“Sevarin.”
I turned to find the King holding his hand out to me, urging me forward. As I stepped up beside him, the crowd cheered again. I stared down at them, annoyed. Just minutes ago, they had wanted my head. Now, they cheered for me? It was partly my calm inducer, but mainly Falken's speech that had caused the change. Knowing it didn't help to lessen my irritation.
“Smile,” Falken whispered and grinned at the crowd.
I smiled, nodded, and whispered, “Sure, now you like me, you savages.”
With a chuckle and one last wave, the King turned, drawing me with him. We grabbed the baskets and walked away together. The crowd continued to cheer as we left the wall walk and went down to the courtyard, none of them even remembering the gas they had breathed in. By the time we reached the ground, the magic-users and alchemists were gone. That worried me.
Ignoring the twisting of my gut, I went inside with the King. As he nodded and smiled at his clapping courtiers, I stewed. Did I really want this? To stand beside a king and wave like a moron? Had I truly wanted to be his mate? I hadn't known what life with Falken entailed. Now, loving him seemeddangerous, and I scrambled for a way to keep the pleasure of our sex going without getting more involved emotionally.
As we approached the fourth-floor landing, I lifted my basket. “I need to take these back to the lab.”
“All right.” He veered onto the landing and led me to my lab.
“Damn it all!” I pushed the door open. “I forgot to lock it.”
“We weren't gone long and most of the palace was watching the mob.
“I suppose. Still, it was careless of me.” I closed the door behind us and locked it. After I set my basket down, I went to Falken.
His eyes widened as I undid the buckles on his left vangrave. I removed the metal piece and set it on my worktable. Then the other. Falken was grinning by the time I had his pauldrons off. Then he was helping me. We were naked seconds later, and I pushed him onto the bed. Sitting with his feet on the floor, Falken was long enough to lean his back against the wall. I grabbed a bottle of linseed oil and poured some into my palm. Without preamble, I rubbed it over his cock.
Falken's eyes widened as I straddled him and immediately took his cock in hand and angled it to my opening. After a few experimental pushes, I opened enough to slide down his shaft. Up again and then down all the way. I sat on him, knees spreading wide, and grabbed his shoulders. He tried to kiss me, but this wasn't about intimacy. I wanted to establish a barrier between us again, and this was the easiest way to do it.
Evading his lips by flinging back my head, I rode him hard. My eyes closed, but I couldn't erase the image of Falken beneath me, his muscular body supporting mine. His hand slid up my chest to fasten around my neck, his thumb below my chin. Then he squeezed. It brought my head up and opened my eyes. Falken's eyes were glowing.
He held my gaze as he stood and repositioned us so that I was on my back. My legs fell out to the sides, and I grabbed the back of my knees to pull myself open. With one hand propped on the mattress just above my head, Falken growled and slammed deep. Wood squeaked with his every thrust, but he didn't slow. I had started this to put space between us, but he just barreled through it. Spread open beneath him, accepting his surging shaft, and writhing in desire, I felt closer to him than before.
With a cry, I emptied onto my belly. As the shudders took me and my channel clenched, Falken cried out as well. He pulled out of me and rose to his knees. Towering over me, he held the base of his shaft and climaxed onto my belly, mingling our cum. As I continued to shiver from my orgasm and the feel of the hot liquid on my skin, Falken climbed off the bed and became the Dragon King. He turned away and picked up his pants. I watched him get dressed, worried. Something was wrong. I stood up and grabbed a cloth to clean myself.
“I will not be your distraction, Sevarin.” He turned to look at me, his eyes hot. At least they had stopped glowing.
“What do you mean?” I picked up my pants and pulled them on.
“This.” He motioned at the bed. “Do you think I'm oblivious? I know what you were trying to do, and it won't work. You are too close to me now. You can't pull away with sex.”He pointed at me. “This was just another attempt to leave me.” Then, softer, he added, “I want you to stay, but only if that's what you want too. If it's not, go. I won't try to stop you again.” And then he left.
I looked from the closing door to the golden gleam of pauldrons and vambraces on the table. He had left them behind. Those beautiful symbols of the King's might taunted me. They told me what I already knew—it was too late to leave.
“Son of a beaker!”
Chapter Twenty-Eight
The only thing that could distract me from Falken was work. Not that I had much to do. With the rot found and a plan in action, there was nothing but revealing reagents to mix, and I had a good supply of those done. That meant I could work on my own experiments.
Grinning, I went to a trunk and pulled out a few rare ingredients I'd found in Tabaa. I brought them over to the worktable to prep and then moved down to where I had my distillation equipment set up. I turned on the flames, added water to the main alembic, and went back to prep the ingredients.
As I was grinding a resin, I heard a clink. I set down the pestle and went to the distillation equipment. The alembic was bubbling already, and the water looked green. Then I realized it wasn't the water but the glass of the alembic itself. It had turned a translucent green.
“What in the world?” I peered closer.
The alembic sparked, and flames encased it.
With a cry, I surged back and covered my face with my forearms and tail. The explosion sent me flying backward into a counter. Glass shattered, flames rose, and the scent of burnt fur filled the air. Whimpering, I got to my feet. I didn't have time tocry over my burns. The entire distillation setup was on fire. I ran to the sink and grabbed the bucket I kept filled with water in case of an emergency. I ran the few feet back to the table and tossed water over the flaming equipment.
Panting, I watched the fire sizzle out and smoke rise from the mess. A citrusy tang overpowered the scent of my burnt fur.
Recognizing the scent, I snarled, “Motherfucker!”
