by Starla Night
Unnamed sources claimed the kidnappings still happened today.
The beefy merman in the glass tank kept his jeans on, which was pretty rare. Lucy had reported that the mermen of Torun’s city swam buck naked. No bubbles emerged from where he floated near the bottom of the tank. His feet stretched so they were unnaturally long, curved, and graceful. From this distance, it looked as if he was wearing a pair of extra large, black-swirled scuba fins.
Aya dove below the surface and kicked smoothly, keeping her arms close to her body. The beefy merman tilted his head to look up at her. She held his gaze underwater, fearless.
Mermen swam like streamlined scuba divers, so Aya had practiced her form when Lucy and Torun visited a week ago. She was totally focused in the water. That was why she hadn’t noticed Elyssa’s entrance. Tall, toned, and graceful, Aya was never flustered or out of breath.
She just had to win the pageant. Only Aya could bring the races together and establish long-lasting peace. Elyssa would make sure King Kadir saw it.
King Kadir put his forearm on the armrest and leaned against Elyssa’s shoulder.
Was it okay for him to touch her so much? Maybe, since she had already forced him to catch her backstage, he forgave the offense and relaxed the taboo.
His scent wafted over her again. She closed her eyes. Could she get it bottled? It would be called hard, steamy fantasies and she’d rub it all over—
“You are?”
Her eyes snapped open. He was holding out his wide, silver-tattooed hand.
Oops. She was being rude. She shook his hand. “Elyssa Van Cartier.”
Her hand disappeared in his firm grip. His skin was dry and warm. Calluses roughened his palms. He felt human. Hard and bony and male.
“Elyssa of Van Cartier,” he repeated. Slow and formal.
“You can just call me Elyssa. Your majesty. Sir. King Kadir.”
“And you will call me only Kadir.”
He seemed in no hurry to release her hand. His was just a powerhouse of strength. Her heart went thump thump thump.
Imagine those wide palms sliding across her body, squeezing her swelling breasts while he unveiled his hard cock. Desire curled in her belly and throbbed lower. She squeezed her thighs together.
He leaned closer.
Could Kadir sense her completely inappropriate desires? She pulled her hand away and quickly turned to his warriors. They were thickly bodied, like professional wrestlers or Maori warriors, while Kadir alone had an eye-captivating, lanky strength.
And they were all staring at her.
Again? Still? Uh, no matter. Don’t be rude! She stuck her hand out. “Elyssa.”
The closest one responded instantly with a handshake. He was older with clear, thoughtful eyes and lighter, timberwolf gray tattoos. “Lotar.”
In the middle, Iyen was her age or younger. Deep maroon tattoos covered part of his well-muscled torso. His sharp gaze held hers for the moment he shook her hand, and then he returned to scanning the auditorium. He was like a secret agent, ever watchful, ready for danger.
The third merman, Ciran, had sandy brown hair and two-tone tattoos in coffee brown and leaf green. He straightened, jutted his hand precisely, and shook twice. And, he added, with a carefully clipped tone like a professor, “Pleased to make your acquaintance.”
Aw. How sweet. “Pleased to meet you, too.”
Actually, she really was pleased. She was sitting with four mermen! All of her fantasies came true in an explosion of rainbow confetti. She beamed.
The mermen blinked rapidly as though she was shining a flashlight in their eyes.
Kadir captured her hands. “Elyssa. You are my contestant choice.”
Contestant choice? For what? She quickly corrected him. “Oh, I’m not a contestant.”
He tilted his head.
She gestured at the stage with her elbow since her hands were secured in his grip. “Those are the contestants. They’re all NASA scientists and Mt. Everest climbers. I’ve never done anything important.”
And — reality check! — one of them would become his queen and rule Atlantis. Hopefully. Unless she screwed it up.
Don’t think about his warm palm caressing hers, and how very much she’d love it to keep stroking her higher up her arm and then curve around her back and press her to him.
Focus.
“You are not a contestant?” he repeated.
“Yes. Nope. Sorry.” She tried to tug her hands free. “The best contestant, in my opinion, is Aya.”
“She is bright.” Kadir started to release her. Then, just when she thought she was free, his fingers slid between hers, locking her into a deeper, more sensuous connection that made her heart throb. “But she is not the best.”
Uh oh.
“Yes. Yes, she is! Aya’s a born ruler. You can’t go wrong with her.”
He slid his wide thumb over the back of her hand in sensuous circles.
New delicious feelings curled in her belly. She babbled. “You can’t tell from a distance. Maybe I should go get her. One conversation and her great qualities will shine through.”
He paused and looked back at his warriors as though she had said something significant. “Humans cannot see great qualities from a distance?”
“Well, some great qualities are obvious. But, uh, some aren’t. That’s why you should get to know her in the normal way. Not in this distant, hard-to-get-to-know-you pageant.”
Ciran shifted forward. “This pageant is not normal? You do not always initiate relationships by standing a hundred women in a line, changing dresses, and standing them in another line to select your mate?”
“Not usually. I mean, you could, but it’s not the normal way at all.”
Ciran and Kadir exchanged looks.
“What is the normal way?” Ciran asked.
“A date. Or, if you’re meeting each other for the first time, a blind date.”
Kadir took over, recapturing her gaze. “What is a blind date?”
“You meet up for something casual. Coffee or a movie. If you hit it off, you meet up again. And so on.”
“Hit it off? What do you hit off?”
“Your feelings. If you get a special feeling in your heart.” She tugged her hand free to place it on her chest. “You’re meant to be together. It’s fate.”
In Kadir’s case, her special feeling was also several inches lower, making her panties damp.
He had that deliciously unreachable rock star vibe. The hot, smart, talented athlete who breezed through the halls, making her wish that she were smarter and hotter and more talented so someday he would glance in her direction.
Now that he was actually glancing — more than that, he was holding one of her hands! — she wanted this moment to go on forever. The one moment she did something useful. Entertained a gorgeous monarch, educated him about human dating, and helped him to find the one perfect woman who would make love grow in his heart.
“So you do sense the resonance,” Kadir confirmed.
By “resonance,” did he mean an inner glow? Torun had told her that mermen could see actual lights glowing in people’s chests.
“We don’t see it the same way you do, but I do think we can sense something when we hit it off. Love at first sight, or second sight, or tenth sight, or whatever.”
He recaptured her free hand. “My warriors wish to blind date.”
The mermen nodded.
“I’m sure you will.” She smiled at him. At all of them. “You definitely all will.”
They stared at her.
And although they were all mesmerizingly good looking, Kadir’s gaze gripped her with such power she was unable to fully look away. She wanted to crawl into his lap and lick that silver lightning bolt across his broad chest. His intense concentration on her increased. He seemed to see straight into her soul.
But he was not for her. Maybe she could hit it off with a hot lieutenant. Or something. Did the mermen have low-paid jobs? In merman HR?
&nb
sp; “The best way to meet women is to choose Aya for your bride,” Elyssa said.
“You fiercely champion your cousin. That loyalty is admirable. But I will not choose Aya for my bride.”
“But—”
“Because, Elyssa of Van Cartier.” He arrested her with his dark gaze. “I choose you.”
Chapter Two
The luscious, enticing, brilliant woman sitting beside Kadir listened to his command for the second time with complete shock.
Had he used incorrect words? His English had atrophied in the jail, locked away from all interaction in solitary isolation, and he had labored to catch up with his studies on the journey to the shore.
If she did not understand his words, it was time to take more decisive action.
He shifted forward to claim her lips with his kiss.
Her lashes fluttered wide. She held up their joined hands to stop him. “Me?”
“You.” He pressed kisses to her slender fingers. The chunky jewels that adorned them. “Are mine.”
She took a deep breath. Her chest swelled beneath the thin shirt. Her soul light shone in her chest brighter than a volcano, brighter than a sun. Brighter than any other female in the pageant. Brighter, even, than the female known as Aya.
A distant chime, like the holy music of the Life Tree, tinkled across his consciousness.
Elyssa was his queen. The queen Atlantis needed. Destined to unite his warriors, crush the city’s enemies, and lead their race to peace.
Then, her soul light fell dark. Shocking, like snuffing out all hope. “You don’t mean me.”
Hmm. How could he select a woman whose soul light fell so dark? But he had. And if his survival up to now had taught him anything, it was to trust his gut and act without hesitation.
“I do.”
“But I’m not even a contestant.”
“That is not my concern. You will join with me and carry my young fry.”
“That’s just not possible.”
Behind him, the other warriors shifted in shock. They had also expected him to select Aya.
Kadir had spent the past several hours at this pageant debating women with his fellow warriors. Who best embodied the traits of their long-lost queens? It was a mystery.
A thousand years ago, a great catastrophe destroyed mer-human relations and drove mermen deep into the oceans. Mermaid queens, who were once as plentiful in cities as mer warriors, died out. Now, only sons were born.
The thousand-year-old covenant with the sacred islands saved his race from extinction. The islanders promised not to hunt the mermen or speak of their existence. They sent one bride every year to join with a worthy warrior in exchange for a mating jewel, which modern humans called Sea Opals.
When the sacred islands had been numerous across the oceans, many young fry sons had been born every year in each city, and the mer had maintained their populations. They had not prospered, but they had survived. But now, many sacred islands were empty. Some cities received only one bride a year. Some had received no brides for a decade.
Hiding in the ocean and clinging to the old covenant was killing them. They had to seek modern women for brides. Now.
His treasonous vision had incited riots in the cities and landed him in the prison of the great, ruling All-Council. But it had also convinced a warlord to break his city’s covenant and marry a modern woman. After the existence of mermen was revealed to all, a small army of warriors rebelled from their home cities and freed Kadir.
Kadir’s Life Tree seed was planted in the shadow of the wrecked mer-human city of ancient times, Atlantis. His seed grew into a sapling, founding their new city and crowning him king.
Someday, they would raise the ancient city again. Mer and humans would mingle freely at the surface. Queens would once more flourish beneath the waves, and their race would thrive.
Starting today. His final vision was about to come true.
Their arrival at the crowded South Miami beach according to the instructions of the underwater broadcast had been nothing short of world shattering. Because fewer than one sacred island bride arrived in most of their cities every year, neither Kadir nor his warriors realized so many women existed. And a hundred were gathered in one auditorium to compete to become his queen? It was difficult to grasp.
The pageant’s selection process was also difficult. In the past, the sacred islands provided one bride and the merman city elders pre-selected the worthiest warrior to receive her. It was all decided long before the participants ever met.
Here, Kadir was supposed to meet everyone and choose by himself. On their arrival at the auditorium, the organizer of the pageant, bright bride Aya, had explained.
“Written statements of the hundred contestants’ skills and qualifications will be read while they model evening gowns. You will select the top twenty-five to change into swimsuits for a second round, and then narrow it to nine who will perform a swimming demonstration. From that, you select a final three and then choose your bride. Does this sound acceptable?”
“No,” he said.
She blinked in shock. “No?”
“Show me all your brides now. I will select the one who is most resonant.”
Her shapely brows had drawn into a frown. “Without knowing anything about their qualifications? Or goals? Or—”
“Only resonance is necessary.”
So, with a nervous glance at the television cameras recording their conversation, she had led him down to the stage. He had met all the brides. Despite the unfathomable abundance of females, not one had filled him with certainty that she was most resonant. In the end, he had acquiesced to bride Aya’s original plan and forced his warriors to select the brightest twenty-five, then the brightest nine.
Perhaps the problem was his health. He was still in a poor shape to take a bride. The humans must have noticed his thin arms, atrophied legs, and sunken chest. Were they counting the rib marks from his near starvation, or noting the scars of the beatings marring his tattoos? Nevertheless, they offered themselves to him as if they didn’t see his weakness. It was very strange.
Many of these hundred contestants would make fine queens, but which was best for his queen? His queen must be confident. Radiant. She must shine her inner light and uplift all who looked upon her.
The instant he saw this Elyssa cowering behind the purple curtain, he knew. Finally. She was the one.
If Soren hadn’t been swimming in the tank, Kadir could have simply carried Elyssa out of the pageant to the waiting vehicles. She would have understood her situation on her way back to Atlantis.
She was his.
But he had to acknowledge his physical state. She might question his ability to care for her. “Is my choice unwelcome?”
“No!” She laughed and shook her head. “No, but I mean, I’m no one. They’re amazing.” She pointed at the stage. “They’re all…uh…they’re….”
“Not you.”
“No.” She bit her lip, teasing him with the desire to bite it also. “I didn’t prepare for this. I didn’t even attend Lucy’s mermaid bride training.”
“I, too, did not attend a training.” He squeezed her small hand. “We will learn together.”
Her smile crept back onto her face. She shook her head as though to chase it away. “Me? As a mermaid queen?” Her light began to shine once more. “Really?”
Now she believed.
He pressed forward to seal their agreement with a kiss.
The lights rose abruptly in their section.
“Excuse me.” The leader of Van Cartier Cosmetics, Chastity Angel, strode up the center aisle. She dressed all in cream, and her hair was white. Her face was bloodless like the dead. “Elyssa? Get over here. Right now.”
Elyssa stuttered. “Auntie. Uh, I was just, uh….”
Chastity Angel’s brow rose.
“Um.” Elyssa pulled free and stood. Her soft eyes apologized to Kadir. “I’ll be right back.” She limped unevenly after Chastity Angel.
They were gone for too long.
Kadir rose.
His warriors rose also.
He followed.
Chastity Angel had corned Elyssa on the other side of their privacy wall. She was speaking in short, hard sentences. “… And on top of all that, you’re also interrupting the pageant.”
Elyssa hugged her elbows. “I just told you. It was an accident.”
“Your ‘accidents’ have a way of turning into crises.”
“Aya—”
“You’ve done enough to ruin Aya’s life today.”
Elyssa’s light dimmed.
Kadir stepped forward. “Stop.”
Elyssa startled.
Chastity Angel jerked up. Her narrow jaw clenched. “King Kadir. Elyssa apologizes for any offense she may have caused. She’s leaving now.”
The mer were leaving as well. “Good.”
Elyssa’s cheeks reddened. Her eyes filled with tears.
Did she still wish to watch her cousin? They had stayed as long as possible at her request.
“Return us to the seashore. We leave for Atlantis now.”
“Now wait.” Chastity Angel’s steely eyes took in the assembled warriors. “King Kadir. I won’t allow my step-niece to ruin a mutually beneficial contract.”
“She has ruined nothing.” He focused on Elyssa. “She will become my queen.”
Chastity Angel’s eyes flew wide. “That’s…well. What I meant to say was, I’m so glad my step-niece could entertain you. But you can’t honestly intend to crown a woman who trips over her own feet.”
Elyssa flinched.
He growled low in his throat.
“Excuse me.” Chastity Angel touched the Sea Opal at her throat. What male had given her this mating jewel? Kadir had heard humans wore them for jewelry rather than utilizing their healing qualities, but the pearly iridescence looked out of place on the dark-souled woman. “Elyssa is a fine person within her abilities. We all know ruling a kingdom is outside them.”
Elyssa stared at the floor.
She acted as timid as a young warrior in the old cities. Crushed down by a leader who cursed her. Forced to obey or face deadly consequences.
