Page 32 of In the Embrace of Dragons

He’s hasty to explain. “It means that too much time has passed since the last time he marked you.” He shoots me aquick but meaningful look. “Now his body is primed and wants to reassert its claim.”

“I don’t need claim over her,” I spit. “It is nothing more than instinct.” Perhaps I don’t even need her to release my glands.

The queen retreats a step back, lowering her gaze. Perhaps she is telling the truth when she says she enjoyed the ceremony. Still, it is none of my concern. There is only one in this hallway I truly love.

“If you are present, we can do as we please?” I ask her. “Those are your stipulations?” I want to make sure that I’ve understood before my body combusts.

She blinks. “That is what I said.”

I grab her hand in mine and pull her down the hall. Ragnakor hastily follows us, his expression judgmental. He knows what I have planned.

“Vizarios,” he hisses, taking up step alongside me as I drag the queen toward my rooms. “This is inappropriate. Regardless of what the queen says?—”

Nissia huffs. “Stop talking about me like I’m not here!”

He glances back at her apologetically. “It’s not right.”

She has understood my intentions at last and now hurries to keep up with me.

“Who cares what’s right or not?” she asks him, squeezing my hand in hers. I remember that I’ve been holding it, so I drop it as we continue. “As long as no one else can see, it doesn’t matter what others think.”

I must admit I like how her mind works.

Ragnakor falls quiet, but I can hear his thoughts. He is honorable, and it’s something I’ve always admired about him—though it’s often annoying. This goes against what he’s been taught his whole life. He can’t let himself have what he wants.

But I know how to break down his walls of propriety. I’ve done it before and I can do it again.

At last we reach my quarters, where I nearly rip the door off its hinges to pull it open. Nissia peeks inside as I stroll in, then comes along behind me, and Ragnakor brings up the rear. With all our guards shooed away, there’s no one to witness it when he closes the door behind him.

I don’t wait. The moment we’re hidden from prying eyes, I grab Ragnakor by the arm and yank him toward me. Even though I’m significantly smaller and less powerful, I surprise him enough that he stumbles forward until my nose is up against his throat.

I inhale the familiar, musky scent of him, stronger now since he was sweating in the training yard. I think again of him and Nissia, the raging possessiveness I felt, and let it unfurl through my body. Then I grab him around the neck, drag his head down to mine, and smash my lips to his.

At first, Ragnakor is stiff and hard under me. But when there comes no protestation from Queen Nissia, he relaxes by the smallest amount. His big hand creeps up my side all the way to my cheek, where he grips me hard and pulls me in tighter against him.

For all his protestations that this means nothing, I know it was a lie.

Chapter Thirteen

NISSIA

Ihave wondered for some time now if dragons kiss. Sure enough, by the display that Vizarios and Ragnakor are putting on, it appears they do.

But not for long. Soon Vizarios is baring his teeth, nipping his way down Ragnakor’s throat, dragging his hand down the other dragon’s chest. Ragnakor is stiff, his tail standing straight out behind him, as his eyes once more flick over to me.

I won’t say it doesn’t hurt. Of course it hurts. When I was on the pedestal with Vizarios, I’d had a glimmer of a dream that perhaps this wouldn’t be so bad. Perhaps if the sex was that good, we could find some kind of relationship. That he might have it in him to be my husband.

I think that has always been out of the question, though. I just didn’t know it. So yes, I will mourn what I thought could’ve been.

But at least I don’t have to be alone in my rooms,wondering what they’re doing, how I’m being left out. I can be left out right here, thank you very much.

Suddenly, Vizarios pulls away, gripping Ragnakor by the collar of his lightweight shirt. The captain was dressed for training, his thin clothes clinging to his huge body, and now those clothes are going away. Vizarios yanks Ragnakor’s shirt up over his head and flings it to the side, revealing the huge dragon to both of us. His chest is even bigger without clothes, if that were possible, and his muscles are sturdy and solid all the way through his tall, broad frame. He’s covered in scars, big and small, leaving tracks of white across his rust-brown scales.

The king drags his claws down Ragnakor’s belly to the laces holding up his lightweight pants. Then he snaps them in half.

“Turn around,” Vizarios growls, and instinctively the captain obeys, turning to show him his back. Vizarios unhooks the strap around Ragnakor’s tail, sending his pants falling to the ground in a puddle.

Wow. Even I’m astonished at what the captain looks like without them. He has a powerful ass, the muscles bunched up tight as he stands in front of his king. His thighs are thick, and when he turns toward me once more, I can see at the crux of them is a large cock—much like Vizarios’s in shape, but even bigger. And it is thickening and rising.