CHAPTER 1
Rosomon
Zogar’s pommel knot expands inside me, and his massive wings beat the air, carrying us quickly toward the ominous black shield that holds back the Darkness. He’s warned me that the Darkness is not only strange but also very dangerous for a mortal woman like me.
Strands of excitement and fear twist and tangle around each other to form a complicated web that tightens my belly. All my life, I’ve longed to see places beyond my father’s kingdom, to experience new things, but it never once crossed my mind that those adventures might take me outside the Kingdoms of Light. Even Lymbo, this grey space set between the Darkness and the Light, has proved both mystifying and frightening, so it’s hard to imagine the true Darkness.
Zogar has been vague about what I’ll face, but it’s clear I’ll see advances and inventions beyond anything I could imagine, and I’ll also face danger and witness many sexual acts in public. That last thought is more exciting than scary.
Zogar growls, reminding me, as if I could ever forget, that he can hear my thoughts when his knot is expanded inside me.The depravity will shock you, my queen, but I will shelter your eyes from all that I can. I’ll keep you safe.
Only hours ago, my husband walked in on me with both Saxon’s and Tynan’s cocks inside me at once, and then he proceeded to take me in front of them. Given that, I’m not sure how anything we see in this City of Darkness could get more debaucherous.
He growls again.
Using our combined vision, I watch as Saxon and Tynan take flight on Surath and Xendus. But they head in the opposite direction.
“Why aren’t Surath and Xendus following us, yet?”
Surath and Xendus will use their riders to free more of our people. To do this, they must return to the Kingdoms of Light.
“No!” I turn my head to see into the blind spot in our shared field of vision. The back of my throat pinches with the pain of loss. I only just realized that I might actually love both of these men. But I didn’t get the chance to tell them, and now we’ll be separated. Who knows for how long.
For as long as it takes. Zogar’s tone is gruff in my head, and with every beat of his wings, Saxon and Tynan get father and farther away from us.
“Shouldn’t we all stay together?” It’s not too late for him to order the other two dragons to turn—or for us to follow them.
There is much to be done, Zogar answers.Dividing tasks is efficient.
His knot pulses, and I breathe deeply at the intense pressure. It’s not painful, but neither is it as pleasurable as being penetrated by a lover’s stiff cock.
Zogar’s knot expands again.
“Easy.” My husband is punishing me. “You claimed you aren’t jealous.” I remind him of his words. “And if you’re accusing me of holding back information, this is the first opportunity I’ve had to tell you that my feelings for Tynan and Saxon have—progressed.”
My heart swells, remembering the days I spent with Tynan and Saxon in the magical castle Zogar left to house us, while he was away. Over those five days, my feelings for both men developed greatly.
I must stop thinking about them right now.
Think what you wish,Zogar says.Those men and their puny cocks are of no consequence. You are my wife. My queen. Mine.
His knot expands, and he says the last word with so much ownership, I almost object, but that might make my punishment worse.
My queen, he says,I did not expand my knot to punish you.I did it to keep you well secured as we approach the Darkness.
And I do feel secure, as Zogar’s knot holds me firmly against his saddle and his invisible tendrils of magic wrap around my body. Whatever we face in the Darkness, Zogar will keep me safe, and nothing could make me fall from his back.
But as safe as I feel, nothing but blackness lies on the horizon, and a frisson of fear traces through me. The shield is as vast as the veil protecting the Light—perhaps even larger. It extendsup and to both sides as far as I can see, even with my dragon-enhanced vision. But while the veil seems soft and touchable, not unlike fabric, the shield is more like a void. It’s solid and black, more of an absence, versus a presence.
As we soar toward it, I glance back one final time. Many leagues behind us, a small slit of warm light appears. The veil parts, and the sight makes me long to feel the warmth of the sun on my face, to smell the scent of fresh flowers, to feel the texture of pine bark on a tree in the forest.
Xendus and Surath are specks in that ray of light, barely as big as house flies in my vision, and the veil swallows them, along with the men I love. My belly twists in fear. I’m flying into the Darkness, but the men face other dangers. If nothing else, they’ll have been gone for many moon cycles without explanation, and I caused quite a stir when I returned from Lymbo.
But I’m also worried that someone saw Saxon use his magic. Darkness is forbidden in the Light, and if anyone reported his actions to the Prime Klerick, my love will face a tribunal that will cost him his life.
My chest and throat squeeze shut. Did I just see Saxon for the very last time? How will I survive without his calm, commanding presence, without ever feeling his touch again, or his warm, strong body hard against mine?
Zogar grunts.You’ll survive.
