Treasure (29 page)

Rock eventually gave way to crackling brown grass, a rolling expanse of nothingness that sent chills up and down his spine. Why would Kyo drag them all the way to such a barren island? Taka walked on, not even certain he was headed in the right direction save for a strange tugging at the back of his mind. He hoped it was some magical connection to Kyo because otherwise he would only get himself lost.

Half-dead grass gave way once more to rock ... No, he realized after a moment. It wasn't rock. It was what little remained of carved stone. There was too much regularity to it. He paused, retraced his steps to get a better look from the grass, and realized he was not mistaken.

The stone was all that remained of a set of steps that had been almost completely lost to the ravages of time. They must have been much wider across at one point in time.

Mermaids. He had forgotten entirely about the mermaids, he realized. He'd been so worried about Raiden. They'd called this island the Eye of the Storm. Exactly like the gem possessed by the royal family. Was this truly the place where the Temple of the Three Storms had once stood? His heart raced just thinking about it. Surely not. It sounded too fantastical to be believed that Kyo had known of and led them to a place that even the most devout priest believed long gone.

Except, he realized, no priest had ever been more devout than Kyo. That still did not answer the question of why they were there, however, and he could not imagine it was at all a good reason. Not with Kyo's secrecy, not with his and Raiden's misery. How the storms did those two have anything in common?

Huffing in irritation, Taka started forward again, but stopped when he heard someone call his name. He half-turned, not at all surprised to see Kin walking toward him. "I'm glad you caught up. Whatever is going on, I think it will take us both to knock some sense into them."

"The mermaids are frightened, and I don't know why," Kin said, mouth set in a hard line. "When Raiden came above deck earlier, they avoided him. They wouldn't have much to do with any of us, but they particularly avoided him, and he avoided them. Why? It's stupid, but—" He broke off, scowling.

"But?"

Making a face, Kin admitted, "It felt like they knew each other."

Taka frowned. "We'd better find them. It's the only way we'll figure out what is going on."

Kin grunted and resumed walking, leading the way up the remains of the steps, kicking away large pieces of debris. He swore loudly when he reached the top, and when Taka joined him, he offered a colorful invective of his own.

The steps led down to a wide, open area that reminded Taka of the royal temple back home, where the priest stood in the middle and addressed the circle of people around him:  the wealthiest closest, the poorest all the way at the top, typically. Here, the steps were all but gone in most places, barely usable in other places, and the colorful tiles that must have once covered everything were long gone. He could see chunks of rock along the top that would have once been columns to support a domed roof that was no longer there.

At the very center of the floor stood Kyo, and Taka ached when he realized that Kyo was crying. Kyo did not cry. For as long as Taka had known him, Kyo had always said that boys did not cry, the way he said it making Taka feel as though he were missing some joke.

He did not even try to stop Kin when he moved forward, but made himself hold back because it had been clear for some time that Kin had taken over the role of comforting and protecting Kyo.

Instead, Taka headed more slowly toward them, taking in more of the broken remains of the temple. He paused close to Kyo and Kin, rolling his eyes at the way they were kissing and not talking, and frowned at a stain on the sandy, cracked floor that definitely looked like blood. But after so many centuries, surely a blood stain would not remain?

Looking around, he saw there were two more such stains ... and that altogether the three stains formed a perfect triangle. What in the dragons ...

"What in the name of the dragons is going on?" Kin finally demanded, drawing back and giving Kyo a good hard shake. "What is this place?"

Kyo tore away and stumbled back, shoving his hair from his face with trembling hands. "You shouldn't be here, Kinni. I told you to leave me alone once we reached the island."

"I told you no," Kin snapped. "There is nowhere now for you to go, no further point in evading my storming questions! You're crying!"

At those words, Kyo gave a shaky laugh, and Taka could not bear the look on his face as he looked at Kin. How long had Kyo been in love with him? That wasn't the sort of look that appeared in a couple of months. "Kyo, just storming tell us already!"

"Nine hundred years ago, Taiseiyou the First killed the dragons and stole their magic," Kyo said, staring at the ground, his words barely above a whisper. "Every one hundred years, one of the royal family must come here to renew the bond that keeps the power of the Eye in the hands of the royal family. If the ceremony is not performed, then the magic has nowhere to go and could quite literally destroy the world."

Taka had a horrible, sinking feeling suddenly. Please let him be wrong about what the ceremony entailed. He could see from the thunderous look on Kin's face that he'd had the same idea. "Kyo—what—what does this ceremony entail?"

"Y-you should go," Kyo said, but he'd started crying again, and for as long as he lived Taka never wanted to witness Kyo falling apart again.

"You're not doing this," Kin said flatly. "To the depths of the ocean with the storming magic! And the world! I am not going to let you die to give power to your family and prevent world destruction. The world is sinking anyway."

Kyo gave a shaky, tired laugh. "It's not your decision to make, Kinni. I have no intention of giving anything to my family. I came here to give the power back to those we stole it from."

"No," Kin said flatly. "I don't care about the dragons either."

"It's not—"

Kin darted forward, grabbed him, and kissed him so hard that when he pulled away again, Kyo's lip was bleeding. Kin's voice was rough, harsh when he said, "If you try to say again that it is not my decision, I will beat you. It sure as storms is my decision whether or not the man I love dies. You don't get to make that decision alone."

"Kinni—"

Taka sighed when they kissed again, looking away to give them privacy and relieved that it looked like Kyo would not be doing anything stupid. When they finally drew apart, he said, "So can we go home now? Or ... somewhere, at least, where we can make a new home?"

"I'm not leaving," Kyo said, shoving Kin away. "This is the right thing to do. The gods were lost because of my family, or at least the dragons were, and I will set all to rights. So no one else has to die. So the world has a chance of being saved."

"I'm not losing you!" Kin snarled and made to lung for him, but froze at the sound of feet scuffing stone and rocks sliding, tumbling. The sound made all three of them turn to see Raiden had come up from ... somewhere.

Taka shivered, not certain why, except that Raiden looked different somehow. Old, despite his youthful face. Haggard. He looked at all of them and gave Taka a sad, sweet smile before he said, "Even if Kyo killed himself to restore the Eye of the Storm to its rightful owners, it would not work. Nine hundred years ago, the Eye of the Storm was placed into a person, the Priest of Storms. He was slain by his twin brother who then stole the Eye, stole the power of the gods from the Dragons of the Three Storms. If that power is to be restored, then the ceremony must be done properly. If you want to return the Eye to the Dragons of the Three Storms, Prince Nankyokukai, then you must kill Takara."

"What!" Taka said, reeling back, tripping and crashing to the stone floor, adding fresh scrapes to his palms. He stared up at Raiden, trembling with fear from the fierce look in his eyes.

Kyo moved and stood in front of Taka, lifted his chin and demanded, "How do you know all this? Some of that is not even written down in the Book of Storms?"

Raiden laughed bitterly. "Nine hundred years ago I watched helpless as my lover of one hundred and fifty years murdered his twin brother, my Priest of Storms. One hundred years ago, I was helpless as my brothers broke free of the spell that bound us at the cost of their lives. I am all that remains of the Dragons of the Three Storms, a bare mortal shell of what I used to be."

Taka stared at him, barely noticing when Kyo hauled him to his feet and hugged him close, unable to tear his eyes from Raiden. "You can't be a god."

"I am not a god," Raiden said. "I used to be. And very soon I will be again, if all goes according to plan."

"You—" All Taka could hear was that moment when Raiden had said Kyo had to kill him to restore the gods. To restore Raiden. He'd brought Taka all this way—pretended to care—called him treasure—

Just to murder him.

Taka tore away from Kyo and ran.

Kin lunged for Kyo when he tried to run after Taka, threw him to the ground so he couldn't go anywhere, and then turned on Raiden and punched him in the face. "You storming bastard!"

Raiden said nothing, did not even react to the punch other than to stumble back a step. "It's not what you think."

"You—you knew this entire time! You just said Kyo had to kill Taka! Did you see the look on his face? I knew there was something strange about you given that you never seem to age, but I didn't think—it's not possible. Dragons drown you!" He made to punch Raiden again, but stopped when Kyo stepped in front of him. "I will punch you too," Kin snarled. "Do not think for a moment that I am done being angry with you."

Kyo, to his surprise, leaned up and kissed him, hard and quick. "Just wait a moment," he whispered before whipping around and leaning back against Kin, not protesting the arms Kin wrapped around him. "What is not as we think? You said I had to kill Taka—that seems pretty clear a pronouncement."

"I want to make him the new Eye, my Priest of Storms," Raiden said softly. "I—after so long, all the times I tried to arrange what to say—it still came out so wrong. The only way to return my power to me is to properly ground the Eye of the Storm. Did no one ever wonder, in all these years, why it had to be with a person at all times?"

"No," Kyo said quietly. "I never—that seems such an obvious question to ask now."

Raiden sighed softly. "Of all the gods, we dragons were the strongest, the most volatile. We are, after all, the gods who reign over chaos. To ground our power, to keep it from getting out of control and destroying the world we helped to make, requires the Eye. That Eye must be a person born of this world. It is no small responsibility, and those who can handle it are extremely rare. Kanchou was one such person, and he was our Priest of Storms for one hundred and sixty years. It was ten years after he took up that role that I met his brother, Manchou ..." He trailed off and shook his head. "I made many mistakes, and my brothers and our children paid the price. The Eye is not properly grounded. Some of the power lies with the royal family, but they could not take all of it. The rest of it is what is slowly destroying the world, and if another hundred years pass there will be not be sufficient power from the other gods remaining to hold it back any longer."

Kin bit back all the angry words he wanted to say and instead only bit out, "So we have to kill Taka or Kyo? I'm not doing it—not for you, not for the world, not for anyone."

"He won't stay dead," Raiden replied. "Taka is to be the new Eye of the Storm, as I said. But the sacrifice must be made and the Eye restored to its proper form. That bauble around your neck is but a pale imitation." He stepped away, and said, "Now if you will excuse me, I must go try and explain all of this to Taka." He did not wait for their reply, simply walked off.

"I still want to punch him again," Kin muttered and loosed one arm from around Kyo's waist to wrap it around his throat instead, squeezing lightly as he forced Kyo's head up and around to look at him. "Though first I think I will throttle you."

Kyo laughed, but Kin did not miss the tremble in his voice.

"Were you really going to kill yourself without saying a word to me?" Kin asked, still angry and hurt, but mostly scared to death. "Why would you do that to me? To Taka?"

"I knew you'd stop me, and it has to be done," Kyo said.

Kin could not bear the continued unsteadiness in his voice. Letting him go, he turned Kyo around and held him tightly, nuzzling against him and breathing in his scent, trembling himself when he thought about how close he had come to losing the man who had so quickly and unreasonably become the center of his world. "Koori, you promised to find the ultimate treasure with me. I cannot very well take the ultimate treasure home if it sacrifices itself here in the middle of gods forsaken nowhere. Literally gods forsaken, apparently. Have I mentioned that you have a beautiful throat and I would hate to mar it with bruises?"

Just because he was a brat prince, Kyo leaned back and arched the aforementioned throat, and Kin could not resist sliding his fingers across it, curling them into the hair at his nape, and dragging Kyo close to ravage his mouth, licking the split in his lip, determined to leave Kyo too breathless to do anymore thinking. Clearly it was allowing Kyo room to think that had caused all of this. Kin had a sneaking suspicion it was a trait the brothers shared. Pulling back just far enough to speak, he muttered against Kyo's mouth, "I am going to tie you to my bed when we get home; I think that might actually keep you out of trouble."

"I doubt it," Kyo said, "but you're welcome to try." He licked Kin's lips. "I've heard that sort of thing is fun."

Kin groaned and kissed him again, desperate to banish the images in his head because the time and place were completely wrong for thoughts of Kyo bound with silk chord and helpless to do anything, but take whatever Kin did to him. "Brat."

"So you keep saying," Kyo said, fingers slipping beneath his clothes, nails scraping in that way that drove Kin wild. He nipped Kin's jaw and stood up on his toes to nip his ear and murmur, "Fuck me, Captain."