“Did you not hear my knights? Those are sons of noble families and they all accepted you instantly. The Goddess sent me to you, Demetrius. There is no greater endorsement than that of the Dragon Goddess. My dread will accept you.”
“But what if they don't?”
“Then I will take you to my home enclave where we will live out our eternal lives in leisure and bliss.”
“Our eternal lives . . . so, it's true? I'm immortal?”
“Yes, as I said. I didn't lie to those terrible humans. There was no point since I was planning on killing them. When we mated, I gave you my essence. In that essence was a piece of my immortality. It would be cruel otherwise.”
“What do you mean?”
“For the magic to bind an immortal Dragon to a mortal human would be cruel without the shared immortality. Because when a Dragon's mate dies, they usually follow. Such a mating would be a death sentence for a Dragon.”
“If I die, you're going to die? Holy shit. Talk about codependency.” I shook my head. “This is too much. We haven't even fallen in love yet, and you—”
“What did you say?” Kaspian's lighthearted demeanor changed in an instant, his eyes narrowing as he leaned into my face.
I jerked back. “You don't love me. Do you?”
“You're my mate!”
“Yes, so you keep saying. You said it's stronger than a marriage. Eternal. And we're immortal, so that means we'll be together forever. That's a lot. But do you love me?”
“I must. It is inevitable.”
“Do you love me, Kaspian? Right now, at this moment?”
He settled back. “I . . . suppose not. But I will.” He took my hand. “And you will love me. We formed a bond quickly and that was necessary, it's how it's done with Dragons. But now we have the chance to fall in love slowly.” He lifted my hand and kissed it again. “We have eternity.”
“Okay, you don't have to do all of that.” I motioned at his kissing with my other hand.
Kas narrowed his eyes at me.
I shifted my hand into a palm-up surrender. “Or do it. Whatever you want. Go on with your bad self.”
“Now, that is a more proper attitude for a king's mate.” He nuzzled my neck. “You are mine now. I will take care of you, and you will submit to me in all ways.”
“Whoa!” I jerked back. “I didn't agree to that shit! When did you become a dom?”
“You are my mate.”
“I know! But I'm not yourproperty.”
“No, you are worth far more than mere property. But you do belong to me.”
“Hold on.”
“And I belong to you.”
“Well, that makes it a little better,” I grumbled. “But you don't get to boss me around just because you spread your essence all over me. That's what it was, wasn't it? Your cum. You just kept coming and coming. I thought it was a Dragon thing.”
“It is a Dragon thing. In particular, a Dragon mating thing. And yes, that was essence, not ejaculate. Although, it was ejaculated.” He shook his head. “The point is that we were—” Kas shuddered and groaned as he bent forward.
“Kas!” I laid my hand on his back.
“Mate,” he whispered and turned his head to look at me. “I need you. It's been too long.”
“What do you need me to do?” I slid to the floor of the carriage. “What's wrong?”
