“So you’re not a demigod anymore?” he teased.
“Just a dragon.”
A mighty dragoness capable of decimating a foe in a single breath, the dragoness said.
“Glad you still have the magic touch.” He chuckled.
She giggled and then asked, “Were you able to speak to Prince T’mar? What happened with the other humans?”
“They were apprehended. Once T’mar knew they were underground, they were easy to find, and they surrendered without a fight. Biggs’s people had watched on monitors as the temple guardians slew his enforcers. The poor bastards never had a chance. The remaining employees will be deported to Earth. A few, surprisingly most of the women, have asked to remain, and he’ll review their requests.”
“A lot happened. I wasn’t gone that long!”
“Well, Prince T’mar acted fast.” His eyes gleamed. “And you’re here now.”
“Now and forever…”
“Speaking of which, if you’re no longer priestess, does that mean you—we—won’t live forever?”
“Only tens of thousands of years.”
“We don’t have much time, then.” He kissed her. She sighed into the embrace, savoring the feel of his lips on hers, her fyre flaring, snapping, and crackling, seeking union. Against her abdomen, his cock hardened, and she slipped her hand down to caress him.
He lifted his head. A wicked glint lit his gaze. “Lady, you do know how to light my fyre.”
Epilogue
Two years later
Wake up! Wake up! The dragoness’s raspy voice infiltrated into Henry’s slumber.
What it is? What time is it? His gaze darted around the bedroom of the new palace constructed for him and O’ne. His mate lay asleep beside him, her hand curled under her cheek.
F’iery is at it again.
Henry sprang out of bed. Enough morning light drifted through the skylight for him to see a wisp of smoke drift up from the bassinette. He dashed to the crib in time to see his baby daughter shift from dragon into demiforma. Charred spots darkened the sheets where she’d lit fires.
No fires, F’iery. No fires. He pushed a mind link to the baby, unsure if she understood—or if she understood but ignored. F’iery blinked innocent blue eyes and flashed a grin, all gums, except for two recently-erupted tiny fangs.
Raising a precocious baby dragoness was no easy task.
He lifted her out of the bassinette. A year old now, she’d been born in demiforma with tiny little horns on a ridged head covered by wispy red hair. Although it might change as she matured, her skin was smooth and unscaled until she shifted—which she shouldn’t have been able to do yet. Except she could. And did. Frequently.
Hence, she required round-the-clock supervision. Fortunately, they had a ready nanny in the dragoness who kept watch so they could catch some sleep.
His mate sat up and rubbed her eyes. “What did F’iery do now? Did she fly out of the nest, or is she playing with fire again?”
“Fire,” he replied as the baby chortled. She was so damn cute! Why wouldn’t she be? She took after her beautiful mother.
“F’iery!” O’ne chided and reached for their daughter.
He placed the baby in her mother’s arms.
“What are we going to do with you?” she said.
Can I go to sleep now? I’ve been up all night, the dragoness groused.
Go to sleep, he and O’ne replied. Thank you, he added, but she had already drifted off.
“I don’t know what we’d do without our dragonanny,” he said.
She snorted and rocked F’iery, who grabbed ahold of her mother’s shoulder-length hair.
Henry frowned. “You don’t think she’s helpful?”
She peered over the baby’s head. “Who do you think taught F’iery to throw fireballs?”
“She did?”
“Yep.”
“Son of a dragon! I don’t feel so guilty about keeping her up all night then.”
“To be fair, she didn’t realize F’iery would attempt it on her own.” She cradled the baby whose eyelids had begun to droop. “Dragons mature slowly and don’t gain the ability to shift until they’re much, much older. It was our good fortune to have a daughter who is advanced for her age,” she said with a mother’s pride and kissed the baby’s head.
“I wonder if junior will be the same.” He palmed her rounded belly. If the little boy dragon she was expecting was advanced like his sister, they’d have their hands full times two.
“Probably. You should be prepared.”
“I guess it’s to be expected when the mother is the former priestess of the Eternal Fyre.”
“I don’t have any special powers anymore.” She gave him a sidelong glance and teased, “Perhaps our children’s abilities are derived from your fyre.”
“I doubt that. Have you given more thought as to what to name our son?” he asked.
“No, have you?”
“Actually, yes. What about B’laze?”
“I like it!”
“You really don’t miss being priestess, do you?” She’d been demoted to just another dragon—although she would never be just anything to him.
She managed to cradle the baby with one hand and cup his cheek with the other. “Nothing could fulfill me more than what I have now.” Her happy scent, a vanilla-like aroma, reminded him of fresh-baked cookies. After losing her powers, she’d begun exuding emotional scents, and, since their mating and the strengthening of his fyre, his olfaction had improved. He kissed her palm.
“L’yla is doing an admirable job,” she said. “She’s taken a far greater secular role than I ever did.”
“It’s amazing she got King K’rah to sign the treaty with Earth and deed over Draco.”
“Prince T’mar and Prince K’ev argued strongly in favor, but I’m sure her opinion tipped the balance. L’yla came to understand humans and their motivations during her freedom furlough. I think she would like to see an alliance between our two planets.”
“That would be wonderful,”
