“Let’s go for a walk.” Vemar grabbed my shoulders. “Come on, it’ll make you feel better.”
“Don’t you have any dragon friends to bother?”
He manhandled me until I was facing the bow and then lightly shoved me to get me walking. “None of them need cheering up.”
“I don’t need cheering up. I need to be left alone.”
“Being left alone to your misery is no way to go through life, Hadriel. We talked about this.”
“First of all—” I held up a finger, paused, and thought about attempting to throw up. I burped instead and then groaned to finish it off. “Jacking off into an open window is not an act of misery. I’m telling you, you should try it. There’s something very liberating about it. Second, I am not throwing up after a demon sex party. I don’t need someone to watch my asshole so that a demon, or that fucking idiot Liron, doesn’t try to stick something in it. I am seasick. I just need to grin and bear it until we reach dry land, and then I can get back to life as usual.”
Vemar patted my shoulder as we made our way past a faerie cleaning the decks with a weirdly clean mop. How was that possible? Was the ship so well looked after that even the mops remained clean? There was something not right about the whole scenario.
“You got me now, little buddy,” Vemar said, patting me again. He was a handsy guy. Usually I didn’t mind, but on most days I didn’t spend the majority of my time being sick over the banister of a ship. “I’ll make sure no one tries to stick anything in your asshole unless you want them to.”
“That’s…” I gave him side-eye. “I mean, thank you, but that was not my point.”
He turned to me with a furrowed brow. “Then what was your point?”
“Leave me alone, that was my point! I was explaining why it is okay for you to leave me the fuck alone!”
He laughed like that was a grand joke. We rarely communicated properly. Very rarely.
Calia stood with Dessia at the bow, their hair billowing out behind them and their pastel dresses whipping around their feet. Govam and Denski stood down a ways, scanning the horizon, and Hannon was just beyond them.
Dessia glanced in their direction, and I knew she was checking out Hannon. She always seemed to know his location when they were in the same room, but she’d never actually spoken to him. Unfortunately, he seemed oblivious to women finding him attractive, so at this rate they’d never bang. And given what I knew of both of them—everyone in the castle loved gossiping about attractive single people—they weren’t getting laid by anyone else. What a waste.
“Ladies, wonderful day, isn’t it?” Vemar stopped beside them and braced his hands against the railing.
Dessia started, curling into herself just a little, before realizing who it was. She glanced beyond him, saw me, and offered me a light smile. I narrowed my eyes at her in return. I was still mad about the crap seasickness advice she’d given me.
“It is very clear and mild, yes,” Calia responded, straight and tall and confident. “Summer is nearly here. The gardens will be in full bloom when we arrive.”
Vemar nodded, falling into silence. I took that as my cue to slink to the side and hope I didn’t have to wilt over the railing and further embarrass myself in front of the faeries. I should’ve just stayed in the stables all those many years ago.
“What brings you to the upper deck?” Vemar asked.
Dessia leaned her forearms against the railing, and I could just barely see her cheeks turn red. It was Calia who answered.
“The royal couple have found their heat again, and it seems incredibly violent. We thought we might take a turn around the deck while they…exhausted themselves.”
“Ah, yeah.” Vemar chuckled. “Dragons really get into that heat cycle. I hope I’m lucky enough to experience one someday. I hear they are incredibly fun. Lots of dominance games, but the female doesn’t put up nearly as much of a fight. That’s a good way to make a man feel powerful, eh?” He puffed up his chest. “You get to breed your mate with power and fire and gusto, and she never takes the wind out of your sails by slapping you around.”
“You force dominance to breed?” Dessia asked, aghast.
“No, no.” I snaked myself in between Vemar and Dessia then held up my finger to get my bearings while focusing on that damn horizon. She apparently thought that was hilarious. “Your giggle is very annoying, my darling, I don’t mind telling you. Anyway, shifter males like to dominate the females. It’s their thing. Alpha females usually like to fight back, challenging the male. And then they both rage until finally the male gets his way or the female lets him have his way, and then they bang. Dragons are more violent than wolves. Much more violent.”