“It hurts me I was never able to meet her. From what I’ve heard, she and I would have much in common.”
“You do, princess.” Lailoken stepped in closer. “And that is something that you’ll need to remember in the coming months. Something that you must never forget.”
“Why?” Keita asked, her eyes wide in apparent confusion.
The two Elders looked at each other, Lailoken nodding at Gillivray.
“It’s time, princess,” Gillivray explained softly, “for you to start thinking about your future among your people—and claiming your rightful place on the throne.”
Keita’s head lowered the slightest bit while her brown gaze swept the empty courtyard around her. When she was done, she leaned in a bit, her fingers carefully brushing her dark red hair behind her ear. “My royal blood connection to my grandmother is something that I never have and never will forget, my great lords. But I do have grave concerns over the safety of my father and my brothers—”
Lailoken raised his free hand to stop her. “There is no need to fear there. In fact, if your mother understands that change is for the better, I’m sure something beneficial to all can be worked out.”
“But how?”
“Don’t worry about that. We’re not in this alone, you see. And we’ve made sure our…friends are well aware of what your concerns and demands might be.”
“And who are these friends, my lords?”
“That will come out in time. For now, my lady, you simply need to understand that your chance for true glory and power is nearly upon you.
Are you ready for that?”
Keita nodded her head and stepped back. She glanced around again before saying, quite simply, “Proceed as you wish, my lords. I am ready for whatever the world has in store for me. Now go…with my blessing.”
“Thank you, my lady.”
The two males bowed low before the princess, and she returned the gesture with nothing more than a small bow of her head. Without another word, she walked off, heading toward one of the fields surrounding the human queen’s stronghold. Once she was gone, the two Elders stared hard at each other before they turned away and headed off in opposite directions.
Keita stood and stared off at nothing but trees and more trees, her hands tight in front of her, her breath coming out in short pants. When Ragnar found her, he didn’t touch her.
“Keita?”
“They dare approach me so close to my kin? They dare come here to do it? I thought they’d send for me. Or send some messenger.”
“They’re feeling safe.”
“They shouldn’t. They shouldn’t feel safe at all.”
“Keita—”
“I should have struck them down when I had the chance. I should have alerted Fearghus. He would have torn them to pieces before they could ever hope to fly away.”
“And what purpose would that have served?”
Keita closed her eyes, trying hard to control her rage. “They approached me here, Ragnar, with my kin no more than a few hundred feet away.”
“You need to get control,” he said calmly. “You need to remember why we’re doing this. Why we’re taking this risk.” Ragnar was right. If she let her rage loose now, she could ruin everything. Gillivray and Lailoken were minor players in this game.
Puppets, who would probably be killed long before any real fighting began.
She didn’t think they wanted war either, but that’s what would happen before Queen Rhiannon ever gave up her throne. Yet Keita still held out hope that she could stop a war. That she could stop the Irons. That she could stop them all.
It took her a moment, but she realized her breathing had returned to normal, her hands no longer clenched tight, and her body no longer shaking.
Ragnar also held her now, his arm around her waist, his cheek pressed into the back of her head. He’d soothed her growing rage with only that.
“You need to tell your mother,” Ragnar reminded her.
“Not yet.”
“Keita, you promised.”
“I know, but I was actually lying to her.”
“You’re going to test her patience.”
“My mother has no patience. But I do. We wait to tell her. This has not played out yet, warlord. Not yet.”
Finally smiling, she reminded him, “I made you promises for tonight.”
“And they can wait.”
Understanding deep in her soul that time was short, she knew that nothing that could ever mean anything to her could wait.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Keita turned in his arms, her body much too close. Too close if he was going to be the bigger dragon here.
“That’s very sweet of you,” she said.
“I’m known for being very sweet.”
“No, you’re not.”
“I could be.”
“No, you couldn’t.” She giggled. “But I like you despite all that.”
“Thank you. That’s good to know.”
Her hands slid around his waist, her leg wrapping around his calf.
“You hold yourself back from me.”
“I do.”
“Why?”
“Why give you everything when you made it clear you will not take it?”
She shook her head. “I don’t understand you Lightnings. The first female you meet, you’re ready to settle down and have little hatchlings with.”
“No, Keita.” He brought his hands up and cradled her face. “It’s not that easy. You are hardly the first female I’ve met. Definitely not the first female I’ve bedded. But you are the first who’s truly caught my interest.
Who’s truly enticed me.”
“It won’t last. Every male gets bored.”
“For Lightnings, life is too hard to allow for boredom. And only a fool would get bored around the females we’ve been known to choose. One gets bored, one lets one’s guard down—and wakes up the next morning with a throbbing headache and a missing back claw.”
“That’s a lovely story.”
“Tragically, for one of my cousins…it’s a fact.” She snorted, briefly buried her head into his chest. “As entertaining a fact as that is, I’m thinking of you.”
“Are you?”
She patted his shoulder and stepped over to a nearby tree. “I can’t do it, you see.”
“You can’t do what?”
“Allow myself to be held captive, chained against my will, forced to live a life of lies.”
“Most of us just called that Claimed. Humans call it marriage.”
“And I can’t do that.”
“What can you do?”
“Besides be beautiful?”
“You’re much more than that, Keita.”
She smirked. “I never thought I’d hear you speak those words, warlord.”
“How could I not?” he asked, stepping to her, watching as she took an immediate step back. She never backed down if someone was complimenting her beauty or her latest gown or threatening her with deadly physical harm. But his simple words practically had her running off into the dark forest behind them. “Every day you play a dangerous game with your kin, your mother’s enemies, your mother’s court. Every day you do all you can to protect the throne of your people, and protect your siblings from themselves.” That made her giggle, even as she backed another step away from him. “And every day you show a caring for those around you without any of that unattractive weakness that annoys me beyond all reason.”
“Éibhear isn’t weak.”
“Even now you protect the weakest of your Horde.”
“We don’t have Hordes, and Éibhear is not the weakest. I mean, he’s not weak at all.” Her back slammed into the tree behind her, and she stamped her foot. “Honestly! You’re so mean to him.”
“Convince me to be nice.”
“Blackmail is so unbecoming to a dragon.”
“That’s not really blackmail. More like coercion,” he teased, pressing his hands against the tree behind her, blocking her in. “And we Northlanders pride ourselves on being bullying scum when it’s necessary.” He leaned in, kissed her. Such a soft mouth and such a talented tongue.
Her hands reached up, clutched his jaw. And Ragnar knew he’d no longer be able to fight this.
Keita didn’t know what to do with this dragon. He made no demands, except relatively logical ones. He promised her nothing, and gave nothing to her but himself. It wasn’t fair. How was she to fight this? How was she to stay true to herself when he insisted on seeing her as no one else did?
He pulled out of their kiss and slowly dropped to his knees in front of her.
A move she didn’t feel was fair at all, considering.
He pushed her gown up until he had it at her waist. “You’re always nak*d under your clothes,” he observed.
“Why wouldn’t I be?” she asked.
Grinning, he pressed his mouth to her stomach, her hips, her mound, the inside of her thighs. Once he had her squirming, he placed his mouth on her p**sy and slid his tongue inside.
Keita’s groan was long and louder than she intended. She didn’t care.
It felt too good.
He thrust his tongue in and out, getting her wet, making her tremble like the virgin she had been a really long time ago. Then he dragged his tongue out, skimming up until he could swirl it around her clit.
When Keita felt her knees give, she gripped the back of Ragnar’s head and pulled him away, yanking him off. Desperate, panting, she pushed him to the ground and climbed on top of him, dropping her p**sy over his mouth while she heaved his c*ck out of his leggings and wrapped her mouth around it. She felt his growl against her skin, enjoyed the way his hands gripped her hips. He held her tight while he sucked her cl*t between his lips and whipped it with his tongue.
That’s when Keita called up the lightest of heat to warm his cock, and felt his fingers digging even deeper into her skin. She smiled around the thick flesh in her mouth, pushing the warlord to give her everything he had.
Ragnar knew this game. The who-can-get-the-other-off-faster game. It was a matter of pride with her, wasn’t it? Didn’t she yet realize he had no intention of giving in that easy?
He suckled on her clit, relentlessly tugging at it until he heard her grunt each time. Then he released one hip and slapped his hand across her ass. Keita’s head snapped up, his c*ck tragically slipping from her mouth, her voice crying out, her body convulsing on top of his.
He drew out her orgasm by slipping two fingers inside her p**sy and keeping his lips working her clit. When he knew he’d wrung her dry, at least for the moment, he lifted her off him and got to his knees.
She was panting, gazing up at him. He caught hold of her gown and lifted it off her head, tossing it over her shoulder, the fine silk landing in the dirt. When she didn’t even notice, he had to fight hard not to smile. He practically tore his leggings off the rest of the way, stripping as fast as he could. Then he turned her away from him, both of them still on their knees, and sunk into her p**sy from behind.