Thor left directly after they’d eaten. Alexis supposed he had business to attend to, but she had a hard time envisioning it.
She spent a good bit of the day pacing. She wasn’t accustomed to having nothing at all to do. Television would have been welcome. She could have stared at it mindlessly for hours. Unfortunately, that didn’t appear to be a modern marvel Atlanteans were terribly interested in. She supposed, considering their location, that it was just as well they weren’t. She couldn’t imagine the reception would be very good here.
She found books, and was actually excited for about two seconds, until she discovered they were written in a language she couldn’t begin to decipher.
The alphabet didn’t even look familiar.
There were other books in other languages, but she was no linguist. She couldn’t say more than a few words in French and Spanish combined, and she couldn’t read either one of them. The only books she found in English was the translation of Alexandre Dumas’ THE THREE MUSKETEERS and a book of mathematics.
She’d already read the classic three times and she had no use for the mathematics.
She’d discovered—small wonder—that there had been a communication glitch between her and Moira. She was not supposed to appear before the council again for almost a week.
So she had a week to figure out how to get out of Atlantis.
Easier said than done.
For one thing, Moira was in the house even if Thor wasn’t. Moira might not be much for vocalizing, but that didn’t mean she’d have any trouble at all with telepathy.
If she left the house to think, then anyone nearby might ‘hear’ her plans. She had no way of knowing what sort of distance limitations telepathy might have.
Finally, just after lunch, Moira left with a basket that suggested she might be heading to the market.
Alexis sat down to plot a strategy.
Probably the simplest thing to try, if not the easiest, was to see if she could steal a boat, or possibly beg a ride on one. There were several problems that immediately presented themselves regarding the last. For all she knew there wasn’t a soul in Atlantis who couldn’t instantly identify her. Then there was the minor little problem that she was not telepathic, and therefore could not communicate. The minute she had to open her mouth, even if they didn’t recognize her, they’d know she wasn’t from Atlantis.
She wondered if there was such a thing as a mute around here. Somehow, she doubted it.
As for stealing a boat, or even trying to get a ride in one, unless Aurora had lied to her, the boat probably wouldn’t do her any good.
Getting her hands on a boat, however, was the only way she could think of to test Aurora’s veracity.
Allowing them to erase her memory simply wasn’t an option, even if it might be the path of least resistance.
So, if she managed to steal a boat and sailed round and round Atlantis and discovered there was no way out without a submarine, her options dwindled considerably.
That left giving in to the memory drain, or convincing some Atlantean to take her.
It was a shame Adonis had been banished.
Of course he was the one who’d gotten her into this mess to start with, bringing her here instead of taking her somewhere in the outside world where she would’ve stood a chance of finding her way home.
And he had used his native powers to put a whammy on her only for the purpose of seducing her … which was probably why he’d rescued her, then brought her here to start with.
But, since he’d broken the law to bring her she didn’t think he would’ve quailed at the idea of breaking another one by taking her away again.
Alexis sighed deeply, regretfully laying aside the possibility of finding another Atlantean willing to take her out of Atlantis.
Of the handful she’d met, Helen was probably the only one that she would’ve had any possibility of convincing, and then only because Helen simply didn’t want her around. Which meant she couldn’t trust Helen.
So, it was the boat or nothing.
She went to the kitchen and gathered a few edibles. She didn’t know how long she might be traveling and she had no money … or whatever Atlanteans used for commerce.
After she’d collected the food, wrapped it in a cloth and placed it in a basket, she went upstairs to find a place to hide it.
She decided on the bedroom at the very opposite end of the house from Thor’s room. The farther, the better, and the least likely, she reasoned, that Thor might pick up on her thoughts.
She would simply inform Moira that she would be sleeping in that bedroom for the rest of her stay, wait until the house was quiet and everyone was asleep, and then she would leave and carry out her plan.
By evening, Alexis was suffering from nervous exhaustion. She’d made several attempts to explain to Moira her desire to move to the other bedroom. None of them had been successful. Finally, she had desisted. It didn’t matter. Moira was just the maid. It was none of her business, and, at any rate, as far as Alexis could tell, she hadn’t managed to get her intentions across so Moira would be none the wiser.
It seemed damned strange to Alexis, however, that Moira couldn’t read her mind as easily as Thor, and everyone else seemed to do.
She suspected Moira was playing stupid.
She was doing a damn good job at it.
It was well into the evening when Alexis began to think that Thor wouldn’t be coming back. She was tempted to leave then. Moira was still in the house as far as she knew, but even if Moira questioned her, she could say she’d just decided to take a walk.
On the other hand, if Thor did show up, Moira would be right there to tell him Alexis had left and hadn’t come back and that could shorten her lead time substantially.
She finally decided just to take a nap. Resting first would give her a better chance of success, otherwise exhaustion was bound to catch up with her.
She didn’t think she’d be able to sleep, but, doubtless because she’d spent all day in a state of nerves, she was so exhausted she was asleep within minutes.
She woke to a touch—wide awake.
She lay still for a moment, wondering, at first, what had awakened her.
She didn’t have to wait long to find out. Without a word, Thor scooped her into his arms and headed for his bedroom.
Alexis was torn. Should she pretend to still be sleeping? Or would it be better to protest now?
But, if she wasn’t with him, she’d only be able to guess when he’d gone to sleep.
Still, it went against the grain just to allow him to high-handedly decide what she could, and couldn’t do.
Well, she decided as he entered his room and placed her on his bed, he needn’t think he was going to get a repeat performance of the previous night!
To her irritation, he didn’t even try. He merely laid down beside her, pulled her against him and went straight to sleep.
She felt like clobbering him.
He might at least have given her the opportunity to snub him!
To her surprise, and despite her irritation, she drifted back to sleep.
She woke sometime later to the soft, rhythmic snores that told her Thor was dead to the world.
Unfortunately, he had one arm and leg flung over her.
She tried rolling away.
His arm tightened.
She gritted her teeth, forced herself to relax.
When she’d counted to a hundred and he still appeared to be asleep, she lifted his arm carefully and wriggled her upper body across the bed, turning onto her back so that she could place his arm on the pillow where she’d been lying.
She rested for a couple of minutes, deciding his arm must way fifty pounds. Lord only knew what that leg pinning her to the bed would weigh.
It was across her hips and she discovered fairly quickly that she could not sit up. She tried scooting upward on the bed, but met an immovable object, the headboard.
She stopped, panting with exertion.
After a few moments, she decided maybe she could crawl out from under his leg.
She twisted, gripped the sheets, pulling herself, wriggling away inch by cautious inch until she’d freed her hips and his leg lay only across her legs.
Bending, she tried to lift his leg. She only needed to lift it up enough, she reasoned, to relieve the pressure.
She’d no more than gripped his leg, however, when something settled against her butt. She felt—something—nudging the cleft—his nose. He’d planted his face right in her ass.
Alexis was afraid to move for several moments. She tried, a little frantically, to wiggle away. The face/nose followed her, as if it was glued to her.
She stopped moving, trying to decide if she’d moved far enough to get her legs, or at least one of them, out from under him. Unfortunately, she was almost doubled over by now and her own body prevented her from lifting her knee high enough to remove her uppermost leg.
She twisted, looking behind her.
Yes. It was definitely his head. She wondered that he wasn’t suffocating, considering how firmly he was planted.
If she grasped a handful of hair, she could almost certainly dislodge him, but that would probably wake him. She placed a palm on his forehead, pushing gently. His head barely moved. Jesus! His head was like a lead weight! Was there any part of this man that didn’t weigh a freaking ton!
She collapsed against the bed, thinking.
Finally, she decided to try to hold his head up enough that she could turn over. Once she was facing him maybe she could move him.
She’d broken a sweat by the time she managed to maneuver onto her other side so that she was facing him. She discovered, however, that she couldn’t let go of his head. Each time she tried to release him, he planted his face in her crotch.
She lay still for several moments, staring down at the back of his head. She was too far up on the pillows by now to have much leverage. She lifted his head and wiggled down the bed until she was at a better angle to grasp his shoulder and roll him, hopefully, in the other direction.
No sooner had she planted her palm against his shoulder than he lifted his arm, the one it had taken her twenty minutes to move, and dropped it across her once more.
Alexis gritted her teeth. She realized that she now knew what the rabbit felt like when he encountered tar baby.
She became aware, suddenly, that Thor’s shoulder was shaking.
Infuriated, she popped him on the shoulder. “You ass! How long have you been awake?”
He looked up at her, innocent eyed. “What?”
“Don’t you even try to pretend you’ve been asleep, you ass!”
He came up on his elbow, studied her for several moments. “Did you have somewhere to go?”
Wariness immediately replaced Alexis’ irritation. “The bathroom,” she said feebly.
He released her.
Alexis stalked into the bathroom and slammed the door.
She planted herself on the ‘throne’, sulking, but she didn’t dare think anything. That ass was listening to her every thought. Her eyes narrowed as she stared at the tiled floor.
Finally, knowing it wasn’t safe even to consider options, she returned to the bedroom. “I believe I would prefer to sleep down the hall,” she said coldly.
Thor merely stared at her, saying nothing.
Alexis stalked from the room and down the hall.
She was still staring angrily at the ceiling when Thor entered the room, crawled into bed beside her as if he’d been invited, pulled her up against him and went to sleep.
She sulked through breakfast the following morning, pretending she was alone.
But she could feel Thor’s gaze.
Finally, he pushed his chair back and rose, extending his hand. “Come.”
Alexis looked at his hand. “Where?” she asked warily.
“I will show you my home.”
Alexis gave him a look. “I’ve seen it, thank you.”
Thor smiled faintly. “I meant Atlantis.”
“Oh.” Alexis looked at him suspiciously, but to save her life she didn’t see any sign in either his expression or his eyes that he had an ulterior motive.
She was really tempted to spurn his offer after what he’d done the night before, but the truth was she was sick of being cooped up. And, of course, she’d been wanting to see Atlantis.
She ignored his hand and stood up. “I’m not really dressed for public,” she pointed out, blushing when Thor surveyed her gossamer clothing with a slow thoroughness that produced a lot more heat than that blossoming in her cheeks.
“None will see you.”
Alexis was trying, not very successfully, to ignore the heat in his eyes and her body’s automatic reaction to it. “How do you plan to manage that?”
He moved toward her until they were standing toe to toe. Alexis looked up at him questioningly. He tucked his forefinger beneath her chin, leaned forward until his lips were almost brushing hers. “Trust me.”
Alexis’ eyes had begun to drift shut as he leaned toward her. She stared at his lips a moment, lifted her gaze to his.
He stepped back, took her hand in his. Alexis didn’t resist as he led her up the stairs and on to the rooftop deck. She didn’t protest as he took her arms and put them around his neck, then pulled her against him, folding his arms tightly around her.
She screamed bloody murder when he leapt from the deck into space, squeezing her eyes tightly shut. Her arms tightened around his neck as she braced herself for impact.
“I must tell you that if you continue choking me, I may well pass out and then we will surely fall.”
Alexis loosened her grip infinitesimally and opened one eye a crack. She didn’t know whether to be relieved or more terrified when she discovered Thor had shifted, sprouting the wings of a great bird. She closed her eye again as she saw Atlantis drop away beneath them.
“You will not see much if you keep your eyes squeezed so tightly shut.”
Alexis was too terrified to find her tongue.
After a few moments, Thor looked down at her. “Alexis?”
“What?” Alexis said faintly.
“Are you truly frightened?”
“I’m t-truly t-terrified,” Alexis stammered, shaking all over by now as if she’d just stepped from a deep freezer. She thought she might be ill when Thor dropped suddenly toward earth. “Oh god!” she gasped, expecting to hit the ground any moment.
It was several moments after they stopped before Alexis summoned the nerve to open her eyes. When she did, she saw that Thor had landed, although he’d made no attempt to pry her loose.
She found she had to will her arms to release their death grip on his neck. When she finally managed to let go, her legs were so weak her knees gave out. Thor caught her, then sat, pulling her into his lap.
Alexis didn’t protest. She wasn’t able to. After a while, however, she ceased to shake except for an occasional tremor. She lifted her head finally, looked around and discovered they had left the city. Around them were terraced fields. Thor had taken a seat on a low stone wall that seemed to run for miles in either direction.
She saw when she looked at Thor that he was studying her, a look of concern on his features. “I don’t like heights.”
“I did not know.”
Alexis’ smile was a little lopsided. “You didn’t ask.”
He frowned. “It was wrong of me. I should have realized—you are not like us.”
Alexis discovered an unexpected wobble in her chin. “No,” she said, trying desperately not to cry like a baby just because he’d scared the living daylights out of her.
He pulled her close, hugging her tightly. “I am a fool, but I did not frighten you on purpose. On my honor, I would never harm you.”
Alexis sniffed, regaining control with an effort. “I didn’t think that.”
He pulled a little away, studied her face. “Forgive me?”
Alexis uttered a sound half way between a
chuckle and a sob. “Only if you promise not to do that again.”
Thor lifted his hand, caressing her cheek. “On my life, I swear it.” He smoothed her hair and then slid his hand down, stroking her back. “Alexis?”
“Hmm?”
“I could take this fear from you.”
Alexis sat up. “What do you mean?”
He touched her forehead. “Here. I could take it.”
Alexis pulled away, slid off his lap. She found she was still a little shaky, but she could stand. “No.”
His look was puzzled. “You wish to keep it?”
Alexis shook her head. “Not particularly, but I also don’t want anyone messing with my mind.”
She could tell he didn’t understand. Why would he? It was obvious Atlanteans thought nothing of tampering with people’s memories, their will—they were accustomed to control, and self-control. How could they understand that someone like her would find that abhorrent?
Thor looked away. “We are so different then?”
For some reason Alexis didn’t understand, and didn’t want to analyze, his comment saddened her. “We are.”
Thor looked as if he might say something else, but instead he stood, looking around at the fields. “The canal is that way,” he said, pointing.
Alexis lifted her brows.
“If we are not to fly, then I must find another way to show you Atlantis.”
* * * *
They had been following the canal for almost an hour when a pole barge came into view. Thor hailed the pilot and he poled over to the stone rim of the man-made canal. Thor leapt into the barge and turned, grasping Alexis around the waist and swinging her down.
When they reached the city of Oceanus, they thanked the man and climbed onto the quay.
Alexis’ fright had driven any thought regarding her indecent clothing from her mind until she began to notice, as Thor guided her around the town, showing her the sights, that most of the people they passed turned to stare at them.
Uncomfortable as she was, she still thought it a bit odd. She couldn’t see that she was dressed any more daringly than anyone else.
“It is because you are beautiful.”
Startled, Alexis looked up at Thor.
“They look because you are beautiful.”
Atlantium Trilogy I: Bride of Atlantis Page 7
