Dragon Treasure by SJ Sanders
Chapter 12
It was with considerably more caution that, a short time later, she eased out of the gate into the monastery. It had been surprisingly left unlocked which sent every natural warning system within her shouting in alarm. The low candlelight flickering in the chapel indicated it was still in the early hours before dawn, but the room was surprisingly empty save for one man seated in a chair that had been drawn up beside the main altar.
A single priest, one complicit in some very questionable behavior she happened to witness. Her lips twisted into a grin as she recognized High Cleric Dephery. He had sent all the guards away and apparently settled the monastery back down. He must have been waiting for her.
How cute… or perhaps stupid.
Shifting the weight of her sack, she strolled forward, her eyes cutting around, looking for any sign of a trap.
The priest stood at her approach, his robes rasping as the material fell back into place, his faded eyes taking her in, mild contempt twisting his expression.
“So you are the one who descended into the Dragon’s Keep. Hardly one of the worthy, but I suspected as much after the guards filled me in on what had happened to us. I must say that I doubt Sister Dorienna will recover from the shame of being replaced by one such as you.”
“One such as me?” she echoed.
His eyes narrowed on her as she otherwise ignored him to peer into a dark corner, her vision brightening with her focus, revealing every concealed sweep of architecture. He followed the direction of her gaze and shook his head.
“You have nothing to worry about. I insisted that the guards settle everything down. A false alarm is what we are telling the lay clergy.” His eyes sharpened on her. “Now tell me what you found within the keep. Did the goddess greet you?”
Tania snorted a laugh and shook her head.
“Ah, no. The only thing down there is an amorous dragon. I am not sure if that fits what you are looking for, but…”
His attention caught on her sack, his lip curling as he gave her a nod.
“And the dragon rejected you. No doubt giving you a small fortune in parting from what I can see.” His chest puffed out as a superior smile bowed his thin lips. “Paid off like a common harlot while he waits for his mate. There is still a chance then.”
She stared at him dumbly, more than a little pricked by his assessment of her. Her mouth snapped open to inform him that she had, in fact, snuck away and stole everything she had, but common sense rose up over the sting of her ego.
Why not let him think that? Did it really matter if it paved the way to get her out of the monastery quicker? Even in the morning light, the place had an oppressive darkness that hung over it. And she couldn’t forget the sleeping dragon whom she wanted to be well enough away from by the time it woke that it would be less likely to go through the trouble of giving pursuit. She pinched back a shiver of dread and stared at the priest.
It was better to escape while she could. Maybe even earn a tiny bit of goodwill for her information? And she got out of using her last sleep bomb. Win-win.
She smiled brazenly at him.
“If you say so. I do hope you’re not still planning on sending that nun down there. Religious fervor rarely satisfies a partner sexually if it can’t be dialed back a bit. And besides, I would hate for her to accidentally end up on the menu.”
He glared at her in affront. “She would be the dragon’s mate—his bride! There is no need for her to behave in any sort of vulgar manner, nor worry about being eaten. It’s in our most sacred books. She will secure alliance between the dragon and our monastery and our place in history. A nun mated to a dragon of Tarachna will bring an increase of pilgrims just for her blessings and usher in the age the goddess promised.”
Tania blinked at him, her eyebrows shooting up. “Ah, okay,” she drawled. “So, you suspected all along… That was why you were sending her. All that about Tarachna favoring women was bullshit.”
He shook his head stubbornly. “Not at all. I had merely hoped that I was correct with what I heard—the bugle of a male dragon. I am certain that a nun offered to him would result in a favorable pairing.”
“Uh-huh,” she murmured. “Well, if you really want that alliance, I would think on it in any case, if I were you. He was quite scary, intimidating, monstrous, horrifying, and… large, if you get my meaning,” she murmured with an exaggerated wink as she tried not to think about it too much unless she wanted to start giggling again. “A girl has to know how to at least work all of that.”
A dull flush rose up the cleric’s neck, but he jerked his head in understanding.
“I will insist that she suitably prepare herself for such an undertaking,” he said tightly.
She nodded gravely as if weighing his words with serious consideration. He was clearly not dealing with a full deck and whatever this new age was had “nope” written all over it from her standpoint. But, it wasn’t her problem. Whatever their purpose was in dealing with the dragon she would be far away. Still, she might as well milk it for all it was worth. She tapped her chin.
“You know, I could be of some help here. I could really use a soak in your hot springs to help me recover. The cave is very cold. And maybe a tunic or something to better cover myself. I can pay.” She dug out a gold coin that she had slipped into her pocket in passing and held it up.
The high cleric’s mouth dropped open, but he snapped it shut, a shrewdness gleaming in his eyes.
“That is most generous. I am sure you wish to leave before dawn, but I can make our amenities available.”
Her grin widened. Oh, I bet you would. She didn’t trust that look but she was pretty sure that the priest had found a way to turn her presence into a benefit. For a man bent on some crazy task, he was sharp, she had to give him that.
“While you recover in the baths, I will be sure to have the guards procure something suitable for you to wear. I will send it with Sister Dorienna when she arrives to hear your counsel regarding dealing with a dragon suffering from its mating heat.”
Her eyebrows quirked again, but she kept silent. It was curious just how much Father Dephery knew about dragons. Obviously that whole bit about Tarachna had been intentional. But now she had questions. What was the mating heat, and did she really want to subject a sheltered nun to larger ramifications that might exist that she didn’t know about? Nuns frequently married, but usually within their sects to priests. The poor woman would be in for a shock with that dragon.
The fact that her stomach twisted at the idea of another woman touching her dragon…
She stomped over the thought, smothering it, burying it and mentally erecting a tomb marker over it.
By all that was holy, he was not hers. She didn’t like men she couldn’t control, and a dragon was not only that but a huge risk to her personal safety and wellbeing. She would keep her emotional response at pity while she had to endure advising the young woman and then get the hell out as soon as possible. The unnaturally dark monastery was as fit to give her nightmares as much as the dragon itself. If the dragon ended up mating the nun, it wouldn’t make any difference to her when she was thousands of miles away enjoying her sunny beach.
Her lips twisted into what she hoped was an agreeable smile. “Sure. I would be delighted.”
She had to hand it to the high cleric—when he wanted something, he worked fast. Within twenty minutes, she was reclining in the hot springs, a bowl of chopped fruit and a warm drink at her side courtesy of a creepy temple droid. A priest had attempted to relieve her of her belongings before she had entered, but a quick threat to the condition of his prick and most prized jewels made him rethink his insistence.
After that, she only saw the droid sent to tend on her. She wasn’t fooled by its attentive service. She watched it like a hawk as it came and went to make sure that it didn’t go anywhere near her belongings.
Popping a snowberry into her mouth, she savored the mixture of tart and sweet flavors as she leaned back further. Tipping her head back, she was able to see the murals that had previously gone unnoticed gracing the ceiling. Erotic images of Tarachna with a pair of dragons in all manner of positions as she bathed, rejuvenating herself with the mingling essences. At least that was what she assumed given the context of their position over the pool. That the images were graphic and nearly disturbing as blood splattered and sprayed as the goddess dominated the creatures as they lapped at her blood. They in turn spread death everywhere, spawning all manner of creatures between them.
Tarachna was not particularly a kindly goddess in many ways, but this was a bit too much. It made her all the more eager to get away from the dragon who too closely resembled these beasts for her comfort.
Tania moaned, her eyes sliding shut, blocking out the explicit images. Who would have thought priests had it in them to see that every day? Still, she imagined no one complained. The water felt heavenly.
She lost herself in the hot water flowing around her. She hadn’t been so warm since the dragon had covered her. Her pussy fluttered at the memory, and she arched her back so that the tips of her nipples rose out of the water into the cooler air. They puckered, sending a pulse of need low into her belly. Her fingers trailed down over her abdomen. Down over her belly. Seeking.
A soft cough caught her attention, and she dropped her hand, eyes opening as she smiled up at the red-faced nun standing over her.
“Well, hello there. You must be Sister Dorienna, seeker of secrets of dragon pleasuring.” She grinned as the other woman’s face flushed darker.
“Father Dephery sent me,” she agreed in a strained voice as she dropped down, sitting on the floor at the pool’s edge. “He says that you can instruct me on how to win the dragon’s carnal attentions. That my purity will do the rest to secure the bond.”
“Right,” Tania agreed. “Why not?” She stretched leisurely, her eyes sliding over the nun, assessing. Despite the woman’s devotion and determination to adhere to the instructions of the monastery patriarch, she had the air of complete innocence. The best way to deter her from being used by the cleric could be to just simply scare her. The girl had to have some common sense. Who in their right mind would intentionally go down there and seek out a dragon hoping that it would fuck her?
Well, besides me, she thought, a tiny smile playing at her lips. Although she hadn’t initially gone down seeking anything of the sort, the need spreading its fingers through her lower belly made the idea of a return trip at some point in the future appealing.
“Have you ever fucked?” she asked, her voice casual despite the bluntness of the question.
Dorienna sucked her lips and gave a shy nod. “I had a brief affair with a visiting pilgrim to our monastery last summer. I knew that it would end when he left, but the priests view the sensual nature of the body to be in service of creating bonds that ultimately serve the temple. Father Dephery believes that Tarachna led me in that direction to prepare for what lies ahead of me. So that I can do what is expected without fear.”
Good grief.
“And that is to be mated to a dragon, a giant, winged lizard man with a blood fetish,” Tania deadpanned, indicating up toward the images on the ceiling. The nun winced, but Tania sat up and slid forward for the kill. If she felt a surge of pleasure in it, she ignored it completely. This was not about her strange bout of possessiveness over the creature that lay coiled beneath her own fear of it. This was about Sister Dorienna’s welfare. That was all.
She pulled her legs up toward her chest and crossed her arms over her knees as she regarded the other woman beside her.
“Are you sure that’s what you want? Sounds to me like you have plenty of options. Do you really want to have no other option than to take a dragon’s dick every night for the rest of your life?” Tania scratched her jaw thoughtfully. “I mean, it is pretty impressive. As thick as my forearm here with all kinds of interesting protrusions. It may have gone in like a battering ram, but other than being sore, I can’t complain much.”
So she was playing it up a bit—and outright lying about how big it was. The high cleric could take it out of her hide when he found if he was able to catch her. The most important thing was that it appeared to be serving its purpose. She almost felt bad for frightening the nun. Almost.
Dorienna paled. Her lips trembled as she tripped over her words.
“It will honor the temple and me to do so.”
“Yeah, that’s convincing,” Tania muttered, rolling her eyes. The woman was hanging on by her nails. It was time to start improvising. She flicked the water with her fingertips lazily as she crafted a plan.
Rolling her shoulders back, smiled over at the nun. “Noble of you. Since you are determined to go through with this, here is what you do. First, go to a crafter and have him make a cock for you to pleasure yourself with. He will know what materials to use if he knows it’s for this purpose. You don’t want any injuries when you use it on yourself.” She met the nun’s horrified gaze. “And you will need to use it on yourself—frequently if you have any hope to face what that dragon is packing. We harlots are accustomed to being stretched in interesting ways, as you may have heard, so you’re going to need to train yourself so that you don’t get torn up in the process.”
She wrinkled her nose. “I think twelve inches long with a five-inch diameter is about right. Don’t forget to tell him about the ridges running up the bottom. Oh, and the head is a huge triangular knob with some strange protrusions at the tip as far as I was able to tell.”
The nun visibly swallowed. This was shamefully more fun than it should have been. Tarachna would no doubt flay her in the next world.
“And… and you are sure I must use this on myself?” Dorienna squeaked out.
Tania smothered a laugh. The goddess was definitely going to curse her for sure now. A pity she wasn’t afraid of divine curses, although she did feel a prick of guilt over the amusement that she was getting out of it. She pressed her lips together and nodded firmly.
“Twice a day, if possible. Perhaps suggest one of the priests to help you to make it a little easier,” she added with an attempted sympathetic smile. It was difficult to pull off when she was howling with laughter inside as the woman went from white as a sheet to poppy red in a heartbeat.
“I see,” she choked. “Anything else?”
Tania blinked, a lazy smile curling her lips. “Oh, much more.”
By the time she rattled off her suggestions for a series of baths in rather foul-smelling oils to loosen up her muscles and a number of exercises she made up off the top of her head—not to mention the most repugnant diet she could think of—with the reasoning that it was to make her smell enticing to a dragon, the nun looked nearly green as she hastened to her feet and backed away when Tania paused for a breath.
With a hastily mumbled excuse, the nun fled, leaving Tania alone once more in the pool room, wearing nothing but a huge grin on her face. That just might have done the trick. Lifting her hand from the water, she investigated her pruned fingers and sighed. It was time to get on her way.
Water sluiced from her body as she stood and waded back up the stairs, out of the water. A towel sat on the bench along with the clothes that Dorienna had left. Still smiling, Tania dressed. There was no replacement for her coat, but she was feeling quite refreshed despite the ache that lingered in belly.
Slinging her coat on, she ignored the gaping front as she stalked out of the monastery just as the sky began to pinken. Jasnee was exactly where she had left her. Humming a cheerful song, Tania strapped her sack to the cog mare’s saddle and hoisted herself up. Now that she was finally on her way and leaving the shadowed monastery behind her, things were starting to look up already.
Clucking her tongue, she directed the mare out of town, the cold air barely bothering her at all. It was strange. Time to get the fuck out of town before her date showed up looking for her… or a disgruntled dragon.