Chapter 62:

  The row boat had to be the most beautiful thing she had ever seen, after the Tooth. Ael put her hand on her wife’s shoulder, offering comfort to the siren who still wept in the sand. At this rate, she was going to weep enough to fill the ocean.

  “It looks like Evander and Dymion in the boat,” Ael told her wife, trying to distract her. “I ought to strap him to the mast, what kind of first mate leaves the ship when the captain is missing?” But her tone was light and teasing, and Nereida finally looked up with a watery smile.

  “The kind who cares about his Admiral,” she replied, wiping at her tears. “So much so that I thought you and he were married.” Ael felt suddenly like she had choked on her tongue at her wife’s admission.

  “Oh dragon’s bloody cws, no!” she excimed. Nereida was chuckling at her expense. “You really thought that?”

  “Bassi set me straight.” Ael tried not to make a face at the very idea of her and Evander together. He was as close to a sibling as she’d ever had.

  “Good,” she replied with a grumpy expression. She looked down at her wife, and let her mischievous side slip through. “I’m as married to him as you are to Basiano.” Nereida did shudder at that.

  It seemed to take forever for Evander and Dymion to reach shore. Ael arranged their egg between them, pcing her gently in the sand where she would not be immediately noticed. She wasn’t sure what to say to the men, to anyone really, about the egg. She considered just hiding it, but not from Evander and Dymion. Besides, she knew she was unconvincing at best when she tried to lie. No, better to pull the thorn out right away and simply tell them.

  Nereida, finally standing beside her wife instead of kneeling in the sand, was practically vibrating with excitement when the two men jumped from the boat and pulled it ashore. Both men had their trousers rolled up to their knees and wore no shoes. They had only just beached the boat when Nereida went flying toward them, tackling them both, one with each arm. She was crying, again, but at least this time they seemed to be happy tears.

  “Touchy feely Princess,” Evander said fondly. He squeezed her back. “Ya’ll are fine now.”

  The Admiral gred at her first mate.

  “Why the hells are YOU here?” she demanded. “Who’d you leave in charge?” She crossed her arms, gring fiercely. Once, that would have had her first mate jumping from his skin. Now, Evander ughed -ughed!- and shook his head mirthfully.

  “Left the Countess in charge,” he replied. She blinked at him stupidly, her mind reeling. There was no countess on her ship. Who in the five hells was he bthering about? Seeing her bewilderment, Evander snickered. “Your heir, since ya be wed an’ all.”

  “Heir?” She repeated, feeling dumber by the moment. Was she still caught in her fever-dream-visions? Her heart raced as she tried to reassure herself that she was really standing on the beach, that the Tooth was here. Her breath came faster.

  “Epelda,” Nereida said from behind her. A life raft; Nereida was real. This was real. “Did she come of age while we were gone?”

  “Aye, as far as she knows, her birthing day was st week,” Evander replied. “His Princeliness decred her a Countess. Had a big ceremony and a party. Got the spirits up.” He shrugged artlessly. “Y'all can do a family thing ter.”

  Ael felt as if the world had shifted sharply beneath her feet. She had forgotten Epelda’s birthing celebration. Epelda was her heir now. She… she could cim Epelda as her own daughter now. But she hadn’t been there when she had become an adult. Her heart was flooded with more emotions than she could parse through. Her heart hammered in her chest unpleasantly, sweat beginning to form on her head and palms. She felt her wife’s hand on the small of her back, her shelter from the storm. She concentrated on the feel of Nereida’s soft hand. Her fingers were short and stubby, wide for their size. She had a little tiny blemish on the back of her right hand, close to her wrist. She did not have fingernails like Ael, but sharp cws. She remembered the feel of the cws from a few nights before. Focusing on something so small helped her focus.

  “Is she upset we weren’t there?” Ael asked after a moment. The world was no longer shifted. Things were right again. Even if she had missed her daughter’s coming of age birthday.

  “Admiral, she thought ye’d been stolen. That made her downright murderous. But she ain’t never been mad at either o’ you.” Evander looked grim for a moment. “I ain’t gonna speak for her though.”

  “What is that?” Dymion asked quite suddenly, motioning at the egg in the sand. The Admiral had forgotten they had pced her there. He dropped to his knees beside the egg, coating his wet legs in the fine, warm sand. Reverently he reached forward, stroking the egg with the lightest touch. Ael felt a protective surge well up, but she forced it away. This was Dymion. He was trusted. “It’s beautiful,” the gnome continued, cooing softly to it like a normal person would coo to an infant. “Did you find some kind of croc here?” He touched the egg again, taking in the colour and texture of the shell, the colour draining from his face. “No.” He looked at Nereida, then at the Admiral, wide eyed and grinning. “You didn’t!”

  “Dym, what are you ON about?” Evander asked, throwing his hands up. He looked at Ael, his exasperation clear on his face and in his tone. “Honestly, Admiral, didn’t ya learn from the iguana incident?” Nereida giggled, and stepped forward, as if about to ask about the incident, but Dymion shook his head.

  “This ain’t an iguana,” Dymion whispered. He began to hum to it, rubbing the egg gently with his sandy hand, leaving grit behind. He sounded as if he were having difficulty thinking. “Is it, Admiral?”

  “Please, please, please, Admiral,” Evander said, running his hand through his dark hair. He refused to look at his husband, who was grinning like a child. “Please, tell me that has nothing to do with dragons.”

  “It’s a dragon. Or a baby. Or a baby dragon.” The Admiral’s tone was curt, almost sharp, and Evander looked up at her with wide, stupid eyes, before he groaned.

  Nereida gnced over at Ael, confusion on her face.

  “How did you know?” she asked Evander. The first mate groaned as if he were actually in pain. The Admiral had never seen her first mate so put out before.

  “Out with it, Evander,” she ordered. Evander put both his hands over his face and muttered incoherently. Dymion, at this point, was damn near giggling, a slightly off-putting expression on a middle aged man.

  “Use your words,” Nereida suggested, slipping into her parental tones. This sent Dymion over the edge and he began to ugh hard enough that he tumbled back into the sand.

  “We owe Dymion the pot. The whole pot.” Evander finally managed. “All three hundred gold.”

  “What in the five hells did you bet on?” Nereida demanded, her eye twitching.

  “What took you.” Evander muttered. He looked at his feet. “Had to keep morale up, yeah? So we pced bets. Most likely scenario was some political coup, some other faction that didn’t want us nd-dwellers interfering, yea?” He began expining the odds, his speech long and rambling before Nereida crossed her arms, stepping toward him with her demeanor as stormy as her eyes. Evander swallowed mid-rant, and then finished with “Dymion put in his bet… that you’d become dragons and flown away caught up in magical nonsense. Obviously… no one else took his side.”

  “You pced bets on our disappearance?” Nereida’s voice was low and dangerous. Evander swallowed and nodded. “Is there anything you haven’t pced bets on?”

  “When you’d get married?” he squeaked, as the siren stepped toward her again. “Mostly because we didn’t have time to put a pool together.”

  Ael stepped between her wife and her first mate at that moment, as the siren looked positively murderous.

  “Evander,” Ael said softly. “Perhaps we squash betting on my personal life for a bit?”

  “Oh, Admiral, can we at least make bets on if the baby’s a boy or girl?” Dymion asked from the sand. He had picked up the egg and was holding her like an infant. “Least that one’s fair!”

  “It’s a girl,” Ael replied ftly. Nereida looked up at her, eyes wide.

  “Truly?”

  “Yes.”

  “How can you possibly know that, Admiral?” Evander asked, his voice low. The Admiral looked at her first mate with a tired expression. She could see his worry, see his sudden shift in the sand. He was shifting to a more defensive posture.

  “Magic.” It hurt to admit to them, to her crew. She could not hide who she was. But she was not pleased about it. She heaved a sigh. “Turns out the Moon-Folk aren’t dead.” Evander opened his mouth to ask what was likely a stupid question, but Dymion shook his head sharply. Good man, Dymion. He could give the story to his husband, if he knew it. If not, Evander could ask when they weren’t on a dragons-forsaken isnd. “I’m not answering any questions right now, Evander. I don’t rightly know half myself.”

  “Jules will,” Evander said softly. “If this is some kind of siren’s magical trickery, the boy will tell us.”

  “Jules?” the Admiral repeated. She narrowed her eyes at the first mate. “The siren interested in my daughter? How will you find him?” Evander grimaced.

  “I, uh, I suspect, Admiral, that he’s on deck, learning the ropes.” He swallowed when she took a step forward. “He’s been added to the crew roster.”

  The Grand Admiral stood taller, gring at her first mate. This time he did step back. Good, he needed to remember who she was. She needed to be who she had always been. Not some finger wiggler, but the Grand Admiral….

  “Under whose authority?” Her words were low and dangerous.

  “Mine,” he managed. “Admiral. Sir.” She was about to tear into him, when she felt Nereida’s hand on her arm. “Fine,” she growled. “But no more surprise crew.”

  “Yes sir.”

  Ael dropped her shoulders, and went to pick up their egg, taking her from Dymion.

  “She’s healthy,” he said softly. “Growing. Another two and a half moon cycles, I think. Maybe three and a half.” He passed the egg over, a reverent smile on his face. “If you’ll let me, Admiral, I will help keep her safe. Help her grow, until she can hatch.”

  “I’d like that,” she admitted softly. “You may, as long as my wife agrees.” She offered her hand to help him from the sand. They headed to the boat.

  Nereida stripped off her outer dress, tossing it to Ael. “I’ll swim,” she said. “I need to feel the sea, to go home by sea.”

  “Home?” Evander echoed, rubbing where there had once been a wound, and now there was only a faint scar. “We ain’t anywhere near your home.” She smiled at him, a mencholy little smile.

  “Ship’s home now,” she said softly. “My kids are there, my wife.” She wiped at her eyes, fighting tears. “And if my family can’t understand that, my father, my mother… we will just have to sail as sirens until… until….” She faltered, looking to Ael for support. Ael sighed, feeling her magic stir.

  “Until we complete our task.” Both men turned to look at her, though Dymion took a step back as if he felt the change in the wind. It wasn’t the wind that was changing. It was something more.

  “Task?” Evander echoed. He sounded truly afraid. She smiled at him coldly. She could feel the power stirring in her blood, and she knew the words were not hers; she spoke them anyway. Nereida had told her their boys had sickened once their powers awoke because they had not used them. She would not let herself wither.

  “The daughters of the Moon and the Ocean will wake the dragons to bring about the end of the conflict between Stars and Shadow.”