Dragon's Tribute Part 4

"Let me show you something." He strode across the chamber and opened a chest full of books. He brought back to the sleeping alcove a leather-bound volume with gold on the edges of the leaves.

Rowena sat up, hugging her knees to her chest and looking over his shoulder while he flipped through the pages. He turned to a picture of a red dragon with a snakelike head belching lurid flames. A man in armor stood astride its body and stabbed a lance into the dragon's belly, from which a fountain of blood spurted.

Virid pointed to the words that accompanied the ill.u.s.tration. "I must teach you to read this writing. It is in the Latin tongue and tells of Saint Georgius, renowned for the slaying of dragons."

Rowena's stomach turned queasy at the vivid picture of the gory wound. "Where did this happen? How long ago?"

"No one knows. It is a legend of great antiquity."

"Well, then, maybe it never happened at all. Maybe it's no more than a tale for the fireside." She reached over Virid's forearm to close the book, eager to get the picture out of sight and mind.

"Such tales often inspire action. Many a knight dreams of imitating this hero's deeds."

She shook her head impatiently. "But there aren't any such knights in our Baron's domain. I have seen his men at arms. They don't look like heroes of ancient legend. They wear mail coats and short swords, except those who carry bows. I can hardly imagine any of them challenging you."

Baring his teeth in a predator's smile, Virid said, "Your confidence gratifies me, my golden one. But they might have more than swords and arrows to use against us. Remember, your lord keeps a wizard in his household."

"Do you truly think he has enough magic to threaten you? I've never seen him do more than make moving pictures in bonfires to amuse the children or conjure a sprinkle of rain during dry summers."

"I have dwelt here more than twice as long as you have been alive, long enough to sense hints of real power in the man. He may become a threat if the Baron feels sufficiently provoked." His tone turnedgrim. "And your heedless behavior might count as provocation."

She backed away from him and stood up. "So you're harping on that note again? Are you saying I should spend the rest of my life a prisoner in this cave, on the chance that if I show myself outside, I might fall into some phantom danger?"

"If you cannot exercise good judgment and listen to my warnings," he growled, "I may command you to do exactly that."

"Stay trapped here while you rant at me? I believe I would rather get eaten than listen to your scolding."

Now that she felt sure he wouldn't harm her no matter how angry he became, his rebuke annoyed more than alarmed her.

"You deserve more than scolding, woman. You entered a settled region in broad daylight and frightened a man out of his wits. And not just any man, but one who has some wealth and influence in the village, whose tale will be heard with respect, is that not so?"

She reluctantly nodded.

"What would a human male do if his mate disobeyed a grave command that way? More than scold, I wager. He would probably beat her."

Folding her arms across her b.r.e.a.s.t.s, she matched his scowl with a defiant glare. "Are you going to beat me? That tail of yours would make a fine whip."

His frown turned to a sardonic smile. "Perhaps I should, but I have no desire to mar your soft skin. Nor do I want to squander energy in another change, after that strenuous flight. You say you would rather be eaten?" He bared his teeth like a wolf stalking a lamb. "Then I suppose I had better feast on you."

He leaped up and caught her in his arms. She made a token struggle, still irritated by his tyrannical commands. "Hush, my treasure, my pet. I do not wish to rob you of your freedom. I am only trying to protect you."

"I'm not a pet. Not sure I want to be a treasure, either."

"But you are." He ran his fingers through her hair. "Spun gold." When he ma.s.saged her scalp, she couldn't help sighing, feeling her resistance melt away. "Coral." His tongue circled the outline of her ear.

She s.h.i.+vered, caught off guard by the sensation. "Rubies." He tweaked the firm tips of her nipples.

"What's coral?" Short of breath, she gasped out the question. "A hard, pink substance, the sh.e.l.ls of tiny sea animals. And you also have a pearl in your hidden grotto."

He fingered her moist curls and the slick "pearl" in the midst of them.

Rowena shuddered. "Please-" Like a cat, she rubbed her head against his arm. His spicy scent p.r.i.c.kled her nose.

"Or would you prefer the treasures that grow in nature? Such as ripe cherries." He nipped the side of her mouth. She involuntarily parted her lips for the entry of his tongue. He didn't linger there, though. "The apples of paradise." Lifting her b.r.e.a.s.t.s in his palms, he kissed each nipple in turn. He stroked her sides.

"Skin white and smooth like lilies."

In turn, she ran her hand over his chest. His olive skin with its tiny scales looked like burnished metal, perhaps copper with a patina of age. He leaned into her caress, his throat vibrating with a sound almost like a purr.

One of his hands traveled down to her bottom, while the other explored the folds of her quim. "Rose petals with a folded bud and honey at the center." To her delighted surprise, he sank to his knees and tasted the wetness that pooled in her slit.

Trembling, she grasped his shoulders to keep from falling over. Steadying herself, she smoothed the silver-blue crest of his hair with one hand. It felt softer than she'd expected. "You're only trying to beguile me with all this dalliance-and fanciful words."

"Have you never heard such language before?" He hummed into her tender flesh, setting up vibrations that made her head spin.

She giggled. She had trouble shaping an answer with the distraction of the tickle in her c.l.i.toris. "Only in ballads. Great lords and ladies make love like that, so I've heard. Our village lads talk only of swiving ."

He looked up at her. His green eyes glowed. "And f.u.c.king?"

She suspected he used that word purely to watch her blush. "Just when they think the girls aren't listening."

"I would rather do it than speak of it. But first, I promised to eat you. Spread your legs for the feast." By the last words, his voice turned hoa.r.s.e, with a hint of a growl. The hungry glint in his eyes made her heart race.

Still holding onto him, she planted her feet apart. Raising his head, he licked her navel. The unexpected touch made her flinch. He clasped her hips more firmly and traced a wet trail down her stomach andback up again. With a sigh, she yielded to his feasting as the point of his tongue mapped her lower abdomen. It skimmed along the top of the triangle of hair. She gasped when he nuzzled her curls. Now, she thought, he would soothe the part that ached for him. Instead, he skipped to her legs. He planted a kiss behind each knee, then nipped an upward path, his hot breath searing her thighs. He lapped the creases of each one in turn, avoiding the inner folds that yearned for his tongue. She threw her head back and arched her spine.

After several minutes of spiraling gradually closer to her center he probed inside her and licked up and down while her hips undulated. He seemed to sense the moment when she started to throb with an intolerable tingle in her bud. His tongue found and eased that tingle. Her legs quivering, she clutched his shoulders harder. The tip of his tongue circled her c.l.i.toris over and over, never quite touching the peak, where she needed it most. She felt tight enough to burst. When she groaned with the urgency of her need, he flicked the spot that yearned for relief. Faster and faster he lapped, strumming the peak hardest just as she tumbled over the precipice into the abyss of her release.

When she emerged from the moment of oblivion, he stood up, embracing her with his c.o.c.k pulsing against her abdomen. "Now you," she panted, clasping his hardness. She wanted to inflict on him the same desperate craving he'd made her feel.

For a minute he thrust into her palm, his eyes half-closed in pleasure, but then he pulled back. "Not this way." Taking her hand, he drew her to the portal and s.h.i.+mmered into dragon form.

Still melting from her fulfillment, she easily flowed into the same shape. "You said you were too tired to change again."

"Ah, but feasting on you has restored my strength." He took flight. She followed him to a nearby meadow on a hillside. When she landed, he swooped down upon her. Before she realized what was happening, he straddled her body. "I want you hard and fast this time." The fierce snarl in his voice ignited her desire all over again. His fangs clamped onto her neck, not deep enough to hurt through the armor of her scales. The sting of his bite shot bolts of lightning through her. She felt his pole against her flanks.

Burning for him, she lashed her tail sideways and spread her rear legs. His c.o.c.k drove into her. She bucked under him, her claws raking the ground. While he pounded in and out, they shredded the turf with their talons. Another climax shuddered over her. Fire shot from her mouth, and his fire merged with it.

Roaring, she twisted her neck around to bite his shoulder.

The flavor of his blood inflamed her further. She wrenched free of him and rolled onto her back. Heloomed over her, his scarlet c.o.c.k jutting out. He plunged inside again. With all four feet, she dug her claws into his sides. Clutching each other with their talons, they tumbled over and over, roaring in their frenzy. Her head reeling, she convulsed with the force of his thrusts.

Finally, they lay still on the churned-up ground. She breathed out a fiery sigh of contentment. I could never have known this ecstasy in my human life!

Chapter Five.

Three nights later Rowena woke to find the silk she lay on damp with perspiration. She sat up, wondering what had disturbed her. A silver chime echoed in her head, as if a bell had ceased ringing the instant before she had awakened. A chime in a dream, perhaps, though she couldn't remember what she had dreamed. The night air chilled the moisture on her skin. As always, she slept naked and human. In the perpetual pearly glow that emanated from the cave walls, she glanced at the treasure heap, where Virid slept in dragon shape. In sleep they always reverted to their respective natural forms, as they did whenever they needed to recover from over-exertion. Maintaining a dragon body took effort for her, and it appeared that even for an old, powerful creature such as Virid, remaining human for too long could be a strain. He showed no sign of waking at her movement. Since her disastrous adventure, he trusted her not to fly away on her own. Wrapping herself in a shawl, she walked to the entrance and surveyed the dark landscape by the light of the full moon.

A strange sensation stirred in the pit of her stomach. Not nausea, certainly not l.u.s.t, though the flutter of excitement had some kins.h.i.+p with l.u.s.t. A s.h.i.+ver coursed through her. She stretched out her bare arms, and the moonlight seemed to flow over them like water. She moaned aloud.

Behind her coins jingled as the dragon s.h.i.+fted on his bed of treasure. Rowena turned to see his eyes glittering in the depths of the cave. His voice rumbled, "Are you ill?"

"No, of course not. That is, I don't think so." She took a few steps back inside. "I feel odd. But it is surely nothing important."

"We cannot be certain of that." He unfolded his sinuous length from the treasure and walked to her.

"Odd in what way?"

She described her sensations. With a flare of his nostrils, he inhaled the dampness between her b.r.e.a.s.t.s.She sighed and leaned on his arched neck. He led her to the sleeping alcove and curled around her, his tail resting across her legs. His tongue flickered over her stomach, making her leg muscles tighten with a tingle of pleasure.

"Is it possible-?" He covered her midriff with his splayed claws. "Yesss."

"What is it?" She squirmed, rubbing her back against the smooth scales of his chest.

Heat from his touch seeped into her skin and spread through her. "Behold," he said. A pale, green glow radiated from her abdomen.

She stared in wonder at the aura outlining the lower part of her body. "What's happening?"

"My magic confirms what I suspected from your scent and flavor. I hardly dared hope for it so soon."

His tongue-tip kissed each of her nipples in turn. "You are bearing my child."

Her heart hammered as she watched the enchanted light fade away. "Are you sure? Virid, I don't know whether I am ready to become a mother. I'm afraid."

"Of what? I will not allow anything to harm you." He clasped her tighter against his chest. His breathing and the ponderous drumbeat of his heart filled her ears.

"I'm not frightened about things that might attack from outside. It's carrying a dragon babe that scares me."

She feared that admission might anger him, but he just calmly asked, "Why? You do not view my seed as a curse, the way your ignorant neighbors would, do you?"

Rowena shook her head. "How can I carry a young dragon, a wyrmling, in my womb? Suppose it grows too large?" A terrible image she had not thought of until that moment leaped into her mind. "What if it rips me apart with fangs and claws?"

"That will not happen. Remember, your grandam safely bore a dragon's offspring."

"But my mother's half human, and she has never looked or acted like anything but human. I'm part dragon, so our baby will be more than half dragon. Perhaps it won't be safe for me."

"Yes, you are part dragon. Therefore you have no need for concern."

She turned sideways to snuggle closer to him. How strange to find comfort in a giant reptile's embrace.

"How long until I give birth? Nine months, like an ordinary woman?" "I do not know. Perhaps you will follow the human pattern, perhaps a dragon's, or some time span in between. She-dragons do not give birth to live young. They remain gravid for two months, then lay a single egg, which they must keep warm until it hatches."

She leaned back to stare up at him. "Are you saying I might have to brood an egg like a hen?"

"We can only wait. Matings like ours are so rare no one could predict the outcome."

Trembling, she pulled the shawl tightly around her shoulders. "You're overjoyed at this, aren't you?"

"I want you to rejoice, too. And you will, once you become accustomed to the idea." His claws gently combed through her unbound hair. "Forget your fears. Sleep."

Next morning she woke before her mate and touched her bare stomach in wonder. Had she really seen a luminous halo there last night? Yes, she had to accept that it had actually happened. She had gotten with child by a dragon.

Virid, sprawled on the treasure heap, stretched, blew a puff of smoke, and opened his eyes. "My jewel."

He melted into human form, reclining on his side with his head supported on one hand. Even in man shape, his eyes glittered when they fixed on her.

Rowena blushed under his steady gaze. She scanned his body and watched his c.o.c.k rise from its nest of silvery hair as if her stare woke it to life. Her quim grew wet, ready to welcome it. However strange and even frightening their union might be in some ways, she couldn't deny the thrill his carnal pleasuring gave her. She held out her arms.

He hurried to her, lay beside her on the cus.h.i.+ons, and gathered her into an embrace. She ran her hands up and down his arms, enjoying the silken sheen of his skin. It gleamed in the constant, soft glow emanating from the cave walls. His mouth covered her parted lips. Her tongue eagerly met the tip of his.

Licking the inside of her lips, he nibbled his way from one corner of her mouth to the other. One of his hands alighted on her waist and traveled up to her b.r.e.a.s.t.s. Her nipples tightened. Still dueling with her tongue, he brushed his palm over one peak. With a sigh, she draped one leg over his and snuggled closer to bring the tip of his c.o.c.k into contact with her quim.

To her dismay, he broke off the kiss and removed his hand from her breast. "Don't stop," she murmured, trying to force his fingers back to her taut nipple.

"I must." He s.h.i.+fted his hips away from hers and kissed her lightly on the forehead.

She tweaked one of his nipples, delighted with the way it hardened instantly like her own. "You don'twant to f.u.c.k me anymore?" The word still felt strange in her mouth, but she spoke it sometimes because it seemed to fuel his ardor.

"Of course I do. I will never cease to want that. But we cannot take any chances of harming the infant.

As I explained, our mating is unique, so nothing is certain." He smoothed her hair and fingered the nape of her neck.

"I see." She sat up and folded her arms with a half-serious pout. "To you I'm nothing but a brood mare.

Now that I'm breeding, you lose all interest in me."

"Woman, you know very well that is nonsense," he growled.

"How do I know?"

He glanced down at his erect c.o.c.k. It lengthened while she stared at it with him, and the thick head turned dark crimson. "You can see my interest with your own eyes. And feel it." He guided her hand to his shaft. It felt like a burning brand in her palm.

"But you're not interested enough to put it inside me." She couldn't suppress a sly smile at her own teasing.

"There are other ways to find satisfaction." He closed his fist around her hand and pumped up and down.

Sighing with pleasure at his excitement, she followed his lead. He released her hand, leaving her to set the pace. Long, slow strokes made him heavy-lidded with desire, his face flushed. Her thumb skimmed the ridge around the head of his p.e.n.i.s, wringing stifled moans from him. She jiggled his b.a.l.l.s in her fingers, while he caressed the back of her neck and brushed each of her nipples so lightly she could scarcely keep from begging for firmer pressure. His c.o.c.k expanded and grew still harder in her clasp. With a groan, he squeezed her hand. "Stop!"

"Why?" She tightened and released her grip, reveling in the way he panted with need.

"I want your mouth." He tangled his fingers in her hair. She gasped. "Suckle me!"

Made bold by his urgent tone, she nipped his neck, then kissed her way down his body, flicking her tongue every inch of the way. When she reached his nipples, hard as pebbles, he held himself rigidly motionless while she lapped them. Only his harsh breathing betrayed her effect on him. Once she started farther down, he broke his stillness to s.h.i.+ft impatiently under her slow progress. She swirled her tongue in his navel, the way he'd once done to her, and savored his hiss of surprise. His hips pumped, and he pressed on her shoulders to guide her. When her lips finally touched the head of his c.o.c.k, he groanedaloud.