After lunch, Maia stood up from the table, lifting Waverley from her highchair. She slipped out of her dress, revealing her long luscious body and a teeny tiny swimsuit. Zephyr was dumbstruck as he watched her walk down the beach. She looked back over her shoulder and called out to him

"Are you coming?”

He slipped out of his shirt and shorts and followed her down the beach.

“The sand feels glorious under my toes,” she said, when he met her at the shore.

"The sun is warm, and the sea is too." A wave splashed up over their feet and legs.

"I want Waverley to experience the water.”

She started into crystal blue water, slowly stepping through the gentle waves, with Waverley on her hip. The water enveloped more and more of Maia’s suntanned skin, climbing up her legs, her thighs, her hips, her waist. Zephyr watched the whole time with a sense of awakening. His inner dragon was overcome by the sight of her, and the magnificence that was Maia, Duchess of Tides. His body responded, and he forced himself to get back under control. Everyone loved the Dragoness Prime. The Prince of Tides had abandoned his honor to try to keep her. Zephyr would never be that kind of man. No matter how much he desired her. No matter how much his inner dragon roared to make her his.

Maia held Waverley in the water and they playfully splashed in the waves. He was overcome with the impulse to touch her, to kiss her, to offer her sweet words of devotion. What could it hurt? It was what they both wanted. Why hold back? Why torture themselves? He turned away, his heart pounding at his weak thoughts. He would not be this man. He would not. And yet, he couldn't help it. He felt as if he was being torn apart from the inside out. His inner dragon battled with his sense of duty, and there was no winning in a battle against the self. He didn't know what he could do. He was speechless and lost. Maia glanced at him, raising an eyebrow.

"What's wrong? You seem upset."

"I feel as if my soul is being torn to shreds."

“Your body certainly looks healthy,” she said, her eyes traveling over his thickly muscled form.

“I have always stayed in good physical condition. As a military officer, I must always be prepared to fight.”

“And this tattoo,” she said, sliding her finger over his shoulder and bicep. “When did you get it?”

“When I entered the service and first came under the command of Captain Hanish. I’m afraid it was the result of a lost bet between myself and Raiden. He has something similar himself.”

“What was the bet?”

“Raiden and Hanish share a similar approach to life, though the two can often butt heads. Raiden likes to jump into action before thinking. I warned him that this tactic may prove fatal in a battle we were fighting against the vampires at the time; I told him he should take his time to analyze the situation and then make a decision. He told me he would wait. He bet me that his approach would be victorious. And, in the end, it was. So now I have this tattoo.”

“Have you ever been in active battle?”

“Oh yes, many times. I fight with a two-handed laser sword. My training started in my youth when my parents noticed that I was more talented in the ways of the mind — they ventured to ensure they would not have a weak son. And, although I resented it at the time, I now see the wisdom of their decision.”

“So do I.” Maia’s eyes ran a hot trail over his body and goose flesh rose on his skin under the intensity of her gaze.

Maia stepped closer, her fingers running over the tattoo on his arm across his shoulder and then down his chest. They swept lower and lower until they crossed his naval and rested on the waistband of his swim trunks. His body throbbed under the surface of the water and he squeezed his eyes closed before grasping her hand and gently moving it away.

"I want you. I want you more than anything I've ever wanted in my entire life. But we must wait for the results. Otherwise, I am no better than the Prince of Tides.”

Her mouth dropped in shock and she wrapped both arms around her child. "Never compare yourself to that man ever again. I refuse to hear you say those words, Zephyr. Do you understand me?"

“I am sorry if I have offended you, Maia, but this is the only way I can control my desire for you. I long for you in every moment. I want you with every shred of my being. But I must resist. I cannot give in to my desire without evidence that we are fated. I have no right…”

“But I want you too."

"I need to think, Maia. I need to be alone with my thoughts.” He turned away from her. The warring parts of his being thrashed and clashed inside him. The pain was nearly unbearable. “I will meet you for the evening meal tonight. And we can discuss it again then. Hopefully in that time I will be able to get myself under control and to think in a rational manner in keeping with the man I believe myself to be.”

"You're leaving me?" she asked as he turned away.

“I’ll be in the suite. I feel too conflicted to be near you right now. It's not doing either of us any good. You are so beautiful in that bathing suit, so joyous with your child, I fear I will lose control and will touch you or kiss you or tell you how much I love you.”

“Zephyr…” She reached out to him, but he moved away.

"We both know it's wrong. I will speak with you again soon, Duchess of Tides. You have my utmost respect. Please do not be offended."

"I'm not offended Zephyr. But I miss you when we are not together. My inner dragoness screams to complete the bond. It is all I have ever wanted and all I dreamed of in my months of captivity. I resisted the Prince of Tides, not only because he is an evil, confused man, but because I believed that true love was out there for me. Now that love is standing here before me, we both feel it, yet you deny it to yourself. We don’t need the mating analysis to prove we should be together. All we need is the truth inside our hearts.”

"But we could be wrong. And then what would we do?"

"You're right. If we are wrong and we are not true mates, we could potentially lose the respect of the other houses. We would inevitably bring the vengeance of the Prince of Tides. But don’t you think our feelings mean anything? Don’t they prove that we are meant to be together?"

"There is a reason that our people stopped depending on these feelings. And instead began to depend on the mating analysis. You of all people should understand that. You are the Dragoness Prime."

"I am a woman. And I am a woman in love with a man. That is enough for me.”

He turned to face her, moving through the soft waves. He stood just outside her arm's reach. His inner dragon screamed for him to take her in his arms, to console her, to tell her that their feelings were more than enough. To tell her she was all he had ever needed and all he ever would need. But he couldn't.

Instead, he said, “These feelings are important. And when the mating analysis proves I am your fated one, I will revel in them.”

And then he turned away, storming through the gentle sea and away from the woman who provoked more feeling than he had ever experienced in the totality of his existence. It was anguish or bliss. He didn't know which. The thought of being with her filled him with elation, but the thought of not being with her filled him with dread. He could not reconcile his heart and his head. He didn’t even know where to begin untangling the emotions warring inside him.