Feel the Burn (Dragon Kin #8)(40)

She stepped out of the room, slamming the door behind her.

Zoya spun around, raised her hands, and, in their language, demanded, “Where the f*ck did you bring us, Kachka Shestakova?”

Gaius was very pleased with the lake the boy led him to before leaving a pile of clean clothes carefully placed on a rock nearby.

Of course, the Southlands were known for their lakes. And the dragons here loved them, even though they were made of fire.

The Irons had fewer lakes to choose from, so they built their own inside the Quintilian Provinces, allowing for communal bathing, where political ideas and decisions could easily flow. Many deals were struck among those easing sore muscles in the communal baths.

Dropping the fur around his hips, Gaius dove into the water. When he pulled himself up, he was dragon again. Just that alone made him feel better.

Gaius dove under the water again. The lake was much deeper than he’d thought it would be, and he wondered if dragons had dug it out over time.

When he swam back up, breaking the surface, he launched himself up and out, unleashing his wings and taking to the skies. As he flew toward the two suns, he realized that he hadn’t flown simply for the feel of it since his capture. He’d flown out of the cave the day before, but that had been in a desperate search for food.

Gods, how he’d missed it.

Gaius turned over so that the suns warmed his belly, his wings keeping him aloft. A trick he and his sister had taught themselves at a very young age.

He put his claws behind his head, closed his eyes, and let out a long, relieved sigh.

Gaius didn’t know how long he flew like that. He’d heard the cheers and laughter for a bit, but he just assumed it was other Southland dragons. Something that didn’t worry him. He knew he was as safe as he was ever going to be among the Southlanders as long as he had his alliance with the two queens.

Still, he never expected anyone to crash on top of him in mid-flight and then immediately flip off.

His eyes snapped open and he stared at the large round shield that bore Annwyl’s coat of arms—two black dragons with two crossed steel swords between them and a shock of red that represented the “blood” in “Annwyl the Bloody.”

As he gazed at the shield, he heard the screamed, “Shit!” and flipped over in time to see a human warrior falling toward the lake below.

“Fuck,” Gaius growled before diving down, his front forearms out. He caught the human seconds before the warrior hit the water, turning his body and pulling the human in tight.

He crashed hard, his body going deep down, but he couldn’t stay. The human in his arms would never last as long as he would under the fresh water, so Gaius quickly swam back to the top. As soon as he broke the surface, he held the human up.

Gaius shook his head to get the hair and water out of his eyes and to see whom he held in his claws, sputtering and cursing.

When he could finally see again, he still blinked several times before asking, “Iseabail?”

The high-ranking general in Annwyl’s army coughed a few more times before replying, “Hello, Gaius. Long time.”

“Not really. Just saw you a few months ago.”

“Oh. Right. Forgot.”

“What were you doing?”

“Don’t tell Mum.”

That didn’t really answer his question. “What?”

“I was just doing a bit of run and jump.”

“Run and jump?”

“Where I . . . run and jump from dragon to dragon.”

“While they’re flying?”

“No need for that tone!” she shot back.

There was a soft throat-clear from the banks of the lake and they both looked over to see a stoic but drenched Annwyl standing there, arms crossed over her chest, green eyes glaring. The power of the splash when Gaius had hit the surface of the lake had been so strong that Annwyl’s hair was blown off her face, revealing how annoyed she was at the moment.

Even worse than the overall wetness of the queen was that her daughter had been several feet behind Annwyl. Only Talwyn’s booted feet were wet. The rest of her was dry, and she was laughing hysterically at her mother.

This was not a good situation.

“My liege—” Izzy began.

“Shut up!”

“Are you all right?” Gaius asked the queen in order to stop himself from laughing. Because, gods! Did he want to laugh.

“I’m fine,” she growled between gritted teeth. She cast an angry glare at her daughter, who was now doubled over at the waist, tears streaming down her face. Although they could no longer hear her laughter . . . because she’d begun to wheeze.

“Talwyn!” Izzy hissed at her cousin. “Stop it!”

“I . . . I can’t!”

The queen didn’t seem to particularly like this response, so she reached back and slapped her daughter on the back of the head.

The laughter stopped immediately, and Talwyn shot up, crazed black eyes burrowing into crazed green ones.

“No, no, no!” Izzy begged. She hit at Gaius’s arms. “Get me over there. Get me over there!”

With a shrug, Gaius tossed her halfway across the lake and onto the shore.

“I meant swim me over here, you git!” she yelled when she’d landed and rolled several feet.

True, if he was back in the Provinces, his sister would have a general’s tongue removed if one dared speak to him in such a manner, but Gaius and Izzy had quite the long history. Besides, he was enjoying himself, which was nice, considering the morning he’d already had.