Dragon Treasure by SJ Sanders
Chapter 4
When the robed giant of a priest strode out, it was as if the entire tavern exhaled in a large breath all at once. Tania blinked and shook her head, breaking from whatever spell had seemed to latch onto her beneath the gaze of the priest. And he had been looking at her.
A shiver raced over her skin, and she squeezed her thighs against the pulse of interest that lingered there. She had never considered herself a robe chaser—one of the many women who looked to bed a powerful male blessed by the gods, often possessing strong magics that came with their positions as clerics. Among them where those who also looked to marry or mate—depending on the species of the male in question—the priest for the prestige it brought with it.
She never understood the fascination until that moment when she felt the weight of power focused on her. She couldn’t see his eyes other than what might have been a faint glow deep within the shadows of his hood. Many priest robes were enchanted to have impenetrable shadows, so that wasn’t unusual. Nor were the glowing eyes that had to have been burning bright to penetrate the darkness of the spell. After all, a male that huge definitely wasn’t human.
Cutting a covert glance toward the minotaur, she wondered if perhaps the priest had been of the same species. The hood had lifted up like there were horns, but the angle had seemed wrong for bull horns. She pursed her lips thoughtfully, fascination surging with the delightful little mystery.
A clammy hand settled over hers, and she jerked in surprise, her skin crawling unexpectedly. Derek pouted boyishly as her hand ripped out from beneath his, and she mentally cursed herself.
What was wrong with her? The guard was not only a good source of info—which he had been providing among his many stories he had treated her to nonstop since they left the city wall—but was also an attractive man who would satisfy a particular itch that had been building up for weeks. He certainly hadn’t made her skin crawl any of the other times he had casually touched her arm or hand as they spoke.
“Sorry,” she muttered as she flattened her hands once more on the table and gave him a small smile. “You startled me. That priest unnerved me a little.”
Derek snorted, a faint scowl slipping over his features as he glanced over toward the door through which the priest had exited.
“No apology necessary. These outer lands tend to get all manner of… creatures… that we’re forced to share space with,” he observed with a disdainful glower directed at the minotaur, clearly a fellow guard given the insignia on his armor, who had once again settled into his pint peacefully. Derek wrinkled his nose at the other male as a woman approached the minotaur’s table with a shy smile. “They shouldn’t be allowed to hold positions of power in human settlements, or be permitted to mix with human women, if you ask me.”
Gods. She was batting a hundred for attracting sleazeballs, it seemed, and the guard she picked up was the worst kind of them. At least the guy at the last village had the grace to be obvious. Derek outwardly wore all the gallant charm of a gentleman, but the speciesist words killed any potentially lingering desire she might have felt.
Not that such sentiments were unusual among humans. Although the Uprising happened generations ago, there were many who viewed relations between fae and humans to be unnatural. While Tania had never personally enjoyed such pleasures, she was of the “live and let fuck” attitude. She certainly didn’t want anyone interfering in her own bedroom life, so she had the courtesy to extend that to others as well.
It didn’t help that the men often outnumbered women three to two. No man wanted to be that one who didn’t get a woman, which made them all the more possessive of women around them. That often included a strong hostility toward nonhuman males entering the mating pool. Although women thankfully still enjoyed autonomy in most places, there was an increasing danger of men forcing women into marital unions to secure a woman to them alone.
Tania, having no intention of being someone’s kept wife, had to duck more than one possessive guy after an enjoyable evening. It was a necessity she was always prepared for. With the size and isolation of the small city, and the way he was hovering over her, she could guess in which camp Derek fell.
Her stomach curdled with the desire to get far away from him. So much for getting laid. It wasn’t happening now. Not after those comments. Even if he hadn’t said them, though, she doubted she would have been able to go through with it. Not with the way her body suddenly rebelled against his touch. The priest had changed everything in a matter of seconds.
She shivered again, recalling the way her body had lit up under the priest’s gaze without even a word being exchanged between them. She didn’t want anything else that she knew would be inferior.
She craved that!
Derek’s fingers skimmed against the back of her knuckles, making her stomach lurch.
“What do you say about having our meal brought up to your rooms? I would love to show you the view of the temple personally.”
Oh, I just bet you would.
Giving him a tight smile, she flicked his fingers away with her opposite hand and drew away. “Actually, I don’t think so. I think I would just prefer the quiet of my rooms… alone. I’m rather tired.”
His expression went blank, but he gave her a curt nod and stood. She could see his jaw working angrily, but he merely gave her a stiff bow.
“Perhaps in the morning then, once you have rested? I am off duty, as it happens. It would be my pleasure to be your private escort. I know the monastery quite well since I’ve spent the last few years committing it to memory. I do plan to be the youngest temple guard ever brought in, if you recall.”
Her smile tightened, the corners of her eyes aching at the pull. It was all she could do to continue the charade of fake politeness, but the last thing she wanted was too many eyes on her activity if she was outright hostile to a city guard.
“Yes, I remember.” That had been a huge selling point for getting closer to the young guard until now. “I will have to decline, though. I prefer the peace and serenity to a monastery when experiencing it alone at the very early hours.”
“Yes, I understand. I will come by for you then at the midday meal. Visitation within the monastery keeps strict hours, so it will be a good time to get to know each other and perhaps discuss some of the sights you’ve seen.”
She gritted her teeth. Gods, he was persistent.
“Sure,” she said between her teeth. “Why not? It would be a pleasure.”
The confident curl of his lips as he brushed back his dark hair from his face made her want to punch him. No doubt he thought he had her cornered. Ha! Showed what he knew.
He was in for one hell of a surprise because she was going to be long gone before the temple roused at dawn. All she needed to do was sneak in under the cover of darkness. Once she was inside, she had all night to the entrance, grab everything she could carry from Dragon’s Keep, and hightail it out of there as fast as Jasnee could descend the mountainside.
The map had shown a very specific fissure. She had been worried about being able to find it on naked rock, but on the smooth stones of the temple wall…
No sweat.