Page 65 of Prince of Tides
My lips spread as I bared my teeth in a snarl. “They think I’m with the Guard.”
Chapter Thirty-Two
Laurie
Ifollowed Rip to the glass wall, staring out at the bay. In the center of it, half a dozen of the floating barges could be seen at anchor, bobbing gently in the tiny waves.
“Suh!” Rip barked.
“Yes, sire?”
“Get down there. I want the bay cleared of barges, and I want it done ten minutes ago.Move!”
Suh turned to go, but Rip grabbed his aide by the shoulder and propelled himthroughthe glass.
“No time!” he cried as Suh sprouted wings and glided down toward the beach, shouting as he went.
My shout of protest died as I realized Suh was just fine.
“Damn,” Rip said, looking at the pane. “Why have we never turned this into a doorway before? Someone mark that down. After this is over, I want doors and an observation balcony installed out here. It’ll make things much easier.”
I shook my head. “How can you think of things like that right now?”
“Because that’s my job,” he said as another nameless aide rushed up, holding a spear.
Rip took it from the other shifter, wrapping his fingers around its haft almost lovingly. The second he did, the shaft came alive with runes the color of the sea. I took a step back as itthrummedwith power I couldn’t explain.
“The Spear of the Heir,” he said, holding it at arm's length. “The second most powerful weapon we possess.”
I was about to ask him what the most powerful was, but before I could, shouts went up from the guards at the edge of the bay. They shifted into amphibian half-man, half-dragon looking things in the blink of an eye and dove into the water just as a portion of the bay at the opening became infested with moving inky blackness.
“I must go,” Rip said, turning to me. “Stay here. You’ll be safe. Okay? Don’t leave the palace. Promise me!”
“I-I promise,” I said unsteadily, worried. What had I gotten myself into? Rip seemed so calm about it all like it was a normal occurrence.
Was it? Is this the life he leads?
“Thank you,” Rip said, darting in and stealing a kiss that left me short of breath.
Then he stepped up to the broken glass and raised the butt of his spear off the ground. He slammed it down, and in an instant, the human Rip was gone, replaced by a nine-foot-tall dragon-man covered in turquoise scales that nearly matched the glittering waters of the bay beyond.
Wings curled in tight against his back, then spread wide as he flung himself from the third-story window and toward the water below, where the floating crafts were now frantically making their way toward the shore as fast as they could.
A churning whirlpool near the opening between the two arms of the fortress indicated the battle being fought by the guards, and it was toward that maelstrom that Rip flew.
“They’re our birthing barges.”
I turned to see an older dragon approach. She had the wizened look of the truly elderly, one who I was sure had seen it all. Her left leg was missing halfway above the knee, replaced with a metal prosthesis.
“The what?” I asked, keeping my eyes glued to Rip as he dove low over the water until I swore it was scraping his belly, his wings still pumping hard.
“That is where we give birth,” the woman said. “I thought you would want to know.”
I shot her a hard look.
She just smiled and tapped her nose. “Spent some time around humans, I have. Don’t worry. Your secret is safe with me.”
“Thank you …”
