Treasure

by Megan Derr

  But then Raiden thrust just so, that little bit harder, and Taka did not bother to muffle his shout as he came—not even needing Raiden's hand on his cock—spurting messily between them, pants heavy and loud in the sudden silence.

  "Beautiful, my treasure," Raiden murmured, grabbing Taka's chin and tilting his face to lick away the blood on his lip. "I would keep you this way always, if I could."

  "With your cock in my ass and stuck on this ship?" Taka asked dryly. "I don't think so."

  Raiden chuckled. "There you go being practical again, and here I thought I would break you to decadent yet." He reached up to stroke Taka's skin around the necklace, trailing his throat, and his chest, teasing his nipples again.

  Taka sucked in a breath, cock twitching despite having just spent. "Stop that," he said, and he grabbed Raiden's wrist to halt his movements.

  "If you insist," Raiden said. Taka whimpered when his cock finally slipped free, not at all protesting when Raiden rose up and swung Taka down to lie on the bunk and more than a little pleased when Raiden discarded his pants and stretched out on top of him.

  They lay there, quiet and comfortable despite the limited confines, smelling of sweat and sex and sea. "We'll be landing soon," Taka said softly. "I wish I knew what was going to happen."

  "All will be well," Raiden said, kissing his throat. Taka wanted to believe him, and he almost did. But he'd seen the looks that had fallen over Raiden and Kyo's faces, the way they'd shut down and fled the main deck to hide in their respective cabins.

  Something was going on, and it was long past time someone told him what—but he could not bring himself to ruin the mood. He would find out soon, and that would have to suffice. He settled for holding Raiden close, trying to imagine 'them' as a normal part of his life. He was rather frightened at how easy it was to imagine. "So if I were to avoid returning to Kundou, where do you recommend I go first?"

  "Pozhar," Raiden replied almost immediately. "You would like it there, despite the tensions of hunting the Vessels. Not to be trite, but the people there are very warm. The Vessels, their worship—fear—of a god of rebirth, gives them a very different outlook on life. They believe their High Priests can see the past lives of every person. That every life is a chance to fix the mistakes of a past one, a chance to work toward something even better in the next life. No one believes that as deeply as the people of Pozhar. They also excel at beating back the cold that plagues their country much of the year. Warm, in many ways."

  "I would imagine you also have bought most of the rubi they produce."

  Raiden chuckled. "I do have more than a few rubi in my collection, yes. Their goldsmiths are also quite extraordinary."

  "Hopeless."

  Still chuckling, Raiden shifted, raising himself up slightly to begin pressing kisses to random points all over Taka's face and throat and torso, occasionally exchanging lips for tongue or teeth. Taka groaned, angling his head to give him better access and shivering when hands joined mouth.

  With agonizing slowness, Raiden worked down his body, and Taka swore when that wicked mouth teased over his cock only to then pull away. He spread his legs eagerly, breath leaving him as Raiden thrust inside him. Taka knew he'd be sore later, but just did not care, meeting Raiden full measure as he began to fuck Taka hard, bending down to kiss him with the same heat and force.

  Taka had no idea how he had lasted so long without surrendering to Raiden. No doubt the reasons would return, but he rather hoped they took their time.

  Raiden wrapped a hand around Taka's cock and stroked him off hard and fast, and Taka cried his name as he came. Raiden followed him almost immediately, muffing his own cry in the crook of Taka's throat. Taka whimpered when Raiden withdrew and curled into him, suddenly ready for a nap. "How sad that after these months at sea, I'm going to be too tired to move when we finally reach land again."

  Laughing, Raiden sat up long enough to untangle the blankets and settle them in place. Taka felt a kiss on his brow and tried to say something, but could tell it just came out a senseless mumble as he drifted off to sleep.

  *~*~*

  He woke to someone shaking him and blinked blearily up at Raiden. He frowned, confused, to see the remarkably plain robe Raiden wore. It was the same dark blue as his hair and had been secured with a white sash that had a pattern of waves, touched with seed pearls upon it. "What?" he grumbled.

  "We just made land," Raiden said. "I thought you would prefer to get cleaned up and dressed, though I certainly don't mind if—"

  "Hold your breath," Taka cut in, and pushed him far enough away he could stand up—and yelped when Raiden grabbed him, yanked him close, and kissed his sore lips until they throbbed. "Brat."

  Raiden kissed his brow and let him go. "Get ready," he said softly and left the room.

  Taka stared after him, heart suddenly beating far too quickly in his chest. Dragons, what was going on? Shaking his head, he went to the pitcher and bowl that had been left for him and quickly cleaned off, and then pulled on the dark green robe and white and green striped sash that had been left for him. He used Raiden's comb to tidy his hair and sat down to pull on the ankle boots set out. He wondered if it was Raiden or Kyo who had gone through his clothes and surmised Raiden. Kyo did not favor stripes most of the time.

  Finally dressed, but feeling far from prepared, Taka left his cabin and headed up to the main deck. When he got there, he saw that the crew had just begun disembarking and were climbing down into the longboats that would take them to shore. He stared out at the island they had come so far to visit. It seemed largely barren, though he saw some scrub here and there. "Why this place?" he asked aloud.

  He jumped when Kin said from behind him, "That is what I would like to know. But your storming brother snuck onto the first longboat and now is somewhere on land. I have no idea why he did it, or what he is doing, but he knows I can't leave the ship yet."

  "Storms have mercy on us," Taka replied. "I'll go after him."

  Kin gave a jerky nod, and called out to the sailors loading the next boat. Taka climbed awkwardly down the rope ladder Kin showed him, mostly falling into the boat at the bottom. He took his seat, wondering belatedly where Raiden had gone. "Where's Raiden?"

  "Went in the last boat," a sailor replied.

  Taka frowned, not liking that Raiden and Kyo had both slipped away. What in the dragons' names was going on with those two? He was going to soak their heads when he caught up to them.

  He barely waited for the boat to hit the sand before he had climbed out. "Where are Raiden and Kyo?" he demanded of the sailors working on the beach organizing supplies and coordinating the longboats.

  Two sailors pointed, and one of them said, "They both went that way. Didn't look happy, I wouldn't—"

  Taka didn't wait to hear the rest of the statement, just strode off in the direction indicated, a bad feeling churning in his gut and the buzz of dragon magic making his head ache. He trudged across the sand, and then walked more carefully over uneven rock, swearing when he slipped, grazing his knees and the palms of his hands on the landing. Fantasizing about all the violent things he would do to Raiden and Kyo when he found them, Taka clambered to his feet and resumed walking.

  Rock eventually gave way to crackling brown grass, a rolling expanse of nothingness that sent chills up and down his spine. Why would Kyo drag them all the way to such a barren island? Taka walked on, not even certain he was headed in the right direction save for a strange tugging at the back of his mind. He hoped it was some magical connection to Kyo because otherwise he would only get himself lost.

  Half-dead grass gave way once more to rock ... No, he realized after a moment. It wasn't rock. It was what little remained of carved stone. There was too much regularity to it. He paused, retraced his steps to get a better look from the grass, and realized he was not mistaken.

  The stone was all that remained of a set of steps that had been almost completely lost to the ravages of time. They must have been much wider across at one poi
nt in time.

  Mermaids. He had forgotten entirely about the mermaids, he realized. He'd been so worried about Raiden. They'd called this island the Eye of the Storm. Exactly like the gem possessed by the royal family. Was this truly the place where the Temple of the Three Storms had once stood? His heart raced just thinking about it. Surely not. It sounded too fantastical to be believed that Kyo had known of and led them to a place that even the most devout priest believed long gone.

  Except, he realized, no priest had ever been more devout than Kyo. That still did not answer the question of why they were there, however, and he could not imagine it was at all a good reason. Not with Kyo's secrecy, not with his and Raiden's misery. How the storms did those two have anything in common?

  Huffing in irritation, Taka started forward again, but stopped when he heard someone call his name. He half-turned, not at all surprised to see Kin walking toward him. "I'm glad you caught up. Whatever is going on, I think it will take us both to knock some sense into them."

  "The mermaids are frightened, and I don't know why," Kin said, mouth set in a hard line. "When Raiden came above deck earlier, they avoided him. They wouldn't have much to do with any of us, but they particularly avoided him, and he avoided them. Why? It's stupid, but—" He broke off, scowling.

  "But?"

  Making a face, Kin admitted, "It felt like they knew each other."

  Taka frowned. "We'd better find them. It's the only way we'll figure out what is going on."

  Kin grunted and resumed walking, leading the way up the remains of the steps, kicking away large pieces of debris. He swore loudly when he reached the top, and when Taka joined him, he offered a colorful invective of his own.

  The steps led down to a wide, open area that reminded Taka of the royal temple back home, where the priest stood in the middle and addressed the circle of people around him: the wealthiest closest, the poorest all the way at the top, typically. Here, the steps were all but gone in most places, barely usable in other places, and the colorful tiles that must have once covered everything were long gone. He could see chunks of rock along the top that would have once been columns to support a domed roof that was no longer there.

  At the very center of the floor stood Kyo, and Taka ached when he realized that Kyo was crying. Kyo did not cry. For as long as Taka had known him, Kyo had always said that boys did not cry, the way he said it making Taka feel as though he were missing some joke.

  He did not even try to stop Kin when he moved forward, but made himself hold back because it had been clear for some time that Kin had taken over the role of comforting and protecting Kyo.

  Instead, Taka headed more slowly toward them, taking in more of the broken remains of the temple. He paused close to Kyo and Kin, rolling his eyes at the way they were kissing and not talking, and frowned at a stain on the sandy, cracked floor that definitely looked like blood. But after so many centuries, surely a blood stain would not remain?

  Looking around, he saw there were two more such stains ... and that altogether the three stains formed a perfect triangle. What in the dragons ...

  "What in the name of the dragons is going on?" Kin finally demanded, drawing back and giving Kyo a good hard shake. "What is this place?"

  Kyo tore away and stumbled back, shoving his hair from his face with trembling hands. "You shouldn't be here, Kinni. I told you to leave me alone once we reached the island."

  "I told you no," Kin snapped. "There is nowhere now for you to go, no further point in evading my storming questions! You're crying!"

  At those words, Kyo gave a shaky laugh, and Taka could not bear the look on his face as he looked at Kin. How long had Kyo been in love with him? That wasn't the sort of look that appeared in a couple of months. "Kyo, just storming tell us already!"

  "Nine hundred years ago, Taiseiyou the First killed the dragons and stole their magic," Kyo said, staring at the ground, his words barely above a whisper. "Every one hundred years, one of the royal family must come here to renew the bond that keeps the power of the Eye in the hands of the royal family. If the ceremony is not performed, then the magic has nowhere to go and could quite literally destroy the world."

  Taka had a horrible, sinking feeling suddenly. Please let him be wrong about what the ceremony entailed. He could see from the thunderous look on Kin's face that he'd had the same idea. "Kyo—what—what does this ceremony entail?"

  "Y-you should go," Kyo said, but he'd started crying again, and for as long as he lived Taka never wanted to witness Kyo falling apart again.

  "You're not doing this," Kin said flatly. "To the depths of the ocean with the storming magic! And the world! I am not going to let you die to give power to your family and prevent world destruction. The world is sinking anyway."

  Kyo gave a shaky, tired laugh. "It's not your decision to make, Kinni. I have no intention of giving anything to my family. I came here to give the power back to those we stole it from."

  "No," Kin said flatly. "I don't care about the dragons either."

  "It's not—"

  Kin darted forward, grabbed him, and kissed him so hard that when he pulled away again, Kyo's lip was bleeding. Kin's voice was rough, harsh when he said, "If you try to say again that it is not my decision, I will beat you. It sure as storms is my decision whether or not the man I love dies. You don't get to make that decision alone."

  "Kinni—"

  Taka sighed when they kissed again, looking away to give them privacy and relieved that it looked like Kyo would not be doing anything stupid. When they finally drew apart, he said, "So can we go home now? Or ... somewhere, at least, where we can make a new home?"

  "I'm not leaving," Kyo said, shoving Kin away. "This is the right thing to do. The gods were lost because of my family, or at least the dragons were, and I will set all to rights. So no one else has to die. So the world has a chance of being saved."

  "I'm not losing you!" Kin snarled and made to lung for him, but froze at the sound of feet scuffing stone and rocks sliding, tumbling. The sound made all three of them turn to see Raiden had come up from ... somewhere.

  Taka shivered, not certain why, except that Raiden looked different somehow. Old, despite his youthful face. Haggard. He looked at all of them and gave Taka a sad, sweet smile before he said, "Even if Kyo killed himself to restore the Eye of the Storm to its rightful owners, it would not work. Nine hundred years ago, the Eye of the Storm was placed into a person, the Priest of Storms. He was slain by his twin brother who then stole the Eye, stole the power of the gods from the Dragons of the Three Storms. If that power is to be restored, then the ceremony must be done properly. If you want to return the Eye to the Dragons of the Three Storms, Prince Nankyokukai, then you must kill Takara."

  "What!" Taka said, reeling back, tripping and crashing to the stone floor, adding fresh scrapes to his palms. He stared up at Raiden, trembling with fear from the fierce look in his eyes.

  Kyo moved and stood in front of Taka, lifted his chin and demanded, "How do you know all this? Some of that is not even written down in the Book of Storms?"

  Raiden laughed bitterly. "Nine hundred years ago I watched helpless as my lover of one hundred and fifty years murdered his twin brother, my Priest of Storms. One hundred years ago, I was helpless as my brothers broke free of the spell that bound us at the cost of their lives. I am all that remains of the Dragons of the Three Storms, a bare mortal shell of what I used to be."

  Taka stared at him, barely noticing when Kyo hauled him to his feet and hugged him close, unable to tear his eyes from Raiden. "You can't be a god."

  "I am not a god," Raiden said. "I used to be. And very soon I will be again, if all goes according to plan."

  "You—" All Taka could hear was that moment when Raiden had said Kyo had to kill him to restore the gods. To restore Raiden. He'd brought Taka all this way—pretended to care—called him treasure—

  Just to murder him.

  Taka tore away from Kyo and ran.

  Chapter Eighteen: Alive


  Kin lunged for Kyo when he tried to run after Taka, threw him to the ground so he couldn't go anywhere, and then turned on Raiden and punched him in the face. "You storming bastard!"

  Raiden said nothing, did not even react to the punch other than to stumble back a step. "It's not what you think."

  "You—you knew this entire time! You just said Kyo had to kill Taka! Did you see the look on his face? I knew there was something strange about you given that you never seem to age, but I didn't think—it's not possible. Dragons drown you!" He made to punch Raiden again, but stopped when Kyo stepped in front of him. "I will punch you too," Kin snarled. "Do not think for a moment that I am done being angry with you."

  Kyo, to his surprise, leaned up and kissed him, hard and quick. "Just wait a moment," he whispered before whipping around and leaning back against Kin, not protesting the arms Kin wrapped around him. "What is not as we think? You said I had to kill Taka—that seems pretty clear a pronouncement."

  "I want to make him the new Eye, my Priest of Storms," Raiden said softly. "I—after so long, all the times I tried to arrange what to say—it still came out so wrong. The only way to return my power to me is to properly ground the Eye of the Storm. Did no one ever wonder, in all these years, why it had to be with a person at all times?"

  "No," Kyo said quietly. "I never—that seems such an obvious question to ask now."

  Raiden sighed softly. "Of all the gods, we dragons were the strongest, the most volatile. We are, after all, the gods who reign over chaos. To ground our power, to keep it from getting out of control and destroying the world we helped to make, requires the Eye. That Eye must be a person born of this world. It is no small responsibility, and those who can handle it are extremely rare. Kanchou was one such person, and he was our Priest of Storms for one hundred and sixty years. It was ten years after he took up that role that I met his brother, Manchou ..." He trailed off and shook his head. "I made many mistakes, and my brothers and our children paid the price. The Eye is not properly grounded. Some of the power lies with the royal family, but they could not take all of it. The rest of it is what is slowly destroying the world, and if another hundred years pass there will be not be sufficient power from the other gods remaining to hold it back any longer."