Read Online Stone Rose by Megan Derr - Free Book Online Page A

kisses. "Bold enough, highness?" he asked teasingly.
    "Not even close," Culebra said before he abruptly pulled away and led him further along the stone path, pausing a few steps away to look over his shoulder. Though he knew Culebra could not see him, Midori felt seen all the same. "Coming?"
    "I will not make the obvious joke to that," Midori said dryly, inordinately pleased when the words made Culebra laugh. "Where are going?" he asked as they resumed walking.
    "Just further into the gardens. No one comes this way so late—too dangerous to light it for the balls, too dark for everyone otherwise."
    Midori smiled. "Lucky for me my host is not impeded by the dark."
    "Here we are," Culebra said. "It's called the water garden for the pond. I'm told it's quite beautiful, especially with the water lilies and the weeping willow at the far end." He shrugged.
    "It is beautiful," Midori said. "Especially beneath the moonlight." He turned Culebra around and drew him close. "You're more beautiful, still, highness. The moonlight makes you glow. I keep thinking you must be a dream."
    Culebra laughed. "More a nightmare. Kiss me."
    "Gladly," Midori murmured and obeyed, wrapping his arms around Culebra's waist and resuming right where they had stopped before with the hungry, eager kisses. He was going to get a very long, very tedious tongue lashing in the morning for slipping away for a dalliance only hours after arriving, but he just did not care. Dragons drag them all to the depths.
    If all Culebra ever gave him were kisses, Midori would consider it the sweetest of victories. He kissed like there was nothing else he would rather do, fingers sliding through Midori's hair before warm arms twined around his neck.
    As pale and cool as he looked, Culebra was nothing but warm and pliant in his arms, cock firm even through all the layers they wore. Midori wanted to see all that glorious pale skin bared to the moonlight or to candlelight. He wasn't certain which of those would be more beautiful and fervently hoped he would get a chance to see both.
    When Culebra finally drew back, it was only just enough to speak. "I'm going to be in a great deal of trouble for slipping away from the ball after barely an hour."
    "The ball is somewhat in my honor," Midori replied, smiling. "I'm sure I'm in even more trouble."
    "Well, we may as well make all the trouble worth it, then, wouldn't you say?" Culebra asked.
    Midori laughed. "No point in doing trouble by half, I agree."
    "Then allow me to show you my chambers," Culebra said, and he took a last long, lingering kiss before he pulled away. He slowly let Midori go and then led him back through the gardens, laughing softly in tease and promise as they slipped through the shadows.

Chapter Five: Kidnapped
    "What is that?"
    The clearly non-seductive tone caught Culebra's attention first, and it took another moment for the words to register. "What is what?" he asked, but he knew the answer even as he finished asking the question. He held his tongue, lust fading beneath a deluge of dread. He'd been so distracted by the unexpected pleasure of Midori he had completely forgotten Midori had not yet encountered Ruisenor.
    "Your snake by the fire," Midori said. "I have never seen anything like it. Never even heard of it. Is it venomous or a constrictor?"
    "Both," Culebra replied. "Ruisenor is extremely venomous, but she never hurts anyone who does not try to kill me. I don't know what kind of snake she is, though I have often been told her kind has never been seen elsewhere."
    "I have certainly never seen her kind. She's enormous. Simply incredible. She is as black as you are white, and her head is nearly as large as mine. I bet she's at least the length of two men. Wondrous, indeed."
    Culebra relaxed slightly. "She is wondrous and very dear to me. But she is not the one I'm interested in bedding."
    Midori gave another of those soft laughs Culebra loved to hear. It was rare anyone laughed like that in his