Monster Girl Islands 11 Chapter 4 (Sex Scene)

“So…” I teased as Hali led me through the winding hallways of the dragonkin palace. “I’m gonna take a wild guess and say it’s Holara? I can’t say I’m surprised, given the fact she’s always got that crazed warrior look in her eyes…”

“Very funny,” Hali giggled. “But no. I believe I am the only dragonkin woman in this castle you have courted but not impregnated yet.”

“Who ever said I was courting you?” I winked at the green-scaled redhead. “Maybe I just talk to all of my friends the way I talk to you.”

“Really?” the cook scoffed. “I would hope you’re not talking to Jonas like that. Or the dragons…”

“You don’t know,” I continued to play hard to get. “Besides, there are still dozens more dragonkin on this island, and most of them are still nowhere near pregnant. Also, Darya, Zarya, and Anora haven’t had any children yet.”

“The twins told me about the treehouse.” Hali’s green eyes glinted with mischievousness. “I would bet all of the cooking supplies in my kitchen they are already with child, even if they don’t know it themselves yet.”

“Maybe.” I shrugged. “Even though I’m kinda hoping they aren’t, so we have to try again.”

“I bet.” Hali grinned. “And from all the wonderful details they told me, I bet they are hoping they get another chance, too.”

“They will,” I promised. “I just like to play hard to get sometimes.”

“You’re telling me,” the petite cook chuckled. “Here I am, literally throwing myself at you and leading you to a place where we can fornicate, and you’re trying to play it off like you’re not interested? I’m calling clucker bird dung.”

“Maybe I’m bullshitting, maybe I’m not,” I retorted coyly.

“Just wait until I get you to where I want you.” Hali shrugged. “I bet you won’t be playing hard to get then.”

Maybe it was Hali’s sudden change in demeanor, or maybe it was just the fact I was already hot and bothered by her beautiful, petite-yet-curvy figure. Either way, her words made my heart race at the speed of an Indycar, and I was starting to worry my pitched tent was about to tear through the fabric of my pants.

Hali and I continued, hand-in-hand, for a bit longer. Finally, the two of us came to a small room with a feature that was rare in this castle: a door that could be closed completely shut. Sure, it was made up of thatched straw on top of some flimsy wood, and it would probably break away if you just knocked on it, but it was a door nonetheless.

Which meant Hali wanted me in a place where we could be completely alone…

I watched the green-scaled cook open up the door before she looked back over her shoulder with a pearly-white smile, but when she led me inside the room, I became a little bit confused.

“Uh…” I observed the room around me. “You wanted to bring me to a mess hall?”

The space was quite large, with several crude wooden tables and benches covered with straw-stuffed cushions. There was what could only be described as a buffet bar against the eastern wall of the room, with a tiki-like thatched roof over its entire length. This room was much smaller than the courtyard where we’d usually have our feasts, though it was nearly five times the size of a normal bedroom in this palace.

“I thought it would be fitting,” Hali giggled. “Considering the fact I’m the resident cook around here. Plus… We’re going to make a big mess.”

I audibly gulped at the thought of what this beautiful dragon woman wanted to do to me, which seemed to make Hali all the more aggressive.

Her sea-green eyes flickered with hunger as she dragged her teeth over her bottom lip and let out a small sigh. Then her regular, more bubbly demeanor returned as she let go of my hand, placed her hands on her hips, popped her waist out to one side, and smirked.

“Not to be a buzzkill or anything,” I noted as I continued to glance around the room. “But isn’t this kind of a public place to be doing ‘that?’”

“It’s our old mess hall.” Hali shrugged. “This is where we used to have our feasts, back when it was just a handful of us dragonkin women. After all of our men were killed, and before you washed up on our shores. I have many, many sad memories of all the times I served our people in here, knowing we were all going to be the last of our kind. Thankfully, we were all wrong, and now we have to hold our feasts out in the courtyard because of how many lovely people we have on our island.”

“Doesn’t that kind of emphasize my point?” I chuckled. “This sounds like a depressing place.”

“It is.” Hali nodded firmly. “But I want to start making good memories in it, and creating a child with you is the perfect way to start.”

“Maybe,” I continued. “Unless somebody comes bursting through that door looking for one of us and catches us in the act. That wouldn’t be too great of a memory.”

“Nobody’s going to come through that door,” Hali reassured me. “In fact, I’m the only one who’s even been in here since we moved our feasts outside. And that is only for sentimental reasons.”

“Sentimental?” I mused. “How could you feel sentimental in a place that has such depressing memories?”

“It’s strange,” Hali agreed. “This place reminds me of our most trying times, but there is a twinge of happiness to it. Even though our spirits were down, Queen Nerissa did her best to lead us into the light. In a way, life was much, much simpler during that time, considering it was all about survival.”

“Nostalgia.” I nodded. “You’re talking about nostalgia.”

“What a strange word,” the green-scaled cook noted. “Nostalgia… What does it mean?”

“Just what you were saying,” I explained. “It’s a longing for a time when things were simpler. Even though in reality, they really weren’t, but your brain filters out all of the bad stuff. In my world, we usually get nostalgic about trivial stuff, like the video games we played in the eighties or some corny sitcom that came out in the nineties or the car we drove all through high school, even though it was absolutely shit.”

“I suppose when you’re under constant threat of destruction, you see all your living memories as special moments,” Hali sighed with a hint of longing.

“Hey,” I promised the cook as I placed my hands on her shoulders and began to rub gently. “You’re not under constant threat of destruction any more. We’ve fortified against the orcs, and I’ve kicked their ass every single time they’ve tried to come to your island. You’re all safe here with me.”

“I know we are, Ben,” the cook reassured me. “That doesn’t change the fact we have to worry about invasion all of the time, though. Or the possibility that the orcs have gotten their hands on a dragon or two. Sure, we always win… But wouldn’t it be great if there came a time where we didn’t have to win because there was nobody to fight with?”

Hali’s shoulders were extremely tight as she spoke, so I increased the intensity of my rubs, and she let out a soft moan as I massaged the tension out of her shoulders with soft, circular motions from my thumbs.

“Yeah,” I admitted. “That’s what I’m working on. That’s why it’s so important Jonas and I go out and find the rest of the fire dragons from that island. If we can somehow collect all eight of them? We could just sail right up to the orc’s home island and burn the whole fucking thing to the ground.”

“That would go a long way in making us feel safe,” the cook chuckled. “Even though there seem to be different races on every island, the orcs are the only ones who want to go out and desecrate everything.”

“They’re just a bunch of bullies,” I reminded her. “They pick on the weak, and they cheat any time they can.”

“Ohhhhhh,” Hali suddenly let out a soft moan. “How did you learn to give such good back rubs?”

“I’ve got a gentle touch.” I shrugged. “But seriously… You’ve got a lot of tension back here in your shoulders. Maybe you should take a break from the kitchen every now and again? I don’t think all that rushing around and moving heavy pots is doing much good for your back.”

“Spend less time in the kitchen?” the emerald-scaled woman scoffed. “I’d rather die, Ben.”

“Wait until you meet Baratu,” I laughed. “She’s a cook with a passion for what she does, just like you. I think you two will get along really well.”

“I just hope she doesn’t expect to take over,” Hali warned. “I’m willing to take on an understudy, but the only way I would ever give up my duties as the royal cook is when my big, triple chambered heart stops beating.”

Triple chambered? I guess I never really stopped to think about what a dragonkin’s internal organs actually looked like.

“She’s pretty stubborn,” I chuckled and continued to massage the beautiful woman. “But I guess I can let you two sort out all the details.”

I continued to rub Hali’s soft skin for a few more minutes, until the woman had practically melted in my arms.

“I swear,” Hali sighed with pure euphoria in her voice. “You are a gift from Oshun herself. How do you do that?”

“If you think I’m good on your shoulders,” I teased. “Wait till you see what I can do with my hands in other places.”

“I’ll make you a deal,” the cook giggled. “I’ll let you show me what you do with your hands, and you let me show you what I can do with my hips.”

My cock throbbed to attention at the mere thought. There weren’t many no-brainer deals in this world, but this was certainly one of them.

“Okay.” I grinned from ear-to-ear. “Who gets to go first?”

“I’ll go first,” Hali noted. “Since my part of the bargain can be done with you fully clothed, but yours does not require the same of me.”

Fully clothed?

“Maybe I’m missing something,” I admitted. “I need to keep my clothes on for this part?”

“Well, you don’t have to…” the woman admitted. “But it made more sense, logistically. Now… Do you see that chair over there? Go sit down on it.”

Hali pointed over to the nearby cushioned bench, so I stopped rubbing her back and proceeded to walk to it. As I sat down, the emerald-scaled chef spread out her legs and took an open stance.

“Is this good enough?” I asked as I got comfortable in the chair.

“You might want to brace yourself,” Hali warned. “Because I’m about to begin.”

Ohhhhhh, shit. My lips curved upward into a giant smile as it dawned on me what was about to happen. Not to be outdone, my dick followed in the footsteps of my face and stretched toward the heavens.

Hali gave me one last sultry look before she walked over to me, threw her right leg up onto the bench beside me, and stared deep into my eyes.

It took every inch of willpower I had not to peek underneath the fabric of her skimpy white toga and glance at her beautiful pussy in all its glory.

The dragonkin cook must have noticed the conflict in my eyes, because she simply smiled and reached down to her knee. Hali then proceeded to pull the fabric of her toga up her thigh, all the way until it was just inches from her tender slit… And then she swiftly stopped.

“Wow.” I smirked as my heart skipped a beat. “Is this one of your special celebration dances?”

“No.” Hali’s green eyes narrowed like a jaguar zeroing in on its prey. “If anything, this is my mating dance.”

The beautiful woman proceeded to pull her leg back to the ground and then, in one swift motion, sprang up onto my lap. Hali placed both of her hands over my shoulders with a giggle before she pressed her perky breasts together and leaned forward so they were right in my face.

My erection throbbed with excitement as she ran her cleavage against me, and then it got even harder when the cook started to grind against me.

Hali made sweeping circular motions with her lower half and ground herself against me tenderly. I could feel her warmth even through my pants, which made me even hornier than I already was.

The dragonkin woman let out a gasp when she felt my cock grow to full mast, but she didn’t let up.

My hand drifted across every bit of exposed flesh on Hali’s body, from her face to her shoulders all the way down to her smooth, toned legs. Every inch of her flesh was as soft as silk, like a gentle cover that deserved to be kissed, sucked, and licked until it was as red as the auburn locks on her head.

I gently stroked her legs, and then I allowed my fingers to trace up her inner thigh…

Instantly, Hali pulled away and wagged her finger at me.

“I’m not done yet,” she giggled. “You’ll have plenty of time for that all in due time.”

Hali then began to sashay her hips side to side as she fumbled with the knot on her toga. She pulled the fabric free from its constriction, but she grabbed onto her garment and held it against her chest before it fell away completely. The dragonkin woman smirked as she did a little twirl, and for a brief second I saw her small, shapely ass in all its glory.

Hali took one look at my erection, smirked, and then slowly turned around once again. The white toga had been untied, so the entirety of her backside was bare.

I could see it all, from the rose-kissed hair that cascaded down her slender neck to the lean shape of her upper body, to the cute little dimple just above her ass.

Hali’s rear was about as perfect as you could get. It was full, but not in a “defies the laws of physics” sort of way. Her glutes were firm and toned, to the point where it looked like her porcelain skin had been stretched out over a fucking tanning rack.

The green-scaled woman shot me a sensual look over her shoulder, and then she slowly started to walk backward toward me as she sashayed her hips. Hali took direct aim at my stiff cock, and within seconds her bare, tight ass brushed across it. The dragonkin cook pressed herself down onto me as she made circular motions with her hips, and I felt like I was on cloud nine.

“Fucking hell…” I moaned as Hali ground her ass against me.

My balls grew tight as my manhood was teased, though I knew the sweet release would come soon enough.

Actually, I hoped it didn’t come “soon” at all. I was enjoying myself too much.

As Hali gave me the lapdance of a lifetime, she let out a giggle and released her hold on her shirt. The white fabric fell off her body and fluttered to the floor, and now she was completely nude.

And facing the other way.

Damn… This woman really knew how to tease.

I nibbled on Hali’s neck as she rubbed her beautiful body against me in a sensual dance of passion. My hands ran along her velveteen sides before I slipped my hands around the front of her body, wrapped them around her precious breasts, and softly began to rub my fingers across her erect nipples.

Hali let out a soft moan as I rubbed the swollen nubs on her chest, and then she leaned her upper body back against me. As she did so, I got a full glimpse of her supple, voluminous breasts.

They were perky C-cups that started nearly flat at the very top and then curved up into puffy peaks as they continued down her torso. A pointed pink nipple stood at attention at each peak, and I couldn’t wait to get them in my mouth.

Now that Hali was against me, I kissed her tenderly on the forehead, but that’s not where she wanted to be kissed.

Hali’s hand shot up, grabbed the back of my head, and pulled my lips down to meet hers. Both of us groaned with carnal excitement as our tongues danced in each other’s mouths, and our bodies ground against each other fiercely. The woman’s kiss was as sweet as warm honey, and I never wanted this moment to end.

Actually, on second thought… Maybe I did. But only because I wanted to move onto something even better.

“Is it my turn now?” I whispered as I pulled slightly away.

Hali bit her lip faintly and nodded.

That was all the invitation I was gonna need.

I allowed my right hand to fall away from Hali’s breast and then slide down her tummy, and when I got to her waistline, I moved off to the left and continued on until I was at her knee. Hali let out a little grunt of surprise, which was just what I wanted.

After all this teasing she’d done to me, I wanted her to beg for it.

I moved my fingers in circles around her inner thigh as my fingers floated closer and closer to the tender slit between her legs. Hali’s thighs tightened with anticipation, and her hip movements became slower as she tried to make it easier for my fingers to reach their destination.

That’s when I went in for the kill.

I moved my hand up her thigh and brushed my fingers across her swollen, warm labia. Hali was extremely wet with anticipation, so it took no effort whatsoever for me to slide into her.

“Oh, Gods…” the cook gasped.

I hadn’t even gotten to the good part yet.

Once my index and middle fingers were inside of Hali, I pressed my thumb against her clitoris and started in a counterclockwise motion. She whimpered as her pussy clenched around my fingers, and then she practically melted against my chest when I began to kiss the back of her neck.

“You’re so wet,” I whispered as I pecked at her pale skin. “I can’t wait to put something else inside of you.”

“I can’t wait, either…” Hali moaned. “I- I think I want it now.”

“Not yet,” I growled. “You got to tease me for a while, so it’s only fair.”

“You call this teasing?” the emerald-scaled woman gasped. “I can’t wait to see what you call the real thing.”

I continued to nibble on Hali’s neck as she softly gyrated against my dick, and I fingered her repeatedly. Her moans of pleasure started off soft, though they quickly morphed into something more deep and intense. Hali’s womanhood was sopping with excitement while it spasmed against my fingers, and sure enough the convulsions eventually became hurried and sporadic.

Then the beautiful woman stopped what she was doing completely. Every muscle in her body tightened up as she leaned back against me, braced herself, and then let out a few quick, deep breaths.

“Are you about to cum?” I growled into her ear.

“Is--Is that what this is called?” Hali gasped. “Because I think I’m going to-- Ohhhhhhh!”

Hali’s womanhood spasmed around my fingers as a monsoon of her love came pouring out onto my hand, and the dragonkin cook seemed to stop breathing completely as she tensed up and froze in place. Then she took a deep breath and fell back into my arms.

I slid my fingers out of her delicate slit and then wasted no time in getting back to work. I pressed my lips against Hali’s back as I grabbed her around the waist and started to move her hips in rhythm once more.

Almost instantly, the porcelain-skinned woman stood up from her position and turned around, and a smile stretched across her thin lips as she stared down at my erection, which by this point was fucking harder than diamonds.

I could feel the anticipation in my manhood. My balls were as tight as a pair of goddamn spanx, and my cock itself was leaking out loads of precum by the second.

There was nothing more I wanted at this moment than to be inside of Hali, and judging by the hungry look on her face, that was the only thing she wanted, too.

Hali stepped toward me and then reached down and grabbed my shirt. She practically tore the cream-colored garment off my body before she threw it off to the side and proceeded to run her hand down my chest. When she reached my waistband, the dragonkin woman wrapped her tender fingers around the belt, unfastened it in record time, and yanked my pants down around my ankles.

Hali’s eyes grew to the size of lifepreservers when she saw my manhood in all its glory.

“You like what you see?” I winked.

“It’s… It’s massive,” Hali sputtered. “How do you even hide such a thing behind the fabric of your pants?”

“What can I say?” I continued. “Maybe I’m just a grower and not a ‘show’er?”

Hali stared at my dick as she pulled my pants out from around my feet and tossed them away without so much as looking. Then the beautiful redhead stood to her feet, spread apart her legs, and got up onto the bench with me. She tried to straddle me with her shins on the bench, but I wasn’t having it.

I wanted to be deep inside this woman, and there was only one way to do that.

“Here, let me.” I threw my arms around Hali’s waist, lifted her up into the air, and allowed her to outstretch her legs so they were perpendicular to the floor. Then I lowered the dragonkin woman down onto my cock slowly, and we both let out deep, guttural groans as I entered her.

Hali’s velvet tunnel slid over my erection like a glove, tight as hell and dripping wet. When I finally bottomed out inside of her, Hali’s body began to tremble as she wrapped her legs around my waist, and then we got down to business.

I lifted Hali a few inches up my cock, held her in place as I stared into her sea-green eyes, and lowered her back down.

“You’re so goddamn tight,” I moaned as her pussy gripped me like a vise. “I’m gonna fill you up any second now.”

“G-Good.” Hali closed her eyes as she took me all in. “I want you to fill my womb with your precious seed. Make a strong dragonkin child, Ben.”

Once I got the rhythm down pretty good, I started to get creative with the rest of my body. I ran my tongue across Hali’s perky nipples as they passed me by, and the dragonkin woman responded with an eardrum-shattering moan. When I took her nipples fully in my mouth, however, she practically went over the edge.

Hali groaned as she ran her fingers through my hair, and her warm tunnel squeezed me to the brink of eruption.

We had been going at this for so long my balls were tingling and practically numb, though I knew that just meant the grand finale was going to be all the more spectacular.

The minutes passed by like seconds as I pleasured my beautiful lover, and we were both so caught up in the moment that it didn’t even feel like we were in a mess hall. There was nothing in this moment but Hali and me, two passionate lovers enjoying each other in a vast sea of ecstasy.

“Oh, Ben…” Hali moaned as she bounced up and down on my dick. “You have no idea how long I’ve wanted this.”

“Yes, I do,” I reminded her. “I think we’ve both wanted this ever since that first day I walked into your kitchen.”

“Y-Yes!” Hali agreed through a hasty moan. “I’ve never felt anything like this before in my l-life.”

“It only gets better from here,” I teasingly warned.

By this point, Hali’s velvet tunnel was tighter than a skeleton’s belt, and my poor balls were on pins and needles.

We knew the big finish was approaching, but neither of us wanted to be the first one to go.

However, I wasn’t going to give Hali a choice.

I slowed my pace as I ran my hand down her right thigh, and the sensation sent her wild.

Hali’s mouth fell open as a soft whimper escaped her lips, followed by a powerful moan. I raised her up one more time before I slid back inside at a snail’s pace, and the redhead’s pussy lips ran down my cock as she took it all in, inch by inch.

Hali’s moans became more hurried and powerful, and when the head of my cock finally touched her cervix, she went into overdrive mode.

“Oh, Ben!” she cried out as her velvet tunnel held me in its grasp. “I-I’m going to-- Ohhhhhhhh Gods!”

Hali’s pussy squeezed me like a tube of toothpaste as she orgasmed. Her entire body quivered along with her womanhood, and she softly pressed her forehead against mine.

The sounds of her ecstasy were what finally sent me over the edge.

“Oh, fuck…” I gasped as I grabbed onto the back of Hali’s head and continued to plunge in and out of her.

I saw literal stars as the warm pressure in my abdomen released and sent my balls into a full-on seizure. I clenched every muscle in my body, and I let out an earth-quaking moan that reverberated off the walls of the desolate room and bounced back like an orchestra of carnal sounds.

Every single muscle in my lower body clenched up as my gun went off. My seed blasted up into Hali as I plastered her womb with my love, and her eyes went wide when she felt just how much there was.

“Gods…” Hali moaned as she wrapped her legs around me tighter. “Is there more in there for me?”

Sure enough, there was, and my orgasm continued on for another second or two as I sprayed my sperm into her velvet tunnel.

I found myself a bit lightheaded as I came, and for a split second I was afraid I was going to pass out. Of course, watching Hali’s perky breasts as they jiggled with her motions quickly brought me back to the here and now.

Hali refused to move off me, not even a single millimeter.

The cook wanted her fertile womb to bear my child, and she wasn’t going to waste a single drop of my seed.

When my orgasm finally ceased, my entire body felt like it was on pins and needles.

I collapsed back onto the bench like a ragdoll, and Hali’s naked body was right behind me. Still, she didn’t pull herself off me.

Instead, the beautiful redhead placed her lips against my chest and kissed my pecs softly. She then ran her hand across my abs as she looked up at me with her big green eyes and smiled.

I gave her a tender kiss on the head before I began to run my fingers through her strawberry locks.

My legs were still shaking from the aftermath of my eruption, and Hali’s whole body trembled like it was a scared chihuahua.

Yeah… We weren’t going anywhere for a while.

But that was fine. There was nothing more I wanted right now than to just sit here with this amazing woman in my arms.

After a bit, Hali finally broke the silence.

“Do you think that did the trick?” The redheaded cook smiled up at me.

“If it didn’t, then I must be fucking sterile,” I joked.

“True,” Hali chuckled. “There’s so much in there, I’m not sure if I’ll be able to walk for awhile without having bits of your seed dripping down my leg.”

“You took it all like a champ,” I reassured her. “I don’t think I’ve ever had a partner who wanted it that bad.”

“It’s the only thing I’ve ever wanted, Ben,” Hali promised. “Ever since I met you, back when you were new to the island… I’ve wanted nothing more than to be held in your arms. Then, when I saw how you gave Queen Nerissa and Talise such adorable, strong children? I wanted you to do the same for me.”

“There was never a question of ‘if,’” I said as I ran my thumb across her pale cheek. “It was always just a question of ‘when.’ It’s actually harder than I thought, though, since you never come out on our journeys with us.”

“That’s because my place is here,” Hali sighed. “If I left the dragonkin island, who would keep our people nourished? Anora? That woman might be able to bring you back from the brink of death, but she absolutely could not cook a good boar if her life depended on it.”

“Baratu’s here now,” I reminded her. “She could always take over for a bit if you decided to come along for the ride.”

“Abandon my kitchen?” Hali gasped with fake offense. “To somebody who doesn’t know the palate of the dragonkin, Niralope, Coonag, or Morpho? That is a recipe for disaster. We’d probably come back to a coup.”

“It couldn’t be that bad,” I laughed and then pulled Hali into my chest.

“Don’t underestimate what people will do when they are desperate for good food, Draco Rex,” Hali teased. “Besides, I wouldn’t really have a role on your ship. I can’t shoot a bow and arrow, and I can’t fight with a sword. Gods… I can barely handle the seaglass daggers you had Mira train us all with.”

“Nonsense,” I scoffed. “You would have a very clear role. We got lucky on this last journey since we ran into Baratu, but usually the grub on our voyages is… Not the best, to say the least.”

“Sounds like somebody needs instruction,” the redhead giggled. “Luckily for you, I just so happen to know someone who could teach you a thing or two.”

“Maybe someday,” I promised through a sigh. “When I have a little bit more time on my hands.”

“Are you saying being a king and an explorer is difficult?” Hali snickered sarcastically.

“A king, an explorer, a captain, and the head architect,” I reminded the redhead. “Plus a hunter, a butcher, a father, and a diplomat.”

“Okay, fine,” the cook chuckled. “Maybe you are busy after all. I wouldn’t want any of those titles, in all honesty. Particularly the diplomat one.”

“Speaking of that,” I sighed. “I should probably go do my diplomatic duties and make sure all of the Cero women are being seamlessly added to our group.”

The two of us laid there for another moment or two before we got up from the bench, gathered our clothing, and pulled it onto our bodies. Hali rewrapped her toga as I tugged my pants around my waist and re-tied my belt, but before I could get my shirt back onto my body, the door of the mess hall flew open.

Hali and I both let out a yelp of surprise as Baratu marched straight into the room. The Cero woman’s high ponytail swayed back and forth with each forceful step she took, and her face was drooped down into a scowl. When she saw I was shirtless, though, Baratu’s mouth twisted into a half-smile.

“So much for nobody coming in here,” I chuckled to Hali.

“Are you the ‘head cook’ around here?” Baratu demanded as she glanced at Hali.

“You must be Baratu.” Hali smiled. “Ben here has told me about you, and how your talents are almost as good as mine.”

“Almost?” Baratu huffed and crossed her arms over her chest. “I’ve made a stew out of spotted hound meat my Queen Mother said was ‘incredible and succulent.’ Do you have any idea how hard that is to do?”

Hali looked at me, but all I could do was shrug.

“Well, I don’t even know what a spotted hound is, so no,” Hali admitted. “Though I did create a dish out of the dangerously poisonous treehopper once. Not a single person in our palace even got sick, let alone suffered the agonizing death that usually comes along with that creature.”

“Uhhh, new royal decree.” I raised a finger. “We will never, ever make that again.”

“Why not?” Hali demanded. “Queen Nerissa herself said it was one of the best things I’ve ever made.”

“You want to talk about the best thing ever made?” Baratu whistled. “How about widehorn meat soaked in palmwine and then roasted for several hours over hot coals? I would put that up against anything that has ever been created in the history of our world.”

Obviously, she’d never had a Five Guys burger.

“I don’t understand this little go-around,” Hali admitted. “Why are you demanding to know who I am?”

“I just wanted to know who I’d be mentoring.” Baratu shrugged. “That’s all.”

“You think you are going to mentor me?” the green-scaled dragonkin woman scoffed. “My friend, I have been cooking for the dragonkin people for several season cycles. I know their palates like the back of my own hand, and I can assure you I’ll find something to satisfy your people, as well.”

“No need.” Baratu smirked. “I’ve got a whole bag of tricks that satisfies them.”

“Look, you guys,” I finally interjected. “You both have some really, really good talent between you. I don’t get why you think it has to be one or the other.”

“Because I’ve been the head cook since I was Marella’s age?” Hali half-stated, half-asked. “I’m sure this woman has skills, but I have the intimate knowledge of the dragonkin people.”

“And that knowledge could easily be passed onto Baratu,” I reminded her. “While you’re at it, maybe Baratu could teach you a thing or two about the dishes of her people. Or maybe some of the unconventional skills she’s come up with over the years. According to Baratu, she’s made some crazy things over the years.”

“Like the time we found a strange, eight legged creature on our shores,” Baratu reminisced. “It came out of the ocean and had a head with eyes on the sides of its strangely-shaped blue head.”

“A wavecutter?” Hali raised an eyebrow. “Are you trying to tell me you ate a wavecutter?”

“Sure did!” Baratu proclaimed. “The entire village couldn’t get enough of it. But we never had one come onto our shores again after that…”

“We get them all the time here,” Hali announced. “I’ve never been able to make one edible, though… They always taste very tough, like a stone with a little bit of give.”

“It’s easy,” the Cero woman chuckled. “You just-- Waiiiitttt. Why should I give you my secrets if you’re not going to let me be your partner?”

“What about my understudy?” Hali suggested. “Isla has a few of those, and she loves it.”

“Co-chef,” Baratu counter offered with crossed arms.

“Apprentice,” the dragonkin cook retorted without missing a beat.

“Colleague,” the blonde rhino woman mused.

Hali mulled it over for a second before she finally shrugged.

“I could live with that,” she conceded. “But I will warn you… I may seem kind and happy, but things will change when it comes time to make a meal. I don’t even think Ben has seen that side of me yet.”

“Then we should get along just fine.” Baratu nodded seriously. “I’m the exact same way.”

I just about spoke up and told them that actually seemed like it might lead to some issues down the road, but I didn’t.

I was more than willing to just put these two in the kitchen together and then just see how it played out.

From across the room, there came a light knocking on the door.

“Draco Rex?” Jonas’ voice asked from the other side. “Talise told me you and Hali might be in here.”

“So much for ‘inconspicuous room,’ huh?” I chuckled and shot a wink at Hali. “Yeah, I’m in here, Jonas!”

The thatched door slowly opened, and then the elder dragonkin slunk into the room. Jonas strode across the wooden floor with a bunch of creaks and cracks until he gave me a slight bow.

“I hate to bother you, Draco Rex,” he apologized. “But I come bearing some excellent news.”

“What is it, grandfather?” Hali questioned. “Were the orcs all wiped out by the fire dragons?”

“Unfortunately, no,” Jonas chuckled. “Though that would be quite an anticlimactic end to our journey, wouldn’t it? No… It is about Marella. She has had another vision.”

“Damn.” I whistled. “She’s getting more and more of those by the day!”

“Indeed.” The soothsayer nodded. “This one is very important, though. She told me she has seen you petting a dragon.”

“Okay…” I trailed off. “We have seven dragons now, so that’s not too surprising.”

“Oh, it certainly is,” Jonas continued. “The dragon Marella saw you petting was a full-grown fire dragon.”

My jaw nearly hit the floor when I heard the soothsayer’s words.

One of the dragons from the volcanic island. My daughter had a vision of where it was. More importantly, she predicted I tamed it.

“Shit,” I gasped. “Where is she? I want to talk to her.”

“She’s with the rest of your children, Draco Rex,” Jonas noted. “Well… The rest of your older children.”

I pulled my cream shirt onto my body and then shuffled out of the mess hall like a madman.

Marella had predicted we added another fire dragon to our crew, and I wanted to find out just how we could make that a reality.