Oaths (Dragon Blood, Book 8)

by Lindsay Buroker

  That seems like a stretch. Such a vessel would still have to come above the surface in order for people to get out. Or for kidnap victims to get in.

  True. If I hadn’t sensed anything, I’d agree and wouldn’t be thinking along these lines. There’s no real evidence. But I’ll at least mention the possibility of this kind of transportation to Tylie, so Phelistoth can be on the lookout for it.

  How’s a dragon going to see something underwater?

  With magic, presumably. Sardelle assumed a dragon would have no trouble sensing something, even deep down in the ocean. Assuming he knew to look for it.

  “Are you chatting with Jaxi or having deeply thoughtful thoughts?” Ridge turned away from the stove—he’d dumped the beans in a pot to heat them up.

  All chats with me are deeply thoughtful, Jaxi informed them both.

  “I guess that answers my question.” Ridge’s lips twitched. “Sort of.”

  Sardelle patted him on the side. “I’m not sure anything will come of my thoughts, but there’s nothing more to be done tonight. Why don’t we have our dinner and enjoy each other’s company?”

  “I’m always amenable to enjoyment.”

  “I’m glad to hear it.”

  “I’m already enjoying the fact that the vegetable cutting hasn’t progressed much. I guess we’ll have to save them for tomorrow. Darn.”

  Oh, please, Jaxi said. Do you not know that a powerful sorceress can instantly mince carrots?

  Sardelle felt a stirring of power, and seconds later—it wasn’t quite an instant—the green beans and carrots lay cut into neat piles, ready for a pot.

  “Your sword is trampling all over my enjoyment,” Ridge said.

  “Swords can’t trample. They slice, dice, cut, and stab.”

  He eyed the vegetables. “So I see.”

  “She’s merely helping you be a good role model for your future child.”

  “I can accomplish that by eating green beans?”

  She kissed him. “It’s a start.”

  Ridge watched the Wolf Squadron fliers take off as he walked up the long road to the castle, seagulls squawking overhead, perhaps complaining about the noisy propellers. As always, he wished he were going with them, even if it was just to search up and down the coast for signs of kidnappers.

  But he had to talk to Angulus, to ask for his favor. He didn’t have an appointment and hoped the king could make time to see him. Usually, Angulus was the one to summon him, not the other way around. The day before had been an anomaly. During which he’d also been asking for a favor. Ridge winced. He didn’t like being a burden on anyone. Or a pest. When he’d been asking for favors on behalf of Bhrava Saruth, it hadn’t seemed so bad, since Angulus owed the dragon too. But this was definitely a personal favor.

  “Sire, I know you’re busy, but would you go speak to my mom for me?” he muttered to himself.

  Maybe he should attempt to speak to her again himself without bothering Angulus. But that hadn’t gone well the night before. And after the news Sardelle had given them, that they were going to have a baby, he knew he had to do everything he could to ensure his mother reconciled with Sardelle. She could help Sardelle with woman things—there would be woman things with a pregnancy, wouldn’t there?—before the baby was born, and then she would definitely want to be involved afterward. She’d been saying how much she wanted a grandchild for twenty years, as if Lieutenant Zirkander would have made a good father.

  He shuddered at the idea. But now… Was he more mature now? The idea of being a good role model for a kid and knowing wise things to say to guide it scared him more than a little. Not to mention the fact that the baby would presumably grow up to have some magical powers. Ridge wouldn’t have a clue what kind of wisdom to offer in regard to that.

  Still, he had been more pleased than worried by the news. He’d thought she had been working up to telling him something dreadful.

  Sardelle would be a great mother—he had no doubts about her parental abilities—and he could at least be a good provider. Maybe he should buy the house they had been renting to ensure their child—or eventually children?—would have a nice place to grow up. He would have loved the woods and that pond when he’d been a kid. He ought to be able to scrounge together the money for a down payment, especially if those dragons stopped eating all his groceries for a few months. Maybe he could sell the cabin out by the lake.

  After the honeymoon. He couldn’t get as much time off as he would like, but he planned to whisk Sardelle out there for a few days of privacy, relaxation, and enjoyment. Vegetable-free enjoyment if he had his way. He’d ordered a couple of upgrades to the cabin since the last time she had been up there, and he hoped she would like them.

  “General?” someone asked.

  Ridge halted and looked up, realizing he’d almost run into the closed wicket gate. Which would have been rather pathetic given that the main gate next to it was open, a delivery truck waiting there while a pair of guards inspected it.

  “I’m here to see the king,” Ridge said to the man who had stopped him.

  “Yes, sir. You can go in. I just didn’t want you to—” The guard glanced at the closed gate.

  “Crack my forehead on that? I appreciate the help. I wouldn’t want a big ugly scar or a broken nose, right?”

  “I wouldn’t think so, sir. You might not get as many photographs in the newspapers if you weren’t, uh—” The man waved at Ridge’s face.

  “Dolons thinks you’re pretty, sir,” one of the guards checking the vehicle called with a wink.

  “I didn’t say that,” the first guard blurted.

  “That’s good,” Ridge said, “because I would much rather be handsome.” Though if a broken nose would get the journalists to stop writing about him—and how Sardelle was supposedly witching him into marrying her—then it might be worth it.

  Ridge waved at the guards, including the one blushing furiously, and headed up the drive into the courtyard. He was surprised he’d gotten in so easily, but he had just come up the day before, and the guards were all familiar with him. He expected more resistance at the castle door itself. The guards there knew who was on the list for appointments with the king and who wasn’t.

  “Hello, gents,” Ridge said amiably to the two stern-faced guards when he reached the stairs. “Would one of you ask the steward to pass on to the king that General Zirkander would like to see him whenever he gets a minute? I don’t need long. A quickie between meetings is fine.”

  He braced himself to be told to run along, that the king didn’t have time for impromptu meetings. Hells, Ridge didn’t usually have time for them himself, and he was a lot less special than a king. He’d had to come in early this morning to get through his paperwork and see Wolf Squadron off before sending his aide to the staff meeting so he could make time for this.

  “A quickie?” came a woman’s voice from behind him. “He usually reserves those for me.”

  Ridge turned to find a smiling Captain Kaika walking up in uniform, a folder under her arm.

  “Oh? I can see where he would prefer your curves to mine, though I wouldn’t imagine that outfit inspires a lot of passionate tearing off of clothes.”

  “No?” She slid her finger down the buttoned flap. “The more that’s covered up, the more there is to tease a man’s imagination.”

  “If you say so.”

  “Trust my wisdom in these areas. You need to report to Angulus? Me too. Come on in.”

  Kaika patted one of the guards on the shoulder and walked between them. Neither protested her unannounced entrance.

  Ridge hazarded walking past after her without asking for their permission. The guards exchanged looks with each other but didn’t stop him or say they would have to check with the steward first.

  “Huh,” Ridge said, catching up with Kaika and walking at her side. “You’re like a walking key.”

  “I can get you in through the secret door at the Sensual Sage too.” She smirked. “In case you and
Freckles want to experiment.”

  “Freckles? That’s your name for Sardelle?”

  “It is.”

  “She’s a lovely, serene, and wise woman.”

  “With freckles.” Kaika turned toward the stairs that led up to the private suites.

  As Ridge followed her, it occurred to him that Angulus might not be delighted at seeing them walk in together. Even though he and Kaika had never dated, dallied, or spent any time together outside of work, he’d caught Angulus squinting suspiciously at him a few times when they’d traded jokes in front of him. As if it was Ridge’s fault that Kaika was as quick to make a snarky comment as he was.

  “You can go first,” Ridge said when they reached the office door. “I’ll wait.”

  “You’re going to wait outside while we have our quickie? Won’t the noise bother you?”

  “That’s not really why you’re here, is it?”

  She grinned wickedly at him, then knocked. “Nah, somehow I became the military liaison for Tolemek’s kidnapping case. I’ve got Bitinger’s report on the lab.” She held up the folder. “Not that his people found more than Freckles and I did.”

  The door opened, and two men walked out in blue velvet suits and puffy round hats that only someone in the nobility would wear. Their expressions seemed irritated—or perhaps constipated—so they must not have cared for how their meeting went.

  One of them bumped Kaika’s shoulder as they pushed past her and Ridge. The man curled a lip at her, as if his clumsiness was her fault. He opened his mouth, as if to inform her that soldiers should get out of the way when the nobility passed through, but he glanced at the open door behind him and didn’t say anything.

  “That is a man in need of a quickie,” Kaika announced as the pair moved away. She didn’t bother to speak quietly.

  Ridge almost asked if she was offering but noticed Angulus coming to the door and kept his mouth shut.

  Angulus started to smile when Kaika turned toward him, but he spotted Ridge, and his expression grew more masked. Ridge felt uncomfortable intruding on what had likely been the start of a private moment—it was good to know that Kaika could make the king crack a smile now and then—and he waved for her to go in first. His favor request could wait.

  But Angulus waved both of them in. “An update on Tolemek?”

  “Got the report from Intelligence, Sire.” Kaika walked in and laid the folder on his desk. “There’s nothing there that I didn’t already tell you about. Sardelle is more useful than that Bitinger was. Maybe you should ask her to work in Intel.”

  Ridge was busy being pleased by Kaika complimenting Sardelle—and calling her by name—and almost missed Angulus looking at him with raised eyebrows.

  “Unfortunately, I don’t have any other leads on Tolemek, Sire,” Ridge said, realizing the king thought he had something to report. That made him feel disingenuous, like he had been invited in under false pretenses. “I just sent Wolf Squadron out to look for suspicious activity along the coast, but we’re mostly hoping to get lucky.”

  “Hm.” Angulus opened the folder to look at the report inside. “I would like to recover him for reasons of national defense, of course, but I also feel responsible for this. It seems likely word got out about something he was working on for me, and someone decided to extract information from him.”

  “Or for me.” Kaika leaned her hip against Angulus’s desk. “That explosive was my idea.”

  “I doubt it’s about that. But Tolemek has worked on a number of secret projects for me, some employing very cutting-edge technology and biochemical methodologies. And he’s seen my rockets.”

  Ridge opened his mouth, but shut it again, biting his lip to keep from making the joke that begged to be made. It was almost as if Kaika read his mind, because she smirked over at Ridge, and then asked Angulus, “Should I be jealous about that? I thought we were practicing monogamy this summer.”

  Ridge rubbed his face to cover up the smirk tugging at the corners of his lips. If he’d made the joke, Angulus would have glared at him.

  Angulus merely raised an eyebrow at Kaika and said, “He saw my rockets this spring. Before you started visiting the castle.”

  “Oh, I guess that makes it acceptable then.”

  Ridge was proud of himself for keeping his mouth shut. Though he vowed to add visiting the castle to his repertoire of euphemisms.

  “They weren’t able to come up with a list of the contents of his vault, I see,” Angulus murmured, then looked up at Ridge. “I don’t suppose Lieutenant Ahn would be helpful in putting together a list?”

  “I can ask, Sire. I don’t think she’s particularly interested in his work though, so she may have never seen inside the vault. She calls his painstakingly crafted original formulas goos.”

  Kaika shook her head and folded her arms over her chest. “Pilots.”

  “What do you call them?” Angulus asked her.

  “Gunks.”

  “Much more erudite.”

  “You know what a scholar I am.”

  “Indeed. Did the guards have to remove many grenades and guns from you on the way in?”

  “Nah, I’ve learned to leave them in the officers’ billets when I come to the castle.”

  “I didn’t think you were comfortable having them so far away.”

  “I’m making sacrifices for you.”

  “I’m very appreciative.”

  Ridge rubbed the back of his neck and made a point of not looking at them or noticing how they were smiling slightly and gazing into each other’s eyes as they bantered. He wished he’d stayed in the hallway and was thinking of slinking out and waiting for Kaika to leave, no matter how long that took, before knocking again.

  “I got the architect’s drawings with the builder’s stamp of approval this morning,” Angulus said, shifting his attention to Ridge. “They’re ready to start tomorrow.”

  “For Bhrava Saruth’s temple? Good. I’m sure he’ll be pleased.”

  “How, by the blessings of all seven gods, did you get those people ready to build so quickly? Architects take weeks if not months to draw up blueprints. I’m aware of this because of the copious repairs I’ve had to have done to the castle this year.”

  “Er, yes, Sire,” Ridge said, trying not to wince as he remembered dropping off the sorceress who had wreaked havoc on his castle. Admittedly, Angulus had been the one to blow up that wine cellar or whatever it had been in the back, but it was all still Ridge’s fault.

  “I asked a question, Zirkander. Yes isn’t the appropriate answer.”

  Kaika snickered.

  “Uh, about how they got it done so quickly? I sweet-talked everyone, sir. Promises of beer, barbecues once the temple is built, offerings of dragon-god blessings and flier rides.”

  “So, they were more motivated by the notion of spending time with you and getting drunk than they were by the money I pay them?”

  “I don’t think they particularly care if I’m involved, Sire.” Why did Ridge feel like he was walking on quicksand? This was the last thing he’d expected to be tied to the train tracks for. He’d just been trying to get things done in a quick and efficient manner. “The dragon blessings were key.”

  “I doubt that,” Angulus muttered, sharing an exasperated look with Kaika. She merely shrugged.

  “I’m sure they’re being extra careful and taking more time for you because the castle is an important historical structure,” Ridge said, “and you’re obviously very important to please. It’s probably different with a temple for a dragon. If a stone falls from the ceiling and crushes someone in the temple, Bhrava Saruth can use his magic to heal that person.”

  “I’d say you’re an awful diplomat, Zirkander, but these finished blueprints suggest otherwise. At the least, you’ve got a gift for bribing people.”

  “That’s possibly true.”

  “Do you have anything else to report?” Angulus asked Ridge and glanced at Kaika, something in his eyes suggesting he anticipated spendin
g some private time alone with her before she left.

  “On Tolemek?” Ridge asked. “No, Sire. I actually came to ask for a favor, but I can wait in the hall while you two frolic between the sheets together. Or on the desk. Whatever is appropriate at lunchtime.”

  Kaika smirked. Angulus appeared less amused.

  “A favor?” he asked.

  “A small one, Sire.” Ridge slipped a hand into his pocket to surreptitiously rub his dragon figurine for luck. “I wouldn’t ask, but, uhm, I think my mother trusts you more than she does me.”

  “Why does that surprise me very little?” Angulus asked.

  “Because you’re the supreme ruler over the entire country, and I’m…”

  “Trying?” Angulus suggested.

  “Unconventional,” Ridge said.

  “Does she trust the cats more than she trusts you?” Kaika asked.

  “Likely so. The cats didn’t play pranks on her when they were younger.”

  “What’s the favor?” Angulus asked.

  He hadn’t issued a long-suffering sigh before asking, so Ridge chose to find that promising. “My mother has very recently had her beliefs shattered, first by stumbling across a dragon lying in my backyard, and then by having a sorceress—or sorceress-in-training—stumble across her. While performing magic.”

  Angulus tilted his head. “She didn’t believe in dragons?”

  “Or magic.”

  “But Sardelle…”

  “Hence my problem,” Ridge said. “Mom isn’t talking to Sardelle now, and she’s angry at me because she thinks we’re all playing some elaborate hoax to trick her into believing magic is real when it’s not, and—Kaika, stop smirking.”

  Kaika had her fingers pressed to her lips, but it didn’t matter. Ridge could still tell.

  “It’s really more of a grin, General,” she said.

  “Then stop grinning.”

  “I’m trying. It’s difficult.”

  “Are you saying you never told your mother Sardelle is a sorceress?” Angulus sounded genuinely surprised.