Dalton, Tymber - Fire and Ice [A Triple Trouble Prequel] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) Read Online Free

comfort in that. Great pain precedes childbirth. Consider this a birth, of sorts. You will always remember her and how much you love her. I want you to know that the pain you will feel will soon be overshadowed by all the joy you will reap.”
    She released his hand and stood. “Keep her safe and loved, Zachary. She is the key.”
    With that, she disappeared.
    He leaned back against the trunk of the apple tree. He didn’t want this responsibility. He didn’t want to hurt. He only wanted to love his sweet Zaria.

    * * * *

    King Elsleng and his knights gathered in the large drawing room, the blazing fire doing little to take the chill from his heart. Five more villages destroyed in the last fortnight, all of the residents brutally slaughtered.
    “Cockatrice,” Sir Ahglad spat. “These heathen cowards must be eliminated.”
    The king nodded. “We will,” he said. “The prophecy guarantees it, but we have yet to find the key to their weak spots.”
    The door opened. Two young, tall, brawny men were escorted in. One swarthy and dark, the other pale and blond. “Perhaps we can help,” the blond one said.
    He stood. “Who are you?”
    The two strangers shared a glance before the blond one spoke again. “We ask first, your Majesty, for future amnesty from unjust persecution for our kind.”
    Several knights reached for their swords, but the king stayed them with a raised hand. “What is your kind?”
    The dark one spoke. “Our people have also been slain by the cockatrice. Not just men, either. Women. Children. Innocent babes. Many of them used in the performance of dark and evil sorcery that is against everything our people believe in. All for the sake of wiping out resistance to their sinister forces so they can take over the land. Take over your holdings. To slay the Goddess Zaria and steal her powers.”
    “I’m listening. State your piece.”
    “We are dragons, your Majesty. Shape-shifters. The cockatrice have taken up arms against all shifter races who have tried to peaceably coexist with humans for eons. Wolves. Felines. Bears. Selkies. All have fallen before the cockatrice. They are saving humans for last to enslave you.”
    An uproar circled the room at this revelation. The blond one held up his hand. “Baba Yaga came to our flagyer’s Seer and told her of the Goddess Zaria and her Watcher when they were born. We were told Baba Yaga can verify what we say is truth. That your prophecy as well as our own bears us out.”
    The room went silent and still, all eyes now on the king.
    Finally, he slowly nodded. “Before we bring Zaria here, I will know your names. And you will swear allegiance to me.”
    Both men, in movement faster than anyone could follow, dropped to one knee, offering their swords hilt first to the king with upraised hands and bowed heads.
    The blond one said, “I am Stribog. I hereby pledge allegiance to the death to King Elsleng.”
    The dark one followed. “I am Svarog. I hereby pledge allegiance to the death to King Elsleng.”
    Stunned, the king took Stribog’s sword and touched the tip to one shoulder, then the other. “I hereby accept your allegiance and decree you to be a knight of my kingdom.” He repeated it with Svarog. “Now stand, both of you. I wish to see proof of your claims of being dragons.”
    The men shared a glance. They quickly disrobed and, with a shocked gasp from the other knights, they shifted into dragons before them. Stribog turned into a beautiful bluish-green dragon with a long neck and tail. He lowered his head to the floor, at the king’s feet.
    The king smiled, then laughed. Svarog, now a reddish-orange dragon of stouter build, followed suit. “I see what I see.” He looked at his other knights. “Do my eyes deceive me?”
    Stunned, the other knights slowly shook their heads.
    “Return to us, my two newest knights!”
    The dragons shifted back into their human forms and began dressing.
    “So now,” the king said, “the question is, do the rest