Chapter Four

DAY TWO—At Sea

“Oh my God!” Josh’s face went as bright red as his swim trunks. “I cannot believe you drew this!” He clutched the drawing to his chest.

“Let me see,” Lewis demanded from under his fedora.

Josh shook his head wildly. “Absolutely not. No one is going to ever see this. We’re cousins, Marcus!”

Marcus laughed at his scandalized tone. Josh had always been so uptight, and while being with Nathan had brought him out of his shell, it was funny to see him squirm.

“You love it, and you know it,” Marcus teased.

“I still can’t...” Josh looked at the drawing once more, his mouth gaping. “I-I just can’t!”

Nathan tugged gently on his husband’s hand. “At least let me see.”

“Don’t let anyone else see,” Josh hissed, carefully pulling it back so only Nathan could see.

Nathan green eyes widened. “Fuck,” he whispered, giving Marcus a look he couldn’t quite identify.

“Do you like it?” Marcus questioned. After the sultry boudoir picture of Kendra, his mind had ventured to the naughty. Though it might’ve been questionable to let his muse have full sway with this particular couple, they were always making out and mauling each other in public, so he figured they’d get a kick out of Nathan drawn as a red-eyed sex demon holding a kneeling Josh on a leash with a ball gag in his mouth.

“Let me see it,” Lewis demanded again.

“No way!”

“Maybe I’ll draw something similar for Nathan’s next book,” Marcus teased.

“You better not!” Josh declared, jumping to his feet. “I’m gonna put this in the safe in our cabin. None of you are ever seeing it!”

Nathan slapped him on the ass when he started to walk away. “They’ll see if they if they ever walk into our bedroom, because I’m framing that.”

Still as bright red as a steamed lobster, Josh spun around and pointed at all of his laughing friends. “I hereby uninvite all of you to our house. You’re banned. You will never visit us in Indiana. Even for Christmas!” he declared and then hurried off with his laughing husband trailing after him.

Lewis gave Marcus a stern, no-nonsense glare. “How did you draw them?”

Marcus opened his mouth but then closed it dramatically and shook his head. “I can’t do that to Josh, man. He’s family.”

“That’s some bullshit,” Lewis complained. “Tell me.”

“Nope.”

“You suck so hard,” he grumbled.

“So do you,” Theron quipped. Even though he wore sunglasses, he diligently kept an eye on everyone and everything happening on the pool deck. The interesting habit probably harkened back to his bounty hunter days.

Lewis gave a smug sniff. “I’ve never heard you complain.”

Smiling at his fiancé, Theron shook his head. “And I won’t.”

“All right, you gave Jeremiah and Skip their mermaid/pirate drawing. And since you won’t tell us how you drew Josh and Nathan, I wanna see how you’ll draw me and Theron,” Lewis said.

“I think you cheated drawing Aleek as a merman,” Kendra remarked.

Jeremiah’s twin paused, a shrimp covered in cocktail sauce halfway to his lips. His faint teal and purple highlights sparkled in the afternoon sunshine, reminding Marcus of the coral beauties Jeremiah had put in Marcus’s saltwater tank. “It wasn’t cheating. Jeremiah’s my brother. Same.”

“Yeah, same,” Skip teased, reaching out a long leg to poke Kendra with his foot.

“Keep your gross feet away from me.” Kendra laughed, drawing up her knees and pulling back her white sarong like a shield. “I hate feet!”

“They’re not gross,” Skip argued. “I just got a pedicure.”

“His feet are perfect,” Jeremiah said in a sultry tone, pulling said feet into his lap and forcing Skip to twist on his lounger in order to accommodate the new position.

Lewis scowled when Jeremiah began massaging Skip’s feet. “No one wants to hear about your foot fetish, Miah. I wanna see our drawing.” He gave Marcus a hurry-up gesture. “Chop chop.”

Marcus laughed at his bossy little friend. He flipped to a new page. He didn’t know how whimsical the drawing might be, but it was a no-brainer to draw Theron as a big, sword-wielding warrior with flowing blond hair. He studied Lewis, who studied him back with one impatient brow arched.

Smirking, Marcus remembered why Theron called him Acorn. While Lewis’s hair was notoriously wild, Marcus had never seen it wide on the sides and flat on top like an acorn... or Friar Tuck!

He held up his pencil with inspiration. “Hold on, I got it,” he told Lewis before he began to draw, first in black-and-white than adding colored pencils to highlight Theron’s golden hair, his dark eyes with the unusual gold flecks, and his ripped muscles.

Keeping with the medieval theme, Marcus turned Lewis into a Dungeons Dragons monk, complete with a sleeveless wrap-around robe that dusted the ground, and a bow staff strapped to his back. He added a rosary because his friend was Catholic too, then gave him a big leather spell book. In the end, he looked namaste cool with one brow raised while standing beside Theron’s warrior wielding a blade. And he knew his friend would never forgive him otherwise, so he gave Lewis some muscles and drew his hair nicely. After he finished, he snapped a photo with his phone.

When he went to tear it out, his practical friend waved his hands. “No, keep it in your book till we get home so it doesn’t get ruined.”

Marcus shrugged and passed the whole sketchbook over.

Lewis pale skin went paler still. “A monk? Jesus fucking Christ on toast. You drew me as a monk.”

Kendra laughed.

“No way!” Skip gasped and the twins shared a sharp glance.

Wordlessly Theron held out his hand to Lewis. Behind the mirrored sunglasses Marcus couldn’t tell if he was staring at Marcus, his fiancé, or the caricature. Theron grinned wide. “I like this very much, Marcus. Why don’t you draw yourself next?”

Lewis sat up straighter, intrigued. “Yeah. Draw yourself.”

“Nah.” Marcus shook his head. He held out his hand for his book. “A bit too Van Gogh for me.”

“Wait,” Lewis said, pulling out his phone and taking a picture of the drawing. “That way I can look at it until you give this to me at home.”

“Want me to frame it too?” Marcus teased.

“Actually, that would be nice.”

Kendra held out her drawing. “Will you keep mine too?”

“And ours,” Skip said at the same time Aleek said, “Me too.”

Marcus laughed. “I’m not framing them all, but I will keep them safe until we’re home.”

––––––––

“Still got your sketchbook on you, I see,” Adam greeted Marcus from behind the sleek granite-topped bar. An elegant mermaid bust on the corner of the wooden bar gave it the illusion of the prow of a pirate ship, but the nautical themed Aruba Lounge was more cosmopolitan martini lounge than surfer bar. Decorated with painted wood signs of vintage surfers, island beer brands, seaside paraphernalia, and few classic surfboards, the place was perfect for chillaxing.

Upbeat music filled the air as Marcus took a stool, laying his sketchbook on the bar. Once again, his friends were all getting ready for dinner while Marcus killed time at a shipboard bar, hoping for a glimpse of Dane.

Two days in and still no sign of him. He’d seen Mitch and Jasmine a few times and hadn’t even asked about Dane. Mitch was a nervous wreck, waiting to meet Jasmine’s father tomorrow, and Marcus felt bad for the guy so he’d zipped his lips about Dane.

Because I’m not crazy.

“Yeah, after you showed Nathan your drawing, my friends all wanted me to draw them too,” Marcus explained. “I felt like a sidewalk caricature artist in Central Park.”

Though in truth, it had been a lot of fun.

Adam looked intrigued. “That’s cool. Did you let them give you prompts, or did you do it straight from your imagination?”

He tapped his temple. “Right outta here.”

“What can I get you? Another whiskey sour?”

“You know it,” Marcus replied with a grin.“Been jonesing for one all day.”

While Adam began to prepare his cocktail, he glanced over his shoulder at Marcus. “You don’t happen to have the drawings, do you?”

Marcus chuckled. “Yeah, all but one, which apparently is going to be hidden somewhere in Indiana. My cousin didn’t even give me a chance to photograph it, the little prude.” He opened the book to the pretty drawing he’d made of Jeremiah and Skip kissing underwater. He’d drawn Jeremiah’s hair a little longer and given him a tail of emerald green, then, as promised, he’d made Skip a pirate with the good luck to be saved by a merman from the wrecked ship on the surface above.

Adam froze and stared. “Wow.”

Shaking his head modestly, he flipped next to the sexy but discreet centerfold drawing of Kendra, which had inspired the BDSM flair he’d given Josh and Nathan. “Here’s one with no magic.”

“Of course,” Adam intoned, an amused expression on his face.

“And another merman. They’re twins, seemed like a no brainer.” He’d drawn Aleek sunning on the rocks with a similar tail to Jeremiah’s, long colorful hair blowing in the breeze, as he cast a dreamy shadow across the surface of the water. And last but not least, the warrior mage and the DD monk.

“May I?”

“Sure.” Marcus pushed the sketchbook closer.

Adam didn’t touch the actual drawings but he ran his fingers around the border of each page in a gesture that seemed deliberate, causing Marcus to wonder if he had OCD by the methodical way he touched each one. “I wouldn’t believe any of this if I wasn’t seeing it with my own eyes, but I can’t explain it.”

“What do you mean?” Marcus wanted to know.

“I’ve never encountered someone like you before,” Adam explained, then added in a rush, “I mean, you’re so talented.”

“Thanks.” Marcus pulled his book back and closed it, feeling rather proud of the drawings he’d done of his friends. Even though Josh had been mortified, Marcus was a hundred percent sure his cousin liked the drawing, and the ideas it doubtless put in his husband’s head. They hadn’t surfaced from their cabin all afternoon, obviously getting busy.

Marcus’s phone pinged several times in quick succession. It was the group text Lewis started, though he claimed to despise group texts.

Everybody still on for karaoke after dinner?Skip texted.

What time?That was Lewis’s cousin.

T and I will be there, but I’m not singing,Lewis texted back.

Yes, you are, both Kendra and Skip replied.

Eleven o’clock at Alexanders NOT Aruba Lounge, Nathan reminded them of the venue change. On previous cruises the karaoke had been in this bar.

I’ll be there, Marcus texted as an incoming eye rolling meme with Fine! came in from Lewis.

“Popular guy,” Adam teased as he dried a glass he finished washing.

“Group text,” Marcus explained.

“Oh, I hate those.”

“Right?”

The phone pinged again.

Marc, you gotta do my Shawn’s song!Kendra texted. She was obsessed with Shawn Menendez and “Nothing’s Holding Me Back” was definitely in Marcus’s vocal range.

All requests will be taken under advisement,he sent back, then switched his phone to silent. He’d check it again in a bit, to see if he missed anything.

Two men walked into the bar and took seats one stool over from Marcus. One blond, handsome, and brown eyed, the other tall and lean with black hair and icy gray eyes. They were both as sun-deprived as Lewis, and Marcus hoped they were as diligent as his friend with the sunblock. It would suck to have your vacation ruined by a bad sunburn.

Adam smiled at the newcomers. “Hey, Daniel, Chris. The usual?”

“It’s day two and you already have a usual,” Marcus teased. He enjoyed sitting at bars chatting with new people. “Is it bad the bartender knows my cocktail order already too?”

“Not at all.” The blond chuckled.

“We need coffee, stat. With a little sumthin’ sumthin’ in it,” the other guy added, making Adam chuckle.

“It’s not day two fer us, mate, we live on the ship,” the blond offered in a strong British accent.

“Are you part of the crew?” Marcus asked, trying not to get his hopes up and resisting the urge grab a pencil and draw Dane and ask if they knew him. He would not do that this time because Kendra hadn’t been wrong. He’d been borderline stalker before and he had self-control.

See? Definitely not crazy.

“No, we pay to live here,” the dark-haired man explained.

“Really? I didn’t know that was a thing.”

“Daniel, Chris,” Adam said, pointing at the brunet and then the blond for Marcus’s benefit. “This is Marcus. He’s part of Lewis and Theron’s wedding.”

“I thought you looked familiar,” Daniel with the dark hair said.

“Oh, do you know them?”

“Lewis and I go way back,” Daniel said dismissively. “Had a bit of a fling once.”

Chris snorted. “That what we’re callin’ it, then?”

“Yes, indeedy.”

“Cheeky bugger.” Chris chuckled. His cockney accent was fun.

“A fling, huh?” Marcus couldn’t picture Lewis with the waif of a man beside him. He’d always had a stiffy for the big muscled-up guys. And Lewis had never mentioned having an old friend/hookup who lived on the cruise ship where he was having his wedding.

Interesting, I wonder if Theron knows.

Before he could ask any details—all the secrets his friends had were bumming him out—Adam said, “Marcus here is an amazing artist. He’s the one who drew the picture of me as a fire wizard with a dragon.”

“Really?” Daniel’s sharp brows rose, his face a perfection of fine bone structure. “How much coin would you require to draw Christopher and I?”

Though the notion of setting up a chair by the pool and being paid to create paranormal drawings of the passengers aboard the Pride appealed to his capitalist nature, he demurred. “No, I couldn’t take any money. I’m just having fun. Adam asked me to draw him in a mystical way. Then my friends got it in their head they wanted me to do the same.”

“I wasn’t pulling your leg. I would pay you,” Daniel insisted.

“Well,” Marcus hedged, then studied the two men closely, his mind working and fingers itching. Daniel’s skin was far too pale for someone living on a cruise ship, and Marcus wasn’t sure if he was wearing pink lip gloss or not. His friend Chris was definitely rocking a little eyeliner and mascara, just like Marcus.

A fun idea struck him, and he pulled out a pencil from the back of the leather sketch pad.

“Okay, I’ll draw you guys. But no prompts and no peeking,” Marcus told them. “Do you wanna be mystical like Adam’s?”

Both men nodded fervently.

These two guys were easy. Not only were they rocking the heroin-chic thing models once did in the 90s, but they were very pale.

So what else was Marcus gonna do but draw them as vampires?

Adam stared intently at his pencil as he drew. While it wasn’t the first time Marcus had an audience, Adam seemed far more intense than normal. As Marcus began the draw, he mused that maybe Lewis never mentioned hooking up with this Daniel guy because he might not want Theron to know. His big butch fiancé had a jealous streak.

“Shit,” Adam muttered when the image became clear. He shot a wide-eyed look at the two subjects. “He’s drawing you as vampires.”

“Hey now,” Marcus scolded good naturedly, pulling the book to his chest. “Spoilers.”

It took him a few minutes to draw Chris as a vamp sucking from Daniel’s arm. He opted for a non-sexy vamp bite because he had no clue about their relationship, but he gave them each multiple bite wounds. Then he finished it off with a little yellow for Chris’s hair, silver for Daniel’s eyes, and red for the blood on Daniel’s fangs and dripping from where Chris fed. After he signed and dated the corner, he held it up. “Well, what do you think?”

“You are a complete enigma,” Daniel declared. He reached into his back pocket and withdrew a wallet then dropped two Benjamins on the bar. “I insist on paying. This is the bomb-diggity.”

Marcus chuckled at his word choice. “No way, that’s too much. It took me like five minutes.” He took several photos of it, then carefully tore it out and handed it over.

Daniel and Chris seemed enraptured by the drawing as much as Adam had been.

“You’ve got proper talent, mate,” Chris said in awe.

He preened a little. “Thanks. But keep your money.”

“Absolutely not,” Daniel said with a sweep of a fine-boned hand.

“All right, consider it a great tip for Adam.” He dropped the bills into Adam’s tip jar.

“That’s too generous,” Adam insisted, hands raised in rebuff.

Before Marcus said anything, that peppy song by Ava Max, “Kings and Queens” started playing over the piped in music.

“Oh, this is my jam!” Daniel declared, startling them all a bit.

Chris laughed, but he was climbing off his stool already, hand held out to Daniel. “Everything is your jam, queen.”

Daniel took his hand, then hesitated about leaving his new picture.

“I’ll keep it safe,” Adam promised, slipping it behind the bar and studying it closely, doing that finger around the edge thing again. When Chris and Daniel started to shake their asses on the empty dance floor, Adam set the drawing aside. Laughing, he turned up the music for them.

“They seem fun,” Marcus remarked. “I guess you’d have to be if you live on the Pride.”

“We do know how to have fun.” Adam smiled fondly at the two men, who had their eyes closed, in their own little world, spinning with a freedom generally saved for dancing by yourself.

“They give dance like nobody’s watching a whole new meaning,” Marcus said with a smile. Chris had thrown his hands in the air, swaying freely, while Daniel was doing this minimal motion spin, like the music moved right through him.

“Yeah, I’m glad for them. When they got here, well? Let’s just say they had a lot of stuff to work out. I’m happy they’re finally coming out of their shells and enjoying everything the Pride has to offer.”

Marcus studied the two men, now joyously singing along with the chorus. Two middle aged women decided the impromptu dance party was their style too, and joined them on the dance floor.

“Did you ever read D.A. Noir’s book, The Undead Apprentice?” Adam asked, seemingly out of the blue.

“The one about the vampire who keeps trying to off himself until he falls in love with his college crush?” Marcus clarified with a chuckle. “Yeah, a couple of my friends lost their minds over it.”

Josh, Lewis, and Skip were quasi-obsessed with the book, anxiously awaiting the next installment. Marcus had read it, but found it too PG for the kind of romance he preferred.

“Daniel is D.A,” Adam leaned in to whisper.

“No shit,” Marcus declared, looking back at the dance floor.

Now why the fuck during all the fuss over that book hadn’t Lewis mentioned he’d banged the author?

His little friend had some explaining to do.

The music changed and the familiar beat of Flo Rida’s “My House” filled the bar.

“Now that’s one of my jams,” Marcus announced. He slid off his stool and tapped his sketchbook. “Keep an eye on this for me too?”

“You got it. Can I look at the rest?”

Marcus only hesitated a moment before shrugging. “Sure.”

Why he trusted Adam with his drawings, he wasn’t sure, but he was vibing with the freewheeling mood Daniel and Chris had brought to the bar. He glided onto the dance floor, slipping between his two new friends.

While Marcus intended give Lewis some major shit for keeping secrets about sleeping with famous authors, he’d keep it under his hat for a few days. For now, he was just going to let loose and enjoy his vacation.

––––––––

“You are never going to believe this!” Adam burst into the cabin.

Dane looked up from his murder mystery. He’d read anything he could get his hands on since being freed, and thankfully the ship had a decent library full of all sorts of fiction, so he wasn’t reduced to reading one of Adam’s gay romance novels.

Those definitely would not help with his current state of mind.

That damn incubus was on the ship for the Magus’s wedding too. Apparently, the demon had no self-control either, taking his husband to bed and having his own orgasm right in the middle of the afternoon, knowing full well there were Fae on board! Incubi magic put all Fae into states of incomparable arousal. Even locked inside the cabin behind Adam’s magical forcefield and one of his own, like a shifter in a mating heat, Dane had been forced to take himself in hand four times until the incubus magic faded.

And he hated that he’d been thinking about a human with ugly tattoos the whole time.

Dane had yet to have an audience with the king to request an assignment to work separate from the passengers, but after the incubi incident, he realized the kitchens weren’t far enough away. He should request a job on the private island until Marcus left. It was manned by a skeletal crew of paras who preferred solitude for the six days before the ship docked there every Saturday. Why hadn’t he thought of asking the king for such an assignment until this exact moment, he didn’t know. But then again, did he want to be isolated and away from his leader?

Or Marcus? an annoying voice questioned in his head.

He told that voice to shut the hell up and glared at Adam. “I’ll never believe what?”

“He did it again. It wasn’t a fluke,” Adam said, extremely excited.

“Who?”

“Marcus,” his roommate said, and Dane didn’t hide his frown. “I thought it was a fluke yesterday when he drew those pictures of me and Penelope, so I didn’t mention it. But today his friends asked him to do the same for them. To draw them in some magical way. Then just now at the Aruba Lounge, he drew Daniel and Christopher as vampires!”

Dane sat up straight. “What are you talking about?”

Adam took a deep breath and ran his fingers through his gray speckled hair. He opened a drawer by his bed. “I wasn’t going to show you this because I know you don’t want to hear anything about your mate.” He held up a hand before Dane could protest. “And that’s fine, I don’t want to get in your business, nor do I want to tell you what to do. You’re mad that your Goddess put part of your magic into a human, I get that. But I don’t know if Marcus is an ordinary human.”

“What are you talking about?” he demanded again. “Even with broken magic, I am very powerful. I am a Fae Lord.” He didn’t like to throw that around like Kevin, but the title did come with immense power... even if his was fucked up. “I sensed no magic. He is fully human. I don’t care what he draws.”

“You’re not listening to me, Dane.”

He crossed his arms. “Fine. I’m listening.”

Briefly Adam explained how Marcus had drawn Penelope as a water sprite and how, on a whim, Adam asked Marcus to draw him. He retrieved a drawing from his nightstand. “He drew me as a fire wizard with no prompting and he added a dragon.” Adam pointed at the black fire breathing dragon, dark blue eyes wide. “You know the only way I’ll ever be able to unbind my wild magic is if I find a pure vessel. Which either means I need to be mated to a Fae, or bond with a dragon or unicorn. Do you think this means something? Do you think maybe there’s a dragon out there for me?”

The pain, hope, and desperation in his friend’s expression stirred sympathy, but Dane wouldn’t allow Adam to get his hopes up because of some stupid coincidental drawing. “This isn’t magic or fortunetelling, Adam. This is a coincidence. I sense no magic on that paper.”

“I don’t sense any magic either. On any of them.” He held up his phone and scrolled through a series of fantastic drawings of paras. “While he was dancing, I took photographs of them all to show you. I didn’t sense magic while he drew this either.” Adam stopped on a photo of the vampire and his apprentice living permanently aboard the Pride.

In order to make more money, their wise king allowed wealthy paras to take up permanent residence on board. Daniel was a famous writer who’d written a book called The Undead Apprentice, in hopes of exposing the Undead Conclave. Instead of being angry, the Conclave put a lot of promotional money into the book for future plausible deniability. Christopher was his apprentice, contracted and bonded to Daniel for a fifty-year apprenticeship, which was how vampires were turned in the modern era. Turning slowly taught new vampires to control the blood lust.

Dane shook his head at the coincidence. “One of you probably said something and triggered his subconscious to make him draw them as vampires. I mean they’re very pale and thin. It’s not a stretch.”

“Really? This is how he drew his friends.” He forced Dane to look at the other drawings on his phone, all accurate depictions of the paras’ true identities. “See this one of Aleek. What’s this in the water? It’s not his reflection. He drew something in the water.” He zoomed in. “That is not the reflection of a merman or Aleek’s human form. So what does it mean? Did Marcus see something hiding in the water for Aleek? It that why he drew me with a dragon? And here.” He forced Dane to study a picture of Magus Theron as a warrior and Lewis wearing long robes. “He drew Lewis as a monk. He drew Brother Liam.”

Dane knew all about the last Magus and his rebirthed soul mate. The Fae had blessed the Magi with power to aid in keeping humans safe from the dark races, but Magus Theron was the last of their kind. While he had no problem bonding himself to a human, Dane’s experience with that species had been... well, not the same.

“And apparently,” Adam went on excitedly. “He drew something that made an incubus’s husband be a ‘prude’ and he wouldn’t allow anyone else to see. Why would he do that?”

Now Dane understood why the incubus was having sex in the middle of the afternoon. Whatever Marcus drew must’ve been sexy and given them ideas.

Just one more negative mark against his mate.

“Do you think maybe he’s some sort of druid?” Adam mused. “They have visions. Or maybe part warlock? Maybe he’s like Larry and can predict the future.”

Larry, better known as DJ Spike, was a half-centaur known for incredible predictions and sweet musical mash-ups. And druids needed to be with plants to have visions, and not even full warlocks had magical sight.

Dane shook his head stubbornly. “These are all mere coincidence. He probably overheard you saying something to someone about a dragon and you don’t remember. His friends doubtless told him how they wanted to be drawn. No, he has no magic and those drawings are just that. Drawings.”

“Okay.” Adam looked completely defeated. “Fine.”

In the few months they’d shared a room, Dane had come to like the fire wizard. When he wasn’t tending bar, he spent his spare time doing yoga and reading romance novels. He was stressed about his wild magic and afraid to ask why he’d wanted his memory wiped after coming aboard the Pride, but he always put on an upbeat attitude. Dane knew Adam desperately wanted romance in his life, and he was incredibly jealous Dane had a soul mate, which Dane honestly felt bad about.

But Adam didn’t know any details about what Dane had been through and how much he hated humans. It took all of his energy not to shake in abject horror as he walked passengers to their rooms or scream at them in a rage and blast them with magic when he booked shore excursions at the lobby desk. He’d complained to Mitch about the online booking, but he was damn grateful the app he’d created meant humans could do some of it on their own. He didn’t want to tell the king he hated his job, because he did not want to be unappreciative of the gifts he’d been given.

And he hated to show any weakness.

If someone knew he was weak he could be hurt.

Something tucked away in that tiny box inside him whispered he wouldn’t be broken if he would bond his soul with Marcus.

No!

Dane shook his head and waved his hands in front of his face to push away the idea. He leaped off the bed. “I don’t want to discuss this again, Adam. I don’t know what those drawings mean, but they’re not magic. Marcus is not magickind. I’m going to talk to the king.”

With that, he teleported himself to outside the king’s office.

Dane’s heart pounded. He placed his hand on his chest. What if Adam was right? What if Marcus was magickind? But no trace of magic lingered on the drawing of Adam, and he claimed the others held no magic either. Dane wouldn’t risk being around Marcus and possibly tying their souls on a maybe.

He refused to spend eternity with a human.

The prospect was too terrible to even think about.

Once he had his composure, Dane knocked on his leader’s door. Despite the late hour, if the king was in his office, he would see his people.

“Come in,” the king called.

“Your Majesty?” Dane popped his head inside the door. “May I speak to you?”

The king of all remaining Fae looked up from his computer. His Majesty, King Raoul Leonides had a smooth handsome face, flawless and ageless, and wore his dark hair short, perfectly in place. He smiled, warm brown eyes welcoming. “Yes, Dane? And please, there is no need for titles aboard the Pride.”

Dane nodded at the admonition he’d heard repeatedly since his arrival. “Yes, I may need reminded one more time,” he replied, as he always did. While he no longer had a relationship with his mother, he could imagine her wailing in protest every time he didn’t use their leader’s title.

He doubted the centuries had lessened her histrionics.

“Very well.” The king set down his pen. “How may I help you? Does this have anything to do with your mate staying aboard for two weeks?”

Does everyone know?

“Yes, Your—Raoul,” he corrected, entering the room and closing the door.

The king waited for him to continue.

“I don’t think I want to be forced to stay in my cabin for the entirety of his stay.”

“No one is forcing you, Dane,” he replied carefully. “It was your choice. I only want you to be happy.”

“The situation has forced it upon me. I cannot do my duties if I might see him, but I think staying in my cabin might make me...” He struggled for the right word. Panicked? Upset? Terrified? Angry? Stressed the fuck out? “...antsy. I wondered if there was a job I could do behind the scenes, one with no passenger interaction. Something like the kitchens or the private island maybe? The engine room even.”

His face remained expressionless. “Dane, do you like interacting with passengers on a normal basis?”

He could not lie to his leader. “No. I despise it.”

The king let out a sigh as he stood and came around the desk. “When I brought you aboard, I asked you what sort of work you would enjoy doing here. You said you would do anything. While I have those of my Court helping the wizards sanitize the cabins, it’s only because they can do it faster than anyone else. The Fae Lords prefer to be out in the front, in positions of leadership. That’s why I put you with them on guest support staff. I knew you were nervous and finding your mate was an unpleasant surprise for you, but I did not want to dishonor you by giving you what might be seen as an inferior position. If you despised something to do with your life aboard the Pride or you were unhappy, you should have told me.”

The gentle admonition had Dane hanging his head. “I’m sorry, Your Majesty.”

“No,” he sighed. “I’m sorry. I should have been more attune to your wants and needs. I wish all of my people to have the best and to be happy. There has been a lot going on aboard and I’m afraid I overlooked any signs of your unhappiness.”

“I’m not unhappy,” Dane rushed out, terrified of making his king think he didn’t appreciate everything he’d done for him. “I am grateful. I don’t want to be a burden, or complain. I’m not like my mother and brother. I respect you as our Goddess chosen leader. It’s just...”

After learning what a great man led the Fae, Dane was even more embarrassed by his family. The king had sent them a missive about his rescue and arrival aboard the Pride, but unsurprisingly, they hadn’t come to see him or send a note with their regards.

Probably too high to even remember seeing any letters.

A small contingent of ancient Fae Lords had yet to forgive their young king, blaming His Majesty for former King Vandor’s sins, including Dane’s mother and his only remaining sibling. Along with their despicable mates, they’d settled in the euphoric Elysium realm shortly after the Great War. The legendary realm was once only visited for retreats and vacations because of the addictive and hallucinogenic air. Some old royals preferred to relive their grand days in the dream realm where senses were heightened by pleasure and time had no meaning.

Those stoned fairies were the reason for all the human tales of Fae speaking in riddles.

Assholes.

King Raoul left them to their own devices, for they had a tendency to create discord. Though he allowed the tiny faction, he believed in safety in numbers. The para population had dwindled as humans overpopulated the realm. Different realms existed, like mirror reflections of this one, but the Goddess had created the Fae of this world, and they were strongest here. That was why Dane hadn’t followed his family to Elysium. He also had no desire to be high all the time.

Well that, and they were selfish assholes who dismissed him after they found their mates.

His Majesty stared at him expectantly, waiting for him to finish the thought he’d left hanging.

“I was trapped and alone a long time,” Dane admitted, hanging his head again. “When I am at the main desk, or around a group of humans, I feel like they are all watching me. Waiting to spring a trap on me and take me back... to my cell. When that one warlock came aboard... well? I wish to avoid warlocks at all costs.” His heart raced and his hands began to shake. He quickly clasped them behind his back. He hadn’t wanted to admit how broken he remained, though the king could sense his shattered magical core. While his leader had been nothing but wise, compassionate, and kind, he deserved the truth.

“It takes all of my self-control—not that I have much these days—not to run away, or scream at all of them, or blast them with magic.”

His Majesty’s brows shot up.

“Of course I would never hurt a passenger or a fellow crewman,” Dane insisted. Idiot, why did you say that? “So instead, I end up shaking and stressed. It is often hard to breathe.” He whispered the last part.

The king’s face held nothing but sympathy and kindness. “Would you perhaps like to assist Darrius in the library? He’s been muttering about the state of his catalog for ages. I know you enjoy books.”

Dane hesitated, because passengers were allowed in the library. When manning the main desk, he could at least see them coming and prepare himself. The image of being surprised or snuck up on as he had his back turned while putting away books...

“Dane?”

His eyes flew up to his king and he swallowed back the rising panic. “Yes, Your Majesty?”

“Ask your question or state your concerns.”

“I-I,” he began. “Well, I’d prefer to not be around the humans at all.”

It was bad enough some of the crew had human partners that lived aboard the ship. He’d grown accustomed to their presence, but six hundred plus mostly human strangers every week? Many times he was so angry he wanted to blast them all away, and other times he wanted to hide and cry. The mercurial moods were more than he could handle sometimes.

Okay, most times.

“My apologies, perhaps you didn’t realize we have two libraries. I did not mean the passenger library,” the king explained.

“There’s a second library?”

“Yes, the magical one where we store all of the records, scrolls, books, and magical artifacts we’ve collected over the years. Darrius is quite the bibliophile and collector. You should see his office. It could be its own library. I thought you would’ve sensed the presence of an open portal to a large magical cache in another realm here aboard the Pride.”

The king knew of his damaged magic, like a broken mirror or loose puzzle pieces in a box. Shame filled him that he hadn’t sensed a magical portal onboard.

Such basic magic!

Once more disappointed in his broken state, Dane hung his head. He would’ve enjoyed reading those magical books. But he required a great deal of concentration to use his magic and preferred all of his power to be focused on protection and defense spells, so little had been available for sensing portals and magical libraries.

You’re useless!

The king studied him. “Have you explored the ship?”

“No, I haven’t explored much.”

Mostly the truth. He’d hoped to settle in, and thought he might have been starting to... until he first saw Marcus. Still angry at the Goddess for mating him to a human, he’d allowed his fear of the vile creatures to amplify since discovering it. He kept to the crew quarters, the lobby desk during his turn, and his assigned block of suites to clean on Sunday.

Even that seemed too much.

The king frowned. “I assumed Kevin gave you a proper tour.”

If “Here’s your room, and down there is the crew dining hall” constituted a tour.

“May I go to this library, sir?” Dane asked, not wanting Kevin to get into trouble. He’d been with the king a long time and everyone knew he had their leader’s ear.

“Of course, you will need to report to Darrius. The portal is in the passenger library. The realm is not big, but it is growing as more items are acquired. That’s what Darrius needs help with, cataloging the inventory he hasn’t shelved in...” he sighed “... I don’t know how many years. There would be no passenger interaction at all, though all para crew members can request a library card. You could teleport from your crew quarters right to the portal, if you prefer.”

A bright surge of hope and light filled Dane. “Could I?”

His leader smiled. “Of course.”