Page 62 of Siren's Treasure

He twisted on his heel, his stomach clenching. Where was Tobias? Raggon practically tripped over his brother in his search. Tobias sat cross-legged on the sand, the copper wind whistler disassembled around him in a precise array of parts, his skilled fingers making minute adjustments to the intricate mechanism.

Raggon stared in shock, hands half-raised, since he was almost too afraid to believe this was real. His brother was no longer a dragon!

“You’ve got to admit,” Tobias said, tilting his head, “Your birthday gift came in handy… but there are a few things wrong with the resonance chamber.”

Raggon’s heart leaped about in a confused dance in his chest. “Tobias!”

His brother grinned and stood in one fluid motion, taller than Raggon by half a head, his lanky frame outlined against the shining sea. His face, usually animated with boyish amusement, now carried the shadow of his ordeal, but his warm brown eyes still crinkled at the corners. Unable to contain himself any longer, Raggon crashed into Tobias, his arms finding him in a bone-crushing embrace to assure himself that his brother was truly himself again.

“I thought I’d… lost you,” Raggon managed, his rough voice wouldn’t stop choking him.

Tobias thumped his back. “What? You didn’t want a dragon for a brother?”

For once, Raggon didn’t have it in him to joke. “How—how are you back?”

His brother’s face turned serious. “You should know better than anyone—the witch can’t contain our sylph magic! I could shift as soon the sea steel from the collar dropped off.” Tobias pulled back from their embrace, taking a deep breath that strangely reminded Raggon of the dragon getting ready to blow fire. “I became the monster she wanted to make me, but… our bloodline made me more powerful than she could possibly imagine. Everything I did after that became instinct.”

Raggon had guessed that, but… “How are you human again? We only have the power to shift to seafoam.”

“And collect our form when we land elsewhere.” His brother shrugged, the amusement dancing back in his eyes. “It’s easier to collect my human form after a shift.”

And so Tobias was back to normal? What else was their family capable of doing when put to the test? “I—I half expected you to roast me like a pig the next time I teased you about one of your inventions!”

“Ha! I’ll leave that to your new father-in-law,” Tobias’s voice took on a teasing edge. “Of course, I imagine his lectures will be nothing to what Morris can give you. He’s ready to hound you with sermons on impropriety and royal duty!”

“Morris?” Joy surged through Raggon at the confirmation that the old advisor had survived. “Where did the old duke wander off to?”

“The last I saw of him he was at the waterfall, setting up a ‘serviceable tea service’ fashioned from coconut shells.”

Raggon snickered at the far-fetched tale, energized by one thought—the man was alive! “I’d wager he’s attempting to civilize the wilderness one properly folded napkin at a time.”

His brother burst into full-throated laughter, the sound sweeping away the last of the draconic darkness that had clung to him.

Smiley was back!

Raggon turned, his breath catching at the sight of Thessa’s elegant profile in the moonlight—the curve of her cheek, the delicate shoulders and the rhythmic waves sweeping aside the coral gown to reveal enticing glimpses of her graceful legs.

After all this, his mermaid had legs!Hismermaid—he could say that now. Poseidon had declared them man and wife! What did she say? She gazed back at him, her eyes reflecting the countless stars above, a softness in them reserved only for him. He waded after her. The foam still glittered over the waves with the lingering magical glimmer of her father’s visit. Each cool surge lapped against his ankles as he reached her.

“Clam?” he whispered, smiling at her. She returned the smile with a radiance of her own, causing his healed heart to perform backflips. “We can return to our homeland.”

“Yes! I suppose you need to learn how to be a prince again… well, a king.”

“I can’t do it without you,” he said. His hands entwined with hers. She was the one responsible for all this—everything bright in his life, including the racing of his heart… one that had no right to be beating. “Your father gave me his blessing, but… what do you say on the matter?”

“I didn’t bring you back to life to give you to anyone else.”

That was exactly what he wanted to hear!

“So… we’re stranded here together…” His thumb followed where his eyes had gone, caressing first her cheek before trailing down to the elegant curve of her neck, where he marveled at the softness of her skin. His fingers somehow got tangled up in all the silkiness of her hair. He pulled her closer, his voice dropping to a whisper against her ear, “on an island paradise, with nothingbut time and moonlight and… each other… presently our ship’s laying on its side like a beached whale on the other side of the island unless your healing voice extends to fixing up our ride home?”

“No!” She let out a husky giggle. He’d never heard a better sound and unable to resist her a moment longer, he captured her lips with his own. The heat of her skin beneath his sent his senses reeling.

“Morris can perform the official nuptials,” he said after a breathless minute of never wanting to release her. “I’m not waiting until we reach the shores of Sylphoria…”Not a chance!“I’m bringing home my queen!” He scooped her up and spun her, relishing the feel of her against him, so alive, so free from the witch’s curses, so completely his. Her golden gown swirled like a sea-born spell around them, the fabric shimmering between two worlds—not fully of land nor ocean—but just as they were now, their delighted cry mingling with the crash of the waves and their joyous laughter.

They were interrupted by a pointed clearing of Tobias’s throat. “Hey, bilge-rat, on the matter of a ride… I think I can arrange a way home.”

Raggon set her down, still holding Thessa close. He turned in time to see his brother walking toward the water’s edge. Moonlight rippled across Tobias’s form, stretching and expanding. Glossy scales erupted across his skin, gleaming like polished obsidian, his silhouette distorting and growing until where his brother had stood now crouched a magnificent black dragon, powerful wings unfurled against the star-strewn sky.

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