Page 8 of The Dragon King’s Pet

She called out as she walked toward the light. It was difficult to see what was beyond what seemed to be a doorway. The light coming from it made her squint even when she cupped a hand over her eyes.

“Hello there!”

The voice did not come again, but a large masculine hand extended itself to her from within the light. Ordinarily if a hand had appeared through a glowing door absent of any walls, Mika would have exercised considerably more caution. However, in her current state she merely giggled to herself.

“Well, how do you do,” she murmured without any hint of fear as she reached out, took the hand, and allowed herself to be drawn through into a world of warmth and light and…

“Oh, my god!” she gasped as she passed through into a glittering, gleaming, bejeweled chamber of glamor and light. It was a large and lofty space, with ceilings many times her own height. From the very first it imparted a grandeur that made her feel humble.

When she lowered her eyes from the grand ceilings and ornately carved white stone walls, she discovered that she was not alone. She was, in fact, surrounded by people, the strangest, tallest, most beautiful people she had ever seen in her life. It was like being backstage at a fashion show, except instead of racks of clothes and harried hairdressers and designers and makeup artists rushing back and forth, people were standing calmly, wearing flowing robes in a range of rich fabrics, embossed, emblazoned, thoroughly stoned with what looked to her addled eyes like diamonds.

“Mika, daughter of Vilka, son of Vyktor,” the man who belonged to the hand that still held hers intoned in a rich, deep voice. “Welcome.”

“Vilka! You know my dad? Shhhhhhhhh!” She put her finger to her lips. “Don’t tell him I’m here. He would not like it.”

A ripple of gentle humor went through the room. Mika beamed in response. They liked her. She could feel it, a certain kindness that made her feel enveloped in emotional warmth. She turned around and around, looking at the room and the people and the room and the people and the…

“Oooh! I feel dizzy!” She fell into a pair of strong arms and looked into the most beautiful pair of arctic eyes. She saw eons in their gaze, a hundred wars and a hundred victories. She saw passion and she saw pain. She felt her body respond viscerally, her pulse leaping as secret places clenched with recognition of the sheer masculine power behind that gaze.

CHAPTER 5

Casimer, King of the Dragon Realm, looked at the giggling, semi-sensate young woman in his arms and wondered if he had made a mistake in rescuing young Mika Ferrier.

This was not how people usually came into his presence. Bowing, scraping, prostrating themselves on the floor—that was the more typical behavior. Of course, he had not expected typical behavior from this young woman. However, he had expected something a little more refined than… this.

“You. Are. Pretty,” she declared, sticking her finger upright in the general direction of his nose. He pulled his head back to avoid having his nostril explored and eased the young woman onto her feet. She stood steadily, albeit with a goofy grin on her beautiful features that did not seem native to her temperament.

“You are intoxicated,” he informed her. “Try to gather your wits about you. It is important.”

“You are fabulous,” she said. “Look at your hair, it’s like a mane. You’re a lion, rawr!” She formed her fingers into a claw and slashed aimlessly in the air.

“This is not going to work, Lazarus,” King Casimer murmured to his trusted aide. “She is quite without any sense of reality. This is turning into a debacle.”

Never before had the king’s court seen such a scene. Mika was turning around and around, gasping and clasping her hands together at the sights and sounds around her. Casimer was forced to hook his fingers in the back of her scant skirt in order to stop her from wandering into the crowd of nobles who had gathered to welcome her back to the dragon realm.

He had intended for the occasion to be a formal one, but the young lady’s unexpected antics had made it imperative that she be taken immediately. He and his trusted bodyguard had watched every part of her evening’s activities via a small viewing portal. That included her abortive attempt at sexual intercourse, and then the drinking of the tea that had led to an outburst of madness among the drinkers.

“So this is what is happening to those of our blood who live in the round realm. They are falling into ruin,” Lazarus murmured.

“She does not seem ruined to me,” the king said, his eyes sweeping over the young woman. She was an exceptional beauty. Before laying eyes upon her, he had never suspected that the human seed could produce such fine results. “She seems perfect.”

“You’re beautiful,” Mika cooed, having caught part of their conversation. She seemed just as taken with him as he was with her. Unfortunately, her motor skills were not quite up to par and her attempt to presumably put her hand on his chest turned into a flailing slap contacting with nothing but her own thigh. “You’re a beautiful, beautiful boy.”

The king’s attendants held their smirks admirably, fortunately for them. If it were not for the fact that this addled human had no idea who she was speaking to, behaving in such a fashion would earn her extreme punishment. It was a high crime to disrespect the king. Her father had done so many years ago and he had spent his days in exile as a result.

“It has been a very long time since I was a boy,” he said in his deep, gravelly tones.

“I’m not a girl either,” she said. “I’m a woman. I’m eighteen years old.”

“An entire eighteen years old,” he mused. “In our years, you would be a hundred and eighty, I believe. And even then you would be a fraction of my age.”

He watched as she slouched back, her eyes closing for a moment. He was forced to reach out and steady her before she fell on her curvy bottom. “Fractions, I never liked fractions,” she mumbled. “I didn’t come all this way to do math. I’m here to have fun.”

“Here to have fun,” he repeated, his brow raising slowly. His attendants were losing the battle against mirth. Their prisoner had no idea what was happening to her, and as a result, was not at all concerned at being in the presence of the king of all their kind.

Her eyes opened again, making contact with him. “You are so pretty!”

As some of the younger attendants stuffed bits of their clothes in their mouths to prevent their laughter from being heard, Casimer came to the conclusion that this was not going to be the audience he had imagined it would be. He had intended on welcoming her with full honors, bringing her into the dragon fold with a ceremony she would never forget. Instead, it was becoming extremely obvious that everybody besides Mika would remember this event.