by Starla Night
Her smile softened. “Me too.”
“Then, continue.”
Her fingers curled around his hard cock. She stroked.
Lucy.
He slipped a hand between her sweet, succulent folds. She was slick for him. He pressed his fingers into her. Her eyes unfocused and her lips parted. She moaned.
An invitation he could not refuse.
He fitted his cock to her and entered her in one fluid stroke. She arched her hips and wrapped her legs around his buttocks. This was the way to greet every period of wakefulness. Husband to wife. He thrust, matching his rhythm to her moans. She escalated and gripped his ass. He felt her tip over the edge and explode with beautiful light, sucking him over with her a thrust later. His seed poured deep into her womb. She held him so close.
He stroked her flowing brown hair as their heartbeats returned to normal. He provided her with a castle, with a house guardian, with anything her heart desired. Surely she would be happy here, like this, with him, forever.
Her stomach growled.
She laughed with embarrassment. “I guess I’m hungry.”
He disentangled. “Let me feed you.”
“Now we’re talking. I’ll never let you go.” Her smile faded as soon as the words were out and her eyes took on a hunted cast.
She still feared the Life Tree would reject her. That Torun would reject her. He needed to ease her fears.
“We will collect the Life Tree blossom today,” he said.
Her expression froze. He took her hand reassuringly. “It will have blossomed, Lucy.”
“Oh, I know.” She tried and failed to laugh. “Let’s check later. Okay? That blossom’s not going anywhere. Right?”
At her request, he led his queen through her castle, spreading her radiant blessing across the courtyard, passages, and chambers.
Yes, she did this to delay visiting the Life Tree.
That was fine. Her castle responded to her inner glow. Lucy and Torun had joined together and united their souls. Her own bright burning light now resonated even more clearly to the gardens and creatures that lived within the walls. Even the walls themselves bent to her presence, absorbing her radiance and gleaming.
Had a castle always responded to its queen like this? He could not remember it with the last bride. The celebration, vibrance, and life had faded from his memory.
Lucy burned a new memory into his soul.
Bringing her had been right. Just. No matter what the Council said.
They visited the house seed. She approached reverently, as before, and caressed it. She glanced at him, blushed, and tilted away to whisper something for only the seed to hear. He heard it too, though.
I hope your tree healed me. I want to stay.
His heart thumped hard in his chest. He leaned against the doorway, struggling to control his feelings.
She would stay. No one would take her from him.
His mission until now had been only to bring her to his castle and make her his queen. Now he had accomplished it.
Once she carried his young fry, the Council would be forced to let her stay. By the time she birthed his son, he would have convinced them that she was the future for their city. She chose this life of her own will, and would not leave him or their young fry.
“Of course I won’t leave you.” She left the seed on its small dais and bounced over, snuggled against him, and traced her fingers across his wide abdomen. “Stay or go, we’ll do it together. Right? So, how about breakfast?” She patted her rumbling stomach.
He followed her to the pantry, absently helping her tidy as they swam the canals and corridors in between.
How odd. He had never considered leaving permanently. He had refused to leave Sireno for Atlantis. This castle was his family home. Yet, the idea of leaving with her did not repel him.
As they approached the pantry, the house guardian bolted from his hole and twirled around the chamber.
“Lassie!” She giggled at his antics.
The pleased house guardian spun like a parasol. The entire room glimmered a deeper, healing green.
This was his family castle, and the city of his blood, and the house guardian of his ancestors. Torun cared for it as any steward. Pride pushed him to remain. They were his responsibility, one he had neglected far too long as he sought a female to repair the deeper problems and bring them all, himself included, more to life.
So long as he had Lucy, however, he could go anywhere. Onto her boat, or onto the land, or anywhere in between.
“We’d always come back,” she assured him and plopped her gathered garden greens onto the cleared eating area in the cozy pantry.
The house guardian examined the greens with tentacle-curling skepticism and then pouted.
“Go do your job,” Torun told Lassie, shooing him from the eating area. “Catch parasites and spider crabs.”
“You don’t eat crabs?” she asked, crunching the vegetables.
“No more than you eat spiders.”
“Ugh. But crabs are delicious. Especially boiled and slathered in butter.”
“I will take your word for it.”
“No way! We’ll go crabbing sometime and I’ll get some for you. Fresh is the best. Oh my god, you’ve never had anything so good. Lassie!”
The house guardian snatched a small crab hiding in the harvested greens and passed it into its beak.
“Hey, that was Torun’s!”
The house guardian scurried away with what seemed like a smirk on his face. Lucy paddled after it on her human feet, demanding the crab be regurgitated.
Torun couldn’t stop the smile from plastering across his face for the rest of the meal, or the welling of deep satisfaction in his body.
The previous meal, their wedding feast, Torun had been nervous and eager. This meal was more relaxed and filled with happiness. Perhaps it was the best meal of his life. Better even than the one he had shared with his father after passing his adult trials and earning his place with the other warriors. This meal was better because Lucy had made his castle a home.
His father had not lived to see him become a highly respected warlord. Now, he would never meet Lucy or see Torun’s future young fry. But his father would have been proud to welcome her as queen.
After Lucy gave up chasing the house guardian, they finished their meal peacefully. She determined to clean up the castle.
He installed her in an outside-facing chamber. The Life Tree tinkled in the distance. It called to him with an unstoppable siren.
“I will go to the Life Tree,” he told her. “Remain here until I return.”
She stopped sorting and dusting off his family’s armor and bent tridents, historic pieces deemed too useless to be confiscated after his last punishment. “Don’t I have to go with you?”
“I will confirm there is a blossom and then we will go together.”
She frowned.
Other warriors may have returned while they slept. He couldn’t tell; the waters were quiet. Better to risk himself twice than Lucy once. His gut tightened. Any outcome was better than risking Lucy.
“You do think there might not be one?” she queried, concern setting in and dampening her light.
Ah. He drew her to him. “Brighten your light, please. Now we are united. I feel your doubt as a dampening of mine.”
She gasped and her light immediately brightened in concern. “I’m sorry. Are you okay?”
“That is better.”
He stroked her, taking comfort from her smooth skin. Under the water was slicker than in the air, but it was still all her, and his desire pulsed. How soon until he could return and take her in the chamber, in their safe, protected place?
“I will bring news of the blossom to you.”
Doubt dimmed her again. “We really should go together.”
“It is safer here.”
She retreated to study him. “What’s the game? What aren’t you telling me?”
“I play no game,” he said. “You
think I have changed my mind, and believe the Life Tree has not blossomed, and that I intend for you to leave here without drinking the pure elixir. But the opposite is true. I am afraid someone may see you and force you away from me.”
“But they wanted a bride. I’m here. I’m a bride.”
“They fear any bride who is not of the sacred island. Some claim a modern woman could break the Life Tree and destroy us all.”
“Break the Life Tree?” She gazed out the window at the giant, sturdy, eternal tree as old as the city itself. “I didn’t exactly bring a chainsaw.”
“Breaking the covenant with the sacred island brides could destroy us all. If the Life Tree fails, then we share its blood in our veins, and so we all die.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
“Die?” Lucy repeated.
Torun’s solemn gaze pierced her and all her petty fears fled in the face of that terrible truth.
“If something happens to the Life Tree, you’re all going to die?”
He nodded.
“Me too?”
“Perhaps not you.”
He stroked her cheek. The tightness of his mouth promised that there was no perhaps. He meant, in fact, never her, and that he would raise the entire ocean and drop the entire sky before he would allow anything to happen to her.
“Not at first, anyway,” he said. “The Life Tree is fading, and so are we. That is why I hope your presence will cause it to rally and grow strong with new life. And us, as well.”
Well, the tree was old. All those drops of Sea Opal resin meant it had survived many years. Could she breathe more life into it? She, and her and Torun’s unborn child.
Please, please let her breathe more life into it.
“That is why the others have tried so hard to stop me,” Torun explained. “I believe they are wrong, and only you can prove which is true.”
Only her. And whether she could have his child.
No pressure or anything.
The rusty, old tridents added a metallic tang to the water.
He twined his hand in hers. “See me to the gate.”
“I still can’t transform.” She flexed helplessly. One toe accordioned outward, part flying squirrel.
“Practice while I am away.”
Powerful kicks propelled them effortlessly through the corridors to the open courtyard and to the entry passage.
She lagged behind, gripping his hand and kicking on her human feet. They reached the inner entrance and paused.
This was it. Blossom time.
Even though she had promised herself on the cruise to Cancun that she would never allow herself to feel that anxious, helpless desire for a baby again, agonized hope squeezed her chest once more. It made her nauseous and cold and hot and dizzy. She almost threw up her breakfast. Lucy wanted a baby so, so badly. The life she’d had with Blake was nothing. She wanted this life, here, now, under the sea, with Torun.
“I feel the same way.” He stroked her cheek.
She heated under his touch. But the distance in his eyes reminded her that he was going out, and she needed to prepare.
“If someone comes while you’re gone, what should I do?” she asked.
He tightened. “No one will come.”
“But?”
“But if someone should come, go to the heart chamber, where we united our souls. It is the safest room of the house.” He growled, fierce. “The house guardian will protect all who belong to this castle. Not even the Council can escape his wrath.”
“Are you saying I could be in danger from your Council?”
“They would return you to the surface unharmed.”
“Even though I know your secret?”
“Yes. Who would believe your story and how could you return? That is what they would think.”
“I would return by cave guardian song,” she said immediately. “As reliable as GPS.”
He smiled, crinkling the skin in the corners of his eyes, and he cupped her head. “I would work very hard to convince them you were not capable of such a thing.”
“Okay. Hurry back.” She lifted her lips for his kiss.
He softened and gave in to her demand, filling her with delicious desire and swiping her mouth with his hot tongue. Music swelled and her heart lifted and her soul melted into his. Their kiss finished and he drew back, wonderfully dazed.
“You truly are amazing.” His aquamarine eyes glimmered. He released her reluctantly. “Stay within the house barriers. Lassie will protect you.”
She nodded, not trusting her speech.
He swam down the long corridor, paused at the entrance to scan the water, and disappeared.
She furiously paddled back to the outside chamber window on her skinny human feet. Torun had gone.
The Life Tree tinkled with melancholy promise.
It was not far, so, he should be back quickly. She leaned on the long sill, resting her elbows on the narrow green aperture.
The wait was not long.
A flash of movement below the castles caught her eye. There was Torun, darting and dashing. He was being chased! Mer warriors scattered around him, some in direct pursuit, and others teaming up and attacking him on the sides.
She jerked back. What should she do?
In the center of the fight, Torun moved fastest. But he had no weapon and the others were armed with long, sharp tridents. One stabbed at him. He wrestled the trident away and slashed the attacker, streaking the water red. The attacker screamed and kicked away, holding his wounded shoulder. The others backed off and formed a circle around him.
Torun twirled slowly around the circle, facing his attackers. None dared to approach. He slashed the water, and they all heeded his deadly warning.
A group broke off and swam for her castle entrance.
Oh, no.
He turned and swam after them. Closer warriors dove in front with tridents raised. He fought them. Their tridents clashed and clattered. He shoved one warrior back only to face three more. They queued up to attack.
The small group of warriors flew easily to the castle entrance. They were going to enter while he was distracted with the large group.
Torun smashed down his attackers and kicked free of the mass. He saw her in the window. Snarling, he hefted his trident and launched it at the castle. His trident buried deep into the living wall.
The warriors threw a net over him from behind.
The castle shuddered. A loud shriek filled the room.
She moved back from the window.
The view outside grew smaller. The windows were closing! And so was the entrance passageway, squeezing closed on the intruders.
Her last view of Torun was struggling as the net tightened.
The warrior attacked the castle with a giant, hollow straw. They pushed it into the entrance. The entrance stopped closing. They shimmied into the straw.
Oh no.
Lucy swam for the courtyard. She was supposed to go to the heart chamber. Wait, what about the seed? It was Torun’s mark of citizenship. More than that, it powered the living castle. She wouldn’t let his rivals steal it and destroy him.
Lassie streaked across the courtyard ahead of her. Thank goodness. Scars on his missing limbs showed just how hard the loyal octopus would fight.
She reached for the seed as the warriors burst in. They had tangled with something in the entrance and were hacking off angry vines. Three warriors stormed to her with a net.
Lassie attacked.
The warriors clashed. The house guardian lashed out, striking all and tangling one. Lassie bit down. The warrior screamed.
A fourth warrior stabbed Lassie with a trident.
The wily octopus shot out of its way and inked. A dense, black cloud covered the courtyard, obscuring Lucy and the fight.
More warriors threw nets. The octopus whirled and darted. Nets cut off its escape and tightened, felling the small but mighty house guardian.
Lucy clutched the seed to her chest. In the confusion, she trie
d to crawl away from the fight.
“There!” someone shouted. “Another traitor is hiding. He must face judgment. Grab him!”
A net descended on her, and she, too, was dragged out.
Chapter Twenty-Three
They took Torun to the Council arena and ripped off the net.
Tied tightly by the bolas, Tolun could barely straighten to face his accusers. Ranged around him in the arena floated the warlords who had grown with him, the elders he had learned from, and the younger officers he had trained.
Lucy must have made it to the chamber. She would be safe.
“Torun, former warlord once respected by all of Sireno.” The head of the Council, Torun’s own grandfather, pointed his gold trident at Torun. The hollow ceremonial weapon trembled. “You are a traitor to the mer.”
“I am the only one truly loyal,” he snarled.
His grandfather clenched his trident. “Breaker of the ancient covenant and rejector of the sacred brides. You sought human company and attacked our people. You would destroy us by your rash actions.”
“Rash action is needed! We are dying. Only I have the will to save us.”
From another quarter, the security elder shook his head gravely. “You were a good warrior once. Now, you are poisoned by the prison-crazed myth-maker of Atlantis.”
“Kadir gives us hope!” Torun fought for his words to reach the others. The whole city had gathered. Some were swayed by his plea. “What hope have we here, resting on a covenant with an island that has been abandoned?”
Murmurs accompanied his words.
“I put my faith in the covenant,” his grandfather intoned. “Brides have had missed years before. Always they returned.”
“These are not missed years. These are missed decades.” He struggled. Pins stabbed his hands as the blood pooled, cut off by the ties. “I put my faith in a new covenant. One drafted here, now, with modern humans. Where is our king?”
Silence greeted his rallying cry.
Prince Jolan’s unit entered the arena carrying two more nets. Malem glared at Torun with special hatred and jerked his net harder than needed.
