Son of Fire

Chapter One Hundred and Eleven

It took about a week for Josh to return with the Valetinians, which was filled with Skylar making flirtatious comments towards Josh and he did his best to deflect them.

But now was the moment he'd been dreading. And it was coming sooner than he thought as Mal was awaiting for them on the shore, with the royal guard behind her along with Audrey, his sisters and Uma.

Himself and Skylar were the first to arrive on shore by the row boat, and Skylar walks straight over to Mal, her hand hovering her her cutlass.

"So, you must be the Queen." Skylar observes, scanning over Mal with a small smirk. "I ain't seeing much." Josh really wanted to die right now. This was exactly what he wanted to avoid, Skylar being... Well, Skylar with Mal.

"Feel free to get back on your ship and head back for Valentina. I'm sure the Dragon Empire would love your return." Mal retorts, folding her arms.

"Well what can I say, Josh can be very persuasive. He persuaded me to come all this way with him, just to save my life. Ain't he just a hero." Skylar taunts Mal. And judging by how tense Mal was getting, it was working.

"Skylar." Josh growls, and Skylar eyes flash with hunger.

"Oh I do love it when you talk like that, Josh. Really gets my motor going." Skylar teases as she bites her bottom lip before winking at Josh.

"We are offering you and your people protection, Skylar, maybe you don't wanna piss off the ruler." Anna offers. Skylar pouts as she looks over at Anna.

"But where's the fun in that." She asks, walking over to Mal and running her finger along Mal's arm. "I must say, you are remarkably reserved. I'd have thought you'd have tried to stab me by now, with me being all over your man." Skylar taunts.

"And where would the logic in that be?" Mal asks, although her voice was strained. Josh was sure she had already imagined killing Skylar five times by now.

"Oh, there's no logic at all, but crimes of passion are so very sexy." Skylar whispers to Mal, and Mal couldn't deny the shiver that washed over her.

"Are we done with this?" Josh asks, and Skylar looks over and shrugs.

"I'm not sure, are we Queenie?" Skylar asks.

"Yes." Mal answers quickly, making sure she stepped away from Skylar before regaining her posture. "How many ships do you have in your fleet?"

"About three hundred, with about between sixty to seventy men on each ship. Trust me, you've got the fleet you wanted." Skylar responds, her flirtatious tone now gone.

"Good, you'll have to leave them along the shoreline, we do not have docks to house them." Mal tells Skylar.

"Give us the wood, and we will build the dockyard we need. Nothing major, just enough to carry out maintenance on our ships." Skylar demands.

"You can have the wood from the forest to the east." Mal tells Skylar. "But you're getting it yourself." She adds, a slight revenge for the flirtatious comments towards Josh and herself. Mal knew it was petty, but being Queen allowed her to be petty.

"Fair enough. Are you going to greet us all then?" Skylar asks.

"I will when you are all here, but for now I have other duties to attend too. Josh, with me." Mal commands and Josh sighs, something that his sister's seemed to like.

"Someone's in trouble." Sarah quips as Josh walks past her, and receives a shove in return from him, only causing Sarah's smirk to evolve into a laugh.

Josh walks up the shoreline with Mal before Mal stops, spins on her heel and smacks him across the face.