Page 54 of Naga's Essence
Before us stand broken castle walls, having been breached by Kriseri’s forces. The remnants of the portcullis lie at the feet of the men, who have siege weapons and every conceivable advantage, but they still hesitate.
They want us to rush forward and attack, or to retreat so that they can fire into our backs. The sword slashes, screams, and fires all dull behind me, and I realize that we are all standing together now, ready to charge.
I turn toward Zalith, awaiting his decision.
In Lorelai’s hand, a fire starts to form. She has given up all pretense of hiding who she is now.
Seeing the fire in her hand, a mounted archer panics, drawing his bow and preparing to shoot into her.
But before he can unleash his arrow, he’s taken clean off his horse by an arrow that can only have belonged to Lasta.
We all pause, staring at each other, none of us budging.
“Forward!” Zalith shouts, and the men who were able to come in with equu charge first, moving back and forth in circles to try to get an advantage. The mounted bowmen are most easily dispatched, as before they can find a field of view and begin firing, they are torn from their mounts by melee combatants.
Lorelai and I move toward the castle halls, where we can safely evade arrow fire. The fear of losing her courses through me, but as I watch the flames in her hand intensify and extinguish in equal measure, I feel an exhilaration burning through me. When swordsmen stray too close to her, I cut them down before they can stifle her fire.
There’s a sort of rhythm to our dance. Alone, we may fall in combat. But with me reinforcing her, and her reinforcing me, we are an unstoppable force.
Eventually, flames outnumber arrows, and the sky burns red with searing heat. Her fireballs fling forward rapidly, serving to eliminate the enemy forces and burning them down before they can even react.
A stillness enters the battlefield, charred corpses littering the grass and stone before us. We hold our positions, just waiting for one peep to indicate that the conflict still isn’t over – a straggling soldier, or approaching forces in the distance.
The sounds of pavo singing and nesting in nearby trees confirm that the altercation has concluded, sunlight falling on the walls of the castle.
We leave no one alive to flee the scene, lest word of Lorelai’s true nature escape us and return to the source of the threat.
28
LORELAI
Slyth knows the second I wake up. His tail starts at my ankle, sliding up the side of my leg until he reaches my waist. And just like he has probably a dozen times over the last few weeks, his tail curls around my middle, pressing at my lower stomach that he keeps threatening to fill with his child.
I haven’t told him yet I wouldn’t mind.
“Little killer,” he coos in my ear as he leans forward, and I chuckle. After I went into battle with him, he’s almost exclusively been calling me that. He says I’ve really earned my name, and I don’t mind it.
It’s endearing in the most fucked up sense. Just like Slyth.
“You don’t believe in giving me one second of rest, do you?”
“You could rest all you want,” he whispers as he pulls me back against him, not bothering to hide the erections digging into my back. “If you let me claim you as my mate.”
I roll my eyes even as I grin. He’s really been pushing this. This is probably the sixth or seventh request… in a week. I’ve said no every time, if only because I like to make him work for it. And I do love it when he tries to dominate me.
Deep down, I know that I am his mate already. I’m nothing if not his, always willing to submit. I just like to have a little fun, too.
I lift my top leg and drape it over his. I’m already naked from last night when we collapsed immediately after sex, so he slides the tip of his tail down to circle my clit. I tip my head back to rest against his chest as the pleasure starts to build.
“This for the rest of my life?” I breathe as he picks up the pace. “I guess I could get used to that.”
He brings a hand around my front, palming one of my breasts and scraping over my nipple. “Yeah?” His tail slides down to my entrance, probing, and I spread my legs wider. “Does that mean what I think it does?”
“Hmm, I don’t know.” I lift my left arm and wrap it around his neck, arching my back to give him better access. “I didn’t hear a question.”
He huffs, but I know he’s not annoyed. “Lorelai, will you be my mate?”
I laugh under my breath. At this point, the question just sounds exasperated. The first time he asked me, there were treats and gifts and he broke the door when I said no. But I think we both know I’m not going anywhere.