Please get me out of this BL novel...I'm straight!
Chapter 188: ’A Third Leg?’

Chapter 188: ’A Third Leg?’

’I don’t want to die!’

The moment Azure took off, Florian regretted everything.

The ground disappeared beneath them in an instant, a rush of cold air slamming into his face. His stomach lurched, twisting into knots as the dragon shot into the night sky like an arrow loosed from a bow. The wind roared in his ears, deafening, making his breath catch in his throat. The vast expanse of the heavens stretched out before him—endless, merciless.

He gritted his teeth, his fingers aching from how tightly he gripped the saddle. He had faced assassins in the dark, endured poison searing through his veins, navigated webs of lies spun by nobles who would kill for less. He was no stranger to fear. But this? This was a whole new kind of terror. This was free-falling with wings.

And worse—Heinz was right behind him.

Not just behind him. Pressed against him. The solid weight of the king’s body was an undeniable presence, his warmth cutting through the biting night air. The arrangement of the saddle meant that Heinz sat close, his arms loosely at his sides, making it impossible to ignore how at ease he was.

"You’re shaking," Heinz said, his voice laced with far too much amusement.

"No, I’m not," Florian snapped through clenched teeth. His pride clashed violently with the very real fact that he was, indeed, shaking.

"You are." Heinz leaned in, his breath a ghost against Florian’s ear. "Relax."

’HOW CAN I?!’

Florian had never been tenser in his life. He felt like a coiled spring, one wrong movement away from being flung into the abyss. There was no seatbelt. No safety harness. Just his own desperate grip and whatever mercy the gods decided to grant him.

He forced himself to look at the sky, to focus on something else. It was beautiful, he admitted. The moon bathed everything in silver light, and the stars were scattered like shattered diamonds. Below them, the kingdom stretched out, the castle a mere speck against the dark landscape.

If only he could appreciate it.

If only he wasn’t about to die.

Then Azure moved.

Not just moved—shot forward.

The dragon’s wings angled sharply, and then they were flying even faster. Florian felt his heart stutter, his body pressing back into Heinz from the sheer force of acceleration. The world blurred, the wind biting mercilessly at his skin.

"Your Majesty!" he barked, panic creeping into his voice. "Why is it speeding up?!"

"Because I told him to," Heinz replied, entirely too casual.

"You—?!"

Then Azure dove.

The dragon tilted downward, its powerful wings tucking slightly as it plummeted. The moment they began falling, Florian’s breath tore from his lungs in a strangled gasp. His stomach dropped, a terrifying freefall that sent icy fear shooting through him. The wind screamed past them, roaring in his ears, pressing against his chest like an unforgiving hand.

His grip slipped.

For one horrifying second, he thought he was going to fall. His fingers scrambled against the smooth leather of the saddle, his body tilting as panic overtook reason.

Heinz caught him.

A firm arm wrapped around his waist, pulling him back against the king’s chest with an ease that was downright infuriating.

"You should hold on tighter," Heinz mused, his voice maddeningly unbothered.

Florian couldn’t even muster a retort. His breath came in short, sharp gasps, his heart hammering against his ribs. He clenched the saddle even tighter, but his entire body was trembling.

"Too fast for you, Florian?" Heinz teased.

"Stop that, Heinz!" Florian snapped, before his mind could catch up with his mouth.

Silence.

Then Heinz chuckled. "Ah. No more formalities?"

Florian’s breath stilled.

Shit.

"I—I didn’t mean—"

"You just dropped my title," Heinz noted, clearly entertained. "I believe that calls for punishment."

"P-Punishment?!"

Before he could even comprehend what Heinz meant, Azure suddenly twisted.

A sharp turn. A roll. A sudden, horrifying shift in weight that sent Florian tilting dangerously to the side.

’This fucking bastard!’

Panic surged through his veins. His hands scrambled for the nearest thing to grab—

Florian barely had time to process the mortifying fact that he had just grabbed Heinz’s leg when he felt it—

Something else.

Something... not a leg.

Something firm. Hot. Dense with muscle, yet unyielding beneath his palm. It was huge, too, thick enough that his fingers had instinctively curled around it in his blind panic. The sheer size of it sent a delayed shockwave through his already crumbling brain.

His heart stuttered.

His stomach plummeted.

And then—

"Ah—"

A sound.

A low, strained groan, reverberating from behind him like a struck chord. A sound that definitely wasn’t one of pain, but something else entirely.

Florian froze.

His breath hitched, his entire body locking up so violently that for a split second, he thought he had died.

No.

No. No, no, NO.

The realization slammed into him like a meteor, burning and catastrophic.

He had just grabbed—

He had just wrapped his hand around—

His fingers jerked away like he’d been electrocuted, his entire body recoiling so hard he nearly tumbled off the dragon.

"HOLY—!"

His voice cracked, breaking into an unintelligible mess of noises as pure, unfiltered horror consumed him. His mouth opened, but no words came out—just a strangled wheeze, like his soul had already abandoned his body out of sheer secondhand embarrassment.

Behind him, Heinz coughed.

Loudly.

The sound cut through the roaring wind, heavy with something unreadable. Florian could feel the shift in his breathing, the minute stiffening of his posture.

Heinz, who was usually completely unbothered, who handled everything with that smooth, unshakable confidence—

Was awkward.

For the first time.

And that made everything so much worse.

"...I may have taken that too far," Heinz muttered, his voice a fraction lower than usual, rough at the edges.

Florian wished for death. Immediate. Permanent. Preferably a divine smiting right here and now.

He had just—

He had just—

His brain refused to complete the thought.

This was it. This was THE most BL situation he had ever been in. No, it was worse. This was beyond BL. This was smut territory.

He had just touched another man’s—

Florian internally combusted.

Heinz cleared his throat again, a little too forcefully.

"You," he began, voice as even as he could make it. "You seem... tense."

Florian wanted to kill him.

"TENSE?!" he shrieked, his voice hitting octaves no human voice should ever reach. "I— I JUST—"

He couldn’t even say it.

He physically could not put those words into existence.

Heinz, the absolute menace, had the audacity to chuckle.

Not his usual teasing chuckle. Not his smug, self-satisfied brand of amusement.

No.

This one was... uneasy.

Flustered.

Real.

And that? That was somehow even worse.

Florian nearly lost his goddamn mind.

"I— I swear I— I didn’t mean to—!" His voice was dying in his throat, his ears burning so hot they could ignite the atmosphere.

Heinz exhaled slowly, his hands adjusting slightly on the reins, his knuckles tightening in a rare show of tension.

"Relax, Florian."

’RELAX?! AFTER I JUST—’

Heinz coughed again, this time turning his head slightly like he was physically stopping himself from looking.

"Forget about it."

Florian could not.

Would never.

Would take this to the grave.

The wind howled past them, the night sky an indifferent witness to his complete and utter ruin. The silence that followed was deafening, suffocating in its sheer weight.

Florian sat there, frozen in the saddle, hands clenched into trembling fists, his body so tense he might as well have been petrified.

’Can this dragon just eat me whole?’