Dragon Knight-Commander (A Cullen Rutherford Shapeshifter Romance)

Chapter 25

A short dragon-ride later we landed by a lake in the grounds of an enormous castle. It sat on top of another mountain in Eden and was surrounded by high, impenetrable walls that grew out of the side of the earth where the cliffs turned into a sheer drop.

Cullen unfurled his foot so I could jump down. He shifted into his human form, ran to the water and dived head first into the lake. Seconds later, he sprang back up. The water dripped off his defined muscles and smooth skin. He shook the droplets from his hair and walked back out, a broad smile on his lips.

I suppressed a groan. The man was stunning. I would never be bored of looking at my dragon.

'Blood and honour, it's good to be home,' he said taking my hand and leading me around the lake towards the castle.

'Nice pad,' I said, gazing up at the hundreds of windows flashing and sparkling in the sunshine.

'It is a fortress. It would take days for even Aurora's armies to breach the walls. I will brook no interruptions,' he said firmly, pulling me closer, walking faster towards the door.

A man in livery with buckled shoes and stockings rushed out to meet us and bent on one knee to the ground. 'My Lord. Welcome home.'

'Thank you, Jefferson. This is your new mistress, Cat of Inger Land.'

'My lady,'

'Get Smithie to send at once for the priest,' Cullen ordered him.

Huh?

His servant rushed off. Cullen gently tugged me around into his body and laid a hand over where my heart beat a little faster - and he'd noticed. 'You don't want to marry me? Great Maker. I'm sorry. You still have questions. There is potion here. I will take it and -'

'No, it's not that, it's just, do we have to get married right now?'

'We should be wed. Did I scare you, precious one? When I told you about the claiming?' 

'No. Apart from the bite, it sounds good. It's just, weddings are a big deal where I'm from and if I'm only getting married once -'

'You will only be married once,' he said in his strong, ordering-his-troops-around tone and squeezed my hand.

'Can we be wed when my sisters are back? Take some time to organise it? Plan a nice party in, say, six months or so?'

'Makers breath, I can't wait six months to have you Cat,' he said, his voice choked with emotion.

'You can still claim me and all that, just, can we wait for the wedding?' I said and stroked the stubble along his jaw.

He frowned. 'I don't want to wait to call you "wife".' He pushed his hand through his curls. 'Kitten, sometimes I - sometimes I wish you could see my heart.' He took the hand I held on his face and pressed it into his chest, covering it with his own. 'I wish you could see how much I want this. How much I need you.'

'Okay, let's get married now.' I said.

He sighed. 'But there is a family ring that I would give you. I would like to place it on your finger at the ceremony. And my mother would be happy to witness my happiness.' His lips tipped up and he dropped a light kiss on my mouth. 'A party? A celebration. This would please you?'

I nodded.

He turned his head and roared, 'Jefferson?'

Jefferson ran back out through the door. 'My Lord?'

'Get Ashton to run after Smithie. We no longer require a priest.'

'Yes. My Lord.'

'I have some very important business to attend to. Shut the castle down. Make it battle-ready and secure. I require you to organise all the staff to leave straight away and come back tomorrow. I will suffer no interruptions.'

I gulped. Claiming was imminent.

He heard my heart quicken. When Jefferson left us he said, 'You are certain? This is what you want?'

Ninety percent. 'Yes.'

'Kitten,' he growled.

I jumped away, startled.

He pulled me back into his arms and searched my eyes with his own.

I blew out a breath. 'I want you to be happy. If Aurora informs the Inquisition that you're a dragon -'

'She is vindictive. She will definitely inform the Inquisition about what I am after today. I have no doubt of that. I can only hope she won't come through on her threat to start a war.' He briefly shut his eyes and placed his arm around my neck to pull me in closer. 'I will be relieved of my duties.' He ground his teeth and clenched his jaw. 'They will hush it up. The chantry would have a field day if they found out. All our diplomacy efforts would have been for nought. My soldiers would feel the betrayal in their guts. Many of them would desert the Inquisition.' His neck corded and he clenched his fists. 'I will not be able to show my face at Skyhold again.'

I bit my lip. 'Yes.' I coughed. 'So what will we do every day?'

He lifted my body into his arms in one swift movement. 'I'm about to show you what we will be doing. And you are going to like it - very much.'