“It's fine. Doesn't matter.” He held up his hands. “You are here now. Everything will be fine.” He grabbed my wrist again and flew back into the corridor.
“All right, ease up,” I said.
Yavess did not ease up. He raced down the final corridor, up to the doors of the King's apartments, and shouted, “Open the doors!”
The knights looked at each other, then at Yavess.
“Open them now! Do you not recognize this man? Open the fucking doors!”
The knights opened the doors, and Yavess practically tossed me into Vax's apartments.
I stumbled, righted myself, and looked back at him with wide eyes.
“The garden is at the end of this hallway and to the right,” Yavess said. “May the Gods be with you.” He nodded at the knights.
The doors shut on my gaping face.
I turned around slowly. There, on my right, was the door to the slave quarters. I had to know. So, I went there first and poked my head in. It was empty. Abandoned. I went inside. Every room was empty, no clothes in the closets. The beds made. I left the slave quarters.
The other rooms didn't matter to me. I left my satchel in the corridor and strode down it, my footsteps and soft breaths the only sounds to be heard. But then I drew near the archway at the end, and I heard it. The whimper of a beast. A pathetic soundthat pierced my chest. Fuck, it was all my fault! My hearts ached as I raced through the opening and out to the terrace where the King's pleasure garden once grew.
There he was. My glorious lover in his sea dragon form, curled up on a pile of ashes. Everything around him blackened. The color brought his iridescence to life, making him shine with deep blue, green, and purple. Like a priceless jewel. So beautiful. And yet his head drooped over his forepaws, eyes closed, and his chest rose and fell raggedly.
“Vax!” I cried and rushed forward.
Those huge eyes blinked open and focused on me. For a moment, joy shifted over his dragon face, his whiskers lifting in delight. But then something chased the joy away, turning it into a glare.
“What are you doing here, Zixin?” Vaxarion's sexy voice rolled out of the beast.
“I've come back for you. I don't want to be without you, Vax,” I said. “Please, forgive me for leaving.”
Another twitch of joy, but then fury entered his eyes. “I would have given you everything.”
Would have. Oh, fuck.
“I know,” I said. Then I grimaced. “No, I didn't know. I didn't know anything about us. I was confused. I thought your desire would wane. I thought it wasn't possible that you could want me for more than a little while. I didn't understand how powerful what we have is. But I feel it now. You've haunted me.”
“What about the adventure you crave, pirate?”
“You are the greatest adventure of my life.”
A soft sound escaped him, but then he turned away and lowered his head to face the city. “You're too late. I don't want you anymore.”
“I don't believe that.”
Suddenly, King Vaxarion rose to his feet and loomed over me. Curling his head down, he shouted, “I don't care what you believe, you perfidious bastard.”
“Perfidious? Damn. That's a big word.”
“It means treacherous. False. Disloyal.”
“Yeah, I got the gist of it,” I muttered.
“Get out!”
I held up my hands and backed out of the garden. Not that I'd give up that easily. I just sensed that I shouldn't push him. He knew I was back, and I had made my speech. Now, Vax needed time to think it over. I'd give him all the time he wanted.
But I wasn't going anywhere.
