by Starla Night
He counted everyone. His work crew was there, and Balim. Kadir sheltered Elyssa. Gailen and Ciran were watching the clouds for them.
Gailen saw Soren and laughed shakily. He rubbed his pepper-orange tattooed head. “The next time you will raise the city, tell us! I almost inked myself. So to speak.”
Ciran kicked to them. His gaze was on Aya, curled around Soren. “You are uninjured?”
She nodded and brushed her hair out of her eyes. “I didn’t think it would be so sudden. Sorry.”
Kadir laughed and coughed. “The same thing happened the first time. We were struggling and then the ground shifted and we were two clicks higher, choking in dust, and the megalodon had turned away.”
That reminded Soren. He rounded on Ciran and Gailen. “You are reckless! The next time you wish to fly after a megalodon, come to this wreck and work instead.”
They both looked chagrined.
“Did you learn anything useful?”
Their expressions said no.
“We confirmed the attackers are waiting for something,” Ciran said.
“You do not know what?”
“The lure made an effort to entice the megalodon away, but it would not turn aside until the noise of the rising city disturbed it.”
Sobering thoughts. If Balim’s reading was right, they had one more stage to raise.
“At least we know now for sure we can raise or lower the city as an anti-megalodon defense,” Queen Elyssa said. “Great! We can just keep doing that to get rid of the megalodon, withstand raiders, and then wait for the All-Council representative to arrive! He’ll declare us a city, and then no one can attack.”
Balim cleared his throat. “There is a slight problem.”
Everyone looked at him.
“I have reviewed the engineering schematics. Every time a tier rises, it locks into place. I believe the mechanism for releasing the locks was on the human side.”
“The destroyed human side,” Aya clarified.
He nodded.
“Then we only have one more time when we can raise the city and deter the megalodon.”
He nodded again.
“We just wasted one of our three shots. Three tiers, three shots.”
“I was tasked with raising the city, not with lowering it again.” He rolled his lips and shrugged one shoulder. “I did not analyze that portion of the schematic.”
Everyone digested his announcement.
Aya pinched the bridge of her nose. Queen Elyssa hugged Kadir. He stroked her shoulders, wordlessly comforting her. His other hand rested on her belly.
Soren was always going to fight to the end. This changed nothing.
A terrible, off-tone, gargling wail grew louder, rising from the depths as the debris settled.
Ah. They had disturbed the cave guardian.
“Ooh! Aya, come over here.” Queen Elyssa untangled from Kadir with an excited kiss and motioned for Aya to join her.
Aya pushed off of Soren.
He tightened his grip.
She stopped and met his gaze. “Am I in danger?”
“The cave guardian can crush you into paste.”
“Then I won’t get too close.” Her lips twisted in a sardonic smile and she pressed a secret kiss to his hard jaw. “I don’t let too many things hold me like this.”
His belly pinged with awareness and his cock pulsed.
Satisfied, she pushed free and swam to Elyssa. Her fins unfurled like a red lace dress.
He swam to Kadir’s side. They watched the women from an uncomfortable distance as a lurking shadow rose from the dusky depths, emerging from a broken hole in the city. Warriors approaching too close made the mammoth cave guardian nervous.
Across the way, Queen Elyssa was introducing the guardian. “This is Octopus Kong. He lives in the cave below the ruins. He’s probably coming to chastise us for disturbing his peaceful Sunday.”
“Is it Sunday?” Aya asked, holding back at what Soren considered an unsafe, although better than Queen Elyssa, distance.
“Who knows?”
The mammoth cave guardian’s awful song changing to screeches. It coiled one massive tentacle around Queen Elyssa and dragged her close to its huge cross-shaped eyes.
“Whoah. Hello there. You are one giant Pacific Octopus.”
“And we’re not even in the Pacific,” Aya murmured.
“This makes me nervous,” Soren commented.
Kadir huffed a laugh and crossed his arms over his chest. “What can you do?”
“Put a stop to it,” he growled.
The mammoth unleashed another tentacle toward Aya.
She kicked back. “Excuse me.”
It curled around her hands, legs, and hair.
Aya jerked away. “Stop that. Down.”
“Aw, he’s just trying to get to know you,” Queen Elyssa called. “It’s how octopi communicate. They taste you through their suckers.”
“He can look at me and guess.”
“Let him give you a little hug.”
“Absolutely not.” Aya kicked free of another tentacle and stood tall. “I only hug in a professional capacity.”
A tentacle crept around her shoulder from behind.
She jolted and her chest flashed. The tentacle flew away from her. A space appeared around her body, a sphere of light nothing could penetrate. “You will respect me.”
The cave guardian released Queen Elyssa and withdrew its tentacles in surprise.
Had she just used her power against the cave guardian?
Octopus Kong finished its exploration and dropped, uncoiling its tentacles from Aya with gentle grace. It gargled down to the lower depths and receded into the background noise of the ocean.
“Come on.” Queen Elyssa tugged Aya’s arm. “Let’s go apologize.”
“I have nothing to apologize for.”
“Octopi are useful, you know. These guys are formidable against sharks.”
The women headed after the cave guardian.
Ciran and Gailen waited beside Soren, indecisive about going after them. No warrior could catch a cave guardian on the move. Soren thought the women would be back shortly alone.
“How was the health of the lure?” he asked. “The youth from Dragon Mar. Did he seem strong enough to keep the megalodon away?”
Ciran and Gailen both frowned. Ciran shook his head and Gailen answered. “It was no youth from Dragon Mar.”
“Outside Dragon Mar,” he said. “An outsider promised citizenship if he performed the task.”
They shook their heads more firmly.
“That is the wrong region. We were not going to say anything.” Gailen looked uncomfortably at Nilun and Pelan on the work crew. “But the youth was from Zoan’s city.”
Nilun and Pelan shifted closer together. They were friends. Close friends with Zoan.
There were definitely two megalodons.
Kadir caught his eye. His grim expression told Soren he had understood everything.
Megalodon.
It didn’t have the same ring as merman warrior. The same chill. The same eerie, unearthly sucking teeth-studded nightmare. The tense nervousness of water fleas jumped under his skin again. He wished, for a second time, Aya would go to the surface.
“Raiders!” someone shouted.
He jolted. Two distant specks flew down from above, heading toward them.
“Tridents!” Soren shouted. “Defend the Life Tree and the castle!”
Aya and Queen Elyssa emerged from the ruin.
His mer moved.
Soren grabbed Aya and shouted at Kadir. “Take your queen!”
Queen Elyssa was already reaching her hand out to Kadir. Her gaze fixed upward on the specks. “Wait, Kadir. Something’s odd about them.”
Kadir waited beside his wife. “What is it?”
“They’re not raiders. I think it’s Lucy and Torun.”
Chapter Twenty-Five
The warriors of Atlantis held a welcome feast for the new arrivals.
&
nbsp; Despite the dangers, it warmed Aya’s heart to see familiar faces.
“I am Torun.” The proud warlord lifted his chin and puffed out his broad, muscular chest. Gold tattoos scrolled across his body and his skin had the bluish sheen of the warriors in the Caribbean. “I have felled trench fish and giant squid. In Sireno, I was a warlord. I trained many youths in combat. Please accept me into your city.”
The warriors regarded him with silence.
He nodded once, a satisfied smile curving his lips, and quietly urged his bride to make her speech. Lucy hid her face behind her hand, communicating with him about something. He tucked a lock of brown hair behind her ear and nuzzled her.
Aya rested between Elyssa and Soren.
Torun should have been the king of Sireno in the Gulf of Mexico. But he had fallen for Lucy, a modern bride, and broken the sacred covenant. Lucy had rescued him from a brutal punishment, and after a series of adventures – including surviving an attack by Blake—they fled to the surface. They had lived with Lucy’s parents until coming to Atlantis so Lucy could have her baby at a Life Tree.
It was nice not to be the newcomer anymore. Eyes were no longer drawn to Aya. Everyone was mesmerized by a sight perhaps none of them had ever seen before, because in the old cities, the brides were always kept locked up in the castles of their husbands — a pregnant woman.
“Thanks for having us.” Lucy glowed, one hand cupping her ginormous belly, and the other hand linked in her husband Torun’s grip. “It’s so nice to be in a city that wants us. Especially since we can’t go back to Sireno. Hi.”
She waved her fingers at Pelan.
He reddened, his skin tone approaching the same color as half his tattoos. Torun also nodded, recognizing the warrior from his former home.
“We’re thrilled to share this joyous time with you. I hope it’s the first of many in this new city. Which, Elyssa tells me, is soon to be recognized by the All-Council. I’m so excited to join you and help make it happen.”
Aya leaned forward and murmured to Elyssa. “They make thirty-seven. Who else are you expecting?”
“Thirty-nine.”
Huh? Oh! Ohhh. “Twins?”
Elyssa nodded.
It still left them short from the number necessary for official All-Council recognition. “Any chance it’s triplets?”
Elyssa grinned and rested her arm over her own belly. King Kadir glanced at her and curved his arm around her shoulders, tipping his head to rest against hers.
They would bring another life into the world too. But not before their enemies attacked. Because their population was too low, there was no point in requesting an emergency All-Council representative review to grant them early city status.
“I hope you’ll all sign up for my new dating site when it’s finished.” Lucy beamed. “Oh! And, we’re returning your Sea Opals.”
A shocked murmur went through the crowd.
Ah. So enough time had passed that that particular bomb of Aya’s had gone off.
Elyssa leaned back and murmured to Aya. “I thought all the company’s assets were frozen from my lawsuit. How did Lucy pull that off?”
Aya bit her lip.
Lucy opened the bag. “Courtesy of Aya…”
Everyone’s gaze swung to her.
Elyssa stared at Aya in shock. “How?”
It had been, complicated, but obviously all the pieces came together because here they were.
Usually mermen gave their Sea Opal jewel to their sacred bride. But to secure the exclusive trade contract and interest investors, Aya had negotiated for a hundred Sea Opals in exchange for each bride. She hadn’t realized that the Atlantis Life Tree was too young. Established cities such as Sireno had ancient Life Trees that had already produced mountains of gems. But the warriors who had escaped their home cities to join Atlantis had only each brought one: the personal gemstone they hoped to give their own bride.
“Considering how we broke our end of the agreement, I thought it wasn’t right for Van Cartier Cosmetics to hold onto the Sea Opals.”
They would only arrive if Aya wasn’t on the surface taking other action to make it right. Such as running another bride pageant.
Lucy continued. “These showed up outside my door a week before we left. I almost didn’t open it. It was this weird, huge, unmarked FedEx box. I thought my parents ordered a new fridge.” Lucy opened the bag and handed it to the closest warrior — Faier—to find his jewel and pass the bag on. “Now you’ll have something to give to the woman you fall in love with. Okay. That’s the end of my speech.”
Lucy smiled anxiously and tucked her hair behind her ear. Torun stood ramrod straight, his gold-tattooed fins hanging beneath him.
King Kadir lifted his hand. “You are both welcome in our city.”
Elyssa waved them over. “Sit here! I have to ask you so many questions.”
Lucy paddled, frowned, and a second later her fins half-unfurled. She shook them, frustrated. They were a creamy, flesh-tone ombre from dark tan to cream. She tugged Torun, and he flew her in harmony over to their location. Elyssa scooted so Lucy could float right next to her, and Torun floated by Aya.
“Hello,” Aya greeted him cheerfully. “How was your trip?”
“Aya. I am glad to see you well.”
“Still cold in my soul light?”
Torun was the one who had evaluated her the week before the bride pageant and declared her light to be cold, off-putting, and unattractive. She’d appreciated his honesty and still did.
He eyed her from the side. “You seem warmer.”
She pressed her hands to her chest. “I don’t feel any different.”
“No? Perhaps I was mistaken before.” He leaned forward. “It is difficult to tell in the air. Underwater, everything is clearer.”
The other warriors caught Torun’s attention to ask about their journey, life on the surface, and other details. Torun greeted the males and they had a low conversation.
Aya rubbed her chest.
She was warmer than before? She had always been warm?
Then…it wasn’t her fault. All the people who abandoned her and rejected her before.
Or being with Soren warmed her so she was easier to get along with. Things had seemed easier since coming to Atlantis. Warriors understood her and gave her the benefit of the doubt. They supported her instead of cutting her down. They were honored to spend time with her.
That was different from the surface.
Aya scooted forward to listen to Elyssa and Lucy. She also had a few questions.
“I know we said March.” Lucy spoke animatedly, hands waving while her brown hair danced around her sparkling brown eyes. “But I keep getting Braxton-Hicks, and we were already at the general coordinates, and I told Torun, let’s get in the water. And then we heard the city rising, and it wasn’t even all that far.”
“Good, good. So Braxton-Hicks are like practice contractions, right? And they could turn into real contractions any time?”
Lucy nodded, accepting a loop of vegetables and biting into the seed. “Mmm. This delicious. Like fava beans and Greek salad and gyros, all in one.”
Aya chewed hers more slowly. She liked the rich, savory slices of fish steaks, but the crunchy coffee-like beans and creamy seeds were also very palatable.
“You have come at a dangerous time,” King Kadir told Torun. “We are expecting judgment by the All-Council. Our enemies may attack before that can happen. And there is risk of not one, but two megalodons.”
The warriors dropped silent at King Kadir’s statement. Aya had heard the news herself on the swim back from the ruin. She hadn’t thought it possible.
“Why two?” she had demanded of Soren angrily. “Isn’t one enough? Two is overkill.”
“It is a nod to ancient times,” he said grimly. “Kadir is invoking ancient legends of humans and mer in harmony to found Atlantis. Some warriors find the legends compelling. Our enemies seek to wipe us from the bottom of the ocean using these s
ame monsters of legend. One would be a message. Two is an annihilation from which there will be no escape — and no one to repeat our folly.”
It wasn’t fair. But they still had the third tier of the city to raise. That noise could scare off two megalodons the same as it scared off one.
That’s what they were all relying on. Whether on patrols, trying to keep the city safe, or eating a welcome feast for a foreign warlord and his very pregnant wife.
“I want to give birth here.” Lucy rested her hands on Torun’s. “Torun says there’s never been a miscarriage or bride’s death in all of your records. I’m sure that’s because you were so close to the Life Tree. And I want our babies to have every possible chance. So, we agreed that we will risk it all to have our babies here.”
Aya couldn’t help asking. “Did you research whether there’s ever been a bride’s death from a megalodon?”
The warriors stiffened.
It wasn’t meant as an insult. It was important data point given their current situation.
Elyssa frowned at her hands.
Lucy focused on Aya. “I didn’t.”
Then, Lucy should be fully aware of what staying in Atlantis meant. “It’s going to be impossible to med-evac you.”
“I am aware.” Lucy smiled. She was not angry or insulted. “We’re facing impossible odds.”
Why wasn’t she scared? Aya rubbed her palms on her thighs. A pregnant woman in Atlantis right now was the worst. Soren, beside her, tensed like a drum. Aya couldn’t think of any way to save them if something went wrong. Her mind flipped around and around. What if, what if, what if?
Lucy continued. “But Torun and I have always faced impossible odds.”
He nodded.
She pointed at Aya. “You have always faced impossible odds. Atlantis has always faced impossible odds. An idea this powerful,” She indicated herself, Elyssa, and Aya, “is terrifying. To a lot of people. All we can do is stand here, survive those impossible odds, and shine our light. And someday, it will shine so bright, no one will be afraid anymore.”
Her wish rang through the castle. Everyone who heard it lifted their heads.
“And that’s why,” she said softly, “I’m going to stay here and fight.”
She was resolute. And powerful.
