Prince of Dragons (20 page)

Navos nodded. “I too plan to relax. The seas of Indigo are very fine this time of year.”

Sirena realized as she entered the high mountain valley that she was under surveillance. The instrument panel of her small, sleek hovercraft had a few special accessories added on, courtesy of a former lover who worked for the InterGalactic Space Forces. However, no one tried to stop her as she glided along, following the clear river rushing down out of the steep valley.

The mountains were stark and bold, carved out of Serpentian goldstone that shimmered in the hot afternoon sun. Trees and plants clung to the edges of the river, their branches nodding in the spray as the clear, golden water tumbled downward.

She glided around a bend and caught her breath at the sheer beauty of the scene before her. She had reached the end of the valley. It culminated in a high, beautiful bowl, a kind of desert Shangri-La. An actual castle, carved of the same goldstone, scaled the side of the mountain, with verdant gardens and sparkling waterfalls cascading down the steep cliffs around it.

Great serpents, he really was a prince. Lived in a castle, with servants running about to do his slightest bidding. No doubt had princesses throwing themselves at him too. The great handsome beast.

She clutched the controls more tightly and blew out a breath, straightening her shoulders. She wore her most elegant travel attire, a sleek flight suit of cream and gold. A quick glance in her mirror reflected her usual look of serene confidence, but her insides were in a seething turmoil.

She was doing the right thing, wasn’t she? Part of her, even now, wanted to twist the control levers and scream back out of the mountain valley, back to the emotional safety of her old life. The life she understood and could control.

No! She’d come this far and she would go on. Prince or not, he had offered her his heart, and she wanted it, and all the rest of him too. And if any princesses got in her way, she would kick their asses back to their own castle.

She landed the hovvie before the castle, and walked up the stone steps to the great doors. As she reached them, they swung slowly open, and a servant bowed politely from the aperture.

“I am Sirena Blaze. I’m here to see Commander Stone.”

“Yes, madame. Please, come in.”

She found herself ushered across the cool shaded tiles of a soaring hall into a large sunny room that looked out over a large terraced patio. It was furnished with the exquisite taste that meant currency had been no object.

The woman who glided into the room matched her surroundings. Although silver-haired, she was beautiful in a timeless way. Her eyes and smile looked strangely familiar. A chill raced up Sirena’s spine as she realized she faced Slyde’s mother.

“You are here to see my son?” The other woman’s voice was calm, but her gaze ranged over Sirena, who suddenly felt like a young girl in the presence of an elder she wanted very much to impress.

“Yes, I am.”

The golden eyes narrowed. “Yet you ask for him by the name of Stone.”

“I know he’s Dragolin,” Sirena said. “I’m used to addressing him as my co-commander.”

“Ah. So you are Sirena Blaze.”

“He…has spoken of me?” Sirena asked, cursing inwardly as her voice trembled slightly.

Slyde’s mother shook her head. “No. I’ve made it my business to know my son’s whereabouts and his companions.”

As her own mother had once done for her. Sirena nodded in acknowledgment, although her heart sank. Slyde hadn’t even mentioned her to his mother?

“Is he here?” she asked. She knew that for once her heart was in her eyes.

“Perhaps. Why have you followed him?”

Sirena lifted her chin proudly, allowing none of her trepidation to show. “Because he invited me.”

“Did he?” Slyde’s mother eyed her with interest and then at last smiled. “Sit down, my dear. I’ll go and find him. He is somewhere about.”

Madera, crown princess of the Dragolins, didn’t hurry from the library, but she did manage to order cool refreshment for their guest and send servants scurrying to find her son, all in the time it took her to cross the great hall.

Slyde was deep in the huge gardens. She followed the sound of shattering rock to find him. Wearing only a brief singlet, he was breaking up rocks with a huge mallet, to extend the garden paths. His powerful muscles gleamed in the sun.

His mother watched him for a moment, feeling a tender pang as she watched the force with which he struck each blow. Her son was not a pouter, but when he thought no one saw, he looked as if someone had stolen his favorite plaything. Hmm, perhaps someone had. The young woman waiting in her library was quite lovely, and a deeply sensual creature, if her looks were anything to judge by.

“Slyde,” she called softly. “You have a guest.”

Her son straightened, but shook his head.

“Mother, can you please—I’m in no mood for Princess Anresand,” he groaned.

“Oh, it is not she. It is another lady.”

When her son’s eyes widened, she smiled at him and held out her hands.

“It is your Sirena,” she said. She held on tightly to his hands when he would have rushed past her. “My dear, go carefully. I believe she is suffering as much as you have been—but you can win her if you speak tenderly and wisely.”

“Oh, do you indeed?” Her son’s eyes narrowed on the house above them, and his great jaw, so like his father’s, clenched. “Thank you, Mother, for your advice,” he said through his teeth.

She winced as he stomped up the hill toward the castle, but then she grinned as she gave the voice command to activate her com-link.

“Husband,” she said. “I have good news. Our son has found a bride.”

Chapter Thirty-two

Sirena whirled as the heavy doors to the library crashed open. Slyde stood in the open doorway. Her heart leapt with a surge of joy and excitement. She took an impulsive step forward, but then stopped short. He was obviously in the grip of powerful emotion—but was it positive or negative? She suddenly felt as if she did not know him, here in this strange place that was his home.

He stalked into the room, his eyes slits of molten gold.

“Sirena,” he growled. “Why are you here?”

“Because you invited me to come,” she said, lifting her chin proudly. Oh, this was not the way it should go. She had pictured a tender reunion, not his expression hardening.

“So, you’ve come to torment me in person, as if haunting my dreams every night is not enough.”

Sirena, her pride instantly aroused, hissed back at him, “You left me.”

“I left you
free!”
he roared back. “Free to decide. Free to be as you have always been—a law unto yourself—to stay, or to follow me.”

“You left without a word!” She was practically shrieking now, and she didn’t care. Rage and hurt swept away all her vows to be sweet and reasonable, to explain to him that she had been uncertain, but now knew her heart. “You told me you loved me, invited me to come and live with you, and then you left! How was I to know where you were going?”

“Because you’ve a very intelligent brain in your head. I knew you’d use it—eventually! Enough of this talk. You understand only actions. I will give you action.”

With a roar, he shifted. Sirena stood transfixed, her breath frozen in her throat, her eyes wide with awe, as he disappeared in a cloud of smoke and shimmering heat.

Then a low growl issued from the smoke, and a huge golden menace prowled forth, his fiery golden eyes, so like Slyde’s and yet…not, fixed on her.

Against her will, Sirena stepped back. “You’re right,” she managed. “We—we must talk.”

“No more talk,”
the Dragolin growled in that deep, chilling husk of a voice. “You’ve come to my mountains. Now, my proud warrior queen, now you’re mine.”

He was so beautiful, and yet so frightening. She knew logically he wouldn’t hurt her, but every protective instinct hissed at her to flee. As he reached out his huge, clawed hands to her, she, who never ran from any opponent, broke, bolting for the open doors out into the garden.

He caught her on the terrace steps, swept her up into his mighty arms and kept running with her, hurtling down across the terraced garden, up onto the ledge and out into midair.

She shrieked as they plummeted off the side of the cliff. The wind ripped it out of her mouth, along with her breath. The world hurtled by, a blur of hot wind and sky and flashing golden rock. She clung to him, trembling, waiting for the crash that would kill them both.

Then he beat his outstretched wings once and again, mighty efforts that slowed their fall. They swooped into a long, breathtaking glide out over the valley far below, and up, up on the drafts of the winds blowing around the mountain peaks.

Caught somewhere between terror and wonder, Sirena clung to her captor as he bore her to his lair.

They landed heavily on a high rock ledge. Panting with the rush of adrenaline and the effort of hanging on for dear life, Sirena sank to the ground as he set her down. She twisted away from him, scrambling shakily to her feet.

Taking a deep breath, fighting for composure, she pushed back her hair as she gazed out. They were high in the peaks, no leaf or blade of green visible, only the sun-seared vault of Serpentian sky overhead and the lofty peaks around them. Below, a deep chasm fell away. It was as beautiful and frightening as the Dragolin himself.

“Welcome to my cave,” he growled behind her. “I have waited a long time to see you here.”

She whirled to find him standing before a huge, studded door cut into the rock. He struck it with his mighty fist, and it swung slowly open, revealing a vast, shadowed cave.

He faced her, standing proudly, the merciless Serpentian sun displaying him in savage glory. Man and yet beast, all in one.
Dragolin.
And yet… She took a step closer to him, gazing into his golden eyes. Was that a hint of uncertainty she saw in their molten depths?

“So,” he said. “You see me where I live, as I am.”

She smiled up at him, reaching out with one tentative hand to lay it on his chest. It was leathery, so hot she nearly snatched her fingers away. But he was still Slyde. Her Slyde.

“You are magnificent. The most magnificent male I have ever seen.”

“Good,” he said, a deep rumble of approval in his chest. His eyes glinted with what might be relief, or humor. “Now, take off your clothing.”

She raised a haughty brow at him to conceal the way her body responded instantly to his command. Her nipples tightened and her pussy clenched at the thought of being taken by this magnificent beast.

“What? Just like that? You frightened the life out of me—jumping out into thin air that way! How was I to know you could fly?” She still could barely believe it. She eyed his wings warily. They flared out around his shoulders, then settled again.

“I am sorry for your fright, my own. You must never run from me again.”

He moved nearer, and the wind carried his scent to her, musky, smoky, potently male. She inhaled, taking it deep within her. She nearly moaned aloud as she saw that he was doing the same, his mighty chest expanding with his breath.

“I must have you now.”

“Here?” she raised her brows in delicate incredulity. “Is there no one about?”

He bared his fangs at her. “We’ll get to the bed…eventually. I can wait no longer to have you. The servants need not concern us.”

She narrowed her eyes at him. She would rather choke than let him see that she was aroused by his regal disdain for any onlookers.

“You are huge in this state. Be gentle, or I’ll make you sorry, dragon or not.” She fumbled with the fastening of her jacket, watching in fascination as his cock stirred and sprang up toward her, swollen and rigid with excitement. Oh, great serpents, he was indeed huge.

“I would never hurt you,” he growled. “But I may lay my hand on your ass if you don’t get those tights off.”

Her laugh was carried away on the wind. She had never been so aroused by undressing while a male watched. As she revealed her naked body to him and the sun, his mighty phallus quivered with eagerness and smoke drifted from his nostrils.

She reached up to hold him, but he flipped her around onto her hands and knees on the sun-baked rock. She had only time to brace her hands on the smooth ledge of rock, all that protected them from plummeting into the abyss, and he was on her, surrounding her with his heat and power.

He was as hot as a reactor, smooth and leathery. She fought to turn and face him, and he held her with his huge, clawed hands on her hips, his knees pushing hers apart so she was open and vulnerable to him.

“You great fang-serpent,” she hissed. “I want to hold you.”

“Be still,” he warned her. “I must have you this way the first time. It is tradition.”

She opened her mouth but lost all thought and words on a gasp of shock and arousal as she felt his hot breath on the folds of her sex.

His grip tightened, and she felt him tremble, a deep groan shuddering through him.

“Ah, siren, the scent of your pussy—how I’ve longed for it.”

His tongue delved between the lips of her labia, and she cried out, a high moan of shock and pleasure as he tasted and explored her. She arched her back, thrusting herself back into his caress.

“Oh, Slyde. I’ve longed for you so.”

His tongue flicked in and out, teasing her with a parody of what he would do with his cock. She writhed in his grasp, needing more. His tongue flicked over her clitoris, and she moaned again.

“Yes! Oh, please.”

“Oh, not yet, siren.” He rose over her and hauled her back into the curve of his great body, surrounding her with heat and power and intent. “You’ve tormented me—made me wait. I believe it’s your turn to please me.”

His cock slapped against the inside of her thighs, scalding the delicate skin.

“Open yourself to me,” he urged, his incredible tongue following his words into her ear. “Take me inside you, siren.”

Nearly mad with frustration, she reached between her thighs. He was fiery satin and stone in her hands. Part of her wanted to stroke and enjoy holding him, but she needed to get him inside her. She guided the broad head of his phallus into her labia, now swollen and wet.