Verin landed sideways on a stone courtyard before this door, aligning our door with it. Before I could stand up to start stripping again, the arch over the front door retracted and a clear tube extended from the space where it had been, moving toward our ship. The tube pressed against the hull and Verin hit a few buttons on the control panel. A whoosh of air came dully from outside.
I lifted a brow at the Blue Dragon.
Verin grinned smugly, got to his feet, and strode to the airlock. He pressed a button and the door opened on the air-filled passage. We followed him into the tube, which thankfully had a flat bottom. At the end of it, the palace door opened and a man stood to the side of it, bowing. Verin nodded to him as we passed by. The man shut the door behind us, hit a button, and hurried after his king without looking as if he were rushing. Nice trick. He slowed as he came abreast of Verin then spoke to him in another language. I assumed it was Lóng, I didn't recognize it as any human dialect. There was far too much growling in it, for one thing.
The man scurried off and Verin glanced back at me meaningfully. I lengthened my steps to move up beside him. He nodded crisply but kept glancing at me as we walked. It finally occurred to me that he was gauging my reaction to his home. I smiled and nodded to let him know I was impressed. Yes, I was quickly learning how to communicate in his way. In response to my approval, Verin made a soft sound, not strong enough to be a grunt. It was just a breath of... delight.
I didn't begrudge him it. The palace of the Azure Court may have seemed simple on the outside—at least compared to the palaces I was used to—but inside it was luxurious. The corridor we strode through was lined in silk tapestries that depicted Dragons at play and war; some of the scenes looked as if they could be either. Below the soaring works of fabric art, narrow tables held fine sculptures and paintings set on short easels. Beneath those, the floor was polished blue stone, a few shades lighter than Verin's hair. I thought at first that it might be coral but it wasn't porous enough. No rugs laid upon the stone, which I assumed was for the sake of convenience. Rugs in the entryway of an undersea palace was probably a bad idea.
We made several turns down numerous hallways until I was hopelessly lost, and every person we came across bowed reverently and deeply to Verin. He barely seemed to notice. I, however, particularly noted the longing looks he received from the ladies of his court. They fanned themselves coquettishly, flicked their long hair, and did all but fall at his feet. If Verin didn't have a harem full of women like his father had, it wasn't for a lack of eager applicants.
At last, Verin led us across a glass-enclosed bridge that spanned the space between palace wings, going through open water. It provided not only a glorious view of the valley to our left but also one of a colorful undersea garden growing over a collection of coral attached to the curtain wall to our right. Anemones, feather dusters, and sea urchins gathered around living coral in vibrant hues while fish darted among the swaying fronds and jagged branches.
At the end of the bridge, a pair of golden doors barred our path. Blue Dragons snarled at each other from the panels, one on each door. Verin opened the left door and ushered us through. We stepped into another garden but this one mimicked the world above and languished in the full blush of Spring. Cherry trees bloomed like cotton candy, their delicate branches generously sharing the sun—or fake sun, rather—with the plants below them. Exotic flowers grew in clumps amid the thick grass, suggesting a natural placement that was nonetheless too perfect to be so. Birds chirped softly and a small pond gurgled, bubbles bursting up from its center. Golden fish swam there and the oddity of a fish pond beneath the sea made me chuckle.
“We have public gardens below the city, on the seabed,” Verin said. “But within the palace, we prefer smaller, personal plots. This is my mother's garden; she chose it as an entry hall so she could entertain guests here without leading them through more private areas.”
“It's lovely,” I murmured. “I'd forgotten that the Azure Court is also the Court of Spring.”
“That's correct. And thank you, Your Majesty. I'm very proud of my gardens,” a strong, female voice said.
A woman dressed in flowing sapphire robes swept out of an archway before us. Her ebony hair was pinned up in braids and loops, held by combs that were even more elaborate than the hairstyle. Dainty hands peeped from the end of her trailing sleeves, petting the air with small movements as she glided toward us. Her eyes, as dark as her hair, still managed to remind me of Verin. She respectfully inclined her head to me and then the men before narrowing her stare at Verin.
“This is what you wear to greet visiting royals?” She chided him. “Where is your cloak? You could have at least deigned to don that.”
“Mother,” Verin growled, “I had to meet them at the Crimson Court and Zhavage doesn't have a docking tunnel.”
“Then it's a good thing that I'm always prepared for your disdain of royal raiments.”
