“You talk nonsense half of the time.”
“Only because of your nonsense personality.”
She laughed and turned to look out at the sea. “I’m scared to go home. I’m scared of what I’ll find.”
“Expect the worst. Then sit on that for a moment, imagine something worse than that, and expect that. Then have a nightmare about it, really just wallow in that nightmare, and expect that as your new reality. Welcome to a nightmare—cheers!”
I put up my hand, thought about a drink, and threw up mostly nothing over the side of the boat.
“And she’s common.” Tamara sounded distant; she was probably thinking about it through the lens of her past position. She’d been the captain of the queen’s guard, a very noble role. Once she got to know Finley better, she’d see her worthiness. I had no doubt about that.
“Poor as fuck. From the worst—or poorest, I should say—village. She has nothing but her talent. And her dragon.”
“If she’s a dragon.”
“Oh, she’s a fucking dragon. She’ll be a helluva fucking dragon, too. You should hear her and the master rage-fuck. Now that is a terrifying situation. Only dragons do that, you know. Normal shifters do not—”
I felt her hand on my shoulder and flinched again, before pulling away. You could never be too careful with a dragon from the court.
“They rage-fuck?” she asked softly.
I squinted at her shocked face. “I can’t tell if that turns you on or…”
“He has—or had—an extreme temper.”
“Oh, you’re shocked. Yeah, I know about his temper. I actually panic-sharted a couple months ago, right after she left, when he snapped and yelled at me. It turned her on, though.”
“What?” She blinked.
“Panic-sharted. It’s a terror-fart that turns into a nasty little surprise in your pants—”
“Not that, you idiot! It…turned her on? He had some very tough paramours who’d turn to ice when they felt even a sliver of that temper.”
“Well…that seems a bit much. He doesn’t usually do anything with it.”
“It’s the power behind his commands and his bearing and…” She shivered.
I pointed at her. “See? If you said all that to Finley, she would have shivered with arousal. They are true mates. He has claimed her. They fit, trust me. She’s hard as hell, and she won’t give him an inch. He needs that.”
“Yes, he does.” She let silence drift over us for a moment. “Was he pissed that the true mate bond was held by a commoner?”
“I have no idea. But they were very hot and cold at first, so possibly. She kept resisting his commands, which pissed him off, but it also turned them both on… My job was miserable there for a bit, but then I almost died and—”
She lowered her hand to my shoulder again. Another flinch! Damn it! I had to stop. It amused dragons when they made people flinch.
“She resisted his commands?”
I rolled my eyes and contemplated throwing up. “She can kill people with her will alone, Tamara. Yes, she can resist his commands. To a point. And he can resist hers…to a point. What does the term ‘true mates’ mean to you if not a couple equal in power and temperament? They were literally made for each other. And thanks so much for asking about how I almost died. Very caring.”
She blew out a breath and shook her head. The silence lengthened, and it occurred to me that some of the changes in our kingdom had actually been for the better. Finley wouldn’t be subjected to the same ridicule and judgment as she would’ve been before the curse. She’d be judged mostly on her merits.
Tamara stayed put, and just as I was starting to wonder whether her boredom would turn to violence, she said, “I never really spoke to him. The prince, I mean. I had high standing as the captain of the queen’s guard, but…” She shrugged. “There was a way things were done in the castle, and I didn’t have business with him. But I watched the queen in the fields more times than I can count. I watched her with him, too. Those were her happiest times, tending the fields with him.”
“He found that again with her. With Finley. I mean, obviously it wasn’t the same feeling, because that would be weird, but—”
“She always told me, ‘Don’t call him “the prince” around me. Call him “your son,” because he’s not like the princes before him. He won’t be like the kings of the recent past. Or the present. He’ll change this kingdom. He’ll summon the dragons from all the small villages and towns in other parts of the world and consolidate them, like in the days of old. Give them a proper home. As it should be. He isn’t a prince when he’s with me—he’s my son.’”