Chapter One
Vale
Vale plucked a single emerald rose from a vase on his dresser. His room alone was generously decorated with the flowers but elsewhere in the kingdom, they were considered prized possessions. He admired the pristine gleam of the rose before setting it back with all the others.
Beside the vase lay a letter, handwritten on a thick piece of paper. It contained the seal of the Diamond King, but the message itself had been from a woman very dear to Vale. Marrissa had been head chef at the castle for as far back as Vale could remember. He had fond memories of the cook, including all the times she would sneak Vale sweets when his father wasn't looking, and she would always be the mother of Vale's best friend and greatest pain, Blaze.
Marrissa had left many years ago, her son had led the way off the island.
He hadn't seen or heard from either in over a decade.
How they all leave him. Until they need something.
But, as shameful as it was for the Diamond King to use Vale's childhood cook in such a way, it was unarguably effective. Vale wouldn't have entertained a letter from Sebastian under any other circumstances.
"Juniper, has there been any more word from the Diamond King?"
Juniper, Vale's assistant as well as his niece walked in then, looking a little worse for wear.
"You weren't at breakfast," Vale commented, pulling his chin-length brown hair back off his face.
"My apologies. It was a little harder getting out of bed this morning." Juniper made a note on a sheet of paper in front of her before taking the letter from her King. "You wanted me to send your regards?"
"No," Vale replied, plucking up the rose he'd been admiring, and holding it in front of his face. He blew heated air out of his pursed lips and eventually the rose began to droop and then melt. He caught the melted liquid remains in a cup and handed it to Juniper. "Drink."
Juniper accepted the glass and tossed the contents back into her mouth. The change in her was fast and noticeable. Her skin cleared and the bags under her eyes vanished as she stood a little taller. Even her hair seemed shinier by the time she set the glass down. "Thank you, my King. I didn't realize how much I needed that."
"Now are you ready to take down my reply?"
"I would be, if the Diamond King's guard wasn't already here with their precious cargo. They're waiting topside."
Vale got to his feet, anger filling him at the arrogance of the Diamond King. He would dare to send his people, uninvited to his shores? The diamond dragons could wait on the surface until they withered and died for all Vale cared. Under sea level, inside The Garden, the true home of the emerald dragons, they could wait indefinitely if the outside world required them to.
"Marrissa is with them, my King," Juniper informed him. "She's starting to threaten to sneak them all in. She says she knows all the back entrances."
Lies. There were no back entrances into the Garden. There were the ways that Vale allowed and that was it, but Marrissa would claim such a thing, just to vex him. And he wondered where Blaze got it from.
Vale stormed out of his chamber into the tunnel that would lead him topside. At the last moment, his anger took him to the right, through the organic corridor wall. As he penetrated the wall, he shifted, enjoying the rush of the water against his scales almost as much as he enjoyed pushing off the wall and spearing through the ocean currents.
The water that did rush into his room would have been quickly reabsorbed by the castle floor and the hole he created in the wall had filled almost immediately after being created. There was no danger in leaving as he did, but there was a reckless sense of freedom that, as a whole, Vale did not approve of. Still, if he was going to face the Diamond King's welcome party without burning any one of them to a crisp, then he would need to be in the best mood possible.
It also provided for a grander entrance, he thought vainly as he shot through the surface of the ocean to the expanse of land that acted as The Garden's outside face. Topside, the land was lush and green and to the rest of the world, it looked like the vegetation was surface level and no deeper. The emerald dragons knew, however, that the true magic was beneath the island where the roots that grew their castle formed. That plants grew downward, toward the ocean floor, creating the castle, kingdom, dome and everything else.
While it was preferred that no outsiders know the secret of The Garden, the secret had been let out once or twice. Vale never worried, he simply commanded his gardeners to coax the plants into a new form. Which was nice, when he thought of it, since that meant that though he had been King for hundreds of years, he'd lived in several variations of his castle.
As he sluiced through the water and landed on top of the thick ground cover, the welcome party stumbled back. Princess Sorsha stood in the forefront, the Guardian Princess. Vale remembered when she had been born, had it been so long? Perhaps time did fly under the sea. Behind her was a cluster of men and beside her was one, cheerfully plump woman.
Vale shook the excess water off his body as he shifted, the ground cover below his feet climbed up his ankles and his calves before growing into something that resembled pants. At least he wouldn't be standing there with his fishing pole out for all to see. He stepped forward and the vines snapped, sacrificing themselves for the King's modesty.
"You test my affection," Vale grumbled at Marrissa as she pushed forward, but even his severe tone couldn't wipe the smile off the woman's face. Her cheeks were as rosy as he remembered, though she never had the lines that now framed her mouth and eyes. Finally, physical proof of her unending optimism. Vale frowned. He would be sure to offer Marrissa a vial of elixir before leaving. The effects were long-lasting but wore off with time.
"You don't frighten me, chil— my King." Their embrace was short, her familiar scent brought up too many memories of his former best friend. Vale pulled away first.
"You've been away a long time," he said.
"I have," she replied with no apology. "Don't you worry about these wrinkles, I've aged, but I've also been all around this wide world, King. You should give it a try."
"There is nothing in this world that I do not have in my garden," Vale replied, indicating the space around him. He turned his attention to Princess Sorsha. She was a handsome woman, still considered young as dragons went. She stood tall and proud, her shoulders straight and with enough muscle to warn any who would attempt to do her harm.
A group of five guards stood in full gear at attention behind her. In the middle of their line there was a woman, restrained from shoulders to ankles, passed out on a blanket on the ground. Other than a few hairs out of place, the woman looked well-kept and healthy.
Vale couldn't say he recognized the woman since he had never seen her before, only heard of her. But, he knew that should she wake up, her eyes would flash golden with a malice that he wanted far away from himself and his people.
"Should I wait for an explanation as to why you have brought an enemy to my shores?" Vale asked, feeling the hairs on the back of his neck rise. A reaction from being so close to evil? Maybe.
"King Vale." Princess Sorsha gave a respectful bow that was repeated by the men behind her. One of the guards, at the very end, bowed so low he ended up falling over before righting himself. Vale's gaze lingered on that guard as he wondered what the guard's face looked like. He had a slim build and was short for a guard. At least, Vale assumed he was since there were no guards in The Garden.
Vale knew the guard's face wouldn't be roguish with a stubborn scar marring an otherwise perfect complexion. He wouldn't have a mess of black hair under his helmet, nor would he have green eyes so bright they were like grass on a spring day.
"As King Sebastian wrote in our messages, this woman no longer holds the titles she once held. She became an enemy of her grandson, the Golden King Damari when she attempted to kill his mate. He banished her and shortly after, she became our enemy when she attempted to do the same—"
Fury boiled low. "So, you've decided to hand her a set? What havoc does she plan to wreak on my kingdom?"
Frustration colored the Princess's face and tone when she spoke again. "We ask only that you keep her. We will bind and gag her in any way you see fit, and as you can see, she is quite incapacitated. The Diamond King's only request is that you keep her in your dungeon until we can all decide on the best course of action. The dungeon of the Emerald King has long since rumored to be impenetrable and such a space is the only one suitable to hold a woman as diabolical as the one behind me."
It said much about the frail looking old woman unconscious in front of him that she should need such countermeasures to be restrained. He half expected a cloud of smoke to suddenly appear and for her to disappear inside of it. That would be preferred, he thought, since it would mean he no longer had to refuse the Princess, possibly creating a tear in the fragile truce that the dragons seemed so intent on having.
He rubbed the back of his neck again as his dragon perked up. That only happened when there was danger or sex near and since Blaze was somewhere in the middle of the world, Vale had his bet on danger. "Where this woman stands, she cannot hurt me. I see no benefit to inviting her inside of my home."
Even if his dungeon was beneath his castle, at the bottom of the ocean among the bones of fallen dragons, there was a reason why the dungeon's nickname was "the graveyard." Most sentenced there died among the dead.
Marrissa cleared her throat softly and as much as Vale hated to refuse Sorsha, he would hate even more saying no to the mother of the most exacerbating creature Vale had ever met. "In the message we sent, we mentioned that a representative from the golden guard would also be in attendance. Ace, King Damari's head guard has since been called away to America to address some issue brewing there. I can assure you, however, that we still have King Damari's full support on this matter. This is unprecedented, King Vale. Never, since our creation, have the dragons come together against a common foe. We know this isn't a small request and are prepared to take over guarding of the Golden Grandmother while she is here. We need only your facilities. The space. Think of it as though we are renting it."
A human term that meant nothing to Vale. He was a King, he rented nothing, possessed all. He opened his mouth to say as much when the guard who had fallen over switched his weight from his right foot to his left, unremarkable other than it marked him as a novice and allowed Vale to get his first look at the young man's face now that it wasn't obscured by the Guardian Princess.
His face was bright and beautiful, like sunlight streaming through the water. His silver eyes called to Vale in a way that was almost innocent, as if the man who belonged to the face had no idea the devastating effect he must have on all who looked at him. Vale, who had had the time to memorize much about the other dragon tribes, recognized the insignia on his uniform as one that indicated he was newly graduated. That meant Vale had been right in calling him a novice.
His inner beast stood proudly, and Vale nearly shifted accidentally. That would have been an embarrassing sight. Except, the more Vale stood there and stared at the young guard, the more possessive and angry he grew. What business did Sorsha have allowing such a man to not only join the guard when he clearly wasn't fit for protection and safety, but she also assigned him on such a dangerous mission. He swallowed the low growl that wanted to spill from his lips.
Is that why you are angry, Vale? Or do you simply think the man's place is on his knees, in front of you? Now that was an interesting thought.
Vale stepped away then, away from the guard, his enemies and his allies. He was unaccustomed to feeling so possessive of a person without knowing a thing about them. He ruled his people, but he didn't own them. This young man with a mouth that looked like it smiled easily and bright clever eyes—he wanted to own. Except, he'd essentially just ordered the man off his island by refusing the Golden Grandmother a spot in his dungeons.
Inside, he was pinching the bridge of his nose and knowing he would regret listening to the wrong head, but outwardly he remained stoic. "Perhaps you could stay for one night." Vale could get his needs met and then they could go. "A show of good faith and camaraderie. I'll have my people prepare us a feast and you will be my treasured guests," Vale said to Princess Sorsha. "You and all your guards," he added.
"What about me?" Marrissa asked. "Shall I report to the kitchens?" she asked with a sparkle in her eye.
"You've been replaced, old woman," he said not unkindly. "You'll have to attend the feast with the rest of the guests."
She smiled but Vale did not miss the look of relief that passed between her and Sorsha.
Vale heard the ground snapping open as Juniper made her way topside. That was the other thing about taking the tunnel, it took longer. "Juniper, our guests will be staying the night." Vale would give his infatuation that much time. Already, he felt like a flaky King for putting his own desires over the safety of his people, but what could one woman do in one night at the bottom of the sea? Vale would give himself this one allowance, this uncommon moment of decadence, then the Guardian Princess, Marrissa and the bright-eyed boy would all have to go back where they came from and take Avia with them.