"Then let us be done with this." Solan turned to the soldier still waiting. "Ryall. The call is made, be sure that the contingent searching for light mages are ready for the rescue before the walls come down. Then total annihilation. I want nothing crawling away from this fight." He turned to Eben. "Shall we?"
"Indeed. They call so prettily for blood and death, let’s give them what they ask for."
By the coming of dawn there was nothing left of the blood mages strongholds but ashes and poisonous black smoke. They had been razed to the ground, no mercy shown the people there. It was a purging. In the melee, only six light mages were found alive. Though thousands of bones were discovered webbed into the walls. Finding that, the Dragons lost whatever restraint they had and not a single black rock escaped their fire. After the destruction, all six rescued mages elected not to go into exile with the dragons.
Unable to convince the light mages they would be safer with fire breathing dragons than their own people the dragons journeyed home, victorious with nothing to show for it but the destruction left in their wake.
Morgan was in the children's playroom when Ladon came to find her. Clare and Rhune were arguing over who was the fastest shifter now that their powers had returned. Meanwhile Melly laughed and refused comment. Instead, she watched them while stirring the air around her so they all stood in a cool breeze. Ladon was unsure if she knew she was doing it or not. Something about the magic that lived here was stirring them all up. Strengthening their magic and loosening their control. Or perhaps it was just that they could let loose here. They were free to be themselves without hiding.
Morgan had changed into a simple blue cotton dress and stood barefoot. Still she took his breath away. She was not comfortable with the pomp and ceremony he brought to the table as a Prince and future council member, and she had such a look of sadness on her face. He wondered if she was regretting becoming his mate, but then he hadn't really given her a choice. Would she have been better off with just Eben as mate? Maybe. Right now, she was looking out the window towards the South, towards Eben. It made him lose his smile.
He almost looked into her head to see what she was thinking but he decided against it. Maybe he was better off not knowing she was in love with Eben and just tolerated him.
Why not? What could he possibly add to her life that Eben Kinkaid couldn't do just as well? Instead, he backed quietly out of the room before he could intrude on their family time.
Morgan felt Ladons withdrawal even as she was turning to look for him. He felt...lost.
She found him on the balcony of their bedroom; one they had yet to share. She'd seen it earlier of course, but walking through it now still had her eyes bugging in her head. Everything was formed from stone like in the rest of the castle, and covered with opulent jewel toned down cushions and throws of the softest furs. She felt once again her insignificance. Would there be an echo if she called out?
When she finally made it across the cavernous room, past the bed that was big enough to hold a family of ten, a large sitting area and a fireplace big enough to roast a steer, she made it to the balcony. The view was enough to astound her even before she breathed in the crystal clear air that simmered magic.
Eben had an amazing vista as far across as the North Gate and the Ice Mountains. But it was hard to see any of that when Ladon was standing there in nothing but a pair of slacks and knee boots. The wind and starlight playing through his hair like licks of fire. His skin, moon kissed over hard muscle.
He belongs here. She thought. Amid all this splendor, and I so do not.
Even as she ate him with her eyes, it made her wonder about his home.
"We have not discussed where we'll live." Thankfully, her voice was more composed than she felt. She walked up to stand beside him. "The rest of us have no real place but you probably have a home you value. Will you be content living here?"
"Will I be living here?" He turned as he asked the question his back against the low wall that separated them from open air.
The question made the bottom drop out of Morgan’s stomach. She had to swallow thickly before she continued. "You don't want to?" She tried searching his feelings out through the mate bond but he was closed up tight and she lacked the time and practice needed to break through.
She licked her suddenly dry lips. "I mean, I suppose you are a prince, you have your own castle." She said. "I guess I just assumed you would stay here. With us."
"You assumed that or you wanted that?” Still there was nothing in his voice, but she was feeling something now.
Was the great arrogant dragon insecure? Or was that just her projecting? It made her blink and think about how little time they'd been together. Had it been just these past three days? Somehow, the mate bond made it feel that they had always been together. "Both"
"Both?"
"I both assumed you would stay here and want you to stay." When she heard how shaky she sounded, she raised her chin, getting angry. "But I now assume that since you've shut me out that you don't feel the same. Well tough. You hear me dragon?” By the end, she had worked herself into a good froth. "You’re the one who wanted this bond; you forced the issue and now you're stuck with it." She stepped closer and poked him in his perfect chest. Her ire finding new heights as the sky clouded behind them. "I may not be dragon princess material but you made me fall in love with you, against my better judgment, I might add." Another poke to the chest. "So now it’s done. You aren't getting rid of me, or fobbing me off on my other mate. You made your bed and now you’re going to lay in it."
"My fierce little falcon..." He whispered, before wrapping his arms around her waist and lifting her high to his chest. His lips slammed down on hers and devoured. Lightning flashed and the dark clouds burst open drenching them in seconds.
Morgan struggled, ready to scratch out his fickle eyes just as Ladon finally opened himself up to the mate bond. Flooded with his relief and love, she sagged in his arms. Then with a groan was kissing him back as if she could absorb all of him through his lips.
He turned and pressed her against the stonewall, pulling up her dress even as she fumbled with his buckle.
"I need to be inside you.” He growled.
"Yes." She said against his lips. His cock sprang out into her hand and she squeezed it wrapping her knees around his hips. Then he was pushing into her. Pressing her into the wall with his thrust. She wrapped herself tighter around him, her head thrown back while his teeth found her collarbone and pinned her there. He pounded into her as the rain poured down and the thunder crashed. The pressure built on each powerful thrust until she screamed her pleasure to the storm. Ladon joined her with a roar.
His head fell to her throat while their heavy breathing fogged in the cool night air. As they calmed, the storm ended, the clouds dissipated and the clear night sky once again shown with stars.
She grabbed two fistfuls of his hair and yanked. "Oww.” He said, laughing and nuzzling her neck.
"You are an idiot." She said with bite.
"I know that. Now." His voice back to its usual arrogance. "I told you that first day in the cave you couldn't resist me."
"Of all the ridiculous, egotistical..." Ladon interrupted her with a hard kiss.
"Enough." He said hoisting her higher in his arms without leaving his place inside her. He was already hard again and heading into the bedroom. While he walked, the wind answered his call, drying their hair in a swirl of warm air. Then on a breath of dragon magic, the rest of his clothes disappeared. "I've a mind to go back to your suggestion."