He kicked and screamed.
“No! I’m meant to be the lord! Me!” he cried.
Within minutes, the town was on fire but the Changeling guards surrendered. They too were carted off to the cells under the castle.
The local Titans saluted me with a fist to their chests and a respectful nod of their heads. I returned it to them.
“I should go,” Qale said.
“You should stay,” I said. “You are the rightful Lord of Taw.”
Qale braced my shoulders.
“No, little brother,” he said. “You proved it should be you that leads the family now. I would only lose my temper and commit us to more pointless wars.”
We shared a smile and embraced. I doubted that, not with his new outlook on life, but it was clear from his expression he had no intention of taking up the position again.
“My love waits for me in the forest,” he said. “Every moment away from her is a dagger in my heart.”
I snorted. “Since when did you become a poet?”
“When I met my lady love,” he said.
And, dammit, didn’t I understand exactly what he meant?
He drifted away, moving through the crowd, not one of them knowing their true Lord of Taw walked among them. He tipped his hat at Sirena as she approached.
“You owe me a favor,” she said.
I ravished her with my eyes, exploring every inch of her delicate frame. It was all I could do to keep my hands off her.
“And how do you figure I’m the one that owes you a favor?” I said.
We drifted closer.
“I shouted, ‘Look out!’” she said.
“But you didn’t fight for me the way Qale did,” I said.
Now we were so close I could feel her breath on my chin.
“A girl doesn’t want to ruin her nails,” she said.
I grinned like a fool.
“Boy, are you a sight for sore eyes,” I said.
She wrapped her arms around my neck and we kissed, deeply, passionately. I had to touch and feel her, make sure it was her and not an apparition.
“I thought you had to head home?” I said.
“I was,” she said. “Then they tried to kill me and… it doesn’t matter. Listen, I need to explain what happened. They abducted me and turned me into a slave. They said that if I did what they asked, they would let me and my friends go home—”
I pressed a finger to her lips.
“It’s okay,” I said. “I understand. Sometimes we have to make a decision we later regret. But if we’re very lucky, we can overturn it.”
“Like you did today,” Sirena said.
She nodded to the Titans rounding up the last of the Changelings.
“I thought you didn’t approve of rebellions and wars?” I said.
“I didn’t,” Sirena said. “But sometimes it’s necessary to take action for the things you want.”
We kissed again and I felt her not only on my lips but in my heart and soul. She would reside there forever.
“I want you to know something too,” I said. “Any time you want to go home, tell me, and I’ll arrange a ship for you.”
“Maybe I will return,” she said. “One day. Right now, I think I’ll hang around here for a while.”
I grinned.
“I was hoping you might,” I said.
I kissed her on the forehead.
“There you are,” Emana said, sidling up to Sirena. “We’ve got unfinished business.”
Sirena turned white as a ghost before raising her arm to Emana, who took it in her hands.
“What’s going on?” I said.
“She has to break my arm, like the Titan custom,” Sirena said.
I arched an eyebrow at Emana, who grinned.
“Okay,” she said. “Here we go…”
Snap.
Sirena howled for a full three seconds before she realized her arm didn’t hurt. She opened her eyes and peered between the two of us.
“What’s going on?” she said.
Emana laughed and slapped her knee.
“You believed Titans snap each other’s arms to demand an apology!” she said, and wiped the tears out of her eyes. “Oh, that is good. That is really, really good.”
Sirena folded her arms.
“Well, how was I supposed to know?” she said. “You guys do heal faster than normal.”
“That doesn’t mean we like pain!” Emana said, leaving to go tell Aunzika about her gag.
“I told you,” I said to Sirena, “you get used to her.”
“Sir?” a local Titan said. “We found these Changelings trying to pass themselves off as Titan locals.”
A group of Titans dragged an unwilling trio of Changelings before me. They had not practiced mimicking us and their work was sloppy. Their noses were droopy and long, their ears even worse. They looked like bread taken out of the oven too early.
The first Changeling morphed into his original shape. It was a helper. He dropped to his knees and extended his hands to me pathetically. The second Changeling did the same.
“So, you must be S’lec-Quos,” I said to the final melted Titan. “Show yourself. We won’t hurt you.”
The last Changeling morphed into another helper. It fooled me for a moment… until I realized he was a duplicate of the first helper. He looked at me coyly before shutting his eyes and assuming his original form.
“What are you going to do with us?” S’lec-Quos said. “Don’t forget, we were very merciful with you. We could have killed you at any time—”
“You were going to kill me!” I barked.
The Changelings whimpered and backed away. They weren’t so tough when they didn’t have their guards and war frigate to back them up.
“Take them to the cells,” I said. “I’ll decide what to do with them later.”
The Changelings struggled but they were no match for their Titan captors.
“Look,” Sirena said.
She motioned to something on the fringes of the forest. A figure I knew very well waved an arm back at me. It was Qale. The rightful heir to the castle.
A Titan female stood at his side with her arms wrapped around him. Qale kissed her on the top of the head and smiled as he led her into the forest.
I could understand why he wanted to leave the mantel behind. I was inclined to do the same thing, but now
