Light Dragons 03 - Sparks Fly

before the door to the main tower where I knew the keep’s owner would reside, and considered who might live there. “Has to be the black dragons, since Constantine mentioned Alexei. And Baltic wasn’t yet the heir, which means he probably slept in the garrison with all the other soldiers and unmarried men.”
    When I was a girl living with the humans I thought of as my family, my sister and I were strictly forbidden from ever stepping so much as one toe into the soldiers’ barracks. Many were the times that we lay together in bed, speculating just what went on in the forbidden lower level of the keep, but a healthy respect for our mother kept us out of such a tantalizing spot.
    Later, when Baltic and I finally found each other, and he had built Dauva (his stronghold in Latvia), I stayed out of the men’s quarters by habit. Although I could have claimed the right as Baltic’s mate to visit it, it had never occurred to me to break the rules and see just what went on in such a place. My upbringing had been too strong to overcome.
    “We’ve come a long way, baby,” I paraphrased as I strode into the lower level of the keep, looking around with interest. There were pallets everywhere, stuffed with straw and strewn with items of clothing and armor. Some men were asleep on them, while others huddled in a circle dicing, and farther into the smoky, ill-lit room, another group squatted next to braziers, clutching tankards and talking quietly to themselves. “This is somewhat disappointing,” I told the visions of dragons from the past. “Where are the racy sights of naked men doing terribly immoral things that my mother always swore were what went on down here? Where are the camp followers enticing men into lustful acts? Where are the orgies?”
    “The human woman who raised you had no knowledge of dragonkin,” a voice said loudly behind me.
    I spun around to see Baltic-my Baltic-in the doorway, his hands on his hips as he glanced around the room.
    “Came back, did you? I knew you couldn’t stay away from the past.”
    He rolled his eyes at the teasing note in my voice, striding over to me. “I returned for you when you did not come with me, as a proper mate should.”
    “Uh-huh. So, which pallet was yours?”
    “Why do you care?”
    I smiled up at his frown. “I want to see where you curled up at night.”
    “Why?” he asked again.
    “Because it’s something from your past, and kind of wicked, at least according to my mother. It’s where you were naked and slept and had naughty thoughts. And speaking of naughty thoughts, just who is this female you were supposed to take as a mate?”
    He grabbed my hand and pulled me deeper into the room, where a jointed wooden screen marked a separate sleeping area, affording it a goodly amount of privacy, even if it was not a closed room proper. “I did not sleep with the others. I was accorded a place here.”
    “Because of your father, you mean?”
    He nodded. I sat on the long, narrow bed and looked around the living quarters, bouncing slightly as I did so. “You had a real bed, one stuffed with feathers, although the ropes holding your mattress are kind of squeaky. Is that the same chest you had at Dauva?”
    “Yes. Are you done? I wish to return to the pub. I have many things to do.”
    I slid my hand down the bear-fur covering of the bed, and leaned back on my elbows. “Did you entertain in this little private room, my love? Did you have girls here?”
    He wanted to roll his eyes again-I could tell-but Baltic, always keeping a firm grip on how many times he gave in to that act, instead beetled his brows at me. “Do you wish to know how many lovers I had before you?”
    “No. I just want to know if any of them ever shared this little love nest.”
    “No.”
    “Ah. Good.” I smiled and kicked off my sandals, rubbing my legs and feet along the fur in what I hoped was a seductive manner. “Perhaps you’d like to change that?”
    Interest kindled in his eyes even as his lips were about to chastise me for wasting his valuable time. “Are you sure you would not prefer to wait until such time as I was with a lover?” he asked me with a completely deadpan face. “I know how it inflames you to engage in lovemaking while others are present.”
    “Oh!” I sat up and slapped my hand on the skin. “I do not have kinky sex fantasies! Just because I thought it was kind of fun for us to make love with the vision version of our past selves doesn’t mean I am