Rising (30 page)

Sara was so surprised to see Xanthus, that she sat frozen with her mouth agape. As surprised as she was, he looked a hundred times more shocked.

“Xanthus
,” Sara said and swam straight toward him.

Xanthus
enveloped her into his strong arms. “Sara,” he said. “Great gods of Olympus, you’re alive.”

S
ara felt his trembling body surround her and she began to cry.

“Shh,
Moro Mou.” His voice was low, tormented, and aching for her. “Don’t cry, Mou.”

A
s if she could stop. She hadn’t let herself truly embrace the reality of her situation until now. It had all been too frightening, too terrifying to face head on, but now that she was safe in his arms, she was overwhelmed with relief. Somewhere deep in the subconscious of her mind, she had believed she would never see him again. Now, tight in Xanthus’s embrace, breathing in his warm, masculine in scent, she couldn’t hold back the tears. A miracle had occurred and he was here.

S
ara found her attention was turned a few minutes later when she couldn’t breathe. Xanthus was squeezing the breath out of her. “Xanthus, you’re holding me too tight,” she gasped. He lessened his grip, allowing her to breathe again.

When
Sara was recovered enough to think, she pondered her great fortune. This was his family. She couldn’t believe she was here with his family. What were the odds of that?

His
sister whispered in Atlantian and Xanthus jerked back. “What? You’re injured? Where? Show me.”

Sara
looked down. There was a barely noticeable seam just below her belly button. She lifted up her shirt at the seam to show her belly and blanched at her own injury. It was long, red, and stitched with many stripes of black thread. “I guess any future of me being a bikini model is gone.”

Xanthus
was not amused by her jest. He looked enraged. “He did this to you?” he asked. Sara guessed he was talking about Gael, but didn’t want to alert his family about his brother’s involvement.

“Yes, he was trying to get the sharks to attack me. But they didn’t.”

“No, they didn’t,” Adelpha whispered with wonder in her voice. “The sharks brought her to us.”

“
What?” Xanthus and Sara said together.

Adelpha
nodded as her eyes darted back and forth between them, “It’s true. It was the most amazing thing I’ve ever seen. What do you think it means, brother?”

Xanthus
looked at Sara, narrowing his eyes as he studied her. Then his eyes flew open wide, as if he’d just had an epiphany. He paused a long time before speaking. “I think I know, but I can’t speak of it yet.”

Xanthus
shook his head as if shaking himself back to reality. “We need to move. Adelpha, Mother, we need to get Sara to the tunnels. It can’t be a coincidence that she ended up in
my
home. Others will be coming.”

Xanthus towed
Sara down the hall to a huge room. It looked to be sleeping quarters. Given the immense size of the room, it had to be the master bedroom. He swam over to a stone picture with a landscape scene of a tropical island. Just below it was a border of scrolled carvings. He pressed down on a raised swirl. Sara felt the soft compression in the water as a section of the wall collapsed in, and then slid open without a sound, revealing a dark tunnel.

“
When was this tunnel constructed?” Adelpha asked, surprised. Obviously, she hadn’t known about it until just now.

“The same time as the others,
” Xanthus said. “I just never told anyone about it. Lucky I didn’t. I never knew I’d need it to hide someone from my own family.”

“Gael?”
Adelpha asked.

“He is a soldier. He would be
duty-bound to bring her in.”

Adelpha nodded, satisfied with his answer.

Xanthus closed the door panel behind them. At first, the difference was so dramatic that Sara thought the tunnel had no light. But as her eyes adjusted, she saw a faint glow from the tunnel walls. It seemed to go on forever, twisting and turning. A door came into view along the way. Xanthus opened it and led the way inside to a chamber.

“Diamo
,” Xanthus spoke low and the room was filled with light. There was sparse, strange furniture. Sara recognized a sleeping thing-a-ma-jig and there looked to be a wall of bookshelves filled with leathery books strapped inside. She seriously needed to learn Atlantian. Another wall was a giant aquarium. Fish of all shapes and colors swam in this fish tank and the wall shimmered like the surface of the tank in the dining room.

Xanthus turned to face
Sara. He cradled her cheeks in his palms in a gentle demand to have her attention. “Now Sara, I’d hoped to prepare for this before bringing you home. But now that you’re here, I’ll have to make some minor changes in my plan.”

Xanthus
turned toward Chara, who was looking around the secret room. “Mother, I’m going to need you to bring the priest. Don’t go back through my room. Just follow the tunnel through to the exit.”

Adelpha
turned in surprise. “Why do we need a priest, brother? You can see Sara is not going to die.”

“No, but until the priest comes, she
’s still at risk.”

Chara
snarled as she rushed forward to Xanthus. He let Sara go and turned to confront his mother. Chara bellowed, shouting at her son, and then she turned a glaring eye at Sara.

What in the world
had she done?

Xanthus
responded with snarling, brutal words of his own. He also moved in close, towering over Chara as if he were trying to intimidate her.

“I was right
,” Adelpha whispered in Sara’s ear. “My brother wouldn’t have turned you over to be executed.”

“What are they arguing about?”

“My brother is just reminding my mother that he is the master of this castle and she needs to respect his position.”

“But she’s his mother. Shouldn’t it be the other way around?”

Adelpha smiled. “Of course not. You humans have strange ways. In this case, I agree with Xanthus. Mother is trying to tell him not to marry you.”

“
Wait. Is that what they are arguing about?”

“Oh yes.”

“But why is it so important for him to marry me now? And why is she so against it?”

“He needs to marry you now in order to protect you
. You see, a husband is responsible for his wife. And that includes any crime she commits. If a wife commits a crime, the husband serves the sentence.”

“That’s crazy
. So if I am caught, Xanthus would receive my punishment?”

“Yes.” Adelpha
frowned.

“Well, shoot, if that’s the case, I’m never going to marry him.”

Adelpha raised an eyebrow. “You speak as if you have a choice.”

“I don’t?”

“Well
, does your father approve of this marriage?”

“I don’t even know who my father is.”
Sara shrugged.

“What about your
grandfather or brother?”

“I don’t have a brother
and I’ve never met my grandfather.” What was this, the middle ages? Didn’t women have a say in something as important as marriage?

“Well then, you
don’t have any say in the matter,” Adelpha said, setting her straight.

G
ood grief. Dagonians could use some serious women’s liberation.

“Don’t
worry, Sara. My brother is very kind. He’ll treat you well.”

“It’s not me I’m worried about. If I’m caught, he’s going to end up in prison or dead. I couldn’t live with myself if anything bad happened to him
because of me.”

“Sara, I think you’
re worried over nothing. My brother is extremely clever. If anyone can figure out a solution to this problem, my brother can.”

Sara
glanced back to the heated argument. Chara threw her hands out and shook her head as she looked toward the ceiling. Frustrated words tumbled out of her mouth. Then, with a swish of her tail, she left.

Xanthus swam toward
Sara. “Sara, I’m sorry about my mother. She’ll come around.”

“Is it true that you intend to marry me now in order
for you to take the punishment of my crime?”

“Sara…
”

“I won’t let you do it
!”

Xanthus
turned to his sister. “Adelpha, would you let us speak in private?”

Adelpha
cleared her throat. A smile tugged at her lips. “Sure, brother,” she said and left. Sara wondered for a moment where she’d go. To roam the tunnel maybe.

“Sara, we already talked about this. I
will
keep you safe.” Xanthus pulled her near and pressed his lips against her forehead.

“You never said that by being my husband that
you
would be the one executed. You could die because of me.”

“Sara, you need to trust me. We can make this work.”

“No, we can’t. I can’t gamble your life like that.”

“
Yet, you thought I would gamble yours when I brought you here? Sara, it goes both ways. Your safety is my top priority, but I’ll also tell you this. I have no intention of going to prison. Now, I’m going to ask you again. Sara, will you please be my wife?”

Sara
looked up into his handsome face. His dark eyes were filled with love and he was looking at her. It still amazed her that she had captured the heart of such an amazing man—or Dagonian. How could someone so wonderful love a human like her? Wait a minute. She hadn’t told him she probably wasn’t half-Dagonian after all. Sara didn’t want to tell him, but she couldn’t enter into a marriage with that kind of lie between them.

“I have to tell you something first. And after I do, you may not want to marry me after all.”

Xanthus looked surprised. Well, he was about to be even more surprised. “I’m not a Dagonian. I’m not even half-Dagonian.”

“How do you know?”
He was calm. He certainly didn’t look surprised. Sara didn’t know what to think of that.

“My mother told me about my father.”

“And what did she say?”

C
uriosity burned in his eyes. “She said he had blue eyes. He also had human legs, like you do, when on land. She thinks she saw a fin as he swam away, but she wasn’t sure. If she’s wrong, I could be all-human. But, even if she’s right… You said Triton gave you the ability to change on land. So if my father had blue eyes, legs on land, and a fin in the water, it has to mean something. I don’t know what, but I mean… Don’t you think it means something?”

“
Yes, it does mean something. Sara, I don’t want you to repeat what you told me to anyone. I have to straighten a few things out first. So until then, I’m telling you to say nothing about your father—no matter what happens.”

“So you understand that I’m not a
Dagonian?” Sara asked.

“
Yes, I agree you’re not a Dagonian.” He took her face in his hands and pressed his soft lips to hers. When he pulled away, he looked at her as if he were in awe. “But you’re not human either. You’re a mermaid.”

“What? But I thought they were extinct?”

“
They were. Poseidon ordered them all destroyed.”

“But
then where did I come from? Who is my father?”

“We spoke of this once before, but I dare not repeat it now until I
know the details.”

“My father is Triton, isn’t he?” She spoke the realization as soon as it came to her mind.

“Shh.” He took a quick glance behind him, as if he expected someone to be eavesdropping. He turned back and sighed. “Yes, he is your father. But Sara, it’s very important that you keep this to yourself and tell no one. Do you understand?”

“
No, I don’t understand, but I’ll do as you say.”

“Good girl
.”

A
nger clouded his features. “Now, I need to know exactly what happened to you after my brother took you from your mother’s home.”

“Why do you need to know
? It’s over now,” Sara said, not wanting to relive the horror.

“
Sara, just tell me.”

“
Okay, but I’d really rather not talk about it.”

Xanthus scowled when Sara hesitated.

“Where do you want to me to begin?” She braced herself for the nightmare.

“Start at the beginning.”

So she did. Sara told Xanthus everything that had happened at her house and about how Gael had knocked her unconscious. She told him that when she awoke, she found herself in a cage next to a shark. Xanthus didn’t look too happy with that statement, but he let her continue. When she told him his brother wanted to have some fun with her before he killed her, Xanthus looked appalled.