Dragon Knight-Commander (A Cullen Rutherford Shapeshifter Romance)

Chapter 27

'We've got to own the story. We've got to put a good spin on it. It will take that stupid Snow Queen months for her message to get to the Inquisition.' I paced up and down the great hall, mentally forming a public relations strategy for Cullen and the Inquisition.

He sat on a chaise longue, legs splayed, watching me walk. His lips twitched up. 'Kitten, come here. I need to hold you.'

I stopped walking and felt a jolt of desire zip through my body. It had been three days since the claiming and we could barely keep our hands off each other. It was embarrassing in front of the servants, but they didn't blink an eye.

'Were your mother and father like this?' I'd asked him the first time a maid had walked in on us canoodling in the dining room and she had just smiled indulgently and tip-toed away.

'Always,' he said.

My desire for the Commander had ratcheted up from a ten out of ten to a thousand out of ten. But so had my desire for him to be happy. And I knew Cullen would be most happy if he could spearhead the Inquisition, finish what he'd started and win the fight against demons and prejudice in Thedas.

'No, Cullen. This is important. We need to make the fact that you are a dragon old news by the time her message reaches Thedas and then bury her story with a much better one. Like the impending nuptials of the Commander of The Inquisition and the Right Hand.' I threw my hands out, gleefully impressed with my own brilliance.

'Kitten, come here,' he growled.

My stomach fluttered and bliss floated through my body when he said my name like that, like he was desperate to have me in his arms. My responsiveness to him out of bed was as magnified as it was in bed - but getting through to his stubborn dragon alter ego continued to be a problem. 'We'll get the War Council onside first. The key players. Then we'll prep them all and we'll announce to the troops and everyone in Skyhold that you are a dragon and make it sound like a good thing. We'll make it sound like you'd planned to tell them all along and joined the Inquisition to use your dragon power for the greater good.'

He bent his head forwards and locked his hands behind his neck. 'I see what you're saying, but how can we make it sound good? I'm descended from the fallen. The enemy of the Maker.  I'm the abomination the whole of Thedas fears the most. I have hidden my true self from them all. Lied by omission. But I won't out and out lie that I've hidden my ancestry for the good of the Inquisition. It's not in my nature to lie.'

Good to know. I threw myself into his lap and kissed him hard on the mouth. Just when I thought he couldn't get any cuter, Cullen would come out with something like that and make me love him all the more.

He moved my hair out the way and dropped a kiss on my neck where his bite mark was still visible. 'I'll lead my troops to fight Samson, then when we return to Skyhold I'll confess to the War Council.' He clenched his jaw. 'I'll hand in my resignation.' 

I stroked out his curls, kissed his forehead, brushed his cheek with my thumb. 'There's another way.'

He sighed. 'It's not just about being outed. I need you safe, love. I can't permit you to live at Skyhold in case it is attacked. I can't have you living away from me.'

'Commute from that castle near Rainbow Falls.'

'I would only see you in the evenings if I did that. I've waited for you my whole life.'

My draw dropped. My love for Cullen ratcheted up to a thousand and one, at the same time I felt like shaking him for being so stubborn when complete happiness was within his grasp.

'I did warn you my dragon would be possessive.' His eyes flashed and he tumbled me backwards on the sofa and covered me with his body.

'Cullen, I'm not a possession,' I said. 'You don't actually own me. I am entitled to fight with you against Samson for the Inquisition if I see fit. I can decide where to live.'