Page 27

“Should I be?” She edged forward a little, but not as much as he’d urged her to do, which meant he bumped into her back.

Shame, that. All right then, a change in tactic.

He dropped a hand to her waist, left only a breath between them, and hummed a few bars from the song they’d danced to last night.

When he pressed on her waist, she moved with him, just as she had then.

Excellent. He understood her sudden apprehension about the hawk—he’d felt it himself the morning after his first successful manipulation of water. Somehow, failing after a win seemed worse than never succeeding at all. If the hawk struck at her or flew away, it would be crushing.

Compared to that, she definitely had no reason to fear him.

“Well, I could manipulate your blood and other fluids to suffocate you. Or hold you under the water and drown you without lifting a finger. Some people think that’s a bit intimidating—but I promise, I took an oath.

I haven’t made a puddle of anyone in ages. ”

She half-turned her head toward his, and he tried not to notice the way his pulse kicked up. And the way hers did. “You can call other people’s blood?”

“Well blood is mostly water—it’s difficult though. The human body is complex. It works best when I’m touching someone.” Yes, he gave her waist a tiny squeeze when he mentioned touching—no need to point out it had to be skin to skin.

She just breathed a laugh anyway.

“See? Not afraid of me—which is refreshing. Third, and I cannot emphasize this one enough—I like you.” He took her another step closer. The hawk stretched its wings a bit.

“Just because I remind you of my father.”

That was no doubt part of why he had trusted her so quickly. But hardly all of it. “I swear to you, I have never flirted with your father.”

Another laugh, and this time the hawk took a small side-step toward them, as if impatient with their game.

“Fourth.” The next step took them close enough that if she reached out, she could stroke the bird’s wing. “You looked absolutely delectable in that gown last night.” Normally, he’d have considered that too much.

But Arden, as he’d known she would, rolled her eyes. “Oh please. You saw the images of Jade, didn’t you?”

“Your sister’s lovely. That doesn’t mean you aren’t equally striking.” Had no one ever told her that? She scrunched her nose up like he was trying to sell her a bald-faced lie. “Geysers, Arden, I may have to have a word with all those island boys.”

Since she didn’t seem willing to do it on her own, he took her hand in his and reached out until her palm rested against the hawk’s wing joint. “And five,” he said softly, “you rode a hawk. Pretty sure that makes you the most awesome person on the planet.”

“Says the man who controls hurricanes and tsunamis and can turn people into a puddle.”

“Hurricanes still give me trouble, actually. I can lessen their force quite a lot, but all that wind…wind doesn’t care a bit what I tell it to do.

However, I will still accept your compliment.

Along with a dance.” He wouldn’t point out that he’d just led her in one.

He lifted his hand from the back of hers.

She stroked it down the hawk’s wings, and the tension poured out of her in a gush. Her other hand reached out toward the bird’s head, and she smiled when it nudged her fingers. “All right. One dance—but with Seidon, not the king.”

“Deal.” Dangerous. But he’d had nearly three centuries to practice self-control, even when he didn’t have thousands of eyes watching his every move. He’d survive it.

“And it’s Jade who’s awesome. She’s the reason this beautiful girl will let me ride her.”

A mystery he was determined to unravel. “No deflecting. You’re not having your sister step in for you. A deal’s a deal.”

She sent him a smile warmer than the sun. Warmer than flirtation. A smile of genuine friendship. “Thank you. I’d convinced myself it had all been a dream.”

“Far more logical than reality in this case, I grant you.”

“And I was afraid of you, you know. Until yesterday.”

A rather strange thing to hear while the bird repositioned itself so that she could climb onto its back. Which she did, slowly and carefully. He tried on her bafflement. “Why?”

Her eyes said she got the joke. Her smile was small and tight. “Because you’re the one man in the world who could take my father away from me.”

“Arden.” Had it been a horse she sat on, he’d have reached out to hold its bridle, to make sure she didn’t leave on that note. He was none too sure he’d keep his fingers if he tried restraining the bird with its wickedly sharp beak. But it made no move to take off. “I would never do that.”

“Of course you would. If the empire needed him.”

He shook his head. “The empire needs him right where he is. He’s been the best High Guardian of the Barrier Banks the kingdom has ever seen.

And even if something happened and I did need him elsewhere, that wouldn’t take him from you.

Officers of his rank take their families with them when they travel. ”

Jericho Bleu, however, had never had a family while he was traveling.

He’d always insisted that trying to mix the two lives resulted in disaster.

And no doubt he’d let that view seep into everything now too.

No doubt when people asked him in his daughter’s hearing why he waited until he was forty-two years old to marry and start a family, he said it was because active duty and family didn’t mix.

He wasn’t about to tell her that it was her father’s opinions she should have feared more than him, though. She wouldn’t believe him anyway.

More, she wasn’t thinking about her father anymore.

He could tell by the way her gaze lost focus and a new note of sorrow entered her smile.

“And then there’s Jade. I think…I think I always knew she was special.

I always knew that she would be Awakened—our parents hinted at it too.

We knew she’d be taken away from the rest of us. ”

“For training, yes. But I never force the Awakened to serve the empire, not like Ralia has done. Your sister could have gone home.”

Even as he said the words, he wondered if they were true. They always had been—but Jade Calimore must have a strong magic to call to him from so far away. She must have a unique power, if the mer were willing to risk kidnapping her as they’d done.

Could he have let her go if their blood had mingled in the Awakening bowl? If he’d felt that power in such proximity? Would he have forgotten everything else, not cared if she were already in a relationship with Storm? Could the “infection” in his blood render him so selfish?

Arden was shaking her head, stroking the bird’s. “She wouldn’t have come home. Even if she weren’t Awakened, she wouldn’t have stayed home. She wanted to be an ambassador to the mer someday.”

He frowned. That should have been one of the most prestigious postings in the empire, but few people wanted it. What did it say about Jade that she did?

Most likely, she would have changed her mind as she learned more. After a visit. What Arden feared was just a childhood dream.

Except that Jade had vanished beneath the waves. Even if it weren’t his doing, or Jade’s choice, the fear had proven valid. “We’ll get her back.” It was all he could promise, even if he shouldn’t promise even that.

She nodded. Straightened. Clutched at the bird’s feathers as if they were reins. “Anything in particular you want me to scout today, Your Majesty?”

He took the hint and moved a step away. “Check in with your father first. See how your mother is. Tell him I’ll be reviewing his reports within the hour, and that I’ll come to him as soon as I have time—he’s not to leave Sapphire to come to me.

I’ll make it over at some point and be back for the evening missa. ”

Uncertainty flickered through her eyes. “I don’t know how much control I have over what the hawk does. Are you certain you don’t want me scouting the oceans first? Home last? If it drops me and leaves…”

“Home first.” She needed it, even if he needed information.

“Then retrace your path from last night, if you can. I can’t sense the mer anymore in the sound or the protected territory around the Banks.

Visual confirmation of that would be appreciated.

” His brows drew together. “I don’t know what kind of range the hawk has with you on its back.

Don’t push it too hard—but as far as you can see in open water, any traces you can find of them…

assuming you can even see into the depths beyond the shelf? ”

“Better than most people can.”

At this point, he was willing to believe it.

He took another step back. “Then see if you can scout all the way to the Daryatlean border in the sea. We’ll all be returning to the palace soon.

The gatekeepers will know to let you in, if you land outside the walls.

Find me. Oh, and pack anything you’ll need for the next few weeks, but don’t try to carry it with you. We’ll fetch it for you. And for Storm.”

The way she blinked said she still couldn’t think why he wanted her at the palace. But she nodded. “What will I need? Other than clothes, obviously.”

“Whatever makes you comfortable. Your own data reader and recorder, if you prefer those to the ones provided. Books. Something to wear to missa this evening, if you intend to join us. Dancing shoes.”

As planned, she laughed at that last one. “Don’t own any.”

“We’ll have you fitted, then. Hey.” He stepped forward again, the bird’s shifting telling him they’d be taking off momentarily.

He clasped a hand to Arden’s arm, regretting it when she winced.

Geysers, she’d done that yesterday too. “Are you all right? Injured?” She hadn’t flinched away from him any other time he touched her, so it couldn’t be him.

Her brows lifted. “Can you sense my blood or something?”