As if waking from sleep, lifting his head as though it weighed more than his whole body, the Drass prince opened his eyes. The ghost of the first Valen she'd met, the charming, sensual one who'd treated her to a wonderful night of sex, wine and luxury, looked out from them and Fang's body heated. Fang stroked her thumb over his cheek. A sound escaped him, soft and yearning; it pulled at Fang's heart and created an odd heaviness in her belly, hollow like hunger but hotter.
"So, about those benefits..." she started, "I was thinking, you've been at this desk for a while–" She broke off as Valen stood, a full head taller even without his horns, and as her hand slid from his cheek he took it and pressed it to his mouth. The gesture, simple as it was, sent a ripple of heat through Fang's belly and she stroked his face again until he pulled her hand away. He kept hold of it though, and drew her through the bedchamber door, under the red velvet drape and into the warm room with its massive bed littered with its excess of soft pillows and quilted silk bedcovers.
At the bedside, Fang reached for the wide silk belt at her waist and Valen laid his fingers across her wrist. "I never got to unwrap my gift the other night."
She pulled her hands away and held them up. "Oh, pardon me, Your Highness."
Valen snorted, but smiled even as he shook his head. "Please don't, I have enough to remind me who I am." With a smooth pull, the silk sliding over itself easily, he undid the simple tie at Fang's waist and the belt fluttered to the floor. Before he opened her robe, though, Valen bent and took his time brushing a kiss over Fang's mouth. Unlike hers earlier the Dragon Prince's kiss was lighter, more controlled, and it left Fang wanting so much more. He ran his fingertips over the robe's lapel, embroidered with forest-green flowers, laying over her collar-bones. He traced it down to the point of the deep V just between her breasts. "Can I take this off?"
Fang nodded eagerly; her body trembled, electric currents running from her fingertips to her ears, lightning in her belly. I don't think he has any idea how sexy he is. Valen hooked his thumbs under the silk and pulled it apart, widening the V until the heavy fabric slipped from Fang's shoulders and he let it drop. He took a moment to look, running his eyes over her like flames consuming strips of paper. Suddenly he grinned. "What?"
"It seems my brother has the same eye for human women as he does for Drass." Valen untied his own belt with one hand, lifting Fang's chin with the other. "He'd throw himself off of a cliff if he knew it, but I think he picked you because you're strikingly beautiful." Warmth flushed Fang's skin, her cheeks and chest turning pink and her nipples drawing up tight. For the first time in years, she felt awkward and flustered. I'm thirty-three years old, damn it, I shouldn't be blushing like a teenager! Valen commented on it as he slipped off his robe, "Do all human women turn colors when someone tells them they're beautiful?"
Fang looked at the floor, her heart pounding in her ears. She welcomed the distraction of Valen's body, the thin coin-sized scales on his belly, face and sides as well as the thicker scutes and plates on his chest, back and arms, and the dark tattoo etched over his shoulder. She'd noticed it the other night, and wondered how they got the needle through tough Drass scales. "How long have you had that? And how does that even work for you?"
"This?" Valen looked down at it. "A few years. You have to use acid to get through the scales to the actual skin, then they use a needle and ink."
Fang shuddered. "Eyah, doesn't that hurt?" She sat on the side of the bed when he did, watching him roll down his leggings.
"The needle didn't, but the acid fucking burned." He glanced at her and smiled when she did; most Drass knew what fuck meant and had adopted it into their vocabulary pretty quickly. "I passed out a few times. After a while they stopped trying to wake me up and just let me lie there until it was done, probably easier that way."
Fang moved closer to him, reaching out to touch the black lines. It was a beautiful design – the artist had worked with Valen's unique scale pattern to give the beast a life of its own and when he moved, the creature moved with him. He sat very still as Fang touched him. "I never thought about getting any tattoos," she told him, though that was obvious now that they were both naked. "I could never afford them."
"I'll pay if you do," Valen said quietly.
Fang smiled. "Thanks, but I don't like needles."
"Then I'll have to spend my father's kai on you another way."
Fang looked up from his shoulder and met his gaze, realizing he'd been watching her as she touched him. Her breath caught at the raw desire in his brilliant amber-orange eyes, far more intense than the simple curiosity that had led other Drass men to ask for her company, and she watched fascinated as Valen's dark red tongue crept out and wet his lips. He has no idea how sexy he is. Fang's still burned from his earlier kiss and in her ears she heard a rhythmic pounding that she realized with mild surprise was her own heartbeat. She opened her mouth, debating right up to the last second whether to tell him, but before she could speak Valen leaned in and kissed her again. This time he was the one to take advantage and flicked his rough, ridged tongue against hers and rub his tusks over her lips. Fuck it, he'll figure it out.
Valen pulled her down, his legs tangling with hers and his long, thin tail curling around them both. He wrapped her in his arms and Fang ran her short nails over the soft spots under his arms, down the center of his belly and the inside of his thighs. Valen's thick, curved cock thrust out from his groin, and he gently pushed Fang's hand aside when she reached for it. "Not... not yet," he murmured into Fang's mouth, "I want this first." He hooked a hand under Fang's knee and pulled her leg over his, bringing her closer to his body and touching as much of her bare skin as possible. He smoothed his hand along her thigh, stroking over her hip and up her side, and dragged the pads of his fingers over one breast; his gold-coated claws trailed over her nipple before moving on to her hand. Fang watched him lift it and inspect her fingers, turning her wrist and examining her nails.
"I've always wondered what it would be like with a woman smaller than me."
"So what do you think?"
"I like it," Valen laid her hand on his face, rubbing her palm on his cheeks. He chuckled, "I actually feel like a man for once."
"You are a man," Fang insisted. "You're over nineteen, you've been an adult for a while." She splayed her fingers over his face and stroked her thumb over his lips. "Surely everyone knows how old you are."
"They do, but looking at me is a different thing. I stopped growing at sixteen, I still look like a child – not just my body, but my face too. No woman wants to be seen walking around with what looks like a shorthorn boy, it's... unseemly."
Fang considered how she'd feel if she went on a date with someone who looked half her age. When I was sixteen I still looked like a little girl. Men who date sixteen-year-old girls are creeps. "Fair point. Maybe since I'm smaller than you, it'll look better?"
"I hope so. It'd be nice to be taken seriously for once."
Fang propped her cheek on his shoulder. "I'll take you seriously." When he looked at her through her own fingers, she had to pinch her lips together to keep from giggling.
Valen smiled and nuzzled her hand; his tail curled around her ankles and the paintbrush tip stroked the arch of one foot. "I would appreciate that. Last night... Well, you can imagine how upset I was. I hope we can be friends."
"I'll do the best I can," she promised. "I don't know much about politics or colonies, but I do know a thing or two about being a friend."
Valen grinned. "And the benefits?"
"That too."
Valen breathed deep and sighed. "Good to know." Then he let Fang's hand drop and rolled to his stomach, and pulled his body over hers. Fang moved with him, turning to her back and opening her legs for him. She spread one hand over the creature tattooed on his chest, watching it move as if it were alive, and the other went behind Valen's neck. Valen growled and Fang made her own pleasure-sounds when he slid into her, and they worked up a steady rhythm that carried on for several long, warm minutes. At one point the door-chime went off, and Valen growled as he slapped the control panel at the head of his enormous bed. "Not now, Ben. I'm... reading."
The comm beeped and Fang heard a quiet snort from the other side. "Hngh, sure. Good night, Your Grace... and Lady Fang." Fang covered her mouth and giggled. Valen turned the comm down, shrugging in apology as he returned his attention. "I should probably warn you, Ben's been checking in at night since she started looking after me."
"She's just doing her job. Besides, it wouldn't be the first time I got caught with my robes up around my neck by a Warden."
Valen's ears folded back in embarrassment. "Same." Fang laughed, and the Drass prince shuddered. "Eyah, that felt amazing! Can you do that again?"
Fang couldn't help it. She threw her whole self into a deep, full belly-laugh and wrapped her arms around his neck. Valen grimaced, baring his tusks and growling with pleasure, and braced his arms to either side of Fang's body. Inside his cock twitched, swollen and hot, and Fang's breath quickened at the first flutterings in her thighs as well. She met his thrusts with soft moans, encouraging him with sounds and words: "Eyah, yes! There, Valen, th- mm!" In spite of his dwarfed height, the fullness of him and his surprising physical strength quickly brought Fang to a trembling, crackling climax. She cried out at her peak, "Don't stop!" and quivered as the Dragon Prince forged on, tail whip-cracking against the silk bedding and deep, animal snarls ripping from his throat in chorus with Fang's higher wails. Firemother's ashes, he's a beast! Fang wrapped her legs around Valen's hips and arched, straining towards the ceiling against the Drass's relentless, driving thrusts. Can I keep up with this?!
"Fang," Valen panted, hoarse from the effort of holding back, "can you... again? I can... keep going–"
Her hands fluttered up to his face, tracing his sweat-streaked cheeks. "It-it's okay, Valen," she could go on, wanted to, but there was no need to rush things. "You can–"
"Have to... take care of you..." His body trembled, back and arm muscles bulging and ribs heaving. Rising on his knees Valen hooked his arms around her thighs and drove deep, drawing out one more blistering flare when his eyes suddenly snapped wide, pupils drawing to narrow black slits. Pitching forward, he caught himself on his hands and bellowed "Eyah, Fang!" His hips jerked twice, three times, and a wave of liquid heat swept through Fang's hips and spilled over into her thighs and belly – like being filled with molten gold. Valen crashed down, arms crumpling like cheap scaffolding, and collapsed to Fang's chest where he curled his quivering hands under her back and buried his face between her breasts. "Firemother... burn me..."
"Mm-hmm..." Fang absently stroked his hair and horns as he fought to catch his breath, herself dazed and done in. Ashes, that was incredible... Their chemistry had been off the charts; aside from the other night, Fang couldn't remember a time when she'd hit it off with anyone so well. Or the last time the sex was so good... She even liked that he was laying on top of her, his weight not nearly as crushing as other Drass. Both of them were drenched in sweat, their bodies sticky and warm and the scent of Fang's floral soaps and creamy balms now mixed with the Drass's ash-and-incense. Valen's eyes remained closed, one ear flat against her breastbone and the other limp, and his twin hearts thudded strong and even against Fang's ribs, lulling her to a comfortably exhausted torpor where she drifted until Valen began to stir.
He picked his head up and smiled hazily at her. "Thank you, Fang."
"Hmm? What for?"
Valen pushed up onto his hands, but instead of simply rolling off and going to sleep he stretched forward and gave Fang a gentle kiss. The tenderness of it surprised her, not just his wonderfully soft mouth but the intimacy of it – he'd only known her for a few days, and yet he kissed her like they were old lovers. "For being my friend."
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