Chapter Two

A few hours later, I found myself pacing the length of my chambers, giving my body something to do other than go to Aras. I couldn't understand what kind of hold that man had over me. I'd never been so fascinated by a partner before. I kept replaying our conversation in my head, and every time I reached the part where I coldly told him we were not lovers, I cringed. It was true. We weren't lovers. We'd been together once, right before he left to fetch me the Eye. A single night does not make two men into lovers.

But the way my chest clenched when I watched his ship leave the harbor told another story.

Yes, I'd gone to see him off. See him, not let him see me. The morning after our one time together, I woke to an empty bed and a terrible ache in my chest. I needed to see Aras one last time. I went to one of my favorite restaurants, a place perched over the water, jutting into the harbor. It wasn't at the docks but off in a nicer area of Renris, further out in the bay.

From my private balcony, at a table for one, I broke my fast with an incredible view of the Tiger's Claw as it passed by, heading out to the open sea. Upon the deck stood Aras, looking as if he were posing for me. I could still see him there, at the helm, his stare on open water and his shoulders squared. He looked back once, right as the ship crossed my view, and I felt, well, terrible. I don't know how else to describe it. I wanted to leap from the balcony and fly to him. I had a vision of snatching Aras from the deck in my dragon form and taking him somewhere no one would find us.

But that damn voice was still fresh in my mind, churning through my thoughts and tossing away the ones that didn't suit it. Abducting the captain who was meant to bring it to me did not suit the Eye's purposes. So it kept me in my seat. Just as it kept me from going to Aras now that he had returned in failure.

The Eye needed the Captain to secure it.

I stopped suddenly, feeling something I hadn't felt in ages. Not only was it unfamiliar, it was also an emotion that didn't originate from me. Fear. And if it wasn't mine . . .

“You're afraid,” I whispered.

Of course, I'm afraid! the Eye snapped inside my mind. I'm in the hands of pirates. They are only concerned with making a profit. So, if Aras does not reach me in time, I will be sold to the highest bidder. And I doubt there will be a single Dragon King invited to the auction.

The Eye's fear comforted me. It made her less foreign, more like a person. And I also enjoyed her anxiety. She deserved to feel it after heaping so much on me.

Before I could reply, the castle shuddered. Instinctively, I flung my arms out to retain my balance. A second of confusion passed before I ran for the door.

One of my Dragon knights opened it before I reached it. “Your Majesty, I think we're under attack.”

I pushed past the arrogant bastard and raced down the corridor. A roar echoed. A dragon! A fucking dragon was attacking my home? He'd soon be a dead dragon.

I put on speed, heading for the keep's main entrance. At last, I reached the castle door and found it open. The frame formed a painting of the courtyard, where the rest of my Dragon knights were transforming. I burst outside, ready to shift with them, but then something large flew over our heads. No, not flew. Swam.

“Vaxarion!” I snarled, tracking his path.

It was the Sea Dragon King who had recently visited. He said he was on a tour of the land kingdoms that bordered his ocean kingdom. But why would he attack me on the heels of his diplomatic visit?

Then I spotted something through the tunnel of water that King Vaxarion swam through. Yes, tunnel of water. The damn Sea Dragons shouldn't be able to fly, but they'd found a way around their lack of wings. With their advanced control of Water Magic, they could summon rivers in the sky and swim through them. The water blurred details, but the vibrant swath of purple hair shone through. It wasn't a common color and yet, I'd recently met a man with purple hair. And it was King Vaxarion who had introduced us.

It had to be the same Neraky the Sea King had brought into my castle to fuck. He was a stunning specimen who I halfheartedly flirted with. There were several men I tried to fuck while Aras was gone, but I never got past the kissing. As soon as our lips met, I'd feel a strange revulsion. So, I wasn't upset when that Neraky left my castle early the next morning, preventing any further interaction between us. King Vaxarion, however, had awakened the entire castle with an echoing roar full of fury and determination. He had left shortly afterward, so I never had the chance to ask him why he'd been so upset.

Now, I had my answer.

It wasn't merely the fact that King Vaxarion had returned for the Neraky. It was the way the Sea King clutched the man, cradling him to his chest like a treasure. That alone told me how important the Neraky was to King Vaxarion. I narrowed my eyes after them.

“Should we give chase, Your Majesty?” one of the knights asked.

I took a deep, thorough breath, refreshing my memory of the Neraky's scent, then snarled, “Yes, of course, you should chase the motherfucker who just attacked us! Go!”

With the return of Karadas, the Dragon God, all Dragons, both Land and Sea, got their Water Magic back. Most of the Land Dragons didn't know we originally had Water Magic. We didn't know about Sea Dragons or that we even had a god. The Sea Dragons had been in stasis, a sort of deep sleep brought on by being cut off from the source of their only magic, but Land Dragons had more Fire in them than Water and remained awake. Granted, the lack of Water threw us out of balance and made us volatile, but at least we didn't get knocked out for thousands of years.

Yes, thousands. The Sea Dragons awoke to a new Serai, although I imagine the undersea kingdoms hadn't changed as much. King Vaxarion mentioned that they had become unlawful lands while the Sea Dragons slumbered, and now that they were awake, the Sea Kings were busy catching criminals and killing monsters who had gone unchecked. They had woken up and gone right back to their old lives. But we Land Dragons were altered. For the good, granted, but altered nonetheless. We were put back into balance, the addition of Water calming us and helping us to control our more violent tendencies. It did that for us naturally, without our direction. But using the Water Magic as the Sea Dragons did was another thing entirely. We had no one to teach us. We had to discover what we could do through experimentation.

Which I had done.

Most of the Dragons in my kingdom were too arrogant to invest time in learning how to use a new magic. They either assumed the magic would reveal itself to them or thought they were strong enough as is. I, however, had learned from a very early age to grasp any opportunity to empower myself. So, I immediately started training myself to use Water Magic. I was a quick study and one of the tricks I had learned was how to track people over water—something Land Dragons couldn't do before. But I was a king. I didn't track criminals unless I had to. I had people for that. And my knights didn't need to use Water Magic to hunt a target that was still in sight.

As several dragons launched into the air, I closed my hands into fists. “What the fuck is going on?”

Ves, one of the Dragon knights who remained, stepped up beside me to report, “King Vaxarion tore down part of a tower, Your Majesty.”

“That's what the quacking was? He demolished a tower?” I lifted my brow as things started to click into place. “ Which tower?”

“The tower that contains my guest chambers,” Aras said as he strode out of the keep, his muscles tensed as if to pounce. That icy stare lifted to the sky as he added, “That was the pirate I brought with me—the one I captured during the attack on the Tiger's Claw.”

“The one who knows where the Eye is,” I concluded.

Aras finally looked at me. “Yes, Sire.”

I chuckled.

Aras's face twitched, betraying his confusion.

Why aren't you chasing them personally?! the Eye shrieked.

Because I scented blood.

You scented blood? So?

Aras must have hurt that Neraky badly. Vaxarion will take him somewhere to heal. But after that, the Neraky will lead the Sea King to the Eye. We have to be patient. Aloud, I shouted, “Mossemas!”

My castle steward was never far from me. He stepped up silently, folding his Argaiv wings back as if he'd just landed. Perhaps he had. The man was like a ghost.

“Yes, Your Majesty?” Mossemas bowed.

“When my knights return empty-handed, which I assume they will, send two of them out with a ship to monitor the waters above Shasenai.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.” Mossemas didn't question me or suggest that my knights could be successful. He simply obeyed. I loved that about him.

“As soon as our prey emerges, have one of my knights follow them discreetly while the other returns to notify me.”

“Yes, Sire.” Mossemas bowed and left to do my bidding.

“How can you be certain that they'll surface, much less surface there?” Aras asked.

“King Vaxarion and that Neraky are lovers. The King will take the pirate home, to the crown city of Shasenai, to heal under his protection. Once the Neraky is safe and whole, they will share physical and mental intimacies.”

“What?”

I grimaced. “They will fuck and share their secrets. The Neraky will confide in King Vaxarion. He'll talk about the Eye. And when the Sea King learns that a valuable relic has been stolen from his people, he will take the Neraky back to the surface to find it.”

And that's when I would strike.

“And how do you know that they'll become that close? They could be lovers without sharing secrets.”

I turned to face Aras and smirked. “Because that pirate is the Sea King's mate.”

“What?” Aras whispered, his confident stance wavering. “How do you know that?”

“I scented it when they passed by. They are mated.”

“Hold on. I thought only Land Dragons had mates?”

“Not anymore. The Dragon God blessed the Sea Dragons with mating magic and I've heard that he's even sped up the process for them.” I tried to keep the bitterness from my voice, but it was difficult.

It didn't seem fair. Some Land Dragons searched for centuries, fucking anyone who caught their interest in the hope of finding their mate. I was one of those Dragons. It had been many years since I reached maturity, and I had fucked my way through the races of Serai. Despite my determination, I hadn't found my mate.

“I tortured a Sea Dragon's mate ?!”

I lifted a brow at Aras. He wasn't a man who scared easily, but he was unnerved. He must know a little about Dragon mates. Just not enough to realize how it could benefit us.

“You didn't know who he was at the time,” I said gently. “And this is a good thing, Captain.”

“How do you figure?” His whisker pads wrinkled upward, baring his fangs, but not at me. It was a primal response to danger.

Odd, but his fear concerned me. It was especially strange after I'd fostered it earlier. But this was different. This was fear of someone else, someone who might actually hurt him. I didn't like it. Instead of being flippant, as I was prone to, I found myself attempting to alleviate his worry. “You said that you tortured the Neraky.”

“Yes. Multiple times. And he never gave up his ship.” Aras grimaced. “I'd admire him if he wasn't a criminal.”

I grunted and nodded. “His crew is like his family. And they have the Eye. King Vaxarion will seek to retrieve it from them.”

“I still don't understand. Do you believe he'll want the Eye for himself?”

“Not as you imply.” I paused as my knights landed in the courtyard.

They did not have the Neraky.

Mossemas hurried over to them, and I turned away, trusting him to see to my commands. Plus, they irritated me.

Lowering my voice, I said, “The Sea Dragons were once in possession of Ensarena's Eye. They kept it from us Land Dragons, knowing the power it could give us. King Vaxarion will want to return the Eye to their hoard. But even more than that, he will want to see to his mate's wellbeing. That wellbeing will include the safety of his crew—his family. And the Sea King will rightly assume that the crew is in danger.”

“So, you're saying that the Sea King will lead us to the Eye?”

“Yes.”

“But then we will have to fight him for it.”

“I will handle the Sea King, and I will protect you from his wrath. If things go as planned, you will remain here while I retrieve the relic.”

Aras's face twitched.

A smile teased my lips. “Are you upset that I don't expect you to fight a Sea Dragon for me, Captain?”

“No. I . . .”

You are wiser than I knew, the Eye interrupted.

I didn't respond for two reasons. First, her comment wasn't a compliment, not really. And second, Aras was staring at me. He was staring at me with open sexual admiration. It was odd timing, but my body instantly responded to it.

“Come with me, Captain,” I said in a crisp tone, then turned around and strode into the castle. “ Mossemas, summon the stonemasons to fix the tower!”

“Yes, Your Majesty!” Mossemas called after me.

But I was already gone, the tightness in my pants urging me on.