About A Dragon. G.A. Aiken

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      She knew he watched her. Even from this distance, she could feel his eyes on her. Tears streamed down her face, but she refused to wipe them. To show him any of her feelings. He’d merely think she was sad anyway. That was far from the truth. Leagues away, in fact.

      No, sadness wasn’t her problem. Frustration. Pure frustration was her problem. Exactly how many others would take her from where she lived and order her to do their bidding? How many others would use her like she were some barwench awaiting their next ale order?

      For sixteen years now, Talaith waited. Waited for the day when the goddess who claimed Talaith as her own would come and tell her exactly what she wanted from her. That’s why she’d lived with that dullard she’d called husband all this time. That’s why she stayed in this land that was not of her people. And why she’d lost her power. Because she had a price to pay.

      Yet she never saw this dragon coming. And Talaith would bet all the gold in the universe her goddess never saw him either.

      The dragons had their own gods and their gods protected them with a fierceness bordering on rabid. The gods of humans were less protective but there were many more humans to go around. Since one great battle eons ago, human gods and dragon gods could never fight each other because they could never enter the other’s plane of existence. So they used their loyal worshippers to fight their battles for them, then sat back to enjoy the carnage.

      Still, a very uneasy alliance had developed among humans and dragons over the last thousand years or so. It used to be if you left the dragons alone and ignored the occasional stolen cow or destroyed battalion, they stayed away from the villages and the humans. Those humans looking for glory, who broke the unspoken pact, usually brought the dragons’ brutal wrath swiftly on some poor kingdom and king’s head.

      In the last few years, however, rumors had begun to spread through the small towns and villages. Rumors of more and more dragons seen taking to the skies. Although still no talk of any destruction or violence, fear had taken root and spread. Especially in Madron where Lord Hamish ruled with a brutal fist. The few rumors he allowed in her tiny village were that the dragons were once again killing randomly, destroying towns, villages, anything that might annoy them. But the armies of Madron were preparing for some kind of war against dragons…as if the humans could win. All humans truly had in their favor was their number. One of her teachers back in Alsandair compared humans and dragons to fleas swarming over a wolf. Enough could cause unbearable torment, but usually a good bath would wash them off.

      Talaith never thought she’d ever see a dragon much less be taken by one. Taken so he could bed her. Clearly he didn’t get out of his cave much if she was the best he could do. Perhaps she should speak of commitment and really scare him back to his lair. She almost smiled at the thought, but she knew her tongue would get the better of her.

      He irritated her. Greatly. And when anger ruled her head that meant her mouth took over. Woe to those who ended upon the wrong side of that.

      But who knew a being could be so bloody arrogant? And demanding? And rude? And gorgeous? And so well-endowed, he reminded her of a warhorse?