Hoard

She was so soft.

After the hours he’d spent in Izayaroa’s arms, the hardness of her wasn’t a surprise. She had scales in all the same places, arms and legs and the spiky ridge of them running all the way up her spine. Plus the claws, and those fangs that kept nicking his lower lip thanks to the endearing clumsiness of her efforts. His fingers now and then grazed the base of her horns when he stroked them through her hair.

But oh, so soft. Even at a glance, she was rounder of build than Izayaroa or Tiavathyris; no one would call Emeralaphine plump, but she had the figure of a healthy woman who ate well and whose pursuits were mostly academic. And of course, featuring prominently in his awareness, she was so buxom that it was slightly difficult to embrace her closely—easily the best problem Kaln had ever had in his life.

And on the subject of excellent problems: she wasn’t very good at this, and never had Kaln been so delighted to share an activity with an inept partner. He wouldn’t go so far as to say that Emeralaphine had never been kissed, as he frankly doubted anyone could live so many centuries foregoing one of life’s most basic pleasures, but her inexperience was on full display. She was awkward, uncertain which way to turn her head, her claws fumbling uncomfortably at his body as she sought an unfamiliar embrace. She kept biting him, and he was sure it was not deliberate. Also, she seemed to have the same instinct Izayaroa did to nuzzle at him with her nose and forehead like a cat rather than with her lips, which made him suspect that was a dragon thing.

It was adorable.

The contrast was so alluring. Emeralaphine was so assured, so arrogant and prickly and, it had to be said, cranky. But then, there was her defenselessness to flattery, how easy it was to make her blush…and now this. Softness and hardness, in personality as well as in body. Kaln could really see himself falling for her, if he wasn’t careful.

Their lips parted, both gasping for breath. He opened his eyes; hers were staring at him, wide and vulnerable. It was Haktria who’d taught him to watch people’s pupils, that in average light their size could reveal emotions. In humans, this required close attention, but the effect was much easier to see in a dragon’s eyes. Emeralaphine’s were dilated almost fully round, the thinnest lips of ice blue surrounding them.

Kaln grinned and leaned forward again, this time nuzzling at her nose with his own. “Not so bad, hmm?”

She looked away, unable to duck her head because it just rubbed her forehead against his. Already flushing pink, she went a shade closer to crimson.

“I…that…ahem.” Breathless, Emeralaphine cleared her throat, trying for an aloof tone which she didn’t quite pull off. “A simple mammalian allogrooming instinct, I presume. I am indulging you, husband. Such things are…ordinarily…beneath a dragon’s dignity.”

Kaln allowed his grin to widen by a hair, gently taking her chin in his fingers, brushing his thumb across her lower lip. She gasped; her claws tightened on his back. It was very good that he was dragon-proof or she’d have crushed and eviscerated him several times over by now.

“If this is your mere indulgence, my lady wife,” he murmured, leaning closer, “I hardly dare to anticipate the experience of your ardor.”

At that she went absolutely scarlet. Clearing her throat again, she instinctively avoided his gaze before obviously catching herself doing it and forcing her eyes back to lock with his own. Smiling, he waited; as fun as it was to tease her, Kaln was mindful of the limits of her tolerance. This burgeoning relationship would be severely damaged if he actually hurt her pride.

Indeed, it took her but a few moments of concentration to restore some of her equanimity.

“Well, this has already been instructive,” Emeralaphine stated, relaxing her grip upon him and wrangling her poise back into place, inch by inch. “Your responsiveness to dragons seems reactive to instinct and emotion, husband. That squares neatly with what little is known of a godling’s process of evolution, not to mention the unconscious use of magic in general. But it will be useful to have…confirmation.”

What? Kaln blinked, trying to follow, and then belatedly realized that maybe he should also have taken a step back to consider.

He was looking straight into her eyes, at their level. She was a full head taller than he; it had taken some coaxing to get her to bend down enough to kiss. What—

The dose of reality apparently broke the spell, and the power holding him off the ground dropped him. Not overly trained in athletic pursuits, Kaln hit the ground somewhat awkwardly, on his heels. At least he didn’t stagger, already having a good grip on the woman before him; he just had to adjust his hands to her hips. Also, this again placed his face right in the incredible plushness of her bosom. As tumbles went, this was easily his favorite.

Kaln cleared his own throat, now, and took the initiative in stepping back before she found reason to push him away. “Well! That was…a surprise. I didn’t actually…”

“Yes, so I gathered,” she agreed. Still flushed and slightly disheveled, she was nonetheless regaining more of her composure by the second. “As I said, husband, that is not outside the realm of expectations. We must simply be…careful. This underscores my caution that any sufficiently intense experience may cause the development of your emerging godhead; no doubt some will be by small degrees, their effects more apparent in aggregate, but these things may also cause the emergence of new powers. Do keep in mind that the powers you are gaining are an indicator of the form of magic you are developing. Consider carefully what you unleash into the world.”

“It does seem extremely…responsive to my…interactions with dragons,” he agreed, tilting his head to gaze up at her, and carefully controlling his expression as her receding blush suddenly deepened again. “Hm… This is going to be a challenge. Being in the arms of a magnificently beautiful woman is rather…distracting.”

Emeralaphine drew in a deep breath, and a particularly transparent expression flashed across her face: frustration at her own inability to control these reactions. That told Kaln it was time to back down.

“Yes, well… It will be a challenge for us all. We shall simply have to proceed with care, husband. At any rate!” She coughed and straightened her dress, then her hair. “This was a…an enlightening start. I believe that is enough for this morning. We will reconvene…ah, later.”

She turned and strode back toward the lair, head held high, and in watching her walk away, Kaln made a new discovery: the gait imposed by her digitigrade talons, the way she placed each in front of the other, made her hips roll in a way that on any other woman he’d have to assume was deliberate. Emeralaphine, he knew, would not so flaunt herself on purpose, and quite possibly didn’t even know it would have that effect. Even worse, and more surprising, the way her sinuous tail waved behind her accentuated the effect.

He just couldn’t resist.

Kaln focused, felt the power welling in him, like a glow rising from his deepest core. He felt her, the colossal power and majesty currently packed into that small humanoid package, felt himself attune with it…sensed her very being, a current of energy he could reach out and touch. Not to control, he knew he could not contend directly with her own will, but… He could reach out to her, use her overwhelming existence as a springboard. His own dragon-aligned power recognized her as an anchor point from which he could…

Well, try something more consciously that he’d only just learned he could do.

“And Emeralaphine?”

Kaln flickered across the empty space between them; suddenly he was right behind her, up at her level. Speaking in a throaty murmur directly into her pointed ear, while tenderly stroking the backs of his fingers down the ridge of scales lining her spine.

“Thank you.”

She froze, tensed, shivered, and blushed absolutely scarlet. Kaln, stifling his grin, dropped far more lightly back to the ground, now that he was expecting it.

“You are welcome,” his wife said stiffly, then raised her chin again and marched away. This time, he let her go.

That, he knew, had not been…strategic. In that moment, he simply couldn’t help himself. She was just so…so very…

Emeralaphine must never, ever learn that he found her cute. He knew she would never forgive that.

For now, and for a while to come, it was time to leave her alone. A courtship was a campaign over the long haul, and once the subject had been nudged out of their comfort zone, the right action was to let them return to it and regain their serenity. Pressing too hard or too soon would drive them away, but if led along the steps of the dance with skill, they would be more willing to step further out of that zone when it was time.

It felt vaguely slimy, using Haktria’s coaching to woo his new consorts. Still, Kaln had to remind himself that the stakes here were for his survival, to say nothing of the power both he and they stood to gain… And the matter of who would be in charge of whatever relationship ultimately developed. In terms of taking command, he was at a disadvantage against them in ways that all his anti-dragon powers would not overcome.

Beautiful they might be, not to mention delightful to the touch, oddly charming in their way, and—in at least one case—breathtakingly skilled in bed. Kaln still could not afford to be complacent around them.

He drew in a deep breath, taking a moment to gaze around as Emeralaphine vanished back inside. The chance to compose himself was welcome, and the view still well worth seeing. Even aside from its incredible historical value, the Timekeeper city spreading around him was a stunning spectacle; it would be beautiful enough fully intact, but somehow the forest and lake and rockfalls choking it made the sight all the more aesthetic. Mournful, in a way, but no less lovely.

Kaln was sorely tempted to wander off and poke around. Even though he wasn’t a scholar of Timekeeper relics specifically, the sheer unique value of what was now spread out around him was enough to seize the imagination of anyone with a spark of curiosity in their souls. Emeralaphine had been right, however: this place undoubtedly held dangers, and just because he was probably much more durable now didn’t justify taking silly risks. Delving ruins was a specific skill set, one he did not have.

Well, there was time. He was going to be here for the foreseeable future, and surely he could persuade one of the dragons to show him around at some point. Before he turned to sightseeing, he had probably better focus on his social situation. Everything depended on that.

With some reluctance, Kaln turned and strolled after Emeralaphine, back up the stairs and across the plaza. He’d given her enough time to be well out of the way by the time he returned to the doors, and then to the tunnel that led back to her enchanted library.

Here was another place he urgently wanted to spend some time exploring—one that was far more readily available and safer. This one he felt might be a better use of his time; why shouldn’t he get some reading done before he set out to deal with more dragons? Best if he didn’t come across as too needy, anyway.

Unfortunately for Kaln’s plans, the library’s denizen had her own.

“Welcome back, o my lord and master,” Pheneraxa said in the driest of tones, raising her head as he strolled down the carpeted aisle. “Might I beg thee for the indulgence of a moment of thy precious time?”

Kaln repressed a sigh, turning toward her. “That’s good, very nice. I do appreciate a bit of well-delivered sarcasm.”

“I had a feeling you might,” she said, grinning. That, of course, was terrifying, but Kaln…was getting used to it. It was one thing to know, intellectually, that those rows of huge, gleaming teeth were no physical threat to him. Believing it was another, and he was still getting there, but the emotionally intimate nature of the power growing in him helped. Even after less than a day, he’d had enough experiences with dragons to have some certainty that none of their biting and clawing would endanger him. “So! How far did you get with my mother?”

Kaln blinked, then blinked again. He wasn’t sure what to expect from her, exactly, but…not that.

“I… Ahem, I don’t think that’s really—”

“That’s the first thing you should probably be aware of,” Pheneraxa interrupted, gazing down at him with unmistakable smugness. “We are solitary creatures; there are no true universals in our behavior, and what general customs we observe are just sensible adaptations to our biology and physical nature. Dragons do not have a culture, as such. Consequently, we do not have taboos. Including sexual ones.”

“I…see.”

Her grin broadened. Kaln had a distinct feeling she was doing that on purpose.

“Just for example, Vanimax is certain to have numerous…issues with you, Ar-Kaln Zelekhir. The fact that you spent part of last night up to the hilt in his mother is not one. He’d be quite confused if you brought it up.”

“Well. I’ll…just…add that to my long list of excellent reasons not to discuss it with him. Thank you for the advice, Pheneraxa. Was that all you wanted to tell me?”

“Oh, I did indeed call you over to offer advice, but that was only the prelude. So! Soon, having sampled the veritable buffet of mates suddenly available to you, you’ll find yourself inclined to have two or more of them at once. I strongly advise you to refrain.”

This conversation was spared from being as excruciatingly awkward as it might have been by the fact that it was so surreal. He didn’t quite know how to react to this, and found himself oddly amused.

“Indeed?” Kaln folded his arms and smiled sardonically up at her. “You’ve certainly made some assumptions, there.”

“I read, Ar-Kaln. It’s what I do. I live in one of the greatest libraries in existence; even at my age I have not been through every book housed here, and I mean to remain at least until I have done so. I’m willing to acknowledge that I am quite sheltered, in terms of personal experience, but I know great swaths of that which is known by mortals—virtually anything they have troubled to write down. And do you know, can you truly imagine, what a disproportionate amount of your species’ literary output is devoted to sex? I probably know things about human sexuality that would shock even you, urbane city boy that you are. Do you follow my meaning?”

He sighed, his smile turning into a grimace. “Yes, you’ve just broadly indicated that, while a virgin, you’re probably the kinkiest person I know. None of that was information I particularly needed, Pheneraxa. Just because you don’t have sexual taboos doesn’t mean anyone else wants to hear about it in casual conversation.”

“Ah, I suppose it is your turn to make assumptions, then.” She shifted position slightly, the spaded tip of her long tail tapping against the floor, and her grin lessened, becoming a smirk. “It’s not as if this is even remotely toward the fringes of sexual experience. A man, upon acquiring sufficient power and wealth that he can support multiple concubines, inevitably seeks the indulgence of enjoying their attentions simultaneously. Woman, good; two women, better. I believe that is how the arithmetic goes?”

“Well, it’s hard to argue with math,” he said gravely.

“Quite. And my advice to you is to abstain from that indulgence, Ar-Kaln. A dragon harem is not the sort from which you can arrange yourself a menage.”

“Oh?” Kaln raised an eyebrow. “And here I thought you didn’t have sexual taboos.”

“We don’t.” Her smile widened again. “I give it even odds whether either of the old wyrms you might thus proposition would take violent offense, or decide to indulge you, but the second option would be far worse. I don’t know if you’ve observed the pattern yet, but there is little in the way of personal warmth in this family. We tolerate one another’s presence for the sake of utility. Dragons have a tendency to get violently competitive at the drop of a proverbial hat. If you place two of your consorts in a position where they have to share your attention, they will instead compete for it. That will swiftly escalate into a squabble you will not be able to control.”

Pheneraxa lowered her head, bringing her nose close enough that he could reach out and pat it, and smirked again.

“There is surely no good time to find yourself caught between two offended dragons having a territorial spat, but I suspect that while you are naked with the blood directed away from your brain would be one of the worst.”

“I…see,” Kaln said carefully. “That actually is…a cogent explanation, and sensible advice. Thank you, Pheneraxa.”

She blinked languidly. “You are welcome. I shall try not to take umbrage at your obvious surprise.”

“I confess, I am a little surprised. Grateful, to be clear, but I didn’t expect you would be so kindly disposed toward me, so soon. You just tossed away the chance to see me stumble into a predictable dilemma which would undoubtedly be very amusing to watch…from a safe distance.”

“Imagine what it is like, to live in a family that survives on the basis of its members carefully not provoking one another.” She raised her head again, staring down her long blue nose at him. “Yes, I’ve seen elder dragons squabbling like toddlers. Yes, it is pretty funny. But it is not enjoyable to live under a roof with them when they get like that. Palatial as our home may seem to you, there just isn’t enough space to make that comfortable. Neither of my siblings are particularly bright, but we have all learned through long, painful experience to keep the peace around here. So no, Kaln, I do not dislike you enough that I would particularly want to see you suffer, but far more importantly, I would rather you didn’t rock the boat any more than you necessarily will simply by dint of what you are and what you represent. In short: do what you need to with your consorts, but kindly try not to agitate them unnecessarily. You’re not the only one who lives here.”

He gazed thoughtfully up at her for a moment.

“Yeah… I can tell you’ve read a lot of books.”

She smiled. “Thank you.”

“You are welcome.” There was no telling whether she’d picked up on the backhanded barb, and he wasn’t about to dwell on it. “Well, this has been pleasantly surprising, Pheneraxa. So far, you’re my favorite stepdaughter.”

He felt the change in her mood even before he saw it, and that reaction came swiftly. By the time she drew back her lips and narrowed her eyes, he had already sensed the sudden spike of anger and revulsion as her attention focused aggressively on him. Fortunately, the practice Kaln had recently been getting enabled him to react with control rather than instinct: he remained deliberately calm as she rose to her feet, talons scraping against the floor.

“I was older, wiser, and more learned at the time of your grandparents’ conception than it is the lot of your kind ever to become,” Pheneraxa hissed, glaring down at him. “You are no father to me, human. Don’t forget that.”

Kaln held still, and held on to his equanimity. Meeting her eyes, he deliberately gave her a long moment to breathe, and then just as deliberately nodded. Both to avoid escalating the sudden tension, and to buy time for him to frantically figure out what to do with this new situation.

Finally, he nodded once. “I apologize, Pheneraxa. I was attempting a little joke, and didn’t realize that would offend you. Now that I know, I won’t say it again.”

Calm was necessary here…but it was not the only thing which was. He gave it another beat to settle before going on to assert what he overall needed to have in this family:

Dominance.

“And in the future, I will expect a more measured expression of displeasure from you, erudite creature that you are. It is most unbecoming to lash out emotionally. Particularly when you know very well that you have nothing with which to threaten me.”

Her eyes narrowed further, and her claws flexed again. Kaln met her stare, unmoving, and the moment drew out in silence as both refused to back down. He gave her a count of five, and then doubled down.

“Lose the attitude, young lady.”

For just a second, he thought that gambit was about to go in the opposite direction. Not from her body language, when remained tense and aggressive but unchanging. He felt it, though, the spike of renewed irritation and offense.

But then, just as quickly, her emotions stilled, threaded through with wry amusement. And finally, she relaxed, settling back down on her claws, and raised her head in a calmer posture.

“You really are an interesting little specimen, Ar-Kaln Zelekhir. I certainly have my doubts, but… Perhaps you can prevail here, after all.”

So saying, she calmly stretched out again, laying her head to rest upon the library floor, and closed her eyes.

Kaln let out a soft sigh. “Good talk, Pheneraxa.”

There was no response; clearly her default strategy for uncomfortable confrontation was to pretend to be asleep about it.

While Kaln had been about to explore the library, he decided to put that off until this new tension had had time to cool. Well, there should be plenty of time for that, too. For now, he strode back out into the central hall, leaving the dragon to her inscrutable thoughts.

As it happened, this turned out to be fortuitous.

“Ah, husband.” Tiavathyris was standing in one of the arched tunnels on the opposite wall, undoubtedly the doorway to her own private lair. “Perfect; please join me. I would speak with you.”