Dragon Mates: Dragon Knights (The Sea Captain's Daughter Trilogy Book 3) Read online

  It was quite a juxtaposition since Xander had originally been sent to the Southern Lair to learn flying from those dragons older and more experienced than he was. Still, he had the basics down better than the sea dragons did at this point, so he was as good a teacher as any for the moment. More experienced teachers could be brought in from the Lair if the sea dragons wanted—or they could go there and seek out lessons from the mainland.

  Now that was something Livia realized nobody had expected. That they’d even made contact with the legendarily elusive sea dragons was something surprising in itself. That they’d made friends and forged an alliance of sorts with them through a mating was simply astounding.

  Zera had toddled off with Flurrthith beside her to show her big sister her new scarf, and Livia watched the four-footed creatures with a happy smile. Gryphons, land and sea dragons working together and being friends. Who would have ever predicted it would happen, much less that Livia would be present to witness it all?

  “Penny for your thoughts.” Seth’s arms came around her waist from behind.

  He’d snuck up on her, but she was delighted by the surprise of his presence. She’d thought he’d be holed up with the healers at the keep all day. She’d left them discussing the merits of different herbs hours ago and figured the debate would keep them occupied until she got back from her trip to the beach.

  She turned in his embrace to kiss him hello, glad of the freedom to do so, here on the wizard’s island, far from home. If her father had been around, she’d never have been so forward. Even without her father’s disapproving presence, Livia would have to have been much more discreet in Dragonscove, since the people there loved to gossip, and somehow, everything she did always seemed to make its way back to her father if she wasn’t careful.

  “I’m glad you found a way out of the keep today. Being inside all the time can’t be good for you,” she chastised him after the kiss ended.

  “I don’t like it either,” Seth said quietly, looking into her eyes, his handsome face smiling in that sexy way that lit a fire in her insides. “You know I’m more a man of action than sitting around inside all day, but it’s important work we’re doing. If the sea dragons are going to come to the fey healers who live here for help, they need to know how to treat dragons.” Seth kept his voice low, and she realized he hadn’t come to the beach alone. She could see a number of the blond fair folk on the beach, observing the dragons. “I missed you. And I couldn’t take being cooped up in the keep for one more hour, so I proposed a field trip.”

  Livia laughed at the sparkle of merriment in Seth’s blue eyes. “A brilliant idea, if ever I’ve heard one,” she complimented him. “But how did you get here?”

  The distance from the keep to the sea dragons’ beach was the width of the island, which wasn’t a short distance by any stretch of the imagination. If they’d gotten here this fast, they had to have flown.

  “Some of the healers who specialize in treating gryphons have a partnership of sorts with some of those they care for. I was able to hitch a lift with one of the gryphons who help support the healers who are attached to the gryphon flight wings. It’s all very orderly, now that they’ve explained the structure to me. It’s military. Like a cavalry and its support functions. The healers are considered adjunct to the gryphon organization. We don’t have anything like that in Draconia. Of course, the bond between dragon and human is different than the relationship between gryphon and fey. At least from what I’ve been able to observe.”

  She loved the more academic side to Seth. He wasn’t just a brawny bruiser, though he had proven himself in defense of their home harbor when it had come under attack. Seth was a thinking man, which meshed well with her personality. Which was probably why she was so head-over-heels in love with him.

  But it was a mess. She also loved Gowan, and Gowan was bonded to the dragoness Genlitha. So, if she wanted to marry Gowan, Livia had to accept whichever knight was partnered to Genlitha’s dragon mate. The only problem was, they had no idea who Genlitha would mate with.

  Livia had hoped it would be Hrardorr, but the blind dragon had sworn to never choose another knight. Livia still inwardly wished for a miracle. That Hrardorr would choose Seth as his knight and Hrardorr and Genlitha would become mates so that Livia could be permanently bonded to the two men who had stolen her heart.

  It would be so perfect.

  But there were so many obstacles on that path. Hrardorr’s blindness was something the dragon would have to deal with if he was ever going to be receptive to choosing another knight. Then, he would have to choose Seth, which was in no way guaranteed, no matter how much Livia might wish it.

  And then, there was Genlitha and Hrardorr… Were they really interested in mating with each other, or was that just all wishful thinking on Livia’s part too? She had no idea, and no real way to ask them without putting the figurative cart way before the figurative horse.

  “I see you gave Zera the scarf.” Seth nodded toward the dragonet who was showing off her pretty bow to her indulgent parents.

  “She loved it,” Livia agreed, smiling at the toddler as she stepped back from Seth.

  Livia didn’t go far, though. She just turned, and Seth’s arm settled over her shoulder as they watched the gathering on the beach.

  Zera wasn’t as shy of the land creatures as some of her elders, so she was toddling over to the newly arrived gryphons and showing off her scarf and explaining about her booboo to any who would listen. Surprisingly, the fierce gryphons were just as susceptible to Zera’s cuteness as everyone else. Even the battle-hardened warrior gryphons bent down to admire the little one’s new scarf and speak kindly to her. Compassion, it seemed, was universal to beings of good character.

  CHAPTER TWO

  “My parents will arrive soon,” Seth told Livia. “A gryphon messenger returned from the mainland carrying messages for Gryffid, but he also sought me out to tell me my mother had asked him to update me on their arrival.”

  Seth shook his head, imagining that conversation between his petite mother and the mighty gryphon. No doubt she’d had the feathered creature in the palm of her hand shortly after meeting him. Mom was like that.

  “Did you see the stone masons have already begun work on the sand wallow for Shara and Xander?” Livia asked as they walked along the beach together. They were heading in the direction of the natural cliffs where the more permanent home was being built for the newest dragon pair.

  “So they decided to build on what nature had already provided?” Seth asked, looking up at the cave opening that was lit from within by the torches of work parties.

  “Xander and Shara surveyed the whole cliff face and all available options, then consulted with the master stone mason, and they decided on that spot. The masons said the rock here is particularly dense and would support carving very well,” Livia reported. “And if they started with a cave, there were advantages in the time it would take to make ready. Plus, there’s a path of sorts that leads both down from the top of the cliff and up from here. Want to see?”

  “Is it safe?” Seth asked her, concerned for her safety above all.

  Livia smiled at him. “They’re going to install ropes at the narrowest sections later, but it’s not a hard climb. I’ve done it a few times already.”

  Seth’s heart clenched at the chances she took. He wanted to climb up there himself, both to view the progress on the new Lair and to see what Livia thought of as “not a hard climb”.

  “I’d like to see it,” he stated, hoping she’d offer to remain safely on the beach. Though he liked having her company, he didn’t want her in any danger from the climb.

  “Great! Follow me,” Livia said before he could make a case for her staying below.

  She clambered up the narrow path that wound along the side of the cliff face as if she were a mountain goat. Seth followed, trying to keep up in case she needed help, but he should’ve known better. Livia was as daring as the day was long and hardly needed any help
getting to the big cave opening.

  It had to be wide enough for a dragon to enter through, of course, but the stone masons had made the craggy opening much smoother already, and Seth could see that one man was working on carving designs into the rock itself. He remembered the carving in the keep and the way the fey village had been decorated and realized this Lair was going to be a lot more ornate than the ones on the mainland, if the fair folk had anything to do with it.

  Seth greeted the man as they passed and received a distracted smile and wave in return. Apparently, the mason was enjoying his work and had little time for pleasantries, but he didn’t tell them to be gone, so that was a positive sign that they were welcome to look around.

  They stepped into the cave, and Seth was amazed at the progress that had been made in such a short time. Already there was a massive oval depression in the center of the available space, being smoothed out by what appeared to be apprentices, while journeymen were working on expanding the natural cave back into the rock of the cliff, making the ceilings uniform so that dragons could pass unhampered. They also made the entire cave center around the oval pit that would eventually be filled with sand.

  Seth recognized various rooms being fashioned for different uses. There was a bathing chamber with a large soaking basin as well as a smaller one for use while standing, carved right out of the rock. There was another larger sink on an adjacent wall in another room that would probably become the kitchen. The master mason had cornered Seth after dinner last night and asked about the typical layout of a Lair suite of rooms and had gone so far as to sketch it out as Seth described it for him, showing Seth the sketch as he went along and making sure he had all the details right. Seth recognized a lot of what they had talked about, and a few new additions too.

  The new addition was a room that looked as if it might be used for storing herbs, since the masons were putting in extra touches—niches and tray-like openings in the wall—that would work very nicely as an apothecary. Lizbet was a healer, after all, and probably wanted a place to work in her own home.

  Whether or not the human-fey couple would live with their dragon counterparts in this Lair was an open question, though. Seth knew they’d been granted leave to build a house up on top of the cliff by the wizard Gryffid. Yet, the masons were making rooms for them here. Seth wondered what that meant. Was Gryffid playing a longer game—in consultation with the masons, whom he had instructed himself—in creating what was essentially the beginnings of a real Lair here?

  Maybe Gryffid wanted to offer homes on his island to the new generation of sea dragons that mated with land dragons. It was all too possible that such matings would produce dragons that could both breathe fire and swim, like Hrardorr, which had proven an incredibly powerful combination when dealing with an enemy attacking from the sea in wooden boats. Perhaps Gryffid wanted to build a defensive army of such creatures on his island.

  Everyone had seen what one such dragon could do—even blind, as Hrardorr was. What would a half dozen be able to accomplish?

  “Well, my friends, what do you think?” Gryffid’s voice came to Seth from the cave opening.

  Seth turned to find the last of the great wizards walking briskly inside, admiring the work of the stone masons. He paused to touch one of the men’s shoulder and deliver soft words of praise on his way to where Seth stood with Livia, near what would be the sand wallow.

  “Is it not marvelous?” Gryffid asked, rubbing his hands together briskly.

  “It’s beautiful,” Livia enthused. “I can see the beginnings of something incredibly lovely here. The form and shape is very much like what I’ve seen at the Southern Lair, but already, your people are putting their own flourishes in the details that will make it truly special.”

  Gryffid beamed at her answer, as did some of the masons who were near enough to hear their conversation. Seth realized, once again, that Livia was much better suited to treading the diplomatic path than he, but he would have to rise to the occasion as long as he was on this island.

  “I feel like I am witnessing something truly historic here, sir,” Seth said, searching for suitable words to encapsulate his emotions on seeing this new mini-Lair take shape.

  “That you are, my boy,” Gryffid said with a broadening smile. “I’ve just come from speaking with Lord Skelaroth and your friend, Xanderanth. I haven’t announced it yet, but this suite will be the basis around which a series of suites like it will be built. The sea dragons wish to have comfortable places to stay when they come ashore, and I imagine dragons from the mainland would be comfortable bedding down here in guest suites when they come to visit. By creating what would be, in effect, a small Lair here, we can make the island much more welcoming to the scaled fliers while keeping them somewhat separate from the feathered cats who prefer to nest on the other side of the island.” Gryffid chuckled at his own descriptions of his gryphons and the dragons.

  “That is quite the undertaking,” Seth replied, thinking through the possibilities. It sure sounded as if the wizard was expecting an influx of dragons coming ashore or flying in from the mainland, and perhaps he was right. Gryffid planned for the long term, Seth knew. The very long term.

  “It’s going to be amazing,” Livia said with genuine enthusiasm. “And it’s coming together so quickly.”

  “They should begin hauling the sand up in a few hours,” Gryffid told them. “I will come out when it’s ready and set the spells to provide constant heat and water flow into the plumbing. This place will have all the comforts once we are done with it.”

  “Just like a real Lair,” Seth said, looking around. He realized a little too late that his words could be considered insulting, but luckily, no one seemed to take them that way. “I wonder if we’ll start calling this the Wizard’s Lair?”

  “I’ll not be living here, so no, that wouldn’t be quite accurate, would it?” Gryffid humored Seth’s conjecture. “And it can’t be called Gryphon’s Lair because no gryphon would want to nest in a sand pit long term.”

  “Gryphon Island Lair?” Livia offered.

  “Accurate, but too long,” Seth told her. “Maybe just Island Lair?”

  Gryffid smiled. It looked like the new structure had found a name.

  Gryffid departed to go back to his keep a short while later. Seth and Livia were called upon to answer questions by the master mason as he directed his crew. Seth knew more about the design of the Lairs than Livia did, but she had visited and knew a little that she could share. They spent a few companionable hours watching as the new Lair took shape around them and then rejoined the others on the beach to observe and offer helpful suggestions with training.

  Again, Seth was more helpful than Livia, but she didn’t mind. She was happy playing with Zera and Flurrthith while they watched the adults learn how to fly more agilely under Xanderanth’s patient direction.

  “Someday, I’m gonna fly like that,” Zera told Livia and Flurrthith as they watched the adults working on tight spirals, starting high up in the sky and zeroing in on a target Xanderanth’s partner, Leo, had set on the beach.

  “Yes, you will, sweetheart,” Livia told the toddler dragon, then she looked at Flurrthith, hopping from one foot to the other while he watched the adults. An idea formed in Livia’s mind. “Seth?” She communicated silently with her lover, mind-to-mind as he’d taught her.

  “What can I do you for, milady?” he answered immediately, apparently in a playful mood.

  “Do you think Flurrthith could try the spiral exercise with the others? He looks like he really wants to give it a whirl. Or is it too advanced for him?”

  There was a pause while Seth probably asked Xanderanth’s opinion, then Seth broke away from the adult group and came over to where Flurrthith stood, watching the sky with rapt attention. Zera sat next to Livia in the sand as they built sloppy sand replicas of Gryffid’s keep. Or rather, Livia built them with Zera’s enthusiastic, if not exactly neat, assistance. It didn’t matter. The child was having fun, and Livia
was more than willing to entertain her.

  “What do you say, Sir Flurrthith?” Seth walked right up to the young gryphon and cocked his head toward the sky, watching the adults run through their drills. “Would you like to try that?”

  “Would I?” Flurrthith answered with all the enthusiasm of youth. “Mosst definitely! But iss it allowed?”

  Seth smiled at the young gryphon. “I’ve secured permission from Sir Xanderanth, who is running the drills. If you go aloft and meet up with the group, he will add you in for as long as you wish. Don’t overdo it, though. We don’t want you straining yourself if it is too much for your wings, all right?”

  “You have my word of honor, Sseth. Thank you!”

  Flurrthith bounded away and leapt into the sky, heading straight up to where Xander coasted along in wide arcs, letting the wind keep him aloft like a giant dragon-shaped kite.

  Livia and Seth watched the fliers from below, and Livia knew that Seth was giving Xanderanth critiques of each of his students. Seth had a lifetime of experience with flight training in the Southern Lair to draw upon, and Livia thought it was sweet that he helped Xander silently, letting the young dragon take all the credit. It was important, Seth had told her, that Xander be seen as a fully-capable and authorized representative of the Southern Lair, and of Draconia.

  That was exactly what he was, of course, but he was still a young dragon, comparatively speaking, and many of his new students were older than he was. Seth had offered advice to both the young dragon and his knight before they’d embarked on this task, and they’d both listened with rapt attention and followed Seth’s guidance. Seth may not be a knight, but he had all the knowledge of one, having grown up in the Lair as the son of two of its best knights.

  Thinking about Seth’s parents must have conjured them because Livia’s drifting gaze settled on two specks high above that looked like…