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“Never try raping someone within earshot of a dragon. They know. They always fucking know.”
In the old days, Nevermere was ruled by a queen and her consorts were the riders of the dragons she chose to mate with.”
“So I have no choice in the matter? And neither does my dragon?” “The prince is a good man,” Brom replied, “and Darkspire will care for the queen in a way only a dragon can. It’s literally his life’s purpose to love and care for his rider and his mate.” “It’s every dragon’s purpose,” Ged added darkly. “Shut up, boy,” Soren snapped. “There’s some things you don’t say in front of a lady.”
“I have and I will and I’ll do the same for you when your dragon’s mating time comes—” “And we do that for Nevermere,” Brom said grimly.
“Glimmer,” I replied. “Her name is Glimmer.”
“If I was Draven, I’d have claimed you the first night I met you, bringing you back to the king and queen and declaring you my wife before the gods, and damn them if they said no to it, but…” He was so close now that our bodies touched and somehow I found myself leaning into him. “I can’t bring myself to regret the prince’s stupidity. I’ll make you a queen, Pip. The queen of my heart.”
“I don’t know if I’m the man for you, lass, but gods damn me if I won’t try. I feel like I’ve been dreaming of you my whole fucking life. Just know if you want me, I’ll come running, for whatever you need.”
You are a queen, Glimmer told me. Past time you started to act like one. And you as well? I shot back. What of you, Glimmer? I do not need that pretender queen’s approval, she told me. I know what I am now.
“Games?” Apparently I wasn’t able to form full sentences when treated to the sight of this perfect arrogance. “A queen dragon leads her prospective mates on a merry chase before she relents, letting the male she had already chosen cover her,” he continued. I heard Glimmer’s hum, but this time the noise was an irritating buzz in my ear. “That’s what this is.”
“Not the prince, I admit,” she said, stopping so that Brom stood before me. “But you care little for these things, I hear. And his touch will not be as repellent to you as Royce’s.” Her smile was like a dragon’s, as if she had rows of needle sharp teeth. “Brom will make a gesture tomorrow in the mess hall, make clear his intent to court you and you’ll allow that, along with some of the others. Perhaps the tanner’s son. He’s lowborn enough that everyone will understand when you reject him for Brom. Not the Skanian lad though.”
“Then I realised I was right there alongside them. You’ve seen that I respond to you. Of course I do, Pippin. I always have. You’re beautiful and strong and you don’t let a fucking thing keep you down and I’ve never been so bloody infatuated by a woman as I have been by you. My body yearns for you.”
Humans use that moment of vulnerability to pour into us, just as the stones would if we were born wild. Your feelings, your hopes and desires. Your role for us. Mount, weapon, power base. I was conscious of that somehow, where the others aren’t. That’s why I chose you, why I’ll always choose you, Pippin. You don’t seek to rule me, to tame me, to force me to ignore my fundamental instincts. We walk together in this world as two queens, not as a queen and her servant.
“Well, she had a plan for that too. She does control my father, but even he baulked at the idea of killing a baby dragon. That’s the limit of her power. She cannot force anyone to do something completely antithetical to their nature and the House of Nithe has built their power base on the dragon’s back. So an unwanted queen dragon was sent out into the world and I prayed no one would bond with her, because otherwise my mother would try to force me to kill my wife. I’ve been trying to protect you, you bloody idiot, both of you.”
“Make me yours, Ged.” He smiled down at me, but I wondered if that would last as I peered past him. “All of you.” “Pippin—” Brom started to say. “You know how this is going to be,” Ged replied as he looked over his shoulder. “We all do. The minute we landed in that place, we all felt her on some level.” He turned back to me then. “Together, apart, I don’t fucking care. Everything I’ve got is for you, Pippin, and if taking me and all these bastards as your mates is what you need, I’ll drag every single one of them closer to pay homage to you, even if I have to beat them into submission.”
We go to our queen now? Darkspire asked. Soon. Very soon, he told his dragon. But first, we need to go to the territory of the wild dragons.
