Page 21 of Sapphire Seas

“That’s it!” Ionus snapped.

For a moment I feared Caro and I had gone too far by steering the topic back to a recent point of contention between us, but it wasn’t anger I heard in Ionus’ voice, it was excitement.

“That’s how you free Torin,” Ionus declared. “You find the edge of the ice, where it meets the sea, and you combine forces to break him out. The bottom of the formation will be the best way in. Use your fire to warm the sea. Focus it upward into the ice. Mattias, that’s where you’ll come in. Caro will heat the water, you’ll direct it. Kes and Caspian will watch your backs and ensure no one is attempting to sneak up on you while you work. Quint will keep the Lampreys away. I know loss of any life we do our best to avoid, but given what these lampreys were created for, they’re better off gone. They pose far too many threats to the creatures living within the seas.”

“Agreed,” Caro and I both said.

“Once the ice melts enough, Torin will slip free of his prison, at which point, you four will need to guide him up to Quint. Heed the warning Caspian gave about the water around that island being toxic and work fast before it has the chance to affect you.”

“We will,” I said. “The plan is sound and one that would allow us to work fast once we arrive there, with one exception.”

“Which is?”

“I’d prefer Kes remain with Quint once we locate the ice imprisoning Torin,” I explained. “He’s better suited to the frozen conditions and would be able to use the terrain to his advantage. Caspian has the same advantage underwater and would be able to call for help if a threat neared.”

Ionus stroked his chin, looking thoughtful. “Good call, go with that.”

“We will,” Caro and I replied.

“Make sure you keep an eye on Quint,” Ionus said. “Don’t let him do anything reckless.”

“Pretty sure Odem and I have reckless covered when it comes to this family,” Caro said.

“Be that as it may, being distracted by a mate can make a dragon forget his training,” Ionus said, “we must remember that our families need us to get back home to them, so we can’t screw this up and disappoint them, any of us.”

Translation: Ionus takes full responsibility for any of our fuckups and loss of dragon life, isn’t an option.

“We hear you.”

“Good, because I’d hate to have to ask Raven to find a resurrection spell to bring you back so I could lecture you on getting yourselves killed,” Ionus said, stern, large and in charge voice returning.

“She wouldn’t do it,” Caro said.

“That doesn’t mean I wouldn’t ask,” Ionus grumbled. “So, remember what I said.”

“We will.”

“There is another concern I have involving one of your mates, Mattias,” Ionus said. “Has Kes allowed Raven to examine him since he arrived here? What he said about not being able to communicate fully with his dragon is concerning if he’s going to be watching Quint’s back.”

“I don’t think so,” I replied. “He’d have been scanned for leeches, but that was the extent of the screening.”

“Get it done before you go,” Ionus said. “She might be able to help him.”

“I will.” Maybe if I play it off as her scanning all of us before we left he’d agree to it. Kes held many secrets that I hoped in time, he’d share with his mates.

He nodded and walked away without another word.

“I still can’t believe how grumpy he gets in the mornings now when he had to leave his mate in bed,” Caro said. “Reminds me of us every time he demanded we meet him on the pitch at the crack of dawn.”

“Have you noticed the way he grimaces, just a smidge, before announcing a training time,” I asked. “I swear he adjusts it before he says it too and gives us more time than he’d intended.”

“It’ll be nice when we can take all the time we want in the morning, eat breakfast in bed with our mates and not have to worry about someone sounding the alarm while we’re feeding them a croissant.”

“Aye brother, it will.”

His footsteps squishing in the sand, soon faded as I stared into the water. Somehow, Caspian had found his way here to my private beach, trailing after Kes, while Alex had climbed a fucking mountain to get to Ionus, even if he hadn’t realized it at the time. Emerson had nearly been driven mad when Caro had put distance between them, while Ronan had gone into full blown meltdown mode because he’d thought Odem had been avoiding him.

Knowing Odem, he might have been.