Chapter 6 #2
“Fantastic! I’ve waited so—” Gavin starts to flail and sink. I grab him by the forearms to keep him above water. “You’ve just made all my dreams come true, Kyler.” The prince blinks, and a tear rolls down his cheek.
I don’t know what to think of that. “I was actually on my way to find you. Lucky me that you fell right into my arms.” My cheeks burn. I don’t know why I flirt.
Gavin’s eyes grow wide before he laughs, which turns into a coughing fit. Once he settles and can breathe again, he says, “Sorry. Still getting the seawater from my lungs.”
I know exactly what that’s like and I’m not looking forward to it.
“I suppose I did just drop in on you.” Gavin smiles and gives a little snort. “So you’ve considered helping me?”
I lift just enough to say, “I have.”
“Excellent. I can give you all the riches you can dream of once we bring the phoenix stone to His Majesty.”
“I can dream of a lot. But that money isn’t even yours. It’s—” I don’t even know why I say the words. I need coin to fund my life away from Vex.
Gavin smiles. “Okay, I can owe you a favor. Anything in my power to grant is yours once we retrieve the phoenix stone.”
A favor I can work with. “Deal, but no one else knows I’m a mer.”
“No problem.” Gavin’s lips twist. “I have a second proposition, if you’re open to it. Since we’ll be on a grand adventure together, anyway.”
“Yes?” I eye him wearily.
“I think you can help me get out of my arranged marriage. If you’re willing.”
My brows come together. “What do you mean, get out of the marriage?”
“I’m not important in the line of heirs, and His Majesty’s insistence on the marriage has always…
grated on me.” Gavin’s beautiful silver eyes turn stormy gray.
“I wouldn’t usually share the level of rage I have about having my entire future stolen from me.
Just know I’ve been promised freedom, and Leander hasn’t delivered.
So I’m taking things into my own hands.”
“But what will happen if you break the alliance?” I don’t want to be in the middle of starting a war. “And if you’re so unimportant, why have you marry the princess instead of one of your brothers?”
Gavin swallows. “I hate thinking about this part. I’m eggborn.”
“I don’t understand what that means.” My brows knit together again. I adjust my grip on him. Despite the captain being a dragon, I’m not knowledgeable about the different birth types of dragons. “I’m guessing being eggborn means you survive otherwise deadly wounds?”
Gavin chuckles. “None of this information is secret. But, yes, that’s something we can do.
There are reasons to choose an egg birth over a live birth.
One, it’s less painful. Two, it strengthens the dragon.
Because the child is born a dragon instead of a human.
My skin feels soft to the touch, like any human, but it’s strong as steel, except, as you’ve seen, not protection against magic cannons rigged by pirates.
They play dirty. My scales can morph to dagger edges at will.
My fire burns hotter, and I have a longer range of fire breathing power. ”
I grimace, understanding. “You’re a war machine.”
Gavin nods and tips his head back. “I was born specifically for the alliance with Avondra. After they helped Lane win the war against the necromancers of Lovan before I was born, they demanded an eggborn to be married to their princess. They outlawed eggborn centuries ago and have become more human than dragon. So they need a true dragon shifter on their side if they hope to win what they’ve started with the wolves of Farerk. ”
At this, I cock my head. “Why would they outlaw egg births if it’s so much easier?”
The widest grin pulls at Gavin’s lips. “I love all your questions. Eggborns are thought to be more aggressive, which isn’t entirely true. But the problem is, they can get stuck in their dragon. Which can cause problems if they forget that they’re also human.”
“Oh.” I sigh. “Then how can I help you get out of the marriage? It sounds like you’re solidly stuck in place, especially if you’re supposed to help fight a war.” At least I have a kernel of hope for my freedom.
Gavin drops his head back again, exposing his throat. I have to keep my thoughts from wandering into dangerous territory.
“That’s where you’re wrong. There’s one situation, no matter the realm, that dragons respect beyond promises and alliances. A pair-bonding.”
“That is a big ask.” I shake my head.
Gavin holds up a hand as if to stop me from refusing. “It can be faked. I’m not asking you to give up your entire life. Just play a part for the month. And I’ll owe you another favor.”
I lick my lips. “Another favor?”
“Exactly like the first. Anything within my power I’ll give you in return for doing this for me after we break the contract.”
Two favors? Two.
I hold out my hand.
“Deal.”
Gavin takes my wrist. “Deal. Glad to have you on board.” He nods toward the shore. “Now let’s get to land. I’m starting to prune.”
But there’s an unsolved problem. “How does one fake the bond mark? You’ll at least need one by the time we get to land since you’re naked.”
“Ah. Right.” Gavin holds up his hand. “May I?” He waves to my shoulder.
I nod, curious to see what he’ll do.
He slides his hand under my collar, pulling an embarrassing gasp from my lips. Then a hiss escapes me as magic burns through my skin.
“Sorry, I know it hurts. But it’ll be over… now.” As soon as he says the last word, the pain stops. He gives himself the same treatment.
I watch as what looks to be a bite mark appears on my shoulder.
“And we’re fake bonded.” Gavin leans in to kiss one cheek, then the other.
I blink back at him, stunned. What the sea stars? Is that a normal custom? And how could I get a kiss on the lips instead?
Gavin doesn’t seem to notice my confusion and grasps one of my hands. “I suppose I should let you go so we can swim to shore? I feel recovered. Refreshed even.”
“Even after being shot with battle magic?” I can’t imagine.
“Eggborn. Battle magic like that is child’s play for someone like me.”
I shiver at the thought. If Gavin can’t get out of the marriage, he’ll bring so much destruction.
I release him, and we swim in silence for the most part. Gavin seems to examine the way my body moves. I don’t hate it. In fact, I love the prince’s attention on me so much I have to think gross thoughts to keep my haze at bay. I don’t know what I’d do if my haze affected him as we swim.
By the time we make it to shore, the sun is high in the sky, probably past noon.
While Gavin crawls onto land and kisses the sand, I take a deep breath, then pull myself onto the beach by my forearms until just my tail stays in the water.
I flip over to sit on my backside. The blue of my tail glitters in the sun.
Greens and violets dot the length of my scales and fan out through the massive spray of my fin.
Gavin’s eyes light up. He looks at me, then back at my tail, practically begging to touch. I give him a slight nod before pressing my hands to my gills. “Don’t take too long. I can’t breathe out of water when I’m like this.”
Gavin nods and lunges toward me. The gentlest touch grazes my tail where my knee would be if I had legs. The touch trails down to my fin. I flick water at him and he gasps.
“Magnificent.”
“You won’t think that for much longer.” I flop onto my back, gathering a fistful of sand in each hand and rubbing it in my hair.
Of course, I send grains into my eyes. Luckily, my second eyelid helps blink it out of the way.
I throw another fistful of sand on my tail and rub.
Then I squeeze my eyes shut. I don’t want to watch the horror morph over Gavin’s beautiful face.
My tail shortens. I know the outline of legs is visible before the skin-ripping pain of separation hits me. I bite my lips to keep from crying out. I rake my hands into the sand, anything to keep myself from focusing on what’s happening below my waist. The process takes too long, in my opinion.
Gavin gasps, and I open my eyes to look at him, silently begging him not to watch. But it isn’t Gavin. I hadn’t heard his guard approach.
“Fuck,” Damon whispers.
It’s like a knife splitting me open from the groin to the tips of my toes until finally my legs are free from each other.
Blood pools below me as my skin heals, but the blood loss makes me weak.
Becoming human is worse than shifting to mer.
So much worse. My whole body shakes as I try to breathe through the aftershocks. But air won’t come, not until…
A gurgle fills the air as my lungs finally push the water back out. I shoot up and spew the water to my side. Once the onslaught is over, I cough, making my throat even more raw.
“Skies,” Gavin breathes out.
My stomach churns as I wipe my mouth. I hate anyone witnessing my shift to human. And now two people have witnessed after I only wanted Gavin to know my secret.
“I had no idea,” Gavin says.
“Why would you?” My voice comes out harsh, raw.
“What the blazing skies happened, Gavin?” Damon asks, his eyes zoning in on the fresh mark on Gavin’s shoulder.
“We pair-bonded, obviously,” Gavin says.