Page 36 of In the Embrace of Dragons

I dislike immensely that Ragnakor took her side. He’s supposed to be onmyside, to defend me and protect me, not sweeten up to the human woman who was thrust upon me—the human who is an intruder.

But... it didn’t feel that way. Not at all. While she watched us, touching herself, I thought about my cock inside her upon that pedestal. Ragnakor’s firm hand around my throat, anchoring me to the ground while he ravaged me, all while Nissia touched herself? It was the most erotic moment of my life.

I rub my temples, annoyed. Here I am thinking about heragain when I just had the thing I’ve wanted the most: to be with the dragon I love, to feel him inside me, to look up into his intense eyes. I get hard thinking about how he pushed me down, took me, made me his. We both released our scent glands, so at least I have that relief.

He claimed me, too.

The scent of our coupling lingers in the air, already making me hard again. And it’s not just the scent of Ragnakor and me, but the queen, too. Something about all three mixed together makes my head swim, like a madness has taken over me.

No. I don’t need her. I won’t expose my fragile, beating heart to her, not when I have the dragon I’ve always loved.

The next day,Ragnakor is stationed outside my door as always, but he barely spares me a glance. After having breakfast alone, I take the long, winding halls to the other end of the castle, where Syzari is waiting to talk business. She was assailed by the wardens when they all came to visit, leaving her with a pile of demands.

“They always want things from us, but what do they give in return?” I slap a paper down on the desk after reading it.

“Well, they do pay taxes,” Syzari says with hesitance.

I sigh and rub my forehead. “We just don’t have enough resources of our own to be handing them out this way.” There’s not enough lumber in the kingdom to satisfy the warden of the south.

“Then send what you can spare, and perhaps we should ramp up our logging operations.”

I groan, stopping myself from tearing up the paper.

“We don’t have enough dragons for this, Syzari! Who would I send there to increase our workforce?”

“Then make it easier for them to do the work,” she says, a note of desperation in her voice. “Let them log all in one place.”

“No!” I snap. “We must be careful about clearing out mountainsides. We have to space it out or we’ll degrade the land and cause landslides?—”

“I know, I know.” My advisor lets out a frustrated growl. “I wish your objections didn’t make sense, but they do, and so what dowedo?”

I leaf through the other notes that Syzari made about each warden she spoke with.

“An heir,” one says in big letters at the top. I turn the paper around to show her, arching a brow.

“What is this?” I ask.

She sighs and rolls her eyes. “Kalara. That was what she cared about most, she said. Whether or not there would be an heir.”

I hiss between my teeth. “They will have an heir when they have one.”

Nissia could even be pregnant right now and we won’t know yet for a while. But what if it didn’t take the first time?

Oh, damn it. My cock perks up under my clothes as this thought flits through my mind. The thought of mounting her again, making her scream, her cunt pulsing and squeezing?—

Syzari just shrugs, no idea what’s going on inside my head. “Kalara wasn’t the only one. Everyone came to the ceremony with a lot of hope, I think. We are dying out, Vizarios.”

Her eyes settle on me, and I know that she’s right. I know, and I hate it.

“If you can get the queen pregnant,” she says in a low, conspiratorial tone, “they will back off. And if there’s any chance she can, perhaps, convince her own people to come here—that would earn you a lot of goodwill as the new king.”

I curl my hands into fists, my claws biting into my skin.The obedience and respect of my wardens are contingent on such a stupid thing?

“If you really believe in your immigration objective, then you work with the queen directly,” I tell her, getting to my feet. “I need to stretch my legs and eat something.”

Syzari nods as I leave, waving me off. I hurry back to my rooms, a silent Ragnakor in tow. I know what I need right now.

“Rag.” I grab one of his hands, and his eyes fly to mine. “Come inside.”