Page 58 of Queen’s Gambit

Chapter 17

Roksana

Ididn’t rush to the landing field. Instead, I used the time to mull over Rey’s words. He cared for me, worried about my safety. Yet he’d set me free, and I swore in my heart, even if it took a lifetime, I would show him I loved him just as much.

A sharp gust of wind knocked me into the landing field’s carved archway. The stones were dried out by the warm dragons lounging against them. Their sheer number surprised me, but their stares and the way each one bowed as I passed shocked me even more.

A sense of consequence built around me, the sensation between my shoulder blades intensifying as a gigantic shadow blotted out the sky above me.

Cinared’s crimson wings buffeted me as he hovered above my head. His long tail, ending with a vicious barb, swept from side to side while the dragon observed me with singular focus.

I curtsied out of pure mischief, and to break the tension of the last few hours.

‘Your Majesty? You called.’ I grinned, pressing my hands to my ears when the dragon’s roar shook the sky.

‘You came,’ Cin crooned and landed, barely stirring the ground, and a moment later, I was surrounded by his coiled body.

‘Of course I came. How could I not?’ I said, letting the tip of his forked tongue touch my cheek in the dragon’s version of a kiss.

‘Have you made a decision?’ he asked, and crimson light flowed down his scales in a wave.

‘I have, but could we talk inside?’ Cinared moved beside me, and I shivered at the loss of his heat. Chasing that feeling, I placed a hand on his side as we walked into his grotto.

I gasped, pressing my free hand to my nose.

The smell of blood and the congealed crimson pool stopped me short. They led to a pile of furs crowning his golden hoard, and that pile was still bleeding.

‘Cin, what have you… I mean. Why?’ I stuttered, and the dragon that moments ago stood proud beside me lowered his body to the ground, his tail twitching.

‘You needed something soft to sleep on. My scales are rough. I hunted the softest pelts for your bed. Humans love furs, do they not?’ He looked confused by my reaction.

‘They do, but the furs need to be cleaned and prepared first.’

My dragon glared at his pile, and his pupils narrowed as if his hunting spoils now offended him. Fire rose in his gullet.

‘Stop! Don’t burn it. I’ll ask the palace artisans to prepare them for me. They’ll make an excellent bed once they’re ready.’

Cinared’s crest fell, and the majestic dragon crouched before me as I exhaled with relief.

‘So, how does the bonding happen?’ I asked, hiding my nervousness behind a casual tone. With a flip of his tail, Cin sent the furs flying before crossing to the centre of the grotto and facing me.

He lay on his belly, then twisted to expose his chest. With a careful claw, he prised away several scales, exposing the flesh beneath, whose tone matched the crimson ring on my finger.

He was so regal, so serious, and the weight of what was about to happen settled onto my shoulders.

‘Are you sure?’

‘Touch my heart, Sanika,’ he commanded, staring into my soul.

I took one step, then another, caught in the dragon’s gaze. Only the quickening of his breath revealed he wasn’t as calm as he appeared.

‘Will it hurt?’ I asked, a tremor slipping into my voice.

‘No. I would never hurt you.’ He beckoned me closer when I hesitated.

‘Will it hurt you?’

‘A little, but I’ll welcome this pain as a blessing. Please, my light, let me be a part of your soul.’ His plea and the low rumble when my hand touched his chest were my undoing.