by Alyx X
When I reached the office, I knocked and waited.
“For fuck’s sake, Dyan. I said no,” came the terse reply.
I took a step back. I hadn’t heard Izon talk like that before. Then I knocked again before I cracked the door open. “It’s me.”
Izon stood immediately. “What do you need, Tessa?”
I walked in, did the curtsey thing, and looked at the floor. I wouldn’t win my case if he thought I was being disrespectful. But it was tough to focus on my task with a life-sized Lyra staring down at me.
“What do you need?” he repeated.
“Good morning, King Izon,” I began. “I’m taking the children to the beach for a breakfast picnic, and I think they’d love for you to join us.”
He sat back down. “I have a lot of work to do.” He shuffled some papers as if to illustrate his point.
“I appreciate that—”
“I’m not sure you do,” he interrupted me. “Or you wouldn’t be here asking me to do things I don’t have time for.”
“Work is good and all, but your children are more important. They miss you.” They’d already lost one parent, they didn’t need to feel like they’d lost another.
He glared at me, and I averted my gaze again.
“I mean,” I tried to soften my tone. “This is time you won’t get back.”
He stood again, seeming much taller than he had before now. “Are you trying to tell me how to parent my own children?” A slow smirk slid across his face, but there was no humor in it. “It’s in your contract that I can write you up for being insubordinate. But my guess is you don’t want that?”
His jab hit home, but I didn’t flinch. I wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of seeing me off-balance or scared again. His remark reminded me of one thing—the same thing I’d learned when he tried to void my contract the first time. He wasn’t a kind person at all.
I shrugged, determined not to let him know how much the idea of losing my job scared me. “Write me up if it pleases you, Your Majesty. But it doesn’t change the fact your kids would have enjoyed your company this morning.”
Then I let myself out of his office and walked away.
I walked up the stairs without stopping in the library. I didn’t want Dyan to know I’d also failed. He’d probably find that as amusing as everything else I did this morning. I stopped in each of the children’s rooms and woke them.
Jari first—she tended to need the longest to compose herself and get ready. Vike second—he just needed to bounce out of bed and hear the word beach and he was good to go. Then I dressed Luka and put a little floppy sun hat on his head.
“Is Daddy coming?” Vike had asked the question, but Jari’s eyes held the hope.
I shook my head. “He’s really busy this morning, guys.”
Jari’s eyes darkened, so I continued.
“But we can have lots of fun, right? Gabby told me that the sand on the beach is black and sparkly, but that can’t be right. I’ve only ever seen beige, boring sand.”
“Yes it is!” Vike threw himself at me. “Come on, let’s go.”
I smiled indulgently. These were good kids, and I’d made it my personal mission to cheer Jari up. She didn’t deserve to be let down by her asshole father. King or not. “Vike, take Jari’s hand, please.” I raised my voice as we headed down the stairs, Luka cradled against my shoulder. “Dyan, we’re ready to go.” Then I pitched it a little louder still, so I could be heard in Izon’s study. “The Hurric family is headed to the beach.”
I caught my breath as we stepped off the dirt track and onto the sand. Black, glittery grains stretched in an endless mirror of open space. “It looks just like the sky at night.” I wandered over to the blanket Gabby had laid out, Luka still held in one arm, my shoes clutched in my other hand. “Come and eat, Vike,” I called to the little boy as he splashed at the water’s edge.
Beautiful lilies bobbed across the sea, and I inhaled the sweet smell of them as it floated on the warm breeze.
Vike ran over to the blanket, and even Jari slipped her shoes off and sat down.
We ate in relative peace as Dyan looked on from a grass-tufted sand dune.
“Do you want some breakfast?” I called and waved him over.
He grinned and shook his head, then slipped his sunglasses on and went back to studying the environment. I might have made his job more difficult by bringing the children outside, but only half of me felt any guilt for that.
After I put breakfast away—and sent Vike to Dyan with the left-over pastries because the man looked hungry, no matter what he said—I suggested we build some sandcastles.
“What are those?” Vike scrunched his nose up as he asked the question.
I laughed. “You don’t know?”
Jari crept closer. “No,” she murmured.
“Well—” I broke off and checked on Luka as he lay in a nest of blankets I’d created. He squealed and grabbed his toes as I made sure he was shaded from the sun. I looked back at Vike and Jari. “Let me show you.”
I scooped the black sand into a big pile and began patting it into shape. Luckily, it was of similar texture to Earth sand. “Are you going to help? We need something to decorate the sides, and we need to dig a trench around it.”
Dyan lifted his glasses to watch us as we played, and I waved. After a while building sand castles, I threw my head back to feel the sun on my face. I listened to the children giggle as they added turrets and small shells to the castle. Even Jari was relaxing.
When Luka had fallen asleep and Vike seemed to be on a personal mission to create an entire community of huge sandcastles, I sat next to Jari while she dug her toes into the sand at the edge of the blanket.
“I still don’t like you.” She spoke without looking at me, her gaze focused on the horizon.
I smiled. She was certainly getting closer. “You know, I get it. Losing a parent is never easy.”
“What do you know about it?” Her tone was accusatory, but she didn’t move, so I guessed she wanted to hear the answer.
I couldn’t go too in-depth with an eleven-year-old, but the basics wouldn’t hurt. “My dad died when I was younger than you, and recently my mom got very, very sick and I’ve had to leave her behind on Earth while she gets better.” I reached for Jari’s hand and took it between mine. “I understand loss, Jai, and I’m not here as any kind of replacement for your mom.”
Jari sat completely still, her gaze still out on the ocean. She didn’t even glance down at my hands wrapped around hers.
But she hadn’t moved away or told me to stop talking, so I cleared my throat and continued. “I’m here so you know you don’t have to be alone in your grief.” I stopped and chuckled. “And if that means that you need to be angry at me to grieve your mom, then I’ll take it.” I smoothed her hand. “But just remember that if that anger fades and you’re ready to move past it, I’ll still be here to help you through whatever’s next.”
9
Izon
I sat next to Dyan on the sand dune and watched my children with their nanny, unwilling to disturb their moment.
Tessa’s voice carried to where we sat, and my chest ached as I listened to the way she spoke to Jari. Guilt flowed through me as she spoke, because she’d already noticed things about my daughter that I hadn’t. I had an eleven-year head start on anything Tessa knew, and I still hadn’t connected Jari’s anger to her grief.
“She’s good, right?” Dyan leaned closer to me and nodded in Tessa’s direction.
“Yeah,” I agreed. “It seems like Jari might be coming around.” Tessa had told me Jari would eventually accept her, but I hadn’t really believed it.
But I watched her with my daughter, and I saw her care. “Shit, Dyan. I’m a terrible father.” I dropped my head into my hands. “I’ve let Jari down.”
“From the way I see it, you’re winning.”
I groaned. “How so?”
“You hired Tessa, didn’t you?”
I
picked up a fistful of sand and watched it pour through my fingers, the breeze picking it up and whisking it away to the left. “Yeah, but I think that had a lot less to do with good judgement than you think.”
Dyan cocked his head on one side. “Maybe. Maybe not.”
I chuckled. Dyan was a loyal employee. To a fault, really. Then I turned my attention back to Jari and Tessa. She was turning out to be a loyal employee, too.
“I’m a shitty employer, too.”
“Can’t argue with that,” Dyan said as he scanned our surroundings.
“Hey.” I bumped his shoulder with my own. “I mean it. I said some stuff I shouldn’t have said to her earlier.”
Dyan turned to look at me. “How so?”
My cheeks warmed and I looked away so he wouldn’t see. “I reminded her about the insubordination clause in her contract.”
He laughed. “Insubordination? Really? That was the best you had?”
I groaned again. “I know. Really, she hasn’t done anything at all that would even come close to being grounds for terminating her contract.” And the way she talked to me sometimes, the way she challenged and surprised me, just excited me.
She’d done everything right since she came to live with us—the schedule was followed; the children were cared for—and I hadn’t shown any appreciation for the fact I didn’t have to worry about their care anymore.
I knew she was probably just doing her job. I’d purchased her to do these tasks, so she wasn’t doing anything I wouldn’t have expected… I glanced at her and Jari again. Except maybe she was going above and beyond any of our expectations.
Dyan cleared his throat and stood up as he changed his view of the landscape around us. “Can I be honest, Ize?”
I tried to ignore the sinking feeling in my chest. Dyan was always honest, and he never usually asked. “If you must.”
He sighed. “I like her.”
I turned to look up at him, squinting against the sun. “Like who?” But suspicion rang in my voice. I knew what he was about to tell me, and I didn’t like it.
He sucked in a breath but returned his gaze to the children, the ocean, the path back to the house, always alert. “I’m going to be honest with you. I like Tessa. She’s good with the kids—kind to them, you know? She’s adopted this life fully, and it isn’t just a job to her. She’s respectful and kind with how she treats all the staff members, regardless of their hierarchy level in your home. We’re all people to her. I’d show her my dragon in a heartbeat.” He smiled a little, and a pang of something bitter that thoughts of Tessa had put that smile on his face settled in my chest.
“Izon, she works hard and she’s kind. And there’s something else about her… something I can’t… I don’t know. She’s more than I expected her to be, indentured servant or not. She doesn’t behave like anyone owns her.”
I remained silent, knowing there was more. I wouldn’t answer a question he hadn’t asked.
He sighed. “Well?”
I looked away, back to my family. Tessa held Jari’s hand, and a wave of affection rushed through me. “Well, what? Am I supposed to congratulate you for thinking she’s kind?” I lifted a shoulder like I couldn’t care less what Dyan thought.
“I want you to lift the rule on dating in the house. I’d like to be able to pursue her.”
Each of his words struck me like a punch to the head. I couldn’t hide my reaction from Dyan as my dragon took over. It growled low and fierce in my chest as an unexpected and unwanted surge of anger and jealousy followed Dyan’s words. My gums ached as my fangs began to descend.
Dyan looked at me as my dragon rumbled a warning again, and he didn’t even flinch. He smirked at me, his gaze knowing. “I have my answer,” he said and looked away again.
“Answer to what?” I demanded. Impatience filled me. “You’re impertinent too often, Dyan.”
He smirked and bowed low, making a sweeping gesture with his arm. It was a mockery of a bow, really. “Well, your majesty.” He leaned heavily on my title.
“Answer to what?” I ground out again.
“To whether you’re attracted to Tessa.”
I shook my head and returned my gaze to my family, ignoring my fool friend Dyan. My gaze skimmed over Tessa then stopped and skimmed over her again. Fuck me. My fool friend Dyan was right.
I was attracted to Tessa, and it had nothing to do with her similarity to my late wife.
I shook my head irritably. “Shut the fuck up, and stop being a smartass to your King.” I stood. “I’m going to join my children.”
Dyan nodded slowly and laughed. “Okay,” he said.
I moved as quietly as I could and sat behind Tessa and Jari. “Hey,” I said.
Tessa jumped and looked over her shoulder, her eyes widening. She stood and began to curtsey. “Your Majesty,” she murmured, her eyes down, her cheeks a flattering shade of pink.
“Sit down.” She looked ridiculous trying to curtsey in the strange clothing she was wearing. “I didn’t give the order to buy that for you,” I murmured, indicating her clothing that was clearly not the uniform I’d commissioned.
Her face flushed a deeper red. “I borrowed something of Gabby’s so I could join in with the children’s play. The water…” She gestured toward the ocean.
Jari looked between us then leapt on me, throwing her arms around my neck. “Daddy!” She squealed, and I held her to me, my arms on her sun-warmed skin. “You came!”
“Hello, baby. I finished my work earlier than I expected” I murmured. I hadn’t held my children enough since Lyra died, but the pile of unfinished work on my desk would still be there when I got back.
“Tessa gets nervous when we go near the water. She keeps wanting to hold Vike’s hand, so he doesn’t get swept away.”
I chuckled. “You’ve got to remember Tessa isn’t like us, and Earth children are probably a lot more fragile. She’s trying to look after you the way I would want her to.” My heart swelled with pleasure that my children were so important to Tessa, and I cast a look of appreciation in her direction.
“But you’re here now.” Jari spoke again, and her beautiful red eyes glowed with excitement and pleasure. “So, can we shift and swim?”
I hadn’t seen her look so happy in a long time, and I nodded. “Sure. I mean, I don’t see why not. Unless…” I took another glance at Tessa. “Unless Tessa has any objections?” I met her gaze, and her eyes grew wide.
“Am… am I going to see you as…as dragons?” she stammered.
I nodded, feigning casual. “If that’s okay with you.”
Her head jerked up and down in erratic agreement, as if she didn’t really know if she wanted to see, but some of her really did.
I stood and began to unbutton my shirt. Tessa’s eyes followed the movement of my fingers as I flicked the buttons open. I tried to ignore the spark of pleasure at that.
Jari frowned at me, and Vike grabbed my hand. “What’re you doing, Daddy?”
Dyan’s laughter floated down from the sand dune.
I grinned. I didn’t have to take my clothes off to shift, but I wanted Tessa to see me. I had to know. I slipped my shirt off slowly, revealing my torso and twisting so my muscles shifted and bunched. My dragon’s hearing detected Tessa’s heartbeat quickening, rushing blood through her body. Then her scent of arousal hit me, and my dragon preened.
I walked to the water’s edge, unsure if the heat on my back was simply the sun or Tessa’s gaze as she followed every movement I made. I didn’t need to look at her to know she was watching me—I could still hear her rapid breathing.
I took a deep breath and swung my arms like I was warming up. I didn’t need to do that to shift either, but sudden anxiety crept over me as I fought the need to impress the human woman. Shifting suddenly felt very intimate, like I was revealing a part of myself few had witnessed.
The familiar rush of power flowed through my body as it elongated, lengthening into my glorious water dragon form. It had been too
long since I had shifted, and it felt glorious to give into the powerful dragon inside me. My dragon was long, sleek, and elegant with a multicolored crest on his head, and wings the same shades of blue and green as the scales on my neck. My scales shimmered in the sun and my fangs glinted as they peeped beneath my lips. For a moment, I admired my reflection in the lapping water.
I turned to Tessa to gauge her reaction, only to find her gaping. Her fingers were fluttering at the base of her neck as she scuttled backward across the blanket toward Luka, protective even in her fear. Her heart was beating like crazy, and the arousal in the air quickly turned to apprehension and distrust.
No, Tessa, don’t be afraid. You are in no danger. I could only communicate telepathically in my dragon form, and in my desperation to reassure her, I forgot her human brain was unused to it. The sudden voice in her mind caused her to jerk and look around in fear.
I began to glide toward her across the sand, hoping to reassure her. As I drew near, her lips parted and her eyes widened. Her heartbeat thundered faster, louder as her panic increased. Then everything seemed to pause, and she crumpled into a small heap on the blanket on the beach.
Fuck.
10
Tessa
I opened my eyes and the first sound I heard was my own gasp. It disoriented me, and then I shivered. Something cold and wet lay on my forehead, and I shivered again.
I glanced to my left to find Gabby smiling. “Welcome back.”
“What…? What am I…?” I looked around at my familiar room. But I’d been on the beach. I’d taken the children for a picnic breakfast. I’d talked with Jari, maybe even reached some sort of understanding. Shit. Shit. “Wait, was that all a dream?”
Gabby paused in her ministrations as she altered the position of the cool cloth on my head. “Which bit?”
I sighed. “I thought I was making headway with Jari. Wait, why am I in my room? What time is it? Am I sick? Oh my God, the children!” I swung my legs out of bed. Being late was probably the perfect excuse to void my contract, and I couldn’t afford that. “I can’t be late for work, Gabby. Help me,” I pleaded.