Did he realize he was speaking to me this way or was he as far gone as me?
It’s mine, and I want to feel it,he said.Taste it. Give it to me now.
Just like that, I was swept away. My orgasm crashed over me, and my hoarse cry rang out, echoing in the room, echoing in my mind and within his.
At that moment, he looked up at me with pure satisfaction.
And I could swear I had my Vexxion back with me once more.
26
VEXXION
We slept, and I woke before Tempest with the sun barely poking its head above the horizon.
A warmth I didn’t recognize filled me. Was this the beginning of the love I’d felt for this glorious woman?
After she’d come so beautifully for me, I’d laid down beside her and held her because I couldn’t imagine doing anything else but being with her. I didn’t make full love with her, though I wasn’t sure why. I craved it. My damn cock sure wanted it. But it didn’t feel right.
Not yet.
When she woke, I kissed her, and I could swear I knew this woman even better than I did myself, that I could feel the strong band connecting us, one that would never be severed.
“Would you like to bathe?” I asked, ready to get into the tub with her. The thought of not being with her even there jerked through me like sharp wire. Had it always been this waybetween us? I suspected it had, and I welcomed the feeling with wide open arms. She was my fated mate, but it was so much more than that.
I needed her more than the air churning through my lungs.
“I’d like to,” she said. “But I need to go to the aerie first.” She slid from the bed and stood beside it, her gaze gliding down my body in a caress. “I promised Madrood I’d visit. I owe him a good rubdown and a solid oiling of his scales. He flew hard to get here. Other than me, no one’s taken good care of him for a very long time.” Her smile rose. “Would you like to come with me?”
It had been days since I spoke with the dragon.
This morning, I suspected he’d tell her. He’d rather I wasn’t there when he did.
“I’ll stay here if you don’t mind,” I said.
She nodded before leaning over to give me a kiss. “I won’t be long.”
“I’ll see you at breakfast, then.” A promise clung to my words.
Her sweet smile rose, binding her promise to mine. “See you at breakfast.”
She dressed in leathers and left the room, and since she didn’t flit, she must plan to travel to the aerie on foot.
What would she think of the city? She’d have to cross part of it to reach the dragons.
I got out of bed and bathed quickly, dressing in pants and a soft tunic. After, I flitted to the garden outside the living area and began to prune the roses.
It was early, and dew clung to the grass, soaking my barefeet as I walked beside the overgrown bushes. Morning light stretched across the lawn, making the water droplets clinging to the flowers and leaves glow like jewels. The tranquility I’d found here the first time I visited ten years ago sunk into my bones the closer I got to Mayline’s favorite section of the garden. Her roses, with their haunting beauty, stood proudly, their soft, black-with-silver-tipped petals fluttering in the warm morning air.
The shears fit comfortably in my hand, a familiar weight now part of my routine. I hadn’t been able to come here as often as I’d liked, but each time gave me an escape that allowed me to hold onto the core of what Ivenrail was determined to rip away.
I inspected each bush for pests, though I didn’t find any. There was something methodical about pruning that calmed me. Scanning for wayward stems or spent blossoms, I found what needed trimming, cutting away the stray branches disrupting the garden’s perfect shape.
With each decisive cut, more than shaping took place, and I felt like the garden and I communicated on a visceral level. Only the soft calls from birds soaring through the courtyard tugged me away from the whispering flowers. Careful not to harm any buds poised to bloom but eager to get rid of anything that didn’t fit with the beauty of this place, I made one clean cut after another. I tossed the refuse aside to be disposed of after I was done.
A gentle breeze rustled the leaves as I moved down the row.
“Ah, so itwasyou.” Vera came up behind me, stopping not far away, keeping a stone bench between us. “I’ve wondered who was working with Mayline’s roses.”
