thumb to steady myself as I moved over to her neck. Even though she was hunkered down, it was a scarily long way back to the ground.

Her neck spines close to her wings were smaller—in comparison to those further up her neck and behind her wings, anyway—which meant my neck and shoulders would be visible above them. Probably a good thing if I had to use Mom’s short bow. They were also surprisingly rough, even though they looked smooth from a distance. I wondered if it was weather or just a natural occurrence.

Weather came her reply. Soft when young. Hardens as age.