Viper didn't lower his spear the whole way to the palace.
He swam beside the bow with his tail churning the gray water, and the point never left the white tiger's throat. The other guards fanned out around the boat. Every few strokes one of them surfaced a little closer, flicked his tongue at Kaelen, and sank again.
Kaelen lay flat on the boards with his ears pinned.
"Is this how you greet guests?" Ren asked.
"You are not a guest," Viper said. "You are my King's mate." His eyes slid to the stern. "The tiger is not a guest either."
"Good," Kael said, rowing. "I do not want to be one."
The Onyx Gates rose out of the fog an hour later. The boat slid through them and down a long tunnel lit by green moss. One of the guards had gone ahead, because by the time the boat bumped against the black stone pier at the end of it, two figures were already waiting.
"Mistress!"
