Chapter Thirteen #2
Ysolde sent him off with the remainder of the wine and her good wishes. “Let us know if you need help in the Duat. Baltic may grumble about taking a portal, but I think he’s worried about Bael.”
“He should be,” was all Yrian answered after thanking her for her assistance.
He arrived at the riverboat named Wepwawet just as the gangway was being retracted, the boat obviously about to start its journey from Cairo through the Duat, and thence to the destination with Maat, who would weigh the passengers’ souls upon arrival.
He’d learned all this from the First Dragon, and although at first the ferryman Kherty didn’t want to allow him on board, all it took was Yrian unleashing his fire on the upper deck to make the ferryman change his mind.
“You will pay for the refinishing of the deck,” Captain Kherty said, his mustache bristling with indignation as he looked around at the scorched planks. “In addition to the cost of your cabin.”
“That is immaterial. What matters is my mate, Becket. Where is she? Is she on board? Have you seen her?”
“Becket?” Kherty frowned, his prodigious eyebrows pulled together in a way Yrian found oddly menacing. His fire rose in reaction to it, but he beat it back, feeling he’d made his point already. “I do not recognize that name. Akbar!”
A minion ran up, still holding a fire extinguisher, his eyes wary when he glanced toward Yrian. “Yes, Captain?”
“Do we have a passenger named Becket on board?”
The minion consulted his tablet device. Yrian couldn’t help but wonder what sorts of cat videos they might have in the Duat, but instantly dismissed that thought as unimportant.
First, he must find Becket, following which he would destroy Bael, and only then would he and Becket see what sorts of videos were available.
“I don’t have anyone listed by that name, sir. ”
“There you are,” Kherty said, and added, “There is already a champion on board for the trials, but he will no doubt welcome your assistance.”
“There is also a wrath demon on board,” Yrian said, stopping the ferryman before he could leave. “Its name is Furcand. It kidnapped my mate and brought her here.”
“A demon?” Kherty looked at him as if doubting his sanity. He’d seen that look far too often over the last two years. “How could a demon get into the Duat?”
Yrian spat out one word. “Kashi.”
“I do not know this name, either,” he replied, taking a step away, obviously losing interest in the conversation.
“He is known now as Bael, and has imbued his power into Furcand,” Yrian said, his fingers twitching with the need to find Becket.
Kherty was silent for a few seconds, then said, “That name is known to me, unfortunately. Very well. I don’t see how a demon could reach the Wepwawet without my crew or me being aware of its presence, but assuming it has, we will conduct a search of the ship for both it and your mate. I will alert you if we find the demon.”
Yrian watched as the ferryman and his minion strolled off, his mind turning over the possibilities. There was only one way into the Duat, and that was on the Wepwawet. Which meant if Kashi was having Becket brought to him, she had to be on board.
“If she’s here, I will find her,” he said to no one, and after dropping their luggage at the cabin the ferryman had grudgingly placed at his disposal, he began to search.
The passengers were less than thrilled at his demands to inspect their cabins, but only one gave him any real trouble.
“You can’t come in here!” the man snapped, his glare prodigious. “This is my cabin. I paid for it!”
“My mate has been kidnapped—” Yrian started to explain, but when the man slammed the door shut in his face, he decided to take matters into his own hands.
So to speak.
He shifted into dragon form, kicked the door off one of its hinges, and stomped into the cabin, the door hanging crookedly behind him.
The man squawked, but after Yrian checked the bathroom for signs of Becket, he marched out, shifting back into human form as the man shouted obscenities after him.
“There’s a problem with his door,” Yrian told a crewman who came running at the noise, then blithely continued his search.
It wasn’t until he reached the hold that the increasing sense of worry that gripped him was suddenly eased.
He could feel her presence. It was an awareness that was foreign to him, but he accepted it just as he accepted the fact that Becket had found her way into his benighted heart.
“Becket?” he said loudly, squinting through the dim light at all the trunks, crates, and luggage, and even a motorcycle, that crowded the hold. The air in it was stifling and stale, and he had a sudden surge of panic as he thought of Becket being confined there.
A muffled thumping caught his ears, and it was only a matter of a few seconds before he located her in a massive leather and wood trunk. He all but ripped the lid off it, relief driving away the fear as he gazed down on a red-faced, sweating, furious Becket.
“You are my mate,” he told her, lifting her out from where she’d been crammed into the trunk, his hands on her waist as she tried to stand but crumpled when her legs failed. He removed the gag that had been tied across her face, his fingers gentle on the red marks left on the corners of her mouth.
“What a—oh my god, the pins and needles have started, ow, ow, ow!—what a bizarre thing to announce while rescuing me,” she said, clutching his arms as he helped her over to sit on a packing crate.
“You were unclear on the subject before,” he told her, struggling to leash his fire, lust, and need to reassure himself that she was not harmed. “But by now, it should be clear to you that we are meant to be mated. I felt it was important you know that fact, hence why I mentioned it.”
She gave a hiccuping sort of laugh as she slid a glance upward at where he stood, one protective hand on her back.
“How very thoughtful of you to keep me informed. No, thank you, I don’t need you to carry me.
If I take your arm, I think I can walk out all the pins and needles.
How did you find me? Where are we? Are we in the Duat? And did you catch Candy?”
Slowly, he helped her exit the hold and climb the two flights of stairs to the cabin deck. “Technically, yes, we have started the journey to the Duat. We destroyed the demon named Andromalius, but could not find the one who took you. No, this way. The ferryman has given us a cabin.”
“What about Candy?” she asked as they made their way to the bow of the ship.
“We have not caught that demon, no. You are certain it was that one, and not another? Christian dispatched many demons during your performance, and his guard didn’t get a good look at the one who took you,” he said, a new worry moving to the top of his mental list.
“Yes, it was Candy who drugged me.” Becket rubbed the side of her neck.
“I woke up about an hour ago. I thought I was in a coffin at first, but then realized I wouldn’t be folded up like a fortune cookie.
Thank god you found me. I really need to pee, and thought I might have to just give in and go if you didn’t find me. ”
“You were that confident I would come after you?” he asked, pleased that she had such faith in him.
“Of course. You’re an honorable man, Yrian.
You promised to guard me, so I knew that you’d come after me, and since there was really nowhere else that Candy would take me, I was pretty sure you’d look here for me,” she said as they entered the room.
“Oooh, this is nice! We have views on both sides. I take it you haven’t searched for Candy on the ship? ”
“Not for that specific demon, but I will,” he answered, releasing her so she could use the toilet.
“Whew! So much better,” she said, emerging from the room a few minutes later to accept the glass of sparkling water he poured for her. “Oh, that’s perfect; I’m more than a little parched. Right, now what?”
“Now I must claim you, since we have been parted,” he said, removing his clothing before peeling back the blankets from the bed.
“You wha—ooh!” Her eyes widened at the sight of him, her gaze crawling over his chest, arms, belly, and, finally, rod. “Man alive, Yrian! You are drop-dead gorgeous. Your legs—”
“No,” he told her, deciding that the time spent in the overly hot hold had scrambled her wits a bit, and accordingly assisted by stripping her of the now-dusty clothing.
He had her naked and onto the bed in a few seconds, his hands instantly taking possession of her delectable breasts.
“There is no time for the cataloging of the parts of me that you enjoy looking at. Now is the time for claiming, following which I will allow you to admire my chest and rod, after which I will take my turn admiring your parts. Particularly your breasts and hips.”
She laughed, her hands warm on his arms as he bent to breathe fire on her chest. “You’re the only man I know who can look so stubborn at the same time you clearly want to indulge in some really steamy sexy time.”
“You are my mate,” he said.
“Yeah, that’s still up for debate, despite that tattoo-mark thing you put on me,” she said, then sucked in her breath when he rubbed his cheeks against the undersides of her breasts.
She had admitted the night before that the sensation of his stubble on her breasts and thighs nearly made her come unglued, and although he wasn’t quite sure of what an ungluing consisted of, her reaction indicated it was a goal he needed to achieve.
“Regardless, I admit that lovemaking sounds pretty good to me. Only ...”
He knelt between her legs, lifting one to press hot kisses along her thigh, glancing up at her obvious hesitance. Before he could ask her what gave her pause, she made a face.
“I know you like to see the real me, but if I can’t apply a glamour here—”