Her angry exclamation startled him. “I thought you knew.”
“I’ve had so much on my mind.” She rubbed her forehead. “Where’s Annwyl?”
“Sleeping. And please don’t wake her up.”
“Yes, but—”
“You know how she is when she hasn’t seen Fearghus for a long time. And she hasn’t seen Fearghus for a very long time.”
In battle, the queen’s forced separation from her mate made Annwyl a formidable foe. But when the battles were over, the men avoided the woman like she bore the plague. Unless Fearghus was near to keep her…uh…occupied.
“All right. I’ll wait until she wakes.”
“Is it something you can tell me about?”
Those blue eyes he dreamed of almost every night turned toward him. “It’s nothing to worry about, Brastias.” She patted his shoulder and his entire body tightened. She had to stop doing that. She kept touching him like a friend or one of her brothers. The last thing he felt for Morfyd the White Dragonwitch of Dark Plains was brotherly.
“You sure? I can be quite helpful.”
Finally, she smiled. Good. He loved seeing her smile. “I know you are, my friend.”
Friend? “Morfyd, I—”
Lightning flashed and storm clouds suddenly appeared. Morfyd looked up at the sky. “Dammit.”
Brastias sensed her concern went beyond getting Annwyl back to Fearghus. “What is it, Morfyd? What aren’t you telling me?”
Shaking her head, the woman turned from him and walked off. He watched her until she disappeared into her tent, then the skies opened up and rain poured down on him.
* * *
“Hold on.”
“Hold on? Why?” Talaith finally lifted her head from where she had it buried in Briec’s mane of silver hair. She should have never looked. The dragon was heading right for a waterfall…and he wasn’t stopping.
“What are you doing? Have you gone mad?” she yelled over the brutal storm. It had plagued them all the way from Gwenvael’s den to Briec’s. The dragon had been able to keep ahead of it until a bit ago.
“Don’t you trust me, sweet Talaith?”
“No!”
He chuckled as the waterfall—and the stone wall behind it—came closer and closer.
With a screech, Talaith buried her face into Briec’s neck, her hands gripping his mane. She knew the moment they hit the waterfall as even more water drenched her and a roaring sound assaulted her ears, then it stopped and she was in complete darkness. She thought it was over, until the dragon went free-falling into the blackness.
His humming during all this didn’t help either. It competed with her screams.
When the dragon suddenly stopped, she thought for sure whatever remained in her stomach would come flying back up. He spoke a charm and torches lining the cave walls burst with light.
“Finally. Home.”
Without releasing the beast, Talaith looked up and saw the enormous cavern the dragon had dropped down to get to this level. Bastard. He could have warned her he wasn’t planning on some kind of poetic suicide.
Briec flew slowly down the cavern and Talaith marveled at the size of Briec’s cave. Gwenvael’s hadn’t been this large.
The deeper they went, the brighter it became with more and more torches lighting the way.
After a good fifteen minutes, the dragon pulled to a stop, gently landing.
“You all right?”
She yanked his hair and he rewarded her with a short grunt of pain. “No. I’m not all right.”
He began walking, heading deeper into his cave. “You really need to get used to flying. And stop pulling my hair. It’s irritating.”
“Why?”
“Because it’s attached to my head.”
“Not why should I stop pulling your hair, dragon. Why should I get used to flying?”
“Because, it’s the easiest way to get out of here. Unless, of course, you’d prefer the long walk out.”
Knowing there was another way out, even one, gave her much ease. She’d have to find it later when the dragon slept.
“Do I have to ride bareback all the time? Can’t you wear a saddle or something?”
Briec abruptly stopped walking. “Don’t ever say that to me again.”
She didn’t know he’d be so sensitive about it. “Sorry.”
He nodded his enormous horned head and walked on. After another ten minutes, Talaith noticed large caverns filled with treasure. Also like Gwenvael’s cave. Eventually, he entered an enormous chamber and that’s when he finally stopped walking. Briec lowered himself to the ground and Talaith slid off his back. She leaned against him as her legs took a moment getting steady again.
Once she had some control, she pushed away from his body and slowly made her way deep inside. She gasped in surprise. “Briec…it’s…um…”
“Yes?”
“It’s beautiful.” She stared at the tapestries covering the walls. Beautiful ones that told stories of dragon heroes from long ago. He also had an immense dining table, silver-accented chairs surrounding it; couches for lounging, and one of the alcoves from the main chamber held the biggest bookshelf she’d ever seen, filled from top to bottom with books. More couches and chairs littered the alcove as well so one could rest and read.
It was warm. Cozy. And she’d never felt safer in her life. She fell in love with all of it immediately.
“I thought it would be like Gwenvael’s. Maybe even a little worse.”
Briec moved up beside her, his tail encircling her feet but not touching her. “Gwenvael doesn’t stay in his home much.”
She could believe that. The few days they all stayed in due to the storms, Gwenvael kept leaving and risking the weather so he could get a few minutes outside. He was not a dragon who liked being away from other beings for too long, unlike his brothers.
“So you do like it?”
“Yes. I love it.” She stepped away from him, pulling off her wet cape, and glanced into the different alcoves.
Briec cleared his throat. “If there’s something you don’t like, we can change it. Get you something nicer.”
“Nicer than what?” Everything before her was of the finest quality. Briec was definitely a dragon who liked his comforts expensive. “All of it is beautiful, Briec. Truly.”
She stopped at one of the alcoves only to find the largest bed she’d ever seen.
And, for some unknown reason, she felt bitter jealousy at the sight of it.
“What’s wrong?”
She shook her head. “Nothing.”
She felt heat at her back and knew he’d shifted. So when his big arms wrapped around her shoulders, his hard body pushed up against her back, she wasn’t surprised. Although the extremely affectionate gesture confused her to no end.
“You don’t sound like it’s nothing.”
“You can’t expect me to sleep there.”
His head leaned over her shoulder, staring at the bed. “Why not? I know you wouldn’t prefer the floor.”
“I simply don’t want to.”
“I need something better than that, Talaith. What is it?”
She sighed. Might as well be honest. Couldn’t hurt. “I won’t stay in the same bed with you…”
“Why the hell not?” he demanded, suddenly angry, but unaware she wasn’t done.
“…that you’ve stayed in with other females.”
Talaith felt Briec’s body relax behind her as his anger receded quickly at her words.
Nuzzling his head against hers, he said, “You have nothing to fear, Talaith. I’ve never even used that bed. My brothers insisted I had to have one. Plus, I’ve never brought another female here.”
She snorted in disbelief. “You’re trying to tell me that you’ve never had another female here—ever?”
“Aye.”
His tongue traced the line of her ear. She worked hard to ignore it, unwilling to let him distract her. “How old are you?”
“Two hundred and sixty two winters last moon.”
“And in all that time you’ve never brought a woman back to your home?”
One of his hands slid across her collarbone, across her chest, settling comfortably on her breast. “Not this home. I won’t promise my parents’ den faired as well. I didn’t want any female here, thinking they could take over…move in. So I met them in their own lairs.”
Yet he was willing to let her make changes if she found anything displeasing. No, no. She wouldn’t think too much on what that could possibly mean and instead she focused on trying to control her breathing. Not easy when he squeezed her breast while his fingers tweaked her nipple through the material of her gown. “Well…I…I guess that’s all right then.”
His tongue dipped into her ear and her entire body trembled. “Are you sure, little witch? I want to make sure you’re comfortable. That you’ll be happy here.”
“I am.” She gripped the arm still wrapped around her shoulder, holding her close, unwilling to let her go.
“We can wait to get a new bed here. It will take some time. I’ll have to raid another village to get it. After the storms, of course.” His teeth tugged her earlobe and she marveled at how easily this dragon played her body. Like he’d been handling it all her adult life as opposed to just a few days.
“I don’t want to wait for a new bed.”
“Really? You’re sure?”
She wanted to cry in frustration as every tug of her earlobe leapt right to her sex and stayed there. Talaith didn’t even know when she’d begun squirming, desperate to feel the arrogant dragon inside her again.
“Yes. I’m sure.”
“You don’t sound like you’re truly convinced.”
“You are such a bastard, Briec,” she panted.
He chuckled in her ear. “I know. So you do like it?”
She bent her head to the side, hoping he’d kiss her neck. He did. “I thought we already had this conversation. I love it.”
“More than Gwenvael’s?”
“Well…”
He released her and spun her around to face him. “I expected an immediate yes.”
She shrugged. Playing with fire, she knew. But she couldn’t help it. “But he has the hot springs.”
“Is that it?”
“That’s very important.”
He grabbed her hand. “Come.”
“That’s what I was hoping for, but you stopped.”
He pulled her, leading through the cave. Down into an alcove with a path leading below.
“Where are we going?” She heard noise, but from where she now stood, she couldn’t quite make it out.
“You really need to learn to trust me. You act like I’m dragging you off to your execution.”
The deeper they want, the darker it became and the louder the sound grew. Finally Briec stopped. “What about this, Lady Demanding?” He said a word and flame lit torches.
Talaith sat down hard right where she stood. “Briec…” she breathed out, unable to find words to describe what she saw.