Wingspan (Esh)

The following fictitious events take place in Reality Q

Everything was dark and awesome, and Esh was badass. Princess of the Dells, future queen of all things Dragon, thief of the world’s fastest horse.

  She crept along the stable hall, listening to the stamping and whinnying of the horses she passed. They reeked of horse, but the speed rush would be worth it.

  She was almost to Necromancer’s stall, almost to sweet equine freedom, when she saw the other girl. 

  The girl was in Necromancer’s stall, dressing him.

  Esh scowled.

  “Shh,” the girl told the horse, who she hadn’t even bothered to hook into the stall’s lead hooks. “There you go. Calm.” She kissed the horse’s long face.

  Esh sparked. The girl had gorgeous muscles, highlighted by the fact that she barely had any clothes on. She wore a cropped sleeveless top and short shorts that showed the curves of her upper things.

  “Quiet,” the girl reminded the horse after it started to neigh. The horse huffed. “See?” the girl told the horse. “You’re going to run for fun, not those races. You hate those races, don’t you?” She massaged the horse’s side, her elegant fingers kneading into his flesh.

  Esh sparked, and of course that caught the girl’s attention.

  “Who goes where?” Esh called at her.

  The girl stood straight, haughty. “I could ask you the same question. I’m…the night hand. Help. The watcher. I do horse things at night. I was just hired. Who are you?”

  She was savvy enough to know when someone was lying, was who she was. She crossed her arms. Bentley and Shea, the owners of these horses, had luck magic. They rarely needed any help with their herd and if they did they had Jiacomo to help.

  “No you aren’t,” Esh challenged. “I’m the night guard for the bestiary and I did not hire you.”

  The girl’s shoulders fell as her eyes narrowed. “The horse could handle both our weights if you admit you’re lying.”

  Ha. So she knew. Esh laughed. “Yeah?”

  She imagined her body against the girl’s, moving in the rhythm of the horse.

  This night might just turn out to be better than expected.

  The girl mounted Necromancer and held a hand out to Esh. “Come on.”

  Esh’s hand sparked as the girl pulled her onto the horse, and then she was in front, the girl’s arms around her, their bodies hot and gorgeous together. “You’re tiny,” Esh marveled, because Esh was one of a smallish twin set and she’d never met a girl outside family who was as small as she was.

  “So are you, fire girl,” the girl said, her breath hot on Esh’s neck.

  Esh shivered despite the summer heat. “Did you bring a gun?” she asked the girl.

  “A gun? What for?”

  That was so obvious that Esh reassessed Her Hotness for some sign of mental deficiency. She seemed okay. “To scare the horse into running faster? I heard it makes them crazy.” Esh hadn’t brought a gun either, but this girl made her want more thrill than just stealing a horse: She made Esh hungry. “What about fireworks?”

  Now the girl looked at Esh like she was the mentally deficient one. “Do you know what we’re riding?”

  Who, Esh mentally corrected, for her godfather’s behalf. He loved animals as beings, not as things.

  “This is the most prized horse in seven realms. The fastest. The best. Undisputed. And it isn’t even the one that won the race: They sent the second-best. But I was watching, and this one is faster.”

  “Yes,” Esh pointed out, “So imagine how fast it would be if we scared it.”

  The girl rolled her eyes, but then she made a noise somewhere between an owl’s hoot and a war holler, and the horse raced deeper, faster, into the dark plains of Nivern.

  Esh twisted so she could see the girl better. “You’re crazy.”

  “You’re more crazy,” the girl said back, and she pressed her lips to Esh’s. In the cool night air, her lips were a warm surprise. Esh shifted more and straddled the girl’s thighs, her fingers on the girl’s neck as she deepened the kiss.

  The girl encouraged Esh to tuck her legs around the girl’s waist, and then removed Esh’s shirt and kissed down her jaw and neck and clavicle before she explored Esh’s nipples with her tongue. “This is amazing,” she marveled.

  It was. They didn’t even know each other’s name yet. Esh leaned into the attention from the girl. “I’m Esh. Dragon princess and sexiest girl in the world.”

  “Kita,” the girl said between kisses. “Princess of Straalos. Dragon too.”

  They were both princesses. They were both Dragon princesses. It was fate. 

  Esh took Kita’s shirt off. “Tied for sexiest girl in the world?” She slid her hand down the curve of Kita’s side and traced her fingertips along her waistline.

  The girl stood, a topless horse goddess with all of Esh’s same inclinations. “Do you trust me?” she asked Esh, offering her hand to help Esh stand.

  “No,” Esh laughed. That only made her more enticing to Esh. “But it’s hot.” She stood. The horse thumped out a terrifying tattoo beneath their feet. It took Esh a moment to ensure her footing before she met Kita’s eyes.

  Kita pulled Esh into a hug, and a second later something enormous and airborne lifted them off the horse and into the air. Another second, and they were cartwheeling through the air, bodies locked together, before they landed cleanly on the thoracic spine of the dragon. 

  “Now,” Kita said, eyes alight in the darkness. She shoved Esh back so she lay on the dragon and Kita sat between her legs. “Watch this.”

  The dragon soared into a thunderhead, and wove between the slashes of rain and the searing bursts of light.

  It was so freezing cold, and so hot at the same time.

  “Kita, Princess of Straalos,” Esh murmured. Her body was so ravenous that she wanted to pull Kita against her.

  Kita grinned down, hand cupped against Esh’s body. “Yes, Eshne, Princess of the Dells?”

  She slid her hand inside Esh’s waistband and Esh could barely focus on not falling off the dragon. She moaned, barely functional anymore. “You’re hot,” she managed.

  “So are you,” Kita said, as the dragon dove and Esh’s body soared.