Page 145 of Foundling

When Leita looked up, she found him waggling his brows at her over his shoulder.

She bit her cheek, trying to look regal when she gave the nod to go ahead.

Rolling his shoulders and shaking out his wings, aware of all the attention on his sleek body, he waved once more before initiating the shift.

Watching him transform into a giant, fire-breathing lizard never ceased to amaze Leita. She swore his form had grown larger, even if Attalus insisted that would only come with decades of growing older.

The kilt indeed tore away, but his horn and ear caps resized with him, the amethysts winking in the midday sun as he turned his head to assess his target.

He had, of course, been strategizing for over a fortnight. Attalus and Tamerlan spent days discussing angles and velocity, wind direction and force. Her dragon had taken his planning and training seriously, sparring with Marcades and the guards, putting them through their paces in exercises.

Attalus was always strong, but in his preparation, he came back to her in the evenings feeling accomplished, full of himself, and excited for the day he got to knock down the citadel. It made for many nights of…stimulating company.

“Are you in love with me or the citadel?” she’d teased one night as he thrust into her from behind, his pace searing and merciless.

“You know I have two hearts, doe. You certainly hold one.”

Leita had laughed with abandon through her orgasm.

On this momentous day, Attalus was ready to play his part. What excited Leita, though, was all that came after.

Attalus wasn’t just keen on knocking the citadel down. He, Tamerlan, and a team of architects were hard at work drawing plans for the new citadel that would take its place. He wanted to dome it in dragonfire glass and add stained glass of his own making. The perfect sand had been brought in, and Attalus was already experimenting in the smithy with colors and heat.

He had plans to start his own vineyard, as the idea had always appealed to him. The Meringor brothers were dispatched to harvest the best cuttings from several notable vines, and Attalus had already begun work on converting one of the unused storerooms into a fermentation space, coopers summoned to make the great barrels to hold his new vintage.

Her mate overflowed with ideas and dreams, and Leita loved listening to them. If she could make them all come true, she would.

He’d asked her once, lying in bed as the sunset made glorious shadows across their bedchamber floor, what she dreamt of doing.

“I already have my dream,” she’d said, cuddling up to his side. An azai, a family, was all Leita had dreamed of, and she had it now. A little family full of love and potential.

“I’m flattered, agae, but now you need more dreams.”

She’d propped up onto her elbow, peering down at him with a little smile. “You’d have me dream of something other than you?”

“Well, when you say it like that…”

Leita meant what she said but also, day by day, came to understand what Attalus meant, too. That a life must be lived, and if blessed with a long one, it should be full of hopes and dreams. She wasn’t quite sure yet what next she wished to do, but she looked forward to discovering it.

In the meantime, she was happy to borrow one of Attalus’s.

Her dragon leapt into the sky in one great bound, his wings working hard to gain height. Up and up he went, circling the palace to gain speed. The crowd cheered as his shadow passed over them, fae beginning to count his loops around Fallorian.

And what happens if he gets a taste for this? Thalia asked from where she stood beside Leita on the palace steps.

I suppose I’ll build him another tower to knock down. And another and another.

Thalia snorted. Young love. It’s made you soft.

Yes, I guess so.

Leaning on her mama mare, she watched as her dragon cut across the sky, his wings nearly vertical as his turns tightened round the palace.

I’ve been wanting to tell you, Lala. Come spring, I mean to return to the forest.

Cold shock darted down Leita’s body. What? Why?

You’re settled now. That’s what every mother hopes for her foal. I’ve done what I can for you. For this new one, I want them to be born in the wilds, so I may rebuild my herd.