He crashed hard, his body going deep down, but he couldn’t stay. The human in his arms would never last as long as he would under the fresh water, so Gaius quickly swam back to the top. As soon as he broke the surface, he held the human up.

Gaius shook his head to get the hair and water out of his eyes and to see whom he held in his claws, sputtering and cursing.

When he could finally see again, he still blinked several times before asking, “Iseabail?”

The high-ranking general in Annwyl’s army coughed a few more times before replying, “Hello, Gaius. Long time.”

“Not really. Just saw you a few months ago.”

“Oh. Right. Forgot.”

“What were you doing?”

“Don’t tell Mum.”

That didn’t really answer his question. “What?”

“I was just doing a bit of run and jump.”

“Run and jump?”

“Where I . . . run and jump from dragon to dragon.”

“While they’re flying?”

“No need for that tone!” she shot back.

There was a soft throat-clear from the banks of the lake and they both looked over to see a stoic but drenched Annwyl standing there, arms crossed over her chest, green eyes glaring. The power of the splash when Gaius had hit the surface of the lake had been so strong that Annwyl’s hair was blown off her face, revealing how annoyed she was at the moment.

Even worse than the overall wetness of the queen was that her daughter had been several feet behind Annwyl. Only Talwyn’s booted feet were wet. The rest of her was dry, and she was laughing hysterically at her mother.

This was not a good situation.

“My liege—” Izzy began.

“Shut up!”

“Are you all right?” Gaius asked the queen in order to stop himself from laughing. Because, gods! Did he want to laugh.

“I’m fine,” she growled between gritted teeth. She cast an angry glare at her daughter, who was now doubled over at the waist, tears streaming down her face. Although they could no longer hear her laughter . . . because she’d begun to wheeze.

“Talwyn!” Izzy hissed at her cousin. “Stop it!”

“I . . . I can’t!”

The queen didn’t seem to particularly like this response, so she reached back and slapped her daughter on the back of the head.

The laughter stopped immediately, and Talwyn shot up, crazed black eyes burrowing into crazed green ones.

“No, no, no!” Izzy begged. She hit at Gaius’s arms. “Get me over there. Get me over there!”

With a shrug, Gaius tossed her halfway across the lake and onto the shore.

“I meant swim me over here, you git!” she yelled when she’d landed and rolled several feet.

True, if he was back in the Provinces, his sister would have a general’s tongue removed if one dared speak to him in such a manner, but Gaius and Izzy had quite the long history. Besides, he was enjoying himself, which was nice, considering the morning he’d already had.

Izzy got to her feet and stepped between glowering mother and daughter.

“Why don’t we focus on something else besides each other?” she asked the two women, but if they heard Izzy . . .

Instead, the pair tried to look around Izzy’s wide shoulders so that they could keep eye contact. Like two pit dogs ready to fight, they would not be distracted from the rage they seemed to feel toward each other.

Gaius took the quiet moment before what he felt certain would become a full-out brawl to swim to the other side of the lake. He pulled himself onto the shore, shifting at the same moment. Human and naked, he walked to the clothes that the squire had left and grabbed hold of a piece of thick white material, which he used to dry himself off.

After several minutes of hearing nothing from the women, he looked at them over his shoulder. They’d stopped fighting long enough to stare at him as he dried his human body.

“Problem?” he asked.

“Damn, Gaius,” Izzy muttered, one side of her mouth quirked up in a surprised smile.

Gaius was about to smile back when he heard a sound he dreaded every time he was forced to come to the Southlands.

“Yoooo-hooooo!”

“Fuck,” he growled, his head dropping as she came out of the trees by the lake. She was stunning, as always. In her human form, wearing a dress made entirely of Eastland silk. Her red hair reached to the back of her knees and she, as always, wore no shoes.

She was Keita the Viper, one of the Dragon Queen’s daughters. Known worldwide for her beauty and her ability to successfully poison anyone who put the Dragon Queen’s throne at risk or got in the Princess’s way.

“King Gaius!” she greeted. She was, without a doubt, the most beautiful creature to walk these lands, whether in her natural form or as human.

But beauty was not enough. Not for anyone this annoying.

“Princess.”

“I was so happy to hear you were back! And guess what I have for you,” she teased, liquid brown eyes gazing up at him.

Gaius briefly closed his one eye. “An eye patch?”

“Yes! This time I went with a steel grey. To match your hair!” She held out the silk eye patch.

“I really don’t need—”

“Put it on,” she ordered, a threat implied in her flat tone. Then, just as quickly, the brilliant smile returned, the coquettish act back in place. “It will look so wonderful on you.”

Gaius didn’t understand the She-dragon’s obsession over eye patches and one-eyed dragons and humans, but he didn’t want to spend the rest of his time in the Southlands worrying about what he ate. It was never a good idea to piss off a well-known poisoner.

So, grudgingly, Gaius took the patch from her small hand and tied it around his head.

“Happy?” he asked.

She went up on tiptoes, stretching her arms out so that she could adjust the stupid thing accordingly. “There. Perfect. Just like me!”

She giggled and twirled away from him. He wanted to hit her.

“You know, King Gaius, with you visiting, an outside dignitary and all, we really should have a dinner in your honor with—”

“Dancing!” Izzy cheered. “There must be dancing!”

“Of course!”

Her queen and cousin quickly forgotten, Izzy ran back toward the castle. “I’ll get everything started!” she called out.

“I don’t need dancing,” Gaius informed Princess Keita.

“I know,” she replied coolly, her hand patting his bare chest. “I know.”

He watched her walk off. How the Northland chieftain, Ragnar of the Olgeirsson Horde, tolerated that wench as a mate, Gaius would never know.

Deciding not to worry about it, Gaius began to get dressed. He was pulling on his chain-mail shirt when he realized that the queen and her daughter were still standing there, staring at each other. They hadn’t said a word in all that time, so he’d forgotten about them completely.

But, with a nod to each other, they suddenly walked away together.

“Where are you two off to?” he asked.

“Training rink,” they replied as one.

“Huh,” Gaius said, before he shrugged it off and finished getting dressed.

Kachka caught the wood bow that her sister tossed to her as she made her way into the Great Hall.