Chapter One

“If I’d known our arrival in Ardell would coincide with a masquerade ball, I’d have found a way to postpone the trip for a few days.”

Despite his frustration, Dogan kept his voice low enough so only his brother Faille would hear him in the packed ballroom.

As the future Clan Chief of the dragon shifter Sea Clan, Dogan was used to packed social occasions and political gatherings.

However, nothing in his experience had prepared him for the overwhelming crowd of masked guests filling the glittering ballroom of Ardell’s royal palace. An uncomfortable awareness crawled across the back of his neck, as if he was being watched.

Which, of course, he was.

He was only the third member of his clan to grace the halls of Ardell’s palace in over four hundred years.

The night’s masquerade ball was one of the dozens of social events surrounding the betrothal of Dogan’s youngest brother to Ardell’s crown princess. In addition to celebrating Baird and Riona’s upcoming wedding, the circus of activity also served a more political purpose.

Since the end of the Dragon Wars, the kingdom of Ardell and the Sea Clan had maintained a tense truce. One that left the entire continent balancing on a thin margin, waiting for the one misstep that would open the way for hostilities to resume.

Dogan’s impulsive youngest brother, Baird, had risked his life to protect the treaty. Along the way, he’d gotten tangled up with Ardell’s crown princess, Riona. Together, the pair had thwarted a coup attempt led by Riona’s aunt Velia.

Unfortunately, Velia and her henchman had escaped in the chaos, but Ardell’s throne had been saved and, in the process, Riona and Baird had fallen deeply in love.

The unexpected announcement of their engagement had paved the path for discussions of a new treaty between the Clan and the kingdom.

Which was a relief for almost everyone.

Though most of Ardell’s aristocratic class was made up of drakes, the kingdom itself was a nearly equal mix of humans and dragon shifters. And there were a few among both groups who were unhappy about the sudden shift of the political fortunes that the new treaty would bring.

Faille slanted a knowing look his way. “You wouldn’t have risked delaying our trip here. Not after Tomas’s last message.”

Dogan shrugged in half-hearted agreement, knowing his brother was probably right.

Tomas was the official diplomat of the Clan and had spent the early part of the betrothal period in Ardell negotiating the terms of the new treaty.

On its surface, Tomas’s update had been innocuous enough. There’d been an outline of the negotiations so far and amusing anecdotes about the circus surrounding Baird’s upcoming nuptial. Between the lines, however, Dogan’s younger brother managed to subtly hint at some rising danger without seeming to say anything of true import.

The vague hints, combined with an explicit invitation for Dogan or Faille to visit Ardell, made it clear something was going on in the kingdom.

Dogan couldn’t ignore the unspoken urgency.

Because, in addition to his official duties, unofficially, Tomas was the Clan’s spymaster and all-around fixer.

Within the first hour after Dogan and Faille arrived in the capital city of Calmoore, they’d been ushered into Baird’s office. There, they’d met with Tomas, Tomas’s new fiancée, Alisandra, and her erstwhile mentor, Tanraed, to learn of the new menace that had emerged.

Among Velia’s many vicious crimes, the worst had been her attempt to deprive Riona of the throne. Using a magical Siphon, the enchantress had stolen the inherent dragon magic that allowed the princess to shift into a full form drake. And by ancient law and treaty, only a dragon capable of transforming was allowed rule in Ardell.

She’d accomplished the theft through one of a pair of magical bloodstones altered into a dangerous magical Siphon. That relic had been destroyed in the fight against her. But one powerful stone remained.

Fearing that the relic could be used against members of their clan, Tomas had been determined to steal the bloodstone.

However, when he covertly broke into the Ardell treasury, he discovered he wasn’t the only one after the potentially harmful magic.

Alisandra, a human noblewoman oath-bound to keep dangerous relics like the bloodstone out of the wrong hands, had gotten to the vault first.

Though they started as rivals, eventually they’d teamed up to protect the bloodstone and a journal full of ancient secrets that posed an even bigger danger.

In the process, they uncovered a new threat.

Emyrandal.

A renegade fey from another realm. She’d escaped into their world, determined to claim enough power to unseat her cousin Elodie as queen of her people.

No matter who she hurt in the process.

Eventually Tomas and Alisandra had discovered her hiding in plain sight among the Palace inhabitants, posing as Lady Myrrin.

Unfortunately, they’d uncovered her deception only after she’d poisoned Alisandra and stolen a journal that once belonged to the infamous alchemist Cantari.

With the help of Tanraed, Alisandra’s mentor, Tomas managed to save her life with the residual fey magic of the bloodstone. Unfortunately, the fey escaped in the time it took.

Eventually, the trio had tracked Emyrandal to a seaside cliff. The ensuing confrontation had nearly cost both Tomas and Tanraed their lives, but they’d wrestled the smoking remains of the journal from her before she got away.

“Of course, you’ll note that Tomas only stayed in Calmoore long enough to fill us in on what was going on,” Faille pointed out. “Then he escaped the ball and the palace circus entirely with the flimsy excuse of visiting his fiancée’s family.”

There was more amusement than irritation in the observation. Both Faille and Dogan would have preferred to avoid the excess of Ardell’s celebration, but neither begrudged Tomas’s absence.

Especially when they knew the true purpose behind the couple’s trip to the coast.

In the aftermath of their skirmish with Emyrandal, a great many secrets were revealed.

Starting with the fact that the fey were indeed real.

Before Tomas’s adventure, Dogan hadn’t given much thought to the fabled mythical race of magical beings.

The stories he’d heard as a child suggested they’d disappeared from the human world millennia ago in a mystical migration. The more romantic tales, however, claimed some fey chose to stay behind and intermarried with humans.

Occasionally, one of the fey would return to the realm they’d left behind to check on those descendants of long-lost relatives who still held a smidgen of fey blood. Though, in order to endure the differences in the magical energies between the realms, the fey bound themselves to forms more suited to this world. In the process, most of their power was shackled by the spell used to hold the mortal form.

Despite the disadvantage, the stories almost always ended with the legendary fey offering of mysterious, magical help to bolster the life of the tale’s down on their luck champion.

Except for those who’d encountered ruins and relics that had no other explanations, few believed they really existed.

Then Tomas met Alisandra and changed Dogan’s worldview forever.

Because with Alisandra came her mentor, Tanraed, and the discovery that some fey returned to their world for reasons beyond checking on distant relatives.

Some were agents of the fey queen, sent to reclaim fey relics and magic before they fell into the wrong hands. And to ensure no one accidentally, or purposely, ripped holes in the barrier between the realms.

Which was Tanraed’s purpose in their world.

The biggest revelation for Dogan, however, came with the explanation of Emyrandal’s true purpose in the aftermath of her confrontation with Tomas, Alisandra, and Tanraed.

It seemed an even older race of migratory, magical beings had inhabited their world before the fey.

The Old Ones.

And Emyrandal was convinced they’d left behind a World Gate somewhere in the depths of the Western Sea. Something even the fey believed to be only legend.

According to Tanraed, it took a great deal of power, some kind of improbable, accidental magic backlash, or an incredibly dangerous magic object to open a door between worlds.

The mythical World Gate was a rift in reality itself. With the right spell, it could connect to any other World Gate in any other realm or plane. Offering unlimited access to different worlds and, more dangerously, offering unlimited access to the magic of those realms.

Which was where Emyrandal’s second, even more unbelievable, revelation came in.

She fully believed that when the fey Migrated to their new realm, a clan known as the Waterfey stayed behind to protect the World Gate.

Because of the strange flows of magic around the World Gate, the lost colony of fey did not have to bind their forms as tightly as those on the land in order to survive. They could choose a form that gave more freedom to their magic and allowed them to better adapt to their environment.

Giving rise to the centuries-old myth of mermaids, and mermen, in the Western Sea.

Tanraed was still not convinced that the Gate or the Waterfey truly existed. However, Cantari’s journal made mention of his contact with the People of the Water. Considering the fey queen had made it a long-standing order that the journal should be reclaimed if it ever came to light, it seemed the fey legends might very well have some basis in reality.

It was too dangerous to ignore the threat Emyrandal would pose if she got hold of such power.

So, the current plan was two-pronged.

Tanraed was pouring over what remained of the journal, trying to find anything left in the burnt husk that might hint at Emyrandal’s next move. So far, he’d found only a brief mention of a forbidden island somewhere in the Western Sea. Unfortunately, there was nothing about the description of the island that Dogan recognized as something in or near Sea Clan territory.

At the same time, Tomas and Alisandra desperately searched for any hints about the lost colony of Waterfey in order to warn them of the danger Emyrandal posed to them.

“There you are!”

Baird shook his head as he joined his older brothers in the shadowed corner of the ballroom. “You’re supposed to be mingling, getting to know Ardell and its people in the spirit of the newly negotiated harmony. You aren’t going to make any new friends huddling together on the fringes.”

Baird’s teasing held an undercurrent of seriousness. With Tomas, Tanraed, and Alisandra following Emyrandal’s trail, Dogan and Faille were an extra set of eyes and ears among the gathered courtiers and political figures.

In addition to gathering information about Emyrandal or Velia, there was also the matter of the small anti-treaty faction. Dogan was the future Clan Chief and Faille led the militia that protected their territory. They needed to be seen as friendly and nonthreatening to assuage any concerns of the populace.

“I’ve talked with nearly every member of Ardell’s council and their advisers.” Dogan kept his tone light and even despite the urge to grit his teeth at the ordeal of enduring so many long-winded, meaningless conversations. “I’ve danced with half a dozen unmarried ladies who have clearly been infected with wedding fever. I’ve politely deflected three different merchant barons offering heavy-handed suggestions on how to improve the Sea Clan’s harbor market. And I’ve been accosted by several court members proudly showing off connections to the Sea Clan in their family crest or personal sigil.”

The carved stone sigils etched with designs of dragons were a ridiculous tradition as far as Dogan was concerned. But Ardell was the only kingdom comprised almost equally of humans and drakes. And those capable of shifting into a full form dragon took pride in displaying their lineage.

“Only half a dozen eligible young ladies?” Baird asked with a smirk, ignoring the rest of what Dogan had said. “There’s still an hour left before the unmasking. You have time to meet a few more potential brides. After all, Tomas and I found the love of our lives here in Ardell. Maybe the two of you will do the same?”

Dogan shook his head at the ridiculous teasing. It was unlikely that any real feelings would be involved in the choice of his bride. And whoever she might be, she certainly could not be someone from Ardell. The anti-treaty contingent was small, for now. But it would likely spread to their allies and their enemies if the ties between the Sea Clan and Ardell became even stronger.

The best thing for the Clan would be a political alliance between Dogan and a member of one of the other dragon clans.

One enterprising individual from his father’s council had already taken him aside to make that point clear. The adviser wanted to ensure Dogan understood the need to produce an heir as soon as possible to guarantee neither Tomas nor Baird’s children had any claim to leadership of the Sea Clan.

Dogan had made it clear to the councilor that his interference was both out of line and treading close to offering grave insult to the entirety of the Clan Chief’s family.

Still, Dogan was all too aware that the sudden shift in the political landscape created by Baird and Riona’s union left him with few choices.

And little room for personal consideration.

“I don’t get to marry for love. With all the new ties to Ardell you and Tomas have created, I need to strengthen relations with the other dragon clans.”

Dogan froze when he realized he’d spoken the bitter words out loud and felt even worse when he saw the confusion turn to horrified comprehension in Baird’s eyes.

Before Baird could try to talk him out of his stance or, worse, offer some kind of sympathy, Dogan attempted to deflect attention onto their other brother.

“Besides Faille has already met the love of his life.”

When they were little more than nestlings, all four brothers had gone on training excursions to the Deeper Islands. During one of those trips, Faille, overeager to prove himself, had taken on a beast beyond his abilities. In the violent chaos, he’d been injured. Stunned and disoriented, he’d fallen into the ocean.

When they found him washed up on a nearby beach, he’d been half drowned and delirious. But, to this day, he still swore a mermaid had rescued him.

Despite years of teasing, he’d never wavered in his story. And never given up his determination to find his rescuer in order to thank her.

Of course, learning about the possible existence of the Waterfey cast Faille’s youthful adventure in a new light.

Used to the teasing, Faille didn’t rise to the bait. Instead, he just scoffed. “I don’t think you can call it love when we’ve never actually spoken. I only heard her singing.”

“Oh, don’t doubt the power of love at first sight,” Baird insisted. “It seems to run true in our family. When we meet the right woman, she grabs hold of our heart. And we never want to let her go.”

Faille rolled his eyes and took a sip from his glass.

Dogan tried hard not to imagine what it would feel like to be so certain of someone.

Especially when he’d already accepted that path was not for him.

“Speaking of true love, where is your better half?”

As if drawn by an invisible thread at the mere mention of Riona, Baird scanned the room for his soon-to-be-bride.

It took only a second for him to pick her out of the overflowing ballroom, even though she stood on the opposite side of the room talking with an auburn-haired man. Dogan vaguely remembered him as one of the shipping barons who’d cornered him earlier.

Besotted grin blooming on his lips, Baird offered a half-hearted farewell, slipped into the crowd, and aimed unerringly toward Riona.

With a shake of his head, Dogan watched Baird go and tamped down on the envy he felt at how completely infatuated his younger brother was with his future wife.

“One of the lovely young ladies I danced with earlier is an emissary of the Forest Clan,” Faille mused archly. “Lady Amelia was a bit aloof and guarded, so it seems like the two of you have that in common already.”

Faille subtly pointed out an icy blonde surrounded by three would-be suitors. Even from a distance, her cool, disinterested demeanor was evident as she politely rebuffed their interest.

From Faille’s amused smirk, he clearly didn’t think Dogan would have any better luck.

Unable to resist a challenge from one of his brothers, Dogan handed his nearly empty glass to Faille.

“Well, relations with the Forest Clan have been strained of late. It can’t hurt to make an overture to bring the clans closer together.”

With a smug smile of his own, Dogan focused his attention on the Lady Amelia and slipped determinedly through the crowd.