Page 24 of The Pleasure Contract

All this time we’d been circling above the city’s skyline without going too close to anything. But now, we seem to be heading straight for the largest tower in the palace, Lady and Puff’s strong wingbeats whooshing behind us, and the night air ruffling through my hair.

Az whistles in a distinctive, two-note kind of way, and that seems to be all the drak needs to swoop down suddenly, making my stomach drop.

“I got you,” he says, that strong hand spanning my middle again like he anticipated my panic.

It works, because as we loop and swirl around the towers of the palace, whooshing past all the ornate, stained-glass windows, I can’t help but let out a whoop and a laugh. We dive down only to soar back up again, spiraling around all the towers and turrets reaching into the skies. And then we do it all over again. Through the windows, I can see light and darkness, the busyness of the staff areas as they bustle around making sure palace life is as it should be. I’m pretty sure I see Lady Zalora seated at a desk, playing one of her virtual tile games on the glow of her comms projector. There are staff in Zann’s rooms, shaking out white dust sheets to cover all his furniture while he’s away on a strange planet. When we zoom past the tallest tower, there’s a balcony with some figures on it. As we fly by the first time, we’re going too fast for me to see, but Az snorts behind me and makes us fly by again, his hands over mine as he gently pulls back on all the reins to slow us. By the time I’m able to focus on the balcony again, Prince Kiahn and Niska are clutching sheets to what are clearly their naked bodies.

“What the fuck are you doing, Az?” Kiahn shouts, shoving Niska behind his large, naked frame – the sheet he’s loosely holding to his crotch barely covering anything.

Az makes another, different whistle sound, and Lady and Puff start flapping their wings so that we can hover in mid-air in front of the balcony, only making tiny dips and lifts in an effort to stay in one place.

There’s a pair of red lacy women’s underwear hanging off of one of Kiahn’s horns.

“Just enjoying the night air, brother,” Az teases from behind me. “What are you two doing?”

“None of your fucking busin-”

“Lois? What are you doing on that thing?!” Niska steps out from behind Kiahn to ask – a move that startles her princely husband so much, he promptly drops the sheet covering his sizable cock in an effort to wrap Niska’s sheet more firmly around her naked body.

“Az wanted to take me for a ride,” I shout back, leaning down to pat the drak on the shoulder.

“I’m sure he fucking did,” Kiahn remarks. Niska giggles beside him. “You do know we are to keep the human females safe, don’t you, Az? That does not include taking one for late-night drak excursions!”

“My girls needed to stretch their wings. Besides, Lois is a natural rider.”

We’re not close enough to the balcony for me to be able to see Niska’s expression, but I can imagine she’s got that knowing, amused gleam in her eye. Her husband, on the other hand, being bigger and generally more exasperated, is clearly rethinking letting Az accompany me to the Capital tomorrow.

Before Kiahn gets a chance to say anything else, Az makes the tiniest of movements with the reins, signaling to the drak for us to move off, but not before he twists in the saddle and calls back to his brother, “And put your cock away before a hungry zekek-bird comes swooping down looking for worms!”

The sound of Kiahn shouting profanities and Niska giggling her naked ass off gets carried on the wind only so far, and then we’re off, soaring over the city lights again.

We do one large loop before Az offers me his arm to cling to again. “Hold on tight,” he murmurs. I quickly hand him the reins and hug his forearm to my chest – you don’t need to tell me twice.

With a flick of his wrist and a gentle kick of his heels, Puff lets out a snort of excitement, and we’re soon going as fast as we had done on the ascent, except this time we’re descending – rapidly.

“Az?” I ask, panic rising a little.

This idiot is going to get us killed.

He holds me by the neck again, anchoring me to his chest. “I’ve got you.”

The lights and buildings are getting closer and closer, rushing up at us like we’re about to slam right into them.

I shut my eyes and hold my breath, but no spectacular, bone-shattering impact comes. Instead, I feel the shift when we careen one way and then coast the next. Tentatively, I peel open one eye, and then the other, the wind whipping past me at such a speed it’s a little difficult to keep them open. We’re lower to the ground now. But beneath us aren’t any buildings or streets; instead, it’s the black glass of a river, the water looking still and serene like a mirror, except for the slicing ripple going through it from the sheer speed of the drak’s body.

I let out a breath, but before I get a chance to say anything, there’s a cheer coming from both sides of the river. When I look, I see the banks lined with a scattering of Xavianns, their evenings briefly interrupted by their princely star drakball player making an unexpected appearance.

“Wave to them,” Az says.

I shake my head. “They’re excited to see you, not me.”

Az’s head ducks until I can feel the hot breath of his words against my ear. “In my experience, it’s impossible not to be excited to see you. Wave for me, Lois.”

Tentatively, I peel one hand away from where I cling to his arm and wave. A huge cheer erupts from the riverbank, louder than it had been before.

I’ve never elicited a cheer like that in my life. And, even though I’m still pretty sure they’re whooping and hollering for Az and his drak, I allow myself a smile and turn to wave to the other side of the river.

We follow the meander for a time; sometimes it’s flanked by small gatherings of Xavianns, sometimes not. The further along we go, the fewer people we see. I can hear the trickling sound of Lady and Puff’s clawed feet skimming the surface of the ink-black river water as we go.