“Do you think I give a rat's ass that you're a king?” I asked him. “I didn't know who you were when we first met. I thought you were a random soldier.”
He scowled deeper.
“You're very easy on the eyes, baby.” I slipped my hand beneath his cloak and stroked his muscular chest.
Verin rumbled in pleasure. I wasn't sure if it was over the compliment or my touch.
Then my fingers hit something cool, and I froze. “You're still wearing my traveling stone.”
“Of course,” he said as if it were a given.
“But you shifted. How did it stay on?”
“It's on one of my chains,” he said simply.
“All of the jewelry made for Lóng Kings is enchanted to survive their shifts,” Savassa explained. “Kings cannot be bothered to remove their jewels every time they need to access their beasts.”
“That's handy,” I murmured and withdrew my hand.
Verin grinned but then his attention slid past me. “Yes?”
I turned to see a guard standing in the doorway. He looked grim.
“Your Majesty”—the guard glanced at Chan's body in dismay—“two bodies were found near an access hatch. Our security cameras caught Lord Chan entering a qianne. That vessel was then spotted leaving the city.”
Verin's face twitched.
“A qianne?” I asked his mother.
“A small underwater craft,” she whispered.
“So, ifthat'sChan”—I pointed at the corpse—“who just killed your men and escaped in a qianne?” I asked Verin.
“That would be the question,” Verin growled.
His gaze slid to his mother. He didn't say anything but she understood him nonetheless.
“Yes, of course.” Savassa bent over Chan's body and removed a ring from its finger. “But at least get dressed first.”
Chapter Thirteen
After a quick stop in Verin's apartments, during which we both changed (I was getting tired of dragging that gown around), we met his mother in her wing of the palace. Verin's rooms were at the top of the palace's main keep while his mother's were off to the side, in a separate building connected to the keep by an enclosed bridge. The floor was the only opaque part of the bridge. The rest of the encasing tube was transparent, allowing for a view of the ocean on one side and a rock wall covered with a sea garden on the other. The door to the Queen's apartments waited at the end of this passage.
A guard opened the door for us, then stood back so we could pass. We stepped into a magnificent spring garden full of fluffy cherry blossom trees in full bloom, exotic flowers growing wild, and a little pond stocked with golden fish—freshwater fish. Queen Savassa didn't come out to meet us as she had when I'd first visited her suite. Instead, Verin led me to the room his mother used to contact the dead.
What faster way to investigate a death than talking to the dead man himself?
Savassa waited for us at the round table in the center of the circular room. The walls—is it still plural if the room is round?—were composed entirely of blue coral, as was the floor and ceiling. She nodded to us as we took our seats at the glossy table. Her hands laid palms up on the table before her, cupping Chan's ring. She began immediately.
“Lord Chan of the Azure Court, come to me now!” Savassa's voice lashed through the room and turned into a vibration.
The coral absorbed this vibration and trembled. The tiny pores in the coral filled in until it became slick. That slickness ran down the walls, giving the disturbing impression that they wept. The liquid rushed across the floor, then streamed up the table legs to pool in the center of the table. The water drew itself up into a roughly human shape that quickly became a liquid representation of Chan. Water-Chan's eyes opened, blinked, then focused on Savassa.
He executed a formal bow to her. “Your Majesty, you have summoned me?”
“Lord Chan, you have my deepest condolences for your untimely demise.”
“Thank you, Queen Savassa.” Chan glanced at us, then did a double-take. “Your Majesty!” He bowed again to Verin. “The situation must be grave indeed if you are here as well. How can I help?”
