She squeezed her eyes shut and kept going, past the pain and the exhaustion, pushing up through the water until she was certain – yes, certain – that the moon overhead was growing brighter. Then, suddenly, a black shape passed over it.
No! I need the light…
The shape dove lower and her panic sparked until a form grabbed her arm and started hauling her up, and when the moonlight pierced the water again, she could see dragon bands on the arm that pulled her and noticed another dark shape overhead – Daigo treading water.
Tyrus dragged her to the surface, and she broke through, sputtering and gasping. She struggled to fill her lungs, not noticing that he was still pulling her until her feet touched the bottom and the two of them stumbled from the sea onto the beach, and she collapsed there, heaving and shaking. Daigo huddled, soaked, beside her as Tyrus thumped her back, knocking water from her lungs and saying, “Can you speak? Moria?”
“I think…” she wheezed. “I think I need you to give me swimming lessons, too.”
He whooped a laugh, coughing at the end of it. Then he gathered her up in a crushing hug, and she collapsed against him, thinking she’d never felt anything so wonderful. And warm. Especially warm. He was as soaking wet as she was, but all she felt was the heat of his body.
“You’re all right?” he said.
She nodded against him and he brought her into a kiss, and if his embrace had been a warm blanket, this was a lick of fire, his mouth and his breath so incredibly hot that she wanted the kiss to last forever. And she would have let it, too, if she wasn’t so short of breath that she had to break off, coughing slightly before kissing him again.
“So you’re fine with this now, it seems,” she said as they parted.
“Gavril had his chance to explain, and he did not. Even if he had…” He pulled back, holding her hands. “I decided there was a line between being honorable and being foolish. If you want to be with me, then that’s your choice. Our choice. No one else’s.”
“Ah, so you’ve finally come to your senses.”
He laughed and embraced her. “Yes. Now, since we don’t dare start a fire still so close to Alvar’s compound, we need to find a way back to Lord Okami’s men, who will have dry clothing, before you freeze solid.”
“You were doing a fine job of keeping me warm a moment ago.”
“And I would love to continue that, but I fear it won’t be enough. So I’ll promise more later, if you want it.”
“I might. You’re rather good at it.”
A laugh. “Thank you. Now, if we continue down this beach, we’re bound to find a way back up the cliff…”
They did find a way up… or “up” found a way to them, as the cliff dwindled into a hill leading from the beach to the field beyond the forest. As they climbed the hill, Tyrus said, “I need to tell you a few things before we reach the men.”
He told her what had happened at the battle, how Lord Jorojumo’s men had turned on them, which she already knew. The aftermath, she did not. It seemed Gavril hadn’t lied about that after all. Tyrus was in exile, and she was branded a traitor.
But whatever Gavril’s claims, she was certain that he had known this all along. Which made another part of Tyrus’s tale all the more horrifying.
“They think I was Gavril’s… lover?” she said.
“They say you fell under his spell on your escape from Edgewood. Or perhaps in Edgewood itself.”
She sputtered a laugh. “Fell under his spell? Clearly whoever tells these tales does not know Gavril Kitsune very well. But that’s what they think. That I betrayed my empire and abandoned my sister and my bond-beast for my lover.”
“Yes, to anyone who has known you even for a moment, the story is preposterous.”
“Almost as preposterous as saying you’d fall under my spell, betray your empire, and run from battle. Your father will know that isn’t true.”
“My mother will, and I take comfort in that.”
“No,” she said, meeting his gaze. “Your father will.”
“I would like to share your confidence, but I don’t want to seem a fool for presuming. The truth is that it doesn’t honestly matter what my father thinks. Not as much as it should. My half brothers will spread this story as far as they can, as will their mothers. Those within the court know it is politically wise to side with them. They will rule one day; I will not. If my father defends me, it makes him seem a sentimental old man at a time when he can least afford that.” Tyrus lifted his bare arm, flashing his banded tattoos. “My father is truly of the dragon clan. He is strong-willed and brutal, but he’s also crafty and cautious. He knows when to defend his treasure with fire and fang, and when to lie low and outwit his opponents.”
“And your brothers are his opponents.”
“Yes, oddly, as much as they are mine. As long as he lives, he keeps them from the imperial throne. Succession is an ugly thing.”
“Which is one reason he favors you. Because you want nothing from him, least of all his death.”
He shrugged. “I won’t presume he favors me but, again, it wouldn’t matter if he did. Whether he thinks I could have done this thing or not, I can’t run to him for safe harbor. Which is why I went to Lord Okami.”
They crested the hill, then walked in silence before he cleared his throat.
“All of this is to say that your prince is no longer a prince. Taking an exiled traitor for a lover might not have the same appeal.”