The witch on my back had somehow turned my familiar flight path into a meteorological experiment. Small pockets of warmth bloomed where there should be cold, gentle updrafts appeared exactly where I needed them, and the turbulence that usually plagued this corridor had smoothed into glass.
She was doing it unconsciously. I could feel her magic responding to my flight patterns, adjusting atmospheric conditions to make my journey easier. Our magic was harmonizing, dragon fire and weather witchcraft creating perfect symbiosis, and she didn’t seem to realize it.
It should not be possible. Magic didn’t just cooperate like that, not without deliberate spell work and careful calibration.
And as for telepathy…
I didn’t want to think about why I could speak to her in her mind.
I banked slightly, testing, and felt her weight shift on my spine. This wasn’t the terrified clinging I’d expected, but a lean as she tried to get a better view of the cloud formation we were passing through.
“Fascinating,” she said, barely audible over the wind. “The crystalline structure at this altitude is completely different from ground-level formations.”
Her fingers absently stroked along one of my spinal ridges, the way one might pet a cat while reading a book. The sensation shot through my body like lightning.
I nearly dropped fifty feet in altitude.
Focus. I corrected my flight path, grateful she couldn’t see my face. In dragon form, I could feel everything with heightened sensitivity. Every shift of her weight, every touch of her fingers, the warmth of her thighs pressed against my spine where she sat astride me.
I had not accounted for how intimate flight with my new bride would be.
Fletcher was plastered against Adele, his eyes squeezed shut, projecting waves of terror so strongly I could sense them.
Almost there,I told Adele in her mind, keeping my voice neutral.
“Oh, wonderful,” she said. “I’ve been wanting to measure the thermal differential between peak altitude and valley floor. Do you think we could take this route regularly? The data would be invaluable for my predictive models.”
She wanted to use me as a research vehicle.
My dragon pride bristled. I was a king, not a glorified weather balloon.
But beneath the insult, something else stirred, something that noticed how her enthusiasm made her voice brighten. How she’d unconsciously snuggled closer to my warmth as we climbed to colder altitudes. How she fit perfectly in the curve of my spine as though she’d been designed to ride there.
I crushed the observations immediately.
This was a political arrangement. I’d been perfectly clear about my intentions when I’d agreed to Elizabeth Thornwick’s proposal. This was a treaty marriage, nothing more. I would provide Adele with status and protection. She would strengthen the alliance between our peoples. We would maintain a polite, distant partnership.
The fact that she’d arrived two hours late to our wedding, disheveled and rambling about thermal patterns, only confirmed we were ideally suited for this arrangement. She clearly had no interest in me personally.
Which was exactly the way I wanted it.
The faint sting in my chest was simply wounded pride. I was accustomed to women trying to charm me or position themselves for my attention. Adele hadn’t even seemed to notice I was male. She’d looked at me the way she might regard an interesting weather phenomenon worthy of study, but not with any personal interest.
Perfect,I told myself.Uncomplicated.
The entrance to the Emberforge caverns eventually came into view, a huge opening carved into the mountain face, flanked by twin waterfalls that caught the moonlight. I angled my wings for descent, hearing Adele’s delighted gasp as we dove.
Her hair whipped backward, tangling in my spinalridges. I could smell her—floral and clean, and mixed with the sharp scent of ozone I’d heard clung to weather witches.
She smelled amazing.
I focused on my landing approach with more concentration than it required.
The cavern entrance was broad enough for three dragons my size to fly through abreast. I tucked my wings and glided smoothly into the mountain’s heart, where my kingdom sprawled.
The main corridor opened ahead of us.
Adele sucked in a breath. “Oh,” she whispered.
