Bolivar was doing nothing to help him out of this conversation. The human captain just leaned against the wall, looking on with a slight smile.
“Wrong.” The dragon-kin’s lips parted to show off his sharp teeth. “As soon as you brought me aboard, it became my concern.”
The half-blood’s nostrils twitched in a silent snarl before he coolly stated, “I am not taking you with me.”
“I think you’ll find that you are,” Levent answered in a similar tone.
My eyes darted between the two males as they glared at each other in silence.
Whatever was passing between them at this moment was beyond me. So was the reason as to why they both wanted to get into Eigiollys so badly.
No doubt whatever entrance to the city, if it existed, would involve quite a lot of water and possibly booby-traps. There was no other way humans would have to discover it for so long. Plus, if these two survived long enough to enter the hidden city and the merpeople really were alive, they would no doubt kill a rogue half-blood and a dragon-kin on sight.
“Right,” Rio agreed after a long moment. His tone was that of a merchant arguing over price. “You can come, but the faun will join us.”
“What?” Levent and I said at the same moment.
A low growl rumbled the dragon-kin’s throat.
“No,” he said.
“I can’t swim!” I protested lamely.
The half-blood turned to me, his face genuinely repentant. “Apologies, m’lady, but I can’t assure the kin won’t misbehave unless you’re with us.”
The way he said ‘misbehave’ made me cringe. They still had Levent on a short leash, and, though they promised my freedom earlier, it looked like I was not going to see it until the kin did.
I could feel the waves of annoyance rolling off the kin, but he did not voice any of his protests.
“And how am I supposed to prevent that?”
“I have a hunch, and it doesn’t matter how it got there as long as it’s true.” He shrugged.
Turning, he batted Bolivar in the shoulder.
“I was going to leave as soon as I could, but now it seems as though I must