by Starla Night
“Is my father here?” Pelan asked with confident ease.
“He is out, on the perimeter, searching for signs of the kraken,” King Jolan said. “I have already sent a warrior to summon him. If he is willing, you will room in your father’s castle.”
“Unless he has disowned you,” Elder Runa said snidely.
Malem squinted. “Some fathers value their sons. Especially if they have brought a bride carrying a young fry.”
“Who should not be endangered by crossing the ocean filled with deadly ancient creatures!”
“So you do believe in the kraken?” Malem asked.
“I did not say that. I said that Pelan should be punished for his recklessness.”
King Jolan held his palms out in a familiar peacemaking gesture. “Pelan is no longer a warrior of Sireno. Any punishment is the realm of King Kadir.”
Elder Runa huffed. “His actions contradict the All-Council. These warriors put us at risk. We have morals. These warriors do not.”
King Jolan led them into his gardens, and they floated above the green. Warriors passed boxes with fish fillets and vegetables inside, and other foods. They probably tasted good, but Hazel’s stomach roiled. She was hungry and nervous and a total wreck, as if she’d accidentally drunk three hazelnut lattes dusted with caffeine powder. She felt sick and woozy, and her heart was going a hundred miles an hour.
Get it done. Ask. Just say the first word.
King Jolan passed the food.
Maybe she should wait until after dinner.
Or maybe that would be too late.
Maybe she should have already asked.
Ugh.
“Should I invite him?” she asked Lotar, vibrating as quietly as possible. “Now?”
Lotar shrugged in a go-ahead-or-don’t gesture.
Ugh.
“Um, King Jolan?”
The king looked over at her mid-bite.
Everyone stared.
“And, um, everyone.” Her chest twitched. That must be the equivalent of dry mouth. Oh, wait. Her chest moved again. Hiccups? Oh, God. “I, uh, we’re building a platform above Atlantis and it’s going to be done in the next two years and we’re having a party and you’re invited.”
He listened politely.
“You’re all invited,” she said.
Hiccup.
King Jolan chewed his mouthful and swallowed, frowning slightly.
Elder Runa shook his head. “A platform? Such as humans sank during the Great Catastrophe? It is the end times.”
The others muttered.
“Really? Because maybe it’s the old times. How would you know?”
“It is not the old times. I know.”
“Well, you’re invited anyway, um…”
“Never,” Elder Runa said.
King Jolan rested his hand on his folded knee. “We must balance the needs of our warriors with external threats. Sireno is not growing like Atlantis. We are an easier target for the All-Council, for the kraken, for even typical predators without queens.”
The elder harrumphed.
“Well, this is your big chance, though.” Hazel stretched her face into what she hoped was a grin. “A big mixer. Your warriors will meet tons of brides. It’s going to be great.”
King Jolan matched her smile.
Elder Runa lowered his fillet. “Are you aware of how many humans come to our former sacred islands with nets and harpoons? All because one of our warriors made the mistake of taking one of your humans for his bride? Are you?”
“We’re fighting the Sons of Hercules too.”
“Then we must not increase our exposure.” Elder Runa glared at King Jolan. “We will send no warriors. That is the final word.”
King Jolan cut a strip of his fillet and ate it unconcerned.
Roxanne looked up. “Well, I suppose it’s not a concern for you, is it Elder Runa? Seeing as your great-grandchildren are doing well in Atlantis.”
Elder Runa paused, his knife partway through his fillet, then continued with a harrumph.
“And let me tell you, they are adorable. Why, that last week before we left, little Tory was singing her first hunting song, and little Yrun speared his first bigmouth. All the warriors assured me that’s very advanced. And they know how to swim up and down the water column, how to cross to the ruins, and how to shelter when raiders are spotted. They’re faster than me. Both of them got their first tattoos, and would you believe they both have two colors, gold and peach, but on opposite sides? Like looking in a mirror. I wish you could see them.”
“What about their prank?” Pelan prompted. “At the king’s castle.”
“That’s right. When no one was looking, they hid the king’s Life Tree seed. Now whenever one goes missing, there’s an outcry, seeing as Atlantis had so many problems with spies and sabotage, but this time, it was those munchkins. Their house guardian, the octopus Benji, found it. The twins blamed the prince, who wasn’t even there. You have never seen such goings-on.”
“And their first tattoos.”
“Oh my goodness, yes.” Her eyes sparkled. “You will never guess what they asked for their first tattoos.”
Everyone leaned in, including the elder.
“Vegimals,” she said. “They’re half-vegetable, half-fish characters from the children’s show Octonauts, and of course none of the warriors knew how to tattoo that, and here we are, in the middle of their first tattoo ceremony and scrambling for someone who knows what the fictional characters look like and can draw them. The prince asked for something ordinary, like his father’s heart tattoo, but these two.” She shook her head with a laugh. “They’re going their own way, and everybody knows it.”
Pelan grinned.
“Oh, it’s such a shame you aren’t coming to Hazel’s party.” Roxanne paid attention to her food again, although she’d been eating the whole time. Mouths, throats, and tongues weren’t required for vibrating underwater. “It would be the perfect time to see your little great-grandchildren, and just think how happy they would be to see you.”
Malem raised a skeptical brow at how happy Torun and Lucy would be to see the elder.
But the elder sighed heavily as if he did want to see his great-grandchildren.
The other mer craned to look at him in surprise.
He jerked upright, made his expression pinched and stern, and glanced around quickly. The surprised warriors averted their gazes—except Malem. The elder flushed, huffed again, and focused on the meal.
And so their first city was a total failure, and Hazel had no idea how to fix it.
Hazel’s soul dimmed.
But why?
They had received a welcome from the king, no less, and although First Lieutenant Malem gave him the occasional side-eye, he too did not speak of Lotar’s transgression.
Hazel studied the one elder with dissatisfaction.
Lotar offered her more food. “It will be a long journey.”
“Thank God.” She pushed it away and patted her belly. “I’ll work off what I just ate. Otherwise, people will start guessing I’m pregnant or something.”
And then she dimmed again.
His stomach rolled.
He still had not told her his problem. And now she was in the presence of Roxanne, a fully realized queen with all her powers and soon to have a young fry of her own.
He really must—
“Pelan?” An older warrior in faded maroon tattoos approached the group.
Lotar jolted. His hands twitched for his daggers.
Where had that warrior come from?
Malem stared at Lotar.
He lowered his hand.
Pelan straightened. “Father!”
His father floated forward, glanced at the irritating elder, and locked his hands in front of him. “You are well?”
“Yes. I survived so many things. And”—he drew Roxanne to his side proudly—“this is my queen, Roxanne.”
She wiped her hands on her thighs and rubbed her m
outh. “Oh, goodness. You caught me while I’m eating. Well, these days, that’s most of the time. Excuse me, I’m pleased to meet you.” She bowed, hand on her rounded belly.
Pelan’s chest puffed. “She carries my young fry.”
His father’s chest glowed, and he blinked hard as red rimmed his eyes. He rubbed his mouth. “My son, how can you bring her here? Journeying from safety?”
“We have our guards, and she is a queen.”
“I have the magic touch.” Roxanne touched Pelan’s chest. Her fingertips glowed. A small, jagged scratch sealed to become healthy, unblemished skin.
“How wonderful! I…” His father quickly glanced at the frowning elder. “Ah. Yes. I see. Perhaps we can discuss this more in my castle? Where you may be more comfortable…”
A bittersweet pain filled Lotar’s chest.
Lotar swallowed a hard lump in his own throat.
Such a reunion between a father and son touched everyone, not just him, but Hazel rested her hand on his. Even though she could not see souls, she sensed his feelings.
And being comforted by another…that was new.
The meal ended, and the Sireno warriors showed them to the open section of the courtyard where they were to sleep. Hazel followed a house guardian back to its cave and tried to lure it out. Lotar spoke briefly with the Atlantis warriors.
“Curious timing,” Lotar told Iyen. “Meeting you here without warning.”
The grave warrior studied him as if to ask if he were serious. “We swam flat out.”
“Is everything okay?” Gailen asked Lotar. “We heard the message from Syrenka at the echo point.”
The Sireno warriors had allowed him into the city. That was all that mattered. “Why are you here?”
“Queen Elyssa worried about your queen’s first experience in an undersea city being unfriendly, so we were to arrive first and ease her transition. Good thing your queen is Hazel, though.”
Iyen nodded.
“Good thing?” Lotar repeated.
“She knows more about the mer than an ordinary human. Can you imagine if her first time meeting warriors had been an ambush? But she rolled with it.” Gailen had always picked up the patterns of words and phrasing of the queens more accurately than the other warriors. “She is resilient.”
“Aw.” Hazel kicked to them and threw her arms around Lotar’s shoulders and buried her face in his chest. “I’ve tried everything, and I can’t get the cute little octopus to come back.”
Lotar cocked his brows at the warriors.
Gailen grinned. “Did you try a piece of fish?”
“Fish?” Lotar repeated.
“The queens spoil the house guardians with mer food and they become disinterested in hunting the garden parasites.” Gailen held up a hand. “Do not fear. I have avoided feeding your house guardian, and it hunts with proper focus.”
“House guardian?” Hazel lifted her head. “You have a castle?”
Her glimmering interest in Lotar’s castle—now hers—made another frisson echo through his body. He wanted suddenly to carry her there, now, and lay with her in the greenery as she had once lain with him. But this time, instead of stopping her, he felt an urge to go much further. Her body, nude in his arms, slippery and wet for him. The way her mouth opened to accept his claim and traveled down his body toward his hardening cock…
Her lashes lowered as though she sensed the change in him and was more than willing to acquiesce. Match kiss for kiss, caress for caress, teeth to his lobe, tugging, legs entwined with his as his cock quested for her waiting, wet entrance…
Thank the Life Tree they were not in Atlantis.
“He does,” Gailen said cheerfully.
Hazel tore her gaze away from Lotar’s lips and, flushed, whirled to face Gailen so her rounded buttocks pressed invitingly to Lotar’s waist. “How nice.” She glanced over her shoulder at Lotar as though she could only bear to look at him from the side. “Um, what’s it like?”
He shrugged a shoulder.
“He does not know because he has spent little time there,” Gailen guessed.
“Oh. Is it just like this castle?”
“No.” Gailen laughed. “His castle is much younger. It is perhaps three rings deep, and the rooms are barely grown. This castle is generations old.”
“That makes sense. Too bad, though. I love the garden.”
“It does have a garden. I planted it myself.”
Their conversation pushed the other thoughts from his mind, and when he embraced Hazel, he could place her against his heavily armed body and relax.
She nestled between his daggers and trident. “Do you always sleep fully armed?”
“No.”
“But it is nostalgic,” Gailen said from the other side of Iyen. “Remember when Atlantis was only King Kadir’s castle and we all crammed inside? And we were so concerned about attacks, we slept in shifts fully armed so we could swim out in an instant to defend the Life Tree.”
That had been a different time.
And he had felt grateful then. Welcomed. Knowing that his skills were an asset, utterly undistractable.
What was wrong with him?
Thirteen
Hazel felt weird leaving Sireno.
Roxanne and Pelan saw them to the edge of Sireno’s territory. Together, they just glowed. They were going to stay a few days—which in underwater terms meant a pretty long time—and would return to Atlantis before the baby was due. It caused the one elder to sniff imperiously about overstaying guests, but King Jolan diplomatically ignored him.
Roxanne gave Hazel a farewell hug over her rounded belly. “I’ll wear down that elder. We’ll send a big contingent to your party. Don’t you worry.”
“Thank God you came.” Hazel flubbed her lips. “What am I going to do in Aiycaya?”
“You’ll find your way. Don’t doubt yourself too much.” Roxanne smiled. “But everyone does, so try to get over your doubts as quickly as possible, and you’ll be fine.”
“Be honest. Have you ever had a doubt in your life?”
“Yes, of course.” Roxanne hugged her again. “I doubted myself so much, I let Pelan go off with another woman. Of course, he was unconscious, and she turned out to be the bride of an All-Council general, so they eventually figured out the mix-up and summoned me. I woke Pelan from his coma with true love’s kiss, and Nora chased down General Giru. They’re still mortal enemies, but are also lovers? Nora likes a relationship with drama. She can have it.”
Oh. Yeah.
“That whole thing was kind of crazy, wasn’t it?” Hazel asked.
“It makes every other crisis pass like a dream.” Roxanne patted her arm and released her. “And with Lotar as your soul mate, you will conquer anything. Believe.”
Well, Hazel really, really wanted to…
Roxanne swam back to Pelan’s side with an effortless swish of her fins, while Hazel dog-paddled over to Lotar’s side.
They waved goodbye and, on Lotar’s signal, headed into the currents.
Gailen and Iyen fanned out behind them. They paused at echo points for Lotar to announce their passage.
More echoes called him a bad warrior, honorless, and a spy.
He said nothing, but regret reflected in his gray eyes.
She hugged him tight. “They’re wrong. I know they are.”
He stroked her back and they continued on the next leg of their journey.
With the other two guys along, they saw less wildlife. Soaring vistas, but no curious thresher sharks. Distant schools of fish that flew farther to the horizon as though repelled by their presence.
They dropped out of the fast current on the final approach to Aiycaya.
Aiycaya was supposed to be friendly. The city had reestablished connections with their sacred brides, who had settled on Haiti, and was co-ruled by a brother-sister pair. But the royals had had little contact with the foundation. Hazel had to nail down their RSVP.
She practiced her lines this time, mout
hing them silently.
Lotar watched her with concern.
“Just practicing.” She rubbed his chest so he wouldn’t worry about her. He still thought she was competent, and she wanted him to think that for as long as possible.
So instead, she got to talking with Gailen about gardening.
Unlike her succulent aspirations, he was a real gardener.
“That is why I am going to Aiycaya,” he mentioned. “A special herb grows only there, it seems. I have asked the other warriors, and they do not know what I am talking about.”
“Except the other warriors from Aiycaya?”
“Well, that is another thing.” He glanced at Iyen and Lotar. “Since Aiycaya has reconnected with its sacred brides, the warriors who had not settled fully in Atlantis returned.”
“To stay?”
“It is comforting to return to your own people, your own city. Your own sacred brides…” He shrugged. “To support our city and our father with pride is the one thing that Atlantis cannot give us.”
“But you aren’t staying?”
“No. I will arise to meet the brides, but some things that are broken do not heal.” He laced his fingers together. His thumbs bent the wrong directions and did not meet. “I am eager to return to Atlantis.”
Now she remembered.
When Gailen had escaped Aiycaya, the patrol had caught him three times. The third time, they’d tortured him, destroying his thumbs so he couldn’t make another attempt, but he had, and his final attempt had been successful.
A lot must have changed in Aiycaya. “Did the warriors ever apologize for trying to maim you?”
“Of course not. They followed orders like honorable warriors.”
“That’s messed up.”
“It is the rule of honor.” But he returned her sympathy with a sunny grin. “Over this rise, you will see it.”
“See it?”
They rose over cliffs, and the ocean floor unfolded around them.
The glistening light of the Aiycaya Life Tree lit the ocean like a beacon in the…not darkness because it seemed like daylight in her mind, but in comparison to the Life Tree, everything looked dim.
Warriors zoomed toward them with loud shouts.
Lotar gestured for Gailen. “Tell them we come in peace.”
