Darlings of Paranormal Romance (Anthology) (12 page)

Naia followed his gaze to the left
side of her fin and watched as the blood escaped from her wound.
The under current seemed to be pulling it directly from her body,
causing it to spread in ribbons and clouds around them. The scrapes
on her shoulders and arms were superficial and would heal quickly,
but the gash needed to be taken care of right away.

Atargatis saw her eyes widen in fright
as she looked back at him.

Silently, he reached down and covered
the wound with his hand. She shuddered at the pain as he touched
her. Naia watched his hand inquisitively and felt a soft vibration.
She looked up only to see that his eyes were closed in
concentration. Looking back down, she saw a light form within the
center of his palm. The halo of light got brighter and brighter
until it shifted from the palm of his hand onto her fin.

His hand remained in place for a few
moments longer while he finished healing her. Once he removed it,
she looked down at her fin and saw that the wound was completely
healed. There was no evidence that she had ever been cut at
all.

The blood that had surrounded them
slowly dissipated until it was eventually gone.

“
How did you do that?” she
asked, her eyes wide with surprise.

“
You too have the same
ability, now that we are one.”

“
Really?— Wait, how did you
know where to find me and how did you speak in my mind?”

Atargatis cupped his hands around her
face and with the pads of his thumbs he caressed her cheeks. “Naia,
now that we are mated, as you may have already noticed, we have
many powers we didn’t have before. Our minds are now connected.
Anytime you need me, just think of me. Then reach through your mind
and imagine you’re speaking to me. You will never be alone
again.”

***

Darkness was settling in for the
evening back at their hideaway and Naia was nestling herself down
on the kelp bed as Atargatis swam over to join her.

He saw his reflection in her
smoldering brown eyes. He searched for the words to tell her what
was going on above the surface. He had to tell her he had pledged
himself and his guard to fight along with Atlantis.

Reaching up he caught a lock of her
hair that had swayed across the front of her face. He wove the lock
between his fingers, feeling how soft it felt as it slipped away,
floating back in place with the others.

“
Atty, why do you look so
serious tonight?”

“
Naia, you know that I
would never do anything without discussing it with you first.
Though I know you could reach into my mind and know what I am
thinking or how I am feeling, I would still come to you the moment
I was thinking about making a life altering decision.”

Confusion flickered across Naia’s face
in the wavering light of the orbs. “Yes, I know. Why are you
telling me this?”

“
This morning after I left
you, Hekili sonared me a message saying Crehon needed to meet with
me.”

“
Don’t you usually meet
with Drakon in the mornings?”

Drakon Stathos was Atlantis’s
ambassador. He was the one who usually met with diplomats regarding
social relations in Crehon’s place.

“
Yes, under normal
circumstances, I would. But today Crehon asked to speak with
me.”

“
It must have been
something important to bring him down off the mountain.”

He chuckled, knowing what she meant by
her statement. Naia had always thought Crehon was a bit pompous.
“Yes, it was. He brought news of impending war.”

“
What? How is that
possible? When did this happen and how didn’t I know of
it?”

“
During the night a ship
arrived with orders for Crehon. He was given an ultimatum. If he
doesn’t accept it, he will have no choice but to go to war to keep
his country intact.”

She sat there absorbing the
information. “What does this have to do with you?”

“
Naia, he has asked the
kingdom to rise up and fight with him.” He paused for a moment,
swallowing hard. “And I have accepted.”

Her eyes went wide and then stern.
“Why would you do that, Atty? Why? We finally have our chance to be
together after all this time. You would jeopardize our future like
this to protect a world that isn’t yours?”

“
I have to Naia. It is the
right thing to do. I know you do not understand this now, but one
day you will. It’s about honor and defending your brothers, no
matter if they are human.”

She was fuming now and he knew she
wouldn’t listen to anything he was going to say at this point. So
he decided he wasn’t going to argue with her and instead make sure
she was safe.

“
If this happens, and I
believe it will, I want you to stay here. It will be a much safer
location.”

“
I’m not staying here by
myself, Atty. I have to make sure my family stays safe.”

“
Naia, please—”

“
How can you expect me to
stay away from my family during this?” she said as she cut him
off.

“
It will be safer if you
stay here.”

“
You didn’t give me a
choice when you decided to join their war, and I’m not giving you
one now. I’ve made up my mind.”

Chapter Six

The night after Hektor’s arrival,
Crehon met with him as requested and gave him his final decision.
It wasn’t a choice he wanted to make, but one he had to.

They were headed for war.

As the days passed, he had numerous
strategy meetings with the leaders of both his Army and his Naval
Fleet. And in turn, they were strategizing daily with Atargatis and
his warriors.

Crehon knew his forces were strong and
would be more than prepared for battle.

But today he wasn’t about to tempt
fate. With only one day left before the expected arrival of King
Ethos, Crehon took this morning to meet with Chrysis, Priestess of
the Temple of Poseidon. He wanted to arrange a sacrifice to the
Gods later that day. All his warriors would attend the sunset
ceremony.

As he was
leaving the temple on the other side of the island, he caught a
glimpse of movement out of the corner of his eye.
He halted, curious to see who was scurrying along
in such a rush. But as soon as he glanced toward the buildings to
his left, the person had already disappeared behind it. He changed
his direction and headed briskly towards the building. As he turned
the corner, he saw Carnaxa sprinting across the grass, straight to
the shore side barracks where Hektor had been staying. After
receiving his answer, Hektor had returned to his ship to await his
Emperor’s arrival. Carnaxa disappeared from his sight again as she
ran towards the back entrance of the building. Crehon decided to
surprise her from the front and catch her and Hektor’s secret
tryst.

Crehon
ran up to the doorway, crouching along the way so that he wouldn’t
be seen through the windows. Quietly, he put his hand on the wooden
door and slowly pushed it open so as not to make a sound. To his
surprise, the room filled with cots and bare walls was completely
empty.
Where did they
go?

He weaved
his way through the beds and walked toward the back door, pushing
it open.
Nothing.
He stepped outside to see if he could find Carnaxa, but he
only saw the empty sea side.

He ran his hand through his hair,
perplexed at where they could have possibly gone so fast. As soon
as he got back to the Temple of Poseidon, he would alert a couple
of the Hoplites to search the island for the two of them right
away.

***

Mixtures of orange and pink splattered
across the canvas of the sky. It was nearing sunset.

Once inside the temple, Crehon entered
the main room. It was grand in scale but the décor on the walls was
dismal at best. The focus of the room was placed in the very
center. It was a prodigious statue of six seahorses pulling a
chariot with their god Poseidon sitting atop a crashing
wave.

As always, Crehon paid homage to his
god. Then he headed to the room in the back area of the temple to
retrieve Chrysis and let her know that he and his men were ready
outside the temple to perform the ritual.

This was going to be Crehon’s first
ceremony of its kind since becoming Atlantis’s emperor. It was
traditional to give Poseidon a sacrificial offering before going to
war. The offering was in exchange for asking for the safety of his
men.

Chrysis followed Crehon outside to the
multiple rows of chiseled rock slabs that served as seating. At the
front was a large altar.

Chrysis took a few moments to prepare,
hurrying along to beat the sunset. Once they started, she asked
Crehon to come kneel before her. He did so and she took his hands
in hers. She closed her eyes and said a prayer in their native
Atlan language. Afterward she took a red cloth and draped it around
his neck. Then she asked him to stand up and told him to follow her
to the front of the altar.

Now that he was standing closer, he
saw the shiny reflection from the blade that was to be used in the
sacrifice.

Chrysis then asked one of the Hoplites
to assist her in retrieving one of the oxen from the stables
located on the other side of the temple.

The ox struggled a little but
ultimately followed behind the Hoplite to its final destination
next to Crehon.

She told Crehon to take the animal’s
lead and then explained how to loop it around the animal’s neck and
tie it around a hook that was attached to the side of the
table.

As the animal started to panic and
shift around, Crehon rubbed the ox along its back to calm
him.

After the ox relaxed and stopped
trying to get away, Chrysis picked the knife up and placed it in
Crehon’s hands.

“
You must now slice the
animal’s throat. Afterward you must offer a prayer to the Gods and
burn the entrails.”

Crehon took a deep breath, tightened
his grip around the blade with one hand, and grabbed the top of the
ox’s head with the other. He pulled the animal’s head straight up
revealing the neck and in one clean sweep he cut its throat from
one side to the other.

It took a few minutes for the flow of
blood to stop before he let go of the ox’s head. He blessed it for
giving its life so that his men would remain strong.

Not wasting any time, he had a couple
of his men carry the ox to where he would skin and gut the large
beast, preparing it to feed his warriors. They burned the entrails
of the ox, sending plumes of smoke and prayers to the
Gods.

Now that the sacrifice was done,
Crehon and his men would eat all of the edible parts of the
ox.

The crackling of the fire and the
scent of the meat cooking filled the night air. This was going to
be a feast.

Chapter Seven

The sun rose just as it did any other
morning in Atlantis. There was a soft breeze pushing its way across
the island. The warm air brought with it the scent of the ocean and
a light hint of gardenias.

It was hard to believe in mere hours
war would be upon them and the magnificent shores of Atlantis would
be soaked in blood.

Crehon spent the day before and into
the early evening with his men preparing them for what lay ahead.
He knew his warriors would not fail Atlantis when she needed them
most. He was confident that they would come out of this the
victor.

The Gods will favor
us.

After the feast, the remainder of the
evening was for his men to rest before battle and he left to spend
it with his wife.

As mid-morning arrived so did the
armada carrying Emperor Straton Ethos and his troops. By the time
the ships were in view, Crehon and Atargatis had their men in place
for the first wave of battle.

The ships lined up and anchored along
the shore.

***

Baneth, the Admiral of the Imperial
Navy had previously ordered his sailors to position their triremes
alongside the Cytheran fleet in preparation for
boarding.

“
Attack!” Baneth
ordered.

With planks lowered and the ships
moored together, the warriors of the Imperial naval force began
their assault on the Cytheran invaders.

Battle cries from the warriors carried
in the clear morning breeze.

As the boarding parties pressed
forward, the sound of metal scraping against metal and the screams
from the injured and dying filled the air.

Once clean decks ran red with blood
which flowed over the sides of the ship, turning the water into a
sea of crimson.

***

With the blood in the water the sharks
began to swirl; however, Atargatis relayed his orders to a portion
of his guard to keep the sharks at bay.

The rest of the guard was to create a
perimeter to prevent a Cytheran ship from escaping the battle or
maneuver into the flanking position.