Chapter Six

 

 

Pari twisted wildly around, trying to see, and to his horror, he realized the tail was firmly attached to him—in fact, growing out of his tailbone! He stopped dead still and gawked up at Maxsim, his mouth dropping open. The damn tail gave a huge swish and wrapped itself around his legs. Pari was too shocked to move.

“W-w-what have you d-done to me?”

“I haven’t done anything. You did it all yourself. Now then, Pari, if you don’t wish to go through life having to explain your pretty little tail, or,” Maxsim gave him a once over, “Freeze to death, I suggest you concentrate a bit harder on shifting to your dragon. Completely this time.”

“I can’t!”

“Obviously, you can. You just needed me to give you a little incentive. Should I provide more for you?”

Maxsim took a step toward him, but Pari backed away so quickly he fell on his ass again. This time, his tail helped cushion his fall.

“Help me!”

Maxsim huffed out a long breath and pulled him to his feet to stand up again. “Oh, very well. Let’s try this. Take a deep breath and close your eyes. Tell your dragon to come out. Tell it you want to see it.”

Pari opened one eye to peer up at Maxsim. “Really?”

“Yes. Now do it.”

Pari closed his eyes again and sighed. “Dragon, p-please come out and show yourself? I really want to s-see you.”

“Again,” Maxsim said softly. “Louder this time. Stop shivering. And this time don’t ask it—demand it.”

Pari took a deep shuttering breath. “Dragon!” Pari shouted, feeling desperate as the tail swished again and hit him in the back of the head. “Get out here now! I want to see you.”

A sudden shudder wracked his body and threw him to his knees. It felt as if his body was being turned inside out. He tried to scream, but instead of his voice, a puff of smoke came billowing out of his mouth. Inside his chest, he could feel something thumping hard. He put up a hand to it wonderingly, but that hand was now a paw, tipped with long, lethal looking claws.

“That’s your Ruby heart, beating fully for the first time. Just a little more now, Pari. Concentrate harder!”

He closed his eyes again and the same inside-out feeling swept over him, this time it was so powerful it dropped him all the way to the frozen ground. It wasn’t exactly painful, but it wasn’t at all pleasant either, and it was absolutely terrifying. He felt his face changing, pushing itself outward into a dragon’s snout as he scrambled to stand. Then he realized his body was soaring upward and he was gazing down at Maxsim, still in his human form below him.

“Ack!” Pari squawked and looked down at Maxsim in horror. “What’s happening to me?” he said, or tried to say. Instead a chirping sound came out of his throat, with the little puffs of smoke again.

Maxsim shouted up to him from below. “You’re a beautiful Ruby dragon. Try out your wings.”

In amazement, Pari gawked over his shoulder and saw magnificent wings, covered in blood red scales with long, gorgeous red feathers overlaying them. He concentrated on flapping them and…absolutely nothing happened. His wings moved up and down a bit, but he had no control over them at all, and they didn’t lift him so much as an inch off his feet.

Maxsim laughed as he gazed up at him. “I haven’t taught you to fly yet, little one. That’s for your next lesson.” Maxsim’s body shimmered again and his Pearl Dragon appeared. It straightened to its full height and Pari could finally see why Maxsim called him little one. The Pearl shot up at least fifteen feet taller than his dragon. The Pearl flapped its massive wings and began to hover in the air above Pari. Then he swooped down and his sharp teeth clamped onto the back of Pari’s neck—in effect, he was scruffing him.

Though Pari flailed his wings and tried to resist, the huge dragon lifted him easily off the ground and took off again, though not to the top of the cliff this time, but to a huge opening on the granite wall’s face just below the edge. The Pearl set Pari down on the wide ledge and transformed quickly back to his human form.

“Now your turn,” he said. “Picture your human body and change back for me.” Pari scrunched his face hard and tried. He closed his eyes and tried again. Stomping his dragon’s foot, he glared at the Prince, who laughed up at him. “Well, I suppose you’re just going to have to stay a dragon forever. Perhaps I can have my blacksmith fashion a pretty collar and a leash for you. You can sleep in the stables, I suppose—but no, you’d frighten the horses. Well, I guess we’ll have to build you your own little house out back. Like a big doghouse.”

Pari huffed out a huge billow of smoke and closed his eyes again. For one terrifying moment, he was afraid it wasn’t working, but he closed his eyes more tightly and inwardly commanded his dragon to go away and let his human come out. To his utter amazement, it worked.

Maxsim smiled down at him as he landed beside him in the snow and pulled him into his arms. “Good. For a first timer, that wasn’t bad at all. Next time, it will go much more smoothly.”

“Next time?”

“Of course. Transforming takes practice and you should have been doing this since you were just a child. Now you have to make up for lost time.”

“I-I didn’t know. No one ever told me.”

“It’s all right. Your mother was human, so she didn’t know, and the Obsidians you said you grew up around wouldn’t have helped you anyway. Now, let’s go inside and see my treasure before you freeze again.”

Since that was the best idea Pari had heard all morning, he quickly followed the prince to a big door set in the side of the cliff. It was made of thick oak and had an iron padlock securing it, but the prince murmured a few words, passed his hand over the lock and Pari heard the tumbler click as the padlock opened. The prince drew Pari into the cave, taking a fur throw from a hook by the door and tossing it to him, and then wrapping himself in a floor-length ermine coat. He snapped his fingers to light a torch, and Pari didn’t know if he was more amazed at the treasure heaped inside or the prince’s magic that he was so casually displaying.

The prince held the torch aloft for Pari to see. No, it was definitely the treasure that was the most impressive. Maxsim’s hoard was heaped in staggering profusion—piles of diamonds, sapphires, rubies, pearls, opals, emeralds and jade. There were stacks of gold bars and puddles of gold and silver coins spilled out of leather-bound chests, a few golden helmets and jewel encrusted swords, gemstone covered crowns and dazzling diamond studded scepters. The floor was scattered with gold dust that sparkled and shimmered under the glow of the torch in the prince’s hand. He set it in a silver sconce hanging on the wall and turned back to Pari.

“Well, what do you think?”

“It’s magnificent,” Pari said softly, looking around him. “It must have taken you years to amass all of this.”

“Yes, I suppose. I inherited some from my grandparents on my father’s side. Some belonged to my grandfather on my mother’s side, who gave it to me after my mother passed away. A lot of it,” he gestured toward the helmets and swords, “I captured during great battles. And then of course, there is the tribute given to me by my loyal subjects.”

“Your subjects have enough to feed themselves and still give you tribute?”

“Of course,” Maxsim said, rather arrogantly Pari thought. “Mine is a prosperous kingdom. Of necessity, considering how far north we are, we aren’t a farming community. Instead, we have many tradesmen and merchants who have good businesses here. We have some farmers, of course, who have developed root crops that thrive in the colder weather in this northern kingdom. Also tobacco grows well here. In addition, we make fine liquors—whiskey and vodka and the like. We trade with other villages farther south.”

“Are you a good king, then? I’ve heard stories that you are.”

Maxsim folded his arms over his chest and gave him a narrow look. “Is this about being from the future again? I don’t believe your wild stories, little Ruby, so you may as well stop them.”

“But they aren’t just stories! It’s all true. I came back through time to save you. To save your life in hopes that things in my time would be better if the wicked queen hadn’t…” he broke off and looked up at Maxsim nervously.

“Hadn’t killed me?” he snorted. “As you can see, I’m perfectly fine. The ‘wicked’ old woman you attacked didn’t harm me.”

Pari stepped close to him, slipped a hand inside his coat and put it on his bare chest, and gazed up at him. “I’d like to keep it that way. She was the Obsidian queen, using her magic to disguise herself. I swear it. You have your own magic—why don’t you believe me when I tell you about hers?”

The prince covered Pari’s hand with his own and seemed to contemplate him. “I know she has magic, but that couldn’t have been the queen. I have spies in her kingdom, you know. I would have received word if she left there. She is a wicked creature, Pari, and I will give you that. But the old woman in the marketplace was simply that. An old woman.”

“But the obsidian knife! How would you explain that?”

“We’ve gone over this. She said it belonged to her grandson, who could have purchased it anywhere.”

Pari’s shoulders slumped. “All right, but if by some slim chance that wasn’t the queen—and I still think it was—then she’s going to come after you soon. Maybe she’ll even try something different the next time, but I swear to you she will come back!”

“I believe you. I always knew she’d come again, and I assure you my guards are vigilant.”

“What about now? There are no guards around now, are there?”

Maxsim stepped closer, pulling Pari into his arms. “And let them know the location of my treasure? My men are loyal to me, Pari, but I’m not a fool. Greed makes men do terrible things, including betrayal. Pari, I’m not in any danger here. I know you believe this fantasy of yours, but it only makes sense that this is some kind of dream you had from when you were injured. There was some odd potion on the knife, after all. Who knows what kind of dreams it may have caused? You do sleep an awful lot. Perhaps it was some kind of drug, which made the dream seem real to you.” He put a finger to Pari’s lips when he started to protest.

“But I attacked the old crone before I was injured!” he managed anyway.

“That’s right, you did.” The Prince sighed. “Then there must have been some other cause. Some illness that caused you to imagine things. It’s either that or believe you’re completely insane, and I don’t believe that.”

“Gee, thanks,” Pari mumbled.

“Pari, I know you thought it was real, but now that you’re feeling better, surely you must realize that what you’re saying is impossible. No one can travel through time. I assure you, my magic is strong and if I could do such a thing, I would go back to when that horrible Obsidian bitch first came to my father’s castle. I would kill her before she destroyed my parents and robbed me of my heritage. And make no mistake, Pari. I still will, as soon as my armies are large enough. I will take back my kingdom and get rid of Neparth and her malignant influence once and for all.”

Pari stomped his foot and glared at the prince. “But it wasn’t a dream, I’m telling you you’re in terrible danger! Stop being so thick-headed and listen to me!”

“You’re being incredibly disrespectful again!” The prince picked him up and carried him to the wall of the cave, where he had four iron cuffs attached to a chain embedded in the rock wall. He quickly pushed Pari to face the wall and attached the cuffs to his wrists and ankles, stripping away the warm fur throw and tossing it aside on the floor.

“What-what are you going to do?” Pari twisted around to follow the prince’s movements.

“I think you know.”

“Are you going to flog me?” Even Pari realized that sounded way too hopeful.

“No,” he said, striding back to an oak chest on the wall, taking out a slender switch, about half the width of Pari’s little finger. He whipped it through the air and it made a thin, singing sound that made Pari shudder. “I’m going to put some pretty stripes on that already red butt of yours. And if you’re very good, I’ll take you down, lay you on your back and fuck you while you hold up your legs and beg me for more. How does that sound to you?”

“I won’t do it!” Pari cried out defiantly.

“Then you refuse? Do you want me to stop?”

There was disappointment in the Prince’s voice as Pari bit down on his lower lip again. Last night had been incredible and he’d been hard as a rock ever since Maxsim had first taken off his clothes. For that matter, his cock had given a definite twitch at the sight of the cane in the prince’s hand. But the man was insufferably arrogant.

“No, I don’t want you to stop. I can handle anything you can dish out. But I won’t beg you! And I won’t hold my legs up in the air like some shameless whore!”

“We’ll see about that, little Ruby,” Maxsim said softly in his ear before licking a stripe along the side of Pari’s jaw. A groan escaped Pari’s throat, but he quickly stifled it, horrified that he’d given the prince even that much satisfaction. He steeled his resolve not to make a sound as the prince stepped back and ran the thin switch between Pari’s legs, coming to rest against his balls. He tapped them with it as Pari winced and glanced over his shoulder, his eyebrows raised.

“Don’t worry, sweetheart. This is going to make some pretty stripes for your little ass, but not your balls.” Maxsim drew it back then and brought it down on the roundest part of his ass with a stinging slash. Pari wanted to cry out at the sting but was just not going to allow himself to even give that to Maxsim. He put down his head and waited for the next one, which came way too fast. It was right on top of the first one and this time Pari tried to raise his leg, making the chains rattle wildly. He hissed in a breath through his mouth and grinned over his shoulder at Maxsim.

“Is that all you got? I could do this all day.”

“Don’t tempt me,” Maxsim said through a slight smile. He came up behind Pari and smoothed a hand over the stripes. “You have a lovely couple of little welts here.” He stepped up and ground his erection into Pari’s ass. “Can you feel them?”

Pari couldn’t hold back his moan this time. He dropped his head back and Maxsim took hold of his hair and pulled him against his chest, dropping his mouth over Pari’s and plunging his tongue inside. Maxsim’s tongue was setting fire to any rational thought he might still have had left. How could he crave this man so much?

Maxsim let him go and stepped back to lay two more stripes across Pari’s ass in rapid succession. Pari cried out despite his earlier vow not to, and again, Maxsim came up to grind against him, his pupils blown with desire. He took the cuffs off Pari’s wrists and ankles and caught him up in his arms, kissing his lips again as he held him. Pari kissed him back with the same passion. His kisses were intoxicating, and Pari couldn’t get enough of them.

He laid Pari down on the fur throw and fell down beside him, running his hands over his chest, once again tracing the scar. “So beautiful,” he murmured, bending his head to nibble and lick at Pari’s nipples, while Pari writhed beneath him. Pari’s muscles jumped and flexed at the prince’s touch as his hands slid farther south, caressing his abs and dipping down to tease over his cock. Maxsim’s long fingers wrapped around his shaft and slowly began to stroke it, while his tongue traced over Pari’s nipples again and he bent down for a tiny bite of each one.

Pari hissed in a breath and his heart hammered.

“You’re so beautiful,” Maxsim breathed in his ear. “And so responsive. I didn’t hurt you, did I?”

“No, not really. I wanted it.”

“Do you want to come, sweetheart?” Pari nodded and reached for him, but he put a hand on his chest to hold him down. “Do you want me to fuck you?”

“Yes!”

Maxsim grinned devilishly at him. “Then you know what you have to say.”

Pari huffed out a long-suffering sigh. “Please, Maxsim. Why do you do this to me?”

Maxsim dropped another kiss on his lips. “Because you beg so pretty.”

“All right,” Pari sighed. “I’m begging.”

The prince laughed softly and dropped a kiss on Pari’s lips. “And you know what else you have to do.”

Pari sighed and reached for his legs, though his hands were trembling as he pulled them up. He glared at his cruel prince. “Like this?”

“Exactly,” Maxsim said, falling down between his thighs and stroking a finger up and down Pari’s crease with his finger tip. A long moan escaped Pari’s throat as Maxsim bent his head to lick him along his crease and thrust his tongue inside his entrance again and again, both to tease him and get him wet.

“I’ll have to bring some oil here for the next time we come,” he said, as he stroked Pari and licked him until he was about to lose his mind. Another long moan rumbled from Pari’s throat as he responded to Maxsim’s incredible tongue swirling over him and dipping inside, before he slid his cock inside him. The pressure was great, and they had no oil to ease his way, so Pari tensed his muscles and cried out. Maxsim wrapped his hand around his cock and stroked it steadily, until Pari was feeling better. He kissed the side of his face until he relaxed even more, easing Maxsim’s way inside him.

When Maxsim was fully seated, he stopped to give Pari a chance to adjust to him, kissing him again tenderly and cupping his ass so that he could rub the welts he’d put there. The discomfort was mixed with pleasure until Pari no longer could tell the difference. Maxsim stroked deep inside him, working over his prostate again and again. Soon he pushed in even deeper, and then Maxsim took hold of Pari’s cock again. He stroked him hard only a few times and Pari came in his hand, calling out his name. Maxsim began to thrust erratically too, and then he was coming, holding Pari close to his heart.

Later, Pari lay exhausted, wrapped up in Maxsim’s arms. He’d had quite an afternoon for himself and it wasn’t over yet. He still had to get back down off the mountain. Hoping to avoid that situation for a while, he snuggled even closer in Maxsim’s arms, but soon, the prince yawned and stretched and rose to his feet. “Come along. Duty calls, unfortunately, and we have to go back to my horse. Besides, he needs feeding and it will be dark soon.”

“Can I take the fur with me?”

Maxsim laughed. “Yes, you can take it. It’s getting colder outside now that the sun is setting. Are you getting hungry again?”

“I’m starving.”

“Then let’s go back to the castle and have some dinner. And on the way, I’ll tell you what you need to do to learn to fly.”

“Fly?”

“Oh yes. We’ll begin your lessons soon. The castle ramparts are a perfect place for you to practice your takeoffs and landings. Did you know, Pari, that dragons often have sex while flying?”

“They do?”

“You see? I have a great deal yet to teach you.”