“You can change all of that. That stuff is teachable.”
I stroked his face and traced the scar near his lip. He didn’t pull away. “And wearing your scars proudly will teach others about the suffering you’ve endured. It’ll show them that you triumphed despite it. They’ll see the scars where the wings were ripped off your back and know the power and perseverance of a prince who wouldn’t bow down to a tyrant. They’ll see, with their own eyes, the pain you went through to protect your people. We’ll match in that way.”
I pushed off him and turned, showing him the scars the whips had left on my back. Pain and rage tore through the bond.
When I turned back around, climbing into his lap, he shook his head, tortured.
I snuggled close to him and laid my head on his wide shoulder. “Remember what you said to me when you were in my room?”
I went back to slowly tracing the scale scars down his back. He shuddered in physical pleasure mixed with internal pain. It was the opposite of what I’d experienced in the dungeons, but no less damaging.
“You said, ‘I see you, Finley. I see all of you, and I am in rapture.’ I fell in love with you in that moment. I didn’t know it at the time, but I know it now. And then you kept chiseling away at my heart with your letters and your actions until I was lost to you. Until you ruined me, just like you’d promised. Only it wasn’t in the way you promised. You only ruined me for other men. Because I see you, Nyfain. I see all of you. I see the scars you wear—and those you hide. I see your temper and rage…and your loyalty and love. I see your power and strength, and your kindness and tenderness. I see it all.”
“Others will not see past my deformity.” He clutched me, the pain overwhelming him in that moment.
I held him tightly. “It’s not a deformity unless you see it as one. It is a badge of pride that you didn’t give up. It is proof of your strength.”
We sat quietly for a moment as I continued to stroke down his scar, tempering the pain with pleasure.
“I love you despite your best efforts to push me away,” I said softly. “And I’ll continue loving you forever. So take as much time as you need to be comfortable with who you are and who you’ve become. I’ll be waiting right beside you. I’ve chosen my place. It wasn’t our dragons’ bond, and it wasn’t the curse—I chose you. And I’ll continue choosing you. Forever.”
He pulled back, looking at me with glossy eyes filled with incredulity. He shook his head and kissed me, love and longing filling our bond.
“You have zero sense,” he finally said.
“Hannon has mentioned that a time or two. Now. You promised me a first.” I pulled my hair over my shoulder and turned, showing him the two lines of scales down my back. “I want it, please.”
Instead he ran a finger down a line in the middle of my back, and I knew he was tracing one of my scars.
“Someday soon, I will hear every detail of your time away from me.” He traced another scar. “And before I die, I will make Dolion pay in a way no one has ever paid in the history of the world.”
“I think you’ll have to get in line. He took shifters from all over for his dungeons. Faeries too. They will want their own vengeance. He’s even pissing off his own kind enough to rise against him.”
“I spoke to Tamara and the others. I was shocked to see them. Though…I probably shouldn’t have been. It makes sense he’d covet their power. We’ll talk about that later, though. We’ll talk about all of it later.”
He clearly knew he wouldn’t like the details he’d receive.
His lips touched down on my nape before his hands landed on my shoulders. He turned me and gently pushed me forward.
“Grab a pillow,” he murmured, getting me to crawl a bit to grab one and then putting it under my hips so that my butt was raised in the air a little.
A hand on each thigh, he spread them wider before running a finger down the seam of my pussy. The bed moved as I lay on my stomach, and then I sucked in a breath and closed my eyes as he followed his finger with his tongue.
“I’d prefer it if you’d not take the tea, and obviously our dragons agree.” His voice was low and husky, and a furious shiver crawled up my spine and spun around in my stomach. He was fine with the idea of getting me with child. Welcomed it.
My heart sped up a little, and my dragon purred in delight.
“Okay,” I said in a breathy whisper.
“I should warn you, though.” He pushed apart my thighs a little more so that he could wiggle his tongue across my clit before sucking it in and pulsing for a moment. “Imprinting often sets off a dragon’s heat. If I can get out of my own way and imprint with you, which I don’t think will be a problem anymore, then it might set you off. You’ll want to be bred. Not fucked, not made love to—hardcore bred.” A smile entered his voice. “I know how much it weirds you out, using that kind of language.”
But it didn’t feel weird at the moment. I wanted it. So bad. I wanted his cock deep inside my cunt. The prospect sent a crazy sort of thrill through me. It felt right. All of this felt so right. We’d fought to get here. We’d earned our happy ending, goddammit.
“Nyfain,” I begged as he licked up my pussy. He put two fingers inside of me and started to pump them in and out.
“You’ll want me to ravage you,” he said, bending his fingers in the perfect way. I clutched the mattress, moaning, on the verge of begging for his cock. “The feeling will be so intense that you won’t have much reason under its sway. Neither will I. This is just what I’ve heard, but everyone seems to agree. Our dragons will be insane. I will be insane, I think. A child usually results from it. If you aren’t ready…then now is not a good time to stop that tea.”
He let the comment linger, and I took a deep breath before answering. “I’m ready. Probably. I don’t know, but—”
You’re fucking ready, my dragon butted in. You’re past fucking ready. Let’s get this imprint going and get fucked and ruined and destroyed or whatever the fuck this dragon has promised us. Let’s get it all.
“I don’t think my dragon would allow me not to be ready,” I said with a nervous laugh. Why did all of this suddenly seem so much more intense? So new, like I’d never been with anyone before.
Because you know he is finally ready, my dragon said. And you are ready. It’s about fucking time for that happy ending, I agree. Let’s start with coming. Goddess above, I sure wish they could fly. I want to get it on in my scales as we tumble through the sky. I want the dragon to get me with child, not the man. It’s fine, though; we can probably figure out how to ground-hump or whatever.
“Get going, Nyfain. My dragon is starting to get…a bit much.”
You like it, she thought.
He licked up my pussy again before running his hands across my butt and down the sides of my waist.
“I already want to fuck you again,” he murmured, kissing up the center of my back. “Good thing I can do that and work your scales at the same time. I’ve never done this with someone, so you’ll have to teach me what you like best. I’m not sure whether I’ll instinctively know…”