Book One: Onnu and Pannu

Onnu Falls

She flapped backwards, and he followed. She flapped again, but could go no further. Some ethereal tether held her to the world she hovered above. Well, that answers that question! Of course, it raised several more, but she hadn't time to address any of them.
   She swerved to the side, and again, she was halted. Below, Dragon City Crags loomed like a wall. She would have swung the other way, but he'd already caught on.
   "Seems you're bound to this part of this world, while you've got pups. Might be you'll have a clutch per world, I dunno. Not my prerogative."
   Knowing how limited she was, he hemmed her in. She had magic at her disposal, or she could dive back down into the atmosphere, so he knew she wasn't truly trapped. He played her at the end of her invisible thread, like a fisherman wearing out a swordfish.
   Onnu forgot about her magic, didn't think to simply drop like a stone. She felt mesmerized, yet angry at the same time. He knew she was at the end of her rope, and still he pursued her, relentlessly. Apparently tirelessly.
   She reached the end of her reserves, and knew she could fight no more. If she persisted, she would be easy prey for the Charon. She must save some energy for the trip home.
   He saw the resignation settle heavily on her, but time and loneliness weighed just as heavily on him. Besides, if she was truly set on avoiding him, she would have dropped out of atmo. He wouldn't have time to catch and plummet with her, as her mate did.
   And so, he told himself she doth protest too much, she told herself she had no choice, and neither would speak of it again.
   Trey tugged her toward him, weightless in the space Above. She'd stopped fighting, but she didn't have to make it easy for him, either.
   He'd already won, but he wouldn't take her quickly. No, David had barely rounded the next world over, so he had time to do this right. His front paws pulled her to his keel, hind paws loosely gripped her flanks. She could still drop right out of his grasp, if she'd a mind to.
   "Trey," she groaned. It was meant to be a warning, but it came out breathy and thin.
   Lightly, so lightly, he began to brush her pelvic cone with his. Side to side, up and down, he teased the sensitive zone she didn't even know she had. Her talons twitched on his keel, eyelids fluttered. She couldn't help her reaction. It seemed she still didn't know everything about this body of hers. It was utterly unfair that he did.
   "Trey," she tried again. Instead of chiding, it sounded like a plea--a plea for more.
   He rumbled, deep down in his chest. The vibrations shimmied up her palms and into her core, where something unfurled and waited. She could easily guess what it waited for. They shivered down her spine and his, and centered in their pelvic cones, those deep, deep notes. Her throat ached to join the sound, but she wouldn't give him the satisfaction. She only trilled for one dragon.
   He bent his head and lightly scraped her neck with his teeth. His name hissed through her lips a third time, with even less fight in it. She sounded like a wanton harlot. He ground his hips into hers with more force, humming that damnable tone, and her claws scraped his chest and thighs. She hated that her body responded to the friction and vibration. Hated that she couldn't control what was happening inside her own skin.
   He slid inside, smooth as silk. His forward-facing cone, with its erection primed and ready to enter her rear-facing cone, fit snug and tight. Sword to sheath. The terminology wasn't erotic, but the sensation was. She hated that size apparently did matter.
   And she hated that she didn't hate it as much as she wanted to. Her mind screamed defiance, while her body rocked against his. She denied her enjoyment, even as her talons buried in his hide until they drew blood. She told herself that the sound she made, pumping her wings as he did to stay fused together, was one of rage. And perhaps that was part of it.
   But they both knew she didn't hate it. They knew as twin roars ripped through the Fortnight Worlds, frightening all who heard it. They knew as they briefly blinked out of consciousness at the crescendo, and plummeted back into the atmosphere. They knew, locked in that deadly embrace, that she'd enjoyed it far too much. Perhaps that's what made her hold on so tightly. Why she stared him right in the eye as gravity pulled them in, ever closer to that hard stop at the end. And maybe some self-loathing crept into his mind, because he held on just as tightly. Regret, guilt, and shame accompanied their plunge toward the ground.
   Wildlife fled their combined shadow, as it grew on the ground. They hadn't aimed, but they knew they were somewhere northeast of the Hold proper. Should be minimal casualties. They didn't know how they'd be replaced, but in that moment, they didn't care.
   It was quite possible that they had just committed the first sin on the Fortnight Worlds.
   As he said, they weren't married, but Onnu and Pannu did live as a mated pair. Grey area or not, they felt the need for penitence. To atone for their crime, whether or not it was one. And, in the sometimes dramatic fashion of dragons, death seemed appropriate.
   The impact was felt as far as they two could have flown in a day. Dragon City, mountain clan, the pondlake, of course their neighborhood, all heard and/or felt the massive BOOM!

   And where they fell, a new Hold was born.