A Bride for the Mountain God (Divine Dragons 2)

“My brother Dolman had the capacity for kindness when called for, but he was quite possessive of his things. Something about being one of the older brothers but not the oldest, in the middle, put him in the shadows a bit.” I almost licked my fork clean of the savory meat and potato dish. Instead, I primly set the fork over my plate and gazed across the table at Ronan, where he watched with rapt attention. He’d listened to me drone on about my family without interruption. “What about your family? The other gods?”

Ronan leaned back in his seat, a lord perfectly at ease in his domain. The glimmer in his eyes as he’d listened to me dimmed as his thoughts turned to his family. He turned from the table to the low fire crackling in the hearth of the dining room. Afternoon light cleaved through the trees and broke through the wall of windows at the gods’ back, highlighting his horns like a twisted crown.

“What’s there to say? They aren’t as exciting as your family.” He idly stroked his chin, more reserved than I’d seen him thus far.

“I find it hard to believe a god can be less exciting than some princeling.”

“We are creatures born from the natural chaos of the world. Fickle in our divine right and willing to follow our natural imperative. Explaining our complicated histories would take ages, and we have time for that later. For now, I want to know you.”

“Then you didn’t have the same experience with your godly brothers as I did with my annoying ones?” I smirked to ease the weight of his statement.

“Alas, our upbringings were nothing alike,” he admitted, finally facing me with a slow grin. “Mortal relationships differ widely, but that’s exacerbated in my case. My brothers and I weren’t raised together in a family unit with immortal parents teaching us how to be divine. We were formed from the powers of the world and emerged into existence alongside our domains.”

“That sounds difficult.”

Ronan waved dismissively. “Not at all. I came into existence fully cognizant of my duties and responsibilities to the world. I’ve maintained the forces of nature since the first mountain rose and the first bloom grew toward the sun.”

“And you’ve waited.”

Our eyes locked. His lips twitched at the corner and my heart twirled.

“Yes, I have waited.” He caught my hand at the corner of the table, my arm caught between the cool wooden surface and his warm fingers. “But no longer.”

I gnawed on my lip in the ensuing silence. Questions bounced around my head, and I struggled to latch onto a single one.

“What are you thinking?” he asked.

“Well, it’s only… if I am your mate—er, wife—what does that entail for me? Human wives have certain expectations.” My free hand fidgeted with my half drank glass of wine.

“Expectations?” His dark, arched brows lifted toward his hairline.

“Like duties to the home and… family.”

“A family, ah.” Dark green eyes swept to the fire, contemplating in silence for a moment. “That would be entirely up to you, Nia. You may do whatever you’d like. If you want to take up household duties, it wouldn’t bother me, but I have no expectations of you. I only endeavor to make you happy. And if you’d like a family, we can make that happen. Children are a possibility.”

My vision darted over his horns, wings, and scales. I gulped.

“How are the children of dragons born?”

Ronan’s head whipped around, eyes widening as he took in my blanched color and frightened eyes. A barking laughter escaped him until his shoulders were shaking.

“Well, I only wonder if I’ll lay eggs or be torn apart by a baby with horns. I think my concerns are rational, thank you very much.”

He only continued laughing.

“None of that,” he heaved in a breath. “Any offspring we have would appear mostly human until maturity. But again, that’s only if you even want children.”

“Most husbands demand them. Human ones, at least.”

“So, already those assumptions don’t apply to me. I am a god, Nia. I’ve lived for thousands of years on my own just fine. I don’t need you to start popping out little godlings on a whim. You are your own person with your own desires for life.”

“Huh.” I slumped back in my seat, splayed out in a manner that my governess and father would have found appalling. “Then I am free?”

An odd concept that I didn’t quite grasp.

“You can do whatever you please. I can take you around the world if you like. We can travel and see the land as I manage it.”

“I thought my world had flipped upside down when Father decided to sacrifice me to the forest spirits. Now I not only have a dutiful husband whose company I enjoy, but the freedom to live a life of my design. It’s a lot to take in. I never deigned I’d have such freedoms after a lifetime living under a king’s thumb.”

“You deserve everything you want, princess.” He lifted our joined hands to press a delicate, meaningful kiss to my knuckles. You are mine, and I look after what’s mine.”

I glowered teasingly at him.

“Not mine as in belongs to me,” he reiterated, smiling. “Mine as in belongs with me. Always.”

A swooping sensation in my belly skyrocketed into my chest. Something fluttered against my sternum, and I placed my free hand on my chest as if to soothe the excited creature within me. It was a feeling, an emotion I couldn’t place—happiness, perhaps.

But I couldn’t let the Mountain God win me over that easily.

“Well, I suppose you’re pleased with the turn of events. My father sacrifices me to the forest spirits, and you’ve gotten a soulmate out of it,” I snipped, holding back a grin.

“That I am.” Ronan gazed at me through lidded eyes, mouth quirking at the corner before a smile stretched across his handsome face. “A lovely wife with a nice round ass.”

I feigned a sneer. “But I don’t belong to you.”

His eyes flashed.

A clawed hand shot out, grasping my neck. I gasped as he pulled me forward. The grip of his hand on my neck didn’t stop my breath, but applied a new type of pressure that made my head fuzzy in a delightful way. The fear of his hold, dangerous and potentially threatening, sank under the force of heady desire rising like a tide inside of me.

Ronan’s breath tickled my ear, and his lips nearly skimmed my cheek. My lashes fluttered shut as I hovered in suspense.

“You enjoy acting like a brat, but you should watch yourself, wife,” he drawled slowly. His thumb stroked my pulse point and my insides twirled. Then he released me, and I fell back in my seat, drooping with disappointment. “Now, if you’re finished eating, I have somewhere to show you.”

“What?” I stuttered, blinking through a haze.

Ronan stood from the table, straightening out the rugged leathers he wore, the embodiment of a draconic, woodsy mountain beast. His horns and massive height made him tower above me, and his tail lazily swept over the hardwood.

He held his hand out, expectantly waiting to assist me from the table. “Come on, princess. Leave the pomp behind and join me in the wilds today.”

“In the wilds!”

“Is my little princess too precious to traipse through some dirt?” He lifted a brow in challenge. “Too afraid of getting dirty?”

I ignored his offered hand and shot from the table. “I am not! I can handle anything you dish out. I ran from you in the woods after all, didn’t I?”

Ronan smiled; a genuine expression that made his eyes shine like emeralds. “Indeed, you did, princess. In that case, let’s go get filthy.”

He didn’t miss the shiver that ran through me.