I let out a laugh. There was nothing else to do. Her face was a picture.
“Wa—was that all inside me?”
“Not quite. I pulled out before the knot could tie us.”
She blinked. “The what?”
“This.” I gestured at the engorgement at the base. “It swells to keep us locked together.”
She looked aghast. “Why?”
I couldn’t help the laugh that burst from me. I carefully moved from her still parted thighs and dropped down onto the bed beside her, pulling her into my arms, careful of my still swollen dick between us.
“Don’t laugh—explain,” she said, shoving at my arms.
This was not supposed to be lesson time, but my mate was apparently demanding one. “May I first ascertain if you are well?” I meant it, but my words came with a bit of playfulness.
She stopped trying to push me away, and her face softened. “I am well, thank you.”
“Are you sore?”
She shook her head, then looked thoughtful and shrugged. “I feel reminded of your presence, but it’s not a bad feeling.”
I sighed with relief.
“Now please explain yourself.”
“It’s part of a dragon’s physiology. It swells to lock the male inside the female to aid in conceiving young… Well, when such things were possible from the act alone. These days, with magic so weak in this realm, only a course of healer’s tonic can ready a mate for conception and even then, only if the Goddess wills it.But the knot is meant to keep us tied for a period of time after, to improve chances of a fruitful mating.”
“But you didn’t want that with me?” She looked crestfallen.
I cupped her face, directing her eyes to mine. “It would have hurt you this time. It was too much to expect you to take.”
“This time?”
“Yes.” I smiled in the fae light she had created. “There will be more, Trix. I’m not done with you.”
I could have lied and tried to act like I wouldn’t take every opportunity to be with her now that we’d broken open the dam, but why keep up the pretense? The only one I was lying to was myself.
“Don’t make promises you won’t keep.” She blushed, and it warmed my soul to have that effect on her. I knew just from such sentimental thought that I was already ruined.
“I’m keeping them.” I got a cool rag from the wash basin and cleaned us both up.
“So have we melded then?” she asked out of nowhere.
“Excuse me?” I choked.
“You know, the melding that comes with the bond we have.”
“Umm, no. Melding is magic, not sex.”
She frowned. “So what was that then? That connection I felt to my core?”
I baulked inwardly. I couldn’t say it. She could never know, or she would never allow me to leave her. Plastering on a convincing smile, I kissed the tip of her nose. “That, Trix, was really great sex.”
She blushed again, buying my answer, and I felt a part of me die.
THIRTY-FOUR
