Read The Dragon King for Free Online Page B

“No, Soph. I’ll flog you. I know how and I can keep it from being too terrible.”
    I shook my head, “It’s always horrendous. There’s no way around it, but it isn’t as bad as being forced to cut myself out of my skin.”
    He turned his face to me and said, “Cyrano did it? He didn’t try to make it good for you?”
    I laughed, but it sounded bitter even to my ears. “He did it once, and it hurt so bad I screamed and cried and begged him to stop, but he just kept going. And then when I changed and tried to fly into the other room, Boris turned me back to human.” I took a bite, swallowed. “I was supposed to flog Cyrano, so he could change , but I begged him not to make me, so he said he’d have someone else do it. After that, he had Boris flog me. Six months later I asked him if we could try it again, but he said it hadn’t worked and Boris would be helping me change from now on.”
    Aaron’s jaw clenched as he said, “Boris is an asshole. He’s the one who flogged you? Every damned time?”
    I nodded, nervous at Aaron’s anger, and he seemed to pick up on my anxiety and calmed himself before saying, “Sophia, I promise I can flog you so it won’t be as horrible. There will still be bad parts, there’s no way around it when I have to whip you out of your skin, but I can keep it from being as bad as it’s been.” He took a breath and added, “Or, there’s the option of us fixing things so you don’t have to be flogged to change . No pressure, no discussing it right now, just know it’s one of the many possibilities we need to look at in the coming weeks.”
    The only way to keep me from needing to be flogged was to take my virginity. I thought Aaron was saying he might take it, but I wasn’t positive and didn’t have the nerve to ask. I stared at my oatmeal, too mortified to look up, and he changed the conversation.
    “My best case scenario isn’t so far from your fantasy scenario, Princess. In it, you and I rule together and you’re my Dragon Queen while I’m your Swan king, with a little k . You rule the Swans with my help, and I rule the Dragons with yours. There aren’t many of us left, but I hold a high position amongst the other Kings, and I’d love to have you as my Queen, if the two of us turn out to be as compatible as I believe we’re going to.”
    I looked at him probably thirty seconds, going over his words in my head before daring to ask, “You’re a Dragon?”
    He nodded. “I am, and there’s another cavern about a quarter mile from here, with a waterfall and a stream, where I can easily change and walk around, if you’d like to see me in my Dragon form. Maybe not today, but soon. I’d like to get you used to me, and show you how to ride me when you’re in human form, should we need to escape quickly.”
    “I didn’t know there were any Dragons left. They’re… you’re …supposedly extinct.”
    He looked away, and I could hear the pain in his voice when he turned back to me to say, “We may as well be. There are three males left, no women.”
    I looked at him, horrified, trying to figure out what to say.
    He didn’t wait for me to figure it out, but said, “There are some things I need to explain, and you need to hear them from me, and you need to understand that while I may have put myself in a position to be in your life because of myth and lore — it’s only what put me in your life, not what is making me take care of you now. I truly do care for you, Soph, for the person you are on the inside.”
    His thumb stroked absently over my skin and I silenced my body’s physical reaction to his touch before it could begin.
    Aaron sighed, considered his words, and said, “I’ll just explain, and then try to convince you I care about you as my sassy Sophia, not just you as Princess Sophia Siyanko.”
    He told me about his grandmother’s last words to him, and about all of the research he’d done over the centuries. I sat still, my oatmeal bowl long since