Atlantis Redeemed (41 page)

“Exactly. Since that part of the curse was fulfilled and my memories fully returned, I must assume that the rest is broken, as well.”

“But what if we’re wrong?”

He shook his head and then kissed her, a slow, lingering brush against her soft lips. “We cannot think that way. I am unable to stay awake nonstop for the rest of my life, and I refuse to believe that I have found you and carried you back from death itself, only to lose you each dawn when I awake.”

She smiled but still looked worried. “I hope you’re right. I think we’re going to find out soon, since I can’t stay awake a single second more.”

As she curled up against him and her breathing immediately slowed and lengthened into the steady rhythm of slumber, he offered up a silent prayer.

Please, Poseidon, please may it be so
.

And then Tiernan’s warm, sleeping body seduced his own deep into the same respite and refuge.

Tiernan woke up and lay still for a moment, reveling in the warmth of the hard chest underneath her cheek. The sunlight flooded the room from the large windows, and she felt like she rested in a circle of peace that had embraced her and would hold her close for as long as she needed sanctuary.

She touched Brennan’s chest with her fingertips, drew circles around the muscles of his abdomen, and lightly stroked—just a tease—the erection tenting up the sheet.

He tensed underneath her touch, and she smiled up at him. “You’re awake.”

He blinked sleepily a few times, those gorgeous green eyes filled with contentment. “I am awake. How did you sleep?”

“Wonderfully. You?” She stretched luxuriously, enjoying the delicious feeling. Most of her bruises and cuts and aches had been improved enormously by whatever Alaric had done to heal her arm yesterday. Apparently the healing power didn’t confine itself to only one body part.

“I slept very well,” Brennan said, lifting his hand to cup her breast. Her body instantly responded, and she turned toward him, twining her leg between his.

“I only have one question,” he said, his forehead furrowing. “Who exactly are you?”

 

 

 

 

Brennan couldn’t hold back the grin when she froze, stiffening in his arms. “I find that I love making jokes, Tiernan Butler,
mi amara
.”

Her mouth fell open, and then she sat up and yanked his pillow out from under his head and smacked him in the face with it. “Oh, you . . . you . . .
man
.”

He shouted with laughter, then pounced on her and rolled her underneath him. “I want to wake up looking at your lovely face every day for the rest of my life.”

He kissed her, claiming her mouth until she was breathless. She wrapped her arms around his neck, returning his kisses enthusiastically, but when he stopped she mock-growled at him.

“I’m not so sure I’m going to put up with your version of humor for that long,” she said, laughing. “You scared me to death.”

He instantly sobered. “I am so sorry. I had no i ntention—”

“It’s okay,” she said, grinning. “I promise to get you back.”

“The curse is finally broken,” he said, in little more than a whisper, somehow afraid Poseidon would hear and change his mind.

“Are you sure? Forever?”

“I have no way to know. We will have to live our lives, one day at a time, and discover the truth upon each wakening.”

She turned in his arms and smiled up at him, inviting him, and he slowly, carefully, entered her body with his own, taking his time as they moved together, rocking in a bliss deeper than lust, deeper than want or hunger. Waves of warmth and contentment washed over him, and the look on her face mirrored his own. He whispered her name when they drifted over the edge of the abyss together, promising never, ever to leave her side.

 

 

 

 

Two days later, the palace gardens, Atlantis

 

Tiernan wandered through the most beautiful garden she’d ever seen outside of a dream, and laughed out loud with joy. A pair of peacocks tilted their heads in identical motions at the sound and then strolled off, intent on important peacock business, no doubt. Birds she didn’t recognize sang songs that seemed to be especially for her. She was walking in a miniature paradise, and much of the reason the world was so perfect was currently sprawled on a bench, basking in the magically created sunlight.

“You are a lazy man,” she said, stopping to brush the silky hair away from his forehead.

Brennan opened one eye. “If you hadn’t wearied me to the point of exhaustion with your insatiable sexual demands, I might have energy to join you while you explore the gardens.”

In spite of the fact that this man had had his hands, his mouth, or both, on every inch of her body over the past couple of days, a hot blush rose into her cheeks. “Hush. Somebody might hear you.”

“No one will disturb us here,” he said, opening the other eye and smiling at her. “They know better.”

“Well, get up and walk around with me, then. I want to see everything.”

He groaned and made a show of heaving himself up off the bench, but he was still smiling. Warmth and desire and happiness swirled through her in an effervescent mixture until she thought her head might pop like a champagne cork.

He held out his hand, and she took it and pulled him down one of the paths, toward the intriguing sounds of bells and water. “What’s down here?”

“One of many, many fountains. This one is an idyllic representation of Poseidon at play,” he said. A shadow crossed his face, but only for an instant.

She slowed her steps, suddenly reluctant to face a reminder of the curse they were still afraid might come back someday. “Maybe we should go another way.”

“It’s only a fountain. We can’t be afraid of our own shadows. It’s lovely, besides. You should see it.” Brennan pulled her gently forward, and they stepped into a clearing. The fountain was enormous; her first impression was that Poseidon was big enough to drown the entire world.

But then reason replaced fancy, and the statue was once again only a statue, made of marble and stone. Poseidon reclined on his side, surrounded by several nymphs who held various delicacies out to him.

“Looks like a pretty hedonistic guy,” she observed. “Doesn’t quite seem fair that he’d punish you for youthful indiscretions.”

Brennan’s smile faded. “He is a god, capricious but all-powerful. He does what he will with his warriors.”

Tiernan suddenly shivered, and goose bumps climbed up her arms. “My mom would say that a goose walked over my grave,” she said, trying to laugh.

“Oh, no,” Brennan said.

“It’s just a saying—an old wives’ tale thing. It doesn’t mean—” She stopped talking and her mouth fell open as she realized why Brennan had said
oh, no
.

The statue was no longer merely a statue. Its marble eyes rolled in their sockets and its head turned until the statue was staring at Brennan and Tiernan.

Brennan knelt instantly.

The statue opened its mouth, and Tiernan stumbled backward in shock, losing her balance. Brennan caught her arm and pulled her down to kneel beside him.

SHE IS NOT DEAD. DID YOU BELIEVE YOU COULD FOOL A GOD?
the statue thundered, as it ripped its marble body free of the base of the fountain and stood, looming over them. Beside it, the nymphs came to life and began to dance.

“Oh, this is so far down the rabbit hole,” Tiernan murmured, as reality fractured right in front of her eyes.

“She did die, my lord, and her soul had flown, fulfilling the terms of the curse,” Brennan said, his voice ringing out pure and strong. “I humbly submit that you accept my deepest, most sincere apologies for my transgressions and sins.”

DO YOU DESERVE FORGIVENESS?
Poseidon, for it couldn’t be anybody else, roared.

Tiernan’s eyes narrowed. “Wait just a minute, sir. Don’t you think he has suffered enough? Two thousand years? Really? For something that was at least as much her fault as his?”

Poseidon raised a marble arm and pointed at her.
YOU DARE TO QUESTION A GOD?

The sense of power gathering in the air strengthened, and she had a moment to wonder if he was going to hurl a lightning bolt or his trident or one of the nymphs at her. A marble nymph could probably do a lot of damage.

Brennan leapt up and threw himself in front of Tiernan. “My life for hers. My existence is nothing without her, so if you must punish me, do so by taking my life, my lord.”

Poseidon grabbed marble grapes from a marble plate and hurled them at Brennan.
DO YOU GIVE ME COMMANDS, WARRIOR?

Brennan stood, unflinching, as the grapes whizzed past, missing his head by inches, and hit the tree behind them so hard that they burrowed into the trunk.

“I apologize for my insolence, my lord, but I repeat my request. Spare this woman, please.”

Tiernan jumped up and stood next to Brennan, planting her fists on her hips and trying to ignore the pounding of her heart in her chest. “He has served you and protected humanity for longer than anybody else. This is so unfair. We fulfilled the curse. I died. Isn’t that enough for you?”

Poseidon leaned down, far down, until his enormous head was almost on a level with hers, intimidating the heck out of her, but the expression on his marble features seemed to be more amused than angry.

It sounded like a vow. Tiernan didn’t hesitate for even a heartbeat. “Yes, for as long as I live, even though my life is nothing but a drop in your ocean compared to his.”

Poseidon turned his marble head from her to Brennan and then back, then he straightened to the statue’s full height and pointed his trident at her. A bolt of pure shimmering silver light streamed out of the tip of the trident and smashed into her, knocking her into the ground and shattering her with pain worse than anything she’d ever felt in her life. She screamed, writhing on the ground, and Brennan pulled her into his arms, tears streaming down his face.

“No,” he shouted. “Not her. Me. Take me.”

But Poseidon merely smiled and, finally, after what felt like years to Tiernan, lowered his trident. The pain vanished instantly, and Tiernan raised her head to look around, her vision blurred by tears.

She tested her various limbs, grateful to find them whole and in working order. “I’m okay,” she said, reassuring Brennan. “It doesn’t hurt anymore.”

Poseidon slammed the shaft of the trident against the stone base of the fountain three times.

The sea god flashed a bizarre smile filled with shiny marble teeth.

Tiernan laughed. She couldn’t help it. A god had just fried her with his mythical trident and then cracked a lame joke. Talk about down the rabbit hole.

Poseidon nodded.

Brennan’s arms tightened around Tiernan. “Children?”

“Sons?” Tiernan repeated. “How many sons?”

TWINS, I THINK. PERHAPS TRIPLETS. STRAPPING BOYS
.

Tiernan swallowed, hard. “But—”

I HAVE NO TIME FOR THIS
. Poseidon pointed a finger at Brennan.
DO NOT MAKE ME REGRET MY GENEROSITY.

Brennan bowed deeply. “My lord, I am yours, and I thank you with everything that I am.”

OF COURSE YOU DO. DON’T SCREW THIS UP
.

Tiernan’s mouth dropped open at the sound of slang coming from an ancient god, but before she could find any words, Poseidon and the nymphs were gone in a burst of fireworks and cascading water.

Silently, she and Brennan stared at the fountain, empty now of statues and all but a few drops of water.

“I . . . I . . .” Tiernan stopped, unable to think of what to say. “We’re going to have a hard time explaining this to Conlan and the gang.” She pointed at the fountain-less fountain.

Brennan sighed. “Unfortunately, this sort of thing happens around here a lot more than you might think.”

Tiernan suddenly lost interest in the fountain. “I’m going to have twins? Or triplets?” Her legs lost their strength, and she collapsed down on the edge of the empty fountain.

“Perhaps we could begin at the beginning,” Brennan said, kneeling before her. “Tiernan Butler, will you wed me and live out the rest of eternity as my bride and the mother of my children?”

She stared at him, stunned.