by Starla Night
He’d felt the final snap of the stalk in his spine.
His head and his chest and, for some reason, his tailbone ached. A dull, throbbing pain. Was this how Pelan had felt when he was getting sick with Blue Ring? Now, as an exile without a connection to a Life Tree, Balim’s blood would sicken. He was vulnerable to the contagion.
Bella would not be punished. She’d won over her enemies. King Kadir would see the goodness in her, her innocence, and he would protect her. Atlantis was filled with worthy warriors. Many better than Balim.
The shock of her expression when they’d parted for the final time had cut Balim. He still felt her betrayal in his bones.
Balim pushed through the dull, throbbing pain. He swam alone to the edge of the city. avoiding patrols and staying far from anyone who might intend to stop him or chat.
He had a short time to escape.
First Lieutenant Soren’s horror echoed in his skull. Balim had shocked even the darkest, most disreputable warrior in Atlantis. His exile was assured. Whether or not he wanted it.
Balim must brave the wilderness. Alone.
“Hey. Wait up.” Nora’s voice vibrated behind him.
He was so startled, he obeyed. “Why are you here? Go back to the city.”
“It’s not my scene.” She kicked abreast of him. Long fins trailed behind her, and her bright, shining soul propelled her through the water. “Can I come with you?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“The open ocean is dangerous. You are vulnerable. And I am bound for the seat of the All-Council, where a single female alone is the antithesis of their existence.”
“There’s more safety in numbers.” She straightened and crossed her arms. “Besides, Elyssa said most of you guys can’t tell male or female under water.”
She was not wrong. Queens possessed a certain brightness in their souls. But unless they were swimming entwined with their husbands, no one else might notice.
“I am an exile. Any warrior with honor will kill me, traditional or rebel.”
“So I can help you.” She held up her hands and spread her fingers. Little streams of light traced between them and then dissipated. “I’ll use this power to keep you safe.”
“Then the All-Council will know you are a queen.”
“If I have to use it in front of the All-Council, you’re already screwed.”
He acknowledged that and swam again; she fell in beside him. “Why do you wish to flee with me? You can surface to leave Atlantis.”
“I’m not ready to go.” She twirled, keeping up with him, which was convenient for his escape. “Everything happens for a reason. I can’t believe I dropped my promising career in busking and food service just so I could go underwater and cause drama.”
“You did not cause drama. I misidentified you as Pelan’s bride. Direct your anger at me.”
“You’re also immune to whatever my ‘dangerous resonance’ is.” She twirled again. “I’ve never been unpopular with guys, but down here, everyone looks at me twice and sticks out their chests. It’s weird. You’re different.”
“I am a murderer.”
“Warriors kill people.”
“Honorably.”
“Murder’s kind of in the job description.” She shrugged. “Bella’s smart enough to stay away from losers.”
“She is smart enough to stay in Atlantis,” he vibrated, muttering.
“You shouldn’t be so mad at her,” Nora continued. “Just because you disagreed about the blackmail is no reason to cut her off. She’s your soul mate.”
His heart warmed, and he crushed the hope. “We had no disagreement. You are mistaken.”
“Balim. I was there.”
“You were where?”
“At your castle. Late castle. Floating about five feet behind you guys. I heard your whole argument.”
He had thought they were being quiet. “I do not remember.”
“And that’s why I’m here.” She grinned and stretched in all directions. “You and Bella were so wrapped up in each other, the rest of the world disappeared. Including me. Every time. I don’t usually enjoy being forgotten, but considering how much unwanted attention I’m currently getting, your downright ignorance is nice.”
“Perhaps that will end. My soul does not resonate with Bella’s.”
Nora snorted. “Oh, you think?”
“She never sensed my presence as I sensed hers. Our brief union only came about because I pursued her. Promised if she became my queen she would gain the power to heal her son.” He pressed his eyes on the memory of that failure. “But now when she finds the warrior she deserves, she will sever our unwelcome connection.”
“Mmm. No.”
“I am a healer, Nora, and a merman. I can sense souls.”
“Well, you’re pretty crap at understanding women.” She tilted her eyes at him. “You were pretty upset after leaving the Life Tree sanctuary, so maybe you already forgot that Bella’s had a lot of chances to hook up before you. People like her and me, who attract lots of people, have a hard time not settling on the wrong ones while we’re waiting to find our soul mates. But when we find our soul mates, we know.”
“You will know,” he agreed, confused about why this was a conversation topic.
“And Bella knows.”
“Bella knows,” he repeated and shook his head. “No, she cannot accept our connection. It is as King Kadir and Queen Elyssa demonstrated. Resonance grows in the soul.”
“She knows, Balim. In her soul, she knows.”
Warmth seeped out around his clenched heart because he couldn’t contain this feeling that Nora was right. He knew. Just like King Kadir knew. And Bella knew too.
Yes, his soul was black. He had given in to revenge when he should have obeyed the law of the mer. Bella forgave him when he could not forgive himself. And now he’d received the punishment he’d always deserved. Exile and revulsion.
Yet he still craved Bella.
Her smile, the one where she covered her teeth with her lips and the ones where she showed that small gap. Her soft skin with its intricate pattern of freckles as natural as a mer’s tattoos. Her bright, fiery spirit as she took risks over and over again to chase justice, defend others, and tried to improve life.
He wished she were here now. More than anything.
No.
Bella was safe in Atlantis. Those worthy warriors would protect her. King Kadir would not blame her for Balim’s irresponsible actions. And once Starr found her son, she could rise and save him.
He must push on to the All-Council. Even if he wanted to go back and find Bella, he could not turn aside from his mission to cure Blue Ring. The fate of the mer depended on him.
Nora broke into his thoughts as though she thought he was still thinking about her.
“Besides, I overheard what you said. You’re still trying to save Pelan’s life. Not only is it my fault he got shot to begin with, but it’s also my fault he’s not healing. So I want to help him, and you will help me do that.”
“Keep up. I will not slow for you.”
“Sure.” She kicked harder. “I’m ready for this.”
Nora was not Bella, but Balim was grateful not to be alone as they escaped into the wild ocean.
Bella was safe in Atlantis.
Balim would find her after he’d uncovered the cure. He would atone.
If he survived.
And if she would let him.
Chapter Thirty-Two
Bella couldn’t be exiled to the surface. She just couldn’t.
She wiggled her fingers in Aya’s strong grip. “Let me go.”
“I can’t.” Aya held Bella’s wrist and flew her away from Atlantis to the cable over the ancient city. “I’m sorry about this.”
Her mind whirred as she tested escape routes. Aya was faster, a queen, and surrounded by an honor guard led by the unsmiling Ciran.
Aya had asked to convey Bella alone. Ciran had rejected her. “Queen Be
lla’s guards must protect her.”
“It’s fine.” Bella had better odds of escaping if she wasn’t escorted by forty angry warriors. “I’m with Aya.”
Ciran had regarded her without smiling and allowed them a lead to have this private conversation, but he flew behind them, and his warriors, swimming in strict formation, ended every escape.
And Bella begged Aya anyway.
“You can’t. I understand,” Bella murmured while her mind worked the problem. “You have no choice.”
“Don’t be ridiculous. Of course I have a choice.” The commanding queen looked at Bella with two raised brows like she was an idiot.
“So let me go.” Bella twisted her hand.
“What’s your plan?”
Bella stopped twisting. “Plan?”
“Where is better than the surface?” Aya’s brow furrowed. Her blonde hair streamed behind her as she swam efficiently toward the ancient wreckage. “The Sons of Hercules will have to contact you. Make yourself available. And when they expose themselves, then we’ll capture them.”
Her heart thudded out of rhythm. “You’re trying to help me?”
“I understand why this surprises you, but yes. All of us are.”
“The warriors—”
“I mean us queens. Lucy and Elyssa are mothers. They weren’t forced to make your choices, and you’re one of us now. A little espionage and near-mass murder doesn’t change that.”
She was at a loss for words. “I would think it would.”
“We know why you did it, and that’s why your ‘punishment’ is necessary. We tried to design a punishment that would seem appropriate and also position you to continue the fight. I can’t think of any better solution than making you bait.”
Bait. Again.
Could she trust that Aya was on her side? That all the queens were?
Bella rolled the word “bait” around on her tongue. “I’ve never done well with waiting.”
“If you have a better idea, share.” Aya looped her wrist, glanced back at the warriors, and lowered her vibrations. “Soren will join us to ascend to the surface. He’s working out a plan with Kadir to excavate the poisoned castle. If someone snuck into the castle and activated the vial, they had no time to escape before being poisoned.”
“You think the Sons of Hercules have spies in Atlantis?”
“No, but the All-Council does. Something is strange, Bella.”
“Only one thing?”
“Yes, good point.” Aya smiled faintly but focused on her conundrum. “We’re in the center of two or three colliding plots. First, the poisoned vial and the demand for a Life Tree flower. Why would the Sons of Hercules destroy the Life Tree before they get what they want?”
“They’re not the most organized.”
“I now believe such thinking is a mistake. They masterminded your son’s kidnapping.”
“Starr and I came to the same conclusion. Someone is helming this organization, and they have resources.”
“Yes, and enough sophistication they should not have activated that pressurized vial prematurely. So why?”
“Maybe we were getting too close to unmasking…”
Aya waited for her to finish, but she couldn’t guess what might have triggered the explosion. So Aya continued. “Second, Pelan contracted a rare mer disease on the surface. Soren has informed me it is impossible to remove anything from the battlefield. All who try will sicken and die.”
“That’s not entirely true. Balim removed something.”
“He didn’t infect Pelan, did he?”
“No. He’d never do that.”
“Someone did.” Aya mused on the other loose threads. Pelan misidentifying Nora as his bride, his subsequent shooting, the Sons of Hercules’s incursion into the mer hospital, the megalodon that had risen unnaturally high into the water column to attack them as they descended to Atlantis, and she circled back to the poisoned vial. “I can’t see how the threads come together. What mastermind plot is this?”
Bella shook her head. When she connected the mysteries, she would find where the Sons of Hercules had hidden Jonah. “Can you question the spies?”
“We’re only guessing on their identities.” Aya perused the warriors following them. “They don’t volunteer for surface duties because to ascend and, heaven forbid, meet a modern bride would violate the ancient covenant. Soren’s strategy is to woo them over to our side. Whenever a suspect sheds the old jingoisms and makes friends, we’re one warrior stronger in our goal to win over the entire undersea world.”
No wonder Aya and the others were so willing to forgive Bella. They lived with known enemies all the time. She had just gotten closer to ending Atlantis than most.
“So the All-Council refuses to surface, and the Sons of Hercules can’t swim down.” Bella faced the ultimate conundrum. “Yet someone, somewhere, is collaborating.”
“And if we find proof, maybe we can unravel the whole conspiracy.” Aya changed her tone. “I’m sorry for your son. I’m pregnant right now with my first. I imagine the year even before the kidnapping has been a nightmare.”
“Yes.” Bella smiled despite the situation. “Congratulations. You’ll never sleep again.”
“I thought getting up to pee every hour came later.” Aya sighed out a long stream of water. “Health for my unborn is always a concern. When I’m not plotting the demise of my enemies, I’m doing prenatal exercises, watching my diet, and practicing yoga poses.”
“You should probably stop plotting the demise of your enemies to reduce stress.”
“Oh, that’s far too satisfying to give up. And, counterintuitive as it may be, it’s the source of my queen powers.”
“The source of your queen powers is plotting the demise of your enemies?”
“In great detail.” Her smile widened. “Right now there’s a particular senator blocking his committee from finishing their report on the humanity of mermen. I wish he would take a long walk off the viewing platform over Niagara Falls. I understand it’s very difficult to survive the falls especially if you’re not wearing any protective gear.”
“Yes, people die that way on the regular.” Huh. “Elyssa prefers meditation.”
“My cousin is a better person than I am.” Aya kicked hard for the ruins. “Embrace your darkness, Bella. If visualizing the light doesn’t allow you to transform, loosing your demons can be an energizing activator.”
They reached the edge of the old city.
Buzzing noises like a thousand out-of-tune seagulls assaulting a garbage truck floated out of a large cave at the base of the extended tower.
“Octopus Kong.” Aya angled over the cave.
The giant heard them and extended a few tentacles in greeting, and Aya waved back.
“Balim said he was dangerous,” Bella said.
“The warriors used to consider him a crotchety, ill-tempered guardian of the ruins. But, ever since he chased off three megalodons, he’s been in a much better mood. He and I have a professional relationship.”
The disconcerting giant octopus spoiled the melodies of the fish in the surrounding ocean.
Aya kicked to a metal bell surrounded by guards. Bubbles emerged from it, and an unnerving growling sound pressed against Bella’s ears.
“Oxygen generator and power supply,” Aya explained as she released Bella to open the hatch. It swung open, and they rose into the bell. “Ready to be human again?”
Bella wasn’t sure. The air pocket was strange, stuffy, and uncomfortable. Aya threw up seawater, choking and tearing up, and Bella did as well to gasp dank air.
Aya clambered onto the metal floor.
A warrior knelt before a microphone. He saluted them with both hands touching before his chest. “Queen Aya. Queen Bella.”
Aya returned his salute. “Any messages from the surface?”
“None since we contacted them about Healer Balim’s treason. Bride Roxanne has passed the final mark. Since she may become Warrior Pelan’s bride, s
hould I call her queen?”
“She can tell you her preference when she arrives.” Aya composed herself. “Do you wish to send a message, Bella?”
She shook her head. The cramped metal bell made her long for the expansive wilderness of the sea. “I’m just waiting, I guess.”
The warrior nodded emphatically. “We will find your young fry, Queen Bella.”
Her heart throbbed. “Thank you.”
But now she was alone, stranded, and burdened, and she had no idea how the warriors would find Jonah when the Sons of Hercules controlled everything.
Chapter Thirty-Three
Aya led Bella out of the air-filled bell and back into the water.
The shift choked her hard, and then she was through it, filled with cold in her belly and radiating through her body. The last time, she’d gotten through with Balim. It was harder to shift alone.
“It never gets easier,” Aya confided, gripping her hand and leading her up the cable to the anchor bolt. “Just more familiar.”
“So, now what?”
“Now, we wait.”
Again with the waiting.
Aya caught her expression and sympathized. “The Sons of Hercules will contact us. Maybe through Roxanne. Maybe they’ll wait until you surface. Trust in your companions, and be ready to act.”
Bella gripped her hair. “I can’t take this.”
Aya laughed. “It’s been five minutes. When Elyssa married Kadir and was the first of us to ‘live among the natives,’ I had to wait a month to make sure she’d survived. Patience.”
Balim was patient. Not Bella.
She flexed her human feet beneath the anchor bolt, trying and failing to unleash the fins that everyone else shifted to so naturally. Waiting left her alone with her thoughts. And her thoughts were never pleasant.
They circled on her failures. Her missed chances. How she hadn’t appreciated Jonah’s good health, so she deserved only his bad. How she’d tried not to let him into her heart, but then she’d sung him to sleep with songs barely remembered from her own grandparents when they’d been alive.
They’d told her to go after her dreams, and she’d listened to them.
