Rodgardae shook himself and stepped up to grab his sister’s upper arm, dragging her to her feet. “Marra, don’t do this to me.” He tried really hard not to whine.

She shook her head, although she had a slight grin on her face. “I should have known that the baby of the family was going to be the one who ended up our king. You were already spoiled, so it makes sense.”

He looked at her in shock for a moment before punching her in the shoulder. A few of the officers, all of whom were still on their knees, flinched again, but no one moved, not even Worthan. She reached up and grasped his arm. “Don’t leave yet. Let us back you up. You have hundreds of wings at your command, and each and every one of them is ready to follow you to our queen.”

The plea competed with the pull of his mates, but it was sincere and, more importantly, smart. His rational mind fought with his instincts but she was right. He put his hand on her shoulder in response. “I will not fly off to get myself killed, as I hear some others are doing.”

She grimaced. “Holding dragons back has been difficult. Our brother the prince is currently flying off the coast, acting more like a prison guard than His Royal Majesty, chasing back anyone else who tries to fly out.”

“I will be one of those dragons soon, Marra,” Rodgardae admitted softly, releasing her. She closed her eyes but nodded.

“I know. I cannot imagine how you must feel right now.”

He knew her words were sincere, since her own mate was back at their home deep in the heart of Watt, keeping watch over their children. No one on Watt was entirely safe at the moment, but that was as protected as a family could get.

“We need to plan. Start from the beginning. Worthan told me that dick ver Kleelan kidnapped Mani?”

His sister’s expression darkened. “Yes. Consort ver Kleelan came out of the ocean like a kraken and followed your scent to this tent. Before we could get guards here to meet him or realize what a danger he posed to your consort, he had shifted into his walking form, knocked Matrica Roki out, and carried him away. He moved quickly, and that damn Khzern giant of his grabbed Mani and took off. We suspect that ver Kleelan shifted back into his flying form and slipped under the waves again.” She shook her head. “He switches back and forth without a care in the world, as if it has no adverse effect on him whatsoever.”

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Rodgardae had read enough of their legends, and heard enough from Mani about the habits of his great-aunt’s consorts, to know what his sister was implying. “You think he’s bonded to another queen?”

“It’s the only thing that makes sense.” She shrugged. “After all, we know that there are a few queens in the wide countries of Iskaryyva who have their own courts and swear loyalty to the emperor but stand apart from him with their own kings and their own agendas. And who is to say what lives beyond the Barrens on the far border of the Westlands?”

Rodgardae thought it all sounded outlandish, but he was not prepared to go down that warren hole. “Be that as it may, my priority is to get to Mani and our queen.”

Worthan nodded, and stood up to join the conversation. It was a gross breach of etiquette, if Rodgardae had really cared about being the king of Watt, but it felt very normal so he wasn’t going to say anything about it. He wasn’t sure he was ready to be king anyway. “What worries me is why hasn’t she come back home? If we are assuming that she is a queen of Watt then she would naturally, instinctively, return to her homeland.” He waved a hand at Rodgardae. “Where her territory and her king are.”

Rodgardae’s sister shook her head. “She might be the queen of Watt for whatever mysterious reason, but she is from Kaaltendt, and being so far from its shores was disorienting for her. In the middle of fighting the emperor, I think it likely she did not consider which direction she was going.”

Only in that moment did Rodgardae realize that nobody present had heard the story that Consort ver Kleelan had told him when they first met in Mani’s office. Rodgardae had sworn Mani to secrecy, and he himself had told no one. He had somewhat assumed that, should the unlikely event come to pass wherein Agadart was revealed to actually be the queen of the Isle of Watt, ver Kleelan would be there to explain it…and more importantly, Agadart herself would be present on the land of the country she was supposed to rule. Dashing out to sea to chase after the emperor of Iskaryyva had not been remotely on Rodgardae’s list of possibilities.

He raised his hand up to indicate that he had something to say, and the murmuring that had started up among the officers at his previous comment died down quickly. His sister continued to stare at him in shock. Rodgardae rubbed his forehead for a moment then told everyone to get to their feet. They all rose and crowded in a little closer, but no further than where Rodgardae’s sister stood firmly with her arms folded over her chest staring at Rodgardae.

“There may be some information here that I had failed to share with you earlier. To be fair, when I was first told this, I assumed it was a fantastical lie that ver Kleelan was weaving in order to convince me to help him. But given the circumstances, I’m inclined to believe that there is more truth to the story than I was willing to admit.” He looked around at the confused faces of his sister, Worthan, and the officers and then took a deep breath before he launched into the most unbelievable story he thought he could ever tell anyone in his life.