Double Dragon Sierra Dafoe All rights reserved. Copyright ©2008 Sierra Dafoe Warning: The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. Criminal copyright infringement, including infringement without monetary gain, is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by up to 5 years in federal prison and a fine of $250,000. ISBN: 978-1-59596-971-2 Formats Available: HTML, Adobe PDF, MobiPocket, Microsoft Reader Publisher: Changeling Press LLC PO Box 1046 Martinsburg, WV 25402-1046 www.ChangelingPress.com Editor: Chrissie Henderson Cover Artist: Bryan Keller This e-book file contains sexually explicit scenes and adult language which some may find offensive and which is not appropriate for a young audience. Changeling Press E-Books are for sale to adults, only, as defined by the laws of the country in which you made your purchase. Please store your files wisely, where they cannot be accessed by under-aged readers. Double Dragon Sierra Dafoe Cal is everything Kevan wants -- or at least everything he thinks he wants. But as the crown prince of the dragon kingdom, Kevan is expected to marry and carry on the royal line. When Kevan brings the handsome young human back to Djarera, Melgara, the queen, orders him to keep Cal a secret -- after all, what sane dragon would be willing to share her husband’s affection with a human male? In love with Kevan since she was nine years old, Melina Westron is determined to win the prince’s trust -- especially when she discovers the secret he’s hiding is a man every bit as delicious as Kevan himself! Even better, she’s delighted to find that the way to a dragon’s heart… is through his lover. Chapter One Torches flared around the perimeter of the courtyard, sending light flickering over the high stone walls of Wind Castle. Surrounded on all four sides by the graceful bulk of the palace, the large inner courtyard was sculpted into a formal garden, with swaths of green winding through the flowering beds and a broad stretch of lawn at one end, surrounding the stone steps down which Prince Kevan would descend. To Melina, who had never before been inside the royal residence, it was an awesome spectacle. Lords and ladies from all five dragon clans crowded the courtyard, dressed in their finest, while Melina hung back near the courtyard wall, trying to get a handle on the nervous tension roiling in her belly and watching the other girls with a mixture of envy and disdain. Just about every eligible young female on Djarera had been invited to Prince Kevan’s birthday celebration, and most of them were gathered now in a large, shifting throng near the stone steps, determined to be the first to catch Kevan’s eye when he descended. Lisha Hausther, tall and elegant in the plunging black dress that ostentatiously displayed her ample charms -- charms that, if rumor were true, had already been sampled by half the young lords on Djarera -- jabbed an elbow into Riva Aurorea’s ribs, brazenly shoving the curvaceous blonde out of the way and taking her spot at the forefront of the group. Sullen fury flashed in Riva’s eyes, but she didn’t dare shove Lisha back. Torn between amusement and disgust, Melina shook her head wryly. If we weren’t in the dragon queen’s own castle, she thought, those two would be clawing at each other’s throats by now. Everybody knew that Melgara was anxious to find a bride for her son. After the scandal with Elara (who had been heir to the throne before practically eloping with Melina’s infamous uncle, Zendar), it was completely understandable that the aging queen would want the royal line finally assured -- which explained the less than cordial attitude of the girls, although it hardly excused it. Melina grinned to herself, imagining the black stares that would ensue if Prince Kevan were to pick her out of the crowd. She wouldn’t in the least mind seeing Lisha seething with jealous fury -- she’d never cared much for the arrogant Hausther girl who too obviously thought her willowy frame and high, rounded breasts entitled her to the hand of a prince… or any other male she cared to claim. Envy tugged at Melina again as she surreptitiously studied the tall, black-haired girl. Oh, sure, Lisha’s dark eyes flashed with a certain fire -- but Melina knew full well that fire was mostly pride and self-conceit. And her breasts, as lavishly displayed as they were, were no fuller or rounder than Melina’s own. Then again, I don’t go around shoving mine at every male in the vicinity, she thought tartly. Of course, up until three years ago, she’d had nothing to shove -- she’d been flat as a board almost till her sixteenth birthday, and by the time she had finally started blooming, she’d been too old to be impressed by the antics of the adolescent males around her, or to be interested in trying to impress them. That hadn’t kept her from sleeping with two of them -- after all, sex in human form was considered to be little more than a pleasant diversion, freely indulged in and with, of course, no concerns about conception. She’d been curious more than anything else, but both encounters had left her perplexed as to what all the fuss was about. It hadn’t been at all what she’d expected, and certainly nothing like the fiery, blinding passion that supposedly occurred during khef matings. Khef. Melina swallowed nervously. She, and all the other girls there, were nearing the age when most female dragons went into khef for the first time -- the uncontrollable mating fever that came upon them when they were fertile. Once again, Melina tried to imagine what that would be like, to be so enthralled by mating lust that you would couple like beasts with whatever male claimed you… She shuddered, even though the spring night air was pleasantly mild. Most of the girls here would be married before the year was out for precisely that reason -- an unbonded female going into khef could incite all the males around her into a killing frenzy as they fought for the right to claim her. Melina could only avoid that hideous possibility by bonding herself to a male before it happened. She’d had offers -- two young Westrons, both eager to curry favor with her kinsman Gerdain, leader of the Westron clan -- but she’d held back, telling herself it was because they were more interested in her rank than in her. Which was true enough -- but it wasn’t the real truth. The real truth was far more mortifying. And the real truth was she’d been in love with Kevan Southerlin since she was nine years old. That was the year her father had died. Her burly, laughing redheaded father, who’d braved his family’s displeasure -- had actually forsaken the Aurorean clan -- to marry Amira Westron, the younger sister of the most hated dragon on Djarera. Melina missed him with an ache that time, even ten years of it, had done little to diminish. She’d stood at his graveside, lost and heartbroken, unable to reach out to her mother for comfort -- and that was when she had first met Kevan. Melgara had attended the funeral, but even at nine Melina had somehow known the dragon queen was there more to keep an eye on the powerful, rebellious Westron clan than she was to help mourn her father. As a result, she’d shied away from the queen’s cool, formal condolences -- but Kevan’s hazel eyes, watching her steadily, had been full of the compassion his mother’s had lacked. He’d been eleven then, standing pale and somber beside Melgara, tall for his age and with shoulder blades poking sharply against the embroidered tunic he wore. His gaze had held hers, seeming to pierce to the very core of her grief, and then -- even now Melina’s heart still jumped a bit at the memory -- the crown prince of Djarera had left his mother’s side to come and stand beside her, not speaking, not even looking at her as the tears rolled silently down her cheeks, his warm, somber presence beside her offering the comfort her shattered spirit had so desperately craved. From that moment on, her heart had been fixed on the crown prince of Djarera as firmly -- and as hopelessly -- as a moth winging toward the candle flame that would kill it. Melina rolled her eyes skyward, as disgusted with herself as she’d been a moment earlier with Riva and Lisha. Did she really think Kevan was going to spot her across the crowded courtyard, like in some ancient fable, and magically fall in love with her? She snorted. Not hardly, despite whatever fantasies she might have indulged in the privacy of her own bed -- fantasies she would never in a million years have admitted out loud. For one thing, she was plain. All right, not quite as plain as she’d been before her body had finally started developing some curves -- but still, next to the tall, striking Lisha Hausther or the busty Riva Aurorea with her enormous blue eyes and flaxen curls, Melina knew she might as well be invisible. The one claim she could lay to beauty was the flame-red hair she’d inherited from her father. And then, of course, there was the other reason why all her fantasies were a foolhardy dream. She was Zendar’s niece, and despite the fact -- or even more, because of the fact -- that Zendar had managed to first abduct and then somehow win the love of Melgara’s daughter, there was no way the dragon queen would ever let his niece marry her son. Melina was sure of that -- she’d seen the coldness in Melgara’s eyes when she’d presented herself, curtseying deeply to the queen. She sighed. Her presence here was a formality, a concession to her rank, nothing more -- and she knew it. But at least she would finally see Kevan again, and she had to admit to a certain degree of curiosity. What sort of dragon had Kevan become? Was he still the same somber, warmhearted boy who’d stood beside her ...
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