by Megan Derr
But all that came was the most awful scream he'd ever heard. When he opened his eyes and turned back around, the burned thing before him was barely recognizable as his grandmother.
All around the ship the mermaids screamed in outrage and agony, and Kin felt like screaming himself, dreading to know how many of his men were dead. His fault. Raiden should have listened and kept him on land!
He struggled to break free of the mermaids holding him, somewhat surprised when it proved easily done—and drew a sharp, pained breath when he realized too late they had done so only because one of them had stabbed him in the back.
Kin fell to the deck, unable to fight it when they lifted him and dumped him overboard, and he could not tell if it was being in the ocean or his dying that made it impossible to see. He tried to scream as the pain increased while he changed, body unable to handle both shifting and the wound.
He thought he heard something—a scream, a roar, but that was impossible. Something. He should do something. He couldn't believe he'd been stabbed in the back so easily after fighting so hard. Dragons eat those gods' forsaken mermaids!
An enormous splash drew his attention, and he felt something large and ponderous in the water. Had sharks come to feed? The great squids? But they would have come from below, not above. Before he could force his eyes open to try and figure it out, Kin felt himself swept up in—hands? Limbs? He didn't know, just felt something grab him and then they were moving.
They burst out of the water, and he struggled for breath even as his body struggled to change back after just changing, all the while struggling with a wound that should have … He should have already been dead. Kin started coughing as he was dropped unceremoniously onto the deck, heaving himself to his hands and knees, then reaching up with one hand to feel for his wound.
All he found was the puckered skin of a scar. He shivered as the cold struck him, even through the scales that lingered though the rest of him was back to normal. Kin shoved his hair out of his face and looked up at the same time he realized the ship was far too quiet.
His eyes widened in disbelief as he stared at the—that was a storming dragon. Kin squawked in fear and tumbled back onto his ass, then managed to clamber to his feet and back up several more steps. A dragon. There was no mistaking that form: long and sinuous like a snake, with ocean blue scales and hair of the same trailing down its head and neck. Its eyes were snake-like as well, swirling through all the colors of the sea.
Kin fell back to his knees, trembling. Dragons didn't exist anymore. The only dragons that ever had existed had been gods.
"Kyo!" Raiden's voice boomed out, making Kin jump. He watched, confused and dumbfounded, as Raiden strode up to the dragon as though it were perfectly normal and touched it. "Kyo, you must calm down."
What? Kin stared at the dragon again and slowly climbed to his feet. As confusion overtook his awe, he realized the dragon was far too large for his ship and was already making it creak and groan ominously. Men had already begun to gather up the bodies and prepare them for burial, and Krasny had come out to join Raiden.
"Calm down," Raiden said again, running his fingers along the dragon's snout.
In reply, the dragon merely shoved him aside with a sharp jerk of his head, and any other time Kin would have laughed at the way Raiden was so easily knocked off his feet. Kin recoiled when the dragon then abruptly lunged at him and butted against his chest, making a low growling sound. Absolute terror froze Kin where he stood as the dragon coiled loosely around him and finally rested its heavy head on his shoulder. Never mind the damned thing could practically fit Kin's head in its jaws.
"What in the name of—oh, storm that! What is going on, and why is there a dragon on my ship!"
"It's not 'a dragon'," Raiden said with a sigh. "It's his highness. He stole the Eye of the Storm from the crown prince and has had it on the ship the entire time. That is why we have had smooth sailing until now." He grimaced in annoyance as he picked up the scarf that had been knocked off when Kyo had shoved him. Free of the scarf, his midnight blue hair flew about his head and made Raiden look even younger. "Calm him down, Kin. When he panicked—"
"Why did he panic?" Kin cut in, still not quite certain he wanted to move, let alone figure out how to calm down a dragon that was apparently Kyo.
Raiden looked at him in surprise. "Because they threw you over."
Kin opened his mouth then closed it again. When he could finally speak, he said, "I am naked, wrapped up in a dragon that should be a prince, I don't know how much of my crew is dead, and those mermaids could return at any time. Would somebody please say something that makes sense?"
Sighing, Raiden raked his hands through his hair and said, "We need to calm him down. He lost control of his magic when you knocked him out. That is the reason for that storm. When he woke and came out here and saw you—that is when he lost complete control and the magic got the better of him. I do not think this has happened to a member of the royal family in a very long time."
"This has happened before?" Kin shouted the words, then froze when the dragon growled, cringing away from the snout that nudged against the side of his head. "Fix this now!"
Raiden glared at him. "Shouting about it won't help. He needs to calm down, and as long as you're agitated that won't happen."
"Why am I so special?"
Krasny finally joined the conversation by way of an amused chuckle. "Indeed. Where is Takara?"
"He passed out when Kyo changed," Raiden said. "The shock of so much magic was too much for him."
"Oh?" Krasny asked, cocking his head. "Why would his highness' secretary be overwhelmed by royal magic?"
Raiden gestured sharply with one hand. "Do not play games with me, Krasny. You are a master of magic. It shows in the ember glow of your eyes, the same way it shows in the dragon eyes that take over Kyo when he is not careful."
Kin drew a sharp breath, remembering that brief moment before he had knocked Kyo unconscious. His eyes had shifted. Slowly turning his head, Kin tried to look at the eye closest to him. It was too difficult an angle to maintain, but he managed long enough to confirm the dragon really was Kyo.
They all jerked when the door to the captain's quarters banged open and Taka stumbled out. He looked … awful. As though he had overindulged in wine the previous night and it would take him another full day and night to recover. His hair also did not look right: the sea green strands were threaded with hints of ocean blue, as though the green were a dye already washing away.
Kin knew he hadn't been in the water more than a few minutes, so why did it feel as though he had been gone a lifetime and the world had changed all around him?
Taka saw the dragon and fell to his knees. Kin was glad he wasn't the only one who had done that, as now Raiden would not be able to harass him later. If there was going to be a later. Kin wondered sourly when he was going to be permitted to put on clothes. "Is that—it can't—"
Raiden strode over to Taka and pulled him to his feet, holding him close, and it showed just how shaken he was that he did not pull out of the hold. "That is his highness," Raiden said quietly. "Perhaps you can calm him down."
"That—that's impossible."
Kin shot him a scathing look. "It had better not be! Get me out of here, or I swear I will throw every last one of you overboard with weights strapped to your feet!"
To his annoyance, Raiden laughed. "We will not be able to get you free if you keep making his highness think you are still in danger."
Kin opened his mouth then closed it again, not at all certain what he was supposed to say. Nothing made sense, and he was tired of trying to find sense anyway. He subsided, head throbbing, overwhelmed by the chaos around him: Kyo, all the men who had died, his poor ship. What else could do wrong?
He was pulled from his anxiously swirling thoughts by Raiden, Taka, and Krasny drawing closer to him. Kyo growled, his coils tightening around Kin and making him gasp for breath. "I don't think that's helping," he managed.
"Hear him?" Kin repeated, frowning. The strands of blue in Taka's hair had increased. What in the storms' was going on?
Kyo growled and leaned toward Taka, butting at his hand again. Taka placed both his hands, still trembling badly, on Kyo's snout. Tears streamed down Taka's cheeks. "I don't understand why I can hear him, why I can feel him. What's wrong with me?"
"Only that you have clearly been under a powerful spell for a very long time—you're entire life, I would wager," Krasny said softly. "It is fraying slowly, as evidenced by your hair. Shall I finish the job, or let it degrade on its own time?"
Taka looked at him, emotions flickering across his face, but Kin wasn't surprised when the one that settled was that stubborn tilt to his chin. "Finish it."
"Very well," Krasny said. "This is probably going to hurt." He reached into an inner pocket of his jacket and drew out one of the beautiful, delicate looking feathers that Kin had only glimpsed before when Kyo had opened Krasny's trunk.
Kyo growled, baring his teeth and lunging at Krasny, who stepped smoothly out of range. His eyes glowed a beautiful yellow-orange, the color of late afternoon sun just beginning to slip downward for the night. "I'm not afraid of you, dragon. If I can kill a god piece by piece, I can sure as Flames contend with you." Kyo drew back with another growl, and if Kin did not know better, he would swear Kyo was sulking.
Krasny moved in close to Taka, holding the feather lightly between two fingers at his side. "Let us see where the spell is attached, hmm?" He held up his free hand, fingers splayed, between them at the level of their necks. Speaking in that strange language everyone but Kin seemed to know, Krasny began to walk around Taka, moving his hand around Taka's body as though tracing the lines of it in the air.
He stopped abruptly when his hand moved over the small of Taka's back. "Takara, do you have a mark on the small of your back?"
Taka frowned. "A birthmark, yes, roughly shaped like a crescent moon. Why?"
Kyo growled, so loudly that Krasny could not immediately reply. Taka reached out and touched him, and Kyo calmed. Krasny then said, "It's not a birthmark—it's a spell mark. Someone cast a spell on you when you were but a babe, as I said before. Now brace yourself because a spell in place so long—even one already fracturing—is not going to break without complaint."
Nodding, Taka fisted his hands at his sides and lifted his chin again in that stubborn tilt. Kin could see why Raiden found him so appealing, beauty notwithstanding. He was completely unsurprised when Raiden reached out and took one of Taka's fists, unfolding it and then tangling their fingers together. Taka relaxed minutely, though he otherwise ignored Raiden.
Krasny seemed vaguely amused, but said only, "Brace yourself." Then he resumed speaking in that odd language, holding the fire feather up and pressing it against Taka's back as it seemed to burst into flame.
Taka screamed, and even Kin flinched back. Kyo roared in fury, coils slackening, falling away as he made to attack—
Then lightning flashed, thunder rumbled, and out of seemingly nowhere it began once more to rain. Another flash of lightning that made the world too bright, too sharp for a single moment, and suddenly the dragon Kyo was gone, and only the more normal Kyo remained. He was naked, save for a necklace around his neck …
And Kin realized abruptly there was not one Kyo upon the deck, but two. He stared at them, unable to believe what he was seeing. "Storms take it," he finally croaked, then cleared his throat. "Storms take it—they're twins!"
"Taka," Kyo whispered then fell over unconscious, head falling into Taka's lap.
Kin moved without thought, kneeling to pick him up and settling Kyo in his arms. After having been wrapped in the strength and power of Kyo as a dragon, Kyo seemed unbearably fragile in his arms. His skin was far too pale, and the skin beneath his eyes looked bruised. Silver gleamed at his throat, and Kin wondered how a necklace had managed to stay on when he had obviously lost everything else when he changed. Whatever was on the chain, he couldn't see, the weight of it having dragged it down to dangle behind him.
He walked away from the others, carrying Kyo to his own quarters and leaving Raiden to figure out the rest. Kin lay Kyo on his bunk just as he had a short time ago—a long time ago? How much time had passed since the mermaids attacked?
Settling Kyo in the bed, he tried to stand up—and then sat down hard on the floor as dizziness overtook him. He made it as far as sitting on the edge of the bunk before he just gave up. All that had transpired was clearly taking its final toll on him. He pondered going somewhere else, or just falling asleep on the floor, but in the end both were simply too much effort.
He lay out beside Kyo in the too-small bunk, practically laying atop him and had the fleeting thought as he passed out that it was going to be more than a little awkward when they woke up together naked in bed.
Chapter Eleven: Dead in the Water
Kyo groaned as he opened his eyes and promptly closed them again, wishing his throbbing head would cease to ache. What in the world had he done that his head felt as though someone were driving nails into it? He tried to remember and went cold when he realized he could not.
He also wanted to know why it was so storming hot. He made to shove away whatever was plastered against him—and his eyes popped open wide when he realized it was not a something, but a someone. He stared at Kin, felt his face burn. Kin was naked. So was he. What had they done last night? Why couldn't he remember it?
Panicking, Kyo scrambled up, crying out in pain when his head slammed into the top of the bunk, dropping back down and trying to curl up, whimpering as he covered the part he'd hit with his hands. Pain and fear watered his eyes. What had happened?
A hand landed on his side, making him jump and jerk back—and slam his head again into the wall behind him. "Easy," Kin said, and the sleepy gruffness of his voice distracted Kyo in all new ways—ways that promptly renewed his panic in the next breath. Succumbing to the panic, he shoved Kin so hard he toppled out of bed.
His necklace. Storms, his necklace. What if Kin saw it? Had he already seen it? Kyo tore it off and shoved it beneath a pillow, barely doing so before Kin sat up and braced his arms on the bunk, glaring at him. "What in the dragons' names was that all about?" Kin demanded.
"I want to know right now what is going on and what has been done to me!"
Kin glared at him, stormed to his feet—and Kyo flushed brilliant all over again as his position gave him a very close eyeful of the very last part of Kin he wanted to see right then. Or ever. Especially since it— He looked away, fighting an urge to pull up the blankets all around him and pitch another at Kin.
"Done to you?" Kin demanded. "How about what you did to me! You nearly tore apart my ship transforming like that, and you have the audacity to be angry with me!"
"Trans—what are you talking about?" Kyo asked, fear creeping through his veins like ice all over again, cooling his anger.
Kin stared at him, and Kyo felt a stupid, childish, pointless urge to rear up on his knees and throw himself at Kin, hold tightly, and somehow absorb comfort from that. Stupid, he repeated, and fisted his fingers in the bedding piled haphazardly around him. "Don't you remember?" Kin finally asked.
"I remember dinner," Kyo said slowly. "I remember …" He trailed off while he tried to figure out what he remembered. "Mermaids, I think. Yes, mermaids. I tried to help." Memory flashed, and he glared. "You knocked me out!"
His anger grew when Kin just smirked. "Aye, highness. Men who cannot obey Captain's orders are dealt with accordingly. You were dealt with."
"By what, stripping me and—and—what did you do!"
Kin stared at him coldly, voice positively frigid when he replied, "Nothing. I put you to bed and passed out next to you, exhausted aft
er having nearly died."
Something flickered at his words. An image. A memory? Blood. Kin going overboard. "They stabbed you," Kyo said hoarsely. "I r-remember that. I came out to help, saw them—" Pain shot through his head, and he began to tremble without knowing why. "I d-don't r-remember."
He jumped when he felt Kin's hand landed on his shoulders and reared back—but rather than wall, his head met a hand—Kin's cushioning him from yet another blow. They stared at each other, and Kyo was acutely reminded all over again that they were naked. He swallowed. "What happened?"
"A lot," Kin replied, slowly letting him go. "You don't remember anything else?"
Kyo licked his lips, wishing Kin would move away again because his being so close and naked was more than a little distracting. He hadn't realized people pierced their nipples. He really wished there was a way to order Kin to remove the gold hoops in his because they were distraction piled on top of distraction.
At least he hadn't seemed to have noticed the necklace. Kin wasn't ready for that revelation to come to the surface, not yet. Not ever. "No. I don't remember anything past that point."
"I see," Kin frowned. "That will make explaining everything a bit awkward."
"Just tell me."
Kin stared at him, mouth tight, then finally grimaced and said, "You turned into a dragon."
"What!" Kyo said. "That's impossible."
"I promise you, highness, that is exactly what happened. One moment I was bleeding out in the water, the next I was alive and whole and wrap—and on deck with you growling and attempting to tear apart my ship. Or what's left of it. Everyone left alive will testify to it. You turned into a dragon."
Kyo groaned and fell back on the bed, covering his face with hands. That was a myth, a family legend blown madly out of proportion. He had read through every account and found no evidence that they were true; the wild stories had simply helped keep order back in more turbulent times.
Had he really turned into a dragon? Had he truly let the magic get away from him so completely that it had taken control of him instead? But he could still recall that single memory, as though it were engraved in his mind—the mermaid grabbing the dagger, plunging it into Kin's back. The look of horror and pain and fear on Kin's face.
