She rolled over onto her own back, effortlessly, with barely a swirl of her hand. Closing her eyes, she tipped her head back so her ears were under the water.
He gazed at her calm profile as she floated alongside him. There was a tremor in the deeps, a sense of a great power stirring. He could practically see the gl
isten of her scales, the royal sweep of her horns. The sense that a sea dragon swam alongside him was strong, so strong…
She opened her eyes again, looking at him rather ruefully. “I really have no idea what I’m supposed to be doing now.”
“You are so close, Your Majesty. Can you also not sense it? Your true self, rising from the depths?”
She shook her head, droplets of water caught like a coronet of diamonds in her dark hair. “I just feel like me.”
The lake murmured in frustration. She holds back. Something stops her from uniting with the flow.
The thin gleam of gold around the Empress’s neck caught John’s eye. He followed the line of the chain down to the shimmering pearl resting in the hollow of her throat.
Could it be…?
“Tell me about this, Your Majesty,” He gently hooked a finger around the necklace to draw the pearl out of the water. “You said your father gave it to you?”
“Yes, just before he died. He’d always worn it before then. I don’t know why he suddenly decided to give it to me—he just said that it was my turn to have it. He made me promise to wear it, always. He wasn’t a superstitious person, but he seemed to think it would somehow protect me.” She cast him a curious sidelong look. “Why are you asking about my pearl now?”
“We have no paper under the sea. Our Scribes work in pearl, starting from a simple kernel of meaning, and wrapping it in layers of shining nuance. The very best can capture our songs, creating pearls of great power.”
The Empress put her hand to the pearl. “You think my pendant is magical?”
“I myself possess a pearl imbued with tales of our greatest knights, set into the hilt of my sword, to lend me their fortitude and endurance. If a pearl can be enchanted to strengthen, I suspect one can also be made to weaken.”
She was silent for a long moment, treading water. Then she reached behind her neck to unfasten the chain. “Will you look after this for me?”
“With my life.” He took it from her.
She watched anxiously as he fastened it around his neck. “Do you…feel any different?”
“I cannot say that I do. You, Your Majesty?”
She shook her head. “No. Are you still able to shift?”
Experimentally, he reached for his true form—and quickly stopped as he felt his skin prickle with the start of the shift. “Yes. Perhaps I was mistaken.”
“Well, maybe you’d better keep it on for now. Just in case there’s a delayed effect or something.” She floated on her back once more, staring up at the night sky. “John, I don’t think this is working.”
“Patience, Your Majesty. It may simply take time.”
She blew out her breath in a long sigh. “Is there any way to speed things up?”
His inner human grinned. Oh yes. There most definitely is.
It was, of course, absolutely right. And John was most definitely not going to share the information with Her Majesty.
We must, his inner human argued. Candor is one of our vows. We cannot break a Knightly Vow, can we?
The cursed creature could be as cunning as an octopus when it was trying to get its way. John set his jaw, trying to ignore its blandishments.
Of course, even the Knightly Vows must be broken if a higher duty calls, his human said, its eyes gleaming slyly in the darkness of his soul. And our first duty is to the Pearl Throne. Not to the Order of the First Water, not to knightly oaths. Not even to our mate. Our first duty is to the Empress. And if her best interests conflict with other oaths…
His heart suddenly thumped against his ribs.
No. That is human sophistry. I must not be tempted-