Throwing off the furs, Dagmar slipped out of bed. She grabbed her spectacles from off the side table and rebelliously put them on before walking into the main alcove. The thought of returning to that empty bed was not enticing, nor was sitting at the table reading. There were only a few torches still lit, but she decided to follow the light and see where it took her. Anything was better than lying in bed, staring up at the cave ceiling, worrying about whether bats hid up there until the suns rose.
The interior of the dragon’s cave could almost be called plain. He had few adornments on his walls. A tapestry here and there, and several weapons tacked up as decorations. But, she noted on closer inspection, they could easily be pulled down and used as necessary.
There were many alcoves, several filled with riches. But what surprised her were all the books. At least three alcoves had books from floor to her shoulder. She cut through one of these alcoves, a few torches against the wall lighting her way, until she slipped through a large crevice in the wall. Yet she didn’t expect the crevice to suddenly bow inward, making her feel trapped and wonder if she’d ever get out. But she wiggled a bit and pulled herself through. She let out a breath, suddenly grateful for her small br**sts, and kept going, determined to find another way back around.
As she stepped out on the other end, she realized she was on a large, naturally made ledge that curled up at the end. It was sturdy and allowed her to walk across and place her hands on the raised part so she could lean over and look down onto an amazing indoor lake. The lake itself was breathtaking, the water crystal clear and beautiful, a small underground stream constantly refilling and churning it so it didn’t become stagnant.
For a very brief moment, she wondered why Gwenvael had not brought her here to bathe, but then she caught sight of Annwyl and Fearghus by the lake’s edge. The babes were in a large crib, big enough for the both of them. And they slept while their parents clung to each other. Dagmar could hear low moans from him and soft sighs from her. Could see the queen’s body arch, her head thrown back as her mate entered her. He kissed her neck, his hands stroking her body with a reverence Dagmar had only seen from monks when touching their most holy of artifacts. From where she stood, unseen, she could hear words of undying love and promises of a grand future.
She lowered her head. This wasn’t the usual sort of coupling she’d secretly watched over the years. Sordid liaisons to be grabbed and hurriedly done with before husbands or wives came to investigate. Dirty secrets to be kept and fantasized over while at first meal the following morning. To be forgotten months, if not days, later.
No. This was love. In its purest form.
And Dagmar felt nothing but regret knowing she’d never have this herself. She couldn’t even blame the men who found her not to their tastes because she understood that to have this kind of love was simply not in her nature. To open herself this way to anyone was not possible for her. Who could she ever trust like this?
Feeling a sadness from deep within, Dagmar stepped back, determined to tackle the tight fit of the crevice again so she could leave Annwyl and Fearghus to their privacy. But her back moved into something hard but not nearly as hard as a cave wall.
A hand slipped around her mouth, silencing her surprised gasp, and soft lips pressed against her ear.
“I leave you alone for a few minutes”—that low voice whispered—“and I always find you up to something very naughty, my Lady Dagmar.”
She shook her head in denial, absurdly delighted when she felt his other arm slip around her waist and hold her tight against his body.
“You can deny it, but we both know. Know how much you enjoy watching others.”
Perhaps. But she didn’t enjoy it nearly as much as she enjoyed the feeling of Gwenvael’s hand sliding down her leg and grasping hold of the shirt she’d worn to bed. He pulled it up until it rested above her hips.
“Aaaah,” he sighed as two of his fingers slipped deep inside her. “I knew it, my lady. Knew you’d be soaking wet from watching.”
She’d known it too, but it had little to do with what Annwyl and Fearghus were up to.
“Can’t leave you like this, now can we? Wet and needy, with no relief.” He thrust hard with his fingers, and Dagmar immediately gripped the fingers covering her mouth with both her hands. She didn’t try to pry them off, but pinned them there, hoping they would help her control her desire to cry out.
“Watch them,” he said against her ear, while his tongue explored. “Watch how my brother takes his mate. With such skill, he brings her to cli**x. And I will do the same for you.”
As her h*ps began to match Gwenvael’s fingers, thrust for thrust, she had no doubt he’d do as he promised, but again, it had nothing to do with what went on near the lake’s edge. She couldn’t see the other couple anyway, her eyes closing as she focused on the feel of Gwenvael’s fingers inside her, the way his breath caressed the sensitive place behind her ear, and the way his nak*d body felt pressed against her back.
“Gods, Dagmar. You’re so tight.” He bit her shoulder, nipped her neck before returning to her ear, his whispers feverish. “I tried to give you time alone, but I can’t. Not now. This night you’ll spend with me.” His thumb pressed against her clit, moving in slow circles. “You’ll spend it with my c*ck deep inside you, making you come again and again.”
Her body jerked in his arms, the cli**x wrenching through her. He turned them so she was now facing the wall, trying to use his big body to block out the cries. It was unnecessary, though, as the queen’s own choked cries of pleasure overrode Dagmar’s.
Her body shook in his arms, her knees weakening from the power of her cli**x. Yet Dagmar had no fear of falling, because Gwenvael held her. He held her until her last shudder passed and she slumped, boneless, against his body.
Gwenvael placed her on the bed, tossing the shirt he’d removed from her across the room. Her eyes fluttered open and, smiling, he carefully removed her spectacles, placing them on the side table. He leaned over and waved his hands in her face. “Can you still see me?” he teased loudly.
She lightly slapped at his hands. “Stop doing that.”
“What would you like me to do instead?”
Soft hands reached for him, grabbing hold of his shoulders, pulling him down on top of her. “I want you inside me.”
Nothing had sounded more perfect before.
He pushed inside her, his way eased by her recent cli**x. She gasped as his c*ck stretched her open, her neck arching as she gripped his biceps.
When her lips parted, Gwenvael kissed her, spearing his tongue inside her moist mouth as his c*ck speared inside her warm p**sy. Her fingers dug into his skin, her thighs opening wide beneath him.
For more than an hour he’d sat in that freezing cold lake as human. Even with chattering teeth and shaking body, he was still hard. And hard only for her.
It never even occurred to him to find another. To track down a bar wench or two and do what he normally did when in this part of Dark Plains for a night. It never occurred to him that anyone but Dagmar would be in his bed ever again.
Eventually he had headed back inside with the intent of trying to get some sleep in one of the alcoves. He was a dragon; sleeping on jewels and treasure was par for the course. But as soon as he’d entered the cavern, he’d immediately known Dagmar was gone. Locking on her scent, he was relieved to discover she’d only gone deeper into the cave rather than out of it. He followed her scent until it disappeared into a crevice no one among his kin would ever be able to creep through. But he had an idea of where it led and he took another path he knew.
When he saw her standing there, watching his brother and Annwyl, he’d been shocked at the warmth he’d felt for her. The tenderness. As well as the blinding lust. He’d been torn between the desire to simply hold her close or bend her stomach down over that ledge.
She drew her knees up, allowing him to go deeper inside her, and he braced his arms on either side of her and slowly began to thrust. She cried out, the sound muffled because of his mouth covering hers. He drank the sound down and used his body to make her cry out more. She clung to him, shaking beneath him as another cli**x raced through her. He felt it as her muscles clenched around his cock, squeezing his own cli**x from him. Now he cried out; now his body shook as he drained into her.
He pulled out of their kiss and looked down at her. Those grey eyes, always so cold and aloof or so plotting and curious, now only seemed soft and caring. She smiled, the grip on his arms loosening.
“I’m staying the night,” he said. It wasn’t a request.
“I know you are.” It seemed leaving wasn’t an option.
And that was quite all right. Because tonight he’d take her body, as often as they both needed it. But tomorrow … Tomorrow he’d make her his own.
Dagmar rose up a bit, her lips pressing against his neck, under his jaw. Her legs wrapped around his waist, holding him inside her. As was the way of his kind when human, his c*ck began to harden again, and, as was the way of Dagmar Reinholdt, her body responded almost immediately, quite ready for what he could give her.
It had been a long time since Rhiannon had been summoned through the lines of Magick crisscrossing throughout the universe. Mostly because there were few who could break through the defenses she’d erected over the centuries. Those defenses had been built because she’d tired of the constant requests from lesser witches and mages for assistance or, even more dangerous, those who’d hoped to quietly steal her power for their own uses.
Yet the handsome Lightning standing before her had surprised her. First he’d sent that useless note through Dagmar, the human having handed it to Rhiannon as they’d plotted the handling of Elder Eanruig. But then he’d contacted her directly by bypassing all the defenses she’d built. Only the most powerful and experienced could manage that.
He was much younger than she’d assumed and nothing like the Lightnings she’d always known. Not only was he beautiful—a rarity among the Northland males—but he was quite … dare she say … elegant? An outsider from birth, she’d guess.
A confused, elegant outsider at the moment. Rhiannon did love confused males, although it wasn’t as hard to do as they’d like to believe.
“You knew my father had your daughter?”
She couldn’t help but smile. “I’ve always known.” Although she’d thought Keita would have gotten herself out of there long before now.
“Yet you left her there.”
“It wasn’t so much she crossed through the Outerplains into the Northlands that bothered me. It was that she did it to see that treacherous bitch sister of mine. She only does these things to irritate me. And she could have called on her siblings to help her, but apparently she was too embarrassed for that—as well she should have been.”
“I see.”
“Now, now. Don’t look so crestfallen, my little lightning strike.” She patted his arm. “I am still quite interested in an alliance between us. Dagmar gave me your letter. Although I doubt you sent her here simply to get that message to me. So why did you?”