Chapter Two
Landon
Fall over and make yourself look like an idiot?
Check.
Get a cramp and nearly topple over a second time?
Check.
Gain entry into The Garden?
Double check.
Become immediately and stupidly attracted to the King?
There weren't enough checks in the world.
At least they'd gained entry. Landon still wasn't sure how they'd achieved that one. It had sounded like they were definitely being kicked off the island. He wasn't sure where the dragons stayed on that island anyway and while he'd been excited to finally see where they slept, he wouldn't have been sad to leave. The moment they'd landed and shifted, donning the armor they'd carried with them in packs, it had felt like they weren't on a different island, but on a different world. Lush, green hills surrounded them, without a hint of civilization. Landon hadn't seen so much as a column of smoke from a fire and was beginning to think the emerald dragons were invisible.
Each dragon tribe had their own strengths and weaknesses. The diamond dragons, which Landon was, as was his Princess and the other guards, all lived on Diamond Island. Landon's home was a rocky fortress. There were some plants, especially now that King Sebastian had lifted the ban, but his home had nothing that compared to the vegetation around him now. The diamond dragons were said to have an affinity for air. For some, that meant they were great fliers, for Landon, it didn't mean much. His mother had always called his clumsiness a curse and he agreed. From what he had heard, the island of the golden dragons, Chryseum Island, looked more like this one, lush and green, but it was more like an island resort whereas where he stood now was like being in the middle of the rainforest. The fourth dragon tribe, the island of the onyx dragons, Landon had heard, was a place of monsters. When one of the onyx dragon's monsters, a shadow beast, had infiltrated the castle a while back, Landon had heard from first-hand witnesses how gruesome the creature had been. They'd said that light seemed to flow off the beast's back like oil over water.
Landon shuddered, that was something he would be completely fine with never seeing.
"Hurry up, Pebble," the guard behind Landon said. He'd paused at the tunnel where the rest of the welcome party had already ventured into.
When King Vale had come, he'd shot out of the water, Landon had assumed they'd interrupted his morning swim. Now, it seemed…
"We're going under the water," Landon told the guard behind him, worried that this was that moment his mother had always warned him of. Something about, if his friends jumped off a bridge, would he jump too? He'd never had to worry before because he hadn't had many great friends. And there weren't a lot of bridges on Diamond Island. And, he could fly, so jumping off a bridge wouldn't spell his doom.
But now, the Guardian Princess was leading their path down into the depths of the ocean through nothing more than a lettuce chute.
"Of course, we are," the guard behind him muttered. "That's where these sea dragons live, Pebble."
Landon grunted. It was an acceptable sound for a guard to make. Anyone listening to them might think Pebble was a nice nickname, Landon had thought the same when the other guards in training had used it on him. Then, he realized it was an indicator of his strength. They were diamond dragons, encased in actual diamond in their dragon form it acted like the toughest armor possible. Their home was on top of a rocky fortress.
Landon was no rocky fortress, he wasn't quite cut out for guard work, but he'd do his best. That didn't stop the other guards from acknowledging his gentle nature. They were stones. He was a pebble.
"Pebbles are also annoying," one of the guards had said in training, to the amusement of those around him.
Landon would rather be annoying than drown at the bottom of the sea. Bracing his hands on the edge of the tunnel, he gasped. The walls weren't hard stone as Landon had been expecting. They were firm but malleable, and it felt almost as if the tunnel that curved down into the ocean had a heartbeat. Images of walking into the mouth of a huge sea monster popped into his head. But, the King had taken this path, as had Cook and the Guardian Princess. None of them were screaming, submerged in stomach acid.
"Get out of the way! I'm not getting screamed at because you are scared!" The guard shoved past him, knocking him into the side of the living tunnel.
There simply wasn't any other word for it. Landon peered down the space. Unlike any plant or fiber, he'd ever seen, the walls were actually tiny vines, millions of them woven together to form a tube and steps that somehow kept their shape despite the weight applied to them. Staring down the tunnel, he could have sworn he saw the walls pulsated, like they were alive like they were breathing. Landon shuddered. The entire castle couldn't be made of the same material, could it? How could an entire tribe of dragons live for fear of the walls crashing in on them at any moment?
Landon took a deep breath and took his first step down into the belly of the beast.
He eventually caught up with the rest of his party, none but the guard who had pushed by him were the wiser for his brief absence. Except, oddly, King Vale, who had been staring at the tunnel opening as Landon stepped through, a look of relief on his face that made Landon's stomach twist over. That's what he needed, butterflies in his belly. He'd never hear the end of it if his crush grew into nerves that resulted in him upchucking all over the Emerald King's…bare feet. Huh. That was odd. Landon was sure he had never seen a King's bare feet before. In fact, despite the King's state of undress, he moved and acted freely as if having so much chiseled muscle on display was a normal thing for him.
Landon had only a moment to spy Vale's bare feet before his mouth dropped open as he took in the sight before him. It was as if they'd stepped into a normal village. Small, the castle loomed over them, but enough room for rows of houses, expanses of land covered in thick grass and a marketplace where emerald dragons shopped, sang and lingered. Encasing them was a dome that looked as free-flowing as the water that clearly pushed in on them from all sides. And yet, Landon didn't feel the fear he thought he would. No one else seemed to mind that they were underwater, so he closed his mouth slowly and shuffled forward.
"Welcome to The Garden," Juniper, the King's assistant was telling them. "We ask that you refrain from shifting and using your fire in our sacred space. Please also do not bother remembering the tunnel you just came through. It is, as we speak, being destroyed and regrown in a different location. You won't see any guards in The Garden because we have no need for them. Our people live in peace under King Vale's rule."
Landon nodded in a manner he hoped was crisp and guard-like. He knew from his lessons that no foreign dragon had ever managed infiltrating The Garden without an emerald dragon guide. Throughout time, thousands had tried and those who hadn't given up now remained at the bottom of the ocean.
They walked past a group of adolescent emerald dragons, all dressed in flowing clothing that looked to be made from natural fibers. They sat in a circle, singing in a pattern that was known to them, but one Landon had never heard. He longed to stop and listen, to make sense of the words and melodies that they sang, all weaving together to create a beautiful noise, but his party continued ever forward.
"The Garden is paradise, our paradise. But to keep it that way, our rules are enforced, quickly and with no exceptions."
Landon didn't like the sound of that. "What are the rules?" he wondered to himself, and apparently out loud since everyone stopped to stare at him. He shuffled to the side, trying to stand behind the guard in front of him. The guard sighed heavily and moved away.
Without anything to hide behind, Landon cleared his throat. "I just mean, if I'm going to be thrown into the depths, I'd like to know why." He looked at his feet as he spoke, unwilling to see the disdain in his fellow guard's eyes nor the displeasure in the face of the Guardian Princess.
"A valid question," the deep voice that replied to him was not from Juniper, but belonged to the King. How could something as simple as words feel like caresses on his skin? On the surface, Landon had thought it was just his nerves. Now that he was in The Garden, Vale looked entirely relaxed, in his element. He wasn't smiling, but his youthful face didn't need a smile to be beautiful.
Beautiful? Come on, Land, he's a King! Kings aren't beautiful. But, this one was, in the same way, that a tiger prowling through tall grass was beautiful, or in the way a shark, sliding through the water. Beautiful and terrifying.
"Our rules are absolute, but they are not unreasonable. The one thing you'll want to avoid, doing harm to our crops. That includes picking or harvesting anything without permission. Second, of course, harm to the King or any of my people."
So, stop and smell the roses but don't pick them. Got it. Landon smiled gratefully to the King and gave a little bow, unable to get his tongue to untwist enough to form a response. The tour continued, and Landon listened along, or tried to, as ridiculous thoughts of the King swirled in his mind. Landon's mother had warned him of this when she'd first told him he'd volunteered for service in the King's guard.
"You get in your head, son," she'd said. "One thing could happen, but you've already twisted and turned it in your brain to mean another."
Like when he'd joined the air-race team in school as a child because one of the team members had offhandedly commented in the market one morning that it looked like he could make tight turns. In Landon's teen mind, that had been as good as a declaration of love. And he spent the next three years narrowly avoiding trees because, as it turned out, he was a fast turner, he just wasn't that great at navigating, landing, taking off, or going quickly.
The longer they went through The Garden, the more attention they drew to themselves. The emerald dragons obviously didn't get many visitors inside their kingdom, and when they did, their visitors weren't often transporting a dragon as legendary as the Golden Grandmother. Avia's name was enough to make tiny dragons shudder with fear.
The King brought them through the entryway into the castle. There weren't any fences or moats, gates or doors with large plank locks. Anyone could waltz into the castle and who would be there to stop them? They clearly didn't expect anyone to get that far and here Landon was helping escort a dangerous criminal inside. He wished there was a way to get her into the so-called impenetrable prison a little faster.
"Business first, pleasure later," King Vale said before stopping at a creek.
Not that kind of pleasure, Pebble. Landon stood on his tiptoes wanting to see exactly how there was a creek flowing happily into the ocean. He saw no answers, but then the King began to speak. "We'll have to go in groups of four, three diamond dragons to every emerald. Be sure your pod has an escort, or else you are about to have a bumpy ride."
Bumpy ride? Landon wondered. Then, Juniper stepped forward. It looked as if she was going to jump into the creek but when she took a step in the water, her foot landed on a type of lily pad. It remained under her foot for a moment, then, with a mighty tremble, it began to grow. First, it grew out so that it was large enough for her whole foot and then for two feet. Soon, it was a living platform large enough to hold her and three of the diamond guards. It didn't stop growing though. It stretched up, the vines of the plant twining together to create a barrier all around them. Up and up, it grew to a point until it looked as though the guards and Juniper were stuck inside of a pod or a cocoon.
"Safe travels," Vale said and then, without warning, the pod ripped from its roots allowing the flow of the creek to take it downstream to the wall where it suddenly dipped under the water and disappeared.
Landon stared at where the pod had been with a look of shock. No one else was screaming or seemed at all alarmed so he could only assume all of that was supposed to happen. No way. If they thought he was stepping one foot inside the murder pod—
"The next four, please come up," Vale announced. Cook and three diamond dragons stepped forward, none of them at all hesitant despite what they'd just seen. Landon didn't even realize it was him left alone with the Guardian Princess, Golden Grandmother and King Vale.
"Come along, Guard," Sorsha told him when all three of them were on the pad. The Golden Grandmother lay on the platform while King Vale stood closest to the shore, turned expectantly toward Landon. The walls were already beginning to grow making Landon wonder if the growth was an automatic response of the plant to getting stepped on.
He eyed the pad and the limited space, his eyes traveling down to the end where he knew they would dunk under the water. "I could wait here? Keep watch?" His voice came out like a squeak.
The Guardian Princess pressed her lips together in disapproval while the King snickered. Landon's face burned with embarrassment.
"You'll be completely safe with the King," Vale said, his voice full of compassion and not the judgment Landon expected. "Come, or you'll miss your chance." Vale held out his hand and despite the fact that Landon was still full of fear, he stepped forward, drawn to the King's outstretched hand.
He realized at the last moment that he couldn't actually grab the King's hand, even if it was offered. That felt entirely too intimate. But, he kept his eyes on the King long enough so that he could step over the growing wall that was already at his waist and land awkwardly inside the pod. He tripped, of course, landing shoulder first against the side of the opposite wall. The only thing saving him from complete and utter embarrassment was the fact that the Golden Grandmother was still passed out, knocked out after being tricked into consuming a magical sedative.
The walls grew around them, the process no less terrifying from inside the pod than it was watching it happen on the outside.
Landon felt like a champion when he was able to keep his second squeak inside of his mouth the moment they were closed in. The process made no noise, and enough light shone through that Landon could still see the bank where they'd all been standing. Then, the pod broke free from its root and began to float, bobbing lazily along the creek.
"Do you yet feel unsafe?" the King asked him, but even his warm words couldn't thaw Landon's apprehension.
"Wouldn't you?" Landon replied, his tone a tad sharper than it should have been.
"Please accept my apologies," Sorsha said tersely. "This is our guard's first mission off of the island and he is unaccustomed to experiencing new things."
No, I'm just unaccustomed to being dunked underwater while riding inside a magic plant, Landon thought. Then, there was no room for thinking as the pod reached the end of the creek and began to dip down below the surface of the water as the other pods had done. He gasped and threw his hands out to the side of the plant, touching the walls for a moment before worrying that touching them would somehow start the opposite process.
"You needn't be worried, young guard," the King told him.
Landon wished the King would just ignore him while he freaked out.
"Watch, as the water rises. Watch what happens between the fibers of the plant."
Landon did as he was told and saw that as the water level grew higher the plant fibers began to swell, excreting a type of liquid that coated the outside of the vines likes cement between bricks.
"They release a substance like a mucus. It binds to the walls, making them airtight. The plant then uses the water for nutrients. A process that converts the water into its more basic elements. The oxygen remains inside the pod while everything else is filtered through and released back into the water. We could live inside this pod for as long as our hunger allows us. Our hunger and our thirst, that is."
Though his words were educational in subject, talk of things like hunger and thirst only made Landon remember how attractive the Emerald King was. He felt like he was riding on an emotional roller coaster zooming from fear to arousal in seconds.
It didn't help that the King wasn't just attractive, but he looked young. Landon's age young, though he clearly was not. Landon had learned before coming on the mission that Vale was the second King that the emerald tribe had ever had. Their first was his father. The book Landon had read didn't say much on how the emerald dragons remained so youthful though they all suspected magic. Nothing else could keep a man older than the Golden Grandmother looking so young.
"If you are still afraid," the King said not bothering to hide the amusement in his tone. "Then I suggest not looking down."
Landon did immediately as the King told him not to and gasped loudly as he peered down through the depths of the ocean. Impossibly clear and impossibly bright, it was as if he could see straight to the ocean floor, and all the death that lay there.
He'd heard that many dragons had died in the old wars. There had been a reason that the four tribes lived in only a fragile truce since then. Below them now was the aftermath. Landon had assumed they would find one or two bits of a skeleton. Surely the underwater currents and the fish would have seen to picking away most of anything that lingered on the ocean floor. But, what Landon saw now were piles of bones. As they floated gently down to a location that Landon did not know, they did so while drifting, narrowly avoiding the tips of the piles of fallen dragons. "It's a graveyard," Landon commented in awe.
"Stepping inside the pod makes you afraid but viewing all of this fills you with awe?" the King asked him.
"It's beautiful," Landon responded truthfully. "And horrible." Why did he feel so much like crying? Do not cry in front of the King, Landon, you, stupid pebble!
"I guess it is," King Vale responded, his voice coming from a much closer distance than it had been, washing over Landon's backside like a comforting blanket. The Golden Grandmother still lay passed out on the bottom of the pod, meanwhile, Princess Sorsha looked between Landon and Vale with an odd expression.
"I apologize for all of this trouble, King Vale," Princess Sorsha said. "This seems like an awful lot of work for just one night in your dungeon."
The King's demeanor and expression visibly cooled as he stood straight. Landon felt the loss of the man's body heat. "And yet one night is all I am offering."
That put an end to the rest of the conversation and to the friendly mood inside of the pod. For the next couple of minutes, they rode in tense silence none of them saying another word as the ocean drifted slowly by them. Landon began to wonder how the plant knew where to go or if the King was somehow steering them. They approached a large, dark mass and when the pod bumped up against it, the outside stuck to the dark mass like Velcro. A moment later, the wall that had attached shrank away, forming a doorway. Along the edges of the doorway water seeped in but it looked as if the plant made short work of that water, sucking it back out and into the ocean.
Landon waited for both the King and the Princess to step out before gingerly lifting the Golden Grandmother onto his shoulder. He had to remind himself several times that she was still knocked out and that it wasn't likely that she would come to while he carried her. But, he was more than glad when he was able to deposit her body back on the ground in the protective circle formed by the guards who were already down there.
At least some of them finally looked as freaked out as Landon did. Diamond Island was a blustery place. The wind whipped there more days out of the year than it did not. Because of that, diamond dragons were the best fliers, especially during storms or tornadoes. But. for the most part, they stayed out of the sea. These dragons lived in it.
"I want her bound and locked in the deepest cell," Vale told Juniper.
"I can leave some of my guards down here," Sorsha said while specifically eying Landon.
Oh no. No, no, no, no. Please don't order me to stay bottom of the ocean with an insane old woman.
Landon continued his chant while Vale's gaze went from Sorsha's face to what she was staring at.
"That won't be necessary. Even if she does wake up or get out of her bindings. Even if she does open the door to her cell somehow. Where will she go? You came here because my dungeon is impenetrable, it remains that way because even if someone does get out of their cell, there is no place for them to go. I would be alerted of the breach and would immediately order a purge. No one has ever survived a purge. Even the emerald dragons who are excellent swimmers can't outswim the beasts that live on the ocean floor."
"A p-p-p-purge?" Landon sputtered.
"You don't get sent to the dungeons without reason," the King said, his tone cooler than it had been up until that point.
Yes, bad people deserved punishment, but let out into the bottom of the ocean? Nobody, not even the Golden Grandmother could survive that. It was seconds later before Landon realized that was the point. He shivered, longing to wrap his arms around his middle.
"Juniper will see her into her cell and there we can forget about her safely until it is time for you to leave tomorrow."
No wonder King Sebastian wanted to borrow Vale's dungeon until the onyx dragons could be contacted. There wasn't a spot on Diamond Island where Avia could have been deposited and kept secure while not under twenty-four-hour surveillance. And since she had already proven to be so sneaky, especially in getting other people to do her bidding, they could all appreciate that there would be no one around her to corrupt.
Juniper disappeared down a dark corridor. This one also pulsed, like the one topside, but with slower, more deliberate vibrations.
After Juniper returned as if she'd gone to take out the trash and not secure a deadly prisoner, they all lined up to travel back the way they'd come. Landon stood in the back of the line, attempting to avoid being with the same people on the way up. Unfortunately for Landon, Sorsha and Vale had the same idea and so, when everyone else had loaded back in and were on their way up, Landon crawled in along with his Princess and the King. This time, Landon stepped in without being prompted and Vale raised his eyebrows as if impressed.
"Not so scared?" he asked.
Landon grunted. "Of course not, King Vale. I am a guard," he said with an important sniffle.
Vale smiled but let it fall very quickly, almost as if he hadn't meant to grin in the first place. "Of course. Princess Sorsha, allow me to see you to a room you may sleep in, do you require your guards to remain with you?"
Sorsha shook her head. "No need. I feel quite safe here. With only five of them, they need just a single room to inhabit."
Landon let the two royals have their conversation. Others might be annoyed by someone talking about them in front of them, but Landon enjoyed it, it made him feel like he was truly part of the guard.
"Five together?" Vale looked displeased.
"They don't require more," Sorsha replied simply. "It is just for one night, after all."
Vale pressed his lips together into a firm line. It was odd for someone who looked so young to also seem so wise and formidable. "Indeed."
***
Vale brought them back up through the castle to a wing on the east side. The walls here were thicker, like branches, reminding Landon of a treehouse. He stopped in front of a thick door. On the other side, people spoke loudly, and Landon recognized the voices of his fellow guards. He stepped forward, his hand pressing against the wood when he felt stares at the back of his head. He stopped, peeking back at Sorsha and King Vale from under his own arm. Vale looked unhappy at Sorsha, oddly, looked like she'd just been told a very exciting secret.
"Thank you," he said, remembering his manners at the last minute.
Sorsha merely nodded while Vale put his hand on the door, not touching Landon's, but near. "If you require more assistance, my assistant Juniper lives in this wing. She will be by to collect you all for the feast."
Landon nodded as his face burned. None of the other guards had gotten their hand held like this and he felt ashamed that his inexperience was showing so much. "Thank you, King."
The diamond guards quieted then as the door opened. They all watched Landon enter, Sorsha and Vale waiting in the hallway. The moment the door shut behind him and they heard footsteps down the hallway the guards all exhaled a breath of relief, immediately beginning to chatter.
"Did you see all those bones?"
"And these walls? The plants are everywhere. Do you think he can hear us through the vines?"
"This whole place is freaky…"
So, they were all as weirded out as Landon, they were just better at hiding that fact.
"Pebble, you rode with the King," one of the guards said to Landon, noticing him on the fringes.
Dread filled him though he wasn't entirely sure why. "I did."
The guard shuddered. "I don't think I could have been so brave. He's so strict. Some say he rivals the Onyx King when it comes to the brutality with which he hands out punishment."
Landon frowned. The King was strict, but he also struck Landon as fair. On top of that, there had been moments where he had been neither. His eyes had lit up with gentle amusement on more than one occasion and he'd been gentle but insistent with his commands. "I don't know, he isn't that bad," Landon replied.
His words silenced the room. "Not that bad?" one of the guards repeated him.
"Pebble's got himself a crush," another of them said, reaching forward to grab his helmet. Landon tried to grab it first and missed. They passed his helmet from guard to guard, keeping it just out of his reach as they taunted him. "Do you love him? You want to kiss him? Landon and Vale, flying in the breeze, M-A-T-I-N-G."
Landon stopped with a huff, standing in the middle of the barracks he clenched his fists.
"Uh oh, Pebble is getting angry!"
In times like this one, Landon wished he was anyone else but himself. Someone stronger, braver, someone more capable to face a group of bullies. At times, he felt strong, like power was thrumming under his skin, dormant. He tightened his muscles, located the taunting guard holding his helmet and he leaped through the air, hands outstretched like claws.
He landed at least a foot short of the dragon, his hands still outstretched as he slammed against the ground. For something that was made of living plants, the ground was hard, as his chin connected first, snapping his jaw closed and making him nearly bite the tip of his own tongue off. His eyes filled with tears as those around him began to laugh and jeer. Eventually, they dropped his helmet off at the space in front of him and filed out, leaving Landon to be pathetic on the floor as they left to wash up.
On his own, Landon gathered his belongings checking them over for dings or scratches. If those idiots had ruined his gear...
Then there was absolutely nothing he would do about it. As always.
By the time Landon had packed his personal belongings and changed into his second pair of clothing, the rest of the guards were finished washing. They were excited for the feast. Some of them more excited for the new men and women that would be available to them during the feast than they were about the food.
Landon washed quickly but by the time he returned to the shared room, it was empty. He stowed his toiletries before following the sounds of loud laughter coming up ahead from the dining hall. Assuming the feast had already begun, Landon crept down the hallway and hoped he wouldn't get in trouble for being late and in the corridor alone. With each step, the laughter and music grew louder. His stomach grumbled. Had he expected them to wait for him? No, but it would have been nice if at least one person had seemed concerned about his whereabouts.
"Where have you been?"
Landon stopped short at the imposing figure still in shadow. "Has the Guardian Princess asked for me?"
"No," the King replied with a grumble.
"Is there a problem with the prisoner? Do you need someone to guard her after all?" Please say no. Please say no. Please, please...
There was a new twinkle in the King's eye. Mischievous. "And if I did?"
Landon thought of the cold dark grave of the dungeons. He'd almost been able to forget the icy chill that had run up and down his spine the entire time he'd been down there. The King wanted to send him down there alone? He sighed. His mother was right, he'd had no business joining the King's guard.
Vale tipped his head back and laughed. Despite having only just met the King, Landon got the idea that something like that didn't happen very often.
"I'm sorry, I couldn't keep up the ruse. Your face looked so very tortured like you were trying to talk yourself into jumping off a cliff."
The King stepped fully out of the shadow. He wore tan slacks constructed with natural fibers and a white shirt that he wore unbuttoned, showcasing his tanned chest. The smooth expanse of his body made Landon's fingers tingle like they were begging to brush over his skin. He clenched his fist. If he did that, then he really would need to jump off a cliff.
"Your Highness?"
"I was afraid you wouldn't be coming," the King told him.
"You were? Why?"
Vale licked his lips and looked down the corridor. "How have you liked The Garden?" he asked, avoiding Landon's question.
Landon hurried to keep pace with the King. "It's been very interesting. I like seeing how other dragons live."
Instead of turning left into the dining hall, King Vale went right, leading them to a balcony that overlooked the kingdom. Through the dome, Landon saw the moon glowing brightly. It had to be magic that allowed the light to shine through so much water.
Below them, the kingdom was going to bed. Warm lights shone out of narrow houses and beyond that was a darkness that Landon knew would shine green in the daytime. "How can plants make all this?" he asked with wonder.
"They don't make up all of it," Vale told him. "Think of our plants like the bones of The Garden. Their roots hold us down, their leaves and vines grow to supply us with all we would need while providing us with light and air. But the infrastructure, the beds, other furniture, food, some of the houses, they are made from the same material as yours likely are back where you live."
Landon thought about the rocky edges of home, it couldn't have been more different from this place. "What about the dome? How does it hold the water out while letting air and sun in?"
"It's the same as the substance that the pods excreted earlier. It absorbs heat and light and keeps every day the same. No grueling summer days or frigid snow. We are in constant spring, constant growth. The dome can break if an emerald dragon swims through it, but it regrows so quickly it feels only like a sudden shower to anyone beneath."
"But how?" Landon asked. "How do they grow so fast? Magic? Emerald dragon magic?"
Vale only stared at him, as if deciding whether or not to divulge his secrets. Then, he narrowed his eyes. "What is that? On your chin there?"
His fingers went to the spot Vale stared at. He winced when he brushed against the skin there. "Nothing, I fell. I'm clumsy like that."
"You fell?"
"Some of the guards were fooling around and—"
Vale grew very still. His eyes narrowed. "Did they hurt you? That law applies to you as well, if they harmed you than they need to answer to—"
"No, no, they did nothing like that." Nothing that deserved a life sentence in the graveyard. "They were teasing, but no one pushed me. I fell on my own."
The King reached forward as if to grab Landon's chin. He stepped back, very aware of how close and how alone the two of them were.
"Do you like your job as a guard?" the King asked after he let his hand fall into the space between them.
"I like the sense of accomplishment I get. Fulfilling a duty."
"To whom?"
"To my people? I had a friend, Gladria, and she was hurt, killed, by the woman at the bottom of the sea right now, the Golden Grandmother, Avia, the ancient one, whatever you want to call her. I wanted to help avenge Gladria somehow, do something that told her that we didn't forget that she was taken. That I didn't forget."
"Was Gladria a very treasured acquaintance?" Vale asked. Funny, Landon had been expecting him to demean Landon's reasons for joining.
"No. Not really. Just a friend. But I don't…have many friends. Not enough to spare, anyway."
"I understand."
Did he mean he understood and could commiserate or that he understood the words coming out of Landon's mouth?
"The Diamond King must be very eager to get her off his hands."
Landon nodded. "She's a menace and your dungeons were the best place for her until King Sebastian and King Damari could figure out what to do."
"What of King Vale's decisions?" he asked, and Landon could tell he was on the edge of something. "What about what I want?"
Landon shuffled. "You're a King, you get what you want when you ask for it. That's why we are only staying one night."
"What if I offered to hold the Golden Grandmother for longer?"
Landon's eyes widened. "That would be awesome!"
"Indeed. What if she was able to stay for a time, under one circumstance?"
"What circumstance?"
"I want you to stay as well. You can act as a liaison between our islands."
"Um, wouldn't Cook be better for something like that? She's already emerald, she wouldn't have to worry about the tunnels closing in on her or the pods."
"As nice as it would be to have Marrissa stay, no. I don't want her to be the one. I'm an old dragon, I live by strict rules and have for centuries, but that just means when I see something that I want, I know better to simply grab it instead of waiting for it to fall in my lap. I want you, Landon, for whatever reason, and I want you to stay."
The way he proposed the idea made it all feel so sordid. Like Landon would be staying in exchange for something. Perhaps in exchange for sex?
"I'm not for sale," he informed Vale, pushing off from the wall and stepping away from the balcony. How come he'd followed the King out there anyway? He'd had no business letting his feet shuffle after the strong man like a puppy learning to heel. No wonder Vale thought he was up for grabs.
Vale stepped into his path, blocking his exit. "And I'm not trying to buy you, Landon. I just want to get to know you, ask you to stay for a few weeks."
"King Vale!" Sorsha exclaimed, nearly running into them both. She did a double take when she saw it was Landon on the other side of the King. "Guard? What are you…?"
"Guardian Princess, just the person I wanted to see. I've changed my mind. I will allow space in my dungeons for you to keep your prisoner."
Sorsha knew better than Landon to get excited right away. "What has prompted this?"
"Think of it as the emerald dragons bringing in a new age, one where our tribes may be at least acquaintances and not old enemies. I would, of course, ask that you leave behind one of your guards to assist me."
"I'm sure Cook would be—"
"I want this guard, Landon. That is if he is agreeable?"
Now they were both looking at him, both waiting for his answer. He could say no and be more of a leper than he already was. What was worth less than a pebble? Dust?
Except, he didn't really want to go. Not yet. He'd only scratched the surface of The Garden and he was curious about their daily lives, how they manipulated the plants, how they stayed young for so long. More than that, his dragon purred whenever Vale got near. Landon might not know if he liked the guy, but his beast did. "If it is what my King requires of me, I will stay," Landon replied making Sorsha beam and Vale frown.
"It is what I would like," Vale said. "You spoke of beginning a relationship between our tribes, this is a good way to start."
Despite that he'd already agreed to stay, Landon had complete faith in his Princess. She wouldn't sell one of her guards to some King just so he would do what she wanted…
"Done."