The Dragon and the Mage

By Niranjan

When Nathaniel is asked by his Captain to go undercover to infiltrate a seditious group, little does he expect to meet Cedric, the Dragon with whom he nearly had a one night stand. With the tug of an arcane magic drawing them closer, Nate has to fight his attraction to the Dragon while bringing the people Cedric is working for to justice. With a choice between his doing his job and the Dragon, Nate is sure to lose whichever he chooses.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Geetha Krishnan
• Release date: Jul 11, 2023
• ISBN: 9798223315964

Niranjan

An author and editor, Niranjan’s biggest ambition is to have a character named Garth in every book they write. Niranjan writes books rooted in mythical worlds, and their stories are often a combination of magic and futuristic technology. When they are not writing or editing, Niranjan can be found cooking or just lying on their couch watching or rewatching C Dramas and writing fanfiction.

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First published by Geetha Krishnan 2022

Copyright © 2022 by Niranjan

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CEDRIC’S LIPS WERE WARM and so was his whole damn body. That should have clued me in, but I wasn’t exactly thinking with my brain. I hadn’t been with anyone since I broke up with Bryce and Cedric was an attractive bloke. That I had met him less than four hours ago hadn’t stopped me from dragging him to my apartment and trying to climb him like a tree.

Cedric was the one who broke the kiss.

Are you sure about this, Nathaniel?

Even his voice and the way he spoke my name caused all my blood to go south. My lust addled brain couldn’t even come up with an answer and I tried to kiss him again, but his hand was holding me at arm’s length, and he was stronger than I would have expected. That was the second clue that I missed completely.

It’s just that humans are never too comfortable with my kind, he explained, his grey eyes looking at me expectantly as if waiting for some kind of intelligent response.

Huh? I asked, not the most intelligent of responses.

Cedric sighed. You do know I’m a dragon, don’t you?

My brain started working just then, and some of my horror must have shown on my face because Cedric released my arm and stepped back.

I thought you knew, he said. Considering where you picked me up.

Where I picked him up? And then it struck me.

Oh.

Oh.

I could curse myself seven ways for being an absolute idiot, but there was no undoing what was done. I knew that the Dragon’s Age was a place where you were likely to run into more dragons than humans. I had seen dragons there, most of them in their true form, large and scaly and magnificent. But Cedric had been in human form.

Damn shifter magic!

I should have asked. I’m old enough to know that in the Dragon Age not everyone who looks like a human wasn’t one. But I hadn’t asked and instead I had flirted with him and brought him to my apartment like an oblivious fool. It was the kind of thing that could get me killed in my line of work. It was as if my brain just shut down the moment I saw Cedric and I didn’t even have the excuse of being drunk. It was quite decent of Cedric to stop me even though he thought I knew.

I think I’ll leave, Cedric said as he took his coat.

I’m sorry, I said.

It was really inadequate. I would have liked to explain but I had a feeling I would only make things worse. It wasn’t like I was xenophobic, but I wasn’t sure at the moment if I wanted to have sex with a dragon.

Does it still count as sex with a dragon if he’s in human form?

I quickly suppressed the thought. I didn’t want to go down that road. I was still figuring out my sexuality and I didn’t want to add dragons to the mix.

It’s all right, Cedric gave me a small smile. Most humans don’t react even this well.

It must really be bad usually if my reaction seemed well to him. I wished I could talk to my fellow humans, tell them to stop being stupid and accept that dragons were here to stay. But you know how people are sometimes. They needed someone to blame for the misery of their existence. Other religious groups, illegal aliens, minorities, dragons. It was always someone or the other.

I’m really sorry about the mix up, I said again.

It had been my fault, after all. I should have at least asked considering where we met.

No harm done, his smile still caused my knees to go weak. And it’s not fully on you. If I was in my real form, this wouldn’t have happened.

Can I see it? I blurted out.

Great brain to mouth filter there, Nate!

Cedric’s eyes regarded me gravely. "Are you sure?*

I tried to remember everything I knew of dragons. There was nothing offensive about wanting to see a dragon’s real form, was there? I’m pretty sure there wasn’t anything wrong with my request and I was intensely curious. I nodded.

Come outside, he said. I can’t change back inside here. The damages are more than I can afford, even on my pay.

Oh right. He did mention he was a doctor of some kind.

I followed Cedric out of the apartment and into the street. He looked for traffic before shifting. But the street was deserted, reminding me of the lateness of the hour. It wasn’t a gradual transition. It was so sudden it left me giddy. One moment he was there, deep grey eyes, thick black hair and dark brown skin and the next there stood before me a dragon as big as the