Page 19

I’d arrived in heaven.

A feast awaited, a dozen platters lining a round banquet table.

No noodle soups, but each dish looked tantalizing.

I edged along the marble surface, breathing in the aroma as I narrowed my choices to the plate of rice noodles smothered in glistening gravy, the nest of translucent bean thread noodles bathed in a scramble of crab and egg, and the bowl of wheat noodles still sizzling atop an evergreen bed of watercress.

I was so preoccupied with my decision that I didn’t see the merman descending from the ceiling, holding a gourd of wine.

“If I may,” he said, “I’d recommend the fried noodles with the perch and black vinegar sauce. It’s a specialty of the castle.”

I looked up, discovering a young man with a brassy-orange fish tail and purple-black hair that ballooned and deflated as if breathing.

“Thank you,” I said, taking his advice.

“You must be—”

“Kunkoi.” He somersaulted down to greet me and swept the smoothest bow I’d ever seen.

“The moment I heard that our new lady had an appetite for noodles, I knew we’d be friends. But I must admit, I thought Lord Elang was exaggerating about just how ravishing you are. Never have I been gladder to be wrong.”

“Ravishing?” I raised a brow.

“He really said that?”

“No,” said Elang crisply, through locked teeth.

“What I did say, Kunkoi, was that we wished to dine alone—”

“Yes, yes, I remember.” Kunkoi raised his wine gourd.

“But I wasn’t at the welcoming reception. It’d be rude if I missed the chance to greet the Lady Saigas.”

“Now you’ve met,” said Elang.

“You may take your leave.”

Kunkoi rolled up his sleeves.

“Five mortal years in exile, and you really haven’t changed at all, my friend.” He uncapped the gourd.

“I’m afraid you’ve married a killjoy, Lady Saigas. Your husband didn’t even want a party to hail his return, let alone celebrate your wedding.”

Elang’s lips thinned with displeasure.

“Parties are a waste of Yonsar’s scarce resources. Same as wine.”

“It’s an endless gourd,” Kunkoi protested.

When Elang changed the nearest goblet into a teacup, he grumbled, “And they say dragons are mercurial. How is it I work for the one who never changes?”

In response, Elang calmly folded back his sleeve.

He was knotting ours together, both for our act and so I wouldn’t keep floating off my seat.

“You’re newly married,” Kunkoi went on.

“No one will begrudge you some fun. It’s not like you have a court or actual subjects. A lord of your standing ought to have every fish and mollusk still in these wasted waters invited to feast, but instead you and Lady Saigas are in this grit-ridden hall, eating by your lonesome selves.” He kicked his fins at the sand banks below.

“No sprawling vines of water poppies and simmer-lilies, no boisterous music, no ribbon dancers. Even that pet demon of yours isn’t here.”

Elang moved closer to me by what felt an enormous inch.

“The only person I desire to eat with is my wife. Starting today and going forward.”

A flush came over my cheeks, and I had to stare into my noodles to keep from giving myself away.

Bolts of Saino, he was good.

Even I almost believed him.

Kunkoi certainly did, from the grin that spread across his face.

“Interesting,” he mused, pouring wine into a single silver cup.

“I thought all your heartless heart cared about was tea and Yonsar, but it seems I was wrong. Lady Saigas must be special indeed.”

He handed me the cup, then capped the wine gourd with a flourish.

“Lady Saigas, you must tell me how you two met. Don’t spare any details.”

I expected Elang to cut in and steer the topic away.

After all, he’d said he wanted to eat alone.

But he was quiet.

Listening.

Demon turds, I thought.

“I…I was trying to sell a painting to the governor and went to the wrong house,” I said, semi-truthfully.

“I fell onto his roses.”

“You fell onto his prized sanheia bushes, and he didn’t turn you into a worm?” Kunkoi took the chair opposite me.

“It truly must have been love at first sight.”

I had to hold in a snort.

“Something like that.”

“Elang never does anything unpremeditated. He probably hates you for catching him off guard. How did he sweep you off your feet?”

“With money,” I replied.

“Lots of it.”

Kunkoi laughed, thinking I was joking.

“Very unromantic. Very Elang. ”

Elang looked like he wanted to strangle Kunkoi—and me.

With some restraint, he straightened, fists uncurling at his sides.

“Are you finished? You ought to be inspecting the guard and not prattling on with my wife.”

Every time Elang said my wife, I took a massive bite of noodles.

Kunkoi groaned.

“What did Caisan tell you? That croaker, I told him not to accost you on your wedding day. He’s been in a sour mood since the last storm, when Nazayun practically pummeled us into the—”

“Kunkoi.” With one word, Elang extinguished the merman’s good humor.

“Ah, right.” Kunkoi cleared his throat and cast me a bright smile.

“How about more watercress, Lady Saigas? It’s good for the gills.”

“What are the storms?” I asked.

“Something Lord Elang was going to tell you about tomorrow, rather than on this happy day.” Kunkoi served me another heap of noodles.

“But since you’re asking, they’re tokens of King Nazayun’s…affection. He sent quite a few to Yonsar while Lord Elang was away.”

“Which is why the realm is so empty,” I murmured.

“Most of the merfolk left. The storms are harder on my kind than on the turtles, you see.” Kunkoi gestured at his fins.

“No shells.”

I had witnessed the Dragon King turn his own forces into stone.

I would flee too, if I were in Ai’long.

“Kunkoi, are your friends and family—”

“They are safe,” said Elang.

“They’ve left. Kunkoi ought to as well.”

“If I leave, who will cook for you? A good chef is a physician of sorts, and the turtles have deplorable taste in food, all bland and slimy. Don’t even get me started on your demon.”

Elang was unmoved.

“If you stay, you might die.”

“Might, or might not. At least the wine here is good.” Merrily, Kunkoi raised the entire gourd.

“A toast to living. Now that Lady Saigas is here, we’ll have a better shot at it.” He bowed.

“I’ll leave you two to enjoy your first meal together as the lord and lady of Yonsar. Don’t bite into the noodles. I rolled them extra-long, for your life together.”

Kunkoi made his departure, and I was left alone with Elang, who still hadn’t touched his dinner.

Instead he sipped his tea, using it as an excuse not to talk to me.

I knew that game.

Usually I played it well, but not tonight.

“It’s comforting to know you have a friend,” I said, breaking the silence.

“ We should at least try to get to know each other, for the sake of appearances. Dinner is a good time for that. Nomi used to say that the best friendships are made over food. She wanted to meet a dragon and charm him with crullers.”

He took another sip of tea.

Even had the gall to refill my cup.

“More likely she’d have gotten herself turned into a cruller.”

I twirled my noodles, silently grousing.

“You’re the one who wanted us to eat alone. If every dinner is going to be this stimulating, I’d like to know so I can bring a book nexttime.”

He set down his tea.

“I’ll have a selection curated for yourstudies.”

He really was going to make this difficult, wasn’t he?

“Are you even going to touch your noodles?” I asked then.

“As your wife, I should at least be aware of whether you eat as humans do. Or will you be hunting whales and sharks with your claws, and picking at their bones while the rest of us sleep at night?”

“I eat as you do,” he responded after a glacial beat.

“And sleep. Is there anything else you wish to know?”

Finally, an actual answer.

“Are you a thousand years old?” I pressed.

I was curious, to be honest.

“You don’t look a day over three hundred.”

He gave me a narrow look.

“The tides of time in Ai’long are different than in Lor’yan,” he responded.

“But I age wherever I am. I am twenty-one suns.”

He was only three years older than I was.

Surprising.

“You act older.”

“I’ve been wanted dead since I was born. Such a life does wonders for one’s maturity.”

I almost laughed.

“So I didn’t marry an ancient elder. Just a heartless young man-dragon. That’s reassuring.”

“Is the interrogation finished?”

I tilted my head sideways.

It was impossible reading someone with two faces, I decided.

What I knew was he was stronger than a typical man.

Much stronger, given how ready he’d been to take on the sharks earlier.

He was fast too.

And his scales were thick like armor.

Not to mention, he had magic.

“Can you get sick? Can you get hurt?”

“Yes. To both.” He didn’t like this topic.

“I heal faster than full-blooded humans, but I bleed like you, and I hurt like you. Does that answer your questions?”

It did.

I scraped the side of my bowl for the last of my noodles, while Elang had yet to begin eating his.

“That was quite a welcome your grandfather gave us.”

“It’ll be the first of many,” said Elang tightly.

“But you may rest easy for now. Since he has acknowledged our marriage, no harm will come to you today.”

“But tomorrow?”

“Tomorrow is a new day.”

How cheering.

I leaned back in my chair, taking a moment to let my food digest.

“On the bright side, at least I methim.”

Elang eyed me, sidelong.

“What is your meaning?”

“I know it was all just water, and that wasn’t his physical body, but still.” I was thoughtful.

“I saw his face. I never forget a face. When will we get to meet him in person?”

“In all the seven immortal ages, that question has never been asked with such alacrity.”

“What can I say?” I shrugged.

“I want my three chests of jewels.”

And answers about Baba.

“If we’re unlucky, he will come to us,” said Elang.

“You recall the patrols. He has his eye on Yonsar.”

He reached for his soup and drank straight from the bowl, finishing it in one long sip.

He still hadn’t touched his noodles.

“Worry about meeting my grandfather later. For now, you have work to do.” Elang pushed aside his bowl.

“Study all you can about dragons and learn to take control of your visions. Shani will help you.”

“Shani?” I scoffed.

I hadn’t seen the demon in hours.

“Some bodyguard, she didn’t even help when we were attacked today.”

“We didn’t need her help. If she had shown herself, she would only have aggravated the patrols.”

“No surprise. She’s a demon.”

He gave me a hard look.

“In your world, demons are feared and reviled. But they are not always deserving of such scorn. You ought to know better than most, what that feelslike.”

A tingle passed over my skin.

Not once had I spoken to Elang about being half-Balardan.

How it’d been impossible for me to get a job because the shopkeepers assumed I’d steal from their tills.

When we went to the temple, I told Falina and Nomi—who passed easily as A’landans—to pretend they didn’t know me, so they could pray in the front instead of having to wait in the back.

Shame scorched the back of my throat.

Yes, I knew what it was like.

I had a feeling Elang did too.

“Shanizhun was one of the first demons to be born,” said Elang.

“She’s nearly as old as the gods, and few have known my grandfather as long as she. I’d advise you to respect her guidance.”

I gave a numb nod.

“Good.” Elang dipped into his noodles.

“Mailoh will bring you sangi in the morning, and afterward she’ll give you a tour of the castle.”

“A tour?” I perked up.

“You’re the lady of the Westerly Seas. You ought to know your own home.”

“Does that mean I get to see the treasury?” I asked coyly.

“Or do you use those powers of yours to turn ordinary rocks into rubies?”

Deeming my questions unworthy of reply, he reached for his silver cup.

“A toast to us,” he said, raising his drink.

“May our time together be short, and may we part as unfamiliar to one another as we began.”

It was the oddest wedding toast, yet I wouldn’t have asked for anything different.

I raised my cup and drank.

The rest of dinner, Elang ate his noodles in silence.

At least when I was looking, he didn’t bite into a single strand.