#ThrowbackThursday

I’ve posted so many pieces from The Last Dragon, I thought a piece from book two, The Tides Turn, would be a nice change. I hope you like it.

Sally piled the pickles on the slices of raw meat, slapped some cheese on top, rolled it together and started to chew. This baby was going to kill her. She’d never wanted to eat meat in her entire life, and now she couldn’t seem to get enough of it. Not to mention the pickles, little bombs of pure delicious salty goodness. As the flavors combined, bursting on her tongue, she moaned with joy. The baby seemed to do the same, settling for the first time in hours as he recognized she was finally giving him what it needed. Screw needed. This prince knew how to demand.

Even though he was still in her womb.

“I warned you that your disgust of flesh would eventually be overruled by the life growing within you.”

She scowled as she continued to make more of the roll-ups, ignoring the male standing behind her, clearly passing judgment. “Tamar.”

“My liege …”

“Go home.”

“I fear I cannot.”

“Why is that?”

“You have experienced your first kanji. Your dragon is quickening, my Queen. It is my sworn duty to be by your side until the King is hatched.”

Grimacing, Sally tried to push away the disgust she felt every time the dragons used the word hatched. It just felt so wrong. Somehow she was supposed to give birth to an egg, as if that wouldn’t give her alien-like nightmares every day for the rest of her life … but she was expected to pop out an egg, and then give it to Drake to watch for a whole year until the baby within was ready to break the shell and be officially born. On one hand … no midnight feedings. But on the other hand … no midnight feedings. She felt both blessed and cheated at the same exact time. Turning, she realized that not only was Tamar intruding on her private just-let-me-eat-in-peace moment, but he’d brought a friend. “Hello Hunter. Tamar, you seem to be slacking. Why is Hunter here and not guarding the portal?”

“Others have been given this task.”

“So why are you here?” She tried to push away her desire to throw the food in her hands at the intruders. If she did, she wouldn’t be able to eat it, and right now, she really wanted her child to stop kicking her inner organs. Women should be warned, when they hit puberty, what motherhood was really like. No girl would ever fall in love again, or at least not have sex. This baby had better be freaking adorable. She was eating actual meat, raw meat at that. Taking a big bite, she gestured to the two men. “Speak up. Your Queen demands it.”

“I find it humorous that you call yourself Queen only when you wish us to do something that is against our law.”

“There’s a law that the two of you have to bug me?” Hunter flinched as if she’d struck him. She let out a sigh and held up her hands. Rudeness was not royal. Or at least it wasn’t in her book. “Forgive me.” Sally took a large bite of the meat, and patted her stomach. “A hungry baby makes a hangry Queen.”

“Hangry?”

“Hungry and angry. It’s an Earth thing.”

The two men nodded as if they understood what she was saying, even though their eyes clearly reflected confusion. “Why are you here, Tamar? You never leave the limbo lands lightly, and you wouldn’t pull Hunter off the portal unless something was seriously wrong. So please explain this to me.”

“My Queen, your dragon is quickening. The future King grows stronger.”