Chapter 1

CHAPTER ONE

An elegant carriage ride, a magical tournament, and an assassin.

It sounds like some bad bar joke with a punchline filled with puns, but that was my reality that one sunny day a few weeks after our last adventure. I drew back the heavy shade that covered my window and found myself staring out onto the vast ocean. Between the road and the great blue sea lay a colorful assortment of villas and open white sand beaches. Cliffs accented the scenery and crafted a wild coastline where lovers could hide their secret in the rocky outcroppings.

And speaking of those, I turned to my former lover and now husband. Tegan sat beside me with his hands clasped in his lap and his eyes closed. His chest moved up and down in an even rhythm. He looked too cute to disturb.

But I did it anyway.

I leapt onto him and wrapped my arms around his unsuspecting form. He jerked awake and whipped his head to and fro before he looked down at me. A crooked smile slipped onto his lips and he raised one eyebrow.

"Will this be the normal awakening routine from now on?" he wondered.

I grinned up at him. "Only when I can get away with it."

"Then you made a dire miscalculation this time."

I saw the wicked glint in his eyes and tried to scramble to the other side of the large carriage. He wrapped his arms around me and drew me against his chest. I squirmed and thrashed in his hold but he kept a tight grip.

"No fair!" I shouted as, between the laughter and the fighting, I had run out of breath. "You cheat!"

He cocked his head to one side. "How?"

"Because of your dragon strength," I told him.

He chuckled. "Even if I wasn't a dragon I'd be strong enough to hold you and more."

I paused and furrowed my brow at him. "And more?'

"And this." He leaned down and captured my lips in a passionate kiss.

It would have been long, too, if I still wasn't out of breath. I pulled away and let out a gasp. "Uncle!"

Tegan blinked at me. "What about them?"

I laughed and used his distraction to roll myself onto the seat beside him. "It's just a saying in my old world. It means I give up."

He lifted his eyebrows. "Does it? I'll have to remember that one. Does your world have any more interesting phrases taken out of context?"

I snorted. "Tons but I won't remember them until they're needed."

Tegan chuckled. "Such is the way of idioms and other old wisdom. It's never around when you want to talk about it and always there when it's most apt to get you into trouble."

I sat up and looked him over. "You're in a contemplative mood, aren't you?"

He smiled down at me. "Life-changing decisions can do that."

I looped my arms around one of his and leaned my cheek against his arm. "Even the good ones?"

He stretched his arm around my back and drew me closer before he pressed a light kiss to my forehead. "Especially those ones."

I could have sat there forever in complete bliss, but the carriage hit a bump. The hard knock made me leave my seat and land back down with all the grace of a lump of rocks. I sat up and glared in the direction of the box. "He could have at least gotten us a driver!"

Tegan grinned. "The horses do seem a little reckless."

I leaned out my window and looked up at the driver's box. The empty driver's box. It was like a scene from a horror movie but the carriage had merrily gone on its way without a serious hitch. I looked over my shoulder at Tegan. "How does this work again? The horses know where they're going?"

He nodded. "Apparently. They haven't veered from a southward course these last nine days."

I dropped back into my seat and slouched a little as I folded my arms over my chest. "Do you think that Domini guy is going to give us the specifics of what we're doing in our lifetime or his?"

Tegan set an elbow on the narrow lip of his window and furrowed his brow. "If I were him, I wouldn't give us any particulars of the case until we were at our destination."

I glanced out the window. "I wish I knew where that was, too."

"I think we're headed to the southern coastline that abuts the Blutstein Empire and the Conas Kingdom," Tegan informed me.

I cocked one eyebrow. "What makes you think that?"

"For one, we've headed south long enough to almost reach the ocean," he pointed out as he drew aside his curtain to reveal the view. We passed flat green fields from which rose large white-stained villas. "And for another, I recognize some of the houses we've recently passed."

I sat up and lifted an eyebrow. "So is that a good or bad thing?"

"We'll at least enjoy our time doing his bidding," Tegan mused as he made to drop the curtain.

The cloth had barely begun its descent when a bird shot through the open top of the window. The small creature landed squarely on one of my knees and stared up at me with beady pitch-black eyes. Its plumage was an impossibly bright blue with extra long tail feathers etched with black coloring.

More importantly, the tiny creature carried in its beak a small envelope.

I blinked at it as Tegan studied the bird. "Is your message from our employer?"

The bird hopped closer to me and nodded. Tegan took the envelope from its beak and the little bird bowed low before it flitted under the curtain and out the window. My dragon husband drew aside the cloth and we watched the tailfeathers disappear southward.

I turned my attention to the envelope, as did Tegan. He cut open the top with a sharp nail and drew out a triple-folded paper which he unfolded. His eyes scanned the contents and a worried line creased his brow.

I leaned forward to try to get a look. "What it is? What does it say?"

"It's a message from Domini," Tegan informed me before he cleared his throat and read aloud the message. "Greetings, my loyal blood brother and sister-"

I snorted. "I think I want to be adopted."

Tegan's eyes twinkled at me but he merely continued. "I am sure you are curious to know your assignment after a week's worth of silence. As you are now close to your destination, I feel it is the right time to inform you that I have given you the duty to protect an old friend of mine."

I wrinkled my nose. "That doesn't sound good."

Tegan read on. "He holds a yearly tournament for those gifted with magic. However, this year I have heard ill tidings that one of the contestants intends to murder him."

My mouth dropped open. "Seriously?"

"Your assignment is to reveal the assassin and, if possible, bring him alive before justice. If that cannot be done then their death will suffice." My heart dropped into my stomach at the dark suggestion. Tegan pursed his lips as he read on. "I feel I must warn you that any undo attention to yourselves may give the assassin the impression that you mean to foil his plans. In which case the unknown assailant will have no qualms about taking your lives, so I suggest you keep a low profile. Good luck."

I started back as the message and its envelope burst into blue flames. Tegan waved his hand to flick away the last bits of cinder that remained of the paper. His dour face reflected my own as I spoke aloud our single thought.

"We are so fucked."