Page 31 of The Dragon King’s Claw (The Dragons of Serai #17)

“Your Majesty!” Sir Gilhu straightened and set his shovel tip down like a spear. “We've got something.”

I rushed forward with the King to peer into the hole.

It wasn't all that deep, but it was long.

The size of a grave. In it, of course, lay a coffin.

The men pried the lid open to reveal a man lying within.

He was small, even for a human. Androgynous, with delicate features and full lips.

Beautiful, especially in repose. So lovely that several people sighed.

A man like that should be clothed in silk and laid out amid rose petals.

Instead, he wore simple clothes with a rough weave and all that lay beside him was an Air stone.

A dark air stone—no glow of magic left within it. Drained.

I glanced at the sky. It wasn't dark yet, so the stone must have only just gone out. The man would have had a couple of hours left. So why was he unconscious? Unless Hallaxgral had cheated.

“No. No!” Vasren dove for the coffin and drew the man out onto his lap. “Katai? Katai, wake up. Please, wake up.” He gently tapped the man's cheek. “Come on, Katai. Don't do this. Please.”

I looked from the pin-straight black hair of the man in Vasren's arms to the hair I'd spotted earlier, still on his left sleeve. A visual match. Oh, fuck.

“Let me see him.” I hurried over.

Vasren looked up at me with wide eyes.

“I have experience with reviving humans,” I kept my tone calm to convey confidence. “You may hold him. Just allow me to examine him.”

Vasren angled the man to face me. “Please, help him.”

“He is not dead, Sir Vasren. I know that much at least. Here.” I took Vasren's hand and pushed his fingers against the man's throat. “Feel that? That's his heart beating. He flushed when you tapped his cheek. That means there is yet blood flowing through him.”

Vasren let out a breath and nodded. “They're so frail.”

“Yes, they can be.” I pried the man's eyelid open and checked the whites for discoloration. Took his pulse. Opened his mouth to check the lining. Smelled his breath for trace odors of toxins.

“I was just with him,” Vasren whispered.

“Yes, I know.” I glanced at him. “How long ago, precisely?”

“Uh. What time is it?”

“Time!” I threw the word at the gaping men watching us.

“After six, sir,” someone said.

So, Katai didn't have as much time as I'd thought. Perhaps he had run out of air and passed out. No, wait. There. “He has been drugged. You see this?”

“That tiny mark?” The King leaned over to look.

“It's a needle mark. They only put him to sleep.”

“How can you be sure?” Vasren asked.

“Because if Hallaxgral meant to kill Katai, Sir Vasren, he'd already be dead. Now, I believe he will recover—ah, here he is.” I waved at Katai's fluttering lids.

Katai opened his eyes and several people gasped—more than before.

He had the markers of the humans of this region—dark hair, upturned almond eyes, high cheekbones, and fair skin with a yellow undertone.

But those eyes didn't belong on him. They were golden-brown, more gold than brown.

Almost metallic. Not only was their color uncommon for humans in the region, but it was also uncommon for humans as a race.

I was betting they were also the way Katai had caught the attention of a Dragon.

“Vas?” he whispered, and then swallowed roughly. He looked around, displaying signs of disorientation that confirmed the sleeping drug theory for me. “Where am I? Vas, I think someone . . .” He touched his neck over the wound.

“It's all right now.” Vasren picked Katai up like a child as he stood, cradled the human to his chest, and nuzzled him. “You're safe now.”

“Hold, Sir Vasren!” I shot to my feet. “Your lover is a witness. I must—”

“Not now!” Vasren snarled at me.

“Sir Vasren!” the King snarled at him.

Vasren winced. “Your Majesty, please. Katai was buried alive!”

“I know, Vas. But maybe he can stop this murderer from hurting anyone else.”

“Later. Please. Ask him later.”

“Murderer?” Katai asked. “Hold on. I was buried ? As in underground?” He looked down and saw the hole. “Vas? Vas!” He clutched at the knight.

“It's all right, love. It's all right.” Vasren shot me a furious look as he turned so that Katai couldn't see the grave.

“Yes, very well. Get him away from here.” I motioned him off.

Vasren didn't wait for the King to agree—a clear sign of how involved he was with the human—he just rushed away with Katai.

“Someone help me with this coffin.” I went back to the grave. Because even though Katai wasn't buried there anymore, it was still a grave. Kun-lo was under there. He had to be.

Before I could reach for the coffin, the King grabbed the edge of one side and yanked the thing out of the hole. There, wrapped in stained fabric, unearthed for us already, lay a corpse. An old one. Atop the remains, as if carelessly tossed there, was a note.

I closed my eyes in relief and annoyance. I hadn't been too late. But I suspected that note wouldn't be a concession. No, this bastard wasn't ready to give me the win.

“Tekhan?” the King called to me.

I opened my eyes and looked at the men who had brought shovels and helped us dig. I assumed they were gardeners like Kun-lo was. “Thank you for your help. Could one of you find the nearest talon on duty and tell him that Claw Shinkai needs a Talon team here?”

“Yes, sir. I'll go,” a man offered.

“Thank you. The rest of you may leave or you may stay if you wish, but please, keep back. This boy was a gardener here. He went missing a long time ago. Now we know he was murdered, and I intend to catch his murderer and bring him to justice.”

The gardeners pulled off their hats and backed away, but they didn't leave.

They watched solemnly as I laid down on the earth beside the grave, right at the edge, so I could lean in and conduct a quick inspection before taking the note.

Sitting up, I unfolded the paper, sniffed it, determined it to be fresh, and then read aloud, “You're only halfway there. I win.”

I looked up at the King. Then it registered.

There had been something odd about Katai.

Not him, but something on him that didn't fit.

It was too shiny. Too expensive. It didn't match the clothes he wore.

A brooch. I saw it again in my mind—a blue stone set in gold.

As Vasren had left, I thought I saw the gem gleam.

I hadn't investigated it since the knight and his lover were both so upset.

But everything clicked into place when I read that note. And it was not a good click.

Jumping to my feet, I shouted, “Vasren!” And I ran. “Vasren, the pin! The brooch on Katai is a weapon! Remove the brooch! Cast it far from you! Vasren!”

I made it about twenty feet up the path when I heard the explosion.

“Vasren!” I ran faster. Took a corner. Stopped short. Panting, I bent over and braced myself on my knees.

Vasren must have heard me because he was on the ground, covering Katai with his body. About a hundred or more feet away, a black pit marred the grass.

Sir Vasren looked up and met my stare. “Thank you,” he mouthed.

I nodded.

And then another explosion came, this one further off. Much further off. I spun toward the sound, my jaw falling open as I stared at a plume of smoke rising above the buildings.

Vasren had dove to cover Katai again, but I just gaped at the proof of my failure.

Yes, my failure. I knew immediately what that smoke meant.

Hallaxgral had promised me another body should I fail.

I had thwarted his first attempt to fulfill that promise.

But that didn't stop him from trying again.

And I knew he was a man who would double his efforts when he was initially unsuccessful. Double or more.

“Dear Gods,” I whispered as I fell to my knees, still staring at the smoke.

The faint sound of Talon bells came to me as if announcing my loss. Hallaxgral had indeed won.

“Tekhan?”

I looked up at the King. My lust for him had just proven fatal. Instead of doing my job, I had been fucking him in a garden. And now people were dead.

“Damn,” I whispered and bent my head. Not in prayer but under the weight of all that had fallen upon me. “We are both damned, Your Majesty.”