Chapter Thirty
Laurie
I sat up, pulling my gaze away from the sky, eager for a look at Rip’s home. He hadn’t given me much to go on, and it wasn’t at all like I’d expected.
“You live there?” I gaped as we descended fairly rapidly toward a huge curved structure, the inside of it filled with water that ran through the arms out into a vast ocean.
The huge building appeared to be made from some sort of coral-colored stone, the individual blocks becoming visible the closer to the ground we got. Banners and streamers of a thousand colors hung from windows or doorways, flapping in the salty breeze from the sea.
Everywhere I looked, people went about their day, wandering along the huge shoreline encompassed by the structure or the village that extended out beyond its landward edge. A market square bustled with vibrant life, and the sounds of vendors hawking their wares soon reached my ears.
Mothers dawdled along with their children while groups of heavily armed dragon-men—they were neither human nor dragon, but some sort of mix—marched here and there, patrolling the town.
As I watched the shallow bay enclosed by the giant fortress, people gathered near a floating barge before it began to move to the center of the open space, where it joined several others. An infant’s cry reached my ears, followed by cheers from one of the covered sea craft.
“Yes,” Rip said proudly. “This is my home. Welcome to the Tidal Bastion, heart of my clan. We have other settlements along the coast and even a few upriver, but this is our capital, I suppose you would call it.”
“There are so many of you,” I observed as we swooped over a lane, a gaggle of children no more than five or six chasing after us, cheering as they waved.
I waved back, which seemed to make their day.
Elsewhere, however, I noticed a growing number of stares directed our way.
“A lot of people are looking at us,” I said softly as we came in for a landing on the fortress's interior, the beach no more than a couple of hundred feet away. I could hear the soft splash of waves against the shore in the background.
“They’re looking at you,” Rip corrected, extending a wing for me to climb off. “Well, most of them are. I’m sure some are glad to see me back.”
I debarked the dragon, patting him on the side. “Thanks for the ride. I forgot my wallet, though.”
Rip snorted, a much more intimidating sound when it came from a dragon, and then he swiftly changed back to his human form. “I’m sure I can think of a way for you to pay your fare,” he said under his breath.
My cheeks reddened at the carnal undertones, knowing exactly what he meant. “Behave,” I chastised. “We’re in public.”
“Not just public,” he said, coming up to take my arm. “This is the Coral Palace. Better be on our best decorum.”
“Says the guy who was just insinuating I should suck his dick for cab money,” I fired back.
“I never said such a thing,” Rip denied innocently. “You must have something on the brain, though. I won’t argue if that’s how you want to pay.”
“Pervert.”
“Guilty.”
I chuckled, following his lead as he took us up a set of broad stairs to twin bronze doors. A single guardsman came to intercept us.
“Hello, Roez,” Rip said.
“Good day, sire,” the guardsmen said.
“How are you? How’s Lily and the little one doing?”
The guardsmen clearly fought back a smile. “Doing great, sire. Thank you for asking. She’s taking to being a mother like an angel.”
“Good, glad to hear it. How is being a father?”
Roez was silent for a second. “Life-changing, sire. Life-changing.”
“So I understand,” Rip said, clapping the guardsman on the arm. “Tell your sergeant to have you relieved immediately. I want you off duty for the next seven days. I don’t want to see your face anywhere around here unless it’s with your mate and child in tow. No argument. Got it?”
Roez came to sharp attention. “Yes, sir!”
“Good. Now, Suh is in the War Room?”
Roez nodded. “Last I was informed, yes, sir.”
“Good. Please have someone inform him we will be there shortly,” Rip said.
“Of course. Where shall I inform them you are going first?”
Rip moved past Roez, pulling me along. “To see an old friend,” he said quietly as Roez rushed past to open the door.
I walked at his side as we entered the palace, trying not to let myself get too distracted by the beautiful tapestries displayed on the walls.
“You know everything about that man,” I noted.
“Roez is a good guardsman,” Rip said. “Just became a father less than a week ago. He shouldn’t be back on duty yet. He should be at home, enjoying this change in his life. I’ll have to make sure I spell that out to his sergeant. He shouldn’t have been back yet.”
I looked away, smiling broadly at the care in Rip’s voice. I had never seen the prince version of him before. Already, I liked what I saw. A lot.
We walked along a corridor, passing numerous others as we went. Rip exchanged greetings with all of them by name, though he didn’t spend any time chatting as he had with Roez. It was clear he had somewhere he needed to be.
When we came to a door marked with a red cross, I suddenly knew.
“Is this a hospital?”
“Yes,” he said distractedly, pushing open the door. “The attack left one of my Lords, a good friend, in bad shape.”
We entered and were immediately ushered to the bedside of a man covered in bandages. His right arm was missing below the elbow, and large chunks of his legs and torso were lumpy as if chunks below the bandages were missing.
“Crest,” Rip said, gripping the man’s left hand as he let go of mine. “Damn.”
The man didn’t respond. He was unconscious. A nurse came over, looking at me strangely. I wanted to give her a look back, but she held no hostility in it, only curiosity.
It’s because you showed up on the arm of their prince. You’re probably a scandal already.
“How is he?” Rip asked, not tearing his eyes away from his old friend.
“He’ll recover,” the nurse said cautiously. “But it will take time. His arm is, obviously, never coming back.”
“At least it wasn’t his dominant arm,” Rip said in relief. “That would have destroyed him.”
The nurse didn’t say anything, but I could sense her disdain for the focus on fighting. Rip either didn’t notice or didn’t care.
“I will return,” he said, clasping Lord Crest’s hand once again before rising. “Come,” he said, striding into the hallway, where a guardsman waited for us. “Assemble the Lords of the Deep. We must find a way to deal with Crest's absence.”
The guardsman ran off to do as he was told. Rip, meanwhile, guided me down a different hallway.
“Where are we going?” I asked, still taking in the new side of Rip. I’d seen him be in charge before, that instinctual command, but not in such a setting.
The way his soldiers respected him was another positive I noted. An important one because it showed me that he treated them well enough to earn that respect. That was the sign of a good man and one who would, I hoped, translate into being a good father.
“The War Room,” he said. “We have to figure out a long-term response to Crest being out of commission.”
“Is he that important?”
“Yes. He wields one of the more potent weapons to fight the ancient enemy, and without it, our northeastern flank is more vulnerable. The enemy will know this. But will they strike there, or wait for us to reinforce Crest’s area, then strike elsewhere? This is what we must decide.”
I wanted to ask more, but before I could, we rounded a corner and found ourselves entering what I gathered was the War Room. The noise washed over me, and I abruptly found myself lost to Rip as he immersed himself in the defense of his realm.
Lost, but not forgotten. His arm never dropped, and he never let me go. But it was his show, and for the moment, I had to take a back seat. That, I accepted, would also be part of a life spent with Rip.
Could I handle it?