Are you sure about this?”

Bastian’s parents had flown away with Keylor’s limp form once the deal had been struck. Saina had even managed to make them promise to see him through his withdrawal, using every non-magic negotiating tool that she had.

Saina and Bastian stood alone in the courtyard at last.

“I’m sure,” Bastian said firmly, leading her up the steps to the grand entrance.

“I don’t want you to feel tricked,” Saina insisted. “It isn’t fair, and you shouldn’t have to.”

Bastian drew up at the top of the stairs. “The only thing that isn’t fair about it is that they beat me to the punch and robbed me of the chance at a deeply romantic speech that I’d undoubtedly have forgotten in the panic of the moment anyway. You were saved the awkwardness of having to accept a ring from someone who looked like a beached fish with stagefright. As grievances with my parents go, this is fairly far down on the list.”

Saina twisted the pearl ring on her finger and smiled foolishly. This was not the bargain she had expected to drive, but she was delighted with the outcome. The rings the dragons had produced from their hoard were surprisingly compatible with their tastes; Bastian’s was a simple gold band and hers was a pearl cradled by four diamonds. It was likely that his parents felt like they were ridding their hoard of items too pedestrian to keep.

“Let’s go find your Voice,” Bastian told her, when all she could do was smile at him.

He took her hand, and they walked into through the modest man-sized door within the larger door.

Keylor’s lair was dragon-sized at the front, but more human-sized to the rear, and a quick search revealed a set of cozy rooms. Saina’s heart caught in her throat as an elegant silver-haired figure in a plush chair turned to look at them.

“My Voice!” Saina cried, and rushed forward.

“Heavens, child, it certainly took you long enough to come get me,” her grandmother chided her as she rose gracefully from the chair. “And wearing that? Gracious, I hope no one sees us leaving together. I do assume you have come to free me?” The teasing, skeptical tone of her voice was achingly familiar.

Saina flung her arms around the slim figure, catching her in an impulsive embrace.

“Yes, yes,” her grandmother said, patting her with exaggerated awkwardness. “I’m sure you’re happy to see me.”

“We are here to free you,” Saina said, withdrawing to arm’s length. “Your contract with Keylor is dissolved.” She had to ask, “Was it terrible here?”

Her Voice sniffed. “The food was dreadful, and the service so spotty. Who only has maid service once a week? The internet connection was barely tolerable for streaming television, and you know how drafty and dry a dragon’s lair generally is.”

“We’ll get you back to the ocean, my Voice,” Saina told her, trying not to laugh at the glimpse of amusement in her grandmother’s twinkling eyes. “But I want you to meet Bastian first. This is my grandmother, my Voice, Gita.”

Bastian came forward from where he’d been lurking in their door for the reunion. He gave Gita his most winning smile and offered a hand. “Ma’am.”

Gita looked him over carefully, and did not take the offered hand. “You may address me as your Voice,” she conceded. The ring on his finger did not go unnoticed. “I suppose you think you are marrying my granddaughter.”

Bastian’s smile froze on his face. “Yes, your, er, Voiceness,” he stammered. “It was part of the agreement for your release.”

“Oh Saina, how dreadful for you!” Gita patted Saina’s hand in pity. “I had the perfect man chosen for you. You could have drowned him afterwards, for all I cared, but he would have made beautiful little baby girls.”

“My Voice,” Saina said gently, covering her delicate hand with her own. “Bastian is my mate. I want to marry him.” She wasn’t sure how much of what her grandmother was saying was in jest, but she answered gravely, serious to the bottom of her soul, and thought she saw a flash of pain in Gita’s face.

“Sirens don’t have mates, my darling! And sirens certainly don’t marry.” Gita gave Bastian a sweeping look. “And if you did, Saina, sweetheart, I’m sure you could do better.”

Poor Bastian looked like a beached dolphin, opening and closing his mouth as he struggled to find something to say.

Saina realized she was humming out of habit when Gita turned to her sharply. “Are you trying to enchant me, girl? You have learned a lot of bad habits while I was away.”

“You!” Gita said imperiously to Bastian, leaning her magic into the musical word. “You may fetch the bags I have packed up in the other room.”

Bastian looked befuddled, exchanged a look with Saina, and then politely nodded and walked to get her bags.

Gita watched him go. “Well, isn’t that curious. A bit more to him than meets the eye.”

“I told you, my Voice, he’s my mate. You can’t influence him.”

“That sounds like a challenge,” Gita murmured. “But no matter! Tell me what happened with our pod when I left. Why didn’t one of the others come get me, if you were going to take so long about it?”

“Our pod dissolved when you left,” Saina said sadly. “They fell into bickering and infighting, and I was the only one who cared to come free you.”

“Ungrateful, the lot of them,” her Voice sniffed. She patted Saina’s hand again, more slowly this time, and Saina thought she saw a glimpse of sorrow in her sea green eyes before she straightened her shoulders. “I suppose you want me to come live with you, in whatever beach hovel that lifeguard will put you in?”

“You’d be welcome at Shifting Sands, my Voice,” Saina said, though as she spoke, she wondered exactly how welcome she would actually be. She tried to imagine Gita working for Scarlet and it was nearly as impossible to picture as Scarlet being happy with Gita’s presence.

“Oh, that’s a shifters-only island resort, isn’t it?” Gita said dismissively. “I’ve heard it’s alright, if you don’t have real standards.”

“The food is very good,” Saina said neutrally. She didn’t precisely want to encourage the idea.

Gita waved an imperious hand of dismissal. “You two just take me to the ocean and abandon me there. I’ll find a cruise ship that will take me. I need a little rest and pampering after my long imprisonment.”

Saina looked around the well-appointed room, but held her tongue.

Bastian returned, laden with matching suitcases.

“Well, you are a strong one,” Gita conceded. “Did you fetch the case from the bathroom?”

“Yes, Ma’am,” Bastian said, holding it aloft.

“Maybe you’ll do for Saina,” she said with faint approval. “As long as she has heavy bags to lift.”

They walked together to the courtyard. The smoke had mostly cleared, and the evening sun through the jungle sparkled on green leaves. Somewhere overhead, a toucan cried.

“Where’s the car?” Gita asked, once they had reached the bottom of the entrance stairs.

“Ah, we didn’t bring a car,” Saina said. “I rode here on Bastian.”

“I don’t need dirty details like that, girl,” Gita scolded.

“Bastian is a dragon, my Voice,” Saina explained cautiously. “He can fly us wherever we’d like.”

“A dragon?!” Gita took an unsteady step backwards, looking at Bastian with new cautiousness. Saina took her arm when she might have stumbled back on the last step.

“A dragon,” Saina said firmly. “My dragon.”

Gita sniffed. “This day is turning out to be more and more disappointing.”