by Starla Night
The house guardian yap-yap-yapped as she swam head-first to Elyssa.
At the base of the tower, the loud cave guardian squeal abruptly changed to a lower, more menacing pitch. A giant shadow rose.
Kadir’s gut clenched.
Soren swore. The warriors dropped the fulcrum and scattered.
Elyssa studied the giant cave guardian rising from below.
Tial and Gailen urged her to the ruin. Tial called. “On your guard!”
“Take shelter,” Gailen cried.
She raised her hands, stopping them. “Just a sec.”
No! She had no idea what she was disturbing.
“Elyssa!” Kadir grabbed his trident from the wreckage and flew toward her.
Between them, the cave guardian’s huge form cut her off from Kadir’s vision and he continued to rise, tentacles flowing out like a wall. His body was old and scarred. His huge plus-shaped eyes focused on her. His tentacles curled.
Kadir swooped over top and dropped to her side.
“Hi,” she said, placing one hand on Kadir’s shoulder to keep him from dragging her to safety. “This is awesome.”
His chest jumped. It was awesome in the wrong way. Like a sonic wave moving ahead of a tsunami.
He curled his hand into a fist. If he dragged her away now, the movements could aggravate the cave guardian to deadly rage. His warriors weren’t armed or prepared to take on a mammoth of this size.
His anger sought Tial and Gailen. How dare they allow her to endanger herself?
Both waited where she had ordered them to remain. Exposed. Taut. Ready to do anything to rescue her.
Obeying her orders.
The giant cave guardian stared at her and she stared right back. Fearless. Her chest glowed like the sun and the cave guardian, who was usually violently bad-tempered, hesitated.
“He’s kind of majestic,” she whispered to Kadir. “Like a Clydesdale.”
One wrecking-ball sized tentacle reached out. Cautious, curious. It stopped in front of her and waited.
Behind them, the house guardian’s yap grew louder and angrier.
The mammoth turned a threatening green.
Kadir gripped her arm and kicked, pulling her back slowly.
The cave guardian growled.
“Okay. Everybody chill. Kadir, it’s fine. Benji, here.” Elyssa turned to the rapidly approaching little house guardian and opened her arms. “I’ve got you.”
The house guardian swerved past Elyssa and flew at the huge octopus.
“Wait! No!”
The mammoth shrieked and withdrew his large tentacle. The house guardian did her duty to distract the mammoth. Benji followed the giant tentacle, yap-yap-yapping. The huge tentacle swiped and connected with the house guardian. She flew, turned, and flew at the mammoth again.
The mammoth puffed darkly.
Elyssa kicked forward, breaking out of Kadir’s grasp, and swam directly into the arms of the monster. “Wait!”
“Elyssa, come!” Kadir raised his trident to attack.
The giant cave guardian unfurled its tentacles in a deadly rage.
“Stop!” she shrieked. “All of you. Stop!”
A light flashed next to her ear. The Life Tree flower flew from her hair and floated in front of her. It strobed the ocean.
The flash of light hit him like a physical smack in the center of his chest. Kadir pulled up short. Benji also quieted.
The giant cave guardian reached out a tentacle and touched the flower. It was like a glowing plankton on the tip of the tentacle. The glow faded. The flower returned to a dead, dull white.
She recaptured it, held it in her palms for a moment, and stuck the now glowing, clearly alive blossom once more behind her ear.
Elyssa had brought it back to life once more without even seeming to realize it.
The giant cave guardian kept reaching. His tentacle curled around the small of her back. He drew her forward.
Kadir’s gut clenched again. He fought the instinctual panic. She had true power. The cave guardian recognized it. And Kadir would not begin a fight while she was wrapped in gigantic tentacles.
Soren would. He growled and led the other mer forward in attack.
Kadir barked in warning. “Hold!”
“Seriously, wait,” Elyssa pleaded.
The warriors obeyed.
The cave guardian studied her with his big, plus-sign-shaped black eyes. Small suckers suctioned her skin gently. He turned her and looked at the flower in her hair.
“Hello,” Elyssa said softly.
Benji yapped.
A minor tentacle thumped Benji.
The small orange octopus ducked under Elyssa’s hair and yapped loudly, undeterred. The mammoth gargled. A tentacle thrashed. It missed the small house guardian and hit the wreckage.
The wreckage shuddered and pieces crumbled off.
The warriors jumped. Soren raised his trident in warning to resume the attack.
Kadir lifted his palm. It was too late to intervene. He had to trust in his queen. His warriors once more stopped.
The mammoth hit another chunk of wreckage. More pieces broke off.
The warriors tightened on their tridents.
“Please stop that,” she told the mammoth. “We’re trying to get the Sea Opals out safely.”
The giant curled his tentacles around themselves.
“If you open that room, we’ll take what we find inside and go away for awhile.”
Abruptly, the giant cave guardian released her. He floated back. His song rose to calmer scratches.
Now. Kadir surged beneath the raging tentacles, grabbed her in his arms, and flew her to safety. Tial and Gailen flew around him. They reached Soren’s warriors in defensive battle formation, tridents out.
Kadir held her tight. His arms were shaking. “Never again.”
She looked dazed. Her cheeks were red and her eyes glowed. “Huh?”
“Never.” One hand still clenched his wicked silver trident. The other hand slid around the back of her neck and hauled her mouth to his. “Mine.”
Their lips meshed. She opened her lips. He thoroughly possessed her. His tongue stroked hers. Heat pulsed in his cock. Their heartbeats synced, hers speeding up as his slowed down, to meet in a steady, unstoppable rhythm.
His kiss branded her.
She welcomed it.
He lifted his mouth. Her chest glowed with his possession. He lowered his arm to her waist and held her tight.
While they focused on each other, the giant cave guardian floated past them. His tentacle curled around the lever. He smashed like a giant fist into the ruin.
The walls collapsed inward with a terrifying groan. Mer, fish, guardians scattered. Dust poofed and debris swirled in a blinding cloud.
Kadir’s throat closed. His guard formed a defensive perimeter around them.
The giant cave guardian suspended in front of them as though he was waiting for something.
“What do you want?” Kadir demanded.
“Oh. I think I know. He wants to be thanked. Um, thank you,” she told the giant guardian. “That was very helpful.”
He shimmered a satisfied red color and ebbed away.
She truly did have the power of communication.
The dust settled. They all crept close to the dark hole. Even the cave guardian peered in.
Kadir kept Elyssa close by him. He would not release her from his arms a second time. Never again.
“Did we find treasure?” she asked hopefully.
Soren and Lotar were closest. They squinted. Shadows moved inside, and sudden awareness changed their expressions to horror. They shoved away. Out and down.
“Needlefish!” Soren shouted.
Kadir’s heart kicked in his chest.
Hundreds of long, skinny fish with serrated beaks erupted from the hole.
Elyssa frowned and held out her hands in a warding gesture. She closed her eyes.
What was she doing? Kadir slammed into her. T
ial and Gailen hit a moment later. She jostled and her eyes opened. “Wait. I’m trying to summon—”
Knives stabbed Kadir’s body with piercing agony. He roared. Beside him, Tial and Gailen both jerked with impacts.
The needlefish dispersed. The giant guardian followed and scooped handfuls of the escaping fish into its beak.
Pain lanced his shoulders, back, and torso. Kadir checked her. “Are you injured?”
Elyssa looked troubled. “No, I’m fine.”
“Good.” Agony closed him in its fist. He collapsed.
Chapter Twenty-Three
The deep blue ocean wheeled overhead. His body was numb. He floated in and out of consciousness.
Soren’s face was set. So serious. He was striving for some goal. Kadir floated helplessly in his arms. Why?
Ocean again…
Kadir struggled to open his eyes. His queen. Where was she? “Elyssa—” Sharp pain pierced Kadir’s body. He spasmed.
Numbness. Flashes of light. Ocean again…
Elyssa’s sweet voice, taut with nerves. “Stay with me.”
Stay with me.
Yes. He would stay with his queen. Of course he would do this. She must stay with him. Do not go to the shore. Do not disappear. She was the reason he had flown so far…
He forced his eyes open once more. Now, he rested in the heart chamber. His body was numb again. No, he was not numb enough. A heavy weight crushed his torso. His chest and shoulders were bound tightly with sea cloth.
Elyssa’s voice sounded.
Kadir turned his head.
Everything whited out. Pain so sharp it was ripping him in half…it eased. He focused.
Another mer. Dark red tattoos. Elyssa was talking with Balim.
“Are you sure this is okay? A hole in your heart doesn’t just go away. He needs surgery.”
“He will heal. And he was lucky. The needlefish only nicked his heart.”
“If you say so.” She moved to Kadir and softened. She brushed his hair from his forehead. “Hey. Welcome back.”
“Where did I—”
White pain again. It stole his words and his thought. He stared at Elyssa’s profile until she came into focus again.
She winced. “Don’t talk. I mean, not more than you have to. I’ll talk enough for both of us.”
“Remain still.” Balim appeared over her shoulder in the tiny room. “You took five strikes and are much injured.”
“But he’ll make a full recovery, right?”
Balim hesitated. “Of course, my queen.”
Curse it all. Kadir stared at the ceiling. Even moving his eyeballs hurt. He closed his eyes. How long until he made the recovery?
He had never been full strength around Elyssa. They had barely tried to make young fry. She must leave for the surface. Her people. Would she return? Had this final accident frightened her beyond reason? Anyone would understand if she chose to stay away. He was a failed husband. He could not protect her or join with her. She had many reasons to wish not to return.
Elyssa caressed his brow. “I’m so sorry.”
Even her kindness hurt.
“That is a bruise,” Balim said.
“Ah!” Her hand withdrew. “Sorry. Sorry.”
And she used the forbidden word. Her touch hurt, but he preferred her near him, touching him, than far away, alone.
“I’ll just look,” she said, seeming to hear his unspoken desire. “I’ll be right here.”
His chest eased.
His aches increased.
Soren’s voice rumbled from the hall. “My king. I know you would want to know right away. We did not find Sea Opals. The room was empty.”
All for nothing. His injury. The warriors’ uncertainty. Kadir pressed his lips together.
“We will search again,” Soren growled. “All the rooms. Until we have found them.”
Yes. Good.
“But not before Elyssa has to go to the surface,” Balim said, the dispassionate voice of reason. “Say your goodbyes.”
He opened his eyes.
No. She must not leave him. Not when he was vulnerable like this. Not now.
Do not leave.
Elyssa floated above Kadir. She was as close as possible without actually touching him. Her liquid eyes shone so brightly. His pain eased. She would not leave—
“I’ll go as fast as I can,” she said, glowing eagerly. “I’ll explain about the Sea Opals. Aya will understand.”
She was escaping him. Eagerly escaping him. To go to the surface.
To return to her people.
And he had no choice. It was his duty as king to let her go.
Just like the old covenant.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Elyssa was supposed to be in Kadir’s arms, flying to the Van Cartier Cosmetics platform to see Aya.
Instead, she was forced to wear a harness that was dragged by four mer warriors and one surly Soren.
They were trying not to touch her. She got that. And she was still slow. She’d barely practiced with her new fins.
But if she had to hear one more time how badly she was to blame for Kadir’s injury, she was going to strangle the beefy male with the harness cable like Princess Leia strangled Jabba the Hut in Return of the Jedi.
“You should not have wandered off, you should not have dismissed your guard, and you should not have ordered a cave guardian to attack the ruins,” he told her, for the five hundredth time, when it was his turn to drag her.
She bit her lip. He was right. But she had already apologized. What else did he want?
“The old brides never left the city. Consider your short-comings. You should have taken more care.”
These mid-ocean currents were supposed to be the fastest route to the surface platform, but from her perspective, they were not fast enough.
“You know you are not the brightest bride.”
That was it.
“Fine, Soren, I shouldn’t have done all those things. I’m very, very sorry. Are you happy now?”
“No. You do not mean your words.”
She was going to strangle Soren with her bare hands. If only she could get her hands around his thick neck.
“I wish you were not here now,” he said.
“You know what? I feel the same way about you.”
He stiffened.
“I wish I was swimming with Kadir. I wanted to show him off and tell Aya all about our new life together. I wish you had gotten injured instead!”
Soren rounded on her, growling with fury. “He was injured because of you!”
She kicked forward, facing him head-on. “I know that!”
“And still you think you did nothing wrong?”
“I’m not saying that.”
The other mer quickly formed a barricade between her and the enraged black-tattooed warrior.
Yes, she was to blame. She had seen the amazing giant octopus and all she’d thought about was meeting him up close. She hadn’t meant to frighten everyone.
Then, when the needlefish flew out of the wreckage, she had tried to summon the Life Tree to form a protective barrier. Lucy could make one, so why not Elyssa? But just when she thought one might be forming, her warriors had slammed into her. She’d startled and lost her concentration. Everyone suffered.
She should have forgotten the barrier and just gotten out of the way.
“I wish I would have done everything differently.” Tears pricked her eyes. She fought through them. “And if I’d known that ‘Octopus Kong’ would smash through the side of the tower, I would have chosen my words more carefully. So you know what? You can take a hike, you big hulk.” She struggled with the harness. “I’ll swim the rest of the way myself.”
Iyen intervened. “We must make speed.”
Even her desire to show up Soren was thwarted. She wasn’t going to take it out on Iyen. She crossed her arms. “Fine.”
Soren shoved free of the harness. Iyen shouldered it and pulled steady and hard. Soren fl
oated back to growl at her.
“I do not know what this ‘hike’ is, but I have no desire to take it. I will do my duty here. Even if it is protecting a selfish woman who I do not like.”
He swam ahead.
She shouted at his broad back. “I don’t like you either!”
The ocean passed by really fast after that. Even though she couldn’t get out of the harness, she kicked because she was enraged. The other warriors fell behind. Maybe they were afraid of her now and trying to give her space. Well, good! Soren might get lost. See how he liked that!
Too bad that didn’t solve her real problem.
Because honestly, he was right. Aya wouldn’t have been so stupid. Gailen and Tial had tried to keep Elyssa from exciting the cave guardian. Both were recovering with needlefish injuries in their arms and legs, but neither were hurt as severely as Kadir.
And he was already recovering. How much more hurt could he take?
Iyen reduced his speed to swim close to her. “Queen Elyssa. Do not become so angry at Soren that you do not return to Atlantis.”
What?
Iyen and Pelan were watching her with concern. Lotar was too far ahead.
She was going to leave because of a fight with Soren? Really? Was that what they thought?
“Don’t worry,” she assured them. “I’m not going to leave because of one jerk. I wouldn’t give him the satisfaction.”
And anyway, if she judged the whole of Atlantis by a few outliers, she’d have to kick that adviser guy in the tail fins too.
They were still regarding her cautiously.
“What’s up?” she asked. “Am I ‘swimming angry’? Or did I get ‘dim’ or something?”
They shook their heads.
“No.” Iyen’s maroon tattoos moved as he flexed. The cable between them remained slack as she kicked her fool fins off. “Your light brightened since your fight.”
So, fighting brought out the bright lights in her. No shocker there. Her desk never got organized until after she’d had a good fight. This one with Soren probably built up a healthy glow.
“It is impressive,” Ciran said, kicking hard behind her. “Most warriors find it easier to face down ten bull sharks than Soren. He is a powerful warrior. Yet, you only glowed brighter to match his. Do you not fear him?”
