I glanced at the Oracle, but she was no longer visible. Smoke from the braziers had billowed out, hiding her from our view..
He came closer. Smiled wickedly.
I couldn’t help myself. I reached out, stroked the silky-smooth flesh of his manhood. Oh Goddess! My handmaidens were right. It did have a steel core.
Wordlessly, he put out his hand and touched my gown. It disappeared. Faded away, as though it was as unsubstantial as the mist around us, leaving me naked.
Though I’d never been unclothed in front of a man before, I felt no shame. No embarrassment. He ran his hand up my arm, caressed my breast. My nipple puckered, hardening into a dark red peak. He ran a thumb over it then cupped my breast in his palm and brought his fingers together, squeezing and rolling my nipple between them.
I gasped as a jolt of raw lust shot straight to my core. The tiny bud between my legs throbbed, and I felt a gush between my thighs.
He brought his other hand to the back of my head and drew me in. Ran his lips down my throat, stopping to nip at the hollow of my neck. I shivered, and he pulled me closer. Wrapped his arms around me, skin to skin, our bodies pressed together. His erection rubbed against my mound, hot and demanding. Awakening a strange, fierce hunger deep in my core.
I ran my hand down his back. Felt the smooth skin, the layers of hard muscle underneath. He felt so real, so warm and alive. How could this be?
He drew me to the floor, laid me on a pile of soft cushions that had somehow appeared, blurring once again the line between reality and illusion. When he lay down beside me, I reached for him again. I caressed his cheek, ran a finger over his full lips.
Up close, he was even more beautiful, with dark hair to his shoulders. A stray lock fell across his forehead. I brushed it aside and gazed at him. Warm brown eyes looked back at me steadily.
He never moved, just let me look and touch. I caressed his cheek, my fingers grazing the faint dark stubble along his jawline. Masculine bodies had such striking contrasts. Soft hair, smooth skin, then hard, rough stubble – hinting at the steel that lay below.
I moved my hand lower, exploring. Traced a path down his chest until I reached the head of his cock. I gasped. It was hot. So hot, like the flames that consumed him and gave birth to his dragon form. I ran my fingers up and down the thick shaft, watching his face the whole time. He drew in a breath, and sparks of fire flickered in the depths of his eyes.
Still without speaking, the nameless dragon lord parted my thighs and slid between them. I put my arms around his back and pulled him close, desperate to have that hot hard cock thrust into me. Take my virginity and set me free to revel in this wild wicked passion he’d awakened in me.
I felt the warmth of him, the weight of him, the smooth hard head of his cock breach the entrance to my slick core…
And then he was gone.
My eyes flew open to find my arms up, encircling nothing but air.
I lay there in the deserted temple, shocked and confused, trying to make sense of it all. The Prophecy, the battle I was destined to fight. The wildly seductive dragon lord I nearly gave myself to without a qualm. If he was a dream, it was a shockingly real one. My pussy was dripping wet. The tiny bud between my thighs throbbed, and I felt a clawing, restless hunger.
Finally, exhaustion took over. My phantom lover had disappeared, but the cushions he’d laid me on were real. I sighed wearily, closed my eyes again, and let the darkness overtake me.
Chapter Six
Antonius mounted the steps to the temple. Inside, silence reigned.
He’d heard the Oracle chanting from where he waited in the shadows, then her voice, indistinct. As was meant to be. No one alive save the reigning monarch was allowed to hear her recite the Prophecy.
Over the years, he’d learned bits and pieces of it from Vidos and his father before him. They’d let things slip on those nights when they’d descended into bouts of despair and drowned their sorrow and fears in too much drink. Over the centuries, other monarchs wrote down what they remembered of the Prophecy and left the knowledge for their heirs. They locked their secrets away in an ancient wooden chest he’d found in the king’s bedchamber after Vidos passed away.
It was that chest he’d brought with him on their journey, those scrolls he’d been studying.
With a heavy heart, he entered the temple. The cloying smell of incense hit him at once, his lungs filling with smoke he could almost taste. Through the haze, he made out Melisandre’s body curled up at the foot of the dais.
Antonius rushed across the vast chamber and fell to his knees beside her.
“Do not be alarmed. She sleeps.”
He glanced up, startled. The Oracle stood before him. She wore a deep-purple gown, and her flowing golden-blonde hair shimmered with light, glowing as though each strand was lit from within.
“My lady.” He bowed his head.
“My beloved.” She stretched out her hand.
Antonius took it, and as he rose to his feet, the years fell away. He smiled and took her in his arms, the dashingly handsome, virile young man he’d once been. Long long ago.