by Judi Fennell
Oh, the information was good enough, but he didn’t want to hand it over without some concession on their part. His and Erica’s freedom was the most important thing to get out of the deal. Because what he hadn’t told Erica was that the punishment for turning a Human was instant death. The only reason they were both still alive was because he was a member of the royal family. So, yeah, maybe there were two benefits to the bloodline. InOverHerHead.indd 80
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The Council resumed their positions. Reel felt a twinge of hope as Nigel tried to spear him with his eyes and Thorsson refused to meet his gaze, both of them tucking their shell markers beneath their hands. Fisher held up his hand and the noisy stands silenced.
“Are you willing to vouch for her, Reel? To take on her training and monitor her compliance?”
He’d won.
Well, he’d won the concession. He doubted Erica would see a sentence of life under the sea as a win, but he’d have to convince her. Really, it was the best she could hope for. And more than he’d dared to.
“Yes, Sir, I do.”
“And you understand that if she attempts contact with her world, her life is forfeit?”
Reel nodded. “I understand and guarantee that Erica will never tell another Human about us—and that she’ll abide by our laws.” He matched his father’s stance. He wasn’t one of the old man’s progeny for nothing. Nigel snorted. “Oh, come on, Fisher. Do you really think he’s capable of being responsible for someone else? Thirty-three selinos old and he can barely keep himself out of trouble.”
Reel bit back what he really wanted to say. “I can and will, High Councilman. Besides, I’d think you’d relish the opportunity to give me a lifelong responsibility, since I’m so sorely lacking in it.” Another bone of contention, and he couldn’t resist the temptation. Fisher rubbed his jaw. The other members of The Council looked from one to the other. Even Nigel knew enough to keep his big trap shut.
“What’s your information, Reel?” Fisher asked. InOverHerHead.indd 81
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The issue was decided. It was all Reel could do to keep the victory from his face. But they weren’t out of the waves yet, and he wasn’t about to risk the concession.
“The Vault has been discovered by a Human named Joey Camparo. The reason Erica was in the ocean was to retrieve a collection of the diamonds he’d somehow found that she’d inadvertently thrown overboard.”
Nigel laughed. “Leave it to a Human to toss away something so valuable. Is that why you want to keep this one, Reel? Feeling superior?”
It took all he had, but he was going to ignore Nigel. The Mer just wasn’t worth it.
“How did he find The Vault?” Henri asked Reel. At least someone was on board with the seriousness of Joey’s discovery.
“I don’t know,” Reel replied. “What I do know is that he needs the diamonds to pay off a debt, and there’ll be Hades to pay if he can’t hand them over. He’s not going to go away.”
“We must move them,” said Thorsson, who wasn’t known for long-windedness.
“Get a pod on it immediately,” Fisher directed him then turned to Santos. “I want your team to scout another location. Top priority.” He motioned to Charley.
“Gather your guards. Moving that amount of wealth is going to attract a number of undesirables. I want not one pebble lost in this move. The future of our economy depends on it.”
He looked at Reel. “And I want those other stones. There can be no record of The Vault’s existence.”
“But the Human will come back if he doesn’t get them,” Nigel said. “I say we give them to him and keep InOverHerHead.indd 82
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him happy with that amount. It’s a small loss in light of what’s there.”
Reel shook his head along with his father. For once they agreed on something.
“There will be no proof,” Fisher explained. “Once the rest of the stones are removed from The Vault, the man can mine the empty lava pipe for all its worth. No proof means no funding for his excavation. Either his wealth or his interest will wane eventually, and he’ll be gone.”
“There’s one problem.” Hating to be the bearer of bad news when things were looking up, Reel said the words softly.
He might as well have screamed them for the attention they got.
“Problem?” Nigel was practically ringing his hands.
“The stones are gone. I had a fish on it the moment Erica got hurt.”
“Gone?” Thorsson’s bushy eyebrows shot up. Nigel was grinning like a sick eel. “You let one of the most valuable things in our world disappear from your quadrant and forget to mention it in your negotiations?
I say we rescind their freedom and set every available catfish on the reconnaissance mission at once.” He crossed his arms over his flaccid chest and turned to Fisher. “What did I tell you? Your son can’t do a damn thing right.”
Fisher’s face turned red as his chest swelled. Reel knew that look and was—for once—glad to see it. Especially since it wasn’t aimed at him.
“My son has brought this Council a valuable piece of information and will, to the best of his ability, find the missing stones and return them to The Vault, with InOverHerHead.indd 83
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full cooperation from this Council. Anything less than full cooperation will be considered treason. Do I make myself clear?”
Nigel gulped. Every fish in the stands shut their gaping mouths, and even the anemones stopped swaying. Reel’s heart thumped. He had Erica and their freedom. And Fisher’s backing. For once.
Now he just had to find the damn missing diamonds.
“Bring her forward,” his father commanded. Reel sped back to Erica. Her arms were crossed over those delectable shell-fillers and a supremely worried expression graced her face.
He winked. “Want to meet the family?” He held out his hand.
“Sound does travel underwater, you know.” The Human was not amused. “You might have mentioned that vault information. And I’d rather not end up as barracuda bait, thankyouverymuch. Or a Human-ofthe-sea.” She ignored his hand and kicked her slender lower limbs, propelling herself onto the plaza as easily as his people did. “But I guess I don’t have any choice, do I?”
“Not really.” The reassuring smile he gave her didn’t seem to hit the mark. She scowled.
Hades, his father would love her if he got to know her…
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Chapter 11
Erica straightened her shoulders and purposely kept her hands at her sides. She was going to walk up to the firing squad and look them squarely in the eye. Show them she was trustworthy, had integrity. A real stand-up human being…
Well, maybe she wouldn’t use that terminology. Reel floated beside her. “You might want to hurry it up a bit, sweetheart.”
“Why?” She didn’t take her eyes off The Council.
“They’ve already condemned me to a life of hell. Why should I be in any hurry to thank them?”
“Perhaps it’s not in your best interest to antagonize them any more.”
“And you’re the model of propriety today? Excuse me if I’m wrong, but weren’t you just dripping with insolence during the whole High Councilman thing?” Her foot landed on a sea urchin, and instinct had her flinging out her hands so that she treaded water above it.
“That’s better,” Reel said with a smile.
“Accident.” She stopped treading and considered the pathway to The Council. “Won’t happen again.”
She couldn’t drag it out much longer, and finally, she was before the esteemed Council. They were more than a little intimidating.
Reel’s dad looked like Poseidon personif
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matched his tail. Thorsson was a giant of a man, Viking from the looks of him. Henri was a pasty-faced guy with eyes like a toad. Santos held the dark, sexy look of a Latin playboy. Nigel could pass for an eel—bald head, long thin nose, and a twist to his mouth that made him look like he’d sucked on a rancid onion. Then there was Charley, the kindliest looking one of the lot. Short and bald, with twinkling blue eyes. He even had a smile on his face. Too bad he wasn’t the one in charge.
But there was no denying the aura of power emanating from Reel’s dad. Or that he was not happy with the current situation.
That made two of them.
“Fisher, Erica. Erica, Fisher.” Reel crossed his arms over his chest and sat back as if resting on one foot, with a “there ya go” cheekiness.
“I could use a little help here,” Erica whispered out of the corner of her mouth.
Reel’s father floated higher behind the coral desk, his hair fanning around his head like a crown. As if she needed any further reminder that she was in the presence of royalty.
The twittering from the spectator section died out, with only the gentle ebb and flow of water over gills marking the passage of time as The Council stared at her. She balled her hands into fists and locked her knees. Reel drifted down to her side, his shorts brushing her thigh.
“Human, has my son explained the dire circumstances you now find yourself in?” Fisher planted his palms on the coral table.
“He has.”
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“And you do understand that our offer of clemency is dependent upon your remaining in our world with no attempt to return to yours, and the penalty for such actions?”
“I do.” Those words did not want to be uttered but, really, what choice did she have? A watery grave now or a watery grave later. Not much.
Nigel snorted. He was probably rubbing his hands together beneath the coral table in villain-like glee. She hadn’t liked him from his first words to Reel, and Reel obviously didn’t like him either. So they had that in common. Among other things, if she’d read that rise in Reel’s shorts earlier correctly.
Okay, not something she needed to be thinking about at this moment.
Thankfully, Reel’s father silenced Nigel with a look, then turned to her and Reel. “According to The Council’s decision, you will be allowed to live in our world with my son monitoring your compliance. And, as testament of your good faith, you will accompany Reel on his search for the stones and return them to this Council.”
“But—”
Reel grabbed her hand and squeezed. As a warning, it was effective.
As skin-to-skin contact, it was explosive. She shut her mouth, but only because she’d forgotten how to speak. Which was so ridiculous. She’d just spent how many hours being cradled next to his strong, sculpted body? Hand-holding shouldn’t affect her like this. Besides, now was her chance to get The Council to agree to let her go once they’d found the diamonds—
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“Do you understand?”
Fisher didn’t look like he was in a mood for another negotiation, so she nodded. She’d figure out something later.
“Fine. This Council meeting is adjourned.” Fisher gathered the shell markers. “Oh, and Reel?”
Reel let go of her hand to offer his father a mocksalute, allowing her mind to clear and her throat to jump-start into working mode again.
“You might want to visit your mother while you’re here. Since you are so rarely.”
The flash of pain? hurt? bewilderment? across Reel’s face disappeared so quickly that Erica would have sworn it never existed, if his fingers hadn’t still been half-raised in that salute.
Or maybe it was because he’d gritted out, “You play dirty, old man,” beneath his breath.
“So, now what?” Erica asked as they took the road to the left out of The Coliseum.
Reel wanted to swim out the entrance and never come back, but he wasn’t willing to risk The Council’s benevolence—and Erica’s life—by directly disobeying an order from the High Councilman. And that’s exactly what his father’s last words were. Yet another chance to remind him what a disappointment he was. Which would be the reason he rarely visited. Unfortunately, the guy was right. It had been a long time since he’d seen his mom and sisters. And regardless of the tension with ol’ Fisher, he did love the rest of his family. Even his lucky S-O-M of a brother. InOverHerHead.indd 88
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“What’s up is that we go visit the rest of the family. Up for it?”
“Up for it? Are you insane? Didn’t you hear what just happened? I might as well have died!” She huffed away from him, unaware she wasn’t walking.
Reel bit back a grin. Oh, she’d come around. Sure, it had to suck having your normal life taken from you, but was that any worse than not having a life? On that thought, he kicked into high gear to catch up. She might not like his world, but she was already getting used to it.
“Oh, Erica.”
She kept swimming.
“Sweetheart, do you have any idea where you’re going?”
She managed to slam to a halt, turn to face him, and end up with her feet on the road. “Don’t. Call. Me. Sweetheart.”
She was just too cute like this. “How ’bout Honey?
Sweetums? Darlin’?”
“That’s not even the remotest bit funny.”
The finger-pokes she was giving his chest weren’t either. More of a turn-on, if he was honest about it. There was just something about her skin on his that made it feel as if they were floating above one of those magma wells.
“You’d better get used to it. Here’s lookin’ at us, kid.” His mock-salute came into play again.
“Bogie? You’re paraphrasing Bogie to me? Now? Here?”
She spun—and spun and spun—away from him. When she finally kicked back to him, her mood was no better than a sea urchin with a wrasse bugging it.
“You’re a piece of work, you know that?” Those graceful fingers went to her scale-free hips. InOverHerHead.indd 89
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Fish, what he wouldn’t give to touch them again. He shook off the image. The last thing he needed to do was arrive home with his gono in an uproar. In cases like this, it was a good thing he didn’t have a tail like his brother. Scales didn’t leave much to the imagination.
“Yeah, I’ve been told,” he answered. “Anyway, first order of business is to meet the family. Then we’re off on a treasure hunt.” He swam past her, his toes “accidentally” gliding along that cute backside of hers. So smooth. Soft. Had some give to it that Mer women’s tails didn’t.
He’d had to restrain himself from running his hands all over her when she’d been out cold in his lair. He’d had to remember that his mother had raised him to be a gentleMer and not take advantage of her. But, Zeus, had it been tough to remember.
Now, had she been awake and welcoming it, it would have been all systems go. With The Council’s new ruling, it looked as though he’d get the opportunity to convince her that interracial relations were a good thing.
“So where do you propose we find the diamonds, since they’re no longer on the reef?” she asked, swimming up to him. Poor thing was out of breath. He was going to have to work on her conditioning. “The current could have taken them anywhere.”
Oh, he had a fair idea where they’d gone. Where every wreck’s treasure ended up if he didn’t salvage it first. And the reason he had a score of monkfish, barracuda, and the like guarding his homes throughout the Atlanti
c.
Ceto.
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He wasn’t about to share that bit of information just yet, though. Erica still had to adjust to living her life in the sea. She wouldn’t be thrilled to know they’d have to head into a sea monster’s lair.
Truth was, he wasn’t all that keen on it himself. InOverHerHead.indd 91
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Chapter 12
Reel swam through the arched doorway of one of the largest, round, coral-covered buildings on the slope beyond the Coliseum. “Anybody home? Hey, where’s the welcome party?” he shouted as he disappeared inside. Erica braced herself with a fortifying gulp of water, squared her shoulders, and took one last look at the town below them before venturing in. Entering sea caves wasn’t high on her to-do list, but it beat hanging out by herself while all sorts of nasties floated by, even if Atlantis was a no-kill zone.
Reel had explained that fish, mollusk, and Mers met within the confines of Atlantis in harmony. Food was harvested outside the cavern and brought in, so representatives of all species could weigh in on Council decisions without fear for their safety. Once beyond a five-league radius of Bermuda, however, all bets were off.
Cheery.
A pod of tiny jellyfish jet-propelled backwards past her, tentacles streaming, then inflating like transparent air balloons buffeted by gusting winds. Blue tang surgeonfish, purple and gold royal basslets, yellow speckled grunts, and emerald trumpetfish swam through the water like families out for a Sunday drive in a futuristic hovercraft. InOverHerHead.indd 92
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She eyed a moray eel slithering along the marble street below them. It returned her stare with what she guessed was supposed to be a grin, but was too filled with razor-sharp points to be anything other than a
“let’s-do-lunch” leer.
Definitely safer inside.
The domed pink tunnel glowed with hatchetfish lighting. Table-like stalagmites were decorated with anemones, conch, and… a princess telephone? An ornate mirror hung against the wall, the gilded frame flaked and pocked by water damage. Probably the Mer version of shabby-chic. At the end of the tunnel, all sizes of yellow, green, orange, gold, and pink corals ringed a sundial like an art sculpture in a hotel lobby. In a small alcove, water bubbles gurgled over a clam shell, tumbling through the otherwise still seawater into a crystal punch bowl, where the water twirled around until it sluiced off the lip into a crevice beneath. Someone had been doing some salvaging.
