Spellbound by the Sea Lord

by Starla Night

Bella was safe in Atlantis.

  Balim would find her after he’d uncovered the cure. He would atone.

  If he survived.

  And if she would let him.

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  Bella couldn’t be exiled to the surface. She just couldn’t.

  She wiggled her fingers in Aya’s strong grip. “Let me go.”

  “I can’t.” Aya held Bella’s wrist and flew her away from Atlantis to the cable over the ancient city. “I’m sorry about this.”

  Her mind whirred as she tested escape routes. Aya was faster, a queen, and surrounded by an honor guard led by the unsmiling Ciran.

  Aya had asked to convey Bella alone. Ciran had rejected her. “Queen Bella’s guards must protect her.”

  “It’s fine.” Bella had better odds of escaping if she wasn’t escorted by forty angry warriors. “I’m with Aya.”

  Ciran had regarded her without smiling and allowed them a lead to have this private conversation, but he flew behind them, and his warriors, swimming in strict formation, ended every escape.

  And Bella begged Aya anyway.

  “You can’t. I understand,” Bella murmured while her mind worked the problem. “You have no choice.”

  “Don’t be ridiculous. Of course I have a choice.” The commanding queen looked at Bella with two raised brows like she was an idiot.

  “So let me go.” Bella twisted her hand.

  “What’s your plan?”

  Bella stopped twisting. “Plan?”

  “Where is better than the surface?” Aya’s brow furrowed. Her blonde hair streamed behind her as she swam efficiently toward the ancient wreckage. “The Sons of Hercules will have to contact you. Make yourself available. And when they expose themselves, then we’ll capture them.”

  Her heart thudded out of rhythm. “You’re trying to help me?”

  “I understand why this surprises you, but yes. All of us are.”

  “The warriors—”

  “I mean us queens. Lucy and Elyssa are mothers. They weren’t forced to make your choices, and you’re one of us now. A little espionage and near-mass murder doesn’t change that.”

  She was at a loss for words. “I would think it would.”

  “We know why you did it, and that’s why your ‘punishment’ is necessary. We tried to design a punishment that would seem appropriate and also position you to continue the fight. I can’t think of any better solution than making you bait.”

  Bait. Again.

  Could she trust that Aya was on her side? That all the queens were?

  Bella rolled the word “bait” around on her tongue. “I’ve never done well with waiting.”

  “If you have a better idea, share.” Aya looped her wrist, glanced back at the warriors, and lowered her vibrations. “Soren will join us to ascend to the surface. He’s working out a plan with Kadir to excavate the poisoned castle. If someone snuck into the castle and activated the vial, they had no time to escape before being poisoned.”

  “You think the Sons of Hercules have spies in Atlantis?”

  “No, but the All-Council does. Something is strange, Bella.”

  “Only one thing?”

  “Yes, good point.” Aya smiled faintly but focused on her conundrum. “We’re in the center of two or three colliding plots. First, the poisoned vial and the demand for a Life Tree flower. Why would the Sons of Hercules destroy the Life Tree before they get what they want?”

  “They’re not the most organized.”

  “I now believe such thinking is a mistake. They masterminded your son’s kidnapping.”

  “Starr and I came to the same conclusion. Someone is helming this organization, and they have resources.”

  “Yes, and enough sophistication they should not have activated that pressurized vial prematurely. So why?”

  “Maybe we were getting too close to unmasking…”

  Aya waited for her to finish, but she couldn’t guess what might have triggered the explosion. So Aya continued. “Second, Pelan contracted a rare mer disease on the surface. Soren has informed me it is impossible to remove anything from the battlefield. All who try will sicken and die.”

  “That’s not entirely true. Balim removed something.”

  “He didn’t infect Pelan, did he?”

  “No. He’d never do that.”

  “Someone did.” Aya mused on the other loose threads. Pelan misidentifying Nora as his bride, his subsequent shooting, the Sons of Hercules’s incursion into the mer hospital, the megalodon that had risen unnaturally high into the water column to attack them as they descended to Atlantis, and she circled back to the poisoned vial. “I can’t see how the threads come together. What mastermind plot is this?”

  Bella shook her head. When she connected the mysteries, she would find where the Sons of Hercules had hidden Jonah. “Can you question the spies?”

  “We’re only guessing on their identities.” Aya perused the warriors following them. “They don’t volunteer for surface duties because to ascend and, heaven forbid, meet a modern bride would violate the ancient covenant. Soren’s strategy is to woo them over to our side. Whenever a suspect sheds the old jingoisms and makes friends, we’re one warrior stronger in our goal to win over the entire undersea world.”

  No wonder Aya and the others were so willing to forgive Bella. They lived with known enemies all the time. She had just gotten closer to ending Atlantis than most.

  “So the All-Council refuses to surface, and the Sons of Hercules can’t swim down.” Bella faced the ultimate conundrum. “Yet someone, somewhere, is collaborating.”

  “And if we find proof, maybe we can unravel the whole conspiracy.” Aya changed her tone. “I’m sorry for your son. I’m pregnant right now with my first. I imagine the year even before the kidnapping has been a nightmare.”

  “Yes.” Bella smiled despite the situation. “Congratulations. You’ll never sleep again.”

  “I thought getting up to pee every hour came later.” Aya sighed out a long stream of water. “Health for my unborn is always a concern. When I’m not plotting the demise of my enemies, I’m doing prenatal exercises, watching my diet, and practicing yoga poses.”

  “You should probably stop plotting the demise of your enemies to reduce stress.”

  “Oh, that’s far too satisfying to give up. And, counterintuitive as it may be, it’s the source of my queen powers.”

  “The source of your queen powers is plotting the demise of your enemies?”

  “In great detail.” Her smile widened. “Right now there’s a particular senator blocking his committee from finishing their report on the humanity of mermen. I wish he would take a long walk off the viewing platform over Niagara Falls. I understand it’s very difficult to survive the falls especially if you’re not wearing any protective gear.”

  “Yes, people die that way on the regular.” Huh. “Elyssa prefers meditation.”

  “My cousin is a better person than I am.” Aya kicked hard for the ruins. “Embrace your darkness, Bella. If visualizing the light doesn’t allow you to transform, loosing your demons can be an energizing activator.”

  They reached the edge of the old city.

  Buzzing noises like a thousand out-of-tune seagulls assaulting a garbage truck floated out of a large cave at the base of the extended tower.

  “Octopus Kong.” Aya angled over the cave.

  The giant heard them and extended a few tentacles in greeting, and Aya waved back.

  “Balim said he was dangerous,” Bella said.

  “The warriors used to consider him a crotchety, ill-tempered guardian of the ruins. But, ever since he chased off three megalodons, he’s been in a much better mood. He and I have a professional relationship.”

  The disconcerting giant octopus spoiled the melodies of the fish in the surrounding ocean.

  Aya kicked to a metal bell surrounded by guards. Bubbles emerged from it, and an unnerving growling sound pressed against Bella’s ears.

  �
�Oxygen generator and power supply,” Aya explained as she released Bella to open the hatch. It swung open, and they rose into the bell. “Ready to be human again?”

  Bella wasn’t sure. The air pocket was strange, stuffy, and uncomfortable. Aya threw up seawater, choking and tearing up, and Bella did as well to gasp dank air.

  Aya clambered onto the metal floor.

  A warrior knelt before a microphone. He saluted them with both hands touching before his chest. “Queen Aya. Queen Bella.”

  Aya returned his salute. “Any messages from the surface?”

  “None since we contacted them about Healer Balim’s treason. Bride Roxanne has passed the final mark. Since she may become Warrior Pelan’s bride, should I call her queen?”

  “She can tell you her preference when she arrives.” Aya composed herself. “Do you wish to send a message, Bella?”

  She shook her head. The cramped metal bell made her long for the expansive wilderness of the sea. “I’m just waiting, I guess.”

  The warrior nodded emphatically. “We will find your young fry, Queen Bella.”

  Her heart throbbed. “Thank you.”

  But now she was alone, stranded, and burdened, and she had no idea how the warriors would find Jonah when the Sons of Hercules controlled everything.

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  Aya led Bella out of the air-filled bell and back into the water.

  The shift choked her hard, and then she was through it, filled with cold in her belly and radiating through her body. The last time, she’d gotten through with Balim. It was harder to shift alone.

  “It never gets easier,” Aya confided, gripping her hand and leading her up the cable to the anchor bolt. “Just more familiar.”

  “So, now what?”

  “Now, we wait.”

  Again with the waiting.

  Aya caught her expression and sympathized. “The Sons of Hercules will contact us. Maybe through Roxanne. Maybe they’ll wait until you surface. Trust in your companions, and be ready to act.”

  Bella gripped her hair. “I can’t take this.”

  Aya laughed. “It’s been five minutes. When Elyssa married Kadir and was the first of us to ‘live among the natives,’ I had to wait a month to make sure she’d survived. Patience.”

  Balim was patient. Not Bella.

  She flexed her human feet beneath the anchor bolt, trying and failing to unleash the fins that everyone else shifted to so naturally. Waiting left her alone with her thoughts. And her thoughts were never pleasant.

  They circled on her failures. Her missed chances. How she hadn’t appreciated Jonah’s good health, so she deserved only his bad. How she’d tried not to let him into her heart, but then she’d sung him to sleep with songs barely remembered from her own grandparents when they’d been alive.

  They’d told her to go after her dreams, and she’d listened to them.

  She’d always chased after Jonah’s health, chased second opinions, chased obscure treatments, chased donors. She’d chased more money and nicer apartments and more credentials in her job title. Not since childhood at the mercy of disengaged, neglectful parents had she been forced to wait.

  She flexed her stubborn feet more.

  Second Lieutenant Ciran floated closer to her. He would lead the warriors to the surface and then take them on a boat to the mainland, where he would work with Dannika, Hazel, and even Starr to keep them safe while the warriors sought and wooed their brides.

  Ciran drifted close.

  “Can I help you?” she asked.

  He addressed her. “If you do not surface, will you go to Healer Balim?”

  If she did not surface?

  “If you let me,” she answered, still flexing her foot. “If I could find him. Are you upset?”

  He looked down at Octopus Kong’s lair, and then to the glimmering new Atlantis. Still floating, a beacon of hope amidst the wreckage of the past.

  She assumed he would not answer.

  “Healer Balim had no castle in Undine,” Ciran said, apropos of nothing. “Did you know this?”

  “No. How do you?”

  “Undine was once my home also.”

  Oh. “Were you friends?”

  “He was not allowed friends. The king punished any warrior who spoke or smiled at him. Do you know why?”

  “Yes, he told me how he lost his father and his trainer in one day.”

  “The king murdered both.” Ciran spoke the same truth that Balim had told her, but he did not mince words.

  “I heard the king can’t commit murder,” she returned, dropping her leg.

  “Yes. Just as no Undine scholar acts with passion. And no warlord evicted from his castle and forced to shelter on the ocean floor beneath the city may ever woo a bride.”

  She tilted her head. His words were so emotionless and logical. Was he on Balim’s side? He might just be reciting facts. “You followed him here.”

  “The elder who succeeded the throne held many of the old king’s ideals. And with Balim gone, his reign would not end soon. Change is difficult to enact in a city that does not tolerate dissent.”

  She caught his gaze and held it.

  Ciran knew. Otherwise, he would say that the elder was likely to have a shorter reign without a healer. And he was on Balim’s side.

  Had he ever expressed that to Balim? Both Ciran and Balim were private warriors. Balim disguised his feelings behind quips and sarcasm, Ciran behind an emotionless focus on logic. They might have benefited from sharing their feelings. Now, it was too late.

  She released his gaze and her foot, straightening. “It’s sad that he lost his castle here.”

  “It would be even sadder if he lost his bride.”

  Anger flushed through her like a hot flash. “He left me.”

  Ciran had no answer for that. “Still, it is miraculous a warrior denied every chance has found his soul mate. If even he can overcome his origin, hope shines for all warriors.”

  Her skin crackled with his words. Ciran was right. He lit a fire in her soul.

  She could no longer wait. She had to act.

  “Bella!” Aya waved her over. “Roxanne’s almost here.”

  And Roxanne might carry a message from the Sons of Hercules or from Starr. Bella could wait a little longer.

  She bid Ciran farewell and wiggled her stubby toes forever to reach Aya. She used to think she was an acceptable swimmer, but surrounded by flitting warriors, she was a heavy-bottomed ostrich ringed by graceful larks.

  The group of warriors descended so slowly.

  Finally, five warriors from the surface escorted Roxanne, a healthy woman with deep anxiety who vibrated an insistent flutter.

  “I’m so sorry I left for that wedding. I didn’t enjoy it, barely tasted the cake, and forgot I had two pieces because my mind kept returning to Pelan. I just knew he was in trouble, and boy, was I right. I should have demanded Balim try me out as his soul mate instead of that Nora, but you know she’s so sweet and ambitious and hopeful, and I’m opinionated and talk too much, and it’s a good day when I look any better than frumpy. Is Pelan all right? I feel like I would know if he wasn’t, but I tell you, I don’t feel too good right now, so the sooner I see him and make sure, the better.”

  “He’s this way. And he’s ill, so we must take precautions.”

  “Never mind ill. I’ll be thrilled when I see him healthy. And if not, that’s fine with me too. If I’m his caretaker for the rest of his life, we’ll have a very nice life together; just ask my mother, which you can’t because she passed away three years ago, but I let more than one promising man pass me by prioritizing her comfort. Since she brought me into the world, I should bring her out of it. Not literally, of course, but that was my way of thinking. Where’s Pelan?”

  “Here.” Aya helped the warriors unlatch her harness from the cable and then clasped hands to pull Bella on one side and Roxanne on the other. “I see you made the shift okay.”

  “No problem at all. Balim had
me drinking the elixir after my brief cold on account of how I got sick after I returned, probably because that false merman had left powder or dust all over everything, and that elixir didn’t make me feel any better but it ‘arrested’ the sniffles, and I held that position for a long time rather than making me worse.” She latched onto Bella. “The night watch apologized a hundred times for mistaking that faker for a merman. They were just so certain.”

  “Do you have any messages for me?” Bella interrupted.

  “No, he just needed me to convey that he was so certain because the false merman showed his fins and—”

  Her head thunked. “What?”

  “Yes! Forgive me. My head’s falling off with messages; I need to see Pelan right away, you see, but I can deliver the messages while we swim. That night watchman and also your friend Hazel says not to worry about your houseplants. She’s watering them.”

  “She is…” Bella translated the code Starr had set up before she’d descended. “Did she ‘find’ my ‘houseplants’ okay?”

  “No, that’s right. See, Pelan’s filled up my thoughts. Something about her still looking for one that’s missing. What was it? A spider plant? But I didn’t pay attention. I mean, my mind’s been on other things; specifically, on Pelan. Don’t worry, Hazel’s so sweet, if she kills any off, I’m sure she’ll buy you a replacement.”

  There would be no replacement for this houseplant, and once Starr found him, the Sons of Hercules would pay.

  But Bella focused on her other shocking revelation. “I’m sorry to interrupt you again, but did you say you saw the imposter’s fins?”

  “Not me, the night watchman. He showed the fins. The watchman said he wasn’t on the list—he didn’t see the false merman had gotten out of the car like your security video or I’m sure he would have known warriors don’t drive. But you see, he had those shiny tattoos, an iridescent color, and then he took off his ratty old tennis shoes that didn’t fit him too well like he was borrowing them from someone else, and he flexed. I’ve been trying to imitate the movement all the way down the cable. Once I can make my fins, the healing queen powers follow right along, and goodness knows Pelan needs those powers now. Anyway, the night watchman swears the merman’s toes snapped out into those mer fins. I had no idea you could fake that.”