FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Chapter 1: Rebound

Warm air billowed around Chisur when he appeared clearing on the hillside. A thunder clap rumbled into the desert below. Entry into this world through the Tether was hardly subtle, but most of the natives would assume it some strange weather phenomena. It was an overcast night, which also masked his arrival when he suddenly blinked into this world.

Chisur breathed in the air and sighed. It was a fine night to practice magic. On his planet, the dragon's powers were greatly inhibited, but here—with Earth unscarred, with no creature knowing how to tap the residual connection they held to their planet's nervous system—Chisur could test the upper limits of his powers. Earth's reservoir of magic overflowed. He sensed it humming all around, like cicada song washing the night.

Chisur sat down cross-legged and placed his palms against the soil, opening his mind to the planet's desires so he could meet them with his own.

***

Kyle yawned and reached for the coffee in his cup holder. He sat in the cab of a semi-truck, on his second all-nighter this week to meet the deadline for a delivery of mining equipment. They were going to tear open a copper mine in Rosemont Valley. A lot of environmentalists had been protesting at the spot he'd picked up this trailer, and they were the reason he was late. Kyle, being cool-headed, had talked to one of the guys at the protest while the thirty-five year old waited for the cops to come and clear them off company property. According to the protester, it sounded like opening the mine would be pretty catastrophic on the local watershed, which already didn't amount to much, being in a desert and all.

Kyle sipped his coffee. He was a bit pissed to be up this late, but a job was a job and he needed the money. The truck kept the road in front of him lit with darkness all around. The sound of his engine competed with the rush of air slipping around the cab. He checked his GPS: four more hours. He sighed, this was what so many of his nights had become in the last few years.

***

Chisur didn't even need to draw on his own body's energy to work the magic in this world. It was so abundant, coming off it in waves. The cool summer night left him feeling in full control. Using the Tether to come here to practice magic was technically illegal, but Chisur was also a prince and his mother the ruler of Archay. Breaking the law was a minor risk compared to the reward of developing his talents here.

And if he made a breakthrough on this world he might be able to return to Archayon with means to heal his planet.

His first trip here amounted to no more than simple spells to commune, cast light, and draw in rain. His second time, with great effort, he brought a tree to complete sapience. His third trip he had summoned a great cyclone and dissipated it in the same sitting. He was still testing his limits. Tonight he wished to cleave the hillside he sat on in two.

It began with a howl in his mind—like wind blown through a crevasse as the energy of this world traveled up his hands and into his body. He became one with it, another circuit where energy could cycle, be stored, or switched off. It made the dark ruby of his scales glow, until anyone at a distance would see his form. Chisur didn't worry. With his hands on the earth, connected as he was, he could sense any sapient life long before it noticed him.

Chisur envisioned the hill. Connected as he was, it was easy to see the entire thing, to know every cactus, lizard, rodent, and grain of sand if he desired. He planned to snap it apart like a bone and then reset it. He started summoning more of that magical howl in him, until the glow he gave made it difficult to look directly at him. It became deafening, and took all his focus to keep his mind from being overwhelmed. Then Chisur felt the approach of a speeding truck suddenly enter the outer limits of his senses.

***

As Kyle's truck slowly approached that same hill, he noticed the glow. “Weird, didn't see a sign for a gas station or anything," he mumbled to himself. He sped up a bit, eager to stop somewhere and walk around. He needed the exercise to help keep him from falling asleep. Then he heard what sounded like a very loud explosion—metal being shorn. Kyle could barely comprehend how or why his cab was spinning in the air.

***

As soon as Chisur felt the truck coming, the young prince's immediate impulse was to cancel the spell. It was the wrong move. There was too much energy coursing through him and he felt it snap. He supposed it was luck that the rebound happened on the other side of the hill—which instead of splitting the thing in half in a neat line barely the width of a hand—exploded the entire hillside. Chisur jumped up, cursing. He needed to call himself back immediately. Then he heard the psychic scream of a body in pain strike him. Chisur fell to one knee, grasping his right thigh. He'd hurt someone with his magic and felt their pain for a moment as his magic briefly connected their bodies.

Dread flushed through Chisur's chest as the moment reminded him of a year ago. Not again.

Without a second thought, the dragon ran over the hillside. From the crest of the hill, even through the swirling dust, his keen eyes saw an overturned eighteen wheeler buried in the rubble. Someone was trying to open an exposed door. Chisur leapt into the air, his wings unfurling as he began to glide down. He needed to get the person somewhere safe, wipe their memories, then spend the night covering up his mess. He landed with a hard thud on the door and yanked it open.

The sapient saw him with his wings outstretched and magnificent, and yelped and fell off the seat he'd climbed on. He landed with a groan at the bottom of the overturned cab.

***

Kyle really hoped this was some strange dream at the wheel. It was too dark to make out the creature well, but with its horned head and outstretched wings, Kyle thought for certain it must be a demon. His head was throbbing, and he knew adrenaline was the only thing that gave him the strength to try and climb out the cab. There was a lot of blood staining his jeans right now, a rock or something had shot through the bottom of the cab and struck just above his left knee. Aside from that, broken glass had blood also running down his arms and face. He felt there was a pretty good chance he'd die here.

The demon hissed something in some strange tongue and hopped into the cab beside him. Kyle kicked at him with his good leg, but the monster didn't even flinch. He grabbed a piece of broken glass between them and brandished it. Kyle screamed and put his hands up. The creature, in one smooth motion, cut open his palm. He pressed it to Kyle's bleeding leg, which made Kyle grit his teeth. Then he heard, a deep, resonant voice say, “I'm sorry I had to do that, but I needed to join our blood so we could understand each other."

“Wha-what?"

“It is a spell that helps translate our different tongues—can you walk?"

“Spell?" Kyle asked, then shook his head. “No… am I dead?"

“You're going to be okay. This is all my fault and I won't let you come to any more harm for my mistake. I promise."

“You?" The creature nodded and wrapped an arm around Kyle to help hoist him up. Kyle was vaguely aware, as his body was pressed to this stranger, that it was powerful and warm, and the smell of him was… very inviting. He felt, strangely, at ease in the creature's arms. His face pressed against something soft, but unlike skin—too smooth and without hair. Scales?

He said in Kyle's ear, “My name is Chisur, what is yours?"

“Kyle."

With a grunt, Chisur pulled both of them out of the cab with one arm. He laid Kyle out along the cab and began examining him. He prodded Kyle's leg and the man let out a pained moan. The clouds had begun to clear out of the sky, letting in some light to see by. Chisur's scales were a dark color with a bright front, their hues obscured by darkness. His head was reptilian with two elegant horns growing from it and a red mane of hair sprouting from his scalp and spilling down his back.

Kyle blinked with a strange feeling of recognition. “Are you… a dragon?"

Chisur was so focused on Kyle's leg he didn't hear him. He said, “Your leg is broken, and the bleeding is internal…" He released a long sigh. “I can't do anything for you here, Kyle, but my word is my word, so I must take you to my world."

The dragon clasped Kyle's hand in his. The man soon felt a warmth traveling up his palm, then up his arm like an electric shock. It made him gasp when it reached his skull and turned to hot coal being dumped into his head. “What… what is this?" he asked as he felt things he never felt before.

I am forming a tether between our minds, he heard Chisur say, though the dragon's muzzle did not move. It is the only way I can guarantee you won't be torn apart when I pull you with me through the Tether.

“Tether?"

***

Chisur made up his mind about forming the tether before he thought of the cost. And there was a cost to these connections. As he felt the human's confusion, fear, and pain wash around his own resolve, Chisur sealed their connection and tried to impart calming emotions to Kyle.

Kyle asked him, “What is going… uh… you're in trouble? What?"

“I'm not in trouble yet," Chisur said, a little too quickly. He was surprised some inkling of the human felt his own fear. He doubled down on his own mental walls to keep the human out—for Kyle's own good—and said aloud, “It is going to be okay. I'm going to pull you close now. When the Tether takes us to my world we will heal you, send you back home, and wipe your memories. This will be nothing but a strange dream."

Chisur grabbed Kyle by the shoulders and hoisted him to his feet, hugging the human close. The human's blood spilled onto Chisur's scales, and the flood of Kyle's negative emotions softened with a thread of relief when Chisur pulled him close. The dragon chalked up the strange relief to delusion by blood loss, and sent a powerful gout of magic into the Earth. It reached deep into the planet's nervous system for the Tether between Archayon and Earth. Once Chisur found it he only needed to focus on calling back to his planet. Light surrounded them both, and Chisur felt less Earth's gravity as his body was magically pulled back to his planet.

“I'm… I'm sorry," Kyle said, speech slurred.

“What are you—"

Too late, the light sparked bright as a lightning bolt.

***

Kyle was dying. Long thin threads pulled his body apart. It lasted long enough for him to scream then he felt his bare feet—no shoes or socks?—on a smooth, cool surface. The heat of the desert felt absent, instead like he was in an A/C cooled doctor's lounge. And he noticed his bare skin was pressed to the dragon who held him tight.

“My lord!" someone shouted. Kyle's stomach turned and with speed that gestured to precognition, Chisur turned him away while Kyle emptied the contents of his stomach on a smooth, cream colored surface. Chisur clutched his stomach and Kyle heard the dragon's voice clear in his head: Damn… I've never gotten sick before.

Kyle noticed a figure rush to Chisur who, in the clear artificial light, had a rich, dark ruby hide of scales with fiery gold running from his throat down his front. He was almost a foot taller than Kyle, with broader shoulders and a clear cut to the muscle beneath his scales. Before he really took in the other person, Kyle felt another surge of nausea.

Chisur joined him this time when he retched.

He was barely aware of a babbling voice saying, “My lord what is this? Who? He's bleeding all over the floor—"

Chisur coughed then snarled, “Get me a mender." He snatched something from the attendant's hand—Kyle knew with sudden recognition it was a feathered robe, each feather like a peacock's only the colors replaced with black, gold, and three different shades of red. It was one of Chisur's most important keepsakes, given to him when—

Kyle hadn't seen the robe but all this information spilled into his head like unbidden memories. He looked up at Chisur, who met his gaze at the same time as whoever was here was leaving. Kyle asked as if the words he spoke were another language spilling from his mouth, “Prince… Chisur Archay?

His legs finally gave out.

Kyle fell into a strong arm, which caught him deftly and wrapped him in the robe. He felt, strangely guilty about bleeding in the prince's robe, about getting the prince in trouble—Chisur's mother would be furious. Where is all this coming from?

The prince sat on his knees and put Kyle's head in his lap. He took Kyle's hand and ordered, “Squeeze with me." Kyle complied without much thought as Chisur explained, “You are feeling my guilt, Kyle. You do not need to be sorry or worry about the cloak. There are not many roc's left on this world, but I assure you I can get new feathers for any you ruin. Keep squeezing my hand, focus on the feeling of it. If you keep your focus there, you'll be less mixed up about what is you and what is me."

Kyle squeezed the dragon's hand, again admiring the firm yet soft scales he felt. He stared at the ceiling, where a gentle glow just seemed to emanate from nowhere.

Eventually he spoke up, “Am I going to die?"

“No, Kyle," Chisur stroked his pale face with his free hand. “I won't allow it. I took you here because I knew you could be saved."

“Here?"

“To my world, the one tethered to yours—Archayon."

“You named your planet after—"

“Other way around. It was my great-grandfather's idea, I'm afraid."

“So strange…"

“It will be over soon. When the mender gets here, they will use their magic to heal you and then we can take you home."

Kyle raised his shaky free hand up and brushed his fingers against the dragon's side. How could scales be this warm and soft? His gaze tilted up to meet Chisur's, now seeing the dark gold of his eyes. They were set at the front of his face like a human's. His muzzle looked just as tender to the touch as the rest of him, and ended at a rounded point at the crest of which were his nostrils. Below it was a set of slight, scaly lips. Two, long, nearly transparent frills Kyle took for ears were right beneath his horns.

He said without really thinking about it, “Is it weird… I find you handsome?"

Chisur's smile was warming. “It is probably our connection. I know I am a pinnacle of my kind, thus you see it, too."

“Huh… I'm just a dude from Oakland."

Chisur's gaze darted across the room. “They're here."

Kyle heard a door open and a new, gruff voice say, “Alright where is the prince—what in the queen's name is that?"

Kyle watched Chisur's jaw set in a hard line. “He's a sapient I hurt in his world. I need you to heal him before he dies."

“I'm not a vet—"

“You prince commands it, Madial."

Another voice, softer and more deferential said, “My lord why is this sapient in your robe—that was a gift from your sister and he's bled all over it."

Kyle felt Chisur's pang of guilt. The more the other two voices in the room distracted him, the more privy the human became to the dragon's thoughts.

“We can replace objects, we cannot replace this one's life."

Kyle heard someone scoff and another dragon came into view. This one had electric blue scales, and his horns, instead of going back, curled into a spiral around the side of his skull. He had no hair on his scalp. He said to Chisur, “I sense he's lost a lot of blood. I can stop the bleeding with my magic, but the bones need surgery."

“Just help him."

Kyle felt the robe pulled away from him and a scaled, blue hand settled on his chest. Then he felt fire pour into his ribs. It was like putting a hand to a lit stove, only this burned through his bones and all across his body. Kyle couldn't even feel his scream or his legs kicking out over the chorus of pain. Mercifully, he blacked out soon after.

***

Chisur was grateful for all the mental barriers he put up to keep Kyle away from his thoughts. If he hadn't, he might have screamed too when he felt the residual pain the human felt.

Chisur was panting like he just finished sprinting somewhere. His attendant, Jerawk, knelt beside him to help support him. He asked feverishly, “My lord, what's wrong?"

Chisur ignored him and snarled at the mender, “You did nothing to numb his pain before you started sewing him back together?"

Madial's red eyes were cool on the prince. He was assigned to Chisur's retinue by the queen. In that way, he was totally protected from the prince's wrath. “Who cares? He's not one our own, unless you felt his pain, too."

Jerawk gasped. “My lord, you didn't."

The prince glared at Madial. “It was the only way to ensure he could travel with me through the Tether. Their world has no sapients who know how to tap their magic without intervention."

“Your mother will—"

“Silence, Jerawk," Chisur commanded. “No one outside this room will know what happened. My mother's position with the council is already tenuous enough without a scandal worsening relations there. You will both keep this secret."

“For your mother, not for you," Madial said.

“Jerawk?"

“Your commands are my will, my lord," his attendant said.

Chisur sighed and gently rested Kyle's head on the floor. He got up and paced to the wall of the room. The entire cylinder shaped room was ten paces in radius. It was made of a soft, smooth stone that conducted magic well, with a pedestal carved into its center from the same stone. It was a focus. The point of this room was to help mages connect more closely to the planet's magic when they performed spells, which made tapping into the Tether much easier. Fortunately, this was the prince's personal chamber, one of five rooms that made up his suite in the palace.

The room smelled of human blood and vomit, a noxious scent Chisur was coming to notice now with the immediate danger taken care of.

He faced the other two dragons and asked Madial, “Is he well enough to travel?"

Madial shook his head, “He's lost too much of his blood, and without my surgeon's tools there's nothing I can do for the leg without permanently damaging his nervous system. Healing magic is a mallet at best, this sapient needs a set of finer tools."

Chisur's tail whipped against the ground in frustration. “His world's doctors can take care of his leg. Can we use magic so he can take a dragon's blood?"

Madial shook his head. “Have you ever seen cold water pour on bubbling grease, my lord?"

“You're telling me he can't leave yet?" Chisur snarled, and his hide glowed as his anger drew magic around him, ready to unleash his wrath. Truly, though, he was terrified of what this meant. Jerawk grimaced, but Madial was impassive.

The mender collected some of the blood on the ground into a vial, then got to his feet. “I might be able to synthesize his blood in my lab and give him an infusion of that, and after surgery, I can use magic to speed his recovery. He might be able to travel in a few days. I don't know what possessed you to care about this sapient's wellbeing, but that's the best I can do."

Chisur wanted to throw the mender through the wall, but he'd known Madial for years. They might not have any fondness for each other, but the mender's devotion to Chisur's mother was undeniable. He would do his best to carry out the orders of the prince—especially with so much at stake for his mother.

Chisur could only summon a curt, “Very well, can you perform the surgery tonight in my suite?"

“Yes, the sooner we take care of that leg the better."

“Then go."

Madial couldn't help but add, “I don't know what possessed you to do this, my lord, but you should have let this one die wherever you found him—"

“I said you were dismissed, mender."

Madial bowed and left the room.

Jerawk said after he left, “What would you have me do, my lord?" Chisur sighed and glanced at his attendant. Jerawk was a wiry, yellow scaled dragon with black stripes starting at his feet that slowly faded to a dark violet as they worked up his body. His head was slim and set with bright, friendly green eyes. His horns curved backwards like Chisur's, and his black hair was kept in a well-tended, feminine bun. He was slightly smaller than the human and wore a simple, white silk shawl with a matching skirt, sewn into it in lavender was the royal symbol to denote his status as a royal attendant. He'd been raised beside Chisur, there for the prince's every need. The bond they shared was wide and deep as any sibling, only with the benefits that came from a love that shared no blood.

Chisur sighed. “It is fine Jerawk, Madial is gone, the human is asleep, you don't need to stand on ceremony."

Jerawk's whole stature changed with practiced ease. The differential bowing of his neck, and the curling of his tail and wings so they took up as little space as possible ended. When no one was around, Chisur liked his friend to treat him as anything but royalty.

Jerawk marched across the room and slapped Chisur in the face. His dainty hand barely stung the prince, but Chisur looked at his attendant in shock. Jerawk had tears in his eyes, “You stupid fool—why did you tether yourself to him?"

“It was the only way to save him—"

“Then you should have let him die!" Jerawk snapped, shrill. “Even if we keep this secret and can get him home with no one ever the wiser, severing the bond you now share with him—Chisur you know what it will cost you don't you? Were you really that blind?"

Jerawk was so upset he was close to crying. Chisur couldn't bear to look at him as he said, “I know, Jerawk. But I'm the reason he got hurt… I wasn't going to let my lack of control kill someone again—"

“You… you stupid, noble fool!" Jerawk sobbed. He wrapped himself around Chisur and his body heaved as another sob wracked him. Chisur felt his wet tears run down his chest. The prince kissed his brow and ran a soothing hand down his attendant's back.

“It will be okay," Chisur cooed. “Humans don't know anything—it is likely when the bond is severed he won't have the capacity to take any of my magic from me." But truly, he had seen time and again the human somehow reaching into the prince's thoughts despite the dragon's best defenses. It terrified him to think what lay ahead. Chisur had tethered their spirits together in something that used to be an old mating ritual but was rarely done today for how deep the costs could be. To sever a tether usually permanently crippled one's magical aptitude. Magic was the one sure source of joy in this world for Chisur. Losing it would be like a painter losing sight or a musician losing sound. Hence, why Jerawk wept openly on his prince.

The two dragons stayed like this a moment, till the smaller dragon had calmed down some. Chisur said softly, “You cry so much, Jerawk."

“Someone needs to care about you, since you're too stupid to care about yourself."

“I'm glad that person is you. Are you able to help me?"

Jerawk, reluctantly, pulled away. He nodded and said, “What would you have me do, my lord."

“Help me get this human to my bed. We'll rest him there and then clean up his awful smell."

Chapter 2: Burgeoning Additions

Chisur stood on a desert hillside, much like the one he destroyed, only falling stars lacerated the night sky. Large flashes of light on the horizon showed lightning or some kind of explosion. The scuffing of shoes on rock made Chisur spin and face the panting form of the human Kyle. Kyle pointed at him.

“It's you!"

Chisur looked around and asked, “What is going on? You should—"

“Something is chasing me," Kyle said. He looked over his shoulder, down the hill where an unnatural darkness obscured everything.

“Of course… Kyle this is just a dream. Our tether must be joining us here in our sleep."

Kyle crept away from the dark, gaze still on it as he said, “Whatever attacked me is real. It's killed me twice. I felt it."

Chisur sighed. “You are tormented because your mind lacks the skill to protect your spirit. Get behind me. Whatever we face, I will be sure to protect you—"

A knock snapped Chisur awake. He groaned, glaring at the ornate door to his suite. His lounge was fairly bare compared to most dragons of his stature. Its slate tile floor uninspiring, simple rugs for comfort, no tapestries or paintings or screens to cover the walls—just a few bookshelves. In the middle of the room was a grey couch before a small glass-top table. Two matching chairs flanking the table matched the couch. Chisur had slept there—though, a “light nap" might have been a better descriptor.

Last night, Madial had returned with his surgeon's kit, and, using magic, Chisur levitated Kyle's unconscious form over his bathtub to keep the human's blood from staining anything else while Madial performed surgery. Madial kept Kyle in a magically induced coma for the night, and Chisur focused on making sure his body remained rigid as it would be if he lay on a table. Then Madial performed a blood transfusion. Dragons had long since discovered how to synthesize blood and most other organs. Such things were common in most mender labs at this point.

Chisur originally meant to spend two hours on Earth then return to Archayon for the night. Instead, he was not able to rest until dawn started rising through his suite's bedroom window. They had deposited Kyle there and suspended him in sleep with magic. Madial and Chisur both agreed that any erasure spell on his memories would be easier and more effective if Kyle was asleep until he left Archayon. It also kept the tether between their minds as weak as possible. Once he was able to walk, Chisur would deposit the human in his world, sever their tether, and use an erasure spell on him.

This week needed to be nothing more than a blip. An accident lost to history.

The knock on his door grew insistent.

Chisur sat up and reached for the small device on the table. To an outsider it simply seemed to be a thin chip of transparent plastic the size of Chisur's hand, but at a touch its screen lit on. His lock screen told him it was only 08:45—and that he was late for a meeting with his sister.

Chisur cursed, knowing what the knock on his door was now. The excitement of last night had shattered any plans he had made today. He quickly threw on the black silk pants Jerawk had laid out for him before the servant went to bed. The clothes fit loose around his calves but hugged his firm butt in a way he knew his attendant liked. He buttoned the front, then the back strap that hooked over his tail. He also threw on the cape that signified his rank. Because he was royalty, there were no requirements to wear anything on his torso. The common practice being to show as much of his royal scales as possible.

Which is why, when he opened the door, the dragoness before him wore only a one-piece black bodysuit. His older sister Setara was only slightly shorter than Chisur. She had the same scale colors, but her fingers were webbed and the horns on her head grew out then straight up into pointed tips. Her eyes were a murky blue, and her shiny, silver hair spilled down her back in a lush braid. The tips of her horns were capped with gold, and her ear frills hung down slightly from the industrial piercing on each that matched her hair. Setara was flawless and voluptuous, her bodysuit leaving the shape of her curves clear to anyone as it hugged her bust to her chest. She was adored at court and sought after by every eligible suitor in the world. And she played the court and council perfectly, being their perfect heir to the throne. She was the family favorite. Her one act of rebellion was a set of piercings only the dragonesses she put to bed knew about. It was a fact, like it or not, she chose to share with Chisur .

“Sister, it's ah—good to see you—"

“Not good enough to remember our little breakfast date, somehow," Setara said as she stepped inside. Her voice was warm yet commanding, like their mother's. “Honestly Chisur, you will never find another suitable mate if you cannot keep your calendar in order."

Chisur grimaced and said, “I'm sorry. I was up—"

“All night practicing magic again, hmm?" Setara finished for him. It would not be the first time, so let her fill in the lie. She walked to one of the bookshelves where Chisur kept some prized spell books he had collected over the years. “Honestly Chisur, I will never understand why you just didn't just stick it out at the university if you were going to obsess over magic. You were so close to a breakthrough before the accident—and now look at you," Setara faced him. “You spend your day puttering around the palace and your nights in that focusing chamber of yours. I'll never be able to make you my court mage when I inherit the throne with the reputation you're garnering for yourself."

Throughout this scolding, Chisur kept his teeth and hands clenched together. When she had stopped, he asked, “Get that out of your system?"

She sighed and went to sit on the couch. “Yes. I'm sorry for chiding you like a child. I was just so disappointed. With how busy I am, these dates are the only time in the week I get to see you anymore."

Chisur smiled and took one of the seats by the couch, turning it to face her. “Sorry I can't offer you breakfast here."

“It's fine, it's the company I care about," and she winked at Chisur. Setara was the middle child of the queen's brood, but she was also the only daughter. All the queen's sons had taken lives as diplomats, representatives, generals, and Chisur had tried to be—no, remember what Jerawk had told him—Chisur was the scholar in the family. Of all his siblings, his magical aptitude was the greatest, and he had spent his life honing the skill. He used to perform spells for his sister, before he and Setara's lives became too busy for such simple pleasures.

Chisur said, “I heard you were planning the ball for the summer festival."

“Planned, dear. Mother requested it."

“She requested I not skip this one, either."

“And are you? Going to skip one of my parties?" Setara asked, raising a brow.

Chisur's tail reflexively wrapped around him. “No… I suppose not. You know how I am at these things, Setara. Whole reason I quit the university is because I don't do politics." Though they both knew that was not even half the reason.

His sister ignored the other half and with a dismissive wave said, “Then bring a plus one who can do that for you. You should bring someone to dance with, too, and I do not mean your attendant."

Chisur's frills raised in irritation. “And what's wrong with Jerawk?"

Setara scoffed at him. “Darling, bringing your attendant would be worse than bringing me as your plus one. It just shows how desperate and lonely you are when you bring someone who cannot say no—"

“Jerawk can say no," Chisur said, hands clenched again.

Setara noticed his discomfort and frowned. She reached over and squeezed his fist and said gently, “I know you love him and care very deeply for him. Many of us carry such feelings for our attendants. I love Phelise, you know that—you were the first person I told when me and her made love the first time."

Chisur looked away and grumbled, “I know." But his hands relaxed and his sister's fingers slipped into them, squeezing his.

She continued in the same tone, “The problem is not you or Jerawk, it is his station. There are some in court who already say mother should strip you of your title for bumbling about this last year—"

“Mother would never—"

“Let me finish," Setara cut him off. “She knows well as I how hard it was for you to give up your career, especially after…" Setara paused when Chisur squeezed her fingers. “Anyways, she is willing to let you take as long as you need to find your way. But she has her enemies and their eyes are on our entire family looking for any reason to discredit us and justify why the council should strip even more power from the royal line." It was only after she finished what she wanted to say and pulled her hands away, that Chisur noticed he was unwittingly staring at the door to his bedroom. His sister was right, as usual. He needed to deal with this problem as quickly as possible.

Chisur stood in a gesture to wrap up their conversation. He said, “I know you have been working hard, the least I can do is find some rich courtier or council representative to take to a frivolous ball."

“That's the spirit, dear. I will text you some names. Oh!" Setara sprung up. “I love playing matchmaker!"

“I'm not looking for a mate, Setara. I need a warm body who knows how to waltz."

Setara looked offended. “If that was all you needed you could surely use a spell to do it. No! I will send you some names and where they will be tomorrow, what their interests are, who they are connected to, and you my dear brother can go out and do some work for once."

“Forgive me if I did not consider flirting work."

“Ugh, please." She slipped her phone from a small pocket in her body suit on her waist. The nanites in the fabric immediately moved to smooth out the body-suit against her scales again, as if she always carried the phone in her hand. As she walked to the door, tapping on the plastic screen, she told Chisur, “This is the only work that matters these days. You would do good to practice it in case you can't find some way to salvage your career as a mage." In the doorway she said, “I have a meeting to get to. See you, love you, baby brother."

Chisur barely got out, “Take care," before the door shut behind her. The next moment, he felt his phone ping. It was from his sister. She had sent him what were essentially government dossiers on several people close to his age with some kind of reputable connection to the court or council. Chisur glanced back at the door and shook his head. “She does work fast…" Setara did not just spend her time as a politician, she had been trained since childhood to become then act as Royal Spymaster, as each heir spent their time doing before their ascension to the throne.

Chisur texted Jerawk, who likely was getting ready to come over: Clear anything on my schedule. Use any excuse, then take the day off. I'm going to be researching our problem. Return at 20:00 with Madial so the mender can do a checkup.

He set his phone on the table and went to his room to retrieve his tablet. This device was the same sturdy, transparent plastic as the phone, only with a large symbol of an antique key on its side with three stenciled rays of light. The symbol just represented the company that manufactured these devices. The tablet came to life by simply channeling a tiny speck of magic into it. He opened a web browser, and began searching trade and research journals for menders who worked closely with magic and tethers.

It did not take him long to find a set of articles that did research on interpersonal tethers. It was a topic that had a long history at this point, and though Chisur knew tethers well enough to know how to form one with someone who couldn't even tap into magic, he had never spent time researching how to break one. He settled into the couch, feet on the table, as he started quickly reading through dozens of articles.

The reports were grim.

There were many different cases and trials to safely break a tether between two people. Most were from dragons who offered themselves as part of research trials to break a bond with someone they had grown to despise. Some case studies told stories of siblings who accidentally formed a connection between each other when they were too young to know the stakes and consequences. A tether was a lifelong bond, and these days it was common practice for dragons to have many mates in their lifetime and multiple at a time. In a society that had no desire for monogamy, binding your soul to another seemed a dangerous commitment.

That binding link was less two chains hooked together and more a circuit of energy. It took great input, skill, and care for either person in the tether to find where their consciousness ended and their partner's began. Chisur originally thought the stakes only applied to one's connection to magic, but the cutting of a bond could cause permanent mental trauma to patients as well, including manifestations of mental illness and memory loss. If Chisur had broken his link to Kyle in the manner he planned, which he thought would only permanently maim Kyle's already dormant connection to magic, there was likely a chance the resulting brain trauma to the human would be equivalent to lobotomy. Chisur could only find four successful cases of tethers broken without permanent damage to either person: each of them involved highly trained mages working in tandem to break the bond. Then, in his search he found an article published that made everything worse: a mage had been testing the Tether between Archayon and Earth, and when he traveled to Earth, his mate traveled with him. They had not even been in the same building, the mate had not been aware her partner was traveling to Earth for the first time. But after several more tests, they confirmed that passing from one world to another always brought the person tethered with you into that world.

Chisur almost threw the tablet across the room. Instead he slammed it on the couch and cursed. He paced the lounge, considering his options. If severing the tether did damage Kyle's access to magic but not his mind that would be an acceptable loss. When Chisur wiped his memories the man wouldn't even remember magic existed anyways. Much as it might be best to see this human disposable, Chisur could not bring himself to punish someone who was another victim to a rebound he caused. So perhaps… with a beginner's training in magic, Kyle could work to keep his mind intact when they severed the bond. His connection to magic would still be lost, but he would not lose his mind in the process… Hopefully.

The prince opened the door to his room. There was a large round rug that covered most of the floor, at one end of it was the prince's four-poster bed with sheets and cushions the same color of his ruby scales. The bed frame was crafted from a rich violet wood, which matched the dresser and desk inside the room. Again, no screens adorned the walls, but there was a tapestry he recovered from an old ruin when he still did expeditions for the university. On the nightstand was an ornate lamp and a family picture, a scaled down version of the one that hung in his mother's study. Currently the only light in the room came through the large crystal windows near the bed. They overlooked the Treskear Ocean as the sun set into it. From his room, Chisur could see none of the urban sprawl or ruined landscape of Archayon, just the ocean—same as it looked before the Scarring.

Kyle lay naked on his back. The journey from his world to here destroyed anything not magically bound to Chisur, and so the human came to Archayon with none of his possessions. The human's skin was soft and pale in most places, darkening at his biceps and down, below his knees, and above the line of his clavicle. It was a strange color pattern to have. The hair on his skull was dark and matted with sweat, it clung to his brow and swooped into his eyes. His hands opened and closed as he struggled with his dreams. Chisur wondered if nightmares still hounded the man.

He heard from the other room a knock on his suite door. He knew it was around when he told Jerawk to return. He let both dragons in and told Madial once the door was shut, “I need you to wake the human up."

***

As Kyle woke, he felt something slip around his mind like warm bathwater. Something flashed in his eyes and he groaned, putting his arms up. A strange hand grabbed his wrist and pulled it down. Something growled. “Quit fussing, I just want to make sure your eyes can dilate." A pen light flashed in his eyes again, and after a painful moment it pulled away. Kyle thought he must be waking up from his accident. Then his vision cleared and he saw the scowling muzzle of a blue dragon looking down at him as he measured his pulse.

Before Kyle could freak out, that warmth around his brain spun and tightened, like it choked off his panic. Then another person in the room said, “Calm down, do you remember my voice?"

“Ch-Chisur?" Kyle turned his head and saw the ruby-red dragon who carried him here. He wore pants, but his stunning torso was still exposed. There was another dragon in a shawl behind him, and Kyle felt a strange surge of recognition. “And that's Jerawk…" both dragons looked surprised but Kyle pointed at the blue dragon who just finished his examination, “You're Madial."

“And you're a huge pain, sapient," Madial said. The blue dragon wore the closest thing to recognizable clothes—a mere robe tied at the waist.

Kyle then realized he was naked and quickly pulled the sheet over him.

Jerawk rolled his eyes.

Madial said to him, “With my expert hands and magic, your surgery went well. Your leg should be mended enough to walk on long as you take it easy, and by the end of the week it should be like you never broke it."

Kyle looked at Chisur. “Does that mean I can go home?"

The dragon sighed. “Not quite. We need to break our tether first."

“Our tether?"

Chisur tapped his skull with a trimmed claw. “The link between our minds. I will need to teach you some mastery of your magic in order to do it first."

Kyle frowned. “How long will that take?"

“Depends on how smart you are, sapient," Madial said. “Do I really need to be here for your pre-school lessons, prince?"

Kyle noticed the mender's blatant disrespect made Jerawk bristle. Chisur remained impassive, “One moment, mender. Kyle, ideally no more than a week of training if we dedicate ourselves to your learning. You may not have any natural talent or inclination to magic, but our tether should make it easy for you to pick up what I've known since I was a child. I am sorry you will be stuck here longer."

“It's fine… I guess, before the accident I didn't really have anywhere to be, and I don't think anyone will miss me—"

“You kinless or something?" Madial asked.

Kyle scratched the back of his head. “Something like that."

The human felt sympathy surge through him. Your family rejected you when you were young—I'm sorry. I can't imagine... It was Chisur's voice in his head. He'd gleaned the truth in a moment and it left Kyle blushing and embarrassed.

“Eh? Something wrong sapient, your color's changing," Madial said.

“It's nothing," he said, only meeting Chisur's sad gaze for a moment. “I've not had a home since I was sixteen, and the last few years I've been sort of a drifter. No one is looking for me."

Madial grunted. He turned to Chisur and said, “I cannot say the same about me. We done here, my lord?"

“Can we talk in the other room?" Chisur asked.

“Sure thing," and the two left.

When the door shut behind them, Kyle turned to see Jerawk glaring at him. Kyle tried to smile, but it was an awkward gesture and soon he heard a low growl from the small dragon.

“Uh… did I do something to upset you?"

“Everything," Jerawk hissed. He stomped to the bed and got in Kyle's face. “Listen, sapient, I understand why my lord saved you, and it has nothing to do with you or who you are. You are going to cooperate so you can sever your tether to him as quickly as possible. A year from now Chisur is going to think about your time here like he would a bad cold. Do you understand?"

Kyle realized he had shrank away from the ferocious, wiry dragon. Then intuition presented something that made it clear why Jerawk was so mad.

“You're jealous aren't you?"

The bluster slipped from Jerawk's muzzle as his jaw dropped. He shook his head and snarled, “My feelings don't matter." He turned his back to the bed and Kyle watched his wings clench and relax as the dragon furiously collected his thoughts. He said without facing Kyle, “Prince Chisur is the future of this kingdom. He may not know it, the court and council and queen don't know it, but I feel it." He faced Kyle again and swore, “And I will do everything in my power to protect him."

Kyle said, “But why does it matter so much? I'm surely not the first human to be taken here."

“It's not you, it's the fact he tethered himself to you. It is a sacred bond only mates share that's nearly impossible to break when made. If dragons outside this suite knew a member of the royal family squandered that connection on a human by illegally traveling through the Tether and bringing you here… best case scenario is that his mother exiles him to the wastes to salvage her family's honor."

Kyle flinched. It was not the same, but he understood too well the pain of being kicked out for reasons that seemed out of his control. He told Jerawk, “I promise, I don't want to hurt your prince, either. I'll work with him to get out of your hair quick as I can." He decided not to add that it was Chisur's fault that Kyle got stuck here.

Jerawk's stance softened and he said, “Thank you, human."

The door opened before Kyle could respond. Chisur said, “Jerawk, get us and the human some food will you? We both need to eat." The dragon gave Kyle one last pointed look, then rushed to do his prince's bidding. When Chisur shut the door behind him, the prince apologized: “I'm sorry about my attendant's attitude."

Kyle flushed again. “You uh… heard what he said?" Chisur tapped his head again and Kyle groaned. “I just have no privacy with you in my head, huh?"

The dragon sat at the foot of the bed. He said, “With training, you should be able to erect boundaries in your mind which will help give us both privacy."

Kyle nodded. “He loves you, you know."

“And I love him," Chisur said simply.

“But you didn't make a tether with him?" Kyle asked.

“In our world, having many mates is common, and for the upper classes, loving your attendant is common. We were raised from birth together, Jerawk and I. How could I not have feelings for someone so utterly devoted to me?"

Kyle shook his head. “Then why was he so hurt—"

Chisur cut him off with a loud sigh. “Making a tether to an attendant is so scandalous it might as well be incestuous. He's jealous because you have what he cannot. No matter how much he might want it, he would never let me jeopardize my station. You heard him—what he thinks of me."

Kyle thought on this for a moment. Eventually he broke the silence: “I'm sorry I made you risk so much."

“It's fine, none of this is your fault," Chisur said, staring out the window. Kyle felt Chisur's guilt again, but noticed it was not entirely directed at Kyle. When the human reached out to it, he felt the sudden withdrawal of Chisur's mind. The prince's gaze was locked on Kyle now, in a strange mix of emotions—something between anger and fear. Eventually, the prince said, with much difficulty, “I'm sorry for being so guarded, but it is best… for your sake, to know as little about me as possible."

***

When Jerawk returned with a tray of food, all three ate in the prince's bedroom. At first Kyle hesitated at a bowl of grain and a meaty sauce that reminded the human of curry. But he found the flavor spicy, savory, and satisfying, and he was famished. While he gorged himself, the dragons discussed politics, Chisur's plans for tomorrow, and some upcoming court ball the prince's sister planned to host.

When they finished eating, Chisur left the room and returned with a thin sheet of plastic that he soon revealed to be a tablet. On it was a browser with several tabs open: each with magic lessons for beginners. Things with flash games and colorful fonts, the sort of educational materials to make learning fun for preschoolers.

Chisur told him, “I can't go another night without sleep, but that doesn't mean you can't get started. Read these, and tomorrow afternoon we will begin your lessons in earnest. Come Jerawk, let's leave him to read."

After they left, Kyle examined what was left for him. He was not an idiot, and whatever spell Chisur cast on him that helped him understand draconic had extended to its writing. It took him ten minutes to read everything, but it all seemed like new age nonsense to Kyle. He tried to practice some of it in his bed and nothing came of it. He was far from tired, so Kyle decided to spend the night figuring out what he could about this world.

It did not take him long to open a search engine on the tablet. From there the equivalent of Wikipedia. Kyle quickly fell down a rabbit hole of information. He learned first about the Tether that bound this planet to his, then a brief history of Archayon: climate devastation combined with a great war from two centuries before had led to something called the Scarring. Most of the planet was a vortex of storming, malevolent energy—totally uninhabitable. The few slivers of the surface that remained untouched were centers of urban sprawl like Archay. He learned about the government in the sprawl: figuring out the royal family was not some all-powerful ruler but more an executive branch where leadership was inherited by someone specifically trained their whole life for the position. His research on the government led to the royal family, which was just a brief history of their lineage and the major rulers. Kyle, reminded of that moment with Chisur earlier in the evening, typed into the search engine Prince Chisur Archay which auto-completed to rebound.

Kyle totally forgot about Chisur's warning to him.

He combed through several news articles, op-eds, and even one interview Chisur had given to piece together what had happened. The prince had been working with another researcher to try and magically speed the recovery of the scarred lands outside the sprawl. Their proposal had already been denied, so both researchers traveled out into the scarred lands to perform a ritual and bring back the date to prove their hypothesis. Neither of them were supposed to be out there. Magic was powerful and unpredictable—cyclonic. While Chisur was channeling a spell, it rebounded and killed the other researcher.

Because of his royal status and close relationship to the victim's family, he'd not been charged with a crime. Nor had he been fired from the university, but a few months later he quit, citing personal reasons. In his only interview, Chisur said, “Me and my advisor, Professor Gallor, agreed some time apart from the other faculty and students was for the best. I still plan to continue my studies in the meantime, but there is a lot of… negative emotion directed at me right now, and the best way for everyone to continue their research is if I remove myself from the space."

That was published a year ago.

From there, Kyle spent several more hours looking into the prince, coming to a portrait of an honorable, if troubled, dragon that left the man with a deep, sympathetic grief towards him.

***

Chisur woke without Kyle visiting him in his dreams. He yawned as he rose, standing so he could stretch his wings and tail, arms pulled tightly together over his head. He checked his phone and saw it was 06:56, a few minutes before his alarm went off. Pleased, he shut it off and could tell with his tether the human slept. Chisur let him and scrolled through news headlines on his phone, savoring the privacy.

It didn't last. The door opened at exactly 07:00 with Jerawk coming in with a morning tea service. He smiled and asked as he shut the door behind him with his tail, “Sleep well?"

“Much better than yesterday." Jerawk beamed at this news, laying out a silver tray on the table and pouring them both a cup of tea. The smaller dragon took a seat against his prince.

He asked, “Do you know how you're going to go about meeting those people Setara sent you?"

Chisur sipped from his mug, the scalding black tea felt good slipping down his throat. He slid an arm around Jerawk's shoulder and said, “Setara's profiles even have suggested ice breakers. I suspect she planned this as she was planning the ball."

“That would be very much like your sister."

Chisur pursed his lips. “Not trusting me to do anything myself?"

“No, just doing her best to make sure her family is taken care of."

Chisur growled yet stroked Jerawk's side. “How is it you and her are right about everything in my life?"

“We can't help it if we're smarter," Jerawk said with a giggle.

“Harrumph." They were quiet a moment, enjoying the touch of their scales and the drinks Jerawk had prepared. Eventually Chisur broke the silence, “I will need you to stay here today… To make sure the human doesn't get into trouble. I would stay myself, but I need to make it look like I'm not locked in my room. People might start snooping around if I do."

Jerawk said, “I know, my lord."

Chisur could hear the disappointment in his voice. The prince said, “This is just temporary—I'm sorry about putting you through this."

Jerawk prodded his side. “Quit apologizing dummy. I'll take care of him, you do what you must for your image, and a week from now you can make it up to me by taking me somewhere nice."

Chisur kissed Jerawk's snout, then rose from the couch. “I should wake him so I can check what he's learned."

Jerawk let him go to his room alone. Chisur found Kyle asleep and tangled up in his sheets, tablet on the nightstand. Chisur's entrance did not wake the human. The dragon sat at the edge of the bed next to Kyle and shook his shoulder. Kyle stirred with a weak groan and faced Chisur with groggy recognition.

“This is still real, huh?"

“Yes, it is," Chisur said as he felt Kyle's mind stir around his. He looked forward to getting out of the palace. Distance did dim their connection long as neither of them concentrated on it. The constant need to guard his thoughts was not a state the dragon liked to be in. Chisur took the tablet off the bed and opened it, seeing Kyle had closed the browsers the prince had left open for him. Chisur more sensed it and said as an observation, “You were up late."

“Yeah, I did a lot of reading."

“Excellent," Chisur said and turned to him, “What did you learn?"

Kyle's expression suddenly went blank and Chisur felt the human's guilt answer for the dragon. His red mane of hair rose as magic and fury stirred through his body. “You were looking into me, weren't you? After I told you—I said don't—" The human cowed before his rage. A mixture of embarrassment and pain rose in Chisur. He swung his hand in the air and the stone wall across from him splintered from the force of the spell he flung at it. He wanted to break the human, but couldn't. So he roared uselessly and started to storm out of the room. He felt Kyle's abject fear, but it was nothing compared to the violation Chisur felt. His greatest shame, tabloid fodder for a sapient who couldn't even sense magic.

Before he reached the door to his lounge, Jerawk had swung it open, panicked.

“My lord?"

“Out of my way!" Chisur snarled and his magic blew the smaller dragon backwards. The door behind him slammed with magic. All this force was just an extension of his emotions as he marched across the lounge.

“My lord where are you going?"

His voice was cinders. “I need air—away from here."

Jerawk grabbed his arm and Chisur spun with the back of a hand raised, only stopping from striking his attendant when he saw his eyes. The smaller dragon was defiant, but trembling as he held onto the larger dragon. He said, “If you go out in your current mood, you're likely to attract unwanted attention. You need to calm down."

Chisur knew he was right. He hated him for being right. Hated everything, all of this. The nosy human, the stupid tether between them, the accident that killed his mate a year ago. Chisur roared and swept his free arm in the air, sending one of the chairs in the lounge flying and shattering it against the wall. Jerawk flinched. The prince panted, exhausted by his rage. He felt the sting of tears running down his muzzle as he fell to his knees.

Jerawk was there, kissing his cheek and rubbing his side, cooing sweet words. Eventually, Chisur's grief overtook him and he cried into the smaller dragon's shoulder, blubbering, “My—my magic killed Kamore, and now… it's going to jeopardize my whole family…"

“Shhhhh," Jerawk urged. “You're going to figure this out, and you're going to honor your mate by doing great things in her name."

Chisur sobbed and just let his grief wash into his attendant. He had not let himself grieve in a few months. He had not expected the human to return him to all this emotion, but what he did to Kyle was so much like what he had done to his deceased mate. All of this had quietly been weighing on his mind since the night it happened.

Jerawk stayed locked against him until Chisur calmed down. The prince pulled away and said, “I'm sorry about that."

Jerawk reached up and brushed a tear from his cheek. “It's okay, my lord. I still miss her, too." Kamore had been Jerawk's cousin. It was part of the reason the tabloids never learned about Chisur's relationship to her—with how low born she was, the news would have been even more disgraceful. Keeping his relationship to his deceased mate a secret was its own pain, though.

Chisur looked at his attendant and felt a sudden, burning passion fill him. The sort of thing that only came when you met the eyes of the person who held you through a whirlwind of emotion. Chisur pulled Jerawk into a kiss, their lips parting and tongue's entwining as Jerawk moaned sweetly. Chisur's longer tongue outlined his attendant's sharp teeth before pressing into the back of the smaller dragon's throat, which made Jerawk whimper as he sucked on the overpowering appendage. Both dragons ground their fronts together, Jerawk's fingers working under Chisur's waistband and rubbing the swollen folds of his genital slit. His spade cockhead already peaked from there. As his attendant's skilled fingers rubbed and encouraged the tip of his endowment, Chisur reached down and squeezed the smaller dragon's round and shapely ass.

Feeling his lord's hand on his rear made Jerawk push away from the kiss. He pecked Chisur's snout then said, “I love that tongue, prince, but I know a place I like it better." They both quickly stripped off their clothes. Then his attendant rolled over onto his knees and flagged his tail in the air while spreading his butt apart with his hands. Chisur growled lustily and leaned in, scenting his lover before dragging the long tongue he inherited from his father across Jerawk's quivering genital slit and up to the cleft of his rim. His attendant always kept his entrance clean, leaving only the light male musk that gathered there for Chisur to taste. The prince buried his muzzle against Jerawk's tailhole as insistently as he had his lips. The smaller dragon released a high pitched moan as Chisur's tongue spread his well-used ass. They had not fucked in two days and already that seemed an eternity.

The prince squeezed his attendant's ass and sat up, pulling Jerawk's rear into the air with him while he hungrily ate Jerawk out. His attendant squealed and squirmed in Chisur's strong grip while his tongue slathered his walls and prodded his prostate. Both dragon's cocks had sprung from their slits now, and their combined musk filled the room with the scent of male rut. Jerawk's smaller endowment spilled pre onto the floor in a messy, steady drip as his prince worked and worshipped his ass.

Jerawk moaned and grabbed the hands holding his waist, trying to pull Chisur away. “Please, fuck me Chisur… fuck—I need it."

Chisur let go of his attendant and his long tongue slipped out. He licked his lips before grabbing Jerawk's shoulder to turn his attendant on his back and said, “I think we both need this." He leaned forward and kissed Jerawk again, and his attendant whined as he tasted his own earthy musk. With practiced ease, his attendant spread his legs and used his tail to lift his ass slightly off the ground, brushing it against the smooth shaft of Chisur's massive, ebon cock. The dragons both moaned as he slowly pushed that wedged tip into his lover's entrance. No matter how much they fucked, the tight, pliable warmth of Jerawk's ass made Chisur's tail and wings shake. His body shuddered and he felt his cock spill pre into his attendant, who returned in kind with a spurt of his own that spilled across his belly.

Chisur broke off the kiss and whispered as he slowly drove his shaft inside. “I can't… knot you right now…"

Jerawk's arms and legs wrapped around him and the smaller dragon tried to push his hips into Chisur's long, slow, thrust. “It's okay… we'll make it—ah—quick. I love you, Chisur."

“I—fuck," Chisur had hilted the smaller dragon. The length of his cock was clenched and milked by Jerawk's eager body. He bit his attendant's shoulder as he nearly came there, worked up as he was. The smaller dragon whimpered and pressed his prince's muzzle down into the bite. When Chisur recovered they were both panting, both their cocks throbbing with need. Chisur finally said, “I love you, too, Jerawk."

The two kissed deeply, their tails twining together as Chisur withdrew slowly from his lover. At the halfway point, he pistoned his cock back inside, with enough force to slap their hips together. Jerawk shuddered and Chisur felt the smaller dragon's pre shoot up onto his chest before starting to pound the ass of his attendant. He was still so overwhelmed with raw emotion—lust and passion. As Chisur picked up the pace, he couldn't get himself to slow down. Jerawk shook and spasmed beneath him, claws sinking through his red hair and into the back of Chisur's shoulders as he rutted his attendant frantically.

Chisur pulled away from his mate's embrace and looked down to see his ebon cock slide out of the slippery, stretched hole of the dragon. The curve of Jerawk's hips were enticing to watch try and match his pace. The smaller yellow dragon was watching Chisur, panting with his green eyes full of desperate need. It was too much. Chisur didn't want to cum so early, but he couldn't help himself. He slammed into Jerawk hard enough his knot threatened to split Jerawk's rim wider. He moaned loudly as Chisur fell onto him, snarling weakly as the prince's cock began to breed his mate. Jerawk's ass clenched around his tool as large gouts of fertile seed filled the attendant, spilling a new warmth around Chisur's cock as Jerawk gasped and eagerly ground their hips together. Without knotting, Chisur only came for a gasping, blissed out minute. It was still enough that a great amount of thick, draconic cum had spilled out across Jerawk's tail.

As Chisur came back to his senses, he noticed the hard cock still pressed to his belly and grimaced. “I'm sorry I finished so quickly—you want me to take care of you?"

Jerawk kissed his snout and murred, but he told his prince, “It is fine, love. You need to get cleaned up and ready for your day."

Chisur froze up. Now that he had spent himself, he could sense Kyle again—the tether ruining a sweet moment with the massive amount of arousal coming from his bedroom. It was so insistent Chisur's softening cock was beginning to stiffen again.

He said, voice a tight rasp, “I forgot to keep the human out."

Jerawk actually laughed. “The poor boy… don't worry about him, I'm sure he knows how to use his hands. You get ready and I'll get the mess you made cleaned. I'll check on the human when I've finished."

Chisur was still too embarrassed to say much more than, “Uh… thank you, Jerawk."

Jerawk kissed him then giggled. “Of course, my lord."

When Chisur got up, he made a point to go through his study to get to the bathroom to clean up. The last thing he wanted was to see the human's face, as he desperately put up all his mental barriers and rushed to get ready for his long day of socializing.

***

It was strange… when Chisur flew into a rage and his mental walls came down, Kyle was overcome with a grief and anger that mixed with his own fear of the dragon. When the door slammed behind him, the human had simply stared, flinching when he heard something crash. Then the anger faded totally to grief, and in the mix of emotions Kyle learned the identity of the researcher—and the reason Chisur had risked so much to save the human: Kyle was the dragon's chance to do what he couldn't for the mate he lost.

As Chisur cried, Kyle felt tears run down his cheeks as well. The whole experience reminded him of when he used to have panic attacks—just a total lack of control over his emotions as they overwhelmed his whole body in waves. Then came the catharsis—the passion—the lust.

Kyle was too afraid to try and leave his bed to stop them, so he buried his head in his pillows and tried to erect his own mental barriers as the two dragons fucked loudly in the other room. It didn't help. At times it felt like Jerawk was clamping down on him, that he was the one kissing the dragon. When the two exchanged I-love-yous, Kyle felt a swell of sudden infatuation he knew had no source. He told himself it would pass—that there was nothing attractive about either dragon. Not Jerawk's slim, scaled waistline or Chisur's long tongue.

He heard Chisur in the bathroom getting ready, the walls suddenly back up and Kyle groaned with relief. His whole body ached, he was harder than he had been in years. With his face in the bed, he heard but didn't see Jerawk enter the room and grab some clothes from the dresser. He said nothing to Kyle, but his happy hum spoke volumes for the man. When he shut the door, Kyle sat up and reached for the tablet. It was locked, but, strangely, at a touch he felt a sharp pulse from his finger before the device flashed on.

He'd turned it on with magic. Apparently having those barriers down did more than just overwhelm Kyle with emotion. But that discovery didn't override his current need. As he sensed Chisur leaving the suite, Kyle, with all the apprehension of clueless teenager, just searched the word porn in the tablet's search engine. He didn't know what to expect. He tapped the tab for image results and tried to make sense of dragon anatomy. The results came back with all manner of dragons, their scale colors and patterns as diverse as their bodies. Some came with frills down their back, some with long tendril-like whiskers, some had breasts and cunts or cocks like Chisur's. Some had both.

Panting, Kyle reached down and grabbed his erection—confused by this burgeoning addition to his sexuality, but needing to get off anyways. He settled on an image of a red scaled dragon much like Chisur. His cock was erect and freshly spent seed dripped down his scaled chest. Kyle kicked off his sheets so he wouldn't cum in them and started to furiously stroke himself, pre already beading the tip of his cock.

Then the door to his room swung open like a planned trap. Jerawk stood in the doorway, staring at the caught human. He stepped in and shut the door with his tail, saying, “I thought I would check on you but it seems you're taking care of yourself."

Kyle's face was red as the dragon he was looking at. He felt his stomach tangle up in knots like it was his first time asking a boy on a date—that infatuation he felt earlier suddenly returning.

Jerawk had reached the bedside, and stroked a hand up his shivering side before his hand rested on the tablet. The dragon's green eyes had a mischievous gleam to them that made Kyle's cock ache. Jerawk tilted the tablet so he could see the dragon Kyle had found.

Jerawk whistled. “Oh he's a good one, almost as endowed as our prince is."

Kyle covered his face and moaned. Jerawk laughed and set the tablet on the nightstand, his delicate fingers teased down Kyle's stomach. He felt Jerawk crawl onto the bed and looked at the dragon again as he gently straddled the human. Kyle felt tail tease his dick. His whole body was trembling. Jerawk slowly ground his damp, genital slit against Kyle's chest, releasing a long, languorous moan. Kyle couldn't remember a more erotic moment in his life. His heart was racing as Jerawk leaned forward, muzzle coming to Kyle's ear.

He whispered, “Normally I wouldn't give such a small male the time of day, but… there's something exotic about your body." Kyle's shaking hands stayed on the bed, unsure if they should touch the dragon or not. Jerawk continued, “Do you need to cum, human?"

“Fuck—" Kyle gasped and now his hands stroked the dragon's soft, scaled sides. “You're so hot."

Jerawk's sultry laugh ended with, “I know. Say you need me."

“I need you."

Jerawk murred in his ear and said, “Good. You're going to get me off since Chisur couldn't, and then, and only then will we deal with your need." The smaller dragon slid up Kyle's body, and it became very apparent what he planned as that slit lowered onto the human's face. Kyle moaned eagerly before kissing Jerawk's slit. He still smelled like male rut and cum. More potent than any man Kyle had been with. It was intoxicating. He pressed his tongue into the dragon's slit and felt the swollen spade of his cocktip. Jerawk growled and ground his face against Kyle.

Because of earlier, it took Jerawk no time at all to get hard, and the dragon tested the human's limits by holding his head by the hair as cock grew inside his mouth. The taste of dragon dick made Kyle so desperate his hips thrusted worthlessly in the air. He never felt so frantic to please another male before, but as that firm, dark flesh swelled in his mouth, Kyle didn't even struggle when it started spilling into his throat. Despite being smaller than him, the dragon still had a bigger cock than any human Kyle had slept with.

Jerawk hissed, pleased with his slut. Kyle sucked his cock and squirmed as he felt pre dribbling down his throat. He felt his dripping onto his belly. The dragon began to slip his hips back and forth, still holding tight to Kyle's head as he did. As the cock rose and fell back into Kyle's mouth, fluids from Jerawk's genital slit smeared against his nose and lips, flooding the human's mind with the male dragon's overpowering scent. Jerawk shuddered and said, “Fuck," before he pulled back. His cock popped from Kyle's mouth and the human moaned, kissing the dragon's now swelling knot. His hands went up and he grabbed the ebon dick, rubbing it into his face. The site made Jerawk spill pre across his brow and into his hair.

The dragon laughed and asked, “Are all humans this slutty?"

Kyle didn't answer—too busy trying to get the spaded tip of Jerawk's cock back into his mouth. He did obey when Jerawk made the human sit up on his elbows. Then the dragon straddled his chest before pushing his cock back into the human. Jerawk trembled as he hilted his knot against Kyle's lips. Jerawk snarled and said, “Fu-fuck human… your tongue isn't much… but your throat is… perfect." He pulled back and slammed his hips back into the wet mouth. Kyle felt the dragon's belly slap his face and it made his eyes water. The abuse had him on such an edge. When Jerawk pulled back again, Kyle made sure to start swallowing when that cock returned. Claws sank into his scalp as the thrusts became haphazard. The dragon groaned as he got close, cock pounding Kyle's throat raw.

Jerawk cursed and hilted, his tail and wings going stiff as the cock in Kyle's throat jumped. A thick gout of seed nearly made Kyle gag. The dragon came more in one spurt than Kyle ever had. The scaled body against his shivered as the next jet came, just as potent as the first before Kyle felt Jerawk slowly withdraw. Kyle sucked eagerly and was rewarded with a mouthful of cum. “A-ah!" it was too sensitive, Jerawk pulled out and seed shot over Kyle's face and sore neck. The cum in his mouth was so thick and potent—Kyle could get addicted to it. He struggled to swallow the mouthful he had as Jerawk furiously jerked his cock and sprayed the human with the remainder of his orgasm.

In the deluge of seed, virility, and cock worship, Kyle had forgotten about his own need, but Jerawk had not. Panting, he glanced behind him and said, “Good, you've not finished yet. I've got a reward for you."

Jerawk turned around, tail rising for Kyle to see his ass. Kyle got in a single surprised breath before Jerawk sat on his face, grinding the rim against his lips. Kyle's hands grabbed the dragon's thighs and pulled him down into. The man's tongue still tasted the prince's cock on the dragon's entrance. Jerawk leaned back, full weight pressing his ass against Kyle before he sighed and loosened his rim. Royal seed began to spill from his entrance and onto the human's tongue.

Kyle moaned weakly, and as he worshipped Jerawk's used ass, the dragon leaned forward. It only took the dragon licking the tip of Kyle's cock to draw him into the hardest orgasm he ever had. The dragon's tongue pulled the twitching dick between his lips and he sucked while Kyle's body bucked upward. Chisur's seed still seeped from Jerawk's body, smearing against Kyle's face, the dragon's scaled ass rubbing both dragons' seed into his skin.

His orgasm wasn't a fraction as potent as Jerawk's. When he finished, the dragon murred again and turned around. Kyle felt Jerawk's lips press to his and Kyle melted into the kiss. Jerawk's tongue pushed some of Kyle's seed into his mouth, adding a third to the mix and Kyle weakly shivered in the small dragon's overwhelming embrace.

When Jerawk pulled away he met Kyle's dazed expression with a satisfied smirk. He said, “That was hotter than I expected, human. We should do this again." Jerawk slipped off the bed and winked, “Long as you're good and don't make the prince upset anymore."

Kyle groaned and said weakly, regaining some sense, “Are you… not mad at me anymore?"

Jerawk thought about this, then shook his head. “No. I realized the prince felt nothing for you today, but just because you're an accident doesn't mean we can't have our fun." He motioned Kyle towards him. “Now come on, let me help you to the shower so you don't smell like rut when the prince returns."

As Kyle made the herculean effort to get his exhausted body out of bed, he felt a strange weight at Jerawk's words:

The prince felt nothing towards him.

Why did that hurt Kyle to his core?

Chapter 3: What You Feel For Him

After taking a shower to wash off, Jerawk insisted on running a bath for Kyle to relax his leg in. Prince Chisur's bathroom was bigger than most studio apartments Kyle had lived in. There was a sink with a large countertop made of a rose quartz colored stone. The mirror in front not only reflected Kyle's worn body back to him, but somehow read his vitals and displayed them in the top corner. Jerawk told him to ignore all the warnings and alerts about his health, seeing as it wasn't designed for humans. There was a large, walk-in shower with several detachable heads that pumped in truly scalding water, which Jerawk learned humans could not tolerate as well as dragons. The tub was made of the same rose stone and sunk into the floor. It was the size of a hotel hot tub, just lacking the jets.

As the tub filled with Kyle settling into curved basin, Jerawk asked, “You wanna know how the prince likes his baths?"

Kyle could feel their connection, but not Chisur's presence in his mind. The distance left Kyle feeling like it truly was just Jerawk and him, so Kyle joked, “With you in them?"

Jerawk used his tail to flick water from the spigot at Kyle. “I meant aside from that, obviously. Here, I'll show you." Jerawk had been bubbly and talkative the whole time, taking care of Kyle in ways that embarrassed the human at first. The attendant took the liberty of scrubbing his body clean in the shower, shampooing his hair, and even tried to dry him off when they finished there. The touch of his soft, scaled hands made Kyle feel welcome and safe in this world for the first time. And Jerawk seemed genuinely eager to have someone to talk to without the context of his status affecting every word and gesture he made.

Jerawk went to the small, pantry-like closet in the corner of the bathroom and from it got out several lotions and oils. He set them by the side of the tub, before grabbing a stick of incense from there, along with a plate for it to burn over. He lit the incense and the room soon filled with the smell of burning cedar—a strange thing to find in a world that probably didn't even have cedar trees. Then Jerawk explained the bottles, a certain oil for relaxing wing muscles, solutions to help the water soak in a scent for your scales, a lube that worked well in water that Jerawk shamelessly pointed out was nearly used up, and body lotions that kept one's scales soft and radiant.

By then the bath had filled to Kyle's chest. Kyle sighed and rested his head on the rim of the tub. His whole body melted into the hot water as he tried to clear his head. Then he heard the splash of water and a weight settled gently on his hips. Kyle's eyes snapped open to find Jerawk sitting in his lap, face to muzzle. Kyle blushed and said, “Uh… what are you…"

“I said I'd show you how the prince likes his baths," Jerawk said with a mischievous smile.

Kyle froze up, still very unsure how to handle draconic flirting until Jerawk leaned in and kissed him. The man relaxed into the soft, scaled lips of his companion. His hands ran down the dragon's scales as Jerawk's tongue pushed into Kyle's mouth. Kyle whimpered into the kiss, feeling his cock come to life in the water, marveling at how hot this creature got him.

When Jerawk broke the kiss he giggled softly. “You get aroused quick, human. I was just trying to be affectionate."

Kyle's heart was pounding, and he felt his dick throb in the water, right against Jerawk's ass.

“Are you going to be okay?"

Kyle nodded. “Y…yeah, I'm just not used to… draconic affection, I, uh, guess." He was trying his best to calm himself, but that feeling of infatuation and lust from before urged him to pin the smaller dragon to the basin and kiss him until Kyle's face hurt.

As if sensing the battle inside the human, Jerawk suggested, “How about we distract you?" He got off Kyle, and the human had to resist pulling the dragon back against him. Jerawk sat on his knees in the tub and nodded his muzzle toward one of the bottles near the bath. “Grab that, I'll teach you how you massage a friend's wings." Kyle grabbed the bottle and settled behind Jerawk, careful to not sit on his tail.

Kyle held the bottle in his hand and just stared at Jerawk's winged back. He was no Chisur, but Kyle noticed now a clear definition of muscle on his friend, especially at his shoulder blades where the base of his wings connected. Jerawk stretched his wings out, and Kyle watched as they extended past the span the dragon's arms could stretch. The scales along the flexible finger bone that held his membrane in place were still yellow, but the membrane was a deep violet that reminded Kyle of the night sky.

“This your first time seeing wings extended?"

Kyle just said, “They're… beautiful," and felt a sudden, strange envy pass through him.

“Aww, thanks Kyle. Now, pour the oil in your palm and mix it together till your hands are nice and oily, then start massaging it into my joints. You don't need to do anything to the membrane, and be sure to be gentle."

Blushing, Kyle did as he was told, setting the bottle on the rim once he filled his palm. He rubbed his hands together and felt them tingling in a strange way that made the joints in his fingers feel relaxed.

“What is this stuff?"

“It's a synthetic version of a slug secretion called varn. Back in the olden days, they used to just have farms of them, but now that's so rare even a prince won't pay for the real stuff."

Kyle got to work, kneading his fingers first into the base of the wings. He massaged the muscles and felt them loosen. Jerawk moaned in a sweet way that made Kyle's heart flutter. Jerawk spoke as Kyle worked, “Wing massages are something mates, parents with their hatchlings, and friends like us do together all the time."

Kyle smiled as he started working up the arm of one wing. “I've noticed dragons are very physically affectionate."

“What's the point of soft scales, if—ah—you can't enjoy their touch?" Kyle didn't answer, focusing on his work till Jerawk asked. “Humans are soft, too. Do you not touch much?"

“Not really, or not in my culture, at least."

Jerawk sighed blissfully as Kyle reached the wrist of his left wing and kneaded it gently. He said, “Ah, that's a shame. We have a—mph—saying here. An untouched dragon is one who's dead."

Kyle noticed the lather on his hand had thinned. He squirted more in his palm and said, “Sounds pretty literal."

“In some ways it is, but to be touch-starved in our culture is seen as a form of torture. They don't even let prisons do it."

“No solitary confinement then, huh?"

“Do they do that in your world? That sounds ghastly."

Kyle just focused on Jerawk's tender wings and said quietly, “Our worlds are very different."

“Don't get me wrong—Archayon has so many problems, but that's why—oof stay right there a moment… okay you can move on—but that's why we have to protect the prince."

“You believe in him so much… I'm kinda jealous."

Jerawk chuckled. “Then we both have something we can be jealous about." They were quiet for a moment while Kyle worked, until Jerawk broke the silence with, “What do you think of him?"

Kyle started. “Uh, th-the prince?"

“Who else?"

Kyle pursed his lips and focused on his work. By now he was massaging the wrist of Jerawk's other wing. Eventually he sighed and said, “I guess… I've been trying not to think about it."

“Hmm?"

“I just… I wish I could stay long enough to see what you see in him," Kyle said, and with the utterance he felt that weight settle in his chest again. “But I know that's selfish and dangerous to want."

Jerawk's tail moved under the water and wrapped around Kyle's waist. Jerawk turned to face him, and when they locked eyes he said, “You're a good person, Kyle. I'm sorry things are like this, and I apologize for threatening you yesterday."

Kyle was reminded of when Chisur cried in Jerawk's arms earlier in the morning. He felt the need to do something similar, but he choked the feeling down and shook his head. “It's nothing. Let's finish up with your wings, and then maybe I can study magic some more in the prince's focusing chamber."

Jerawk faced away and let Kyle quietly work, but his tail remained squeezed around him, as if the dragon sensed the human's ache.

Kyle had spent most of his life without a place to be. A home to have. A deep connection to anyone. Just some few fly-by-night fucks and flat-mates. Now he had this deep, intimate, alien connection with someone else. For the first time in his life it felt like someone could understand him, but it was an accident. A mistake. Temporary. Kyle knew he needed to give it up, and yet…

Like Jerawk, he wanted to be there for Chisur, too. Kyle wanted to prove this connection had not been some mistake.

***

When Chisur got up to his suite, he was pleasantly surprised that Kyle's mind was not the usual flood of feeling rushing against his. Instead the human erected a modest containment that kept Chisur from being completely subject to the human's thoughts and emotions. Jerawk was relaxing in the lounge, the mess of the morning cleared up as the dragon trilled at the sight of his prince. Chisur sensed Kyle was in the focusing chamber.

Jerawk embraced his prince and asked, “Any luck?"

Chisur shrugged. “Maybe, I didn't ask anyone out yet, mostly just gauged how much I liked talking to them. We'll see how tomorrow goes."

“That's probably best, you usually mess up first impressions."

Chisur scoffed, but didn't protest. He remembered the first time he and Kamore met she called him a self-important ass. “What about you?" Chisur asked, “You seem to be in a good mood, and Kyle is well behaved. How did you manage that?"

Jerawk just beamed. “I fucked him!" When Chisur's jaw dropped, Jerawk laughed and explained: “After you left, I went to check on him and found him looking at porn on your tablet. I think he was looking for a picture of you, my lord. But he seemed very worked up, and you were too rushed to help me finish, so we provided some mutual aid."

Chisur said, “I didn't expect the tether to make him attracted to you."

Jerawk huffed. “You were outside the palace, and like you told me, at a distance where you couldn't influence each other. It had nothing to do with you." Jerawk made a flourish and upturned his head. “I am just a natural beauty."

The prince chuckled. “You aren't wrong. Better he be attracted to you than me—that would just make breaking our bond even harder for him."

The little dragon suddenly deflated. “How long till you think he's ready for that?"

“I suppose it is just a matter of how quickly he learns. What's wrong, love?"

“It's just… I wish there was a way we could keep him."

Chisur sighed and squeezed his attendant's shoulders. “He's not our pet, Jerawk."

“I know, I know—it's selfish. I just really enjoyed my time with him today, he's a complete natural at giving a wing massage."

Chisur hugged his mate. “You'll just have to settle for my massages. We can't keep him a secret forever, and the longer he's here the more we've put everyone in danger. I'm glad the two of you have managed to bond, but I'm sorry."

Jerawk kissed his snout. “You don't need to apologize. I just wanted you to know—and to tell you to be careful."

“Me?"

Jerawk nodded. “You have a type, my lord, and while he is a human who's bereft of anything we'd find attractive, there is… a cute earnestness to him that I know you have a weakness for."

“Really?"

Jerawk gave him a look.

“I suppose I'll be on my guard, then." Chisur let the smaller dragon go and added, “I'm going to check on how he's progressing. Will you come get us for dinner in a couple hours?"

“Sure thing my lord. Any requests for the kitchen?"

“Whatever you're craving is fine by me, Jerawk."

“You spoil me, prince."

“Of course," Chisur said before blowing a kiss and leaving the room. The focusing chamber was adjacent his bedroom. Throughout his conversation with Jerawk, Chisur could tell Kyle was deep in concentration.

When he opened the door to the chamber, he found the human sitting on the ground in front of the room's focus, legs crossed, eyes closed, and levitating the tablet Chisur had given him. Seeing his presence gone unnoticed, Chisur cleared his throat. The tablet fell to the ground as Kyle jolted from his trance. He scrambled to pick up the tablet as the mental barriers he erected crumbled, and the prince felt his flustered tangle of emotions.

“My prince!" he fumbled.

Chisur said, “You can call me by my name, Kyle. I'm not your prince after all."

“Right, sorry." Kyle blushed. “You, uh, talked to Jerawk, I suppose?"

Chisur nodded and sat down in front of the human so they were level with each other. “He seems quite fond of you." Chisur felt a rush of relief from the human, like a hatchling being told their crush reciprocated their feelings. “And you seem to be very fond of him."

Kyle looked down at his lap. “I know… I read about how tethered dragons typically shared most of the mates they had. I figured… a lot of what I was feeling came from you."

“That's a wise assumption to make. Not to hurt your feelings, but I don't think he's known you quite long enough to feel as strongly as you do."

Kyle winced. “I know—it was weird. At one point at lunch I wanted to tell him I loved him, and that's when I realized something was off."

“We just need to work on your control. Emotions are fine, but being able to distance yourself from them and regulate them is a key part of mastering magic."

Kyle finally met his gaze and said, “Right." At the subject change, Kyle settled a bit and said, “I've been trying to practice all day, and while I think I'm figuring out how to draw on my magic, I haven't made any kind of progress on this communion with the planet stuff."

Chisur scratched his chin and thought for a moment. “How much do you understand of electricity?"

Kyle shrugged. “I guess as much as the average person."

The dragon's tail curled and uncurled on the ground impatiently. A part of Chisur wanted to just dig into Kyle's mind and open it to his so they could skip basics, but he was afraid such a thing would just make disentangling their spirits harder later. So he explained, “Think of your body as a circuit with its own internal battery. The world is its own body and battery, only its battery is so large it makes yours or mine seem paltry by comparison. When you connect to the world, you are channeling energy from its circuit to yours, letting it travel through you. But it can be dangerous, a circuit can short, and when it does the magic can rebound."

“Like it did in my world," Kyle offered.

Chisur grimaced but pressed on, “Yes. I sensed your presence and, getting scared, tried to just sever my connection to your planet and all that excess energy couldn't be contained inside me, so it exploded outward. But if you can maintain the circuit, you can tap into the natural flow of the planet's energy and start to channel it toward the crafting of different spells. Ones much more powerful than your body could produce."

Kyle stared over Chisur's shoulder as he processed this. “I see… this makes a lot more sense than what I read online. They talked about the planet as a living being that was a big bunch of nerves you connect your own nervous system to. It just sounded like mumbo jumbo."

Chisur's shoulders and wings shrugged. “That's the actual science. Nerve damage is the most common thing that happens to mages who use their powers on their or other bodies recklessly."

Kyle said, “I read about that, actually."

“To tell you the truth, I'm impressed you managed to tap into your magic this late in your life."

Kyle slowly touched his fingers together, and Chisur could tell he was consciously passing energy between them. “Yeah… I'm not sure I can take credit for it. After I upset you this morning, I just knew how to. I think when my mind was overwhelmed by yours, and you were throwing things with your magic, the knowledge of how just rubbed off on me through our tether."

Chisur grit his teeth. “Right…" he mumbled, “That makes sense."

“I'm sorry for bringing it up."

Chisur released the tension in his jaw and shook his head. “It is okay. Really I am embarrassed. You've essentially been trapped here, and it should not surprise anyone that when you got the chance you looked into who your captor was."

They were both silent a moment, till Kyle offered, “I'm sorry about your mate, and putting you through this again."

Chisur rubbed his left shoulder, which had nearly been incinerated in the accident with Kamore. He couldn't look at the human as he said, “You've done nothing wrong. My mistakes are my own."

Chisur felt Kyle's hand rest on the prince's. The dragon looked up and the human's gaze caught his breath. Kyle said, “It's okay, Chisur. You're not alone in this—I want to be here to help you."

Jerawk had been right in his warning.

Though, unlike the human, the dragon was very good at stuffing his affections back into the dark hole they came from. He quickly rose and said, “You've made excellent progress so far. I need to relieve myself—" a childish excuse, “while I'm in the bathroom, try and see if you can sense the planet's nervous system."

Chisur rushed out the room a little too quickly, feeling like a fool even as he did. He shut the door behind him and found Jerawk lounging on his bed, the attendant on his phone. It took a single glance before Jerawk giggled and said, “I warned you."

Chisur glared before crossing the room to his bathroom. There he splashed his face with hot water. His mirror chimed to tell him his pulse was more elevated than usual. Chisur growled and touched the screen, sending a surge of magic to shut off the readout. He rested his hands on the countertop and tried to still his shaking. He wanted to rebut Jerawk, and point out it wasn't just the earnestness. The look, the tone of Kyle's voice, what he said all reminded him of Kamore. A sickening twist of longing and grief knotted itself in Chisur's stomach. He missed her more than anything. He knew Kyle wasn't responsible, but if he didn't get rid of the human soon, the wounds the prince only just managed to close were likely to come open again as Kyle reminded him more and more of his deceased mate.

Chisur looked himself in the mirror and took a deep breath. He said to himself, “You do not need to be patient or gentle. Kyle won't remember anything about this world anyways. His feelings don't matter."

Psyched up, Chisur marched back through his bedroom, ignoring Jerawk's snarky, “Good luck," and shutting the door to the focusing chamber with enough force to startle Kyle from whatever trance he was trying.

Chisur asked, “Well?"

Kyle sensed hostility in his mind and voice. He cowed under it. “No, I'm sorry, Chisur. Did I do something to—"

“Get up," Chisur said, grabbing Kyle by the arm and leading him to the wall. “Face the wall, arms up at a ninety degree angle, hands on the wall, fingers splayed." Kyle did as ordered, looking like he was about to be searched by the dragon when all the human wore was a set of loose fitting pants Jerawk had found him. Chisur said, “Now concentrate on your energy and channel it through the stone, you should feel it flowing through this chamber, like a small electrical current or a flowing stream."

Kyle closed his eyes and furrowed his brow. It was very slight, but his knees were trembling.

Chisur waited impatiently. “Do you feel it yet?"

Kyle shook his head. “I'm sorry but—"

Chisur cut him off with a snarl and laid his hands over Kyle, fingers spreading against the wall between Kyle's. He felt the human's back tense up and Chisur pressed them both against the wall. That act wrecked Kyle's mental barriers and Chisur felt a frustrating surge of fear and embarrassment from the man.

Chisur whispered in his ear, “You need to calm down. It's dangerous to be this worked up when trying to commune."

Kyle's entire body was quivering beneath the dragon. “I… I…"

Chisur tried to soothe his nerves through their connection. He wondered, sadly, if Kyle was just simply afraid of him after the morning outburst. The human started taking slow, deep breaths. Chisur whispered in his ear, “That's it. I'm not going to hurt you, Kyle." The human shuddered and the dragon felt in his mind panic at an unbidden arousal. Chisur almost gave up, but he just held them both still and continued to try and encourage him. “I know this seems harsh, but sometimes when students do not understand, teachers will do this so the student can feel communion through their teacher. But I need you at an equilibrium."

“I'm sorry…" Chisur noticed tears running down the man's red cheeks. “I don't know what's wrong with me."

“It's okay, Kyle," Chisur said sympathetically. The dragon wanted to comfort the human, but he knew that risked their bond deepening.

“It's just you smell really good, and when you talk in my ear with me pinned like this—"

“Perhaps we should just both stay quiet," the dragon suggested. Kyle nodded and Chisur made sure to tilt his head away so he wasn't breathing on Kyle's ear or the back of his neck. He knew the human was painfully hard, and even with the barriers he put up between them, Chisur could feel his own cock swollen in his slit.

Eventually, after several painful minutes of silence, Kyle began to calm down. After many more, he finally relaxed.

Chisur didn't dare risk trying to talk in his ear again. He said to the domed ceiling, “I'm going to start, okay?"

“I'm ready, I think."

Chisur closed his eyes and began channeling energy. The stone in the room made it easy and instantaneous. Kyle gasped as energy passed through them both. Both the dragon and the human started to glow brightly, their forms eventually becoming hard to distinguish in the light. Chisur settled into a trance. The most peace he felt since the accident that brought Kyle here. He melted into the communion, becoming that single circuit, another neuron within the vast network of Archayon. Beneath, he felt Kyle relaxing as well. Both of them were able to spread their senses across the whole palace, to the edges of its gates. Chisur could see his sister entertaining guests in her room, and in the next moment focus on the way Jerawk was tapping his phone. What he did not notice, spread so thin, was that slowly, imperceptibly, the barriers in his mind were being pulled apart, as him and Kyle were pulled together by their tether. He couldn't have known. It had never happened to him before. He had never been tethered before.

When Chisur did finally notice, it was too late to pull away. If he broke the communion too suddenly he risked another rebound. He started to slow down the channeling, but he heard Kyle ask, Why are you stopping?

Because it scares me to share my thoughts with you, Chisur responded automatically. He felt his own embarrassment at admitting fear, but he knew it impossible to lie to Kyle when they were so jumbled together.

What are you afraid of? I trust you.

I'm scared if our bond deepens I won't be able to let you go.

Would that be so bad? Do you know what I told Jerawk today? And Chisur did know, in an instant he flashed through the memory of Kyle talking to Jerawk in the bath. Why had Jerawk asked him such a dangerous question? I meant it, you know.

Fuck.

You don't need to be scared, my prince.

Don't say that it makes me feel like you've already—

What if I have?

Chisur couldn't pull back from the channeling. Kyle was accelerating it as Chisur tried to slow it. Kyle had all the knowledge he needed from Chisur's own mind to do it.

If you care at all about me or Jerawk then you know you can't. That we can't.

That did it. Kyle gasped and the channeling broke, a little too suddenly. The focus in the middle of the chamber exploded and both Chisur and Kyle cried out in pain as stone shrapnel shredded the dragon's back. Chisur slumped to the ground, the door slammed open and he heard Jerawk yell, “My lord! What happened?" He rushed over to help support the prince while Kyle backed away, staring in abject horror.

“Rebound…" Chisur groaned.

“I'm so sorry—I didn't mean—"

Chisur squeezed Jerawk's hand to keep his attendant calm. He said, struggling though pain, “It was my fault. I pushed us to communion when neither of us were ready… fuck." The dragon coughed into his hand, and when he pulled it away, saw blood.

“Chisur!" Jerawk squeaked, horrified.

“Go get Madial," Chisur said.

“I'm not leaving you—"

“I'm fine, Jerawk. It's not as bad as it looks." He coughed some more.

He heard Kyle still in his thoughts, It looks like you got hit in the back with buckshot. No… nononono…

Chisur growled. “Go Jerawk, the longer we wait the worse I'll be."

Jerawk swore he would be back soon and rushed out the room.

Chisur rested his head against the wall and focused on his breathing. He said to Kyle through their tether, Next time, let me have control of the communion. You still don't have mastery over your emotions.

I'm a monster, I shouldn't have asked all those questions—it was so fucking stupid—fuck shit—

Breathe, human. Your guilt and panic don't make this any more pleasant.

I'm so sorry, Chisur.

Just think of it as payback for the leg.

I know I shouldn't feel this way, but my time here has felt like a gift. I couldn't be mad at you for what happened to me.

Dammit… I wish you would. Even without blowing up my back, you're making this incredibly hard for us both.

Taking me here has been strange and wonderful. I just want to show you how much it's meant to me—

Then do me a favor, I'm in too much pain to ward off the tether again. Get out of my head, will you?

Chisur knew that Kyle tried his best to meet his request. By the time Madial arrived the human managed to wall off their minds. They laid Chisur on his front in his bed and Madial went to work. Because his hide was tough, most of the stone didn't actually penetrate very deep. It hurt horribly, but it wasn't as bad as it first seemed. Madial finished his work in an hour, removing most of the shrapnel with magic, and simply leaving the fragments too deep to risk removing. Kyle was lucky. If it had been him in front of the dragon it likely would have blown a hole in the man.

Kyle had never left the focusing room in all that time. His guilt weighed on Chisur so much the prince barely even noticed Madial's biting scorn. When the mender finished and left, Chisur was left with Jerawk in his room.

Jerawk knelt beside the bed, squeezing Chisur's hand. He asked, “It was Kyle's fault, wasn't it?"

Chisur lay on his front, head pointed toward his mate's. “It was both our—"

“Don't try to take the blame, Chisur."

The dragon sighed. “Kyle was responsible."

“Tell me what happened."

So Chisur did.

When he finished Jerawk glanced at the door. “The human must feel terrible."

“We can't be mad at him."

“Oh I'm mad at him, I'm mad at you both. You both need to have a talk. This connection you share, it's going to mix up your feelings, and both of you are trying to fight that instead of figure out what to do once it happens. Because it's happening, Chisur. I may not be in your heads but I see it in you both. This is why I got scared and defensive when the human first got here. But I figured out how I felt about this human and I know he won't take you from me, we'd just add him to us."

Chisur looked away from his attendant—frustrated that Madial had used a spell to numb the prince below the ribs so he wouldn't be in pain all night. He couldn't leave or try to get some air. Kyle couldn't leave, either, he felt with a pang of guilt. He was sure the human would love nothing more than to create distance.

Jerawk sighed and stood up. “I can't stay by your side babying you. I'm going to go comfort the human and get him out of that wretched room. Your phone is on the nightstand if you need to get a hold of me, I'll sleep in the lounge."

“You're staying here?"

“After what happened to him, I don't think it's a good idea to leave Kyle alone all night, do you?"

Chisur knew he was right. His mate leaned down and kissed his cheek, then whispered, “I love you, but you make it very hard sometimes. Talk with the human tomorrow. You both have a lot to figure out, and it's clear after tonight that he'll be here long enough that you'll need to figure yourselves out."

He left before Chisur could muster a response. He sensed, at one point, that Kyle was crying in the other room and felt his own grief and guilt, but he had the presence of mind to wall off his thoughts from the human. Jerawk was the one who needed to console him; if Chisur tried who knew what sort of pain his presence might cause? It scared him, knowing how much ache and longing he felt at not being able to comfort Kyle.

Eventually the two left the chamber and passed into the lounge without a word to Chisur. The prince knew dwelling helplessly on everything would only make him feel worse, so Chisur did the one thing he could to escape the situation: he pulled on his magic and, like a switch, forced himself asleep.

***

Setara kept a key to every room of the palace. She was the royal spymaster, it wouldn't do if she could not go where she pleased. So when she slipped out of her suite in the morning to visit Chisur, she didn't think of anything but her reasons for going and what she would say to her brother to get him to do what she needed. Setara knew, from previous intel, that there were a set of secessionists with their claws in the court who wanted to overthrow the royal line. She needed a powerful mage to cast a divination spell at the ball to help root them out. It was the whole reason she asked her mother to order Chisur to attend.

But all her planning shattered soon as she stepped into Chisur's suite. On the couch slept Jerawk and another creature Setara had only seen in pictures. Both of them were naked and very clearly tangled together as if they held each other tightly the whole night. They would have had to, it was the only way both could possibly fit on the couch.

Setara purposefully shut the door loud enough to wake Jerawk up. The human in his arms groaned, and, as he stirred, Jerawk's eyes fluttered open. Then he squeaked as he recognized who stood in the room and started scrambling. He barely managed to sit up before he yelped, “Princess Archay!"

The other creature said in her tongue, “Princess?"

“Where the fuck is my brother, Jerawk?"

Chapter 4: The Belle

Kyle's panicked call in Chisur's mind woke him.

The door to his room slammed open and he heard his sister yell, “Chisur Archay! Get the fuck up—you've got some explaining to do."

Madial's spell had worn off and his entire back was one long ache. Chisur tried to move and made a pained groan, which he heard Kyle echo from the lounge. His sister had stormed to the bed, saying, “Don't just try to sleep when your heir apparent—" she gasped as she tore his sheets off. “Brother!" Chisur felt a gentle hand touch his back, running against the dozens of welts scattered across it after Madial's healing magic worked through the night. It was much better than the bleeding pockmarks of the night before. She pulled the sheet back over him and said, “I'm going to get Madial."

Chisur growled and managed to grab her hand. “He's already aware."

“So you're okay?"

“It—ugh—hurts, but yes."

Setara grabbed him by a horn, and, with an easy strength, yanked the dragon from the bed and on his feet. Chisur snarled in pain as he fought for his balance. Setara twisted his head so he was looking right at her before she growled, “Then tell me why in the fuck there is a human in a royal suite and a prince in bed who looks like he stepped on a land mine last night."

***

Jerawk sat in a ball on the couch, staring straight ahead. Kyle sat next to him, listening with his tether to the conversation in the other room. Occasionally Setara would shout something like, “You what!?" or “How dare you put our family in jeopardy over this!" that both Jerawk and Kyle could hear in the lounge. Sometimes she just roared.

Kyle wrapped an arm around Jerawk and asked quietly, “Is she going to kill me?"

“She is going to kill all of us," Jerawk said like he already stood in his grave.

“What is she doing here, though?"

“Setara is the queen's spymaster—she goes where she pleases."

“But think about it, Jerawk. I've never talked to her but I know through the tether she never shows up unannounced."

The little dragon relaxed a bit. He said, “You're right… she must want Chisur for something."

“Then we have nothing to worry about."

“She still might kill the two of us."

Kyle sighed. “I guess we're just expendable. Poor Chisur, his back and now his sister."

Jerawk wrapped his tail around the human. “It's been really nice knowing you, Kyle."

“You, too, Jerawk—"

The door flew open and the two of them flinched into each other. They heard Setara from the bedroom, “You two, bring that other chair in here. We need to talk."

Jerawk sheepishly picked up the accent chair and Kyle followed behind him. Setara directed the attendant to set it by the door, looking across the room. The princess sat down and crossed her legs while the three of them sat at the edge of the bed like chastened children. Only Kyle met her glower. She wore nothing but a bodysuit, her thighs exposed in a way that was alluring and erotic until he heard Chisur growl, “Don't you dare."

“What was that, Chisur?" Setara asked.

“Nothing sister."

Chisur barged into his mind to say, If you make me attracted to my sister through our tether I'll throw you out the window.

Kyle flushed. I'm sorry—I don't know what's happening. I've never been attracted to females before but I've never seen a dragoness and she's just so commanding—

Shut up shut up shut up—

Their inner dialogue was severed when Setara spoke: “Human, your name is Kyle?"

“Uh, yes," Kyle said, looking down at the floor.

“Look at me when we speak," Setara ordered.

I'm so sorry, Chisur. He did, his entire face red. He was thankful only the two dragons beside him understood humans enough to know what that meant.

Setara said, “How complex is your tether to my brother? Could you sever it?"

“Princess you—"

“Quiet, Jerawk, or I'll serve you as the main course at my next dinner party."

For the first time, Kyle saw the attendant utterly cowed.

Kyle answered honestly, “I think, maybe? I'm not very skilled, princess. I'm pretty sure it would hurt Chisur, a lot. Me as well, probably."

Setara nodded. “But you have some mastery? You can relay thoughts, memories, or sensations whole?"

“I'm pretty confident I can."

“Thank you, Kyle. Your princess appreciates your honesty." Kyle was mortified when he felt his nerves flutter at her praise. He noticed Chisur's hands were clenched in a quiet frustration at what the human was making him feel. Setara said to all of them, “As the heir apparent, I should report all of you and Madial immediately and let the queen dole out appropriate punishments so that I am not implicated in this comical spectacle of incompetence." Why did this dragoness humiliating him turn Kyle on? “But… as royal spymaster, I can use the human to my own ends."

Chisur's gaze shot up to his sister's. “What on Archay are you—"

“There is a secessionist group with its claws in certain members of the court and council," Setara said. “They go by Archayon's Phoenix, and think the royal family is secretly responsible for maintaining the wild magic of the lands scarred by the great war. They grew in popularity after your reckless accident gave them the sort of evidence conspiracy theories need."

Kyle felt Chisur shot through with a pang so deep the human nearly started trembling.

“I'm expecting many of those members to be at the summer ball, and originally came here to ask you to set up some divination work to root them out during the dance. But divination magic rarely holds up as evidence these days in a trial, so I have a new plan, Chisur."

And Kyle froze when Setara's gaze settled on him.

“You're going to debut yourself with a new mate at the ball, dear brother."

Both Kyle and Chisur felt the same strange rush of panic as the prince rose and said, “Are you crazy? They won't let a human through the door—"

“Sit down," Setara snapped.

Chisur did as ordered, jaw clenched.

“You're right. That's why you're going to take the rest of the day crafting a disguise for him. Use an illusion spell to make him look, sound, and smell like a dragoness from Verrak."

“Verrak is on the other side of the planet…"

“Can you let me finish, brother?"

“Sorry."

Setara continued, “Even I can't invent an identity for someone in the sprawl who would be appropriate for royalty like you to dance with. All the nobles and representatives know each other here, but Verrak is far enough away that any fake identity my agents make should hold up to scrutiny for at least a week, and that will be more than enough time."

Kyle swallowed the knot in his throat and asked, “Why do I need to be at the ball, though?"

“Because, dragons will want to talk to you. You'll be the hottest gossip, and for any secessionist, a clear link to the enemy. I'll give you a set of code words we secretly recovered from one of their members, and in conversation you'll casually drop them and see if anyone springs on the bait. With your supposed tie to the prince, they'll be stupidly eager to court you to their cause. And with your tether, Chisur should be able to relay anything to you that you'll need to blend in, as well as relay to me who you've trapped."

“So this is like a honeypot," Kyle said.

Setara looked confused, so Chisur clarified, “He means an ant-urn."

“Exactly!"

Kyle looked at Chisur. “You get honey from ants?"

Chisur dismissed him with a wave and said, “Alright. Is that all you need him for? And what happens if we're caught in the act? Illusion spells have their limits."

Could just make me a dragon—

Much as I know that would overjoy you and Jerawk, I don't know anyone who has done a thing like that.

Setara shrugged. “Then we pretend you scooped the human up from his world, had control of his mind the whole time, and planned to dump him back through the Tether once you were done with him."

Her frankness made Kyle grimace.

Chisur said, “It will take me some time to create an illusion as complicated as you ask."

“That's fine. My agency will generate a name and a set of legal documents, as well as a fake online media presence, and once you're done we'll just take some pictures of her and plug in the images online where they're needed."

The prince squeezed Kyle's knee and asked, “And you're okay with all this, Kyle?"

“It doesn't seem like we have much of a choice," Kyle said.

Setara beamed. “At least one of you gets it." She stood and added, “I've been here much too long. Chisur, see me out will you?"

***

Chisur knew what his sister really meant by that request. They all did. The prince left the other two in the bedroom and when they were alone in the lounge, Setara said, “Can you wall off your mind from that human for me?"

Without fully understanding the urge, Chisur lied: “He already is."

What are you doing?

Whatever she says, you have a right to know.

Setara made him almost regret his decision. “This mess you've made, it's about Kamore, isn't it?"

That question cut deep enough it made Kyle wince in the other room.

Chisur only said, “I didn't mean for it to."

Setara mumbled a sympathetic, “Oh baby, brother…" and hugged him. When she pulled away her face was serious, however. “Don't let this tether make you think you can replace that wonderful dragoness with some human who, by total coincidence, fell into a similar situation."

“He could never replace her, Setara."

Chisur heard through his tether a sad, quiet, And I don't want to… I just want to see you happy.

Setara kissed his cheek and stepped back. “You know I'll have to tell mother about all this."

“Must you?"

“Part of my duties is not keeping secrets from her. You shouldn't have kept this from her, either, Chisur."

Chisur rubbed his shoulder and said, “I just didn't want to add one more thing to her plate."

“Chisur… you still haven't learned have you? Your brothers may not be here, but mother and I want you close for a reason. We want to be there when you need us—we will always try our best to help you. Remember that, will you?"

Through the tether, he could feel Kyle's smoldering admiration for his sister's words. You're very lucky to have her, and Jerawk and your mother—

And you? Chisur asked it like an accusation.

If you'll have me.

Setara sighed, not realizing Chisur's silence was because of another set of feelings he wrestled with. She told him, “I need to get to work on our ant-urn. Can you get the illusion done by tonight?"

Chisur nodded. “I'll make that human look like the belle of the ball."

In the other room, he sensed Kyle quivering with excitement.

***

Kyle ran his hands down the black scaled tail wrapped around him, admiring the softness of the downy white fur that sprouted from its center and ended at the tip in a rabbit-like poof. The tail was longer than any of the dragons he'd seen so far. As he touched it, he said, “It feels so real."

“It has to, if it doesn't feel like you have a tail, how are you supposed to keep it from accidentally phasing through someone's leg?" Chisur said. “Since I'm channeling the spell, I'll be the only one who senses something is off, unless you allow someone to move through something that is clearly fake, like your wings or tail." Chisur shook his head. “Verrak… My sister gave me the hardest kind of dragon to work with."

“I can't wait to see what you come up with, my lord," Jerawk chimed in, leaning in close to observe the prince's handiwork. “The detail is incredible, her scales are beautiful."

Chisur was too deep in concentration to notice how the compliment made Kyle's tail twitch. Jerawk spared the human a wink.

The three of them stood in the focusing chamber again. It had only taken Chisur a few private minutes to channel the planet and repair the room. It took him an hour of careful research and communion to figure out how to cast the tail. When he did, he had called Kyle and Jerawk in and casted it on the human. Currently, Kyle only sported the tail, which seemed much too big for his hips, which, Kyle realized with a start, meant the prince planned to refashion his entire figure under the illusion.

“I don't really care for the fur, but you're going to make Kyle quite stunning, aren't you, my lord?"

Chisur joked with them both, “A prince needs a beautiful dragoness by his side for the ball."

Kyle's mouth felt too dry to speak. Jerawk grabbed the human's hand and said, “Well? Are you excited?"

“I… uh—yes?"

Chisur told Jerawk, “He's worried he'll like it too much."

Jerawk giggled. “I don't blame him. I know I'd certainly be swooning dancing with you, Chisur."

Kyle's heart was thundering.

“Dammit, dancing," Chisur said, still lost in thought. “Do you know how to dance, Kyle?"

“Not… um—no."

The prince nodded. “We'll teach you some basic dances. It shouldn't be hard to learn the steps with the tether helping, the main thing is being careful of your tail as everyone is flying about the dance floor."

Kyle squeaked. “Will I be expected to fly?"

Chisur said, “I meant it as a turn of phrase. Although a lot of draconic architecture is designed with flight in mind… but no, Setara will be sure you don't get put into that sort of place. She knows it'd be the quickest way for the illusion to fall apart. I'll be sure to have a flight spell ready just in case, but maybe you should also learn how to cast one, too."

Jerawk said, “So much to do, so little time."

Chisur stopped channeling the illusion, and Kyle's tail blinked out of existence. “Jerawk, I want you to take Kyle into the lounge and start teaching him how to dance while I work on this disguise. There's no reason we can't do both at once."

Jerawk led Kyle away by the hand into the lounge. Wrapped up in trying to craft the perfect disguise, Chisur essentially had an insurmountable wall between himself and Kyle as he worked.

Jerawk said, “We'll just try to get you to master the basic steps with a counter, then we'll try some music once you've got that down."

Kyle tried to focus on his friend. “Do you dance often?"

“All dragons learn, it's like wing massages only with music. You dance with friends, mates, family, even strangers," Jerawk said as he held up his hands. “Now, I'll be the lead, so you can practice being the follow when you dance with the prince."

Jerawk started with the basic steps of a waltz. The human was so nervous that he kept fumbling, but Jerawk was patient and kind, and the dragon led Kyle along until they stopped counting altogether and just swayed about the room.

Jerawk asked, “So how do you feel about Setara's plan?" Kyle stuttered in his step, and they slowed until Jerawk got them back on track, saying, “Come on now, Kyle, you need to be able to dance and talk at the ball."

“Right, sorry…" Kyle concentrated a moment to get back into the flow, and then said, “I'm really nervous."

“About?"

They swept around the couch, Kyle's backside brushing against it a moment and reminding him of Chisur's warning about the tail. “All of it. The spell not working, getting caught, trying to get strangers to tell me about their conspiracy plots—"

“Pretending to be Chisur's mate—" Kyle locked up and he almost fell over. Jerawk grabbed him and asked, laughing, “Did I touch a nerve?"

Kyle's whole body was trembling, but he sensed Chisur was still so deep in concentration he might as well be on the other side of Archayon.

Jerawk suggested, “Why don't we have a seat?"

“Didn't we talk enough last night?"

“Last night you still thought you would be leaving in a couple days," Jerawk said as he led them to the couch. Kyle felt his friend guide him onto his back, laying him across the couch. The dragon lay beside him and traced a finger up and down Kyle's stomach. “Setara is going to keep you here a few days more, and you'll get the time and chance to make up for last night."

Kyle stared at the ceiling and admitted, “I'm so scared of messing up—of getting him in trouble again."

“He's already in trouble, Kyle. It's your job to get him out of it."

“But he's right, Jerawk. I care so much about you and him… the best thing for both of you is for me to go back to my own world."

Jerawk kissed his cheek and whispered, “You sweet, stupid human."

“Jerawk…"

The dragon rolled off the couch onto his feet. He pulled Kyle up and said, “I'm going to sleep in my own quarters tonight so the two of you can have the night alone together. You both know each other's feelings, let yourself have and share them with each other."

Kyle said quietly, “Chisur's lucky to have you, Jerawk."

Jerawk kissed him gently on the lips and murred, “So are you." Kyle's eyes widened in surprise.

“You mean—"

“Come, I'm going to play some music from my phone and let's see if we can get you to stay in step before Chisur finishes making you into a beautiful dragoness."

***

Kyle was obviously uncomfortable as Setara and Jerawk both marveled at Chisur's handiwork. All four stood in the lounge now. Chisur had cast the spell in the focusing chamber before walking a Verraki dragoness into the lounge. She stood a few inches taller than Kyle, with deep black scales with wispy lines of white and gray crossing her body. Down her back ran a thin line of white fur. Each ivory horn wrapped about a slender, bat-like ear, with a black mane that kept a boa-like collar around her throat and ran up the back of her neck and topping her head in a blown out side part. Her wings were full of lush feathers reminiscent of a ravens. To top it off, Chisur had, like Kyle guessed, seen to reworking his male figure into a much more feminine body type.

“Well, done, brother. Lady Yusool here is certainly going to turn heads at her debut."

“Is Yusool my name?" Kyle asked, feeling strange as she heard a lilting, feminine voice instead of her normal, deeper voice.

“Lady Yusool Kithari," Setara said, “Your family is an old one that can trace its lineage back to the first Verraki Emperor. Today your family trades in magical artifacts, which is how you met Prince Chisur Archay. I have a whole dossier for the identity we're building that you can review later tonight."

“Do you think you can handle this?" Chisur asked.

The dragoness' long tail wrapped around herself and she held it demurely. “Uh, yeah," she said. Kyle felt strange in this body. Even the smell of dragoness—a soft floral scent with musk undertones—was getting to her.

“Don't worry, darling," Setara said, “With my brother's confidence and knowledge coming through the tether, you'll do just fine." She turned to Chisur and asked, “Will the illusion hold up to touch?"

“It depends," Chisur said, “If a guest is leading her in a dance she should be fine. She thinks she's holding a tail right now, after all, but also her tail or wings could just as easily pass through you if she isn't careful."

“I see, so the illusion affects her senses, too."

“How do you feel, Kyle?" Jerawk piped up as he approached to squeeze her hand.

Kyle tested her wings, feeling muscle and feather extend before she pulled them in against her back. She chose her words carefully, “It feels really… natural."

“If it didn't, this whole plan would be sunk, now wouldn't it?" Setara said, but both Chisur and Jerawk knew Kyle meant more. Setara said to Chisur, “Well done, brother. If this works, you'll be one step closer to getting out from under the mountain of trouble you're in."

“I thought you said I should have come to you for help?"

“I did, and instead you tried to keep a secret from me," Setara said with a wink. “You know better, baby brother." She removed her phone from her bodysuit and started texting something. She announced as she did, “I'll be sending Phelise by in the morning to take pictures of her so we can create her a fake presence online."

“Don't enough people already know about Kyle?" Chisur asked.

“Don't act like I've not already told my attendant about your little secret. She thinks it is quite funny." Chisur grumbled something under his breath while Setara continued, “In the meantime, Lady Yusool, read over the information I just sent to Chisur, and do whatever else the prince feels you should know before the ball. Even if he doesn't like them, he knows these events inside and out, so you shouldn't need to hear from me until the night of the ball. Which is for the best. Chisur, you lay low in your room as well until the day of."

“Oh now come on, sist—"

Setara cut him off with a raised hand, still looking at her phone and texting with the other. “I've already faked a press release saying you are on a business trip to Verrak. That will be your cover and will make it seem like you've spent the last few days in a whirlwind romance with Lady Yusool. It's just the sort of story we need to convince members of the phoenix that Lady Yusool is really out trying to use the naive prince for her own ends. The tabloids will practically write themselves by the end of the night."

Kyle had, unknowingly, let her jaw drop during all of this. The princess seemed scarily good at her job.

Chisur was deeply annoyed that she had every vector of his life planned.

Setara asked after a brief spot of silence, “Any questions? No? Then I'll see the two of you at the ball." At the door to the suite she paused and added, “Oh, and Chisur, make sure that illusion comes with a proper Verraki gown for your mate."

Jerawk snickered as the door closed, Chisur lashing his tail in annoyance while an embarrassed Kyle hugged her arms around her bare breasts. Jerawk broke the silence first with a yawn. It was night time by now, the three of them having had dinner together hours ago. Jerawk said, “Well, unless you have anything else for me, my lord and lady, I'm going to rest at my quarters tonight."

Chisur gave Jerawk a pointed look, which he returned with a toothy grin. “You're free to go, Jerawk," the prince said.

Jerawk trotted to the door, trilling before he left, “Take care, you two."

When it was just the two of them, Chisur relaxed a bit and offered Kyle a warm smile.

“I think Jerawk was insinuating something when he left."

“I… uh—yes. I think you're right," Kyle said, her voice still strangely melodic.

“Do you like this form?"

Though the illusion wouldn't show it, Kyle felt herself blush. She looked at her tail and said, “I love it, actually."

Chisur felt distant and hard to read, that impossibly strong wall he had up all day still remained, like it was just a state of mind now. The dragon walked to his bookcase, observing it as he said, “You know… a lot of my time today was spent in thought and communion while I waited for the magic to take shape. I spent most of that time watching you dance with Jerawk, and the quiet intimacy you both shared…" Kyle barely noticed she was holding her breath. “And, if I'm honest, I was jealous of him."

Kyle's new voice seemed to be coming from a very great distance when she said, “We can dance together now if you'd like."

Chisur turned with his hand outstretched in an offering. Kyle didn't even notice she rushed to meet him, because whatever wall Chisur had up came down. And as they embraced so did their spirits swirl together, matching the step of the dance. The steps felt natural as walking, even when Chisur spun her before drawing her close. With her muzzle pressed against his chest, taking in his scent, she whimpered in relief.

Chisur said in her mind as they danced, All day I thought about it. Being afraid of this, not letting myself have it—

It's yours, you don't need to ask.

I thought to myself, if I make an illusion good enough, maybe that can just be our life. It wouldn't be perfect, but we wouldn't lose you.

It's more than enough for me.

Kyle felt Chisur's rumbling growl come deep in his chest. It's not enough for me. I want to walk with you side by side, no matter the body you're in.

Kyle realized Chisur had ended the illusion, and the dragon and human stopped dancing. Chisur's hand brushed up the back of his neck as the dragon said, “I don't care if it's the tether or if it's you that's made me feel this way, I don't care about what this all might risk, I need you, I need us."

And Chisur pulled Kyle into a kiss. Kyle released a whimpering moan—he hugged himself close to the dragon. Chisur's draconic tongue pressed into the human's mouth. He knew from Jerawk it was big, but his whole body shook when that wet appendage probed and pushed down his throat, becoming a thing Kyle could only suck on lewdly as the prince's saliva coated his palette. Chisur quivered, too, his cock already straining in his slit. He ended the kiss, a string of saliva between their lips for a moment before Chisur said, “So that's what it feels like when I do that. No wonder Jerawk likes my tongue so much."

Kyle would've giggled if he wasn't panting. With nothing reserved between them, the tether made the kiss an explosion of sensation for them both. Kyle said nothing, but hugged the dragon, burying his face against his pecs and taking a deep breath of him.

Even on that first night, when you pulled me out of the truck—I thought you smelled so good.

Chisur squeezed him close and kissed his head. I hope smelling me isn't all you want.

Fuck no, Kyle hooked his arms around Chisur's neck and in tandem, one knowing the other, Kyle climbed up to straddle the bigger dragon's waist, Chisur holding his back half. Kyle whispered in his ear, “Carry me to bed, stud."

Chisur growled and threw open the door to his bedroom with magic. He fell onto the bed with Kyle under him, the human laughing like a giddy bride. He wasn't sure how in such a short time he came to feel so deeply for another being, but it was like each moment with Chisur stoked the fire in both of them larger and larger. Now, with their minds together, those flames had combined, and Kyle felt all his worries fall away underneath his prince.

Kyle pulled Chisur back into a kiss, the two of them simply pressing and working their lips together before, with an urgency, Chisur's tongue pushed back into him. Kyle's head tilted back in a choked moan as that tongue worked into his throat. He swallowed around it like it was a cock, as the violation of his throat made the man hot. He felt pre dripping down his belly, but it wasn't him, it was his lover's much larger ebon cock. Filling out and laying across the length of Kyle's belly in a way that made him more eager. Chisur sensed it, too—needed it, too.

Kyle rolled Chisur onto the bed, both feeling a wincing pain shoot up Chisur's back. It barely registered as Kyle squeezed the wet head of Chisur's dick. He growled and his cock jerked in the soft hand, filling the palm with pre. Kyle reached up and licked his palm while Chisur murred at the site. Turn around. Chisur ordered and Kyle did, getting into a sixty-nine position. Two large, draconic hands grabbed his hips and pulled his ass into the dragon's muzzle. Kyle gasped. When he heard Chisur take in a loud inhale of his scent, it made the man whine with need. He never felt so desired. Chisur wanted to bite the human's soft skin and leave bloody marks all over him to show how totally claimed he was. It felt like a deep feral impulse, but Kyle would take all that pain to be claimed by the prince.

The prince held off, though, instead his tongue spilled from his muzzle and coiling around Kyle's balls and cock. Both partners felt that wet on Kyle's sex, and it made them both moan in unison. It gave Chisur enough pause for Kyle to notice the incredible, draconic shaft spilled across the golden scales of the prince's belly. A streak of pre hung like the flourish of a signature right above the dragon's navel. This time Chisur felt Kyle's monstrous desire as, panting, he reached for the dragon's endowment. Unlike Jerawk, Kyle knew there was no way Chisur could hilt his mouth. How did anyone swallow something nearly as big as their forearm? Instead Kyle kissed the tip and mewled at the taste of his prince. Royal pre smeared his lips as he worked the spaded head in his mouth and stroked the shaft with both hands.

Chisur's claws dug into Kyle's skin enough to leave scratch marks as he fought to focus. He drew his tongue up Kyle's taint and between his cheeks, leaving a long streak of wet. Kyle ground his ass against Chisur's muzzle, enticing him to taste. Kyle couldn't remember the last time he played with his ass, but any resistance it had was obliterated by the powerful muscle of Chisur's tongue. “Fuck!" Kyle yelled, legs reflexively trying to push away while Chisur held his hips still. Kyle was panting hard as he was ravished by the prince. The pressure on his prostate was so much—he was already filled so much. He felt that tongue lather his rim loose with draconic spit. Kyle was so worked up already, but Chisur wanted to push more. The dragon grabbed Kyle's cock and started pumping, which made the human squirm and try to get away. Chisur growled and kept a firm grip on his thigh.

God, Chisur I'm—

Do it. Cum for me.

Kyle's back arched and he called the prince's name as his seed spilled between Chisur's insistent fingers. He clamped down, but it did nothing to stop the powerful muscle working his ass loose. What both of them forgot was the tether. On the third shot of Kyle's orgasm, Chisur went snarling over the edge, overwhelmed by the pleasure he was giving Kyle. The draconic cock slapped against Chisur's belly as it fired thick cum across his chest and onto the hand still stroking Kyle off. “F-fuck!" Kyle gasped as he scrambled to grab the spasming dragon dick. The next spurt was blocked by his hands and spilled everywhere, the third shot across Kyle's torso and fell onto the prince before Kyle managed to get the tip in his mouth. The fourth immediately filled his mouth with cum. Kyle tried to swallow, but it was too much. By the fifth shot he had to release and settle for being covered in the prince's virile seed .

Chisur, meanwhile, kept working Kyle's cock and ass, as if he was trying to draw out his own orgasm through the human. It made the human totally weak—he did not have the strength for such stimulation. By the time Chisur's cock had settled, the human lay across his torso, meek and covered in cum. Chisur finally released him and his head fell backwards, tongue following him.

Was that… too much?

Fuck… I've never felt anything so much. I could barely breathe.

You went limp there for the last part, Chisur pointed out, and Kyle could sense his dumb smile.

I'll need to be limp for you to fit that knot in me.

Chisur sat up at this. “You want to keep going?"

Kyle rose on his shaky arms and turned to face him. “Do I look done?"

The human's entire front from hair to face to torso to crotch to thighs was a tangled smear of seed.

“Sluts never look done," Chisur growled. His cock never receded, so when he returned Kyle to his back, the spade tip was already smeared with draconic cum and ready to breed the human.

If it hurts make me—

You'll know if it's too much, just fuck me.

Chisur growled in response to his mate's eagerness and joined the two of them. Kyle groaned—the tip wasn't any worse than Chisur's tongue; which the dragon let slip from his mouth and between Kyle's lips. Kyle sucked the tip of the tongue and tasted himself while Chisur tasted the cum that had soaked across Kyle's palette. Kyle's breath picked up as more of that cock forced its way in. He pulled Chisur back into a kiss to distract himself. Their bodies softly, slowly were coming together. Chisur's lips were wet and soft. Kyle always marveled, every time he kissed them, how soft draconic lips were. Kyle's hands worked through Chisur's red mane of hair, and held onto it as that draconic cock reached his prostate. Chisur was so thick, it only needed to hit a certain depth for his cock to push against it.

Stop here, Kyle urged, and Chisur obeyed. The tether exchanged sensations, Chisur acutely aware how full Kyle felt as a similar pressure echoed beneath his navel, and Kyle whined from feeling how warm and tight he was for Chisur's breeding tool. The two stopped kissing, their cheeks together as they merely panted into each other's ears. Kyle couldn't help but say in the moment, his voice high and tense, “You're so hot, my prince. Ever since—ah—I saw you in the light I wanted you… I can't believe it's happening. This is—mmph—like a dream."

“If I have my way…" Chisur grunted and started pushing again, making Kyle groan, “you'll never wake up from it."

Say it to me again, please, Kyle asked in his mind, because he was struggling for breath as that ebon cock slid deeper towards his core.

You won't leave my side. I promise. We're tethered for life, my mate.

Tears ran down Kyle's cheek. My prince—my mate.

They both felt it when Chisur's knot nudged Kyle's rim. Kyle was close to cumming again. He'd never been so full. Chisur felt it, too, and knew he wouldn't last much longer. Fucking a partner who was tethered made every sensation deeper, wider. Chisur hesitated there, but Kyle knew what he wanted:

Knot me—do whatever it takes.

Chisur's only response was a snarl before he jerked back and slammed forward. The force of sensation almost made the dragon fall over. Kyle yelped and his fingernails dug into Chisur's back, but he urged him on, Don't stop, please Chisur.

The prince steeled himself and thrust in again, this time ready for the explosion of pain and pleasure that came from Kyle. Each thrust was enough to nearly throw Kyle over the edge, and his body shook when Chisur slapped their hips together. Chisur's knot was the size of his first, but as the firm girth smacked against Kyle, he felt the human's rim become more pliable. The barrier weakening as Kyle's pain was fading entirely. The human almost started to thrash on Chisur's cock, fighting his orgasm as the draconic endowment hollowed him out. It would've been hard enough not to cum just by how much Kyle desperately clenched around his shaft, but to feel himself hit Kyle's prostate…

You're so close… I can feel it… tie me—breed me.

Fuck Kyle.

I want your clutch… I want—

Chisur's knot popped inside. Kyle felt rather than saw his stomach distend into the shape of Chisur's spaded cockhead as the knot knocked his prostate and Kyle screamed. Chisur's roar masked it entirely. The dragon cock inside Kyle started surging, shooting seed in hopes of it taking root in Kyle's belly. The human's cum spilled pathetically across his stomach as Chisur became overwhelmed and bit down on Kyle's shoulder. Kyle felt blood from the mating bite. Chisur whined, overwhelmed as his cock continued pouring thick draconic cum into his mate. Too soon Kyle felt himself full, but knew Chisur was nowhere near done—when a dragon knotted, it changed their orgasm completely. Kyle felt his stomach start to swell some, as the potent cock inside him went from shots to a steady stream of the prince's essence.

Chisur managed to release Kyle from his jaws and licked the blood there, both dimly aware Chisur bit him hard enough to leave a scar. Neither cared. Kyle would take a dozen more if he got the chance. Kyle's orgasm ended, but because Chisur's was drawn out, Kyle felt himself in a state, elevated above afterglow, occasionally some cum would drip from his dick onto his taut belly, as if his balls desperately tried to keep up with their counterpart. For a moment, the two just stared at each other, panting and eyes glazed with lust. Then Chisur kissed him hard, and his cock made another strong spurt inside his mate. Kyle moaned and tried to press his hips tighter to his mate.

Eventually, Chisur was able to make thought again. Did you mean it? When you said you wanted my clutch?

Can I lie to you here?

Chisur shivered at the prospect and reminded them both: We could do that. It'd take surgery but they could build you a womb, synthesize eggs from a DNA sample or simply get a donor—

Kyle giggled weakly. You've known me less than a week and are already planning our kids.

“You want it, too," Chisur growled aloud. He kissed his mate again.

Kyle's belly was so full he might as well be carrying Chisur's eggs already. Kyle said, “Jerawk would hate having to look after our children. He'd say you got me knocked up to give him more work."

Chisur's voice was a low rumble of lust: “Maybe I convince him to let me knock you both up so I can just have two swollen sluts to worship me."

“Fuck Chisur." Kyle kissed him. “You're getting me hot again and you've not even finished cumming!"

Chisur murred. “You didn't expect to sleep tonight, did you? Setara wants me to debut my new mate, which," Chisur tugged against Kyle's entrance, earning a shudder from the human, “means training you in draconic courtship."

“You think one night will be enough training?"

“If I have my way, it will be every night."

Kyle buried his head into his mate's neck, tears on his face again. “I'm so happy… Chisur."

Chisur kissed his head and held him against his chest. “As am I… I feel like a door I've waited on my whole life is finally opening."

“Sweet prince… my prince."

Chapter 5: The Ball

Jerawk smelled the two of them before he saw them. He barely took a step inside Chisur's suite before the pleasing scent of his mate's rut reached him. Jerawk laughed to himself, and pushed in a cart with a cold breakfast. It was a good thing he requested fresh linens be delivered to the room this morning. Jerawk hummed happily. His prince struggled to open his heart up to others, but he knew how quickly and deeply Chisur fell when he did. The little dragon had expected nothing less than the tethered pair to be tangled in love making all night.

He left the cart in the lounge and entered the prince's bedroom. Here the smell of their lovemaking was so strong Jerawk's cock stirred in its slit. Chisur slept on his side, spooning Kyle, with one large wing and his arms wrapped around the human. His tail was cutely twisted around the human's ankle, and both were snoring in soft unison. Jerawk beamed, just admiring the two. From now on, he hoped most mornings greeted him like this.

He walked to the side of the bed so both were facing him when he cleared his throat. They stirred, reluctantly. Chisur's jaws stretched open and revealed his long tongue as he yawned, Kyle smiling warmly up at Jerawk. Jerawk spared the human a wink.

“Morning already?" Chisur asked.

“Phelise will be here in an hour, my lord."

Chisur snarled but retracted his wing.

Kyle was the one who spoke, “Your prince means that you should set an alarm for then, your mates need you in bed with them right now."

“Is that so?"

“An order from him is an order from me," Chisur said. Kyle opened up his arms for Jerawk and his prince growled, “Now get in this bed."

Jerawk set an alarm on his phone and laid it on the nightstand. “There's nowhere else I'd rather be."

As Jerawk climbed in and pulled his body into theirs, Chisur kissed his muzzle, while Kyle planted warm kisses on his throat. That extra hour was not used for sleeping.

***

The days passed dreamlike for Kyle and Chisur. The two prepared for the ball, but with neither resisting their tether, there wasn't much Kyle needed to know in preparation. It was like the prince's knowledge was his knowledge. Instead, they spent most of the time mating—pulling in Jerawk whenever the attendant was around—and practicing magic together. Their difference in species, and Kyle's own bodily inexperience in magic left the human with a lot to still learn, but the breadth of Chisur's knowledge was his. And so Kyle's ability with magic became a fluency for him by the end of the week.

The day before the ball, the human and his two mates relaxed in Chisur's bath. Jerawk chirring gently as Kyle gave the smaller dragon a wing massage and Chisur read from his tablet, lying against the other side of the tub.

Jerawk's tail wrapped around Kyle and he said, “I think the hardest thing to wrap my mind around, Chisur, is how good he is at wing massages. He doesn't—unf, right their Kyle—have any and he's still better than you."

“How do you know he didn't learn it from me?" Chisur asked, still reading.

“Cause I was this good before you had a chance to teach me," Kyle said, leaning to kiss the wrist of Jerawk's wing. The residue varn there left his lips tingling. He wondered if—

“It does not make for good lube," Chisur cut him off.

“What doesn't?" Jerawk asked.

“The varn he's rubbing into your scales."

Jerawk giggled. “Oh yeah, Kyle. Don't do that, trust me."

“You two have tried?"

Jerawk's tail practically wriggled along Kyle's back as he tried not to laugh. “Chisur has. When he was still a teenager."

Chisur gave his attendant a glare.

Kyle laughed, but as he came back to his work on the wing, the human felt a brush of envy. Chisur answered it in his mind, Trust me, you would not have found teenage me attractive. There's a reason Jerawk and I weren't each other's firsts.

I know, I know. It's silly to be jealous. I feel like I could know your whole life like it was mine if you guided me through your memories… I just wish, when I was younger, I had a prince to protect me.

I'll spend the rest of my life making up for it.

My protector, my prince.

Jerawk splashed water at Chisur. “I can tell when you two are talking to each other, you know."

Kyle said, “I was just telling the prince how I wished we both could have known each other when we were younger."

“Trust me, he was not what he is today."

Kyle shared a knowing look with the prince. When he finished gently kneading the last finger of Jerawk's wing, he said, “All done. You want me to do you next, love?"

“I'm fine," Chisur said, tapping his tablet to turn a page.

“What are you reading, dear?" Jerawk asked.

Kyle clamped down the impulse to answer and let Chisur say, “I'm looking into magic research on transfiguration and alchemy."

Kyle blushed. “He's trying to put together some way to get me a new body."

Chisur said as if they all knew it as matter-of-fact, “I'll fight court, council, my sister and mother to keep Kyle here, but that still doesn't change the fact it'd just be easier if he was a dragon."

Jerawk looked up at Kyle, “You mean like your Lady Yusool disguise?"

Chisur growled. “Verraki dragons aren't really to our tastes. We'll figure out the look later, right now we're just trying to get a sense of what body alterations magic has been able to do."

Jerawk faced Kyle and asked, “This has nothing to do with fitting in, does it?"

Kyle sunk into the water up to his chin and said, “If that excuse helps others understand… but yeah, I realized while practicing at being Lady Yusool—I wanna be a dragon, Jerawk." Kyle moved to and settled against his prince, who hooked an arm around him and rubbed his belly. Kyle said, “And I wanna have his clutch."

“Just what I need, more troublemakers to take care of."

Kyle kissed Chisur's cheek. “I told you he'd be upset."

But Jerawk was beaming at them both.

Kyle winked and said, “Play your cards right and I'll carry yours, too, Jerawk."

Jerawk murred and crawled up to Kyle, kissing him. “Breeding isn't really my thing, but I think I could make an exception for you."

Chisur squeezed his human mate close to him. “You'll never get to him before me."

Jerawk kissed Kyle's knuckles and said, “But my lord, didn't I already?"

Kyle giggled and kissed one then the other on the muzzle. “There'll be plenty of chances for you both once we get me a new body."

***

The three of them were eating a dinner service in the lounge when they heard a knock on the door. Chisur frowned and said, “Should we be expecting anyone, Jerawk?"

Then Chisur's phone vibrated on the table. He picked it up and checked the new message on the screen.

Get dressed for a meeting with Lady Archay and open the door—Ph.

Chisur showed Jerawk the message while Kyle said, “Think there's been a change of plans?"

Chisur said, “With my sister, who knows. Fetch me some clothes, Jerawk."

“Right away my lord."

Chisur faced Kyle and kissed his brow. “I'll try not to be gone too long."

Kyle tried to smile. “Jerawk can keep me company while we wait for you."

You're worried, too, Chisur observed, speaking into his mind as Jerawk returned with black silk pants and a formal coat. The coat was a more traditional dress garb, loose sleeves, cinched tightly around Chisur's shoulders to emphasize their width and the prince's size. A set of buttons fastened the back around Chisur's wings, each one melding seamlessly into the ruby fabric, while the front left his golden scales exposed. The hem was lined with a complex gold stitching that spelled out in ancient draconic the royal decree, “So long as this royal line remains unbroken, Archayon will be protected and its dragons honored." The characters looked closer to runes bunched together, so to the layperson it was a mere flourish of stitching.

Kyle said, What if Setara knows, Chisur?

Well, Phelise could probably smell our rut the morning she visited. It doesn't matter, nothing my sister could say will change my mind.

Kyle squeezed his elbow and kissed his cheek. I know.

When Chisur answered the door, a lilac dragoness with blond hair in a bun stood there dressed in a similar shawl and skirt that Jerawk wore. It was Phelise, Setara's mate, attendant, and, if Chisur suspected correctly, her top spy in the sprawl. She handed Chisur a ring with a large topaz set in it and said, “Slip this on."

As soon as Chisur did an electric shock ran up his body. He heard Jerawk shout, “My lord!"

But Chisur was fine, and it took Kyle's perspective to show him what was going on. The ring was charged with a spell that made him invisible. Phelise ignored Jerawk, Kyle calming the little dragon down as the lilac dragoness stepped into the hall. “Your presence has been requested in the Lower Warrens. This is to insure you are not seen. Do not speak until we have arrived."

Why do I feel like you're walking to your trial? Kyle asked.

Chisur started to follow Phelise, saying, It'll be fine, love. The tether will be stretched thin, but we should be able to stay together long as we maintain focus. Chisur felt Kyle squeezing Jerawk's hand in his room, relaying this to the prince's attendant.

The palace interior was made of old stone, but when they left the castle style building and entered the Atrium, the palace opened into a massive ziggurat of hardened crystal and steel. The old stone building was subsumed in the transparent government complex with a clear view of the urban sprawl of Archay, its skyscrapers painted orange by the sun setting into the sea behind the palace. Each level of ziggurat was transparent, with a spell that kept one from seeing the floors above or below unless you held your gaze at a single point. This was to keep out vertigo, but not the scalar beauty of the bustling nerve center of Archay's government. Each level contained a central elevator connecting them, with open ledges on the sides for dragons who wished to simply fly between levels. Much of these floors were dynamic in their layout: sometimes hosting offices, meeting halls, and shops and stores while at other times being cleared entirely for a party such as the Summer Ball. Thousands of dragons at once milled about in the Atrium, the bottom and largest floor of the ziggurat, most of it being a massive, verdant park full of gardens, grottos, and hot springs. It was a leisure space that residents of the city visited for picnics, open air plays, music festivals, and other outdoor entertainment.

Phelise led them into the park, guiding Chisur carefully so he didn't bump shoulders with any dragons as they took a winding path to a small shrine surrounded on all sides by thick greenery. The shrine was to one of the old goddesses most dragons didn't even know the name of anymore. Her long, serpentine body was coiled in a ball and her jaws were open in mid-roar. Phelise pinched the jaws, and, at a surge of magic, they snapped shut.

You've never been to the Lower Warrens before, Kyle pointed out. Still present in Chisur's mind.

We all know they exist, and some dragons would kill to know how to get to them. I suspect when I return this entrance will have moved.

Whatever illusion held the shrine was snapped out and replaced with a large standing mirror. Only Chisur did not see his reflection, but the black walls and overhead lights of a room deep underground. Phelise said, “Step through."

Chisur did as told, feeling like his body passed through a sheet of water before he stood on the other side. The effects of some kind of magic nullifying field struck him. The invisibility spell shorted, Chisur felt his connection to magic cut like he'd just been blinded, but worse was his connection to Kyle. It was like someone had pinched the flow of a hose with an insurmountable weight, and the blow of losing his mate, after several straight days of their mind's joined, made Chisur groan in pain. His world spun. He still felt the tether, but no matter how hard he reached for Kyle, he wasn't there. His head felt numb and empty. He realized a pair of hands were helping to impassively support him. He would have fallen over had Phelise not stepped through the portal and caught him. Aside from the portal, there was nothing in the room but the inky black floors and walls.

Phelise said, “Your disorientation is expected. When you have collected yourself we will move on."

Chisur growled. Phelise had always been warm to him, almost to the point of flirtation. But everything about her today was cold and hard—even the grip on Chisur's armpit felt like he was hanging from a coat rack. It did not bode well.

Chisur managed to stand, a headache coming on behind his eyes as his mind coped with the sudden loss of his mate. He said, “I'm fine."

“Excellent." The wall in front of them started to peel downwards, revealing a bleach-white wide, open chamber, possibly running the length they walked from the palace to the lower warrens' entrance. Portions of the chamber were segmented off by rooms made of glass screens. Some were opaque, others transparent with data readouts and dragons working at them. All the dragons here wore similar uniforms of purple and gold. There must have been a hundred here working underground, with a ceiling so low Chisur could extend his arm overhead and touch it.

Claustrophobic, magic cut off, and tether suppressed, the prince couldn't be more on his guard as they approached a square room in the middle of the chamber. It was twenty paces by twenty paces. The nanites in the wall, sensing their presence, created a seam in the middle of the wall they faced and a door slid open.

Chisur froze as he saw who waited inside. Setara sat at a corner of her desk, legs crossed as she stared grimly at her brother. Seated behind the desk was their mother, Queen Airok Archay. She wore no clothing, just gold adornments such as the filigreed collar across her clavicle, with thin gold chains connecting it to the piercings at her breast. Gold bangles hung from each wrist, and her impeccable hair, the same red as Chisur's, was tied and banded in a loose braid, coming down around her shoulder and alluringly obscuring the side of one breast. His mother was a stunning beauty. Her scales the same as her children, her horns similar to his sister's with the ends unadorned. The desk behind her was unfurnished, but on the wall across the room were several stills of Chisur and Kyle together. Chisur felt his wings drop at the site of his love making visible for anyone to see.

Setara was the one who spoke: “Phelise, you are dismissed. Chisur, please step inside and have a seat." As the wall behind him sealed itself, nanites constructed a chair from the floor.

Chisur sat down, unsure what to say. He felt very vulnerable and very betrayed.

Both dragonesses studied him in silence until Chisur snarled and spoke up, “You were spying on me, Setara?"

His mother remained unmoved as his sister said, “Your room stank of rut when Phelise came to take pictures of Lady Yusool. She bugged your apartment for me, as I told her, should it seem your resolve had weakened."

“My resolve?" Chisur growled.

“You are letting a childish fantasy come in the way of your duty to your people," the queen said. His mother's voice had the cold cut to it that Chisur only heard her reserve for her enemies. She might as well have slapped him.

“We know you have no intention of getting rid of the human after tomorrow night," Setara said. “And it's not just what we've got on recording, Chisur. We've seen what you've been researching. Do you really think you can just turn the human into a dragon and it'd be okay? Even if you could, he's no citizen of our country. He's no citizen of our planet."

Chisur clenched his fist, deciding to keep his mouth shut till they finished.

“My son, I love you dearly, but this would be the second time in barely a year you put your selfish desires in front of your future and Archay's stability," Airok said.

Bringing up the accident was too much. He roared, storming towards his mother, “You have no right to talk about Kamore like she was some reckless mistake—"

When Chisur closed the distance between them, Setara had stepped in front of her brother. The next moment Chisur was pinned to the ground, legs and tail wrapped tightly together by Setara's tail, a foot planted between Chisur's wings, and one of his arms wrenched up and stretched nearly to breaking.

“Approach your queen again with anything less than complete humility, and I'll snap your arm in two."

Chisur gasped in pain, he didn't even know how Setara got him on the ground. She had moved faster than Chisur thought possible. But the prince supposed there was a lot he was learning about his sister today. Like how her love for him came second to her loyalties.

The queen let her heir keep her son pinned to the ground. Airok spoke as if she'd not been interrupted, “As part of the royal line, we must be able to put our duty before any feelings or desires we might have. I have tried my best to teach you and your siblings this." Chisur spat at her feet, blindly angry and defiant.

With a twist of her wrist, Setara dislocated his shoulder.

Chisur roared in pain, struggling as his sister kept him pinned. He felt the hot sting of tears beading his eyes.

Setara said, “One of the most advanced mender labs is not a hundred paces from this room. I can hurt you a lot more and still have you fit enough for tomorrow night."

Chisur longed for Kyle, frantically pushing at his tether for the human. He needed someone to help him stay calm, but it was like a boulder sat on their connection.

Chisur, gasping through the pain, said, “What in the f… f… fuck makes you think I'm going to help you?"

“You care for the human's life, don't you?" Queen Airok pointed it out as if it was obvious what they would do.

Chisur bucked and thrashed, his pain nothing. His sister stomped on the wrist of one of his wings and the bone snapped like twigs. Chisur just snarled and struggled harder while his mother said, “I know you think us cruel, Chisur. But we are trying to save you from another long year of grief, another mate lost."

Chisur groaned and lay still, giving in for the moment. He accused, his voice a rasp, “You're already trying to take another mate from me."

The queen said, “I am responsible for the lives of a billion dragons. Archay is one of the few population centers on the planet, and your last mistake has already threatened an instability you must help us with to atone for your actions. You took this human here recklessly, you tethered yourself to him without his consent, and now you wish to keep him without any concern for how that might threaten Archay. What if other dragons think they can just follow in your footsteps? Illegally crossing into Earth and bringing back humans as pets?"

“Kyle is not—"

“No, but who will believe you when you tell them that? Not to mention the shame you will bring on this family. The council and court will expect me to banish you, with your magic permanently castrated, to insure you can't return or try to escape to Earth."

“Then hurry up and do it," Chisur snapped. The dragon could feel blood from his mangled wing seeping into his shirt. “I made him a promise and nothing you can say will break it."

The queen sighed. “Release him, Setara." The dragoness backed off him and Chisur groaned as the weight on his wing was removed. He heard get up, walk around the desk, and crouch beside him, lifting Chisur by his hair so their gazes met. “Your resolve in this matter is truly admirable, son. I'm not sure I've ever loved someone as deeply and recklessly as you seem to this human, but you must look beyond your feelings. You have a long life ahead of you, and many dragons who could potentially fill the gaps in your heart. If you stick with this human, we will snap your tether for you, regardless of what it might do to you or him, and throw him back into his world with no memory of you. And you will spend the rest of your days with your magic maimed and alone, even Jerawk won't be at your side. Or, you and the human can choose to break the tether yourself, and you both may yet have a future in your own worlds."

Chisur felt his heart thundering. He just glared.

Setara said, “He won't do it, you know."

“I know," the queen said, before uttering Chisur's deepest fear while staring straight into her son's eyes: “But the human will. From what we've seen, he's too devoted to my son to let the prince vainly throw his life away."

Airok dropped Chisur's head and his jaws clacked together. The dragon couldn't stop his body from shaking. “We're done here, Setara." They both looked down at the prince as he sobbed, openly weeping for what it felt like he would lose. Through his haze of grief, he heard his mother say, “Once he is finished, see to it a mender cares for his injuries. I must return to my usual duties."

When the door closed behind them, Chisur was strangely surprised to feel his sister roll him over and sit him up, holding him close to her body as he cried into her shoulder. She quietly consoled him, telling him things would work out, that they would be okay. But she never once said anything that went against their mother's word.

***

Soon as Kyle sensed Chisur again their minds crashed together like two opposing waves:

Chisur—you're in pain—

—They took Jerawk?—

—I can't believe your mother—

—we have to flee Kyle—

—what about—

Phelise waited for Chisur to return to the present. The prince noticed the dragoness tapping her foot, looking right at him despite the ring once again cloaking the prince. When he stepped through the portal he'd appeared right in front of the old palace, Setara's attendant there beside him.

Chisur and his mate traded memories of the last two hours. Soon after Chisur had left the suite, four dragons part of palace security had shown up to take Jerawk into custody. Two remained in Chisur's suite to watch Kyle. His meeting with his mother and sister was clearly meant to show the prince they had no options but to obey. It made him shake with rage.

They took Jerawk to make sure we didn't just flee, Kyle said. They know we wouldn't leave without him. But in the moment, Chisur considered it—if only to feel like he got to resist his mother. Walking back to his suite felt like an outer body experience while Kyle tried to comfort him: You know your mother and sister probably have recordings of us swearing to stay together. They're doing this to break our resolve. We'll find a way out of this Chisur.

But the prince knew Kyle had no more ways to do that than him.

They won't force us to do anything until after tomorrow night. Kyle said. We have time to figure something out, love.

When Chisur returned to his suite's lounge, two dragons waited in suits of folded plate armor made from nanites. The equipment was a latest model of NanoArmor, each one a sleek black. It was light enough that even when not magically charged a dragon could fly in it , but the armor on it would resist most heavy-duty ballistics. Chisur wasn't sure he could overcome a dragon in one even if he got a chance to prepare spells beforehand.

Kyle waited for him on the couch in the lounge. At the door, Phelise took back the ring and said, “These two will watch the both of you till tomorrow afternoon. Their suits will let them observe you through the surveillance I planted about your apartment, so there is no need for them to leave this room unless you try something. I would recommend you stay out of your focusing chamber, my lord."

Chisur spared her a glare before returning to Kyle. The two of them embraced. The human was trembling in Chisur's arms. “Can we not be in the room with the death machines?"

The prince kissed his brow and said, “Let's go to my bedroom." And let's communicate here. They can't spy on our thoughts.

The privacy of their connection was the only thing that comforted the two mates that night. The queen had been right to take Jerawk while Chisur could do nothing. The dragon would have latched onto his attendant and pulled him through the Tether to Earth, trusting his bond with Kyle would bring the human with them. Instead, they had no choice but to follow along with Setara's plan, but during the long night, as they held each other close and considered their options, they did come up with a plan for one last defiant act. And with the decision made, both mates felt a relief that turned to a long sleep in each other's arms.

***

Phelise returned around 15:00 to escort them. When she arrived, Kyle changed to Lady Yusool. The Verraki dragoness was dressed in a long gown with five silver cuffs set with sapphires adorning her tail. The cut of her gown showed the Verraki dragoness' black mane and the curve of her cleavage, while Chisur wore the same outfit as before, only with a golden collar round his throat.

Both were cloaked and led by Phelise out the palace to a car that waited to transport them across the sprawl. There at the sprawl's edge, they would fake arriving in Archay by jet, just in time for the ball, with cherry-picked members of the press to greet them. The entire ride no one in the car spoke. The mated pair held hands and consoled one another through their bond.

Driving through the city in a private car was an ordeal. Most dragons got around via flight or public transit. Owning a vehicle was heavily taxed, and the sprawl's infrastructure had long since eschewed such methods of travel. Most of the city connected through a complex web of trains and pedestrian bridges running at various levels in the towers that made up most of the urban landscape. Each tower was a massive structure, bigger than any Kyle knew on Earth. Even the smallest kept millions of people in it. Towers divided into different bands of arcologies: residential, entertainment, and business. Each one was a self-sustaining city in its own right. The tops of some of these buildings were capped with verdant greenery that spilled down the sides, each top used to grow as much food as possible. Most dragons ate synthesized food, but there was a whole luxury market for the “natural foods" that could be grown in the open air. The sun was almost totally obscured by a steel canopy as they wound their way through traffic, road lit by old street lamps, electronic billboards, scrolling ads on screens, and the glowing signs of thousands of different shopfronts.

There is so much of this city to see, Kyle said, watching the urban thicket pass around them.

You will, every nook and cranny if you wish, Chisur told him grimly. My own mother won't stop me.

Kyle squeezed his hand. When Chisur kissed him in the car with Phelise watching, it felt like the first thrilling act of defiance.

When they reached the airfield at the edge of the sprawl, they were let through a secure gate before driving up to a hangar for private jets. They stepped out of the car, and the sleek blue vehicle, its shape like a scale, drove off the lot. Phelise told them in the hangar, “Your plane will land and you will exit the hangar with a security detail, then be greeted by press when you depart. I will return with the car to drive you to the ball."

“What's the point of being this elaborate if you're only going to let Lady Yusool exist for six hours?"

“Lady Archay does not take half measures or approach her work sloppily," Phelise answered.

How real Lady Yusool is will be the least of your sister's problems tonight, Kyle said.

It will probably be the least of ours as well.

Kyle's tail wrapped around and squeezed Chisur's. The prince felt it briefly before the appendage phased through him. We'll make it through this together, that's all that matters.

***

Two hours later the two of them were walking back into the Atrium, headed for an elevator for the tenth floor of the palace. Questions at the airfield were easy exchanges. Kyle had answered most of them, her illusion even adding a Verraki accent for the reporters to eat up. Arm in arm, the two rode the elevator with several other attendees of the ball. They actually ran into Chisur's eldest brother on the way up. He was a dragon with a spiked tail, named Gair. The dragon was bigger than Chisur, and he had a brusque confidence that made his heart flutter. Chisur, for his part, suppressed his frustration towards Kyle for making him feel stirrings of attraction to yet another sibling.

Kyle made small talk with the two mates Gair brought with him, a large green dragon and a slight, rosy pink dragoness, both dressed in similar fashions to Chisur's. Kyle was one of the few he saw in what he considered attire for a ball. Some dragonesses wore clothing that left their breasts totally exposed, with none of the modesty that existed in Kyle's world. What seemed more important than fabric was the placement and style of jewelry. When the elevator stopped, they entered a small entryway that was erected for the event. Kyle could hear the sounds of chatter and string and brass instruments playing from the other side. A dragon at the door was taking names and announcing guests one at a time with a press op right outside the entryway taking photos. When it was their turn, Chisur quietly told Kyle as their names were announced, “No matter what happens, I won't lose you."

Kyle hugged Chisur closer to him, taking in his mate's scent as they walked into the ball.

It was a truly stunning sight. An entire level of the ziggurat had been converted for this party. The floors resembled the fiery gold Chisur's family bore, the floor extending hundreds of paces in all directions. Behind them the ocean was brightly lit by the long summer sunset, and in front of them the streets of the sprawl were full of dragons out holding their own celebrations for the festival. A parade worked down one street while on another lanterns floated between buildings like a flurry of lightning bugs between trees. The room itself had a raised stage at the party's center where the queen sat with her attendants. A long string of dragons waited to bow and offer their thanks. To Queen Airok's left was a long open floor for dancing, and to her right more dragons milled about with dozens of staff buzzing around them to serve cocktails and appetizers. Music swelled from an orchestra playing, for the time being, string driven melodies that were sharp and sweet. Later, the dance floor would be cleared so the queen could participate in a masque with some of Archay's best known performers. Chisur knew one of his brothers was involved, too, but was thankful their business would not be there tonight.

They stepped to the platform where the queen waited on her throne. She wore the same regalia Chisur had seen her in the day before. When it was their turn to greet her, Chisur and Kyle bowed. Queen Airok addressed them, “It is good to see you here, son. I was worried you would not make it back in time."

Kyle felt Chisur's arm quivering, but the prince spoke in an even tone, “I couldn't miss the chance to debut my wonderful mate, my queen."

Kyle took this as her queue and bowed deeply again. She said, still getting used to her voice, “Your son honors me with the invitation, Queen Airok."

They both stepped away, heading to the dance floor. Kyle was trying to be mindful of her tail, tucking it close when a dragoness fell into step with them from the crowd.

“Good to see you again, baby brother," Setara said. She wore her usual bodysuit, but with a bright silver cape that hung from her back in chords and left a train long enough to hide her tail.

Chisur growled, showing his sister no affection as they moved through the crowded room. “You mean it's good to see me fall in line."

Setara simply ignored his bait and said, “You two enjoy a few dances, then I'll switch out with you, Lady Yusool, and you can start mingling with some of the targets here tonight. I'll direct you through Chisur, and once we have what we need, you might have time for one more dance with your—the prince."

“Did you mean 'your mate?'" Kyle said, surprised at how sharp her new voice could be.

Setara chose to fall back into the crowd instead of argue.

If she expected anything but bitterness from us, she should have thought twice before smashing your wing, Kyle said.

Don't worry about her. Are you ready to dance?

Long as you give me space for this tail.

Like Jerawk told him before, dragons loved the contact that came with dancing. At least half the attendees at the ball were on the dance floor. Kyle and Chisur entered the mass with ease. He knew via his tether most dancing in the city happened in crowded clubs and hardly ever offered the open space to do a dance with two partners in a step pattern. She longed to join those crowds, though, to have the opportunity to just feel her scales grind against others and revel in music and movement. She never did it on Earth, but Kyle had learned the last week she did crave the touch of dragons. Jerawk told her to be touch-starved was a type of torture, and the last week showed her she spent most of her life in a torturous vacuum compared to her time here.

Chisur took the lead, and Kyle pressed close to him, getting a soft murr from her mate as he took in the smell of dragoness. She kissed the exposed scales of his clavicle, knowing other dragons watched them. Kyle was drawn away at a spin, and felt her tail brush another's and tensed in fear for a moment. But no one seemed to notice, and Chisur pulled her back into his arms.

Kyle decided she needed to talk to keep back her nerves. She said, “Sorry for ogling your brother in the elevator."

Chisur kissed her brow and said, “It's fine, love. You apparently have a thing for dragons in my color."

“You're right. Then perhaps I should test if your family has a thing for humans?" Kyle teased.

“Don't you even try," Chisur growled.

“I don't know… if I were to end up a dragoness, and if we ever do forgive your sister, I might just test how well she can please a dragoness…"

I'll sever our tether myself if you so much as raise your tail around her.

Kyle giggled. Come now, love, don't be like that. You never know, you might learn something from what you feel her do to me.

Kyle sensed a mixture of arousal and frustration from his mate.

Are you sure you're not one of those dragons, dear?

It doesn't matter if I am. A week ago, I trusted Setara second only to Jerawk, yesterday she broke my wing into pieces while threatening you. My feelings on her have changed a lot.

“That's why I emphasized those ifs, love," Kyle said as the music came to a stop. She ran a finger down his chest, then leaned in to exchange a kiss.

Someone tapped Kyle's shoulder. The dragoness turned around, and standing there was a dragon with the same scale pattern as Chisur, only more slender with horns and ears similar to Kyle's. It was Chisur's brother Silaste, who served as one of the representatives on council. He gave Kyle a smoldering look that told the dragoness she was about to upset her mate again before he asked, “Mind if I take the next dance?"

Careful, Silaste is the type of dragon who has no qualms sleeping with his sibling's mates. And Kyle came across the brief memory, years ago, of Chisur walking in on Silaste bedding Jerawk. She felt a blush under her disguise, suddenly aware of the shape of this dragon's cock.

I'll stay on my guard, Kyle promised as Chisur politely handed Lady Yusool to his brother.

I'll find Setara so we can get to work.

As the music swelled back to life, Kyle took Silaste's hands. The dragon didn't wait until they finished their first set of steps before he asked, “That you under there, Jerawk?"

Kyle, for her credit, only gave herself away with a mere, tight squeeze of Silaste's hands.

Silaste smirked. “Don't worry, I don't think anyone else has noticed. Though I'm not surprised my brother tried to solve his dating life with magic."

Kyle felt a bluster of anger and Chisur warned, Easy dear.

The dragoness buried the impulse to slap Silaste's stupid, handsome face and said, “Close, but I'm not Jerawk. The tail give me away?"

That got some kind of reaction from the dragon. He took the time to twirl her before she stiffly returned to his arms and said, “You're right. Verraki have such long ones, you must be careful. Though, if you're not Jerawk, then what is my brother doing faking a mate?"

Kyle gave Silaste a lie she felt would satisfy him. “I'm working for Setara."

I'd rather blow that cover than the other one.

When I find my sister, she'll be furious with him for distracting you so blatantly.

“My older sister? That explains a lot, though I'm rather peeved at her. Did you know she had the gall to keep me off the guest list?"

Chisur and Kyle uttered at the same time from across the room, “She what?"

“Can you believe it? Setara wanted me to stay home while she debuted Chisur's fake mate. Luckily some dragon on the council decided at the last minute he couldn't make it and gave me his spot on the guest list."

That self-important idiot. Kyle felt Chisur's snarl so deeply her fangs flashed a moment as well. I'll find Setara, but I'm guessing there is more going on here with these secessionist than even she suspected.

Kyle felt very far away from the dance while Silaste prattled on about trying to find someone to take home for the night—making flirtatious insinuations towards Kyle. Any sort of gathering of the royal family always made sure to keep one member away. A designated survivor should an attack or some tragic accident happen that put the royal line in jeopardy. For much of the last year, Chisur had played that role as grief kept him out of public life. But tonight Chisur was requested for the ball and Setara purposefully left Silaste off the list, which meant—

Whoever gave Silaste their spot likely wasn't doing it as a kindness, Kyle thought.

A bit too convenient isn't it? According to Setara's itinerary, my brother Kisk and the rest of the actors won't arrive until shortly before the masque.

You think that's when?—

If they wanted the whole royal family killed then I'm sure—finally, there's Setara.

Chisur found Setara talking over cocktails to one of the dragons Chisur had met when his sister was still trying to set him up. A big, demure albino dragon named Mephis smiled at Chisur's approach. Chisur also noticed the person who just served them their drinks was none other than Phelise. He couldn't help but feel a twinge of bitterness that Setara had managed to slip in her attendant, but somehow Chisur couldn't have brought his.

Mephis noticed the prince first and lit up with warm affection. When Chisur had spoken to the dragon earlier in the week, he'd been most receptive to Chisur's advances.

Kyle couldn't help but suggest, He's cute, you should keep in touch.

Assuming we get out of this mess.

Mephis said, “Chisur! Congratulations on your new mate, she seems splendid."

Chisur spared Mephis a nod and said, “Thank you, but I need to dance with my sister." He grabbed his sister's wrist and pulled her away, Setara giving a flummoxed goodbye to Mephis.

“There was no reason to be rude," Setara said.

As they crossed the ball floor, Chisur shoving his way through crowds of people, he said, “I have every reason. You made Silaste our designated survivor?"

“Yes, how did you know—"

“Because you forgot he's too stupid to know what that means," Chisur said.

They reached the dance floor, and, with a coordination only possible through the tether, Kyle gently led Silaste into their line of sight.

Setara snarled loud enough to turn several heads. “I'll kill that fool."

Chisur took his sister into a dance and said, “Let's not make a scene, sister."

Stiffly, his sister danced with him, coming to the same conclusion Chisur and Kyle had. “Kisk isn't here yet, which means we likely have an hour till something happens."

“Shouldn't you call him off and evacuate this floor?"

“And cause a panic? The queen is right in the middle of this, if they know their operation is blown they'll still try to kill her at least."

“What do you think their operation is?"

“It's hard to tell…" Setara said. Her face was screwed up in concentration, and Chisur admired how graceful she could be even when she wasn't paying attention to her body. When he spun her, Setara made flourishes with her wings outstretched and flapping her back into Chisur's arms. The act felt effortless, and when she was back in Chisur's embrace he suddenly felt alarmed by the warmth of her scent.

Kyle butted in when he sensed Chisur's distraction, Seems I was right about earlier?

About me severing our bond if you keep making false accusations?

Kyle snickered and her dance partner asked, “Something funny to you, Lady Yusool?"

“Just laughing at what dragons would think if they knew my true identity," Kyle lied to Silaste.

“Now I am curious. I do love a dragoness with a secret."

“You might have found the dragoness with the biggest secret tonight."

Silaste pulled her close and whispered in her ear, “You certainly know how to tempt me, my lady."

He may be stupid, but he is very charming.

He's a natural born politician, it's a shame he's also a natural born fool.

Setara broke her silence to Chisur, “The phoenix have been trying to court people in the government to their cause. There's no reason they would destroy all that good will by leveling a floor of the palace with a bomb or some other disaster. It wouldn't just be the royal family, half the court and council are here tonight."

Kyle pointed out, Isn't the whole point of a phoenix that it rises from its ashes?

Chisur echoed the sentiment to his sister. She shook her head, “I don't buy it, but I'll put the word out to my people at the party and we'll scour the palace for anything amiss."

“What are you going to do about Silaste?"

“Well, after I snap off his wings and throw him off one of the ledges here, I'll get Phelise to take him to the Lower Warrens to be sure he stays out of trouble."

“What about Kyle and I? What can we do?"

“You and Yusool stick to your original plan. I just got word from Phelise our targets are here tonight—another reason why I don't think there is a bomb. My agents will take care of security and make sure we're not dancing into a disaster."

It took the remaining length of the song for Setara to relay the names and descriptions of the four dragons Kyle needed to talk to. When the music died, Setara kept her portrait of grace as she went to find one of her agents.

You don't trust her to get this done, Kyle said. She was mingling with several attendees, scanning the crowd for one of their targets.

If my sister has one flaw, it's that she thinks she knows what to do better than anyone else. Chisur said, scanning the room as if the threat they faced would suddenly appear. I can't shake what you said about a phoenix.

The music started up again, but from two different ends of the dance floor. Neither Kyle nor Chisur took another partner. Instead, they both started crossing the floor to each other.

You're thinking of—

It's the only way I can search the area. I'm worried Setara is underestimating a lot here.

You could do it faster with a partner.

Once I started communing your spell would end anyways.

Wasn't that our plan? For us to dance and debut your real mate?

And not let Setara or my mother decide for us what secrets we keep… I just wish we could be focusing on causing an uproar and not thwarting a terror plot.

Their hands met in the middle of the dance floor, and as they clasped the illusion ended. In its place stood a human wearing pants Jerawk had fitted for him during the week. Chisur pulled his mate to his chest as the dragons around them turned their heads, gasping. Cries went out in the audience but Kyle's entire being was with Chisur's.

Let's give them a show, love.

They started to dance. Communing without the focusing chamber was more difficult, but with their minds and bodies in sync it did not take long to tap into the planet. Both of them started to glow as their senses expanded, growing as energy passed through the two of them. The dragons around the dance floor started to back away. It felt good to observe Silaste's shock, to see Queen Airok cursing quietly as light erupted on the dance floor, to see Setara—

Wait.

The dragoness had faced the light, but she seemed confused. Her brow was beaded with sweat, and in the communion they could sense her alarm.

She thinks she's been drugged? Kyle asked, almost missing a step of their dance.

But Chisur had noticed someone else not feeling well, and it gave them both pause. The dragon Mephis was near the entrance, asking a doorman where he might find the nearest mender.

I saw Phelise give them both drinks as I was trying to get Setara—

If Setara's mate is—

They almost lost control of the communion, but Chisur was able to keep them calm, even as Kyle felt his heart race. It didn't take long to find. When communing, it was a bright beacon. The bomb was a device Chisur could fit in his hand, cut into the shape of a bird seen wheeling overhead. It carried no payload, it merely acted as a circuit like Chisur and Kyle right now. Only it had been and was cycling enough of the planet's energy to cause a massive rebound if the circuit of magic was cut off suddenly.

It'd be like what happened to Kamore and I all over again. That explosion was contained to the scarred lands but was heard all throughout the sprawl.

The bomb had been planted beneath the platform Queen Airok was seated on, hidden in a steel box to obscure the massive amount of light pouring off it.

What do we do?

If we try to cycle off the energy to that bomb, whoever is controlling the circuit might notice and detonate it before we have a chance to keep a rebound from happening.

Let's just get rid of it then, you have that flight spell right?

I'll need to touch it first, Chisur said.

Then our dance is done my prince, Kyle said as they started ending the communion, both drawing and channeling the energy into spells they could have prepared and at the ready.

Kyle and Chisur broke. The prince spun on the crowd gathered round them and roared, “Out of my way!" He bulled forward, knowing it was the only way to quickly get them to disperse so the smaller human could push through. In a second, both reached the queen's platform. Airok stood with two guards, yelling, “Prince Chisur! What is—"

Chisur ignored her and ran for the platform, but then he felt a massive weight plough down on his back. Kyle stumbled against the corner of the platform, groaning as he felt Phelise come down from the air in a diving slam onto his prince. She rose and faced Kyle, a retractable metal baton in her hand as she pronounced, “My Queen, stand back. Lady Setara's been poisoned—I suspect these two have—"

That conniving bitch using my sister—

Phelise was flung into the air with a gasp. She slammed into the ceiling with enough force to split a crack in it. Chisur had rolled onto his back and was pinning her there with a pointed finger. I just accidentally used my flight spell with all the force it could muster, so we need a new plan.

Kyle said to Chisur's mother, “My Queen, you're—"

“I am not your queen, sapient," she snarled and the two guards at her side attacked. The bands they wore on their wrist exploded outward as nanites encased their bodies in the hard shell of NanoArmor, until Kyle saw two completely armored faces bearing down on him. Kyle held his arms in front of himself and Chisur shouted his name as a metal fist struck the human with enough force to shatter both arms. The blow bounced off the protection spell Kyle managed to summon, but he was still struck with enough energy to be sent flying backwards. He landed on his back and rolled across the golden floor to some dragon's feet.

Chisur roared and was up. Both armored guards turned to Chisur in time for the dragon's palms to close on their helmets. They seized up as the remaining energy of Chisur's recent communion was discharged into their suits. The overload of energy made the nanites lose their stability for only a moment, but in that moment the armor contracted like a closed fist on both dragons. The sound of bone crushing was only masked by the crowd's panic and the crash of Phelise falling hard into the queen's platform.

Kyle felt himself pulled to his feet.

It was Setara, whose whole body was trembling. Her voice was a rasp, “What the fuck are you—"

“There's a bomb planted under the platform, mother," Chisur yelled out loud. Kyle sensed Chisur's intent as he reached under the platform for the device.

“I'm sorry," Kyle said and stomped his foot, discharging a stun spell that sent a shock through the floor. Setara collapsed, along with about ten others around her. Dragons were fleeing toward the edges of the floor now, trying to fly from the ledges as Chisur pulled the box from the platform.

My prince!

Kyle I—

But Chisur didn't get the chance to apologize. When Kyle reached him, he snatched the box and pushed his palm against Chisur's stomach. A force spell erupted from his hand and flung Chisur across the ball. Kyle fell to his knees as the wind felt knocked out of him. He told Chisur, Remember what I told Jerawk that day we first communed together? I know you well enough now to know you are the future of this kingdom—and I promised Jerawk I'd protect you—

Kyle rose as Chisur, tumbling through the air, managed to use his wings and magic to catch himself before he crashed. Kyle you can't, I'm responsible for them—you don't—

Idiot. Kyle began walling off their connection so Chisur would not feel what he was about to do. He stood and faced the ocean, opening the steel box. Just learn to accept the help of others already—

Chisur was desperately rushing back across the ball. Kyle!

I love you, my prince. Kyle blocked the prince off and placed his hand on the device. He connected his magic, his circuit to it. The pain was immediate. Kyle felt like his blood would boil, and that the energy erupting through his body would turn him into the bomb. He held the bird in his palm, as now he and it glowed like a star. He sensed Chisur still desperately rushing for him, but it was too late.

Sometimes magic rebounded. Chisur's problem had always been that he tried to stop rebounds, but Kyle knew there was another way. Energy too great to be siphoned off could always be redirected. The excess energy needed to be expressed back into the nervous system of the planet, and Kyle knew he could use his own body to conduct it in a direction. His nervous system could be a grounding mechanism to fire the rebound away from the palace.

He pointed the bomb at the setting sun and felt the skin on his fingers bubbling. He was vaguely aware he was screaming as he cut the circuit.

Kyle's body locked up in paralyzing fire.

The magical energy shot like a bolt out the ziggurat, blowing a hole out its side that made the entire structure shake with a thunderous snap of energy before light bloomed on the horizon. The sun was obscured by a storm of fire, bolts of lightning twisting inside it before the sound of the explosion reached the palace and a rush of wind cracked and shattered crystal panes all along the seaward facing side of the structure. The smell of magic, acrid like burnt hair, washed into the room. Kyle's clothing had been incinerated, the flesh of his outstretched, trembling hand was sliding off in a bloody mess. The pain in his body returned in places, but in others it was already numb—no feeling at all.

Behind Kyle, extending from his left leg, was a long scorch mark that went the entire length of the floor as magic cascaded in a backlash from the launched rebound.

Somehow, he was alive. He saw himself falling, watching the massive explosion over the sea warp and tangle itself in brambles of lightning and fire. Its effects, like toxic radiation made visible, would linger for years, but—

A scaled hand caught his fall. Kyle knew his body was shutting down. He knew it was Chisur at his side, but his vision was fading. He struggled to feel his mate's scales, but his body was just pain. Kyle tried to take in his mate's scent, but all he smelt was acrid magic. He could only hear Chisur as all his senses started slipping away.

The prince was screaming for a mender.

Chapter 6: Wherever Our Bond May Take Us

Chisur sat with Jerawk in the sterile, cream-colored room of an ICU. The two leaned against the wall on a cot graciously provided by the hospital staff after it became apparent the prince would not be forced from the room. On a bed of white linens, Kyle lay on his back, unconscious and sustained by life support. Chisur still felt their tether, which told the dragon his mate's mind was not gone, but…

The damage to Kyle's nervous system was everywhere. Even with prosthetics to help give him a range of motion… so much of Kyle's body wouldn't even be able to feel Chisur's touch. And his magic… it was gone. It made Chisur think of how much technology in their world required even the slightest touch of magic to interface with, and now all of it was out of reach for the human.

After the rebound, Chisur had managed to get Kyle to a hospital in a tower overlooking the palace. Their room had a window looking out on the damaged ziggurat, and, beyond it, the storm of deadly magic still swirling out in the sea. It was only by the prince's crazed insistence the menders there agreed to try and heal a human at all. By then, there was not much they could do. They stabilized him, and managed to save Kyle's mangled hand, but his mate had not emerged from the coma he was in. After the first day, Jerawk had found him, released from the house arrest he'd been under. Since then, the two watched over their mate while the world outside turned. Chisur knew his mother's influence was keeping Kyle's room from being stormed by journalists, but beyond that he had no word from his family, and cared little for the news outside.

Chisur felt Jerawk stiffen up beside him and growl as someone knocked on the open door.

It was Setara. She wore her typical bodysuit, but seemed just as haggard as Chisur was.

She said, “I'm not here on business—I just wanted to see my brother and pay my respects."

Chisur gestured to the chair by the cot. “Have a seat."

Jerawk's glare was unerring. Chisur offered no words as she sat with them, just watched the IV drip by Kyle's bed.

Setara sighed and began, “I was wrong… about a lot of things—"

“You got that right," Jerawk snarled, but stopped when Chisur squeezed his thigh.

Chisur turned to her. “I'm sorry about Phelise."

Setara flinched. Her eyes filled with tears and she looked down, squeezing her knees together. “Stupid brother…" she muttered, “I'm supposed to be the one apologizing…"

The prince knelt by his sister's side and at a touch got her to meet his gaze again. “I've lost a mate for my mistakes and it was more painful than anything I've ever experienced. You had yours lie to you and betray you… our pain is different, but it's okay to share our grief, sister."

She apparently only needed the invitation. Setara fell against Chisur and began to sob. The prince wondered if this was the first time she let someone else see her grieve. Jerawk had told him Phelise had survived the injuries he gave her during the ball. The prince guessed the traitor was in a cell in the Lower Warrens, already interrogated and tapped for all she knew about Archayon's Phoenix. He wondered if Setara had been there for that, wondered what the dragoness felt when it was her turn to be told to put her duty before the dragoness she had loved most of her life.

Jerawk's tail brushed Chisur's. When he looked up, his attendant made a gesture to the door and walked out. He shut it behind him to give the siblings some amount of privacy.

“I just—I just—don't know… what I did wrong?" Setara said, still sobbing into Chisur's shoulder.

Chisur rubbed down the length of her back. “Sometimes there are no answers to these things… sometimes we just have to carry our loss with us." It felt strange to repeat mantras he'd heard from therapists after Kamore's death. But it was true, there were no shortcuts. No answers to magically correct the loss of a mate. So the prince held his sister while she emptied herself on him, thinking of all the times he did the same with Jerawk. He hoped that, in spite of Phelise's betrayal, Setara had someone other than him she still trusted to lean on. She would need it.

As she calmed down, she said, “I'm sorry—" she rubbed the tears from her eyes, “this was so unfair to do to you." Chisur crossed the room and returned to her with a box of tissue.

While she blew her nose and cleaned herself up, Chisur said, “It's okay, sister. Kyle's not in the hospital because of you."

“I know—he saved everyone. Mother was furious, you know that? Not with you or him, but with me. She said I failed at my job and well—let's just say I resigned."

Chisur squeezed her hand. “Are you still heir?"

Setara shrugged. “Unless she has some secret daughters, I'm not sure she can take that away from me, but… who knows—I certainly don't feel up to running a country right now."

Chisur sighed and pulled his sister out of the chair and sat her on the cot with him. He held her and said, “We can both just be the family troublemakers. Tell me about the last few days in the kingdom, I've not really let Jerawk catch me up."

In the heat of the moment, Kyle and Chisur forgot just how many dragons might take out their phones and start recording after the prince dropped his mate's disguise. Not to mention a few fearless reporters at the ball who were live the entire time and refused to run in the panic. So there were videos all over the web of a human dancing with a Prince of Archay, of the two of them storming to the queen's platform, fighting guards, a human casting spells. And Kyle taking the bomb and communing till he couldn't even be seen, then the rebound, then the explosion, and when most video panned back to Kyle, Chisur was there holding his smoldering form and yelling for help.

“It was pretty clear that getting on top of who Kyle was and what you two were doing was mother's top priority. It wasn't even an hour after the rebound before she had a press release. She didn't hold anything back, Chisur."

Chisur stared at Kyle. “You mean she told them the truth?"

“Yes, and quickly added you should be indicted for illegally using the Tether, harboring an illegal alien, and killing two of the royal guard. But, given the circumstances, if the state attorneys tried to prosecute you or Kyle she would give you both a full royal pardon, given the tens of thousands of lives you both probably saved."

“It was Kyle who saved everything," Chisur said.

Setara wrapped her tail around her brother's and squeezed it. “What he did was… well I don't think we'll ever be able to thank him. He stopped you from doing it instead, didn't he?"

“Yes… it was supposed to be me…"

Setara nuzzled his brother and she whispered in his ear, “He saved you, too, Chisur. Just like you saved him. Honestly, for keeping you whole and unharmed… I don't think I'll ever be able to stop owing him."

“Setara…"

“It's fine, brother," she uncoiled her tail and drew away so they were not quite as close. Chisur wondered, briefly, if Kyle's insinuations at the ball went both ways—but no, it didn't matter. Setara told him, “I am sorry I ever tried to force the two of you apart. Public opinion seems to be on your side. Dragons want to hear about the human who courted a prince and then saved the country."

“If they want me to speak they'll have to wait until Kyle can stand there beside me."

“How long do you think before that happens?"

Chisur glanced back at the sleeping human. “Truthfully, Setara? I'm really scared it won't."

***

Chisur? The dragon's eyes snapped open. It was the middle of the night, and Jerawk was in his arms. The lights were shut off, but the magical storm over the sea filled the room with an ethereal, orange glow.

Kyle's presence felt like a weak beacon. Jerawk didn't wake as the prince untangled himself and went to Kyle's bedside. He squeezed the human's undamaged hand and whispered, “Kyle?"

But the human didn't stir. The prince watched Kyle's vitals a moment, then the breathing of his chest. The human remained inert. Then, Chisur… I can sense you but—it's all weak.

Can you hear me here?

A pause, as if even the thoughts were mustered at great cost. Yes… what happened?

You saved everyone Kyle, you're a hero and no one is going to separate us—

But… my body…

Chisur reached up and gently brushed the human's cheek. Don't worry about that right now.

I'm sorry.

It's okay. You're here and alive. I've not lost you.

I know but… a hospital bed was not where I wanted us to spend the rest of our days.

He could feel Kyle drawing on the tether to take in their surroundings through the prince's senses. I look pretty messed up, huh?

When you're up to speaking, we can talk about what to do about your body.

I don't suppose you figured out how to make me a new one yet?

Kyle meant it as a joke, but—Of course.

Chisur you can't—

But the prince's mind was racing. They'd not thought about it since his meeting in the Lower Warrens, but perhaps the key was to not repair what magic had already damaged but use magic to break it down even more. The key thing with any transformation magic was a molecular deconstruction then reconstruction of the core elements. If Chisur wanted to—

Do you trust me Kyle?

You think you can do this?

Yes.

Then of course I do.

***

Jerawk woke when a light in the room started to glow. At first he thought someone must have flipped the lights on. He stirred, groaning in discomfort for sleeping on a crowded cot when he noticed Chisur sitting on the floor. He was in the middle of a communion.

Jerawk scrambled to get up. “Chisur? What—"

“We'll be back, Jerawk. I promise."

There was a flash of light, then an alarm as the devices monitoring Kyle's pulse suddenly felt nothing. Both the prince and Kyle were gone.

***

Chisur felt the desert winds billow behind him as a thunderclap announced his movement through the Tether. They were not far from where their chance encounter began. It was nightfall, and Kyle's nude form was on the ground beside him. His wrecked body was covered in an assortment of burn scars.

Chisur sat beside his mate. He said, This will probably hurt a lot.

Better than feeling nothing at all.

Bodily fluids could act as a magical conductor, and was one of the oldest ways of casting certain spells. Blood was the most favored means, because it was easiest to draw and exchange on demand. To connect Kyle to the magic here Chisur would need to draw on these old ways. He extended one of his unkempt claws and firmly ran it down the length of his palm. He did the same to Kyle and then clasped their bleeding palms together.

The prince took a deep breath, and began the communion.

Earth overflowed with magic, which was why Chisur had come here. Chisur doubted Archayon, scarred and channeled constantly, had the strength to condense its magic into a form of permanent, tangible matter. The power they felt from this planet was immediate and uproarious. Chisur's scales began to glow again with the raw energy, which he channeled into Kyle's body, using the human's circulatory system instead of his nervous system. Normally such a thing would cause riotous pain throughout the body, but Kyle didn't need to worry about that.

All I feel is a dull ache in my head. Keep going—we only have one shot at this.

Chisur did, syphoning enough magic through him that his body glowed as bright as it did the night he nearly killed Kyle. To think his only goal there had been to split a hillside. It seemed childish in the face of the miracle he was reaching for. The prince began the task of shaping the energy of the planet. It was undirected and unchallenged here, and Chisur was reminded of the unpredictable rages of Archayon's scarred lands. There, an unexpected surge, almost like an anger at their presence, had overwhelmed Chisur and taken Kamore from him. Kyle was different. Their tether offered him a buoy when the planet lashed out.

And Earth did. Energy crackled off Chisur's scales, singed his hair as he took more and more power. This planet cared only about its own integrity, and Chisur was stripping magic from it as fast as his body would allow. Waves of energy pushed from deep within the planet to try and snap their connection, but Chisur steeled his own intentions and the energy cascaded around him and Kyle. The clouds overhead broke from the force flying out around the dragon. Both Kyle and his hair were blowing upwards like they were falling. Together, they channeled the same sort of energy that bomb had siphoned and built up, only it took Chisur a matter of minutes to do it instead of however long that bomb had been siphoning energy from Archayon.

He was not sure he could have done it without the tether and his mate there alongside him. It was just not his will, it was both of theirs. The raging howl in Chisur's mind was diminished as it passed through them both, but the will of the planet was still so forceful Chisur had to meet it with his own anger. It was like facing down a large predatory animal and intimidating it into thinking it could not kill you. If a rebound happened now—well, the subsequent explosion there would be chalked up to a nuclear strike. There would be no remains of Chisur or Kyle to blame.

The skin on Kyle's clasped hand began to disintegrate.

Chisur was responsible, circulating, colliding, and collapsing together energy in Kyle's body. He was just as likely to kill the human, but he believed the strength of their bond. It would keep enough of his spirit whole as Chisur shredded the human with a magic so dense and powerful it must have been visible from across the horizon.

Chisur!

Kyle's exclamation came at the same time as the horrible pain came from the hand Chisur's held, but Kyle felt something. Chisur could not see it because everything was too bright, but he felt the texture of scales where skin once was.

Can you envision our future, love? Do you know who's standing beside me?

I do… I dreamed of it, Kyle said.

Show me.

An image of two dragons standing together appeared. It was important for Chisur to focus on this image so he could make sure to will the magic right.

Are you sure? You'll never be able to return to this planet.

Do you want to live as a human here on Earth?

With you I could—

Just shut up and do it, Chisur.

Chisur focused on the image of those two dragons. One was him, and the other standing beside him was shorter than him but taller than Kyle. The scales reminded him of when Jerawk complimented the scales of the illusory Lady Yusool. The jaw line, the horns and hair, the line of his hips had to change, too. Kyle had many desires for this new body.

Flesh incinerated in favor of scale. Magic smashed bone to reset it anew. Muscles strengthened. Organs removed—rearranged—added. And the nerves returning with bright searing pain. Kyle's changing body began to thrash on the ground. A dragon was taking shape in his body like a second skeleton. It hurt so much that Chisur felt like he would die, but he kept pushing through that, steeled by the resolve to give his mate the future they wanted.

Kyle rolled away from Chisur, still clasping his hand, but feeling something shoot up inside him. He felt his tailbone tear, the flesh of a newly formed tail spilling down his back. When Kyle screamed it was a roar. Magical flames spilled from his new muzzle. He felt a similar pain emerge from his shoulder blades. His wings sprung outward in a spray of blood that evaporated in the magical storm around them.

The howling of magic in both their minds was so loud Kyle could barely hear Chisur when he said, We're almost there!

It was like his mate was pulling him with all his strength out of surging mudslide. The prince fought against the overwhelming storm of magic they had drawn on, trying to safely discharge it back into the Earth. The communion ended with no climatic bang, no magnificent discharge of energy. Its end was as mundane as a car slowing to a gentle stop.

Still, when Chisur managed to safely end it, his entire body felt singed by magic. Everything ached. The prince fell onto his back and closed his eyes, focusing on just breathing. He felt, through the tether, that Kyle was just as weak and overwhelmed, but the prince felt a tail wrap around his ankle

You… you actually did it.

We did it.

Chisur felt someone crawl across him and he opened his eyes. His mate's muzzle was a grey approaching silver. The scale color spread down his front and followed all the way to the underside of his tail. His hair had grown a little longer and turned white during the spell, which matched the ivory horns that curled back and up from his skull. The remainder of his scales were the same, shining black that Lady Yusool had. His eyes were a deep blue.

You're beautiful…

After all this work, I better be.

Chisur laughed and pulled his mate into a kiss, testing his new tongue. Kyle murred and his scaled hands worked down Chisur's front. Kyle's muzzle was urgent and insistent, his tongue pushing in and wrapped around Chisur's larger one. He felt a hand on his genital slit, and his mate's need.

You want to… here?

This new body… I don't know what you did but I need you and I need you now.

Chisur growled and grabbed his mate. He was still bigger and stronger than him. Kyle had wanted that. He pinned his love on his back and said, “I know what you want but… just let me get you ready first."

Kyle squirmed in his grip. “Chisur I can't—"

The prince kissed him and then whispered, “Trust me, love, you can."

Chisur kissed down Kyle's new body, admiring how scale pressed to firm muscle. The new curve of his mate's waistline to those hips, and between his legs…

Kyle was already wet. The folds of his pussy swollen and flush with a bit of color showing between the fine, small and soft grey scales of his sex. He planted his muzzle against Kyle's mound and took a deep breath. Both dragons shuddered. His mate smelled fertile, full of need. It made Chisur's cock begin to spill from its slit. He wanted to rut his mate just as badly as Kyle wanted to be fucked, but they had the time to linger on the new pleasures this body hid. While gender didn't matter to Chisur, he knew Kyle, before their tether, only cared for endowments like his. He had no real experience with the drawn out pleasures a cunt could provide someone.

Gently, Chisur licked up the folds of his mate. Kyle's tail curled through the dirt when he moaned. Chisur took it slowly, even if the taste of draconic pussy was already bringing him to full hardness. He massaged Kyle's inner thighs, kneading the bright black scales while his tongue pressed and pushed against the glistening grey of his labia. At Chisur's insistence, Kyle was trying to remain still, but he could feel the heat from his mate burning deeper and deeper as Chisur slowly teased him.

“Ch-chisur… I need—"

Something inside you?

“Yes! Please!"

Chisur gently placed a kiss on Kyle's sex, and pushed his tongue inside. Kyle's back arched as he was spread, his powerful new legs wrapping around Chisur's head to hold him there. Kyle's walls clamped down on his tongue. The taste of his mate, sour and bitter, full of heat and need, urged a possessive growl from the prince. Chisur had not even started moving, but he felt his partner's pleasure spike in a way that made his cock ache, the full dark length dribbling in the open air. The prince wrapped his hands around Kyle's thighs, larger now to match the new hips, and pulled his mate closer before he slowly pushed more of his tongue up and out his mouth, slathering Kyle's pussy with his saliva.

Kyle bit his hand as the new sensation overtook him. Chisur wasn't sure if it was the newness of this body or not, but his mate was so sensitive both were trembling each time his tongue pressed back in. Chisur wasn't even using the full length of the appendage yet, but he had every intention to. But first, to show his mate what felt best in his new body.

Chisur roughly dragged Kyle's hips up into the air for a better angle. Their gazes meeting and Chisur pleased by the sight of pained lust twisted across Kyle's panting muzzle. The prince pushed his tongue inside his mate, his tongue forking upwards, hitting a firm spot that made Kyle cry out. Tongue pushed down as deep as it could, each part of the muscle colliding with that spot as it entered Kyle. The dragon's pussy clenched and milked the appendage and Chisur felt the heat boiling from his mate's core. The tension that wound down Kyle's waist—Chisur loved it, knowing just how delectable this was for his mate. With his tongue fully extended, he undulated it inside Kyle's sex, pressing and pushing all over his sensitive walls till Kyle was clawing at the dirt.

You want me to make you cum?

“F-f-fuck," Kyle whimpered, his pleasure spiking. You mean I've not cum yet?

Chisur would have laughed if he could. There is a lot to teach you about this new body. The prince pulled back his tongue with practiced dexterity, sliding it against Kyle's spot before ploughing back in against the protests of his clenching walls. Kyle cursed and struggled for breath below him—a pleasure so bright it could have been pain boiling in the new dragon. Chisur expertly guided his tongue back in and out as saliva and Kyle's juices ran down his muzzle onto his mate's new tail. The tail thrashed and practically beat against Chisur.

It's so much—f-f-fuck!

Chisur kept working his pussy over, confidently hooking an arm around Kyle's thigh. He rubbed his hands down his mate's waist, admiring the touch of those new scales before his fingers reached the crest of his cunt. There, Kyle's throbbing clit had been brushed and nuzzled by Chisur's muzzle, but not quite given the attention it deserved. While the dragon's new body practically fought against this new pleasure, all his senses in rapture, Chisur pressed a digit to Kyle's clit. It only took a single jolt of his magic, from his finger into Kyle's nub to make it explode in sensation.

Kyle roared.

Femme cum flooded into, against, and out of Chisur's muzzle. The dragon held tight as Kyle bucked against Chisur's muzzle. Those folds clenched against his extended tongue as he worked it around that spasming cunny best he could to draw out Kyle's pleasure. The dragon's new body was completely overcome. For a moment, Kyle thought the rebound he grounded at the ball felt less intense. He wasn't sure how Chisur could still hold him up. His pussy was squeezing against his prince's muzzle, each gasp of his cunt working more cum into the prince's hungry mouth. His whole body felt weak and worthless as his orgasm overwhelmed him.

Slowly, he became aware of his own panting. Chisur gingerly withdrew his tongue, the act of which made Kyle whine from the pleasure. He felt spent—but also felt Chisur's need and, still somehow present, his own heat. It had cooled some but already surged back through his body.

Chisur set Kyle down gently. He kissed up his mate's body, worshipping him in a way that made Kyle's heat only grow. Chisur kissed his neck, tongue working along his throat and tracing his new jawline. Kyle's breathy gasps made the prince murr before they finally kissed. Kyle moaned as he tasted his new sex. He found his strength and his hands were soon rubbing down the sides of his prince. He laughed softly when Chisur pulled away. “We… we really did it, didn't we?"

Chisur nuzzled Kyle's cheek. “I love you, I love us. We have a whole lifetime ahead of us. There's so much I want to do with you, so much I want to see."

Kyle chirred softly. “I can think of one thing you can do to get us started."

Chisur's cock laid between them, still leaking pre cum across his mate's new body.

“Are you sure?"

“As sure as the first night we made love."

Chisur kissed Kyle again, and his mate reached down, pressing that spaded, ebon cock against his soaked mound. They both broke the kiss to moan as his endowment sank inside his mate. Chisur's tongue was nothing compared to his cock's width and length, and already Kyle felt spread taut around the shaft. He whimpered and squeezed the throbbing breeder inside him, feeling it leak pre. Kyle's wet warmth was eager to receive Chisur. The more the prince's cock spread his mate, the stronger his need to rut became. By the time his knot hit Kyle's folds, Chisur had smacked their hips together. His spaded tip was pushed tight to Kyle's cervix, making his mate groan as he felt the full length of that endowment in him once again.

Kyle pulled Chisur's head down and whispered in his ear, “You—you've never felt this good."

“Fuck… I feel it, too." Chisur did. It was so much sensation, to feel cock tightly clamped by Kyle's walls while also feeling the fullness his cock gave Kyle. His walls were so sensitive that even the throb of Chisur's cock sent new sensations through both their bodies. Chisur's heart was thundering. He had never bred another dragon like he was about to do.

He warned, “When I start, I may not be able to stop."

“Do it, please Chisur."

“Fuck… Kyle…"

Chisur withdrew his cock and ploughed back in. Both dragons snarled as his tip slammed the spongy barrier keeping the prince from his mate's womb. Their tails thrashed together as Chisur began humping into his mate, warmth and both their fluids sloppily spilling out when that glistening black cock withdrew. Chisur tried to keep an even pace to draw things out, but they were both so eager, and soon he was smacking their hips together. His knot battered Kyle's folds, flattening against Kyle's clit. It was like someone was slapping it every second. It overwhelmed Kyle and made the dragon mewl and whine. Chisur felt his mate clamp down and cum, and for a moment the prince blocked off their tether to stop from being overwhelmed as his mate quaked in his arms.

Kyle held Chisur tight. It was so good. His mate was so good. He could feel his cunny taking on a lovely numbness as pleasure coiled through every muscle in his body. The heat and longing inside him still not sated as that spaded tip inside him dug against his cervix, trying to make that barrier yield. And Kyle knew it would. He longed for his pliable sex to submit to that insistent knot, to feel that bulb of flesh swell and tie him, to feel it throb right against his spot as cum spilled into his womb.

Chisur twined their tails together, snarling as he felt his orgasm coming insurmountably. He ploughed his hips to Kyle's hard as he could, feeling his knot ache against that yawning pussy. He was so close, even as the milking walls of Kyle's sex tried to force his cum early. But no, he refused to finish before tying his mate. He needed to insure every drop of his seed settled and took root in Kyle's fertile belly. Chisur sat up, and ground his knot against the cunt, seeing the angry, engorged endowment glisten in the moonlight. It was too much of a sight, with pre cum and femme cum spilling out around it, a third of his knot inside. Chisur snarled and pushed a hand down right above Kyle's sex, feeling it press down on his cock. Another surge of magic shot into his mate, an instant burst of energy that made every muscle in Kyle's core go slack.

And Chisur's cock hilted. Kyle's muscle came back a second later and almost the entirety of Chisur's breeding tool was clamped down on. Except for the tip. It was buried in Kyle's egg chamber. Chisur groaned, no roar, but an exhausted release of what he held back. Instead, Kyle filled the night with a roar as he came again when he felt that knotted cock pour the first shot of virile seed into his womb. The warmth of Chisur's essence flipped a switch in his brain, and the endorphin release made Kyle dazed. He dumbly ground his hips and squeezed Chisur close with his legs wrapped, hands grasping at his mate's lower back to lock their bodies together in their blissed state.

Cum flooded out Kyle's womb and quickly filled his sex before stopping plugged at Chisur's knot. Kyle moaned sweetly before Chisur was with him again, kissing his mate and pushing his tongue urgently into Kyle's mouth. With the bigger mouth, Kyle could more reasonably handle the endowed muscle, tangling it in his new draconic muzzle and pushing his claws into the prince's back. Kyle's whole being pushed and pulled Chisur into him, as if he wished for them to meld together as seed continued to spill into his pussy. Chisur was murring at the feeling of finally breeding his mate. Tears slid down both their muzzles as joy and orgasmic relief overwhelmed them.

Kyle's belly swelled as the knotted cock inside him poured enough white hot cum to seed the wombs of a hundred dragonesses. The thought of Chisur breeding so many wombs made Kyle's walls milk an extra potent shot from the prince's draconic cock. The scales around his middle were tight, and Kyle already appeared to be with child by the time Chisur broke the kiss. Their senses regained.

“I love you, Chisur."

“I love you, Kyle—I can't wait to raise a child with you."

They nuzzled each other before Kyle giggled. He felt giddy, in the cool desert night. He said, “There's so much I need to do. I want to see how high I can fly with these wings. I want to dance in the wildest clubs in Archay, I want to feel varn rubbed into my wings, and I wanna bed every dragon and dragoness I can."

Chisur laughed, a hand rubbing Kyle's swollen, seeded belly. “Am I not enough?"

Kyle kissed him, “I want you there with me… for most of it. I wonder what it'd feel like for you, though, to try and work while I'm getting fucked in the other room."

Chisur murred and said, “It sounds like this body also made you a complete slut."

Kyle giggled and squeezed the hand on his belly. “Don't worry, you and Jerawk will always come first."

“He's going to be so mad at us when we get back and he learns we didn't share with him your first time in this new body."

Kyle frowned and said, “I know but…" Kyle ran a finger down one of Chisur's pecs, “I needed you… so badly."

“He's the one who'll be mad, I'm happy we did this."

“In a desert, on our backs in the dirt on an alien world?"

“Isn't this your home?"

Kyle laughed again and kissed Chisur. “My sweet, dumb prince. Haven't you learned? Ever since we were tethered, my home has been with you and wherever our bond may take us."