Chapter Fourteen

Rhyse

"E mma," I hissed.

"What?"

"Get over here."

"No way."

" Now ," I snarled under my breath. I sensed her turn more than I saw it. Her surprise and fear told me she saw the other dragons approaching.

"Who is it?" she asked, coming to stand at my side.

"The sovereign," I said tautly. "And her bodyguards."

"Sov-what now?"

"The sovereign. The Ruler of All Dragonkind."

"I can hear capital letters there. Is that, like, royalty?"

"There's no one higher than her. She answers to nobody. We must show respect."

Even as I gave Emma a crash course on dragon politics, my mind raced with other ideas. As much as I didn't want a random visit from the supreme leader of dragons, it might present a solution to all my problems.

Two of the sovereign's bodyguards came in for a landing first. Their broad ocher-colored wings creaked and air whooshed over us as they slowed their flight. Giant talons glinted in the sunlight as they extended their paws forward an instant before landing. Two sets of wings were tucked alongside their bodies, and the pair were shifting into human form.

I watched as they looked first me and then Emma up and down, evaluating us for weapons or threats. Once they decided we were safe, their eyes turned outward, scanning the property. Only after they determined there was no credible threat did they turn and signal to the sky for the others to land.

My eyes narrowed sharply as not one but two of the remaining three dragons came in to land. What I'd first mistaken for a bodyguard was not. The pair of orange and black dragons touched down with as much grace as the first two.

"You just got very, very tense," Emma whispered. "Should I be worried?"

"Not for your safety, no," I said. "The sovereign doesn't have issue with humans. In fact, the terms of the truce that brought you here were her idea, as far as I can tell. You are safe."

"Then what's with your reaction?"

"Unheralded visits from the leader of your people are not something to look forward to at any point. I prefer to know why she's here."

"Could it because I'm here?" Emma suggested. "She could be checking in on me."

"Maybe," I admitted. The idea was good and one I hadn't considered.

"It's not always about you." There was a lighthearted aspect to her tone. She was teasing me.

How swiftly moods can change.

"I'm not used to there being anyone but me here for someone to visit," I replied. "And also, there was that incident with the boat yesterday. It's unlikely, but I suppose it could have been escalated. So, you can see why I might think so, but—"

I stopped talking as I realized Vicek wasn't alone. On his back was a blonde woman of slightly above-average height. A human woman. My eyebrows threatened to rise, but I brought them back down as the platinum-haired ruler of dragons came forward.

"My sovereign," I said, fist to chest, elbow out straight in front of me, honoring her with a proper salute. "What an unexpected visit."

She smiled though the look barely touched her eyes and did nothing to soften the hard jade circles. I couldn't help but think I was in trouble.

"Rhyse. May I present my son, Vicek, whom I believe you know, and his mate, Laura."

"I'm honored to welcome you all to my humble home," I said. "Though I admit I'm unsure why you have come all the way out here."

The sovereign caught her son's eyes. He nodded then faced me.

"Can we talk inside?" Vicek was tall, even for a dragon, and he easily looked over my shoulder at Emma. "Perhaps she would like to take the time to talk with Laura."

Coming from the heir to the throne, it wasn't a suggestion.

"Of course," I said, catching Emma's eye and giving her a nod, letting her know everything would be okay.

She returned my nod with a confidence I knew very well she did not feel. What were we to do, though?

The three of us entered my house, with Vicek ensuring the door was firmly closed behind us.

"To what do I owe this visit?" I asked, breaching the silence that followed.

"This is about your mission," the sovereign said.

"To find Vicek's sunken ship," I said, glancing at her son.

"Yes."

I hid a grimace. This was the mission given to me at the outbreak of war. The mission that had held me home and out of the fighting.

"I take it you haven't had any luck finding it?" Vicek said.

"No. Not yet," I said unhappily.

"I figured perhaps I could help now that I'm back." Vicek smiled. "It would be nice to finally have some answers."

"Speaking of answers," I said, glancing between the two of them. "Perhaps the two of you could help explain to me why this is so important? Why was a mission to find a sunken ship important enough to keep me home from the war?"

The sovereign laughed. It was light and airy. Genuine. "I guess your friends weren't happy about that, were they?"

My answering snort was harsh and explosive. "Friends? Ha."

"You didn't tell him, Mother?" Vicek asked, looking sharply at her. "Why not?"

"I didn't want to bias him," she said. "I wanted to know what he thought before I put the idea in his brain."

I looked back and forth at the two of them, watching very closely. Alarm bells were going off everywhere in my head. "Bias me against what exactly?"

"Tell him. He deserves to know," Vicek said with a wave of his hand. "You should have told him already."

I didn't react to the irritation directed at the sovereign. If Vicek wanted to talk to her that way, he could. I would never dream of it, but then, I wasn't her son.

"Vicek wasn't out for a pleasure cruise that day as I may have led you to believe."

"My sovereign," I said with a smile. "I am not so naive as to think that. I hope you're not offended I didn't believe you."

"Not at all." She smiled then grew somber. "The truth is, he was outside the barrier of the isles not by accident but on purpose. He was there pretending to be a human ship."

That got my attention. Why would he want to do that?

"He was looking for proof that some of our people were disobeying laws set down by my father."

I hissed. "They wouldn't dare!"

The look the sovereign gave me was less than approving.

"But … your father set out those laws to protect us. With advancing human technology, they might eventually pierce the magic of this place with their electronics. That was why the myth of the Bermuda Triangle had to die in the first place!"

I was shouting, but I didn't care. It was insane. To continue to prey on human ships that strayed near us? Eventually, one of them would get an SOS out that led them right to us. For centuries, ever since humans began to cross the Atlantic in numbers, we'd gone out to keep them away from our isles. But radios and satellites were getting better all the time. One mistake would bring it all down.

"Exactly," the sovereign said coldly.

I forced myself to take several deep breaths. Outside, Emma was likely growing worried at my outburst.

"You think, then, that Vicek was attacked by them."

"I was," Vicek said, chiming in. "I just didn't see who. I didn't hurt myself enough to fall unconscious and let the humans capture me by accident. Someone did that to me. And I intend to find out who. To do so, I need that ship. I need proof."

I ground my teeth. I hated what I was hearing, but I was just as angry about what I'd allowed myself to be blindly dragged into.

"Is something wrong, Rhyse?"

Although I had no overtly fond feelings toward the sovereign, neither had I ever harbored any ill will. Until now. Which was why, for the first time, I was less than respectful toward the Ruler of all Dragonkind.

"Just a little bit!" I snapped, glaring at her as my temper boiled over. "You lied to me! Not only that, but you lied to me, and you put me in the middle of a dangerous situation without cluing me in whatsoever about what I was walking into. I moved out here to be away from politics and everything that goes with it. Then you come out here and drag me back in while keeping my eyes covered to the truth of it all!"

By the end, I was shouting. I didn't care.

"Rhyse, I—"

For the second time in my life, I was less than respectful. I interrupted her.

"You. Lied." I jabbed a finger at the sovereign. "You should have told me from the start. I would have told you to pound sand, find someone else. I'm not going to be a part of your games. This is a job for the palace guard or maybe even your Shadow."

Both heads across from me twitched slightly at the mention of the sovereign's personal fixer. Investigator, bodyguard, enforcer, and on occasion, assassin, he was all of the above rolled into one.

"This needed a local touch," the sovereign said, seemingly nonplussed by my accusations and anger. "Someone who knew how to act and appear like he belonged. That was you."

"Well, I'm done. I don't want trouble," I said.

Something in my voice must have sounded different to them than to me because the sovereign narrowed her eyes sharply. "What do you want, Rhyse? What can I help you with?"

"I want to be left alone," I said.

"I will see to it you are," she said imperiously.

"Getting involved in this will negate that no matter what you say," I told her with a tired wave.

"Then what? There must be something I can do."

"Take the woman back." The words were out of my mouth as quickly as the idea popped into my head.

It was followed almost immediately by my dragon. It bellowed a denial, thrashing its tail and slamming against the walls of my mind. Talons dug painful rows of mental agony as my beast tried to assert its own thoughts on the matter.

Clenching my jaw tightly, I pounded it back into submission. I was the master of my own domain. Not the animal that lived with me. Besides, it was broken. What would it know?

"The woman?" the sovereign asked in a smooth tone, masking what had to be her surprise.

"Don't play games with me," I growled. "You know I didn't want her in the first place."

"For someone who didn't want her, you two sure did bond quite quickly."

My eyes popped open. How could she possibly know that?

"It's my job to know of these things," she said, attempting to be cryptic.

"Someone in the village reported the incident on the boat, in other words," I said. "But that doesn't change my demand. Take her with you, and let me be in peace."

I knew it wasn't that easy. But I had to try.

"No."

"No?" I echoed. "Why the hell not?"

"Because, Rhyse, this will be good for you."

"I don't need her. I've been fine until now. I'll be fine after."

The sovereign contemplated this. "Wait several days," she said at last. "Then write me a letter of your feelings about the matter, whether you feel the same or not. Send it to the palace since I know you prefer not to travel inland if you don't have to."

I held back a grimace. There was a good reason for that.

"If you still wish her gone, I will consider it then. Acceptable?" It wasn't a real question.

"No," I said, deciding to take it at face value anyway. "But it's probably the best I'm going to get, isn't it?"

Her only answer was a blinding smile.

"Great." I shook my head at Vicek. "Now, I just have to find your stupid ship while also protecting her."

"Why protect her if you don't care about her?" Vicek teased.

I'd done a lot of glaring already, but I wasn't finished, sending another his way. "Because whoever is doing this won't just sit around idly. They know Vicek is alive. They'll be seeking to eliminate any trace of their participation, including anyone who knows about it. Which will be me, if I succeed. So, thanks for that."

The sovereign smiled. "I have faith in you, Rhyse."

"It's a large ocean, Sovereign. I wouldn't."

"I'm going to help you narrow the search area," Vicek said.

"Yay."

I wondered if they picked up on my sarcasm or not.