CHAPTER FIFTEEN
I WONDER IF THE COASTAL cities of Athypsos'inar would fear Fraser Connell, Scourge of the Seas, if they knew he had a soft spot in his heart for hippocamps he could sail his ship through.
From Ozora’s personal journal.
“So then, this idiot says, ‘I can ride any beast you can!’” Fraser gave a modest lift of his shoulders, and turned his head self-effacingly. “I just let go of her reins, and invited Drein to try. I didn’t tell him to do anything, and I damn sure didn’t expect the fool to take me up on it.”
Five years ago, he’d told me he lived with his nereid family before coming back to land. He didn’t go into much detail; just that he’d come above the waves out of duty to them and to avenge his mother.
I hadn’t asked for more back then. Convinced we’d never last, I was content to let him tell me whatever stories he cared to share.
He did say he lived with an uncle who raised hippocamps a few times.
Gordon had confirmed it, told me that was why Fraser could be so confident about wrangling wild ones, because he’d done it before.
Which made him twice as bad in my eyes back then, and further justified my actions.
This Fraser, the one who grew up alongside the massive sea predators, would never have done the awful thing Gordon and I ‘discovered.’ He would never plan a round-up as Gordon insinuated, thus my long-held belief was a lie.
And then, there was Fraser’s revelation about a different story.
Who was Cordana? It was the first I’d heard the name, and his claim that Gordon told him this woman had come to me with tales of his infidelity made no sense.
I’d seen him rebuff more than one woman who’d slinked up to him in open invitation, even when he didn’t think I was around.
Never mind that Gordon didn’t once mention a woman.
Were we played for fools? That was bitter to accept, and seemed quite possible but, before we could find out, one of his crew had interrupted us on the dock.
By the time he’d emerged from below decks, in fresh clothes, the moment was gone.
It was easier to listen to his tales of the underwater ranch, and his time with the hippocamps, than ask why Gordon told us each a different tale.
Five years ago, I believed Gordon because we’d discovered Fraser’s plans together, but everything I’d heard this morning conflicted with what we uncovered. Somewhere in their stories were truths and lies. I just wasn’t sure how to untangle them.
We lingered in the café after breakfast and picked at the remnants.
“Let me guess: The mare savaged him?” I had to work at keeping my gaze on his face. Not let it wander to caress the hard bulk of his shoulders, softened under the folds of his linen shirt.
He’d changed in his quarters while I wandered the deck of Mayhem. As he climbed up the stairs from below in a billowy shirt under a light vest, wearing breeches that clung to his thighs, my heart did a little flip. Damn, he’s hot, ran through my head in an endless loop.
Hearing stories from his time on his uncle’s ranch showed me a Fraser I never knew existed, and made me hungry to hear more. I nodded silent encouragement to keep him talking so I didn’t have to; pretty sure anything I said would’ve come out as gibberish.
My gaze lingered over his coppery skin as he leaned in, and propped his elbows on the table.
Long black sleeves were folded and tied back to bare his arms, and under the table, my fingers twitched.
I’d hidden them to stop myself from reaching out to slide them along his sinewy forearm, and wondered if his skin still felt the same.
All the intervening years had not lessened his attraction. I tightened my belly to stop the tingles that fluttered there after being caught too long in his clear blue gaze. Humor bubbled in those gorgeous eyes but, whether it was for his story, or my wistful expression, I couldn’t tell.
“Close.” Fraser chuckled. “He made it into the saddle even with her shimmying all over, but then she whipped her head around faster than a striking sea snake. Got hold of his shoulder and yanked him off but dropped him when I told her to. Uncle Luvon still beat my ass.” He leaned away from the table, against the tall wooden seat back and sipped his coffee, both hands cupping the sturdy brown mug.
His eyes went hazy and distant for a moment while he swallowed, and I wanted with heart-stopping intensity to wipe away the sorrow that creased his brow.
As if he felt my energy shift, he put his mug down, then gave me his infamous grin.
“It was worth it to hear that son of a bitch squeal like a stuck grouper.” We both laughed, and the tension broke. “I let that mare shake him a few times, too, you know, like a shark will?” His face split with a wide, toothy grin as he shook his head. “Just to prove my point.”
“It would be a hard point to miss.” I chuckled, inwardly mortified.
Not that he’d let his hippocamp attack, but that I agreed with him.
Two weeks ago, I’d have bet any sum that I would never agree with Fraser Connell about anything.
Yet there I was, and he was right. The consequences were all on cousin Drein.
“Did Uncle Luvon realize you’d let the mare give your cousin a few good shakes? ”
“Why do you think he beat my ass?” Fraser spread his hands wide, mischief painted across his scruffy, half-day bearded face.
“Still worth it.” There it was. That little-boy smile that did me in every time.
“Drein never again tried to take my hippocamp. He was just jealous I was a better rider, and better at bonding with them.”
That’s what I wanted to hear.
“Can you tell me more about the bonding?” I asked him.
Okay, so I had an ulterior motive, and an assignment from Cassyrra.
Who also had some sharp words for me about Fraser before she sent me to the harbor.
++You are hindering his progress, not helping.
So you must make this right, and help him learn magesight before you can progress in your Adept training.
++ She knew very well that part of Journey mage training involved teaching new apprentices the basics, such as how to see numin.
I had no luck when I tried to explain the hurts and fears of a human heart to an ancient dragon.
It didn’t matter to her that being around Fraser was a trial, and he didn’t make it any easier.
Cassyrra was unmoved, even when I pointed out that he didn’t want to learn, and I didn’t want to teach him.
All she’d said was that we were well matched, with sharp draconic wit.
Then I got a sharper lecture, and my task.
++ Cleobah and I need your help with setting up the school, but first, you must settle your differences with Fraser.
This bickering between you two is pointless, and I’ll not waste my time with petty children.
I need adults who can shoulder this responsibility.
He’s bonded with hippocamps, go talk with him about that.
Come back when he can see numin, and you’ve learned something about his bonding.
++ Just like that, my fate was settled. I could teach him magesight, or fail out of this school before it even got started.
I’d no idea Adept training would be this difficult, and I briefly longed for my quiet, boring life in Emberglen. The irony left a sour taste in my mouth, as did the sure knowledge that I could help Fraser. I’d just been petty.
It was the dragon’s task sent me to him but, now listening to him, gave me a good idea why he couldn’t see the numinous energy.
“It’s...hard to describe.” Fraser’s eyes went soft and unfocused. “It’s this connection that you just feel.” He tapped his heart, then his head. “If you’re thinking about it up here, you’re doing it wrong.”
“Is it like when Cassyrra talks to you?” I asked. “Does the hippocamp talk to you?”
Once more, he picked up his coffee and leaned back. The wooden seat creaked under him as he shifted, and a frown passed briefly over his face. It seemed like he didn’t want to answer as he turned to look out to the street beyond the café’s window.
“Hippocamps are intelligent, and they certainly think for themselves, but they’re not—” I could tell he wasn’t thinking about my question anymore, from the way his jaw tightened and his distant response.
The way he cut himself off before he finished his thought indicated he was clearly distracted, and when his eyes narrowed, focused on a pair of sailors, I had my answer.
They turned down the cross street at the corner, and quickly disappeared from view.
Fraser leaned forward abruptly to set down the mug. His fingertips tapped out a quick rhythm on the table. “I’ll, uh, be right back.” He slid across the bench seat and stood, then turned back, gripping the sides of the table with both hands and leaning in close to my ear.
“Do me a favor? Stay here. Please.” I’m pretty sure his teeth ground together as he uttered the last word. “Be right back, five minutes tops.” Then he spun, headed out the door, and down the same cross street where the two men had disappeared.
“Dammit, Fraser,” I muttered. He’d cut himself off at the start of his explanation, and we still needed to pay. He was out of sight before I could call the server over, and strolled back up the street as I left the café.
“Did you catch them?” I asked.
“Old friends. Just wanted to say hi.” His answer was easy, breezy, but the tense lines around his mouth and hard look in his eyes said different.
Unless I was going to flat-out call him a liar, I had to accept his words.
He fell silent but his eyes never stopped searching the streets, as if he might spot them again.
“Let’s go back down to the harbor. I have an idea for getting your magesight to kick in,” I suggested. There didn’t seem to be much chance of getting him to talk about his bonding, so I asked about something even more controversial.
“What really happened between you and Prince Pulcheria?” It was a topic we’d never broached, and I dropped the question into the quiet as we walked along the brick-lined street toward the harbor.
I wasn’t entirely sure of his response but, it was a far less risky topic than asking him about the mysterious Cordana.
I wasn’t ready yet to discuss our past; I was afraid it would spiral out of control and I didn’t want to risk our fragile truce.
Not too many people were out and about this early, and the street was empty but inside the buildings shop workers prepped for the day. At the end of the street, the harbor glittered golden in the sunlight streaming from behind us as the sun rose higher in the sky.
He slid a slow, narrow glance at me but I didn’t look away.
Fraser’s claim to Hastrior after the prince’s mysterious disappearance was met largely with indifference, then mild approval, except for a small group of nobles, including Taenya’s family.
Prince Bartholomew Pulcheria was a wealthy ruler and patron of the arts but, as is common with men of means, with a reputation for less-than-savory activities.
“Finally brave enough to ask?” His sparkle was back, as was the roguish tilt of his lips, a clear signal my query didn’t strike any sensitive spots.
“I figured at this point it’s not the worst thing I’ve asked,” I said with a self-deprecating chuckle.
“I didn’t kill him. No matter what the rumors say,” he paused, took a deep breath, “but I was there when he took himself out.” He finished with some solemnity, as if it still had an effect on him, and his answer sent an echoing ripple of shock through me that slackened my jaw.
“Why? Would he do...that?” I had to know. “He wasn’t well liked but—” I paused, long enough for Fraser to lift his eyebrows. “—he was rich. He had everything, and didn’t seem to care people didn’t like him much.”
“Because he was breeding hippocamps, and enslaving nereids to do it.” Fraser’s bland words ripped through my soul.
Such a simple sentence, with immense, devastating implications.
No one in Hastrior would stand for such an abuse of his power, let alone one dangerous nereid raised on a hippocamp ranch.
“The conditions he kept them in were...horrific. So I stopped him. Pretty simple actually.” A slow, rueful smile barely lifted the corners of his mouth, as if he both relished and regretted his actions.
“Once he understood I intended to bring him back here and tell everyone what I found, he chose...his own way.” He paired his last words with a brief, dismissive flick of his fingers.
We walked for several moments in silence, through some of the more populated streets, where there was more foot and wagon traffic.
The clatter of the remaining townsfolk dimmed as I considered all he’d said.
It took me a moment to find my voice, and even then, all that squeaked out was an incredulous, wordless cry.
Nereids partner with hippocamps, they don’t force them; the idea that anyone would use enslavement, coercion, to turn a profit made me nauseous.
“It was worse than you can imagine,” Fraser said, guessing at my thoughts. “And part of an extensive network. I hunted down several other breeders before I rooted out the entire ring.”
Realization struck like lightning. “That’s why you had Skirmisher fitted.
..” My voice trailed off weakly, while he simply pressed his lips together and nodded.
We both avoided meeting the other’s eye but, fortune smiled on us; we’d reached Mayhem.
I was speechless as he strode up the ramp, leaving me with all my shattered illusions of the last five years.
“Don’t worry,” he said, from halfway up the gangway, “I got all of them, and saved the ‘camps and nereids.” His half-grin was back, and his mood lightened.
“Fraser to the rescue,” I answered his grin with one of my own.
“You should come aboard to wait,” he said with a quick jerk of his head. “Don’t tempt the riff raff near the harbor.” He didn’t wait around to see if I followed, just finished striding up the ramp and disappeared below decks.
I took the time while he was below decks to plan how I would approach teaching him magesight.
I hoped this Fraser, the one who could tease about the prince, and hippocamps, would be open and willing to try my suggestions.
I was certain I could teach him if only he would cooperate.
The last couple hours spoke well for my chances but, I also sent a quick prayer to Oone for luck.
Fraser might not care about being a mage but to me it was everything.