by Starla Night
He nodded and pursued Hobin, who was tutting his way across the injuries of the field.
Harmony hugged Faier and then dropped in front of Kayo. “So, how are we going to handle the castle? Divide it down the middle? I get the half with the pantry.”
“You…would…claim that.”
“Of course I would. I’ve had a rough, hungry ride in the open ocean while you’ve been relaxing at the foot of the Life Tree.”
“Heh. Ah. Do not make me laugh.”
“Sorry.”
“Yes. Here I must ‘relax’ a little longer.” He nestled against the trunk, where the healing power was strongest. “You may…enjoy the king’s castle…for now.”
“Fine, then. Once you’re well, I must claim the queen’s castle.”
“That…is?”
“Whichever castle is just as big and impressive as yours.”
He smiled and winced. “I told you. Do not…make me…laugh.”
“No problem. I’m not that funny.”
“You will grow a castle…from sheer spite…that is twice the size…of mine.”
“Good idea. Now I have something to aim for.” She twined hands with Faier and rose, looking around the Life Tree. The city seemed well in order. Except for one thing. She tightened. “Your friends from Atlantis are leaving.”
“Yes.” Faier waved his free hand at them. “We will see them again.”
“You want to go with them, don’t you?”
“Why?” He gazed on her, lavender and mauve threads gleaming, calm and sweet and male. “Aiycaya is your home.”
Her heart squeezed. “But you couldn’t accept my Life Tree.”
“Look at my tattoos, Harmony.”
Light lavender shimmered and entwined with the older mauve. And in his eyes too, the threads of mauve joined with bright lavender.
She gaped. “You healed. But how?”
“Sacred brides gain the power of their husband’s Life Tree.”
“But I never went to Atlantis. I didn’t even see your Life Tree.”
“You are mer.” His amused smile deepened. Kindness twinkled in his eyes and brightened his soul. “So, it seems, I am your sacred bride.”
“You? Are my sacred bride?” She burst out laughing. Joy filled with relief. “Will you marry me?”
“Of course.” He brought her to the opposite side of the Life Tree from King Kayo, where it was quiet and private, and knelt at its base. “I, Faier of Atlantis and Dragao Azul, marry my queen Harmony. Shower your blessing and healing on our union so our joining will produce a healthy young fry.”
She touched the warm wood. “It’s not going to hurt my brother, is it?”
“It will heal him,” Faier assured her, nuzzling her neck. “The Life Tree grows more powerful in response to joy.”
“I, Harmony of Aiycaya, marry Faier. Shower your blessing and healing on our union so our joining will produce a healthy young fry. And heal King Kayo.”
The Life Tree glowed and tinkled radiating holiness across the sea.
Faier was right.
And now he was her husband.
Harmony twined her arms around her husband’s powerful shoulders. Once she’d been terrified to look at him. Now she couldn’t look at him enough. Her heart filled with so much hope for the future. Today was a new beginning for all of them.
He twirled her in the circle of the Life Tree, away from her brother and the other warriors, in a close circle of their own. “Now we are married.”
“Don’t worry.” She recovered her amusement. “We’re not traditional in Aiycaya. I won’t force you to stay shut up in my castle and ‘gestate my young fry.’”
“This is good.” Faier teased her lips with a sweet kiss. “Such duties might challenge me.”
“I’d rescue you.” She squeezed his fingers. “It’s hard to believe only a short while ago, I was alone, but now I have you, and my brother, and a whole city of warriors on my side.”
He rubbed her back while the magnitude of her blessings sprinkled over her like starlight.
But of course, things were not perfect. Her brother was still recovering. The city was still vulnerable.
And above the city—above the surface—she had things left to do.
“I am a citizen of three cities. The first in a thousand years.” He sobered, reading her mind and matching her mood. “There will be difficulties.”
“You do get around,” she agreed. “A real citizen of the undersea world. I think we’re going to benefit a lot from your experience.”
“I suppose it is only fitting that the first mer to join three cities is united to the first female mer born in a thousand years.”
“Yeah, we’re both rare.” But just acknowledging that allowed her to ask the questions she’d been wanting and dreading. “Okay. Tell me what to do now.”
He teased her lips with another sweet kiss. “You tell me, my queen.”
“Do you think I could get help? On the surface?”
He pulled back. “What kind of help?”
“Lifet and Jean-Baptiste are in jail now. And Evens is free, thank goodness. I still want to help them. Evens should come to America so he can study oceanography. Monsieur Joseph needs the best medical attention for his knees. And I’m worried about Fab’s job. My birth certificate’s still lost. And my tribe is counting on me to reunite them with the warriors of Aiycaya.”
“Anything else?”
“I know it’s a lot to ask.”
“You now have ‘a lot’ of resources.” His soul and his dark eyes twinkled. He kicked to twirl them again. “Queen Aya knows many intimidating people you call lawyers. You possess the wealth of Aiycaya’s Sea Opals. And you may order your warriors to seek brides at any sacred island—or mainland—you choose.”
The plethora of resources buoyed her to new hopes. Imagine a team of lawyers on her side. Money to invest. Three whole mer cities full of warriors dedicated to helping. And one gorgeous, steady, healed warrior who had her back from her darkest hour to now, stepping together into a new dawn.
What couldn’t they achieve together?
“Yes,” he agreed, as though he heard her silent words. “We can achieve many, many things together.”
“I always wanted to help.” She rested her forehead against his as they twirled. “One person trying to change things is like screaming at a wall. Like my brother attacking the All-Council representative on his own. But your faith made me carry on. And now the whole world has changed.”
“You are my mate. My soul. My wife.” He nuzzled her. “I will always believe in you.”
Sweet arousal filled her. She was his wife, and he was her husband. They’d been through an incredible journey. And it had been a hundred years since she’d last slept. Time dilation or not, she was tired.
But before she fell asleep, she had things to do. With Faier. In private.
Naked things.
She tugged him toward her temporary castle. “Will you follow me in?”
“Yes, Harmony. You are my home.” Faier linked their hands. “Wherever you go and whatever you do, I will always follow you.”
Epilogue - Faier Keeps His Promise
Harmony crossed her arms and tapped her foot on the worn linoleum. She tilted her head to address the warrior behind her. “Faier, I know you’re trying to protect me, but you can’t hold me hostage.”
Faier’s hard forearm, decorated with iridescent lavender and mauve tattoos, cinched tight around her belly and pressed her butt to his rock-hard abdomen. “I vowed to keep you safe.”
“I’m perfectly safe. Don’t stand in my way.”
“Harmony, you know the danger of crocodiles. They move suddenly, their jaws snap, and you shriek.”
“I just — Faier. If you love someone you have to let them go.”
He nuzzled into her neck, making delicious shivery goosebumps trail down her arms and legs. “I will never let you go into danger, Harmony.”
She crossed her arms tighter,
refusing to give in to the dangerous warrior. “Just give me the mallet, Faier.”
“I protect you.” With his free hand, he whacked the electronic green alligator emerging from the arcade console with the purple foam mallet.
She wiggled. “You’re going to win!”
“A true warrior fights through any distraction. You told me so last game.”
“I was cheating and it was wrong. Very wrong. You’re an honorable warrior who would never, ever cheat.”
His lips curved into a smile. He nibbled her sensitive ear lobe. “You change me, Harmony.”
Heat bloomed between her thighs.
She turned and lifted her chin, offering her lips.
He dropped his mouth on hers, sealing their connection. His tongue entangled hers. Liquid heat shot to her core. Her nipples tightened into pearls rubbing against soft cotton. His arousal pressed against her waist, reminding her of the wonderful hour they’d spent together before breakfast and promising another good moment any time she wished.
Harmony snuck the mallet from Faier’s lax hand.
He pulled back, the lavender threads in his dark irises gleaming. He knew what she had done.
“My turn!” She faced the Wacky Gator arcade game. Whack whack whack whack. “I win!”
“Good recovery.” He leaned against the machine, watching her with a soft smile.
“Yeah! Ha ha. Haaa.” She held the mallet and then the silliness of the situation hit her. She lowered the mallet and turned away.
Harmony had come home to Council Bluffs with two goals. They were already on their last day and neither of the goals had come true yet.
One had been to show her friends all the wonderful things in town. But an arcade game was probably pretty boring for a warrior who’s wrestled real crocodiles.
Sensing her changing mood, Faier pushed off the wall and moved behind her again. “You are very skilled at whacking the electric crocodiles.” His fingers knotted her hair and gave little tugs.
She relaxed into him. “These are much more fun than the real ones. The Mall used to have a whacking moles game. But I was better at alligators.”
His hard arousal nudged her. “Shall we play again?”
“No.” Her mouth dried. “It’s a little boring, isn’t it?”
“No time with you is boring.”
“Are you sure?”
He held her quietly for a long moment. Silent communication passed between their bodies. His support and steady kindness and enticing power. He’d been her rock this past week. And, even though they only had one night left, the hardest part of the visit wasn’t quite done. She’d been putting it off. But there was no more time.
He leaned down and murmured in her ear. “Are you ready?”
She held his arms around her a little longer. Her heart squeezed and relaxed. Now or never. She stepped out of his arms. “Let’s check in with the others first.”
Faier followed her out of the snowed-in pizzeria onto the wide flat street of her old home town, Council Bluffs, Iowa.
The winter day was sunny and freezing. A continuous wind blew off the Missouri river; on the other side of the interstate, tall skyscrapers announced Omaha. Along the street, dirty banks piled up into frosty mountains.
She tugged the thick jacket close to her collar. Indoors, Faier caught eyes with his tribal tattoos encased in otherwise nondescript khakis, a blue golf shirt, and loafers. Outdoors, he was fully covered, like her.
They passed the building where the old library had been. She’d stood, silently devastated, outside of the vaulted stone for ten minutes with her pleasantly interested companions who perused the now history of trains museum before she finally asked what had happened to the library.
Now she crossed the park and stamped off extra snow in the modern glass building that was perfectly nice, fresh and strange, but held none of the happy memories from her childhood.
King Kayo settled at a sturdy, clean table turning oversized pages of “pressed pulp” inked with photographs of the modern world. Cities, countries, machinery, zoo animals.
Evens, next to him, identified everything by reading the captions or using his new tablet Harmony had bought.
He had survived his weeks in the gang’s captivity with few bruises and, thank goodness, no lasting scars. The arrests of Lifet and Jean-Baptiste had thrown the gang into a tournament for power between lesser lieutenants and rival gangs. Evens had been stashed at Lifet’s uncle’s plantation so he’d missed most of the violence. He’d been forced into terrifying hard labor instead.
Harmony had gotten him therapy. The haunted looks were fading and he only jumped a little when people shouted nearby. He was upbeat and resilient like his mom. His therapist hoped for a full recovery.
And, since the first moment they had met, Evens had decided that King Kayo was his new best friend. No one would kidnap him and force him into labor if he was best friends with a massive warrior.
The king was still recovering from his own injuries and was very amenable to going a slow pace, resting often, and learning about the surface world through the eager eyes of a “young trainee” child. They’d been nearly inseparable for the whole week. And, now the two of them had surrounded themselves with a fort’s worth of books.
Evens bounced to his feet in front of Harmony, the plastic on his new sneakers squeaking. “We’re learning about farming.”
“Oh, good.” She squeezed his slender shoulders. “We’re heading out to my old apartment. Did you want to come?”
Evens snorted at her like she was crazy. “Is the apartment not boring and cold?”
Her heart sank. To be reminded by an eleven-year-old about the failings of her town visit hurt but he was right. “Yeah, actually, it probably is.”
“Then we will stay here where it is warm and awesome.”
His enthusiasm tricked her back into a smile. “Okay. Can I get you two scholars a snack?”
“We have already gotten a snack from the vender-machine.” King Kayo flattened six empty silver wrappers formerly filled with Strawberry Frosted Pop Tarts. “These flavors are so strange yet addicting. I cannot stop eating.”
She mentally added them to her shopping list. “Your addiction runs in the family. I ate one a day everyday all through high school.”
“Can I acquire this ‘toaster tart’ through hunting or farming?”
“Farming,” she guessed, although she had no idea how. “Maybe the librarians can find you a recipe. Why?”
He smoothed the wrappers. “Our father was a great hunter. He healed my mother by offering her any food she desired. But modern brides have more exotic tastes. I must not disappoint my…a future bride.”
His aura dimmed.
Although the tear-shaped scar from his near-death heart injury was hidden by his loose long-sleeve shirt, he was still recovering and had not gone on any great hunts.
He was also still recovering from the heartache of finding and losing what he thought was his sacred bride—Harmony—and he feared that he would end up like Faier, unable to connect with any bride for months or years.
Faier had searched for a bride in New York for nearly two years before encountering Harmony on a rescue operation in the Caribbean. King Kayo had surfaced a week ago with Harmony and already showed the glimmers of anxiety at seeing so many human females and realizing that not one of them was destined for him.
It was a hard blow for a king raised to believe he was chosen to find the first mate in all his city. After the betrayal and execution of his first lieutenant, Tibe, King Kayo had questioned a lot of things. To the end, the cold first lieutenant had showed no remorse. That, perhaps even more than the betrayal, had made King Kayo question his own judgment.
She had accidentally slipped a few changes past him that had nearly blown up in the mer city, but thanks to the guidance and forgiveness of the other warriors like Xarin, Luin, Poro, and shy Zaka, things had turned out all right.
Even Elder Bawa was beginning to say chan
ging over to a rebel city was the right choice. He, too, carried many regrets. His former righteousness and end-justifies-the-means schemes had ended completely. He was now a gruff introvert who refused to take sides on anything and only shared his experience when asked.
He, like many of the elders, subtly pushed for a reunion with Harmony’s tribe.
The elders were all fascinated that Harmony’s mother had never taken another husband after Kamuy. They were struck by the similarities in how the two had died. The elders had conducted meticulous research to match up dates and were certain that the two had died within days of each other. If such a link between mates could remain for decades, and the ancient covenant no longer restricted them from seeking out their old brides…well, the elders hoped for a swift reunion, and quite honestly, Harmony couldn’t blame them.
Facilitating the reunion was the second item on Harmony’s goal list for this town visit.
“You’ll find a bride,” Harmony assured King Kayo now. “Our Life Tree reunited us after nearly three decades. Your bride will cross your path too.”
He nodded despondently. “Hopefully I do not threaten her, abandon her in the ocean, or make her cry as I did you.”
“You won’t. I wasn’t your soul mate. When you find her, you’ll listen to her like every word is made of gold.”
He sighed. “I hope.”
She missed her brother’s bright confidence and generous kindness. Someday, hopefully soon, he’d accept that mistakes happened and forgive himself.
Harmony let his melancholy go “Are you staying here or going back to the rental?”
Her brother gazed on his barely-touched stack of books and stretched. “Evens prefers to review these books and I am glad of the knowledge. We will go directly from the library closing to the meeting spot with Evens’ mother.”
She swallowed. “I hope this trip hasn’t been disappointing.”
“My feelings do not matter.” He clasped her hand. Her small neon pink tattoo on her thumb—which she’d embellished up to her wrist into a branch of the Life Tree dripping a resin Sea Opal—matched the swirls on his hand. “Your homecoming must be all you have wished.”
