Total pages in book: 130
Estimated words: 117336 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 587(@200wpm)___ 469(@250wpm)___ 391(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 117336 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 587(@200wpm)___ 469(@250wpm)___ 391(@300wpm)
I hesitate. It's such a gray area. It reeks of enslavement, but if they chose to turn themselves over to him, is it really? "They're not harmed?"
"I ensure their bodies remain in excellent shape, and that they eat and drink," Azar says, his voice reasonable.
"Are they in pain?"
"They sleep. They are not aware of where they are, just that their minds are quiet for the first time in seven years. The madness is not eating away at them, making them lose control."
Claudia had mentioned something about madness. I'd seen it in her dragon—Kael—when he thought she was in danger. How his eyes would go black and his movements turn erratic, as if he were barely holding on. "What happens to the fort if you let them go?"
"Things would return to as they were before." He shrugs, watching me. "You would be forced to hide in your houses behind shuttered windows instead of being able to walk in the streets freely. You would return to a life of fear."
I bite back a sigh. Once again, I feel like my choices aren't mine to make. Perhaps it would be kinder of him to let them go, but if I were to ask anyone else in Fort Dallas, would they agree with me? Or would they throw me out for even suggesting such a thing? I look around the fort and I see people happier than they have been in a while. I see children playing outside. I hear laughter.
If the dragons chose to give themselves over to Azar, where is the harm?
Chapter
Thirteen
AZAR
I do not bring up my plans to put my face into her cunt this evening. A general knows when to retreat. Melina is troubled over the dragons on the wall. She is thoughtful through dinner, and when I come into the bedroom that night, instead of finding her in bed, I find her gazing out the window, watching the sentinels I have set up on the barricade.
If she knew the truth of them, she would hate me forever. She would not understand.
So I will wait a few days. I will let them slip from her mind, and then I will push forward on my plans to seduce her once more.
Patience is always the best strategy.
Chapter
Fourteen
MELINA
One week later
"I have decided to change a few things in our relationship," Azar announces after dinner one day.
I immediately go cold, my shoulders straightening. "Oh?"
I should have known it was too good to be true. That he'd want more from me than a few easy dinners and a bedtime buddy that sleeps in the same bed but nothing more. I've gotten comfortable at his side. I no longer flinch at the escorts he insists I have, or when the guards show up with a present from him. Talking to him has become easier, and our meals together are no longer a chore. In fact, I'd be hard pressed to say he hasn't been a good leader to Fort Dallas. Did he strong-arm me into this relationship? Yes. But it hasn't been all that bad…and it's clearly made me complacent.
Azar nods, watching me. "I like to think you are no longer afraid of me, and so I have a new proposal."
Here it comes. I square myself, bracing for whatever shitty suggestion he has.
He tilts his head, watching me, and his eyes swirl an oddly intense, dark gold. "I should like to go down upon you."
I'm pretty sure I didn't hear him correctly. Azar doesn't handle slang well, so maybe that's not what he means. "Sorry, what?"
"I should like to go down upon you," he says again. "Between your thighs. Did I say it wrong?"
I gape at him, stunned. Of all the things I thought Azar would bring up, cunnilingus is not one of them. "You…want to lick my pussy?"
"Is that what you call it?" He inclines his head. "Yes. I do."
I'm baffled. "Why?"
"Because I think it shall be a great pleasure for you, and I wish to give you that pleasure." His eyes grow an even deeper shade of gold, and I could swear his spicy scent is stronger.
I want to tease him about how arrogant that statement is—that he thinks he'll automatically be good at it or something, but I'm too thunderstruck to even joke. We've been roommates after that first botched sexual attempt and he's sworn he wants me in his bed, willing only, and now he's suggesting oral? What's his angle? "I'm going to pass."
His brows go up. "You do not wish for pleasure?"
"I don't want you, specifically," I point out.
He doesn't look insulted. The look he gives me is calculating. I'm reminded of the day he showed up and said I had a price and he just had to figure it out. I'm that puzzle he's determined to solve once more. "You do not wish for pleasure because of who I am. Would you take pleasure from another if they offered it?"