by Starla Night
“Her powers work only on her mer.”
Warriors rested Pelan against the Life Tree. Now, they waited.
Queen Elyssa and King Kadir entered the sanctuary. Queen Elyssa glowed with warm welcome, her human eyes twinkling at Balim.
King Kadir lifted his silver-streaked arms, daggers bristling from regal sheaths. “Welcome, future queens of Atlantis, to the—”
“Gaaah!” Young Prince Kael wiggled out of another warrior’s arms and grabbed on to his father’s hair, yanking King Kadir’s head. A huge smile filled his happy baby face. “Gooo!”
King Kadir winced at the tugs and tried to unwind his young fry’s strong grip. “And my son welcomes you also.”
“Come here, you little Sea-Monkey.” Queen Elyssa tickled her young fry. The baby prince squealed and yanked his father’s hair harder. “Oops! Wait, wait, don’t hurt your dada…”
The two parents soon were surrounded by a cluster of warriors with advice on how to get Prince Kael to release his father’s hair.
Zoan, the warrior who took care of the Life Tree and was close friends with Pelan, jangled a Life Tree citizenship seed. “Look what I have for you, Prince Kael. Much more valuable than hair.”
The prince agreed because he let go with both hands and wiggled up to Zoan, his little baby feet kicking and kicking and kicking, until he captured the rattle. Zoan arched his brows at the other warriors, who had gentle envy for his superior child-rearing skills.
Beside Balim, Bella touched her hand to her throat. Was she choking? No, this emotion was different. Her chin wrinkled hard, and her soul light fluctuated.
He pulled her back against his chest, and she melted there. Her soul light steadied. She took comfort from him.
King Kadir smoothed his flowing hair. “Now then, again. Welcome to Atlantis. Let us begin the wedding ceremonies.”
Bella stiffened. The hand at her throat turned to a clutching motion as if someone was choking her and she needed to pull their grip off.
But before she could speak, Pelan’s bride reared her head. “Wedding? No.”
The Life Tree sanctuary grew deathly still. Even Prince Kael quieted.
Queen Elyssa spoke first. “Didn’t Dannika explain what happens at MerMatch?”
“She did, but come on. I can’t marry a man in a coma.”
“Your marriage will bring Pelan back to life.” King Kadir turned to Balim for medical approval.
Balim did not know how to respond.
Pelan’s bride looked between the warriors. “You can’t be serious.”
“The Life Tree responds to important life events,” Queen Elyssa offered, “like birth, marriage, that kind of thing. Kadir’s not wrong.”
“Okay, but marriage is out of the question.”
The warriors rumbled. How could she heal Pelan if she wouldn’t marry him?
“You drank the elixir and kissed,” King Kadir vibrated, giving voice to his warriors’ disgruntlement. “You had the coffee date.”
“Right, exactly.” She rubbed her shadowed eyes. “The instant we met, he said I was his soul mate. We kissed. I saw stars, and I felt like a contestant on The Bachelor.”
“Like a movie star,” Queen Elyssa vibrated, nodding earnestly. “That’s normal. That’s how you know you’ve met your soul mate.”
“But it wasn’t fun. It was all paparazzi. And as we were leaving the coffee shop…” She shuddered and brushed her chest. “Then…”
The rulers stared at her with confusion stamped on their faces.
Then King Kadir turned to Balim. “You have observed her and Warrior Pelan. Are they not destined?”
He didn’t know what to say. “You have remained by Warrior Pelan for so long.”
“But we’ve barely had one coffee. You want me to marry him? I don’t know if he’s even a Knicks fan.” She gripped her short, dark hair. Rebelliousness welled in her expression. Although she no longer wore the dramatic purple lip coloring, black eye outlines, or scuffed jeans she’d preferred on the surface, her fierceness made her soul glow.
Queen Elyssa tilted her head. “Are sports important to you?”
“I don’t know.” Her soul extinguished, and she scrubbed her cheeks. “I’m so tired. I’ve been tired for weeks. I just don’t know.”
“Give her something so she can rest,” King Kadir ordered Balim.
“She has been resting for human weeks. With Warrior Pelan.”
“It wasn’t that restful,” she replied, and the dark rings still under her eyes showed that she spoke the truth. “I lost my job. I had to give up the lease on my apartment. My friends packed my stuff into storage, and I’m pretty sure my ex-roommates helped themselves to my knife set even after I told them not to. And I had to manage it all on ten-minute breaks because otherwise, you freaked out at me for ‘abandoning Pelan in his moment of need.’ I’ve spent the last ‘human weeks’ wondering what the heck’s happened in my life and if I would ever catch up.”
“So you did not focus on Warrior Pelan’s recovery.”
She glared. “For the love of Pete, here I am, aren’t I? I care very much about his recovery.”
“Do not give your love to Pete,” Second Lieutenant Ciran interrupted from the back. “You must love Pelan.”
She raised one brow at Bella. “Am I the crazy one?”
Queen Elyssa lifted quelling hands. “I’ll explain her expression later, but don’t worry, humans can love many people and still know their soul mates.”
Bella looked away.
Her rejection of Queen Elyssa’s statement struck Balim hard, like a trident to the chest.
He did not wish for her to love him more than her Jonah. But would she never love him a little bit?
A healer who had committed murder should not ask such a question.
The warriors grumbled, dissatisfied.
“Humans do not always know their desires,” King Kadir vibrated gruffly. “She cannot see her soul light. Warrior Pelan’s must brighten in her presence.”
But it didn’t.
Warrior Pelan leaned with his back against the silvery base. His soul flickered weakly. He gathered strength from its nearness. But not as much as he should. He was weakening. Getting sicker. Even though he should have resonated with the healing wood.
The Life Tree could not cure Blue Ring…
Balim shuddered.
Bella rested a hand on his arm, a question in her eyes as she glanced back at him. He shook his head to imply it was nothing.
The other warriors muttered amongst themselves. King Kadir had pointed out an unfortunate fact. They had brought Pelan’s bride to Atlantis, and her supposed future husband did not resonate for her.
He had once. Enough to declare them soul mates. His bride had drunk the elixir and transformed.
King Kadir looked to Balim, worry and confusion stamped on his features. “What is the medical explanation?”
“He is ill.”
King Kadir’s gaze darted over the mass of warriors behind them full of hope to claim their brides.
When warriors could only select brides from sacred islands, mismatches caused chaos. But that should not happen now. Atlantis selected brides from modern females on land—so many millions in New York alone—so how could a warrior mistake another for his bride? Balim knew that Bella was his. Pelan must have known when he met his bride, even though he could not explain himself now.
Pelan’s bride rubbed her eyes.
King Kadir focused on her as if he could talk her into sensing resonance. “You must feel in your heart he is your one true warrior.”
She held her forehead in her hands. “To be honest, I’m exhausted. I don’t know what I want.”
“But you must marry.”
She glared.
Balim intervened to stop a riot. “She has healed Pelan all this time. His tenacious illness would dim any soul. Perhaps after she rests, she will know her heart.”
King Kadir glanced back at his disturbed warriors. Althou
gh the decision would be unpopular, he nodded. “Very well. We will postpone their wedding until the bride has rested.”
“And Pelan’s conscious,” she insisted.
“As you wish.” King Kadir turned to them instead. “Balim and Bella. Step forward and share your vows.”
Bella’s soul light burned ,and she turned in Balim’s arms. Certainty firmed her expression. “I can’t drink the nectar.”
But she would share vows. She would marry him. He was her chosen husband. Her soul mate. Hers.
His chest squeezed as if a fist had clenched it.
She was more than he deserved.
He laced their fingers, sealing her promise. “I understand.”
“You don’t mind?”
“Consuming the nectar is not essential to the marriage ceremony.”
The warriors rumbled uncomfortably.
King Kadir vibrated about the strangeness of their conversation. “The Life Tree has gifted you with a blossom to make Queen Bella’s transformation permanent. You reject its offering?”
Bella’s mouth opened and closed while she tried to vibrate a thoughtful, smooth way of explaining herself.
But Balim spoke the simple truth. “She reserves the healing power for her ill son. Bella’s vow is the only promise I need.”
Her mouth closed. She swallowed, and her eyes rimmed with red as her soul flared to the warmth of a beautiful sun. “Balim…”
His chest warmed to match, and even without speaking the vows aloud, he knew she was his bride wholeheartedly. Their souls entwined. The ceremony was only a ceremony. She was already his.
As though realizing it herself, a strange black poison emanated from her chest. It extinguished her soul light and strangled her lungs. Her eyes widened, and the green color dulled.
She clawed at her face and choked. “Blub!”
“Bella!” He tugged her into his arms as she writhed.
The gills in her lower back had sealed to form smooth human skin.
The elixir had stopped working. On the bottom of the sea far from any replacement source.
She was a human.
Chapter Twenty-Two
The world crushed Bella in a terrifying shaker of force and darkness.
Like the one time she’d gone white-water rafting as a team-building exercise with the office before anyone knew she was dating Chaz. On the first rapid, he’d thought it would be hilarious to push her in. She’d gone from breathless excitement to terror as the dark rapid had closed over her head, tumbled her over and over, scraped her across the riverbed, and made her thrash for the brighter surface. Their guide had scooped her back into the boat, and she’d gagged up half the river while Chaz had laughed.
Red flags. So many red flags. Had she only been with Chaz because it was easy not to trust him? She’d known before he’d abandoned her, pregnant, that he’d do it someday. Balim never would, and sometimes, knowing that terrified her.
On the next rapid, one of their senior VPs had pushed Chaz in. He hadn’t laughed so hard getting out again.
But here, there was no surface. There was no light. There was no raft.
She was alone in a turbulent, frigid silence. Cold weight pooled in her lungs. She couldn’t breathe. There was no thought. Just animal survival. She bit, thrashed, struggled. The water held her in a fluid vise. There was no escape.
This was how she died.
And all hope for Jonah, for Balim’s happiness as a husband, for the warriors of Atlantis died with her.
She’d wanted to be his bride. Why did that desire cause her to transform back to human? She’d wanted to embrace the mer way. She’d wanted to marry and yield and give in…
“…more, Bella. Yes, drink all.” Balim’s voice echoed, disjointed, as his words vibrated through the thick, black slurry at the bottom of the sea.
The cold receded, and the weight lifted off her chest. Her belly warmed with energy. She was not dying. She was transforming back into mer.
Oh, thank goodness. She could bring hope to the warriors. She could make Balim’s darkness ease and rest in happiness. She could save Jonah’s cure…
The ocean lightened again, and she opened her eyes.
Balim’s dark gaze gleamed with heartblood-red hope as he hovered over her.
She rested in his arms.
As she blinked and focused on him, his relief lasted only a few instants before he queried her. “Bella? Can you see and hear me?”
“Yes.” Her chest vibrated. She sucked in a deep mouthful of water, and it soothed her even though it was unnatural.
“I am sorry, Bella. Forgive me.” His eyes darkened. “Forgive me. I could not lose you. I am so sorry.”
“No…” She tried to explain her realization. That he would never hurt her. He would protect her always. She knew it now, and had known it, and that was why she’d agreed to marry—
A Life Tree blossom rested in his hand. It wilted as the shiny color faded. The bead of nectar was no longer in its center.
Oh, but there was a second one, and she’d just have to convince or beg or trick Pelan’s bride into giving it to…
Wait. Balim wasn’t apologizing because he’d left only one flower. He was apologizing because the elixir had failed and he’d had no choice but to give her the nectar of the Life Tree blossom. It raced through her veins now, healing her injuries and transforming her to mer.
Her healing. Her transformation. Her cure!
“No…” she moaned.
His eyes closed tight, and he pulled her to his body, rocking her as the wave of grief crashed over her.
“No, Balim. Jonah’s not here. I can’t… You couldn’t have wasted it.”
“You were dying.”
“I would have rather died.”
“I know, Bella. I know.”
The Life Tree faded into a blur. Balim communicated with the other warriors, explaining only enough so they understood why this joyful moment represented such tragedy to her, and then he carried her away from the sanctuary and the lost hope it represented. Flying across the city while she closed her eyes and hung on tight, willing reality to be different and for her not to be alive if only there was a way to save the cure for Jonah.
The pressure changed—no, that wasn’t it. The wide-open ocean feelings narrowed to a tunnel inside one of the living spherical castles. His castle. How did she know? The castle held his subtle flavor, like sleeping in his sheets while wearing his oversized shirt.
He rested her inside a small room, and when the smooth oak-like precious wood slid against her heels and buttocks and elbows, she opened her eyes.
The room was a vibrant olive green. The aperture he’d swum through looked out onto a courtyard garden bursting with plants. They nestled at the base of a dome, and the walls were pocketed with rooms just like the one she rested in. Twisty corridors and trailing plants unveiled a fairy forest rather than revealed they were deep beneath the sea. Lavender flowers fluttered on subtle currents.
Balim rested on his knees. His hands hung useless in his lap. “There is food in the pantry. Are you hungry?”
“No.” Grief bubbled up in her chest. “I’ll never be hungry again.”
Matching pain flashed in his eyes. “I had no choice.”
She tried to cover her mouth to regain control before the sobs wracked her.
He examined her, his caring touch soothing as it probed. “We should return to the Life Tree. Married or not, it will heal you.”
“No. I can’t be there right now.”
“Bella. You can only save your son if you are alive to do so.”
“Do you have the vial?”
He pulled out the small blue vial. It seemed less sinister than on the surface.
“Get rid of it.”
“What about Jonah?”
“I never want to see it again.”
He touched a seamless wall and pushed out a cabinet, stored it inside, and hid it away.
She couldn’t endure this pain. She coul
dn’t.
“Please.” He massaged her temples. “Do not suffer. You will resolve this. You will become a queen and—”
“Stop.” She opened her eyes and leaned into him, teasing her hot nipples along his chest once more. “Make me forget everything and just exist.”
His gaze darkened with hunger, and then his lips covered hers. Sweet aches twisted between her legs, tightening her pussy and making her want him. She melded his abdomen to hers. His cock pressed against her soft belly, making delicious promises if she would once more let him in.
“I wish,” he vibrated in his chest as his mouth descended to kiss her collarbone, her chest, and then to snag a hot, aching nipple, “we had more of those plastics.”
A sliver of responsibility returned. She couldn’t just lose herself with Balim or be swept away.
Well, for a little while.
“Yeah,” she agreed, breathless with arousal. “But we can still feel pleasure.” She wrapped her fingers around his hard cock while he groaned and switched to her other breast. “Let me teach you.”
“I must heal you.” His vibrations sounded ragged. “A warrior must pleasure his bride.”
“You will. Watch.” She encompassed his cock in her hands, savoring the length and curvature. He watched her suck the head into her hot mouth, skepticism battling arousal, and then she sucked him in deeper, tonguing his shaft.
He groaned. “How is this pleasure possible? My mind is quiet and empty and filled with you.”
“It gets better,” she promised, her chest vibrating as she continued to tease and arouse his shaft. Watching him fight his arousal made her own increase. She slipped her fingers between the soft, slick folds of her feminine center. She was so ready for him, and she wanted him, but the sliver of responsibility had returned and she couldn’t give in without betraying…everything. She pushed those thoughts from her mind.
Balim took advantage of her distraction to lift her, rotating her mouth around his cock, and rested his hand on her soft feminine vee. “You need this.”
“Yes. I do.”
He palmed her mons, massaging her and studying her, chasing her pleasure until he pressed in one finger and found her G-spot.
“How?” she gasped.
“I see your soul light.” He smiled, cocky, his pleasure immobilizing her. “You are bared to me, Bella.”
