“That's what we took. Teng still has it. He's going to try to sell it.”
Vax leaned out the window and shouted, “Stop the carriage!”
We came to a halt.
As I gaped at him, Vaxarion jumped out of the carriage, then reached in to help me out. I climbed out as he said to the driver, “Go back to the palace and tell Yavess that I'm leaving the city for a while. And send the rest of my King's Guard after me. Tell them to track us. I can't waste another moment.”
“Yes, Your Majesty!”
The two Sea Dragon knights who had come with us, climbed off the back of the carriage as it turned around. They came to stand before the King without a word, just waiting for his command.
“Vax, what are you doing?” I sputtered as he started to strip.
“Hold my clothes for me, Mate.” He shoved his royal garments into my arms.
He glanced at his guards and nodded. They began to strip too. Right there, on the sidewalk.
“What's happening?” I demanded.
“We need to find the Lu-Ken,” Vax said. “Immediately.”
“Why?”
He just kept shoving clothes at me.
“Vax, you're scaring the fuck out of me!”
“Be calm, Mate,” Vax said. “I will get us to your family with all haste. And then they will be safe.”
“And then? Andthenthey will be safe? That means they're currently in danger.”
“Of course, they're in danger. You knew that when you left.”
Before I could respond, he shifted. Horses shrieked, not because he became a sea dragon but because he took up the entire road, halting a carriage on its way toward us. People exclaimed and pointed as water gathered around my lover and he swam upward, into the stream, his talon closing around me as he did. In seconds, we were bursting through the ward, the King's manifested river dissipating into the sea. Behind us, two other sea dragons swam.
“Which direction did they go?”Vax asked in my mind.
“Northeast,”I said.“They'll go through Bosrae, along the eastern channel, so they can come down closest to Racul. Teng has friends there, one of whom is the Duke.”
“Good. But I hope to reach him before he gets that far.”
A shiver went down my spine, and I was filled with regret for not telling Vax about the Eye sooner. I didn't know what he thought would happen to my family, but it didn't take a genius to figure out that it wouldn't be good.
Chapter Thirty-Two
We found the Lu-Ken a few hours later. The trip was both surprisingly fast and excruciatingly long. When I spotted the bottom of the hull, looming above us like a whale, I went limp with relief. And then we were rising out of the water, a stream of it coming with us, and Vax shifted into his man form to place us both upon the main deck. The rest of his guards had caught up with us along the way, so shortly after Vax and I landed on deck, we were surrounded by twelve more naked Sea Dragons.
“It's me!” I called out even as the crew scurried to defend themselves. “Stand down!”
“Stand down!” Teng repeated as he ran down the steps from the poop deck. “Zix!”
I shoved Vaxarion's clothes at him just before Teng embraced me. “Hey.”
“What are you doing here?” Teng stepped back.
Around us, the crew drew closer, warily watching the Sea Dragons get dressed (some of them watching with more interest than others).
“I told King Vaxarion about our haul,” I said.
