The treasure glittering in the candlelight.
The impossible reality of being held between two dragon kings who looked at her like she was the most precious thing in their hoard.
And beneath it all—the dream. It pulsed through her memory like a second heartbeat. The feeling of them entering her at once.
The exquisite stretch.
The way their synchronized thrusts had driven her to heights she hadn't known existed.
Fire and frost meeting inside her, claiming her,completingher.
Her thighs pressed together involuntarily.
Stop thinking about it.
But she couldn't stop. Every time Korin's thumb brushed her hip bone, she remembered his claws gripping her haunches. Every time Pyrran's breath ghosted across her shoulder, she felt the phantom pressure of his cool thickness breaching her from behind.
"Little queen." Korin's voice was a warm rumble against her temple. "Your heart is racing."
Sol's eyes flew open.
Both of them were watching her now—Korin with tender amusement, Pyrran with something sharper.
Hungrier.
As if he could smell the arousal she was desperately trying to hide.
He probably can, she realized with horror.Dragons can smell everything.
"I'm fine." She cleared her throat. "Just. . .overwhelmed."
"Of course you are." Korin's hand stilled on her hip, and she didn't know if she was relieved or disappointed. "You've been through more in one day than most experience in a lifetime. Discovered your true nature. Transformed. Flew." A smile tugged at his lips. "Crashed into a mountain."
“Magnificently,” Pyrran added.
Against all logic, she grinned.
"You need time, queen." Pyrran’s silver eyes held hers, and she saw something shift in them—hunger giving way to something that looked almost like patience. "Time to understand what you are. What you're capable of."
"We will teach you," Korin said. "Everything. How to shift at will. How to fly without crashing. How to breathe ice that can freeze oceans and shatter mountains."
"How to hunt. How to eat," Pyrran murmured. "How to hoard. How to rule."
Sol's breath caught. "Rule?"
"You areourqueen." Korin said it like it was the simplest truth in the world. "The dragon kingdom has been without one for centuries. Our people will need to meet you. To know you. To bow before you as they bow before us."
Queen.
The word should have terrified her.
A week ago, she'd been a Lowly with ice in her veins and a desperate hope of survival. Now she was lying naked between two ancient kings, being told she would rule a kingdom she hadn't known existed.
But the terror wouldn't come.
Instead, her dragon heart swelled with something that felt dangerously likerightness.
"There is much to learn," Pyrran said. "And we have centuries to teach you."
