Page 10 of Connor and the Dragons

I refolded the napkins on my tray. “But let us talk about what’s next, not about the past.”

“Okay, what’s next?” Connor asked.

Shit, this wasn’t matchmaking. “Um, well, I suppose you’ll spend the night together, and in the morning you’ll have a new perspective?”

Oallian sat up. “After cuddling? Ooh, or sex. I have not ever tried that, trapped in a dragon and all, but I hear it’s delightful.”

Connor shot him a hard look, then shook himself. “Why can’t you or Oallian just fly me to wherever Sky is? I could help him find the mirror, then we’d be out of your hair.”

I cleared my throat. “Um, well. You can’t very well show up in a foreign land on the backs of two dangerous dragons. That would only end in diplomatic disaster. Or international war. Or both.”

“So, should I take a ship?” Connor’s eyes cut to the window again. He had done that eleven times since I arrived. There was nothing out the window but dark and the palace wall, and he checked it anyway, every time. “When does the next ship cross to Liminia? How long would it take?”

“The schedules are being consulted.”

“Am I a prisoner here?” That was the difficulty with him: no heat anywhere, just a steady forward pressure, like water finding the seam in a foundation.

“Not precisely.”

“Then what precisely am I?” Connor asked, walking to the massive steel door and giving it a tug. It was locked, of course. “Seems prison-like. Not many non-prisons have two layers of locked steel doors.”

“I can breathe fire,” Oallian offered. “That’ll be melted in no time.”

“The Queen herself must decide your fate, and the dragon’s. For now you are our…guest.”

“Prison guest,” Connor said.

Oallian looked between us, nodded, and said, “Not to worry, we will find a way to pass the time. My human form is built for sex.”

Connor shot him a long stare. “Have you considered not just blurting out every single thing that comes into your head?”

Oallian pouted. “The dragon has been preventing me from speaking for centuries. I must say it all, lest I end up trapped once again! And you are very finely built. Even the dragon finds you suitable for sexual adventure.” He glanced at me. “Frostvael too, I suppose. If I must. He is quite pretty, if a bit of an asshole.”

“Why would the dragon have a human form built for sex that it never lets out?”

Oallian rolled his eyes. “For reproduction, of course! At the moment, Vyranthos feels satisfied with his lack of offspring.”

Connor crossed his arms over his chest. “My brother is missing. Could we please stop talking about sex. I’m not even attracted to men.”

Oallian looked confused. “Not attracted to men? I do not think that is how attraction works. Are you also a virgin? I would bet Lord Frost is, too, so perhaps we could explore sexual congress together.”

I glared at him.

Connor’s jaw ticked. “My little brother is in danger, I don’t want to explore sexual congress with anyone.”

Oallian scoffed. “Sky isn’t in danger. Moerrven will protect him, or Sky will protect himself. Your brother is quite capable.”

“I would like to see that for myself.”

“You should know that if you’re not into that part of me, a fire dragon’s rear hole is warm and naturally lubricated. For reproductive reasons.”

“I’m not making a baby dragon with you.”

Oallian laughed. “Oh, don’t be silly. You would have to fuck me a great deal to get me into heat. Though I suppose it’s possible.”

This was not going well, so I did what anyone would do, I poured them each a glass of wine. Frost bloomed up the neck of the bottle under my hand, white and immediate, a lace of it, and cracked softly as I set the bottle down.

“Is that meant to be chilled too?” Connor said.