Page 8 of Dragon Blood (Dragon Island #3)

K ai studied the blood-red sails of the Crimson Claw fluttering overhead, jaw tight, molars grinding.

The crew, dressed in loose cotton tunics and pants, climbed the masts with ease, tended the rigging, adjusted the angles to ensure the bow was pointed toward Aeleftheria.

He drew ocean air deep into his lungs, scrubbing away the tension and inner resistance of going to visit his mother’s ancestral home for the first time.

At the queen’s own invitation.

Who could deny that?

After the ceremony, he’d just packed his bag to head home when one of the Aeleftherian guards knocked on his door, summoning him to Regina’s suite.

Apparently, his mother had formally requested permission for him to enter Aeleftherian territory and visit the island.

He swallowed the competing emotions gurgling in his gut.

Kai could not resist the power and magnetism of the queen as she studied his face with a knowing smile, which made him sweat like a teenager meeting their date’s parents for the first time.

He’d meant to politely decline the invitation. Instead, he was agreeing before his brain noticed what was happening.

Now he was committed to this prolonged torture.

More time with his estranged mother, who’d abandoned him and then suddenly reappeared.

He’d come on this journey to see his little sister married. Reunion gladly established, he should have been on a plane home to face his mountainous workload.

His gaze found Astred up on the quarterdeck, deep in conversation with First Mate Okonedo.

And now, more time with the woman of his heart who’d run out on him after he’d ripped himself wide open and asked her for forever.

The desire to be close to her warred with the need to put distance between them. An impossibility within the limitations of her beloved antiquated pirate ship. The thing she loved most in the world, living and breathing the life of a sea captain since she had relieved the Spanish privateers of their property, several centuries back.

This ship had sailed her into his life, and right back out of it again.

His jaw tightened again as he returned his attention to the glittering horizon, allowing the crew’s calls to one another to float around him.

Kai observed and admired the crew’s skill and precision in handling their ship. Their home, to dragon shifters, humans, and some other paranormal drifters alike.

Typical of Red.

Rebellious, self-imposed outsider, gathering a crew that shared her heart for the ultimate freedom, collecting women from around the globe, from all walks of life and communities. Those that desired and answered the call of the seas. And those that desperately needed a place to belong.

That was Red.

Or so he’d thought.

Now, it seems, she wasn’t an outsider at all, but a runaway. A poor little princess who rejected her family’s wealth and status to avoid responsibility.

Commitment.

The ultimate free spirit. Fuck everyone else.

He couldn’t imagine her giving it all up for the stagnation of rulership, like her mother.

But, if and when she ever did, he knew she would devote herself to the role as fiercely as she did the captaincy of this ship and her crew.

Regina and his mother Kolina drifted along the deck behind him.

“You should rest,” Kolina said. “Perhaps being away from Aeleftheria is draining you too much.”

“Perhaps. We’ll be back soon enough. But I will go and rest for now.” Regina moved on, leaving Kolina to join Kai at the rail.

“Did you know that Astred commandeered this ship in order to protect Aeleftheria’s borders from human trespassers, without exposing our true identity to the world?”

Kai shook his head.

After a long silence, Kolina drew a deep breath. “It concerns me to see the queen looking anything but the height of health.”

“She’s unwell?”

Kolina nodded, eyes searching the horizon. “More and more so, since leaving Aeleftheria, she mentioned.”

“Hopefully it’s, as you say, something to do with her absence from her home.”

“Mmm. Yes. It has been a long while since she left.”

How would that kind of land bond affect Red, if that were the case?

Is that why she stayed at sea for so long?

Because the tether to the island was permanent, and short?

Such a thing didn’t exist among the tiger clan’s monarchy. Other dragon colonies didn’t seem to suffer the same. The king of the air dragon clan was gone from his realm all the time. Jori Mountainside didn’t seem to have problems leaving his mountain.

So why Queen Regina?

“Why?” he hadn’t meant to ask, but his curiosity got the better of him. And he was bored as hell and looking for safer topics in present company.

“Why… she doesn’t leave?” Kolina blew out her breath, turning her back to the rail, allowing her gaze to travel up the masts to the billowing sails before dropping it to Kai. “For the same reason our culture exists as it does.”

He lifted a brow, waiting for her to continue.

She seemed to consider her words carefully before she answered. “A lot happened during the dragon schism. This isn’t the first location of Aeleftheria over the centuries, but it is the most important and may very well be our last. We became a warrior culture to protect ourselves from the domination of the males that would control everything—even the air we breathed.”

“So they created some magical bond to protect it?”

Kolina shrugged. “I imagine so. And we will defend it, and our queen, with that very last free breath.”

“Except it seems that the queen herself is not free.”

Nor will Astred be when she ascends.

“No. We are a culture deeply rooted in sacrifice.” Her hand hovered over his shoulder a moment before making contact.

She still hesitated to touch him.

Kai was one of those sacrifices. Males could not live in Aeleftheria. They were left with their sires. Their fathers, if they were lucky. As he had been. Many were not so lucky.

Most never knew Aeleftheria, or had the privilege of seeing her.

Both lingered in their silence, listening to the crew and the ship’s sounds as she slid over the ocean. The wind rattled the rigging as distant storm clouds drew closer. Storm and ozone drifted past Kai’s sensitive nose.

“I hope you go to Katoa Koro soon. Kymri was so pleased to see you, and I know she’d want you to visit. It would be good for you to see more dragonkind and understand what they’re trying to achieve in that mountain. Our partnership is crucial to—”

“Kolina.” One of the queen’s guardians approached, her expression taut. The one called Marli.

“What is it?” She spun at the sharp tone, immediately striding forward to meet her. “Is it the queen?”

Kolina brushed past the guardian, heading for the queen’s quarters.

Kai followed.

Astred was already at her mother’s bedside, hand grasping hers, head on her chest, listening. She straightened, face pale, eyes large in her face as her gaze slid from Marli to Kolina to Kai and back. “She’s unconscious. Zayli came to tell me that mother was unwell. When I came in, she didn’t respond, and still hasn’t.”

Seeing the distress in Astred’s eyes constricted Kai’s chest, pressing him to do something to help ease her fear.

“We need to get her home. She’s been away too long.” Kolina moved to the bed, gently touching the queen’s pulse points and forehead. “She needs the shamans.”

“There’s a storm coming which may slow the ship. I’ll take her there myself.” Astred stood.

“You’re not going alone,” Kolina growled.

“As a member of the queen’s personal guard, you should have been more vigilant.” Zayli’s tight voice drew their attention to the open door. “Instead, you’ve been distracted with personal affairs, ignoring your duty to our queen.”

Kolina didn’t object to the accusation. She nodded to Marli. “Prepare her for the journey. It won’t be easy to launch from the ocean. We must be careful.”

“I will do that.” Astred’s gaze locked on her mother.

Kai hovered, his heart clenching with every beat as he watched her bury her fear. “I can help. If you lay her in the rowboat, I can carry her.”

“No male will put his filthy claws on our sovereign.” Zayli snarled, advancing on him. “For all we know, this is your doing. You had a private audience with her.”

Kai stood his ground, facing his cousin’s flinty stare.

Astred was suddenly between them. “Kai is a guest by royal invitation. You will treat him with the respect reserved for any individual personally invited by our sovereign.”

Zayli stepped back, eyes darting toward Kai, before lowering her gaze. “Yes, your Grace.”

Astred’s gaze swept the room. “Kai Sun is present by royal request and as such is now under my protection while the queen is… the queen is indisposed.” She glanced at Kai, then turned to Kolina. “As a member of the queen’s personal guard, if you are in agreement, we will accept Mr. Sun’s offer—as a dragon much larger than ourselves—to transport the queen in one of the Crimson Claw’s small craft, with the rest of the guard as escort.”

Kolina nodded. “Yes, your Grace.”

Kai studied Astred’s worried face as she stroked her mother’s cheek.

The ship’s captain had suddenly given way, seamlessly stepping into her role as heir apparent.

R egina closed the door, knees sagging as she grasped the nearby table for support on her way to the bunk. She stood a moment, nails digging into the edge of the wood, concentrating on the small flower buds clustered together.

Head swimming, heart racing, she closed her eyes, seeking relief on the pillow. She hadn’t experienced this kind of dizziness since she had trained in aerial combat with her Aeleftherian sisters, long before she ascended the throne.

The undertone of her absence from her beloved archipelago had been constant since she left the protected boundaries of her realm, deepening further the longer she separated herself from her nation home.

She’d been warned. Warned not to leave her precious ward unprotected. It needed her as she needed it, their symbiotic relationship strained with this personal mission.

No, not personal. This is important. Our future depends on it.

She’d seen it.

The vision demanded attention and action.

A vision could never be ignored.

Her inner dragon had urged her forward, making it impossible to dismiss the need to fulfil this duty.

But something else had hovered at her nape. A warning, the source unknown.

She drew a deep breath, seeking stillness against the spinning in her skull while the rest of her body continued to rock with the motion of Astred’s beloved ship.

Despite the discomfort, Regina smiled.

How glorious it was to take this time with her daughter and experience a sliver of her world.

She swallowed against the sudden thickening in her throat.

A world she will have to give up, as I had to.

“Oh, Astred,” Regina sighed. Mouth unnaturally dry, her throat tightened further.

Regina struggled against gravity in search of a drink of water, her limbs uncooperative.

Something is wrong.

She fell back onto the pillow, a tornado encased in her skull, a sheen of sweat coated her skin.

Illness?

She hadn’t been ill since Draconis fever had ravaged the island in her childhood. But that had been suppressed and cured by the shamans. No one had been ill with it in centuries.

Her heart rate stuttered, suddenly slow, dragging her further down into the mattress and pillow.

Need shamans…

Lethargy smothered her thoughts as her body slackened. Her legs remained over the edge of the bed, unable to lift them. She didn’t care.

I hope… I hope Astred doesn’t catch this. Not Astred.

Regina’s dragon dimly alerted her of another presence in the room. But whatever was happening added a thick layer over all of her senses, including the energetic feelers that allowed her to read everyone around her.

Mute, immobile, blind.

Something else?

Hands lifted her legs onto the bunk, allowing her body to straighten out, placed her arms in a more natural position, then gently eased errant strands of hair from her face. Unable to resist being handled, she struggled to crack her eyes open.

A blurry visage loomed before her, a soothing voice. “Sleep, your highness. Don’t fight the tincture. Just rest.”

I know that face—that voice….

Thoughts tumbled as her body sank deeper into the bunk, dragging her into oblivion.

She blinked, trying to focus as something wet and cool slid past her lips, coating her tongue. Reflexively, she swallowed, allowing the liquid to soothe the gritty feel of her throat.

No…

Slowly, understanding wriggled through the thick barrier against her mind.

Oh, no, no…

Betrayal…

Not you…

Voiceless, no limb would obey, even her breath eased into a steady rhythm, mimicking sleep.

Astred… must protect….

Regina’s consciousness fell into the void, her dragon extending a weak tether, holding her true.