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I wasn't anticipating a war with the sirens, but if Sarissa proved herself to be difficult, I wasn't adverse to the idea. There could only be one ruling race on Oceanus and I hoped she would understand that and bow to the inevitable. That however was still far in the future. We were only beginning to train the first group of dragoons, once Niara showed us how to produce more of the necessary equipment, those dragoons would begin training their own legions.
"Oh, look," Niara pointed at something excitedly and interrupted my dark musings.
I had ordered the captain to take us closer through Attourna and to turn the lights on, anticipating to lift Niara's mood.
Her animated face showed me how right I had been.
"There, do you see it?"
She pointed at the ruins of what in all likelihood had once been a sprawling temple. Once I saw it, I realized what she was so excited about, it was an exact replica of the one we had seen in our ruins.
"What I wouldn't give to see if the inside was the same," Niara breathed.
I couldn't help myself, my knuckles brushed over the exposed flesh of her arm in what could have been seen as an assurance but was meant as a caress. I yearned to fully explore her soft body, and just this little touch enflamed my core to the burning point.
"Soon," I promised in a hoarse voice as my throat and mouth went dry with desire for her.
She turned slightly, my knuckles were still moving up and down her arm. Her eyes were filled with excitement but I wasn't sure if it was from my touch or the sight of the city. Probably the latter, I told myself, remembering her words of being betrothed.
Conrad, my nostrils flared, what a stupid name.
I was an honorable male though, no matter how much I desired the seffy, if she was truly promised to another, I would step aside and pour my desire into a different vessel. I wasn't like she was my querilly—soulmate. Right?
To gain some distance from her, emotionally and physically, I stepped back, "Are you excited to see your brother?"
The space I had created between us seemed distant and cold. I already yearned to be closer to her again.
"Yes, I hope he accomplished what you tasked him with," she nodded.
"And… Conrad?" I fished unable to keep my disdain for his stupid name from my voice.
"And Conrad, of course," she nodded, but her eyes seemed to dim just a bit, or was that just my wishful thinking?
Not much later the boat began to rise as we returned to the surface to dock at one of Horn's bays.
A small group had already clustered on the pier, awaiting Niara's return. Nathan, I noted wasn't one of them and my eyes narrowed. If the Chrymphten had decided to keep him, it would definitely put a damper into my plans. Not disastrously because they would still have the false location of our defenses and unless they tortured Nathan I doubted he would let them know about that. But it would be more useful to talk to him and find out exactly what had been said. Besides, I didn't think Niara would be easy to pacify if her brother had been taken prisoner during a mission I had ordered, no matter if the idiot had placed himself in that position or not. Seffies could be unreasonable like that.
A human male stood out from the group, inviting me to assess him from head to toe. He was dressed even finer than I had seen Niara and Nathan when I had first met them. He was tall, taller than most humans, and young. Maybe a year or two older than Niara, with the still innocent expression of youth around his fuzzy cheeks.
"Conrad," Niara waved at him and I suppressed a snicker. This was Conrad?
By the gods, he was nothing but an unproven youth. And stupidly arrogant at that, as he proved by sending me a disdainful glare. I chuckled if he was going to challenge me, I would throw him in the ocean to cool his temper. I wasn't about to fight a pup like him.
Seeing Conrad didn't make my heart flip as I had expected, but I blamed it on Nathan's absence and the growing worry that his mission had failed. That he had been taken prisoner by the Chrymphten.
"Conrad," I waved and he hastened down the pier to help me from the boat to the dock.
"He's fine," Conrad assured me, as always knowing what I needed to hear right away. "He's waiting at the palace for you and… Vissigroth Myles."
He squeezed my hand, "Are you alright?"
Where my stomach had usually fluttered—or what I had thought of as a flutter before, because that had been nothing compared to its reaction to Myles—there was nothing. Instead all I felt was his warm, clammy hands, which made me want to rub mine on my dress.
Damn Myles, I fumed. It was true though, what I had thought of as excitement stealing a kiss with Conrad here or there was nothing compared to the moment just a few minutes ago when Myles had ran his knuckles over my bare flesh. That had weakened my knees. The flutter in my stomach had bordered on making me nauseous with anticipation. Never in my life had I been this nervous before as when we had locked eyes at that moment. I was sure I would have fainted had he kissed me.
My initial attraction to him had grown with every day, every hour, we spent together, resulting in last night's sleeplessness. Damn him! How could he have slept so peacefully next to me when my entire body had burned with desire for him.
It was hard to admit, especially now of all times. We needed to go talk to Nathan and there was Conrad. My Conrad.
