Mercury saw Marina watching him expectantly after dinner, but he simply kissed her hand along with the other dragons and went back to his room.

He had a lot to think about.

Watching her banter with the other men, seeing her glow and converse with Zinc, he had to wonder if he’d be better off pushing her toward one of the others.

All day he’d been selfish and possessive, a perfectly acceptable mode for him not long ago.

But something inside him was softening, and now it was hard not to think that if he got with Marina, he was only taking her down with him.

There was nothing he wanted more in the world than to go to her room and take her again fiercely, show her who owned her body and make her moan in his arms.

She was beautiful no matter what she did, but when they made love, she was so beautiful she tore him apart.

Wait, they made love? The words made him want to choke. They fucked? That wasn’t right either. He didn’t want to do what they’d done last night with anyone but Marina.

Long ago, when he’d been seeking approval, there had been willing women always waiting, and for a while, he’d been able to slake his desperate loneliness with a nightly touch.

But it wasn’t enough, and as he’d slowly gone darker inside, he hadn’t wanted anything like that for a long time.

Until he’d met her. Until she’d walked into his world and insisted on getting inside his head.

More dangerously, what if she wanted to get inside his heart?

He’d long thought he didn’t have one anymore. He remembered having one as a child. He knew because he could remember what it felt like to be stabbed in it, over and over, by rejections and beatings and the constant feeling that he would never belong.

But over time, as he’d focused on revenge, on trying to make others feel the desperate pain he’d once felt, he’d gotten far from those other feelings.

He’d stopped feeling anything but rage altogether.

He leaned back on the bed, propping his folded arms behind him as he thought of Marina in her room, getting ready for bed. Would she be wearing those sumptuous little pajamas again, or was she naked and waiting?

He sensed anticipation in her eyes. She wanted him. Again.

But for what? How much did she want? She said she wanted only that moment, but was that just a way to keep him from tensing up?

He’d tried to tell her he didn’t have more to give, but every time he said he couldn’t give her something, he ended up breaking his own promise.

Mate? an annoying little voice said inside him, but he brushed it away.

No, that would be the epitome of what he could not do. Her family would never accept him. Earth might still want to execute him, and he hated the metal dragons who were friends with her family’s crew.

Hated them, and that was never going to change. Not in his hardened, poisoned heart.

He looked up at the ceiling. Would she be sad if she didn’t see him? Perhaps, but maybe it was better to make her sad now than to disappoint her even worse later.

Every cell in his body hated that he was staying in bed. Every part of him screamed to go be with her. To make her even more his.

He ignored it the way he ignored many of his impulses. Like the one to kill Lead and every other dragon who looked at her.

A knock on his door interrupted his thoughts, and he sat up abruptly. Had she come to him?

He moved to the door swiftly but quietly, a thing of habit when moving around in the dark, and opened it slightly.

But it wasn’t Marina outside his door.

Instead, a tall man flanked by several others stood at his doorway, all wearing armor and standing at attention. Like soldiers.

“A message for the mercury dragon,” the leader said curtly.

“Go away.”

If it wasn’t Marina, he wasn’t interested in hearing what anyone had to say. Least of all these jokers.

“It’s of the utmost importance,” the man said more urgently.

Mercury closed the door, but the man’s hand stopped it, pushing it open somewhat.

Rage boiled inside Mercury like a spark igniting a pool of gasoline, and the image of impaling all five of these guys with his sword like a shish kebab flashed through his mind.

Then a bone-deep ache rattled through his chest, and he stepped back a pace, shocked by the sensation. He couldn’t help thinking about Marina, about how doing such a horrible thing would make her feel, how it could wipe the smile from her face.

That wouldn’t do.

The messengers, taking his silence as compliance, opened the door and let themselves in. Once they stood in a small semicircle around him, the tallest spoke first.

“We’ve been sent by a party that represents the interests of planet Drakkaris,” he said.

Mercury would have normally decked the guy for letting himself in like that, but he was too preoccupied with the slowly waning tightness lancing through him. A pain that was not physical, but nonetheless nearly overwhelming.

He continued, unabated. “My benefactors want to congratulate you on your victories and on your safe return to your home of origin.”

Home? Mercury had no home.

“I’m sure you’ve noticed, but the people at large have taken to your return… unfavorably. My patrons are ready to use their ample resources to help you in whatever way you wish.”

Mercury just glared, head still spinning, but not taking his eyes off these guys for one second.

“All they request is that you drop out of the competition. Withdraw yourself from consideration as mate of the water dragon princess.”

Mercury’s eye twitched.

“Just think of it, all the wealth and prosperity you could ever imagine,” another one chimed in a little too eagerly. “If you just drop out and leave the palace.”

“No. I don’t think I will,” Mercury said, growing more irritated with each passing second.

If these idiots thought he cared about anything, especially money, then they didn’t know a damn thing about the mercury dragon.

The leader stepped forward, crossing his arms. Mercury had to admit he was probably the tallest dragon he’d ever seen, and he was certain it was supposed to intimidate him somehow.

It didn’t.

“I might also add that this isn’t a request. They will see to it that you’re given your dues, but you must forfeit the competition and leave.”

“Is that a threat?” Mercury said, frowning.

The man nodded, an evil glint in his eye as one hand made an eager fist.

“Well, then you can go back to your beloved benefactors and give them this message.”

At that, Mercury pulled his fist back and slammed the man’s jaw so hard it cracked, sending him flying backward through the open doorway and into the hall.

His compatriots watched agape for a moment, then rushed at Mercury in unison.

Mercury kicked one man in the groin hard, then snatched another by the collar of his ornate armor and head-butted him, breaking his nose. The man yelped and fell to the ground while the other two attacked from the sides.

But as much as Mercury wanted to cut these guys into a million pieces and return them to sender in a gift-wrapped box, he knew he was on thin ice with the king and his stooges. If he stepped out of line, they really would finish the job the oracle had started back on Earth.

Ridding the universe of the mercury dragon.

Both men leapt at Mercury, and he dodged back swiftly as both collided into each other. Then, before they could recover, he drove his elbows into the back of their necks, knocking them out cold, unconscious on the floor.

By then the tall one had recovered, and he strode through the door, grunting as he charged Mercury at top speed.

Mercury felt himself go liquid for a moment as the leader leapt through him, trying to tackle him to the ground, but catching nothing but air. He hit the ground, and before he could stand, Mercury was there with a swift kick to the face.

Mercury just stood for a moment, glad he didn’t kill anyone but skin still burning, twitching, crawling with anger.

“Don’t be here when I get back. Or else,” Mercury growled, striding past their limp and moaning bodies in the direction of the only thing that could calm the rage inside him right now.

He didn’t know who was after him, but it probably wasn’t Arsenic or one of the other competitors. Probably just some jerk noble who didn’t like Mercury stinking up the place and thought he could push him around.

But by the time he reached Marina’s door, his fury had abated, leaving him with the strange coldness inside him once more.

His heart ached. He was tired of fighting, tired of killing and bleeding for every square inch of space he was allowed to take up in this world. Tired of running from people chasing him. Tired of chasing after people who hurt him. Tired of plots and intrigue and vengeance and violence.

Just. So. Tired.

He knocked on the door quietly, not in the mood to deal with waking up Lead or anyone else in this damn palace. There was shuffling inside, followed by light footsteps, and a second later, Marina opened the door, blue eyes sparkling somehow in the all-encompassing darkness of the hallway.

But maybe the darkness was just inside him.

“Mercury,” she said, surprised. “Hi.”

Mercury couldn’t even muster a nod.

“Would you like to come in?”

Mercury just pushed the door open enough to come inside and walked in, heading for the bed at the end of the room.

“Is everything all right?” she asked, worried, closing the door behind her with a click.

She came up beside him, and he could feel her warmth, could feel her care.

The thought of it would have made him sick normally. But he wasn’t feeling normal.

He made it to the bed and plopped himself face down on it, and Marina sat beside him. He turned to face her, and she was so beautiful. So perfect. Too beautiful and perfect for a monster like him to be allowed near her ever.

Yet here he was.

“Do you want to just stay the night?”

He finally nodded, and Marina just pulled the covers over them and lay next to him. He put an arm around her, soft and pleasant and kind and wonderful. Everything he wasn’t.

It felt like… home.