Page 87 of In the Embrace of Dragons

I return to the healer with our... collections, and he sets to work, asking not to be disturbed for two days.

It is an irritating two days.

Vizarios and I speculate about what could be amiss, but Ragnakor is silent. He has been encouraging and optimistic, though I think now he fears something that he hasn’t voiced.

Then, the healer summons us. He doesn’t question when Ragnakor comes into the room, as well, to hear the news.

“I am sorry to say,” the healer begins, looking among us, “that the problem lies with the king.”

My eyes dart to Vizarios, and his mouth falls open.

“How so?” Vizarios says, incensed. “Why me?”

The healer lets out a world-weary sigh. “You are not fertile, Your Majesty. You will never, ever sire an heir of your own bloodline.”

The words hit like a hammer. Vizarios stumbles back into a chair, eyes wide. Then he drops his head into his hands. I rush to his side, stroking his shoulder, but he only curls in deeper on himself.

Ragnakor still has not moved.

“I’m sorry,” I whisper to my husband, knowing this must hurt him. He has become so eager these last few months to have a child.

He doesn’t respond. After the healer has left us, Vizarios eventually gets to his feet and pushes both of us away.

“I need to be alone,” he says, and locks himself into the bathing room.

Ragnakor and I sit at the table in silence, neither sure what to say to the other. Eventually, I reach across to him, needing to know that I’m not alone. He takes my hand in his and strokes my palm.

“He will recover,” Ragnakor says in a soothing voice. “It is just a blow to his ego.”

“It’s a blow to a lot of things.” I realize as I say it just how true these words are. “It’s his duty to the kingdom, as well as his own longings and desires.”

The captain nods. “He has wanted to put a dragonling in your belly for some time. To hold it in his arms.”

I sniff, finding there are tears in my eyes. I wanted that as well. I thought it was inevitable, and to learn it’s not... it has taken me by surprise.

Then, very abruptly, the door to the bathing room flies open, and Vizarios strides out. He has a burning fire in his eyes as he sizes us up at the table.

I get to my feet. “Are you all right?” I ask, knowing it’s a silly question.

“Yes,” he says, much to my surprise. “I am. Now that I have figured out the solution.”

Ragnakor and I glance at one another.

“What is the solution?” I’m truly mystified by how we could remedy his infertility.

A smile turns up the corners of his mouth. “It will not be me who sires the heir,” he says. His eyes land on Ragnakor. “It will beyou.”

RAGNAKOR

A searing heat races from my throat down to my cock, settling in my balls until I feel like I’m on fire.

Me. Sow a dragonling in the queen.

Me.

It is deranged, an absolutely ludicrous suggestion. I get to my feet, ashamed and incensed and aroused all at once.

“No.” I say the word harshly. “I will not.”