She continued. "But … that force is there. The hatred, the betrayal that has kept him alive for many centuries still lingers. The heart was merely the container into which he had poured what left of his soul; now that it has been broken and the power of the stone destroyed, the power has dissipated … but it has not disappeared. These dark, unhappy feelings do not fade easily. They corrupt, and the corruption still exists. And so does Arthur."
I realized that she was correct, of course. I had seen Arthur shift shapes several times in just the course of less than an hour; the body in which he had fallen and hit the rocks was merely a container for his evil, as the Heart had been. The container was broken, but not the evil which had been housed within it. Somewhere, Arthur still existed; weakened, as my mother had predicted, but present nonetheless.
I looked from her, to my brother, and finally to my fierce and beloved mate. I saw the same determination in their eyes as that which I felt in my heart. I placed a hand on Anabelle's stomach, which now curved ever so slightly as the child within her grew.
"Then we'll be ready for him," I finally declared.
*
Five Years Later
I soared above the kingdom, reveling in the sights before me.
It was well past dusk, and the only light came from the full, ripe moon and the many torches and fires glazing below in the village at the foot of the castle. A great celebration was taking place below, one which had been going on for several weeks. My heightened senses allowed me to hear the laughter and revelry of the many people, Scot and Irish both, who mingled and danced and toasted. So much toasting it could make a man's head spin.
I felt great satisfaction as I banked right and flew away from the kingdom and further into the night sky. I had a job to do.
There he was, not far away from me, flying just as restlessly as I had the night before my own wedding celebration. Morgan swooped and glided, climbed and fell, working through the frenzy of energy and conflicting emotion I had felt more than five years earlier. Just as he had at for me, when I was near crazed with need for my lush and beautiful bride, I flew with my brother in order to keep him safely out of harm's way.
Ever since my battle with Arthur, when my human consciousness and dragon mind had seemed to meld into one, I was able to think clearly while in my dragon form. When I needed to be more beastly, as during a hunt, I could revert solely to the dragon and shut off the human Caside. Otherwise, I was far less a wild animal when I took flight. Perhaps this had just as much to do with Anabelle's influence over the years as it did that all-important day five years ago.
Anabelle. I had just left her, choosing to leave the last large celebration before the wedding ceremony earlier than was customary in order to enjoy time alone with her. I knew I'd be flying with Morgan that night; and if the memory of my own desperate flight the night before my wedding was any indication, there was no guarantee when we'd return.
She had looked so charming and stately in the new gown she and her ladies in waiting had created especially for the evening, with its gold embroidery so beautifully setting off her creamy skin and green eyes, that I had no choice but to lure her away from the festivities. Within minutes of making our excuses and saying goodnight, I had her pressed against the inside of the door leading to our chambers and was fucking her with abandon.
"Caside," she gasped again and again, gripping my shoulders to stay upright as I held one of her legs at hip height and forced my stiff cock into her. I covered her mouth with my own, stifling her cries as I plundered her mouth with my greedy tongue.
She began crying out wordlessly with every thrust, her cries growing louder and stronger every time our bodies slammed together. Her breasts bounced up and down, still encased in the low-cut gown. I removed my mouth from hers and licked those delicious breasts, straining to find the nipples just barely covered by fabric.
"Caside!" she nearly screamed when my tongue made contact with her sensitive pink flesh, and the sensation was enough to send her to a shattering climax. I never stopped thrusting, my efforts only increasing in the frenzied lust her impassioned cries had sparked in me. I slammed myself into her once more and reached my own release. We stood there, leaning against the door, catching our breath. Once we'd recovered, I helped her to undress.
"If I had known how my new gown would affect you, my lord," Anabelle murmured, "I would have worn it every night for the last week. I might wear it again tomorrow." She laughed at her jest, and I was just as charmed by her as I had been the first time I heard that beautiful laugh.
Now she was sleeping soundly, the activity of the last weeks and the exertion of our latest coupling leaving her barely able to keep her eyes open long enough to say goodnight once her head had touched the pillow. I looked fondly on her before shifting and taking to the sky.
I knew full well how blessed I was to be able to indulge myself with my mate whenever I so desired. Gone was the shy and inexperienced girl of sixteen Anabelle had been when we were wed; now, at twenty-one, she was every inch the partner I had always craved. Often times I would catch her eye during highly important events and we would grin at each other, having just finished another one of our breathless entanglements moments before our arrival.
I watched my brother as he flew and wished for him, more than anything else, the same sort of partnership Anabelle and I had found. She was my mate in every sense of the word; aside from being an exciting bedmate, she was also an extremely sage voice of reason in my life. She was the only person I knew, in fact, who could match wits with Morgan in terms of finding the best possible solutions to the various affairs of the kingdom.
I had come to rely on both of them nearly equally, and delighted in the fact that even when they were on opposing sides of an issue, Anabelle always found a way to compromise. She was the stateswoman I needed at my side, and a ruler every bit as strong as I was. I thanked the gods every day for her presence in my life.
I only hoped that Morgan could find the same happiness in his own union . While he would likely never be King – and happy he was because of it – he was still an extremely crucial part of the kingdom. He had sacrificed many sleepless nights and endless days all in the name of the people of County Cork and even those outside our realm. He deserved the sort of contentment I had been blessed with for so long.
I awoke in a state of bliss. A warm, wet sheath was sliding itself up and down my stiffened member. I opened my eyes to find my beloved Anabelle's riotous red curls splayed out across my torso, as her head bobbed up and down below my waist. I had just enough to time to register the sight of her before a bolt of pleasure tore through me and forced my eyes shut.
She slowly dragged her tongue from the base of my cock up to the tip, and flicked her tongue along the sensitive spot under the head. I cried out, softly, as she used her tongue to drive me wild, her hands still stroking my length. On and on she licked, occasionally stopping to swirl her tongue around the head, then continuing to assault that certain spot she knew drove me wild. I heard her soft moans of pleasure, which drove me further still into the depths of wanton bliss. I looked down at her, and she looked up at me. Our eyes locked as she pleasured me further, and my breath was ragged. I craved release.
"Enough," I whispered, and held my arms out to her. "Come to me."
My cock slipped from her mouth as she made the climb up the bed to where I lay. She straddled me, her heat hovering over my throbbing length. Our mouths met, and our tongues danced their familiar dance as she guided me inside her.
She leaned back and sighed deeply as she took my entire length into her body. I admired her gleaming nakedness, illuminated by the beams of warm early morning sunlight that streamed into our chambers and across our bed. She began to rock, slowly, and I watched her as she took her pleasure from me … pleasure I so willingly gave, and shared in.
Her eyes were closed, her head rolling from side to side as she lost herself in ecstasy. An image of my Queen dressed in her finery and holding court with the nobility flashed through my mind. No one would guess the depths of her passion when watching her conduct herself as every inch of the Queen she was.
My hands roamed over her body – the hips, slightly wider than they had been when I first gripped them so many years before on our wedding night. The breasts, still full and luscious, but not quite as pert as they'd been years before. I rolled the nipples between my fingers and she gasped, then moaned low and long. The births of two children had changed her body, as my father had so long ago promised would happen to my mate one day, but in my eyes it made her into a woman. She had gained wisdom and deep insight as she carried and birthed our children, and her body was an endless source of pleasure to me as well as a thing of great power which I respected deeply.