by Starla Night
He was ordering Lotar and Iyen. “Rest for two shifts. Forget the excavation for now. I need your strength for the coronation. A goblin shark attack is likely.”
They nodded and kicked to the rest of the mermen filing to the exit.
Kadir turned to Elyssa.
She paddled — about ten more minutes it felt like — to reach his side. “Where is everyone going?”
“They are leaving the castle to our use.”
“Why?”
His arms, which had been open to embrace her, moved closed. He held out his forearm for her to grab onto and steady herself. “It is custom.”
“But isn’t it dangerous out there?”
He hardened. “You will be protected in my city.”
“For them,” she clarified. “Didn’t you just say there were goblin sharks and attackers?”
“We are warriors. We can endure any hardship.”
Of course they could. “This is their city. We have a castle here. They should use it.”
A muscle in his jaw tightened.
Don’t tell her she was insulting his warriors’ endurance. “I’m just asking if it isn’t better for them to sleep inside the castle. How can anyone rest if they’re afraid of vent feeders?”
One brow rose. “Vent feeders?”
“Or whatever. If I’m wrong, please tell me.” She gripped his forearm.
His hand clenched tight into a fist.
She wanted to stroke him so that he released his fist, pulled her into his arms, and accepted her apology for nearly fomenting a rebellion and now turning his warriors out of their own home. “I just don’t want my presence to cause any more disruption.”
“Very well.” His other palm rested on top of hers. The hardness eased. It was replaced by something she didn’t expect. Sadness. And resignation. “I will call them back.”
He turned to the exit, the long tunnel that led through the wall to the outside.
She tightened her grip.
He glanced back. His sadness eased. He captured her hand and flew with her to call the mermen back. Across the clear, bright seas, the marble cocooning the Life Tree glowed like a brilliant moon, bathing them all in effervescent moonlight and tinkling beauty. It eased her heart and cast a kinder glow on the surprised faces of the mermen recalled to the castle entrance.
“You will sleep inside the castle this night,” Kadir informed them, his hand entwined with Elyssa’s.
“And every night,” Elyssa said. They all turned to her. She firmed her stance. “Until another castle is grown and it’s safe.”
The warriors looked at each other, then at Kadir again. He was noble and implacable in the Life Tree’s holy light. Truly a king.
Iyen frowned with hard concern and spoke to Elyssa. His expression said he was breaking self-imposed orders. “Do not worry about us.”
“I do worry about you.” All of them had been so kind. She looked from face to face. Their cuts and bruises were an obvious reminder of the dangers. “And I’m not going to rest easy if you’re out there, risking your lives when you could be safe inside.”
He turned his worry on Kadir.
Kadir motioned Iyen to pass into the castle. “Your queen has spoken.”
Iyen lowered his head and led the warriors in. They made a silent, solemn procession of fin flicks and metal tridents. Were they insulted too? But better to be a little insulted than to be attacked and exhausted. Right?
At the back, Faier rested his old injuries beside Kadir. He looked away from Elyssa. Concern was palpable in his voice. “Where will you rest, my king?”
Huh? She made a noise.
They both looked at her.
“I thought…” Did she misunderstand? “Aren’t we supposed to sleep in the, uh, the heart chamber?”
Kadir’s eyes widened.
Faier blinked and then a deep flush crept up his cheeks. He ducked his head. “Ah. I see. Good rest.” He kicked his left leg hard and disappeared inside with the others.
Kadir turned to her with the intensity of a predator focusing on prey. The Life Tree behind him loomed like a werewolf moon. “The heart chamber…”
She instinctively paddled back until she hit the firm inside wall. “Am I wrong?”
“…has yet to grow.” He kept hold of their entwined hand. He rested his other arm on the wall above her head. “It is undeveloped.”
Oh!
Ohhh. She was wrong. There was nowhere for them to sleep. No wonder the other warriors were so worried. No wonder Kadir had looked at her like she slapped him in the face.
His lean, hard thighs pressed against hers. “Do you know what we do in the heart chamber?”
Her heart thumped. “I…I think so.”
His lips hovered over hers. His silver-flecked eyes snapped with intensity. “We join.”
Anticipation tightened her thighs. Blossoming awareness swelled her breasts and tightened her nipples. He looked like liquid silver sex and yes, she wanted him.
His nostrils flared. Was he scenting her desire? Through the water, somehow?
She licked her lips.
His gaze dropped to that motion. “Do you understand what that means?”
She tried to nod.
“Do you intend to join with me?”
Her mistake had made him doubt whether she really wanted to be with him. Now she had to reassure him. She lifted her chin to protest. “Of c—”
He pressed her into the wall and cupped her cheeks with both hands to take his full-body kiss.
She clung to his wall of masculinity. His hard biceps caged her in. His powerful thigh lanced between hers, pressing demands to her throbbing, hot cleft. The powerful thrusts of his tongue controlled her, branded her, claimed her. The undeniable length of his cock hardened into an unstoppable promise.
She had made him this desperate. What was supposed to be their wedding night had turned into a big sleepover. She needed him to know that she did desire him. Not for his position or his power or what he could offer her. Not as a king or a mer or a warrior. As a man.
But she was only clinging to him. Holding on to his flexing biceps like before. To prove it, she needed to ease his fears with action.
She slid her hands up the mountains and valleys of muscle to his broad shoulders. Then, she splayed her hands over his massive pectorals. He felt like a work of art.
His kiss slowed and his lips formed a smile against hers. He enjoyed her touch.
So, she touched more. He felt amazing. With his slow, languorous kisses taking her mouth, he left her hands free to trace the breadth of his ribs, the iron muscles of his taut abdomen, and the flat plane below. There, thrusting proudly, nested the base of his prominent cock.
She wrapped her fingers around it and squeezed. He felt warm and thick. Hers.
A tingling sound, like cymbals building and dying away again, sounded in her ears.
Kadir pulled back abruptly and looked over his shoulder.
She collapsed against the wall. Her lips throbbed from his commanding possession. Her feminine center throbbed with need for it. She flexed her empty hand, remembering the long, hard feeling of his cock in her grip, and she struggled to balance upright. He was still looking out over the open city.
“What is it?”
He turned back. A possessive smile curved his lips. He smoothed her hair and tugged her off her feet to fly into the protected castle. “Nothing that cannot wait for tomorrow.”
Their wedding.
Her coronation.
Chapter Fifteen
Kadir led Elyssa down the long corridor into the castle. She was hot and her pulse beat fast, promising her readiness to join with him. How different from when they exited, and he believed she did not wish it.
How unfortunate that the heart chamber had not grown yet, and they could not join together until tomorrow.
“Too bad we can’t sneak away or sleep with the Life Tree,” she said, mirroring his thoughts.
“The sanctuary is holy gr
ound. Access is limited.”
Iyen met them at the inner entrance. “I heard a noise.”
“Noise?” Elyssa tilted her head.
Kadir assured them both. “It was nothing.”
Iyen allowed them to fly past. He stared out the entrance on full alert. His capable maroon-tattooed hands gripped his trident.
Tomorrow, joining would connect their souls. All doubts would fly away, and his warriors would treat her as their true queen.
Below, the warriors sprawled in hollows amid the rows of cultivated plants and in the doorways to unfinished halls. Whispers ceased at their appearance and overly loud snores — chest vibrations — soon followed.
Kadir settled in the hallway that would lead to the heart chamber. They reached the dead end. A soft glow suggested maybe the rest of the route was growing even now. But until it completed, they would have no more passion. Only ordinary rest to prepare for the wedding ceremony.
“What noise was Iyen talking about?” Elyssa laid her head in the hollow of his shoulder, where she had kept it on their journey. “I thought I heard a crescendo.”
“It is nothing to worry about.”
Kadir had heard the crescendo too. The Life Tree had responded to their passion with a vibration like a strong breeze blowing through its limbs. He had not heard it before today. Was it common? Perhaps it explained why mermen always joined with their brides only inside a heavily shielded heart chamber.
“You know, I shouldn’t be tired.” Her fingers traced his chest tattoos. She wrote secret symbols with an unknown meaning. “I slept half the time you carried me.”
“It is our resonance.” He was tired now, so she also felt tired.
“Really? Good. Then, I hope I slept enough for the both of us.” She relaxed and melted into sleep against him.
Slept enough for the both of them?
She meant that she was not only sensing his tiredness but that she had also given back to his strength. Was this possible? He thought back to those times. When she slept, she was easier to carry. Was that not because she released her stiffness and assumed the more aerodynamic shape? Had she truly given him energy?
Mermen did not travel with their brides.
He would have to test it.
But now, on what was supposed to be their wedding night and first joining, his bride snored softly on his shoulder and he easily collapsed into sleep.
They slept four days. His warriors woke him to notify him of dangers and signs found on patrols. Elyssa slept straight through.
When she finally awoke, she yawned and stretched. “Ahhh, I feel great. Like I slept for two solid weeks.”
“It was not that long.”
She blinked and grinned.
“Four of your days and nights. Only.”
She laughed. “Oh, was that all?”
“That was all.” He helped her to rise and swam through the gardens together, briefly showing her how to gather the fava beans and root beer bulbs she had eaten at the wedding feast. “Surface days can be measured by tracking the movements of fish who migrate according to a diurnal clock. But the mer usually anchor time to important events.”
She stopped him. “Are you saying I actually went without eating for two weeks and didn’t notice? And just now, I slept for four days?”
He nodded.
She took a huge bite of the giant root, chewing with her mouth full while her chest vibrated her words uninterrupted. “This is crazy. I don’t feel that different.” She suddenly stopped and put a hand over her chest as though it had just occurred to her, again, that she could speak without opening her mouth.
“You also ‘see’ in an enclosed castle at a depth where no surface light penetrates.”
She chewed more slowly.
“Today is an important ceremony.” He held out his hand. “It will be an anchor for our city for all time.”
She finished eating quickly and took Kadir’s hand. “Here goes nothing.”
She had such a funny way of phrasing. “You are not nothing to me.”
“Oh!” She blinked and laughed. “I’m nervous. That’s not what I meant. I should say, ‘here goes everything.’ Or is that worse?”
She was babbling.
It was endearing.
He flew her to the castle entrance. His warriors formed an honor guard, lining a tunnel to the Life Tree by protecting above, both sides, and also below. Their faces were solemn and posture full of honor. Elyssa slipped her arms around Kadir’s shoulders.
A distant siren caught his ear.
She looked over her shoulder. Her lips parted. “Aren’t those sharks?”
“Tiger sharks.” And because Kadir had pulled off all the patrols for this ceremony, they circled well within the city perimeter.
Adviser Creo saw them too. His lips thinned.
Curse these foreign raiders.
Kadir had to protect the city’s boundaries. Failure to protect them meant Atlantis could not be recognized. If Atlantis failed to be recognized, they would remain anathema and the other cities would pressure the All-Council to destroy his Life Tree — and Kadir. His mer would be forced to return to their origin cities and face punishment for their rebellion.
Soren had stopped his warriors from abandoning the city the other night. Such enthusiasm to claim brides was admirable but dangerous when raiders pushed sharks into their boundaries and threatened patrols. Kadir’s tightened his arms around Elyssa.
She looked up at him.
Atlantis was already an unprecedented experiment of mer from different cities uniting. It was unusual, dangerous, and prone to misunderstandings. Elyssa’s arrival was supposed to strengthen their bonds. Instead, during her wedding feast, her revelations had almost torn them apart.
Now, she would be recognized as queen and join with him. Soren, Balim, and Adviser Creo would stop questioning her presence. Her doubts would be replaced by confidence, and his city would strengthen with her glow.
From here forward, everything would be different.
Kadir flew down the tunnel of warriors, carrying Elyssa to the Life Tree. It was so young and fragile that thick guard petals hard as granite still enclosed it, keeping it safe. He slipped into the narrow entrance between two petals and pulled her inside after him. They flew down a narrow corridor. Behind them, the rest of the warriors of the city entered also.
At the end of the corridor, the inner sanctuary opened on a small, white dais. In the middle glowed the pure Life Tree.
His sapling had one central trunk and three sturdy branches. The upper branch almost crested his forehead. Its arms were dotted with tiny pebbles of Sea Opals. Smaller pebbles dusted the dais around the trunk.
Every Life Tree began as a sprout. His Life Tree, grown from the Dragao Azul seed, was intricately tied to the blood flowing in his veins.
Kadir retracted his fins into human feet and bounced on the soft, white courtyard. The water was so still and clear in the sanctuary. Elyssa stood beside him and gazed at the thin tree in awe.
The rest of his warriors left their tridents just outside the sanctuary and formed a ring around the edge of the dais, leaning against the curved petal walls.
Elyssa’s eyes glittered. Amazement and joy emanated from her and increased the white glow of the tree. They were finding each other and growing their resonance. Kadir’s heart swelled painfully in his chest. This was why he had brought Elyssa here. So they could find each other and thrive.
“Now perform the vow. Watch me.” He knelt and bowed his head to the thin, white trunk. “I, Kadir of Atlantis, present Elyssa as my chosen bride. Shower your blessing and healing on our union so she may give us a young fry.”
He bent low, kissed the skinny trunk, and stood.
She glanced behind her at the other mermen. A small doubt crossed her face, swift as a shadow.
A shiver of unease tinkled in the branches.
He gripped her shoulder. Atlantis needed her to perform this. He would encourage her confidence — some
how — if he had to.
Elyssa smiled at him, squared her shoulders, and walked forward. Her feet bounced lightly on the thick dais pad. She knelt. “I, Elyssa of America, present Kadir as my chosen groom. Please shower your blessing and healing on our union, and give us a baby.” She kissed the trunk.
The Life Tree made a loud sching sound, like two pieces of sharp metal rubbing together.
What was that?
Elyssa looked up at the tree, her eyes wide and worried. The mer shifted and glanced at each other.
Adviser Creo harrumphed. “Modern brides have a strange resonance.”
Soren growled. “Respect.”
The sound faded. An unsettled feeling remained.
Everyone quieted.
Elyssa stood and padded back to Kadir. Her smile was nervous. “Does it always make a noise like that?”
No. The Life Tree never made that noise. It sounded…what was it? If she were a warrior, it would have sounded war-like. As though the Life Tree were preparing for a great battle.
But she was not a warrior. She was his bride. And the battle for her status was nearly over.
He reached out to take her hand. “We will complete the ceremony and you will rule as my queen.”
“Great. I’m absolutely ready.” Her light dimmed with her lie.
The tree shivered. Ching-ching-chang! Harsh tinkles threatened to rip leaf buds off.
The mer shifted to fighting stances.
A piercing sensation, like a needlefish, lanced Kadir’s chest. He put his hand over the center of the pain. What was this warning of his doom?
Elyssa jerked her head side to side as though searching for sharks. “This can’t be nor—Kadir!” She stroked his cheeks. Her worried face seemed to ease the pain.
The shivering stopped. The Life Tree’s tinkling echoed to silence.
He recovered and clasped her hand. Her worry only deepened. “It is fine. We will continue.”
Adviser Creo darkened. “No Life Tree has ever made such a strange noise. Brides should be hidden and treasured, not displayed like warriors. Your actions are reckless and dangerous.”
One of his warriors made a face.
Kadir focused on him. “You heard this noise in your old city, Warrior Pelan?”
