“Do you give up?” I asked, grunting as I tried to keep my grip.
Without answering, Elle twisted, her leg spinning in my hands, and pulled free. In two quick movements, she had me straddled, her hands on my wrists, arms pressed into the ground.
Elle smiled slyly at me. “I thought you were going to have me flat on my back. Interesting,” she said, and as if to spite me, ground her hips against my erection.
Letting out a low and hungry growl, I sat forward, trying to get my face closer to hers. “I’m going easy on you. I don’t want to wear you out now. I have plans for you later.”
Her smile grew wider as she continued to grind against me. “More promises. It looks like you can’t accept defeat?-“
She yelped in surprise as I thrust my hips up and twisted my body, sending her flying over my head to the ground. Taking my chance, I grabbed her arm and pulled it behind her, pinning her to the ground, my chest to her back. Both of us panted as we struggled against one another. From the sound of it, she was fighting back a giggling fit, and I had to admit, I was on the verge of bursting out in laughter too. We were fighting, but it was almost too silly to take seriously. Too silly, and too sexy as well. Even the thought of our bodies twisted together like this while naked sent a surge of lust through me.
I put my lips to her ear. “Maybe we can do more than promise right now. How would you like that?”
Elle lifted her ass and rubbed it against my cock. “I hope you’re being serious.”
Someone cleared their throat nearby, snapping us out of our reverie.
“Am I interrupting anything?” my father asked.
I flushed as I realized how we looked. Elle and I were both disheveled, me atop her, my crotch pressed against her ass, sweat coating our skin, and each of us panting and grunting.
Shit.
I released her, and stood quickly, helping her up. “We, uh…we were training,” I stammered, feeling like a child having been caught doing something I shouldn’t.
Dad’s face was red from holding in his laughter. He was stroking his beard, but I knew he was really just covering his grin.
Elle, whose face was flaming, dusted herself off. “Sorry. I…I need a shower,” she said, and gave a short bow to my father. “See you later, Aurelius.”
She nearly sprinted back to the castle.
“Have a minute, son?” Dad asked.
“I do now,” I said in irritation as I tore my eyes from Elle’s departing form.
We walked in silence until we came to a pair of stone benches that lined the edge of the apple orchard that ringed the gardens. We sat, and for several long minutes, Dad stared back at the castle.
“I like her,” he said.
“Elle?”
He nodded. “She’s a breath of fresh air. Not some wispy thing that can’t do anything for herself. She’s feisty. Strong.” He nudged my shoulder. “For a minute there, I thought she had you. How do you feel about her?’
The question caught me off guard. I mumbled a few nondescript words before finally managing an actual response.
“She’s, uh, she’s great. I’ve never met a woman so strong and determined.”
“A woman who’d make a good companion,” Dad said. “A good mate.”
“She would make someone a good mate, that’s for sure,” I said.
The thought of taking Elle as my own had flitted across my mind almost every day since meeting her. As badly as I might want it, my people came first. I’d eventually have to take one of the noble dragon shifter women as my mate. The thought of being forced to bind myself to someone for duty rather than love always sent me spiraling into depression.
“Why do you say it like that?” Dad asked.
“Huh?” I blinked in surprise, looking at him. “Say it like what?”
He sighed in what sounded like exasperation. “You said she’d make someone a good mate. I thought you two were on the way to becoming that.”
I blinked at him, trying to understand exactly what he was getting at. Worried he might be going senile, I decided to spell it out for him. “We can’t be together like that Dad. Not really. I have to have an heir. I have to do what’s best for our people. I like Elle. Alot. I think I might even…” I trailed off. Speaking of love out loud was powerful, and knowing nothing could ever come from it would only make the realization more bitter. “I’d really like to be with her, but there are some things that come first. Duty, honor, all that. I’ll do what I need to do as the prince and future king. You don’t have to worry about that.”
His eyebrows drew together. “Fuck that,” he said, grunting the words out in a disgusted tone I’d never heard before.
I gaped at him. I’d never heard my father blurt out a derogatory term like that before, especially not in such an angry tone.
“What?” I said, barely managing to get the word out.
“You heard me. Fuck duty, fuck honor, fuck all of that.” He pounded a fist onto his thigh for emphasis.
Shaking my head, I groped for the words to respond.
“You don’t mean that,” I finally managed to say. “You can’t. Our numbers, the kingdom?-“
“For fuck’s sake,” he hissed and gripped my shoulder so hard it was almost painful. “Listen to me, Aurelius. I’ve been the king for a really long time. I made the mistake of living my entire life trying to do what was best for our kingdom. Putting that before myself at every step. Along the way, I lost two mates, our numbers have dwindled, and now we’re on the verge of a war that might wipe us out once and for all. Do you know what all that has taught me?”
“I don’t know,” I mumbled.
“It taught me that dynasties come and go. Kingdoms rise and fall. If the Laurents win, then so be it. A few centuries from now, maybe another wolf family will throw them down. Perhaps the panther shifters will grow in power and rival them. Who knows? What we should care about is people. Everyone always wants to look out for themselves.” He waved at the castle. “Look at Benedictus. He is so terrified of losing what we have, he can barely think straight. I don’t want that for you. For anyone. The role of king shouldn’t be filled with fear and sacrifice. What I want for my son is happiness.
“There’s more to this kingdom than dragons. I think that’s what we forget. We have the fae that are under our protection, we have the humans who rely on us and our magical items-whether they ever realize it’s magic or not-to make their lives better. We have the wellspring itself that we need to protect. All of that weighs heavier than whether or not the prince has an heir. If we survive all this and you don’t? Someone else will take the throne. Some distant cousin or another powerful family. A title is nothing, absolutely nothing, without a life to go along with it. I’ll be damned if I let my son miss out on something simply because he believes I want him to fulfill some stupid destiny.”
He couldn’t have surprised me more if he’d slapped me. But he’d also filled me with hope.
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