Page 8 of Dragons Of Shadow and Sea

I focus harder on the bracer, and it's like it hums in and out of my vision. I blink, and suddenly, it's there, occupying half her forearm. Glowing with energy that sends a dark chill into my bones.

"Witchcraft," I whisper beneath my breath.

"Definitely," she agrees, as if that's not an earth-shattering revelation. What's more, she isn't done. "I've cast protection spells, and apparently I can make a portal with it, which is how we landed here."

Finally, she's telling me something I need to know. How she and the others managed to penetrate the veil of secrecy enshrouding what's left of the Water Kingdom was an issue of national security--one I needed to get to the bottom of.

One I would have gotten to the bottom of immediately, if she had been anybody other than my one True Mate.

I remember the looks of warning given to me by both Zahra and Obi. She should be in a holding cell, undergoing interrogation.

A fact that's only underscored when she counts off her next "special" quality...

"Third," she says, "my mates are Prince Jianyu of the Stone Dragon Kingdom and Prince Rafe of the Fire Dragon Kingdom."

I suddenly feel dizzy.

The Water Kingdom has always been reclusive. Even before we disappeared from the map for a decade, we kept to ourselves. I travelled here and there, enjoying what pleasures the other kingdoms offered, but I passed through them in secret.

Still, there was the occasional summit. The diplomatic visit that could not be avoided. My siblings handled most of them, but my parents required me to attend a few.

Those men... The ones I found entangled with her on the riverbank... The wild-haired one, and the one with the slippery tongue and the short-cropped hair...

Prince Rafe. Prince Jianyu.

In the distance, thunder rumbles.

"You are mated to two other princes," I repeat, numb.

"I know, I know." She worries her knuckles and looks anywhere but at me. "It's weird, and probably ominous--not to mention suspicious as hell, but I swear it's not something I planned, or even wanted." There's that defiant glint to her eyes again as she finally directs her gaze back to me. "But it's what happened, and I wouldn't give any of you up for the world."

Tenderness glows in her eyes, and I feel the connection between us singing.

Lower, deeper in my subconscious, though, I feel the other connections in her heart. They sing just as loudly. She isn't kidding when she says she won't give them up.

That's a problem.

As if she hasn't just blown a hole in my chest, she continues. "How it happened that I bonded with three princes from three different kingdoms... What it means..." She lifts her shoulders and sets them down. "I have no idea."

She's telling the truth. I'm sure of it.

Though I can't help the sense that she is also holding something back.

I didn't think it was possible, but this is becoming more and more complicated.

I swallow hard, my throat raw. Here, I thought I'd found the woman who was meant to be my companion for my entire life. She would rule by my side, bear my children, fly over the rivers of our nation with me until we were old and our scales turned colorless and gray.

But she has no plans to stay here with me. She's embroiling me in something bigger than myself and my nation, and I can scarcely breathe.

She can feel my anxiety, just as I can feel her concern for herself, for her other "mates", for me.

"But maybe it's a good thing," she tries, forced brightness coloring her tone. "If the gods brought us all together, maybe they have a plan." She looks up at me, hope in her eyes. "Maybe we can bring peace to dragons. Unite the nations."

It's my turn to laugh. "The dragon nations have never, ever wanted unity."

All their war and fighting. The Water Dragon Kingdom washed its hands of the Air, Stone and Fire Kingdoms for so many reasons.

"Well." She stands up straighter. "They may need to come together. They face a common threat."

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