Free Dragon Maid by Ann Gimpel

her.
    “He’s practically family,” the dragon crowed. “One of my distant cousins bedded Arianrhod about a thousand years ago.”
    “What?” Britta blew out a frustrated breath. “The supposed virgin goddess fucked everything with a dick?”
    Tarika laughed. “Hardly. My cousin was verra handsome, black-scaled with blue-green eyes. ’Twas afore the black dragons fell out of favor. It doesna matter. We should make this one ours. I will help with the mating bite.”
    “Doona do it yet. He and I must talk.”
    Jonathan laid a wet hand over hers. “You and Tarika are talking. I sensed the energy, but I didn’t want to listen in. Would you like me to take a walk and come back in a while?”
    Britta shook her head. “Nay. ’Tis ye and I who must figure some things out. Tarika’s mind is already made up.” She summoned her mage light. Away from the phalanx of witches, the cave was dim. “I know why I have kept to myself. Why have ye not married?”
    His throat worked; he drew his brows together. For a moment, she thought he wouldn’t answer, but then he started talking. “Lots of reasons. I was afraid my genetics were flawed.” He blew out a breath. “After all, Da was crazy.”
    “Ye’re not a virgin,” she pressed.
    He dropped his gaze. “I suppose you would know things like that. No, I’m not, but for a guy closer to forty than thirty, I’ve had painfully little experience.”
    “Why? ’Tis not just ye were worried ye’d produce defective children. There are ways to prevent such things.”
    “Persistent, aren’t you?” But he smiled.
    She didn’t smile back. “’Tisn’t easy to become a dragon shifter. I was extremely focused for all the years afore I took myself to Fire Mountain in search of a dragon, and for long years after. I was verra young when Tarika and I bonded, so I had much magical education to make up for, even after we merged.” She blew out a breath. “Ye’ll just ask me anyway, so I’ll save you the trouble by telling you.”
    “Telling me what?”
    “I avoided men for two reasons. No one appealed to me, and they all wanted to control me, to ally with my father’s holdings. They saw me as chattel, not a person. I had no interest in any master beyond the magic in my blood, and Tarika wouldn’t have stood for it.”
    “What about other dragon shifters?”
    “Such a pairing might have worked, but I never met one I particularly cared for. Humans put land and holdings first; dragon shifters hold magic dear. Even if I’d found a mage I was attracted to, I would have placed third, right after his dragon and his grimoire.”
    Jonathan chuckled. “You shouldn’t play second fiddle to anything.”
    “Thank you. ’Twas the way I saw it.” She bowed slightly. “Your turn.”
    He nodded. “All right. I had a couple of girlfriends in high school. Once they came home and met Da, that did it. They ran screaming for the hills. He’d do things like lay his hands on their head and tell them their future—no matter how hideous it was. Of course, everything he said came true, but no sixteen-year-old girl wants to know she’ll die of cancer in six years or her parents are having affairs with other people.”
    “Aye, I can see where it would have been a wee problem.” She narrowed her eyes. “’Tis been long years since your da left, why are ye still alone?”
    He smiled crookedly. “I’ve asked myself the same question. Beyond the simple release of sex—and lust became less urgent as I grew older—I guess I never found anyone who pulled my heartstrings—or sang to my soul.”
    “Och aye, ’tis verra beautiful. Ye spin words like a poet, Jonathan.” She cloaked her magic. She could give him the tiniest push but didn’t want to. He had to want her for her, not because she’d employed compulsion. She tilted her chin up. “What do ye think of me?”
    “Truth?”
    “Of course.” She girded herself to hear him say she was very beautiful, but…
    “Ever since I laid