The Dragon’s Appraiser: Part Three (6 page)

M
adja had never been so
happy to be back at the lair. In fact, she didn’t think that she’d want to leave again anytime soon.

Sevrrn had told her about Bern. Apparently, the innkeeper had managed to rally the town into evacuating, because when Sevrrn had arrived, it had been devoid of life. He had then taken out the Allonan armada, a fact that he was very proud to tell her.

Secretly, she was nearly as happy about the army’s defeat as she was about Jerl Kavesh’s death. When Sevrrn had swooped down from the sky, Jerl, along with the high priest, had lacked the good sense to clear the way. The dragon had landed right on top of them. She could only hope that Jerl had lived a few seconds after being crushed, so that he could see how wrong he had been.

As much as she wanted to remain sequestered in the lair, she knew that her peace would be temporary. They would eventually have to return to the capital. The people had to know that Sevrrn wasn’t a god, at least, not in the way they believed him to be. He was powerful, and when necessary, she had faith that he would protect the island, but they needed to learn to prepare for war themselves, and to stop making their stupid ritualistic sacrifices.

That could come later though. For now, she just wanted to spend time with the man—the dragon— that she loved.

They were on their bed silks, Madja sitting while Sevrrn lay propped up on one arm, eyeing her hand warily. His wounds from the cannons had carried over to his human body, and the one on his side looked particularly bad. Madja had known it would need tending to, and after his long, boring, and not at all cohesive speech, she was more than happy to take a needle to his flesh.

“I will heal perfectly well on my own,” he said, shying away from her touch.

“Yeah, but this will help you heal faster.” Then, she grinned. “You aren’t
afraid
of needles, are you?”

Sevrrn scowled. “I am not afraid of anything. But…it is unnatural, that thing piercing my body.”

She smirked. “Now you know how I feel every night.”

“There is nothing unnatural about what we do,” he said, appearing smug.

In one motion, Sevrrn maneuvered his large body so that he was on top of her, pinning her to the bed silks. Madja tried to stammer out a protest, but he kissed her. Her eyes rolled back in her head as his hot lips moved over hers with practiced finesse. His sharp teeth grazed her bottom lip in a teasing gesture, while his rigid erection pressed against her inner thigh.

It had been weeks since they’d been together, and Madja hated to push him away. Not just because he had needs, but also because she’d been denying her own needs for too long. Her body responded to his touch in a powerful way, need crashing into her in relentless waves.

But as Sevrrn’s mouth moved to lavish her neck, she regained a small measure of composure. She couldn’t do this, not yet. Not when there was something they still needed to discuss.

“Sevrrn…”

“Hm?” A distracted purr.

“I have to tell you something. Something I probably should have told you sooner.”

He looked up at her, his garnet gaze flashing with equal parts annoyance and curiosity. Madja bit down on her lip. Her arousal began to ebb, replaced by anxiety.

“I think I’m pregnant,” she blurted. Then, she shook her head. “No, I mean, I am pregnant. Definitely pregnant.”

She wasn’t sure what she expected, but she definitely hadn’t expected him to look even more annoyed with her.

“That has no bearing on this. We have been mating for months now.”

She blinked at him. “What…” Then, it hit her. She sat up, scrambling to put some distance between them. “
You knew?
”

“Knew what?” he asked, one side of his face twitching. He moved on all fours, trying to close the distance between them again, but Madja backed up farther.

“Knew that I was pregnant,” she hissed.

He gave a slight shrug. “Of course.”

Madja raised a hand to her head and exhaled a long breath. “Why didn’t you say anything?”

His annoyance turned to confusion. “What was there to say? Humans gestate for nearly a year. It is not something that needs to be addressed for several months.”

“So you were just going to wait until I went into labor to bring it up?”

“Bring what up?” Now he was annoyed again. He moved to sit with his legs crossed, apparently realizing he was not going to mate with her any time soon. “You are carrying a child. What else is there to be said?”

Madja had been dealing with the overly logical dragon for months. She could usually understand him, because he always made perfect sense, even when he was totally wrong. But this time, she just didn’t get it. How could he be so…

He doesn’t get it
, she realized in a sudden epiphany.
He just doesn’t get it, at all
.

Sevrrn understood from a logical standpoint that she was pregnant and that after a certain amount of time, there would be a child. But he hadn’t yet thought to consider the situation from an emotional standpoint.

“You’re going to be a father,” she said, sitting to mirror his position. She no longer felt upset and her voice was almost tender as she spoke to him. “This summer, there’s going to be a new person in the world, a person that’s half of me and half of you. It’s not going to know anything and it won’t be able to do very much on its own for several years. It will probably be the most vulnerable thing you’ve ever met and it’s going to depend on us for everything. It’ll be our job to nurture it, raise it, and teach it about the world. It’s going to need you, even more than I need you, and you’ll have to be ready for that.”

Sevrrn’s expression gave away little, but Madja could tell that he was seriously considering her words.

Finally, he folded his arms over his chest and frowned. “This sounds rather unappealing.”

Her lips curved. “I guess when I put it like that, it does. But it’s actually quite rewarding, from what I’ve heard.”

“And what about it is rewarding?” he asked, his face a study in skepticism.

“Well, for starters, you’re going to care about him very much, maybe even more than you care about me.”
And he’s going to love you so much, I know it
.

She could tell that this was getting too heavy for the dragon, but she had faith that when the time came, he would embrace fatherhood. She had a feeling that this child would add a whole new depth to the ancient creature’s existence and for now, all she could do was help him to prepare.

“So,” she said, scooting closer to him. “Do you think it’ll be a boy or a girl? I’ve been leaning more towards boy.”

“Does it matter what I think?” he asked, looking genuinely intrigued.

“Not really, I think it already is what it is, but it’s fun to guess. Plus, we get to think of names.”

His hand snaked around her side and he pulled her closer to him. “Why do we choose its name? Shouldn’t it choose its own name?”

“A baby can’t really pick its own name,” she told him. “I mean, I guess it could, once it got older, but then we wouldn’t have anything to call it for several years.”

“Why not simply call her ‘daughter?’” he asked, falling back into his usual logic.

“We can’t name a baby Daughter. That’s a title, not a name. Can’t you think of something else?”

“Kehza,” he said, surprising her.

It was a foreign name and it sounded particularly beautiful in Sevrrn’s rich accent. “I’ve never heard that name. What does it mean?”

One corner of his wicked mouth lifted. “It is Lathian for ‘daughter.’”

Madja smacked the side of his arm. He let her, but then grabbed her hand and once again overpowered her, pushing her back onto the bed silks and climbing atop her body. This time, he positioned himself between her thighs, making his intentions abundantly clear.

“Will you at least let me stitch you up first?” Madja huffed, not really trying to push him off. “You’re going to bleed to death.”

Without preamble, he pushed himself inside of her. Madja gasped, not because it was unexpected, but because she hadn’t realized how wet she already was. Then again, Sevrrn did have that effect on her.

Once he was fully inside of her, Sevrrn held still and captured Madja’s gaze. His expression was one of perfect contentedness and quiet reverence.

“I can think of no better way to die.”

Slightly breathless, she asked, “I see. So you’re willing to die
in
me, just not
for
me?”

Appearing perfectly serious, he replied, “I will not die for you, but I will live for you. I will live every moment of my life for you.”

Then, he gave up all words and moved inside of her with a feverish need. All of her insecurities melted away under the heat of his touch and she felt as though they were experiencing one another for the first time.

No, she did not need him to die for her. She just needed him: him and the life they shared together, the future they would have, the family they would become. Compared to their reality, ‘love’ seemed like nothing more than an insubstantial word. Madja was his, and Sevrrn was hers.