Tam craned his neck to peer over the crowds around the dock.

  He knew it was a matter of time before imperial soldiers would be sent to find them.

  They needed to leave quickly.

  “Kraken, do you happen to see or smell where we should be going?” Tam glanced down at his side where Kraken sat watching the dock activity curiously. The fluffy cat’s eyes kept being drawn to the barrels of fish that were currently being unloaded from a nearby fishing vessel while Annika the chicken clucked quietly at his side.

  Sighing, Tam resumed his search.

  “Hello again, friends!”

  Whirling around, Tam found Bong standing a short way down the dock wearing a deep blue coat and white pants, his hands clasped behind his back as he smiled handsomely at them.

  “Bong!” Luca burst out and darted over to the eldest Ryu son, throwing his arms about his waist.

  Bong wrapped an arm around Luca’s back. “Goodness, Luca! I think you’ve grown two whole inches since I last saw you!”

  Luca beamed as he released the Zinferan and turned to Penelope. “This is my friend Bong that I told you about! He’s really nice! Are you coming home with us?” Luca asked Bong excitedly as Tam moved forward while Penelope and Luca followed behind him.

  Bong raised an eyebrow at Penelope, who at present, was holding Eli’s hand. This was to ensure she didn’t get lost in the throng of sailors and merchants flooding the docks—-and no other reason of course (she had been quite adamant on that point).

  “Penelope?” Bong lifted a questioning look to Tam who took in a long breath.

  “We found her on Captain Woo’s ship shortly after we left Eusa,” Tam explained while gently clasping Luca’s shoulder to stop him from getting swept away by the crowd.

  “Ah.” Bong nodded slowly. “I must confess, as much as I am dying of curiosity to know just what all has happened since we last met, I’m afraid that there isn’t much time to spare. Your boat is ready to launch. You all simply need to board the vessel located at the end of the dock.”

  Tam smiled appreciatively as they all moved as quickly as possible with Bong leading them to their destination.

  “I’m glad you were able to get home safely to Haeson,” Tam said conversationally.

  “It was an exceptionally easy journey, thank the Goddess. Jeong had a tougher time, I’m afraid to say, what with the imperial soldiers becoming desperate. However, we received notice that he is home a few days ago,” Bong assured as they moved.

  “Thank Gods,” Tam breathed in relief. “Are you and your father alright after last night, by the way?”

  “I confess it was a lot more terrifying than I could have imagined. But I must thank you again for saving us. We had thought we were prepared given that we already knew that there would be a poisoning attempt.”

  Tam shot a serious glance at Bong. “I’m glad we got there in time as well.”

  The two shared a meaningful look as the weight of what had nearly happened settled over them.

  “Will your father be in trouble with the emperor for helping us?” Eli interrupted as they neared the end of the dock.

  “Maybe a little, but truthfully, the emperor has always had a bit of a soft spot for my father. Not to mention I’ve no doubt your sister the queen did something to help you escape that would earn a significant portion of the emperor’s attention and frustration,” Bong reasoned bluntly.

  Tam chuckled. “You’re not wrong.”

  Grinning, Bong at last drew to a stop, faced them, then gestured elegantly to the last ship at the dock.

  Having been distracted by their conversation, Tam hadn’t been paying much attention to the boats they had been passing, and so he was more than a little taken aback by the ship that sat bobbing in the water that they were to board.

  It was massive.

  And there were odd hatches lining both sides.

  “Erm… This isn’t exactly a discreet ship,” Tam ventured as he gaped.

  “That is true, but its defensive prowess is incomparable. It carries weapons my father has been a key figure in developing.” Bong added the last part in a discreet whisper before continuing. “In part we are choosing to send this ship with you to show your father and Daxarian king so that we can perhaps see to more being built to help with both the beast that troubles Zinfera and the terrible pirate problem.”

  Tam nodded slowly. “Alright. Are the designs and details on board?”

  Bong bowed in acknowledgement, then procured a small silver key from his pocket. “They are. I have set them in the chest in your quarters.”

  Tam accepted the key and stowed it away in his own pocket.

  “I’ll pass this along to my father and the king. Hopefully we can figure out what to do about the covens…”

  Bong released a long breath. “It would be good if we could figure out a way to settle it all without a war against us all. But I confess that, realistically, I do not believe we can avoid it.”

  Tam grimaced, his gaze dropping down to Luca’s face who was evidently struggling to follow along with the conversation.

  Pushing away his anxieties about war, he tried to buffet the moral of the conversation by saying, “Who knows? Maybe my father has a trick or two still up his sleeve.”

  Bong’s smile widened. “Maybe he can be the one to bake those miracle cookies Jeong was requesting.”

  Tam laughed and clapped a hand on Bong’s shoulder before pulling him into an embrace.

  “Be safe.”

  Bong gave Tam’s back a hearty thump. “You as well, friend.”

  As they all proceeded to issue their final farewells, Tam, Eli, Penelope, and Luca approached the gang plank.

  At the top there was a steward who stood waiting.

  It would seem that the time to travel while keeping Tam’s identity a secret was over.

  Sighing Tam lifted a foot to move forward when he stopped abruptly.

  “Something wrong?” Eli paused her own movements to look up at him with a curious head tilt.

  Tam cleared his throat and reached up to rub the back of his neck. “Everyone you head up, Eli and I will be right there.”

  Luca and Penelope blinked. Then, looking at each other, shrugged, and darted up the gangplank excitedly, leaving Tam and Eli behind. Kraken gave a lone meow, then he, too, trotted up after the children. The duchess having fluttered onto his back moments before bobbed along as he went.

  Once they were out of earshot, Tam turned to face Eli fully and moved both hands into his pockets.

  “Eli… You wouldn’t happen to be… Erm. It’s just because of the previous times that I—”

  Eli’s attention snapped over to where the children were just stepping on board the ship as a particularly loud giggle escaped from Penleope.

  “Tam, whatever it is you are trying to say, could this not be done on board? We need to leave.”

  Tam flushed. “Eli… I’m two for two. So, I’m sorry if this isn’t something you want to talk about with me, but I at least have to ask…” Tam let out a long, steadying breath. “Is there any chance you’re pregnant?”

  Eli’s eyes went wide, then relaxed as she opened her mouth.

  Tam could see in her face that she was about to assure him that was not the case, but then she froze. “Oh… Um.” Concern filled her face as she dropped her attention to the dock with a manic glint in her gaze as her thoughts visibly frenzied.

  “Are you serious?” Tam felt a wealth of emotions overtake him. Panic, excitement, disbelief—-maybe just a little bit of an urge to laugh at his weird karmic bond with ships and finding out about children that would fall under his care.

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

  “You think I would joke about this kind of thing?” Eli’s voice was already rising in volume.

  “Well, it’s only been what… a few weeks? A month? Since we started doing that… that kind of—”

  “I need to count, and I need to find out what moon phase we are at right now.” Eli hurriedly turned to the gangplank and surged upward, leaving Tam to rush behind her in just as much of a fretful whirl of concern.

  Being completely lost in his thoughts regarding the possibility that Tam was about to hear yet another piece of life changing news, he was completely caught off guard when he and Eli boarded the ship and they were greeted by tidy rows of sailors and the captain bowing to him.

  “Lord Tamlin, it is an honor to travel with you on this voyage.”

  Eli had halted in her tracks right in front of Tam as she, too, had been stunned by the sight.

  “Ah, Yes. Thank you all for… Agreeing to lend us your talents for this voyage.”

  The crew righted themselves, and the captain strode forward.

  A Zinferan man in his early fifties with a short salt and pepper goatee, and a shaved head wore a white coat with gold buttons and white trousers, making him cut a striking figure against the brilliant blue sky.

  “I am Captain Sun, my lord. It is good to meet you.”

  “Ah. Right… Right. This here is—”

  “Lady Elisara Ashowan I am told,” Captain Sun interrupted Tam, and consequently stunned both of them into silence as he bowed to Eli.

  Jiho must have repeated Harris’s announcement that they had married.

  “Uh… Yeah. Yes.” Tam cast a nervous glance at Eli, he worried that she would be upset about this news, but at the moment, her eyes were staring blindly at ship railing as though she were still struggling to remember something.

  Presumably the date of her last courses…

  Tam swallowed with difficulty.

  “This is Luca, my son, and Penelope,” Tam finished introducing the children while keeping Penelope’s tie to them ambiguous.

  “It is a delight to meet you all.” The captain smiled affably at the children who, during the introductions, had casually sidled closer to Tam and Eli. “Now, I am given to understand we are in a great hurry to reach Daxaria, and I assure you, my lord, I will do my utmost to see you all arrive there safely as quickly as possible. The witch named Henrietta has also already been secured below deck as per Lord Jiho Ryu’s orders.”

  “Thank you, that is appreciated.” Tam smiled, though he could feel how tense it was as he forced it. “I’m afraid my… my wife is not feeling well. I’d love to make your acquaintance better along with the rest of the crew soon, but might we be shown to our quarters now?”

  “Mom, you’re not feeling well?” Luca peered up at Eli fretfully.

  It took a beat, but Eli eventually blinked herself back to the present. “I just need a bit of time. I’ll be fine, Luca.”

  The captain gestured toward the stairs that would lead below deck gracefully. “Not a problem, my lord and lady. Men! Prepare to cast off!”

  *

  Eli sat scribbling at the large heavy desk that was pressed under the impressive bank of windows that made up most of the back wall of hers and Tam’s quarters.

  “Alright so… your last cycle was…?” Tam paced the large expanse of the room, his steps getting cushioned by the sprawling cream carpet that covered the majority of the cabin floor.

  “It had finished that day in Eusa when I drank with the old couple.”

  Tam swung around in alarm. “That was ages ago!”

  Eli’s glare snapped up. “It was not. It just feels like ages ago.”

  “Well a few days after that your parents came, and another day or so after that was when we stole the pirate ship. That was our first night,” Tam argued.

  “Yes, but it was still too early! It shouldn’t have been a risk for another week, and we didn’t do anything for a while afterward because the children were with us and we were steering in shifts.”

  Eli leaned back in her chair, looking a little more confident, but not entirely at ease.

  “With the time sailing, and then two or three weeks in the mountains though? You should have had it since then!”

  Tam watched her eyes fall back to the page as she gnawed on her tongue trying to think about all of the events that had transpired.

  “We were intimate quite often during the week I trained with Wixim,” she recalled warily. “But I should have been close to my—” she stopped talking and instead made an aggravated noise as she leaned her forearms against the desk.

  Tam rubbed his face with both hands before driving them with great force through his hair. “There is no chance that you had it and forgot is there? I know that sounds like a stupid question, but we have had a lot happening.” Tam stepped over to the desk.

  Eli’s eyes fluttered closed and she inhaled deeply.

  Tam could tell that this question was trying some very sensitive nerves.

  Deciding to try and lighten the mood he risked speaking again. “I mean… I did warn you that my family is pretty—”

  The withering stare Eli gave him when her eyes snapped open encouraged Tam to close his mouth in a timely manner.

  After a careful moment of staying perfectly still, Tam eventually decided to move despite the narrowed look Eli kept giving him.

  Tam knelt at Eli’s side, prompting her to turn her body from the desk, and gently clasped the hand that remained lightly curled into a fist on her lap.

  “We’re going to be fine.”

  She didn’t say anything.

  “It’s possible you aren’t… expecting… and it is just the stress of everything,” Tam pointed out while forcing himself to try and think of perfectly reasonable reasons for her missed cycle.

  “Even when I was starving and enslaved I never fully skipped one,” Eli muttered, her gaze homed on the page of frantic math and notes she had made.

  “Do you even feel as though something is different, though? Maybe it’s just a bit late.”

  Eli didn’t look convinced.

  “What if the hard training in your beast form changed things?”

  At this Eli’s eyebrows rose, and her expression lightened. “That would explain it!”

  Tam smiled. “See? No need to stress.”

  Sighing, Eli at last relaxed back into her chair.

  Tam, still holding her hand, raised it to his lips and pressed a kiss against her knuckles.

  “You seem more terrified of pregnancy than you did fighting a dragon,” he observed softly.

  Eli tensed.

  He could see that she had wanted to snap at him, but when she locked eyes with him the combativeness ebbed away.

  “Tam, now is really not the time for me to be in any kind of… altered condition.”

  “I know. But just as you wisely said that first night; we can handle it if that happens.”

  Eli arched a wry eyebrow at him. “Are you pretending that you weren’t about to faint moments ago?”

  Tam continued smiling, though he enforced a good deal of innocence into it. “While I’m good with children, I’m… admittedly… quite nervous when it comes to pregnancy.”

  “It does kill a lot of women,” Eli agreed somberly.

  Rising back up, Tam pulled Eli into his arms and gently rubbed her back.

  “Let’s not assume anything. I know there is a physician on board so if you really need to know we can go to him.”

  Eli said nothing in response, but Tam could feel her arms encircle him and grip him a little tighter than she normally would.

  Tam hoped she wouldn’t be able to feel his heart hammering in his chest.

  Because he hadn’t been entirely forthcoming with his suspicions.

  Between his family’s history and his odd fate with boats, there was an overwhelming sense of inescapable destiny that nipped at the back of his mind.

  But Eli didn’t need to hear that.

  So, he bit his tongue, and made the silent decision to start paying close attention to Eli’s well being for the voyage.