Goddess of Sea and War: a Fantasy Romance (Kingdom in the Sea Book 3)

by Vivienne Savage

  “Are they behind all of it?”

  “No. They’re only a piece of it, though Nammu appears to be the one pulling all of the strings and calling the shots. It’s possible Aegaeon remains unaware and doesn’t know his wife is dealing with crooked keepers behind his back. Now, watch these videos we’ve pulled from around Atlantis using the data in the files Democrates provided.”

  More videos ran of Thalia and Nammu meeting, though in more than one, Nammu visited late at night under the cover of Atlantian darkness once the city management teams deactivated each alternating heliolamp. Aside from the street corners of residential zones, and the busier districts of the city that never slept, darkness emulated true night in Pearlstone Cove.

  The wealthy demanded it.

  After reviewing the footage of Nammu’s suspicious activities, Kai inhaled a deep breath. Andarien’s words echoed fresh in her mind.

  All things are connected, Kai.

  “I want you to do something for me, Demetrius. It’s a bit of a personal request, but one most important to me.”

  “Of course, Your Majesty. What is it?”

  “There should be an unsolved case related to Amerin, my lady-in-waiting. I’d like you to reopen it quietly. It’s my personal belief that these matters are all interconnected, now that we know Myrmidons and keepers are on the take for Thalia. It would mean the world to me if you put the best investigator you have available on it.”

  Silver brows raised, and then the mer glanced at his console screen. “Tell you what, Your Majesty. I’ll give this one my personal attention.”

  Leaving the office put Kai in a melancholy mood. The fight ahead of them wouldn’t be an easy battle when Lady Thalia had so much pull in the city. Money, power, prestige, and loyalty from all the right people made her untouchable when it came to the typical drama associated with Atlantis’s upper crust. If she wanted something from another noble, whether they were her peer or lesser, she received it.

  Kai wondered how many would stand with her, even once it was publicized that she was wrong. She wondered who would believe the evidence produced, or if they would claim it was a smear campaign against Lady Thalia and refuse to listen to reason. Many things weighed on her mind, so much that she almost overlooked the change in the air.

  The atmosphere thickened, and a static charge danced over her skin.

  “Something’s wrong,” Heracles muttered as they approached the street corner. His gaze darted over the intersection ahead, then he made a gesture Kai recognized as a signal for his men to be on alert for immediate danger, rather than potential threats. The mood promptly transformed as tension swept through the ranks.

  “What?”

  “There should be a keeper on this corner. The grid is also out. Look.” He nodded toward the overhead light fixtures designed to direct the flow of traffic. There weren’t many vehicles out on the road at the current hour; most people were shut away in their homes and wrapped up tight in bed.

  Heracles turned his head and murmured to the guard beside him. Jason nodded and sprinted across the walk away, as did two others. Their team of one dozen had seemed overkill to Kai initially, but her bounding pulse told her otherwise.

  Energy buzzed in the air, reminding her of a charging spell or magical weapon. Manu jerked his head toward the right at the same moment that Heracles whirled to face the intersecting lane, jerking his head up to look at the upper floor of a building with dark windows. It began as a speck of light, rapidly enlarged in the blink of an eye, and became a blinding glare.

  “Get behind me!” Heracles shouted, mere seconds before shots rained toward them. The Royal Guard maneuvered the shield from his back in an instant and moved into position with his men. Training and rapid response culminated within an instant to create a three-shield-high barrier. Rounds shattered against the protective wall, and Kai flinched each time she heard a magical projectile sliding against Atlantian steel. They erupted in scorching sparks.

  “This is Commander Heracles of the Royal Guard. There appears to be two shooters in the vicinity. I repeat, active shooters in the Palace District approximately one mile north-northwest of the Office of the Keeper Corps on the southeastern corner of Black Kraken Lane and Feather Star Road. Shots fired from the fourth floor.”

  No one responded.

  “I repeat, assistance is needed on the corner of Black Kraken Lane and Feather Star Road. Their Majesties are in need of immediate support.”

  “It’s no use,” Cassius said. “They’re all deactivated, Commander!”

  Heracles swore under his breath. “Then we have no choice. Communications are disabled. Defend and cover our retreat. Two of us will extract the royals.”

  At that moment, the report of a heavy arms harpoon ripped from another corner and shattered glass. Kai screamed and ducked down, only to realize it was Jason firing from the safety of another rooftop toward their assailants. Glass and bits of coral brick rained upon the sidewalk beneath their snipers’ vantage.

  Kai didn’t enjoy harming others, but she couldn’t stand idly by or flee to safety while Heracles and his men battled in her name and their defense. Manu agreed, her perception for his emotions picking up conflicted feelings.

  They couldn’t run and hide. Not like this. Not like cowards, when they were chosen by the gods to lead Atlantis.

  We can’t leave them to fight for us.

  Though the voice was a mere whisper, the intensity of Manu’s response resonated in her soul: We cannot.

  His trident manifested, two meters of celestial steel gleaming with power currents rippling up and down its divine length.

  When she squeezed the rod of the scepter in her hand, it reacted to her touch, as if it had a life of its own, encouraging her to stand her ground. Kai bumped Heracles aside with her hip and stepped forward wielding the scepter in a two-handed grip. The glowing pearl pulsed before expelling a frigid cone of blizzarding wind and slush. Her magic blanketed the southern-facing wall of the damaged building.

  “Where the fuck are the keepers?” Heracles growled.

  “You know where the bloody keepers are,” Manu spit back. “We’re in the middle of an assassination attempt. They’re either with the enemy or facing a battle of their own right now.

  At that moment, another eruption deafened them from behind. Kai whirled to watch the plume of flame skyrocketing in a pillar of enchanted fire. Without direct line-of-sight, gut instinct told her the keeper offices were aflame and under a similar assault.

  As the ground quaked and rumbled, Kai stumbled off balance until she plunged the tip of her scepter into the ground, piercing the stone. It was too early to celebrate, however, their small victory cut short by a flash-bang grenade’s disorienting explosion. Ringing filled her ears and dazzled her vision, but Manu appeared unaffected. Through him, she regained her sense of her surroundings.

  When the icy wall crumbled a team of men all clad in black shell armor swept toward them with weapons blazing.

  Heracles and his men returned fire with electrified harpoon bolts and rounds of magical energy.

  They move like Myrmidons.

  Manu’s voice caressed her mind. They are Myrmidons.

  They were in the midst of civil war, after all.

  20

  The Black Shells

  Unable to contact the palace for aid and unable to rely on Demetrius or the rest of the keepers, it became frightfully apparent they would have to fight together as a team. Assailants with the same intense Myrmidon training closed in on them, wielding magic-infused weapons prohibited in combat against living creatures by Atlantian law. They were a team of one dozen all in ebony armor reminiscent of volcanic glass, their identifies guarded by closed-faced helmets to conceal their features.

  Cowards, Kai thought, a sentiment echoed within the thoughts of her husband.

  Hearing his thoughts was entirely new to her, but not entirely unwelcome. Later, she’d question the discovery. For now, she fought by his side. Their weapons appear
ed to be in sync, pulsing together with a gilded warmth illuminating their surrounding area. As much as Kai wanted to make sense of it, she could not.

  Jason’s heavy harpoon bolt tore across the lane and through one of the black-armored soldiers while Heracles fended off another with his trident. The frenetic pace of battle pounded in her blood as men traded blows and the opposition fought to reach them.

  Powerful enchantments deflected the Royal Guards’ weapons, making each blow strike with a fraction of its power. The same was not true of Manu’s trident. It sliced through them, though she couldn’t discern at a glance if it was his inherited power, or the divine might of Pontus’s weapon.

  It had to be both, for her scepter dented armor and shattered faceplates, but lacked the raw potential for destruction she saw with each of his mighty swings. He moved like a whirlwind alongside their injured guards, buying Kai the opportunity to sweep another off his feet before he could deal a point-blank shot to Cassius’s exposed back.

  “Now!” one of the black-armored mer roared.

  “For peace!” one from the rear of the ranks shouted.

  A dark projectile soared through the air and landed with a clatter nearby.

  Heracles moved toward it.

  In that second, she knew precisely what he meant to do. Dashing toward what she presumed was a grenade, he shouted, “Move! It’s an explosive!”

  No matter what, she couldn’t allow them to sacrifice their lives for her. She couldn’t let this mer lay his life down for them again. Manu had restored it once.

  Do it.

  Two fish with one harpoon.

  Her husband understood her. As Heracles neared the explosive, Kai flung out both hands toward him and the Myrmidons who remained standing in close quarters. The wave of water she conjured manifested with tremendous force and blew over them like a tidal wave, swirling around individual members of the Royal Guard and claiming them in miniature whirlpools. It swept each man out into the street and carried them to the opposite corner. Heracles screamed in anguish and fought the magical tsunami without success.

  The magical device jittered against the ground. Red-hot fissures glowed over its pebbled surface and heat waves shimmered. Before Kai could attend to it, Manu lunged forward and threw her to the ground with his body. His weight landed upon her, but strong fingers cradled the back of her head as he shielded her. The explosion rocked the district and shook the street. A long while passed that Kai feared the worst. She prayed with her eyes squeezed tightly shut, refusing to open them until the powerful man blanketing her in protective warmth raised his head first.

  She gazed up at him, into eyes blazing bright with magical color, a vibrant teal shining in formerly brown depths.

  “You’re all right,” she breathed.

  Manu exhaled a long-held breath then dropped his brow against her shoulder. “I am. We are.” He kissed her brow, and a shudder went through him before he rose and pulled her up by a hand to her feet.

  How was he all right, was what she wanted to know next, but there was no time to ask.

  “Your Majesty!” a Royal Guard shouted, the rapid thunder of approaching feet indicating her quick spellwork had washed them beyond the blast radius. All around Kai and Manu, charred bits and wet pieces of the suicidal assassins littered the pavement with bone fragments.

  Kai swept the battlefield, stomach turning as she realized two of the Royal Guards had not escaped range. One lay prone on the ground, and at a glance, she sensed life still stirring in him and blood flowing through his blood vessels. The other stared toward the Atlantian dome while rasping deep, wet breaths. The rent pieces of his armor revealed a crushed torso.

  Before she could fully digest what happened, Kai sprang toward the Royal Guard. Manu’s strong hand reached for her moments too slow to hold her back from scrambling to the fallen Myrmidon’s side. She knelt beside him. Pain and fear filled a gaze that no longer focused on her. “No, no, no.”

  If she’d been faster and acted sooner.

  If she’d applied more force, perhaps they’d have all coasted to safety.

  A dozen doubts flooded her mind as she took the injured man’s hand. “I’m here.” A trickle of healing magic was all she could provide. “I’m right here. I won’t leave you.” The feeble squeeze of his larger fingers around her hand told her he was still aware. With her other hand she wiped the blood from his face without knowing if it was his own or one of their failed assassins.

  Distant sirens announced the approach of the backup they’d needed during the fierce battle, but Kai tuned it all out and concentrated her attention on the mer drowning in his own blood. Manu knelt beside her as a saturated Heracles jogged up to them.

  “He’s dying,” Kai said in a quiet voice, cutting off what she presumed would be a suggestion for them to vacate the area for their own safety. “The least I can do is hold his hand until medics arrive or until Hermes takes him. I’m not much of a healer, but I did what I could to ease his pain for now.”

  For all the time she had been in Atlantis since her return, it had been integral to catch her up to speed on combat. Hours upon hours of battle training hadn’t prepared her to save lives with her magic. They’d taught her to kill. Not once had anyone ever thought it would be critical for her to save a life.

  “This happened because of us. Senseless. A waste.”

  “With all due respect, Your Majesty,” Heracles said, his tone infinitely gentle and patient, “we understand the risks when we apply for the Royal Guard. Ares did not favor him this day, and that is no fault of yours.”

  Manu placed one hand on her back. “He speaks the truth, my love.”

  “No! Being true makes it no less unnecessary. Manu, help me heal him. Help me…I don’t know, just help me. You healed Heracles. You can heal him, can’t you?”

  “I…” He filled his lungs with a long breath then held his hands over the injured Myrmidon. Fragmented thought and frustration pierced the magical link between them. After a time, Manu shook his head. “I feel nothing.”

  “Try harder!”

  “I am. I…just do not know what I did. I don’t recall how.”

  Despite how much she wanted to shout and rage, Kai kept her dignity, bowing her head instead when the final choked breath speckled the young mer’s lips with blood. One limb at a time, she crossed his arms over his chest then closed his eyes. While his suffering had ended, the guard’s death only fueled the flames of her fury and filled her with a bitter, unshakeable cold.

  “This shouldn’t have happened. Those mers were their own people. They were betrayed by their brothers and sisters in arms. For what?”

  A chill rattled through her spine as she recalled the last words shouted by the bomber.

  For peace.

  Someone had promised them her murder would restore peace to Atlantis.

  Kai wanted nothing more than to watch Lady Thalia drown in her own blood instead.

  21

  Shelter From the Storm

  Crafting a true plan to deal with the disloyal mers meant putting her trust into other factions. Already, Queen Laka had pledged ten thousand troops from her own army to combat the Gloom. Alongside the Myrmidons, they had pushed back the darkness and emerged with a massive defeat against Calypso’s foul spawn.

  But it was not enough. Laka’s people were needed in the oceans and had been utilized on the western African coast and eastern United States the most. Furthermore, she feared bringing the Pacifican troops into the city would antagonize the conspiracy theorists among the nobility who claimed she and the Queen of Pacifica would unite their kingdoms under one banner.

  Cosmas, in his infinite wisdom, provided an alternative solution.

  Contact the gargoyles and call in the promised favor.

  Hours after concluding her meeting with Princess Charmeine, Kai still couldn’t believe the woman’s kindness. Myrmidons fighting Myrmidons was a fight that would only end in sorrow. Myrmidons against gargoyles was something the other sid
e would never see coming.

  Exhausted from her scheming with the gargoyle princess, she ascended from the palace’s lower levels to the ground floor. Neither she nor Manu had been allowed in recent days to travel beyond the palace walls. He needed to recharge, and she couldn’t be risked.

  Kai hated it. Hiding within palace walls made her feel like a coward, but she’d tested Heracles enough by attempting to shield him from the blast, and for what? She’d saved her intended target, only to sacrifice another Myrmidon in his place, yet again proving herself a failure as a queen.

  Heart heavy, she reached the steps and gazed across the entrance hall at the pair of Royal Guards on duty at the great doors. Jason and Cassius were common fixtures in the palace.

  Neither looked at her, and instead looked through her after their stiff bows.

  While Heracles and Manu claimed they didn’t loathe her, she had doubts.

  The keepers reported few deaths among their number from the attack. Thankfully, the building had been well-warded against magical attacks, like most structures of vast importance across Atlantis. Demetrius survived, as had the evidence he gathered. One of his primary investigators wasn’t so fortunate, which told Kai it had been a targeted initiative with one goal in mind.

  One of Demetrius’s prime suspects knew they were under the keepers’ watch, and that party had wanted to silence them. Because of the striking coincidence, Demetrius vowed to resume where the deceased keeper left off and leave no stone unturned. He began his renewed investigation with the bodies of the Myrmidons in black. Due to the state of the bodies after the explosion, Demetrius identified only a single merwoman. The others had been bits of bone and blended red mist.

  Because somewhere in Atlantis eleven former or currently serving Myrmidons had gone missing, narrowing down their identities wouldn’t be impossible. It was only a matter of time. For now, however, he gathered every scrap of information he could regarding retired Myrmidon Sergeant Enyo Slickgill.