by Starla Night
“Blue Ring?” The dangerous first lieutenant rested at the edge of the dais. “I heard he has Crab-Cut Disease.”
“That is what Healer Balim thought also. But it is Blue Ring.”
“The cursed coral field,” First Lieutenant Soren murmured to his smart bride. “Where the coral grows into perfect tridents but none may harvest it because of Oannes’ curse.”
“Now, he has cursed Atlantis.” King Kadir gazed on his injured warrior with deep unhappiness. “Why?”
“The All-Council would say we face a fit punishment for having broken the ancient covenant,” First Lieutenant Soren growled. “How lucky for them we should be the new center of this legendary illness.”
If Atlantis became a cursed battlefield like Oannes Field, then their rebel voice would die.
Aya kicked forward, her light even more brilliant with power. “Balim, how contagious is this Blue Ring?”
He shook his head for the second time. “There is no way to know… No. My mentor studied Blue Ring for years. He might know how it has escaped the field and whether there is any hope.”
“Can Pelan travel? Where’s your mentor?”
“No.” King Kadir straightened. “The more important question is ‘who is your mentor?’ Correct, Healer Balim?”
They were both good questions. And Balim only had impossible answers. “My mentor is Dalus, Healer of the All-Council, and he lives in the great hall of healers inside the All-Council stronghold.”
The warriors murmured his answer. Healer of the All-Council. Pelan was as good as dead.
King Kadir gritted his teeth. He had devoted much effort to sneak into the archives when he had been a bright, young assistant to his city’s representative.
So they would drag the injured Pelan across the ocean, break into the most guarded All-Council stronghold, and beg the rulers to treat a rebel warrior infected with an incurable disease.
Queen Aya asked the hard question they were all thinking. “Can Pelan survive the journey?”
“I do not know.” Balim rubbed his forehead. So many unknowns. “I will go. Healer Dalus studies illness, not politics. The mystery of how the disease traveled into Pelan’s blood will entice him.”
Pelan’s not-bride crossed her arms over her chest. “Pelan was shot in the heart.”
“By a human. And you swam with him, yet you are not ill.”
Her soul light was strong. She did not so much as sneeze. She was healthy.
Bella made a small noise. “The fake merman. He walked into the hospital. He could have dumped something in the tank.”
“Again, no one besides Pelan became ill after the interaction with the mystery warrior.”
Queen Aya glanced at Soren. Their eyes met with wordless communication.
“What is it?” he asked.
Queen Aya answered. “Just now, we were coming to tell you that your scientist, Mitch, has gone to the emergency room for strange bruising.”
No.
“Another had the same flu-like symptoms, but she recovered. Mitch’s just got worse.”
This could be no coincidence.
“They both were exposed to the same cursed package,” he said.
Queen Aya’s hands clenched into fists. “So humans can get this disease?”
Balim speculated. “Many warriors fought over the small Oannes Field. Many more humans share space in New York.”
“Oh.” Bella covered her mouth even though her chest was vibrating. “Of course. The Sons of Hercules will love this.”
“Exactly. An incurable disease transmitted by mer contact?” Queen Aya laid out the facts, and Bella agreed with every point. “This will go before Congress. It will affect the UN. We’re fighting for basic rights, and now they will see us as the vector of a health panic. This is not just a disease. This is a PR nightmare.”
Queen Elyssa hugged King Kadir. The other warriors endured the knowledge that humans would turn against them and deny their chances for brides. Their women would run in fear while the mainland governments made laws to hunt them. They would abandon Atlantis. No one would choose them. They’d have to go back to their origin cities and face exile.
The All-Council would win.
“The Sons of Hercules are behind this,” Bella declared. “It’s too convenient.”
“I agree,” Queen Aya said.
Balim did not.
“If I surface,” Bella started, soul flaring, “I can get ahead of this. My campaign is prepared. I’m just waiting until…until…” Her soul light dimmed and she didn’t complete her thought; she sensed his intense gaze and looked away. “But maybe this is more important…”
Her offer rested on the silence. No one knew what to say.
Balim was cursed with another twist of betrayal. Would she lose sight of her dedication to her son? Now she was here, would she give up and sacrifice Jonah?
It hurt his heart. He reflected her emotions like a mirror, so he knew she was hurting too, but the betrayal inside him was like a sea beneath the sea. Darkness swirling so deep, he tried to contain it to prevent her from knowing it was there.
He had murdered a king. He had plotted for years. His determination had never wavered.
He had seen the same determination in Bella and respected that she could never love him as much as her Jonah because she could never take her gaze from her son. But if she lifted that gaze…if she betrayed her son, to walk away from him…
She did not match Balim’s darkness. Not because her gaze fixed on a nobler purpose, but because Balim was too horrible for her to love.
Chapter Twenty-Six
The bitterness of Bella’s sliver of doubt poisoned the back of Balim’s tongue.
Queen Elyssa broke the awful silence. “But Nora’s not sick.”
Bella blinked. “Who?”
Pelan’s not-bride pressed her hand to her chest. “What do you mean, who? Me. Nora.”
“Your name’s Nora?”
“We were introduced forever ago. You don’t remember? I’ve been here the whole time.”
“Sorry. I kept thinking of you as Pelan’s bride and…that’s not an excuse. I’m not usually bad with names. I guess I’ve had a lot on my mind.”
“Well, don’t forget it again.” Nora tipped her chin at Pelan. “And, Doc Balim, she’s right. I was swimming in the water with Pelan even after it got dosed by the fake merman, and here I am, healthy as a horse.”
“A seahorse,” Queen Elyssa said, smiling.
“I like that.” Nora uncrossed her arms to stroke her hair. “Yeah, a healthy sea horse.”
Even amid tension and fear, Queen Elyssa had an ability to soften the mood, connect people, and give a moment’s smile. The entire sanctuary brightened as the warriors and queens reacted to her simple statements, and the Life Tree reflected their gentle kindness outward.
Her presence was possible because of the vision of Atlantis.
The vision could not be clouded.
Atlantis could not be lost.
And there were so many ways to lose it.
He had to think. Why was Nora healthy and Pelan so ill? Why was Mitch sick with suspicious bruising when Nora had no bruises?
“You remained by Pelan’s side?” Balim pressed, searching for the clues to unravel the mystery of this disease. “You left him many times for long periods.”
Nora tightened her arms around her chest again. “Are you saying him getting sick is my fault?”
“Was Mitch closer to Pelan than you?”
“Of course not.”
“You are certain?”
“No, I’m not certain.” She hugged herself. “I’ve been feeling guilty for weeks. For everything I did. Everything I didn’t do. Even now, this place is so beautiful. I feel guilty for enjoying it, even for one second, when my soul mate is sick.”
Bella’s soul light darkened. “I know what you mean.”
“Do not feel guilt, my queens.” Zoan floated nearer to them, trying to ease the darkness knotting
around their souls. “Happiness and sadness can exist together in Atlantis.”
“I’ve never seen it,” Nora grumbled.
“One full warrior swims beside his friend who has skipped lunch, or Nilun, who has slept long while I have flown double patrols.”
Nilun reddened. “You slept in the sanctuary.”
“My vigil over our mutual friend is unceasing. Unlike yours, which is divided by fights with water fleas.”
Nilun clapped the other hand over his injury.
But, like Queen Elyssa, his teasing lightened the mood once more. The other warriors did not snap. They allowed Balim to mull over the clues.
Queen Elyssa kept up the light tone with Zoan. “Har har. The day you’re serious, Zoan, is the day Balim examines the inside of your head for injuries.”
“Healer Balim only ever examines my outside, so you have issued a good challenge, Queen Elyssa.”
“It’s not a challenge, it’s an observation.”
Zoan cleared his throat and straightened to give his faux-serious lecture. “Happiness and sadness are two warriors in your heart. They are separate, although the same. They work together, and apart.”
“How generic,” Balim commented.
“Look at me.” Zoan tapped his scarred hand on his chest. “My twin brother was captured, imprisoned, and tortured in the All-Council prison. He was released to impersonate me and destroy our Life Tree. I am happy he was freed and sad he nearly killed King Kadir. Two emotions entwined.”
His confession quieted the sanctuary. But within his tragic history lay the true hope of their city. They had endured catastrophic destruction in the past and survived.
Nora cupped her own elbow. “I guess I know what you mean. I’m happy Pelan’s survived. He was hurt just because he talked to me. If I could go back in time, I would oversleep and miss our date.”
Queen Elyssa released King Kadir, swam to Nora, and touched her shoulder. “What happened to Pelan wasn’t your fault.”
“I know, but the last weeks could have been really different in both our lives.”
Zoan also lowered his vibrations to speak kindly. “Accept your burden.”
“But Zoan, it’s not her fault.”
“Queen Elyssa, next you will say I am not tainted with my brother’s badness.”
“You’re right. You’re not.”
“Roa held the same ideals as I did when he was captured and I escaped. He was tortured and I was not. I could be captured. I could be tortured. Would I not want revenge against the brother who had failed me?”
Her brows drew together. “Would you?”
He shrugged. “Have not many fine warriors broken under torture? Not everyone can hold their vision under the press of death like King Kadir.”
The king’s mouth twitched in a slight smile. “I was not offered any opportunity by my captors to release that vision, Zoan.”
“Then my brother’s badness is within me. But this truth does not define me. It is not who I am.”
“It is not only who you are,” Queen Elyssa murmured. “You’re also a gentle attendant to the Life Tree, a fierce guardian of your friends, and a clever wordsmith who enjoys teasing us into thinking differently.”
The warrior regarded his queen and dipped his head at the honor of her clear sight, then turned back to Nora. “You wish to take the burden of Pelan’s illness onto yourself because of the actions you did not take. Very well. Accept these burdens so you too may be free.”
Bella’s soul lightened, and Balim felt a strange shift in his own heart. Zoan was not a warrior he expected to have deep thoughts. But Queen Elyssa had described him accurately. More accurately than the rest of them had even noticed.
His words were as relevant to Bella and Nora as they were to Balim’s own history.
Zoan beamed at Nora. “And that, my future new queens, is my bid to have the inside of my head examined by our favorite healer once he has cured and restored—”
“Hey!” Nilun broke formation, something a warrior from Djullanar would never do, to swim toward the couple. “What are you doing, Zoan? Why does your soul resonate with Pelan’s bride?”
A taut silence spread through the sanctuary.
Zoan’s chest was glowing. And so was Nora’s. They matched. Like a warrior and his bride.
But she belonged to another.
Nilun shoved Zoan’s chest. “Do not steal Pelan’s bride when he is ill.”
“Wait, Nilun.” Queen Elyssa held up her hands. “Kadir, you have to stop them.”
King Kadir flew to her and pulled her back, away from the danger.
“I steal no one.” Zoan shoved Nilun off, the twinkle gone from his eyes. “Your senses deceive you. Nora does not resonate with me.”
“She does!” He glared at Nora. “You should have married Pelan when you arrived! Your indecision makes him sick!”
She hunched in on herself. “I already told you I’m sorry.”
Zoan touched her arm. “Do not be. You are—”
Nilun bashed his hand off and gripped the pommel of his dagger. “You must not touch another warrior’s bride!”
Zoan moved protectively in front of her. “Do not frighten this young bride.”
“Then do not resonate with her soul!”
“How can you accuse me? She descended as the bride of our friend.”
“She is the bride of our friend.” Nilun’s hand on the dagger pommel, still sheathed, shook and his chin wrinkled with fury mixed with betrayal. “How dare you lure her away, sickening Pelan for your own selfish wish?”
Zoan drew his dagger. “I would never—”
“Stand down!” Soren barked.
“Warrior Zoan. Warrior Nilun. Stop.” King Kadir released Queen Elyssa and kicked forward, a deep wrinkle on his brow as this new nightmare unfolded. “Warrior Zoan, anyone who has eyes can see you resonate with Queen Nora. Warrior Nilun, we do not resolve a bride dispute in Atlantis with single-warrior combat.”
Zoan frowned hard and rubbed his own chest.
“Then how do we resolve bride disputes in Atlantis?” Nilun demanded.
It had never been done. “The way…we will decide…is…”
“With death!”
Chapter Twenty-Seven
“No.” King Kadir held up a hand, and Nilun checked, his blade half-withdrawn. “We decide our way now.”
But he looked lost.
Queen Elyssa murmured to him, “I know this is upsetting, but it’s real life. On the surface, we date. We change our minds.”
“Because you cannot see soul lights as we can,” he replied, guided by his queen.
“Dating is messy. Relationships are messy. Part of being human is figuring it out.”
“We are not humans. We are mer.”
“But we’re melding cultures. Atlantis has to change too. And the mess will only worsen after the finished platform entices more humans to join us.”
“No.” He rejected her because his warriors could not handle so much uncertainty. Not now. King Kadir swung to his most faithful warriors. “How are bride disputes handled in other cities?”
“Death to the bride stealer!” Nilun vibrated, shouting.
“Yes, in Djullanar, and I believe the same in Rusalka.” At Iyen’s nod, the king confirmed the common experience of open combat.
“In Sireno, the elders hear both cases and decide.” Warlord Torun’s astute observation rumbled across the crowd. He swam in with Queen Lucy.
Their young fry were secured in the castle with trustworthy guards, and he had returned from the ruins of the ancient city to face the multiple threats now striking Atlantis.
“But in practice, warriors fight. The current king, Jolan, lost his own father when the elders ordered the bride to return to her first husband and she would not. Good, honorable warriors died because the elders did not honor the bride’s choice.”
Queen Elyssa linked arms with King Kadir as Queen Lucy wrapped her arms around her husband, Warlord Torun.
“We journeyed to Atlantis because you honor the bride’s choice of husband.” Warlord Torun rested his hands across Queen Lucy’s. She snuggled in, and both of their soul lights shone as their shared resonance multiplied, increasing not ten or a hundred but a thousand times brighter than either could shine on their own. “Your resolution is obvious. Let the bride choose.”
“What of females who entwine with males on their descent?” another warrior muttered, and the grumble was taken up by others. “What of the coffee date? This is madness.”
The mutters grew louder. Someone in the back vibrated a shout. “What of the warriors without brides? How will we stop them from taking rightful brides from other warriors?”
King Kadir frowned.
Queen Aya spoke for the first time. “There are no ‘rightful brides.’ Banish that ridiculous thought from your heads.”
The mutters were shocked to silence, but it was mutinous. She had calmed them but not won them over.
“Aya is right.” Queen Elyssa placed a calming hand across King Kadir’s heart. “Can you imagine any situation in which it would be okay to force me away from you to be with another warrior?”
His chest blazed. “No. I would fight to the death.”
“Because I choose you. I am not with you because I got assigned. And I would not go to someone else. I am with you because we have this.”
She placed one palm over her own heart and closed her eyes. Their chests resonated, glowing brighter and brighter, until their souls were as powerful as Queen Lucy’s and Warlord Torun’s. The Life Tree tinkled with harmonious joy, cleansing the water and purifying the sanctuary.
Queen Elyssa opened her eyes and met King Kadir’s intense, devoted gaze. “We are together because we are soul mates.”
His taut shoulders lowered.
He looked over to Queen Lucy and Warlord Torun and then at Queen Aya and rugged First Lieutenant Soren, who would defy the ocean to be together, and over the waiting warriors.
Then, finally, to Nora. “Warrior Zoan is your choice?”
“What? No.” Nora hunched in making herself a smaller target. “You said Pelan was my soul mate.”
“But you resonate with Zoan.”
