Once upon a time there was a dragon king who decided the best way to assert dominance was forehead kisses at six-second intervals while his brother, who was arguably one of the smartest dragons in Velkaris, took the bait every single time.
The walk from Maddox’s chambers to Kael’s was five minutes. Maddox turned those five minutes into psychological warfare that Kael walked into, knowing exactly what was happening, and did it anyway.
The motive was not territory, not strategy, not honor, not the fate of kingdoms.
No, it was much more petty.
It was which emotionally unstable dragon got to carry the princess.
Kael kept stealing glances over his shoulder at the woman unconscious in his brother’s arms. Each glance earned him the same thing: Maddox pressing his lips to the top of her head the way a dog pisses on a fire hydrant. Territorial. Public. With full eye contact to make sure the other dog knows what just happened.
Kiss.
Kael looked forward like that would save him. Changed his mind. Snapped his head back.
Kiss.
Forward.
Back.
Kiss.
The pattern was simple. And yet.
"Stop kissing her every time I look," Kael snapped.
"I’m comforting my unconscious wife, Kael. The timing is coincidental."
"You are kissing her every time my head moves."
"Quit moving your head."
"You’re doing it on purpose."
"Everything I do is on purpose, Kael. That’s the difference between us."
Kael’s dragon rumbled under his ribs so loudly that two servants down the corridor heard it, exchanged the universal look for absolutely not, and vanished down another hall.
"I have been resurrected, in battle, and stranded in a wolf kingdom this week and THIS is the thing that’s going to make me lose my shit."
"Sounds like a you problem."
Kiss.
"That one was unnecessary."
"Every kiss I give my wife is necessary. Some are urgent. Some are preventative. That one was maintenance."
"I will throw you through a wall, Maddox."
"You’ll have to take her first. And you can’t. Because I’m holding her. And kissing her. At the same time."
Kiss.
"That one was a medical necessity. Needed to check her temperature," Maddox stated.
Ryker watched the Dragon King, a man who commanded a continental army, kiss a woman and call it medicine with a straight face only for Kael, a bad motherfucker and ex war criminal, to respond with a noise that should’ve come with a sippy cup.

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