The only other news of value that day had been a warning from Andarien to have their border patrols watch the western gate. His people were coming, and she found herself fascinated by the idea of fae traveling underwater.
At first, she hadn’t been able to imagine why Andarien would offer to send a thousand fae to assist her, but following what occurred, she had a profound new respect for the ruler of the fae. What she knew of them claimed they possessed the gift of foresight. She wondered what he had seen—what he knew about her dilemma in Atlantis, that he’d determined one thousand fae to be a fair contribution.
The number seemed outrageous until she spoke with Charmeine.
“How many men did the elven king offer to you?” the stone-carved woman had asked, arching one sculpted brow.
“One thousand fae.”
“My father is away in the east at this moment, but I know him well, and he would want our offering to be of equal value and nothing less. I will offer two thousand, for my people are not embroiled in lasting war, and we have ample bodies to contribute to your cause. Expect them soon, Your Majesty. It is our pleasure to assist during your time of need.”
“How will they arrive?” It was a question Kai hadn’t thought to ask Andarien when he initially pledged his people.
The princess had smiled. “By sea.”
As much as she wondered why the other rulers had been so mysterious, she wouldn’t look a gift dolphin in the mouth and was content to accept their offerings however they arrived.
Kai reached the palace’s royal residence just as Amerin rolled through the doors of the private suite she shared with Cosmas, the mer’s voice carrying after her down the vacant corridor.
“Wine for me, please.”
“Red or white?” Amerin called back, leaning over the arm of her chair. She wore the infant strapped to her chest in a makeshift sling and snuggled close to her chest.
“Must I choose?”
Kai grinned. Seeing two of her dearest friends happily in love uplifted her during the darkest times and reminded her that everything hadn’t gone to shit.
Except for their possible demon baby.
“Bring him one of each. He’s had a long day.”
“Kai! How did it go?”
“I’ll tell you if I’m allowed to accompany you to the larger, I’m starved.”
“Only if you’ll give us a push.”
It was rare any day that Amerin accepted the kindness of others. “Deal.” Kai leapt on the opportunity and maneuvered behind the chair to guide it down the corridor. The royal residence came equipped with its own isolated pantry and larder, albeit smaller than that of the palace. “How’s Atalanta?” she asked craftily, peering down at a child that could very well be a monster in disguise.
“Ravenous,” Amerin replied cheerfully. “We were on our way to the kitchens for a bit of whale milk.”
The Kai of the surfaceworld would have turned her nose up at the thought of an infant drinking whale milk, but merchildren weren’t human and thrived when different dietary needs were met. Atalanta certainly wasn’t human if she carried the corrupted, fouled blood of her forebear. “And wine.”
Their private kitchen was one of few places Kai felt safe speaking about the day’s events without fear of treacherous mers with questionable loyalty. While Amerin bottle-fed the baby warm whale’s milk, they sat together at the dining table provided for small, intimate affairs between members of the royal family and their closest friends. The room greatly differed from the great banquet hall of the lower levels.
“I’m glad to hear that Princess Charmeine is on your side. Cosmas didn’t mention much about it to me, but I also didn’t ask.”
“She’s sending her men under the guise of teaching new methods of stone craft to our laborers.”
“Two thousand is a large sum of gargoyles for a few art projects.”
“It’ll be more than art projects. The schools, new healing houses across the city, upgrades to infrastructure in Dolphin Alley and other areas of Atlantis that are long overdue. Two thousand gargoyle helpers are a pittance compared to the number of laborers they’ll be teaching and assisting. We plan to spin it as a charitable contribution and the Underkingdom’s wedding gift to us.”
“Perfect.”
“Your future husband is brilliant. I have him to thank for that. Even Loto had to admit it was a fantastic idea. Now, I’m waiting for Manu to return.” Her thoughts wistfully went to a time when it was easier to get ahold of Manu, when he was merely her personal guard and their time together was so frequent, she’d grown sick of seeing him.
Gone were the times out on Hau and Leilei. Other combat trainers had stepped forward to fulfill that role, and Manu had his own responsibilities to handle each day as king.
“What?” Amerin said, her voice gentle. “What’s wrong?”
“Hm?” She turned a phony smile on her friend. Cosmas and Amerin deserved every scrap of happiness they could peel out of their new lives together, and she wouldn’t ruin it with her complaints.
Atalanta had been good for Amerin, reinvigorating her drive to complete each therapy session no matter how much it hurt. Just the previous day, Amerin had twitched a calf muscle and reported tingling throughout her foot. Baby steps.
“Your silence speaks for you. You were optimistic and full of humor one moment, then a shadow fell over your enthusiasm.”
“I—”
“Before you attempt to lie, remember that I can see through you. You’re a terrible liar and I hate it when you even try.” Atalanta shifted within Amerin’s embrace and made a soft, gurgling cooing noise that wound around Kai’s heart.
There is no way she was born from Calypso. No way at all. She looks entirely normal and beautiful and perfect.
Until the infant came into their lives, she hadn’t realized how much she missed caring for them.
“I wasn’t going to lie.”
Amerin stared at her, unblinking.
“Okay, maybe I was, but only because…I didn’t want to rain on your happiness.”
“I’ve rained on yours enough. The entire point of a friendship is to be there for one another at all times—not only the good times.”
Kai’s shoulders drooped. “Watching you with Cosmas and the baby reminded me of how much I miss spending time with Manu. I knew that when he became king, he’d have his hands full, but we lack the time to even watch a movie together these days. He tried, but…”
“Atalanta happened.”
Kai shrugged. “Yes. And I’m happy that she did. I’m glad that I listened to my instinct, but I hate that no other opportunities are present for time together. I miss him. I want to actually enjoy married life, and I feel like a selfish bitch for feeling that way when it took an act of royal intervention for you and Cosmas to even be together after all this time.”
“It isn’t selfish to want to spend time with the mer you love, and it isn’t your fault that every one of your predecessors failed at that. You’re both so busy saving the underwater realm and fending off murderers that you haven’t taken time for yourselves.” Amerin pursed her lips and gazed at the table center piece in silence. “There’s more.”
“There is.”
“Then tell me and stop dragging it out.”
“Andarien, Vitalis, and I think that Atalanta may be Calypso’s fourth daughter.”
Amerin’s unblinking gaze remained on her, then a slow smile crept across her lips. “Oh. Was that it?”
Kai blinked. “You’re not upset?”
“Cosmas and I already suspected as much. Why else would a child share genes with you but not Aegaeon? Honestly, Kai, the only reason you didn’t jump to that conclusion yourself is because you’re being torn in a million directions.”
“You’re not worried?”
“No.” Amerin smiled. “Neither is Cosmas. We agreed to take her in, and that hasn’t changed. Regardless of her parentage, she needs a home and someone to care for her.”
�
�But if she’s spawned from Calypso—”
“If she is a child from them, she’ll need even more love. She certainly didn’t tumble into our laps by chance.”
Amerin was too pure for their world.
Kai’s shoulders slumped. “I can’t believe neither of you said a word to me in all this time. I feel like the world’s largest ass.” Or the greatest fool.
Amerin only laughed at her. “It was only a passing discussion between us days ago. Now that your life-and-death admission is over, what did you plan to do tonight?”
“Sleep.”
“Don’t sleep. When Manu arrives, I want to have something special prepared for both of you. Let me lay the baby down to sleep and take Cosmas his wine. He can wait a few minutes while I prepare you.”
“Prepare me for what?”
“A special night with your husband, of course.”
Kai laughed at the thought. “All right. I’m game then if you really want—” A flicker of movement captured Kai’s attention at the window. Throughout the palace there were beautiful portals to the outside, and hers weren’t included in the routine security checks simply because they were so many levels above ground. “What was that?”
“What was what?”
“I saw something.” Common sense told her nothing dangerous to them could be clinging to the palace exterior six stories above ground, but she rose from her seat and approached with caution just the same.
I will be the most bitter soul of all in the Elysian Waves if I die at the hand of a wall-crawling assassin.
Kai prepared herself for anything, started to lean out, then took a knife from the block just in case. Amerin laughed at her.
“It’s probably a gull, or an ibis that flew by.”
“Uh-huh. I’ve seen this movie before, thank you very much. You think it’s nothing, then the character is beheaded by the night stalker. No thanks.” With her empty hand braced on the sill, she leaned out while gripping the knife in the other hand. Instead of a desperate murderer clinging to the shell and coral exterior, a pair of eyestalks peered back at her. Kai blinked. “I… It’s a snail. What the fuck?”
“Bring it inside then. I can’t imagine it isn’t dry and suffering. It’s a long way up from the bottom.”
Kai brought the large snail inside and set it inside Launa’s feeding dish. With a shell roughly the size of a basketball and covered in black and brilliant orange bands, it was truly a handsome creature. She peered at Amerin. “I’ve never seen one like this on the grounds before.”
“Looks like an Atlas snail. They’re not wild wanderers,” she replied, smoothing her hand in circles over Atalanta’s back. The young child’s bright eyes drifted shut, her descent into slumber interrupted by a tiny burp.
Kai lowered her voice to a whisper for fear of awakening the infant. “So, you’re saying its a pet?”
“Definitely. I’ve seen them used as… Actually. Peer inside the lip of the shell.”
Kai discovered a rolled parchment tucked inside. As she stroked him, thoughts and images of a friendly face surfaced in the creature’s mind of short-cropped silver hair and bright blue eyes.
Demetrius.
He’d fed the little thing, cared for it, and loved it. It had known him for years and trusted him deeply enough that when Demetrius passed it into the possession of a high mer keeper, it didn’t question the task presented to it. It had obeyed Sergeant Leto without question.
Amerin craned her neck to see, cupping one hand between Atalanta’s small shoulder blades. “What does it say?”
“The high mer who handled the snail left messages imprinted in the snail’s thoughts. The images… Ugh, it’s so hectic.” Snails weren’t the smartest creatures in the ocean, their intellect lesser than cephalopods and higher organisms. She searched through the confused images and pulled together the story.
Then she unrolled the parchment and stared at the certified stamp in its corner from the Atlantian records office. “Keres coming to my service that evening wasn’t a coincidence. Look. She told me her grandmother served my mother, but she never told me she was born in the household of Lady Thalia. From there, she was gifted two years ago to another family. Guess who bought her?”
Amerin’s brows knit. “We already knew she hadn’t been a palace servant for long, but I never pried into her life prior to that. Who, Kai?”
“Keres was, up until the moment of her execution, in the ownership of Lady Nammu. These are the true documents of authenticity. The ones claiming she was always a member of palace staff were forged.”
22
Putting out Fires
Manu had a feeling Kai was still beating herself up over what happened. Nothing he said eased her conscience, though Heracles had also tried to convince her that the fates had predetermined the loss of a life that day and were not to be denied. Death was an inevitable fact of life they accepted when they chose to lift their shields in defense of Atlantis and her rulers. He’d carried that belief throughout his entire life, and now that he’d become one of Atlantis’s sovereigns, he understood why she struggled with allowing others to lay their lives down for her safety.
He also knew she’d grown exhausted with hiding in the palace walls while he wandered free, but after she received a cryptic message from the elf king requesting she send a trusted representative to the western gate, he, Loto, and Heracles traveled to the docks together with a small squad. They waited just beyond the perimeter for the fae to arrive, knowing not what to expect of their otherworldly guests.
What happened was nothing short of miraculous. Enormous, ship-sized chariots heralded by gilded orbs of light approached from the distance, coasting through dark water. The spheres of light flickered in and out and sent out wispy tendrils in the unlit abyss. When they came close enough to be illuminated by the glow of the western gate’s great heliolamps, that he realized all three chariots were drawn by teams of shark-sized aquatic horses not too unlike their amphibilogos, though they were dark beasts that had blended into the kelp beds spanning Atlantis’s western perimeter. Their manes flowed like the underwater growth, dark and murky and resembling seaweed. Webbed hooves scooped the water as the wild-eyed beasts decelerated and came to a halt.
“The fae really know how to arrive in style,” Heracles breathed, awestruck.
“They somehow evaded all of our alarms and protections. Not once did we even know they were there until they decided they were ready for us to see them,” the Myrmidon watchmen of the gate said, bewildered. “You saw it yourself, didn’t you, General? We watched for them.”
Loto chuckled. “I know you did. It’s fae magic, like nothing Atlantis has faced before. Be happy they’re on our side and that it doesn’t matter that they crept in under our defenses.”
One chariot door opened, and a uniformed woman emerged. In her form-fitting attire, she cut through the water as gracefully as any Atlantian, her flippered feet bare and webbed much like her long-fingered hands.
Heracles immediately moved forward with his trident, but Manu placed a hand on his arm. “She didn’t come fifteen hundred miles to pick a fight with another kingdom by going after me.” He wasn’t entirely sure where he stood on the power scale when it came to fae kind, but he didn’t plan to go down without a fight.
Eyes the bright cyan of a noonday sky twinkled with mirth. “No, I certainly did not, Your Majesty. Peace, Atlantian brothers.” Her melodic voice rippled from all around them in the water on magical sound waves. “I mean no harm to you or your king.”
“Apologies.” Heracles cleared his throat. “It’s been…” He sighed.
“No further explanation needed. Your skepticism is justified in these dark times,” the fae woman said as she dipped forward into a polite curtsy despite drifting in the water. Her blue skin shimmered, kissed by moondust, and long ears protruded from the pin-straight black hair floating around her ethereal face. Every aspect of her appearance reminded Manu of an aquatic elf, features aquiline and slender with high
cheekbones. “But first, please accept my humble greetings. I am Captain Nissa Clearwater of Mirror Lake.”
“King Manu,” Heracles said for him, “as you know. General Loto. And I am Commander Heracles.”
Manu dipped his chin. “Greetings.”
“A pleasure, Captain. Thank you for arriving on such short notice,” Loto replied.
“We are honored to assist. My king has asked that I fight for Atlantis with the same dedication I would show to my homeland. Please, direct us.”
Loto worked it out with them and decided that the water sprite’s battalion could remain outside Atlantis, and that some of her troops would be best utilized with the Pacificans already patrolling the water. Queen Laka, true to her word, had already sent five thousand units to their aid over the course of the many months since her pact was made with Kai, with promises of more to come.
Nissa’s arrival had been timely, and he had a feeling that the mers behind the disloyal Myrmidon uprising weren’t prepared for foreign help.
He planned to use every bit of that to his advantage.
Many hours after the arrival of their allies, an exhausted Manu returned home as the lamps on the street dimmed to semi-translucent silver. That morning had been an exercise in operating on as little sleep as possible. As a younger mer, he’d put in several shifts after late nights out the previous evening, even reported to duty half-drunk once, but these dreams always left him feeling as if he hadn’t slept at all. In them, the song grew closer.
He didn’t know what it meant, but he was afraid his friends would think the divine power had finally driven him crazy.
Thankfully, he had their help. Loto, Heracles, and the other commanders would be handling the specifics regarding the fae and assigning them special tasks throughout the city. As with the gargoyles, his war committee crafted careful plans to justify their presence in Atlantis.
Manu didn’t think it would fool their most vocal opponents, but he also didn’t care. The war was bound to happen regardless.
Goddess of Sea and War: a Fantasy Romance (Kingdom in the Sea Book 3) Page 18
