Shay flew a speeder to the water lands and broke under the waves in a rush of splashing water. He had to get back to his bride and soothe her mind as soon as possible. He could sense her distress already.

Anger filled his gut at the thought of his lords occupying his throne. It filled him with bitter bile, and he gritted his teeth at the taste.

He needed his anger to defeat these rebel dragons. They wouldn’t have his throne for long. The admirals the other princes had sent to assist him while he was gone met him in their own speeders at the edge of a ravine under the deep ocean.

It was the code of honor to meet an enemy dragon on a neutral battlefield. The rebel dragons would have to honor the code this time too. With the admirals gathered and in agreement, Shay haled the Coral Palace.

“This is your prince,” Shay said through his holocom. “I demand an honest fight for the Water Throne.”

“So, our leader has returned. With some sweet human bride, I assume. Why is it that the princes deserve females but the rest of us do not? Why do you deserve our loyalty?”

“I understand your concern. But this is the way of things. Insulting your prince will not help you once I have my kingdom back. And if the water lords want to be included in the lottery, the fastest way to it is accepting a fair and honorable fight for the throne.”

“Agreed,” said the water lord on the holocom.

Shay couldn’t see his face, and he couldn’t recognize the voice of the dragon on the other side of the conversation. But clearly this dragon spoke for the rest of them.

“Our terms are that you must fight all of the water lords at once if you wish to be considered our leader again.”

“Preposterous,” said one of the admirals of the Fire Lands.

Shay frowned. “And how many are you?” Shay asked through clenched teeth.

“There are fifteen water lords currently fighting to be the top. If you best us all in a fair fight. We will step down. If not… You lose.”

“Agreed,” Shay growled.

“Good, proceed to the fighting pits.”

After ruling over the Water Lands for a hundred and fifty years, Shay could not believe he was being spoken to this way by one of his own men. But since the last female had died, nothing was beyond the scope of the imagination. The other dragon had clearly lost his mind.

If the history of Galaton weren’t part of their vast storehouse of data, Shay wouldn’t have believed it himself.

He told the admirals of the other lands to follow him in their speeders, and the small armada sped through the deep ocean until they came to the entrance hatch into the dome over the Coral City.

It was time for him to take back his throne and prove to his mate that he could protect her from anything from the Mulgor to his own men.

The speeder descended through the exit hatch with the admirals’ speeders behind them. They landed on the landing pad outside the Coral Palace. Shay climbed down the exit ramp, looking around warily at the lords who’d come to greet him.

For everything he’d done for them over the last one hundred and fifty years, he didn’t see a speck of gratitude in their eyes. The lower level lords desired nothing more than to be princes. The common dragons desired to be lords. And on and on it went.

Shay and the admirals hurried through the spiraling pink and green coral entry hall to the elevator that took them down to the fighting pits below the palace.

The smell of sweat and blood bit his nostrils as the door swished open. Without stopping, Shay hurried to the fighting pit where the opposing Dukes and Earls of Water were gathered. They faced him, their sharp teeth bared.

“We will fight with laser swords,” one of the lords said, throwing a retracted laser sword at Shay.

Shay caught it and turned it on, growling at the assembled men.

“Your flunkies can’t help you,” the same water lord said.

“I don’t need their help,” Shay growled through his sharp teeth.

The fifteen lords gathered in the fighting pit and the rest of the audience stood back. A fighting pit was a ring surrounded on all sides by thorny ropes. The thorns had poisoned tips. Landing on one would bring the fight to a quick end.

The floor of the pit was covered in gravel rock, making it easy to kick dust into an opponent’s face. Nothing about fighting pits on Galaton was engineered to be humane or easy on the participants.

The fifteen dragons who’d chosen to compete with Shay did not know what they were in for. He was the strongest prince on the planet. He came from a long family line of immensely powerful dragons who’d kept control of the water throne for millions of years. Shay did not intend to be the first Vishak prince to lose the water throne. It simply would not happen on his watch.

Shay sidestepped slowly as the other dragons started to circle him. He took in his surroundings, using all his senses to note where the other men were in the fighting pit. With his laser sword gripped in his hands, he twisted quickly as one of the lords came at him from behind.

Without a thought, Shay thrust his sword into the lord’s chest. The man’s hot red blood seeped from his wound. Shay pulled the sword from his chest, just in time to maneuver around and kick at an oncoming Earl.

Shay thrust his foot into the man’s stomach, pushing him backward into the group of three others. The three lords stumbled and fell into the thorny ropes.

They gasped and groaned, black bile forming on their lips as the poison took hold. It was a gruesome sight, but Shay had no time to contemplate their deaths. There were still twelve dragons to overcome and their strength was evident as they circled around him.

He turned, slowly, meeting the faces of his opponents. He challenged them, raising an eyebrow. The dragons all moved in at once, trying to rush him.

Shay ducked low, twisting around on the balls of his feet in a graceful spin none of them expected. He cut five lords at the knees before the rest hurried out of reach of his sword. The men he’d hit screamed as their bodies were relieved of their lower legs.

Blood ran over the gravel floor of the fighting pit. The iron tang of it was thick in the air. Shay growled, wishing this fight to be over so that he could go home to his bride.

She called out to him over the distance as if there was something wrong. Shay forced himself to push it from his mind. He could not risk distraction now.

Seven dragons remained, including the lord who had organized the challenge. Shay narrowed his eyes at the one he’d decided was the leader. Shay spun forward, thrusting his sword with lightning speed toward the man’s heart, but the other dragons were on him.

The pushed him bodily to the side and the lord he’d aimed at rushed forward, slicing Shay’s stomach before Shay could spin out of the way. The laser wound stung and blood seeped from Shay’s wound. His hand went to the cut, feeling the wet blood pouring from inside him.

It was a bad wound. He knew that much. But he could not stop for medical attention. Without missing a beat, he ducked and spun around behind the lord who’d cut him. He was faster than the other man, even with a gaping wound.

Shay thrust his sword into the man’s back and it came out the other side through his chest. The dying lord let out a long, low groan as Shay pulled his sword from the man’s limp body. It felt to the gravel floor, and Shay faced the remaining six dragons.

They stepped back, meeting his eyes with utter dread.

“I concede,” the first one said, dropping to his knees in front of Shay. The other five followed his lead and soon they were all kneeling before their rightful prince.

“I accept,” Shay said through gritted teeth. The pain from his wound sliced through him like a knife.

“Medic!” the admirals of the other lands cried out.

Medics hurried toward Shay, running their medical wands over his body until he was fully healed from the slice in his belly.

With the loyal admirals and his now subdued lords behind him, Shay left the fighting pit. For the first time since the last female had died, he felt as if there would soon be peace in his kingdom.

As soon as he was back in his chambers, he flicked his finger over his wrist to bring up his holocom. He wanted to tell Ella the good news. He’d won his throne. She could come join him in the Coral Palace.

“You must return as soon as possible,” said a voice that was not Ella’s.

“What’s wrong?” Shay demanded.

“She’s gone into labor.”

“It’s too soon!”

“Just hurry,” the voice said. “She needs you.”

Shay flung himself from his balcony and shifted midair, flying down to the landing pad in front of the Coral Palace. He jumped into his speeder and was in the air in record time, ascending to the exit hatch at the top of the dome.

The speeder hurried through the depths of the water and then into the sky. He directed it straight toward the Obsidian Palace and didn’t slow down to take a breath or to even think.

When he settled his speeder on the landing pad in front of the Obsidian Palace, he jumped out and ran toward the entrance hall.

Prince Salvatt met him inside the black walled hallway and brought Shay to an abrupt halt.

“We did everything we could to halt the contractions,” Salvatt started.

“Where is she,” Shay growled, ready to tear the prince’s head off if he didn’t take him to his bride in the next nanosecond.

“Come,” Salvatt said, stepping back and hurrying down the hall.

They made it to an elevator that they took upward until they came to the next floor. The door swished open, and Shay burst out into the hall. Salvatt stepped out beside him and started toward a brightly lit room with an open door.

Shay couldn’t wait for Salvatt. He broke into a run and charged down the hall, into the brightly lit room.

There, in the bed, lay the most beautiful sight he had ever beheld in his two hundred years of life. Ella, holding a tiny, blue-green skinned baby.

“Ella,” he whispered as he went to her.

He fell to his knees beside the bed and took her hand in his. She held the baby in her arms, her breast exposed for the tiny creature to suckle.

“I did it, Shay,” she said in a weak voice. “I gave birth to our son.”

“It’s so early. Is he all right?”

“The child will be fine. He is a strong one,” the medic said, moving a scanning wand over Ella and the baby.

“Thank the gods,” Shay murmured, looking at his mate and child. “It’s time to get you home.”

“You won?” Ella asked, her voice croaking.

“I did, my beloved. I have won the Water Lands back for you and our son.”

He leaned down and kissed her lips. She kissed him back with a little moan of contentment. The medics helped him bring Ella and the baby to Shay’s speeder, and they were all safely strapped in before Shay started to take off for home.