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Kissing you, I thought with mortifying clarity, but for once my mind was quick to restrain my lips from blurting the words aloud.

“Being at court hasn’t changed you,” I said instead, playfully. “You haven’t given up Iro’s linens for Gindara’s brocades. It’s even that muted shade of blue you wore every day at home.”

“You look…you look the same too. Mostly.”

“Mostly?” I pretended to sound wounded. “My hair hasn’t turned green, and my eyes aren’t red.”

“Your eyes are the same,” he agreed. “Full of mischief and laughter. But this”—his fingertips brushed the silver-white streak in my hair—“this is new.”

At his touch, my heart skipped and went tight at the same time. It was tempting to give in to the moment, to make some coy remark and plant a kiss on his cheek and ignore the questions in his eyes. But I couldn’t lie to Takkan. I didn’t want to.

“It’s from using the pearl,” I confessed. “I…I ran into some trouble with the dragons.”

“With your friend the dragon prince?” Takkan arched an eyebrow.

“No, not with Seryu.” I hesitated, the whole adventure still so fresh in my mind I could taste the seawater on my lips. “It turns out the Dragon King wanted the pearl for himself,” I explained. “It was messy, but Seryu helped get me out of Ai’long.”

“So you still have the pearl.”

Astute as always, Takkan, I thought. “I do,” I replied, “and I’ll have to leave again soon, to fulfill my promise.”

“Then I’m coming with you. I’ll not have you dealing with more dragons alone.”

“I wasn’t alone. I had—”

“Seryu.” Takkan flinched. “I know.”

I cocked my head. That wasn’t a reaction I’d seen from Takkan before. “I had Kiki too.” I poked, “Don’t tell me you were jealous of Seryu.”

Takkan shifted uneasily, and I couldn’t help it—the imp in me enjoyed seeing how uncomfortable he looked.

“You were jealous!”

“He’s a dragon prince,” admitted Takkan with an exhale. “A dragon prince who whisked you away to his underwater kingdom. And he was clearly attached to you.”

“Attached?” I echoed. “How would you know—you didn’t even speak to him.”

“I would have, had I the chance.” Takkan’s tone was steely, which made me hide a smile. “Anyone could see he cared for you. Your brothers certainly did.”

Oh, I could just envision it. Reiji and Yotan preying on poor Takkan, giving him ideas that I would stay in Ai’long forever and become a dragon princess. My brothers could be fiends in that sense—like me. It was a struggle smothering my smile as Takkan went on:

“In a way it comforted me, knowing he’d be with you when I couldn’t.”

“But?”

“But the thought that you might stay in Ai’long kept me up more nights than I’d like to admit,” Takkan replied. “They say the waters of Ai’long have a way of muddying the mind—even erasing the past. I worried you might forget me.”

I thought of the elixir I had almost drunk. “All legends have a spark of truth, it turns out,” I said softly. “But I’m back now. And I didn’t forget you.” I touched my nose to his and winked. “Though it’s mostly because I adore your sister so much.”

The tension in Takkan’s shoulders fell away, and he chuckled. “I’ll have to write Megari that you’re back. She keeps hounding me about you in her letters.”

“I hope she isn’t upset that you’re still here. I thought you would’ve gone home to Iro with your father.”

“I wanted to be here when you returned,” said Takkan. “I waited on the beach every morning, but today of all days the council wanted to meet to discuss—” He stopped.

“To discuss what?”

The brightness in his face clouded over, and I suspected I knew the answer.