I’d just taken a breath to start my story, when Kellin and Lachlan bumped their heads against the side of the boat. Kellin changed forms, still in the water, so he could speak. “I don’t likethis wind. It’s taking you southeast too fast. We’ve gone around the eastern edge of Starlak already. Hand us the ropes and trim the sail; we’ll pull the boat back south. Starvale is only a hundred miles from where we are now. If we work together, we can get back to the mainland.”
Lachlan’s dark selkie eyes met mine. “No. We’ll be fine. I saw food and water on the boat. I need to get to Pict,” I said, squeezing Goran’s leg when I thought he might interrupt. “I just wish Lusca and Skadi were coming, too. What if one of them gets hurt?”
Lachlan shifted into his human form to speak. “Why do you care about the dragon?”
I sighed. “I know. He seems like an absolute arserag when you meet him at first?—”
“Is he your mate?”
I swallowed. “I mean, no. Not ye—no, absolutely not. He’s got depth once you talk to him, that’s all.”
“He killed me, little thief!” Lachlan yelled louder than the rest of them, who were making an assortment of choking and sputtering sounds. “He killed me, and you brought me back with a mate bond! He may be an interesting creature to converse with about how the continents were formed in the beginning of time, but he isn’t mate material.”
“I didn’t say I was going to mate him!” I shouted back. “Just because I meet a morally questionable male with nice abs doesn’t mean he’s some kind of destined mate. Maybe it just means I’ve spent too many years sexually deprived—have you thought of that?”
“Oh fuck,” Goran finally said. He looked dazed, like I’d hit him in the head with the blunt end of my dagger. I took in the faces of all the others. Except for Alexios, who was muttering quiet prayers at the rudder, they all had that same horrified, vacant look.
“He’s a mate, too,” Kellin said, not really making it a question this time.
“I just saidnot necessarily. Can’t I just have some meaningless, insignificant fantasies about sex with a double-knotted ice dragon, without everybody acting like I’ve added him to some imaginary harem?”
No one dared speak now, but Dustin held up two fingers questioningly to Goran, who closed his eyes.
“Don’t piss me off,” I muttered. “Lusca didn’t stick around long enough to listen to what really happened in the ice house. Skadi was trying to protect me. He just overstepped. But Lusca should’ve known better than to try and fight my battles for me. I’m mad at both of them. But what if they do something stupid and kill each other?”
Kellin blinked. “Do you want me to go back and make sure they’re not hurt? The ice god and the Emperor of Emperors?” When he put it like that, it did sound a bit silly.
But Lachlan growled and pulled himself toward me. I shuffled over and pressed my lips to his, tasting him again. “Damnit, woman,” he murmured against my mouth, then kissed me once more. “Don’t worry about them. What do you need from us? Let us help you finish saving the Omegas.”
“I like the sound of that,” I said, knowing the others were all listening. “It takes weeks to get to Pict. They’ll be fine. Lusca’s a kraken, and he’ll sense me on the sea. Even if the wind picks up, there should be time for him to swim to find me.” I pressed a hand to the empty place where my pendant had hung. I hated that it was gone, and not just because it had protected me. I’d lived in so many places that the few things I kept with me—my cloak, my poisons, and my pendant—somehow felt like home. “You can all help. You and Kellin can do something in particular.”
“What do you need?”
“Take Dustin back to the mainland.” Dustin started to protest, but I glared at him.
Lachlan asked, “With what boat?”
He had a point. “Can you swim, Dustin?”
He nodded. “But, ah, not back to Starlak, my lady.”
“Can you put together a net or something, to pull him?” I called back to Alexios. “Something the two of them could use to pull him.”
“Too slow. Give me an hour. Maybe two.” Kellin changed into his selkie form, swimming back the way we’d come.
“What’s he doing?” I asked.
“Going to find something to get Dustin home,” Goran said. “If anyone can do it, it’s Kellin. He’s mapped every inch of the Northern Seas.”
“Mapped?”
“It’s his hobby,” Goran explained.
“Obsession,” Lachlan corrected, climbing aboard. He used his sealskin to dry himself, then wrapped it around his waist.
Obsession? I’d seen baskets filled with rolled-up maps in the house… Suddenly, the one I’d used to get to Starvale sprang to mind. “I borrowed a map from your general,” I muttered to Goran. “His?”
“Borrowed?” His eyebrow arched up, but he nodded.
