It didn’t feel the same though. Instead of comfort and familiarity, hugging her awakened every part of him.
Thankfully, the world around them demanded his attention. Steel-capped boots and the sound of clanking side-arms meant more soldiers were headed their way. He might have fought the next wave, but as there was a chance that the guards might harm the woman at his side, he dismissed the idea. He’d come in through a window in the tower; it made sense to head out the same way.
“Mount me,” he said.
“Excuse me?” said Xandrie.
Rhey launched himself out the window and shifted mid jump, his white-and-gold scales shimmering in the moonlight. He did his best to keep his large frame steady, batting his wings to stay close to the window. He felt her hand on him, then her legs, and then she was astride him, her hot, sweet self snug against his neck. He flexed his shoulders and shook out his wings.
As the soldiers stormed the jail, Rhey took off into the night, taking the intriguing and enticing human with him.
She was going to be trouble, he knew it. He also was strangely, perversely, looking forward to it.
Xandrie had no recollection of Demelza rescuing her, so climbing on top of this golden dragon was, for all intents and purposes, her first flight. It was terrifying, and beautiful. The air around them was cool, but fragrant, the patchwork fields below a marvel, and the sensation of a muscular beast between her legs, simply indescribable. It wasn’t merely the fact that he was huge, he comported himself with grace and power. She had to hold on to him tightly, as each movement of his wings projected them almost a mile away. Xandrie peeked underneath the beast and held on for dear life.
As moments passed without seeing her fall to her doom, she gulped and leaned sideways to peek again. This time, although her brain still came up with a million ways how she could fall to her certain death, she smiled faintly.
She had never traveled, nor seen any other part of the Kingdom but the Northern Var, where she lived, but they left that place – home to her captors, her jailers, and her family – at top speed. They crossed the Lakelands, a marvel of waterfalls and winding rivers that pooled into freshwater lakes; then they soared over the red painted Plains, dodging thunderheads and stratocumulus, alike - places she’d only seen in books, and projected on a wall. In the rare hours when the villagers were allowed the use of electricity, they gathered in the town hall to watch shows and movies. She’d looked at the other kingdoms with such longing, and now she’d seen them with her own eyes.
From above. Way, way, way above. Her stomach jumped to her throat and she plastered herself against the warm metallic scales. She’d been brave enough for one day. The low rumbling coming from the beast’s chest was comforting - which did make her think she quite possibly wasn’t all there in the head. Who, exactly, found dragons comforting? But she did close her eyes, and caught a nap.
Eventually, Xandrie awoke, feeling them banking to the right and descending. She craned her neck, to look over his head. She’d heard tales, but nothing could have prepared her for the dazzling beauty of the legendary Kingdom of Farden, home to the dragons.
She was hit with wave after wave of wonder as they flew on, but figured she must have fallen asleep and been swept up in a dream as they came in to land in the Golden City of Tenelar. The castle that dominated the horizon was the most unearthly structure she’d ever seen. There were towers and turrets, buttresses and battlements, ramparts and roundhouses. She saw a moat, a portcullis, and a drawbridge; in short, everything she might have expected in a castle, but executed with such finesse, she would have sworn it was a mirage, rather than the crystalline home to the fire-breathers.
The dragon slowed and coasted, then came in for a smooth-as-silk landing.
She dismounted and put her hand out to thank him. He shifted under her touch and instead of scales, she found her sweaty hand on a pair of sexy abs. Two, four, six… yep. He had a damn eight pack. These things did exist, apparently. Thankfully, they were soon interrupted, or she might have spent eternity feeling him up.
Was there drool on her chin?
“You made it.” Demelza raced across the courtyard and threw her arms around the hunk that had just flown Xandrie further than even her wildest imaginings had traveled. “You’re the best. I knew you’d do it.” Then, turning to Xandrie, she asked, “You good? Everything in one piece? I saw flashes, people coming at you with torture tools…”
Xandrie hugged her friend hard, thanking her because it was due to her she was alive. If Demelza hadn’t sent her friend - or servant - to get her, she’d almost certainly have been at the bottom of the pond, by now.
“Did they hurt you?” her friend asked again, knowing that she’d been avoiding the question. She frowned, and glanced to the hunky dragon shifter. She didn’t want him to know what a freak she was - but he stood there, arms crossed, staring at her as if to dare her to tell him to leave.
“They tried. I can’t explain what happened, Elza, I just can’t. The weapons couldn’t touch me - couldn’t get close to me. I really do have fire magic, for some reason…”
She then lifted her palm, showing the rune branded to her skin.
“It all started with this, and I felt it each time that magic came out of me.”
As her friend had made it clear that their relationship wouldn’t be approved of by their kind, she didn’t say it out loud, but Demelza understood; it had all started with her, changing something in Xandrie’s nature when she saved her.
“Right,” Mr. Hunk said, holding his hands up, as if to physically remove himself from the situation. “I did my share. She’s your responsibility now, Elza, keep her out of trouble. And if the Elders come after her, you’re the one doing the fancy talking…”
Xandrie watched his perfect ass and strong legs taking him away from her. She snuck her hand to her nose and sniffed his wild, woodsy scent that reminded her of the things she loved best – the outdoors, nature, and the beasts of the forest.
“Is he working for you? And if so, how do I get me one of those?”
Demelza giggled, shaking her head as she told her, “I wouldn’t say so, no. That’s Rhey.” Xandrie didn’t catch on, and her expression must have made that clear, because her friend explained, “Rhey Vasili of Fardor, King of all he surveys.”
Dragon Blood
Attending Council meetings was a tiresome formality, but Rhey did his duty nonetheless. Today, he’d welcome the dreary task; it would beat sitting around thinking about the human who had the entire palace in an uproar.
As his nonexistent luck would have it, the damn Council was up in arms about Xandrie, too.
The Clerk described her in detail, for the record. “Auburn hair - shoulder length. Height, five foot six.”
He’d say five-seven, actually. And now, he was thinking about her again - which made him hard.