Treasure (19 page)

He walked away from the others, carrying Kyo to his own quarters and leaving Raiden to figure out the rest. Kin lay Kyo on his bunk just as he had a short time ago—a long time ago? How much time had passed since the mermaids attacked?

Settling Kyo in the bed, he tried to stand up—and then sat down hard on the floor as dizziness overtook him. He made it as far as sitting on the edge of the bunk before he just gave up. All that had transpired was clearly taking its final toll on him. He pondered going somewhere else, or just falling asleep on the floor, but in the end both were simply too much effort.

He lay out beside Kyo in the too-small bunk, practically laying atop him and had the fleeting thought as he passed out that it was going to be more than a little awkward when they woke up together naked in bed.

Kyo groaned as he opened his eyes and promptly closed them again, wishing his throbbing head would cease to ache. What in the world had he done that his head felt as though someone were driving nails into it? He tried to remember and went cold when he realized he could not.

He also wanted to know why it was so storming hot. He made to shove away whatever was plastered against him—and his eyes popped open wide when he realized it was not a something, but a someone. He stared at Kin, felt his face burn. Kin was naked. So was he. What had they done last night? Why couldn't he remember it?

Panicking, Kyo scrambled up, crying out in pain when his head slammed into the top of the bunk, dropping back down and trying to curl up, whimpering as he covered the part he'd hit with his hands. Pain and fear watered his eyes. What had happened?

A hand landed on his side, making him jump and jerk back—and slam his head again into the wall behind him. "Easy," Kin said, and the sleepy gruffness of his voice distracted Kyo in all new ways—ways that promptly renewed his panic in the next breath. Succumbing to the panic, he shoved Kin so hard he toppled out of bed.

His necklace. Storms, his necklace. What if Kin saw it? Had he already seen it? Kyo tore it off and shoved it beneath a pillow, barely doing so before Kin sat up and braced his arms on the bunk, glaring at him. "What in the dragons' names was that all about?" Kin demanded.

"I want to know right
now
what is going on and what has been done to me!"

Kin glared at him, stormed to his feet—and Kyo flushed brilliant all over again as his position gave him a very close eyeful of the very last part of Kin he wanted to see right then. Or ever. Especially since it— He looked away, fighting an urge to pull up the blankets all around him and pitch another at Kin.

"Done to you?" Kin demanded. "How about what you did to me! You nearly tore apart my ship transforming like that, and you have the audacity to be angry with me!"

"Trans—what are you talking about?" Kyo asked, fear creeping through his veins like ice all over again, cooling his anger.

Kin stared at him, and Kyo felt a stupid, childish,
pointless
urge to rear up on his knees and throw himself at Kin, hold tightly, and somehow absorb comfort from that. Stupid, he repeated, and fisted his fingers in the bedding piled haphazardly around him. "Don't you remember?" Kin finally asked.

"I remember dinner," Kyo said slowly. "I remember …" He trailed off while he tried to figure out what he remembered. "Mermaids, I think. Yes, mermaids. I tried to help." Memory flashed, and he glared. "You knocked me out!"

His anger grew when Kin just smirked. "Aye, highness. Men who cannot obey Captain's orders are dealt with accordingly. You were dealt with."

"By what, stripping me and—and—what did you do!"

Kin stared at him coldly, voice positively frigid when he replied, "Nothing. I put you to bed and passed out next to you, exhausted after having nearly died."

Something flickered at his words. An image. A memory? Blood. Kin going overboard. "They stabbed you," Kyo said hoarsely. "I r-remember that. I came out to help, saw them—" Pain shot through his head, and he began to tremble without knowing why. "I d-don't r-remember."

He jumped when he felt Kin's hand landed on his shoulders and reared back—but rather than wall, his head met a hand—Kin's cushioning him from yet another blow. They stared at each other, and Kyo was acutely reminded all over again that they were naked. He swallowed. "What happened?"

"A lot," Kin replied, slowly letting him go. "You don't remember anything else?"

Kyo licked his lips, wishing Kin would move away again because his being so close and
naked
was more than a little distracting. He hadn't realized people pierced their nipples. He really wished there was a way to order Kin to remove the gold hoops in his because they were distraction piled on top of distraction.

At least he hadn't seemed to have noticed the necklace. Kin wasn't ready for that revelation to come to the surface, not yet. Not ever. "No. I don't remember anything past that point."

"I see," Kin frowned. "That will make explaining everything a bit awkward."

"Just tell me."

Kin stared at him, mouth tight, then finally grimaced and said, "You turned into a dragon."

"What!" Kyo said. "That's impossible."

"I promise you, highness, that is exactly what happened. One moment I was bleeding out in the water, the next I was alive and whole and wrap—and on deck with you growling and attempting to tear apart my ship. Or what's left of it. Everyone left alive will testify to it. You turned into a dragon."

Kyo groaned and fell back on the bed, covering his face with hands. That was a myth, a family legend blown madly out of proportion.  He had read through every account and found no evidence that they were true; the wild stories had simply helped keep order back in more turbulent times.

Had he really turned into a dragon? Had he truly let the magic get away from him so completely that it had taken control of him instead? But he could still recall that single memory, as though it were engraved in his mind—the mermaid grabbing the dagger, plunging it into Kin's back. The look of horror and pain and fear on Kin's face.

The way he had been thrown overboard like so much garbage. Rage, he remembered that. He had flown into a rage that they had hurt Kin, possibly killed him. After that rage, however, he remembered nothing. "How did I change back?" he asked, still not able to tear his hands from his face.

"I—I don't think I can explain that, if you do not remember. It involved Taka," Kin said quietly. "You will have to … you really do not remember?"

Kyo finally moved his hands and stared up at Kin. "No. What does Taka have to do with this?"

"More than you could possibly realize," Kin muttered, looking away, exhaustion etching lines in his face. Kyo reached up—then snatched his hand back when he realized what he was doing.

Clothes, he decided. It was long past time he obtained clothes. Thank the storms that nothing—nothing untoward—had happened. "I do not suppose it would be possible for someone to fetch me clothes at some point?"

"You did not strike me as the modest sort, highness," Kin said, smirking.

Kyo tried to think of a response to that, but simply could not. His brain seemed frustratingly incapable of thinking when Kin was close enough to touch and every last bit of him was bare. Kyo glared at him. "So if you do not think me modest, Captain, what exactly do you take me for? A harlot?"

"Isn't that the same thing as royal?" Kin retorted, and Kyo could tell he was doing it just to be annoying—and weren't they supposed to be having a serious discussion?

"I may be a prince, but I am also a priest," Kyo replied coolly.

Kin sneered. "Every royal is automatically a priest."

"Technically speaking, no, they are not," Kyo replied. "All members of the royal family are called 'priests of honor' meaning they accept that their place was divinely bestowed, that they worship always the memory of the lost gods, but they are not priests, in fact. I am, as being the youngest affords me the luxury of that decision, though I would have to surrender the vows whenever I marry."

Something flashed, hot and bright, in Kin's eyes, making it suddenly hard for Kyo to breathe. What was that look? He was used to men and women wanting him, but the lightning that flashed in Kin's eyes was nothing like the looks he normally saw. He didn't even know that desire was precisely the word; Kin had never shown any such interest in him before.

Kyo really wished he had clothes and was grateful the blankets mostly covered him up to the waist. They did not, however, cover Kin even a little bit, and Kyo looked hastily away. "I would be grateful if you could provide me with clothes, Captain."

"So haughty," Kin said. "I might have known you would wake offended. I don't know why I thought—" He cut the words off and started to climb out of the bunk.

Kin stared up at him. "Why you thought
what?
"

"Nothing, highness," Kin snapped and crouched down. After a moment, Kyo remembered there were drawers beneath the bunk.  "Here," Kin said, and he threw a tunic at Kyo, followed by breeches and a bright blue sash. Kin's clothes. They'd be far too big on Kyo, but they would work until he could get to his own. Kin stood up again, more clothes in his hands, and froze when they heard shouting outside.

Heaving a sigh of annoyance, Kin dropped his clothes on top of the ones he had given Kyo and picked up the pair of dark gray breeches he'd chosen to pull them on. Kyo tried to make himself move, but simply couldn't, only gripped the clothes given to him and watched Kin, already sorry he was hiding that beautiful body away again.

As though feeling eyes on him, Kin stopped short of fastening the breeches, jerked his gaze up and caught Kyo staring. "Something the matter—" he broke off abruptly and frowned in puzzlement. "What happened to your necklace?"

"What?" Kyo asked, fighting an urge to reach for the pendant he knew wasn't there because it was currently under his pillow. "What necklace?"

"You're lying," Kin said, staring at him in surprise. "You know exactly what I'm talking about. Where is it?"

Tossing his head, Kyo drew upon his most arrogant tone and replied. "I think you should cease to concern yourself with my baubles, Captain, be they real or imagined."

Kin muttered something Kyo did not quite catch—then moved, making Kyo gasp in surprise when Kin shoved him down into the bedding, made his mouth go dry when Kin straddled him. His heart thudded in his chest, and he was not entirely certain he was still breathing. "Where is the necklace, Kyo, and why are you hiding it?"

Kyo tried to come up with a response that would put Kin off, and really, any other day he would have driven him off with a few well-chosen and carefully aimed words. Why would none of those words come to him?  He licked his lips, trying to make them work.

Leaning down closer, so they were barely a breath apart, Kin repeated, "Where is the necklace?"

"None of your business, Captain," Kyo replied. "Get off me."

"Not until you tell me what you did with it."

Kyo glared at him and tried to speak and rise up at the same time—a movement that only resulted in a clumsy collision of lips and noses that made him jerk back, and he hated himself for the way he could feel his cheeks turn red. "Get. Off. Me."

In reply, Kin just regarded him pensively. Kyo glared back and wondered if it was time to use magic to remove Kin. But he could still feel that brief moment where their lips had touched. It was the closest to a real kiss he had ever been, and the sadness that poured over him drowned out every other thought in his head.

Above him, Kin made a rough, ragged noise—and then bent, his mouth sliding over Kyo's in a real kiss. Kyo froze, not certain what to do, hazily aware he needed to shove Kin off him and escape. But then a tongue definitely not his own stroked over his lips, and Kyo opened them in surprise. He made a soft, whimpering noise as Kin's kiss deepened, and despite knowing he shouldn't, Kyo began to try and return it.

Well. That certainly explained what all the fuss was about. Kyo reached up to hesitantly touch, fingers feather light on Kin's arm. He shivered as Kin shifted above him, legs sliding together, along with their cocks, and that realization made him shudder.

Kin drew back, frowning, and suddenly Kyo just didn't want to hear it—any of it. Anything. For once in his storming life, couldn’t the rest of the world wait? He reared up, clumsily taking Kin's mouth again and wrapping one arm around his neck.

Making a startled noise, Kin nevertheless went with it, looping an arm around Kyo's waist and pulling him close, leaning down into the kiss at the same time, bowing Kyo's back. He clung tightly, lost in a haze as Kin took his mouth, tongues tangling before he drew back to suck on Kyo's lip, graze it with his teeth, then dive right back into the deep kisses.

Kyo didn't want it to stop because the moment it did everything he didn't want to face would return. He protested when Kin's arm slid away, but immediately relaxed when he realized it was just so Kin could strip his breeches off again. Naked, Kin pressed Kyo down into the bedding, cover Kyo with his body. Kyo groaned into Kin's mouth as their cocks slid together, shivering in Kin's arms, nails biting into his skin.

The sound of the door banging open made them jerk apart, and they stared at each other for a single moment before whipping their heads around to stare at the door, both drawing breath to shout the intruder out.

Except whatever Kyo was going to say died when he realized the intruder was none other than Captain Midori. Above him, Kin made a growling noise, and Kyo was surprised and yet not to see that his scales and too-sharp teeth had appeared. It made him shiver, seeing Kin that way, but his mortification over being caught in bed was greater.

"Get out," Kin snarled. "I do not know who the dragons' you think you are, but you do
not
burst uninvited into the Captain's quarters!"

Midori tore his shocked stare away from Kyo to level an icier expression on Kin. "I am Captain Midori of the Royal Navy. You and every man on this ship are under arrest. I go where I please,
Captain.
"