Waterborne (29 page)

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Authors: Katherine Irons

BOOK: Waterborne
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The few casual friends that she’d had at the institute had always vied to best her. You were expected to develop your gifts, to excel in academics and physical prowess. Twice a year, students were eliminated from the program, and the rumors were that those who were dismissed didn’t simply return home. Ree and most of the others suspected something more sinister. No, it didn’t make for close friendships because the person you told your secrets to might be gone the next day, or they might be doing everything in their power to get rid of you.
“You’d lost your mother,” Ree reminded him. “That must have been terrible for you.”
As it was for me,
she thought.
He’d flashed a bittersweet smile. “It was, but my father chose a new queen almost immediately. He had many wives, but the number one wife was the most important. He picked Korinna, and it was one of the best things he ever did for Morgan, Orion, and me. Morwena is Korinna’s daughter. She could have ignored us, favored her own children, but from the start Korinna was everything you could ask for in a mother. You’ll love her, I promise. And she’ll like you.”
“That’s what you said about Morwena.”
“Morwena’s a lot like Queen Korinna.”
“Your stepmother sounds like a wonderful person.”
“She was. She is. We remain close, even though my father is gone. And Morwena’s brothers—my half brothers—Paris, Marcos, and Lucas are more like their mother than our father. I’m close to all of them, especially Paris.”
Ree shook her head. “It sounds like something out of a children’s fairy tale, although in the fairy tales, the wicked stepmother and her kids always plot against the stepchildren.”
Alex chuckled. “I have one of those kinds of stepmothers, too. Lady Halimeda, Caddoc’s mother. She’s a witch, a schemer, and probably a murderess. She tried to poison my father to make Caddoc king.”
“Ahead of you and Morgan and Orion?”
He arched a golden brow. “Her intention was to assassinate all of us, as well, including Korinna and her brood. Luckily, she didn’t succeed.” He leaned close and kissed the top of her head. “You seem to be breathing easier.”
“I am,” she agreed. “I know I am. I think I’m recovering from whatever was wrong.” The tingling feeling had disappeared from her extremities, and although she was tired, she no longer had memory loss. “I think we should take the seraphim near the Falklands that you mentioned. If we have to go to Atlantis, we need to get there quickly. The longer we delay, the more time Varenkov has to get away.”
“I won’t take the chance of losing you,” Alex replied, stroking her hair. “Once I know you’re in good hands and receiving treatment, then I can decide what to do about Varenkov. Plus, I need to wait for Bleddyn, Dewi, and Anuata to get there.”
“With the children,” Ree reminded him. “They will bring the children, won’t they? They won’t let anything happen to them?”
“Not if they can help it. I’d trust any of my team with my life.”
“You should have had them with you in Tahiti. Why did you try for Varenkov alone?”
“Poor judgment.” Alex grimaced. “I’ll be more careful next time.”
“
We’ll
be more careful. I mean to go with you, one way or another.”
“And afterward?” He looked into her eyes and brushed a stray lock of hair off her forehead. “What then, Ree? You know I want you to stay with me, be my wife.” He tightened his arms around her. “Do you love me?”
She looked away, as fear skittered down her spine. She wasn’t ready to commit herself, no matter how much he meant to her. And the thought of tying herself to someone in marriage was terrifying. “You know I do,” she answered lightly. “But let’s get the Russian first.” Once Varenkov was dead, things might look different to her. “We should finish the assignment,” she said. “We owe it to the kids.”
 
Oysmulgmi carried them as far as the Falkland Islands and deposited them in shallow water not far from the mouth of the seraphim. “I’ll never forget you,” Ree said to the great whale.
Alex translated, and Oysmulgmi blew a great gout of water through her vent hole before gliding away to the north.
“I can’t believe I let you talk me into this,” Alex said. “We should have gone to the temple at Ascension to have the healers check you out.”
“Look at me,” she insisted. “I’m breathing fine. I’m starving.” They’d had no opportunity to eat while they traveled with the Blue Whale, and now she felt as though she could devour a six-foot tiger shark, fin and all. “Just feed me, and I’ll be ready for your crazy wind-tunnel passage through the worm’s intestinal track.”
“It’s water, not wind that we move through” he corrected.
“Fast enough for a wind tunnel.” She caught his arm. “There really is an Atlantis, isn’t there? You’re taking me there?”
“I told you so, didn’t I?”
“You did,” she answered.
Alex caught her in his arms and kissed her. “You’ll love it, believe me. There’s no city in the world to match it.”
“So long as they don’t imprison you in an iceberg.”
“If they do, you’ll just have to figure a way to break me out.”
“I mean it, Alex,” she said. “You’ve gotten under my skin. And people I care about have a habit of dying on me. I couldn’t stand it if anything bad happened to you.”
“Or me to you. We’ll just have to make certain it doesn’t.”
She shrugged. “Easier said than done, considering our line of work.”
CHAPTER 29
 
B
y the time Ree and Alex reached the outskirts of Atlantis, she realized that the sickness had returned full-blown. Each breath was a struggle, and only Alex’s strong arm kept her upright in the chariot. Thankfully, she was no longer in pain, and the headache had given way to a sense of euphoria. Rational attempts at thought had vanished somewhere in the last turbulent rush through the final seraphim. She was content to go where Alex told her, and accept whatever he said.
The tradeoff was a marvelous sensation of lightness and freedom. She had no worries, no regrets, and no guilt. Whatever happened, happened, and she was content to ride the wave to the end. Even the realization that she was losing the ability to breathe held no fear for her. She was aware that she could die, but death’s door opened before her as a great new adventure. The only thing that remained real and solid was the man who cradled her in his arms, whispered encouragement and love words in her ear, and repeatedly shared his life force with her.
“Fight,” Alex urged. “You must stay awake.”
She heard his voice, as if from afar, and she wanted to make him happy, but found her will slipping away with each league the dolphins carried them.
How could Alex be concerned?
she wondered.
Surely, death, if it comes for me, would be a gentle deliverance. How could anything bad happen to me in this glorious wonderland?
Atlantean soldiers stationed at the exit port had recognized Alex at once and summoned an escort that included a chariot shaped like a silver conch shell pulled by four dolphins, and twenty of the royal palace guard, all fully armed for war and mounted on giant sea horses.
The water here, deep in the mid-North Atlantic, was the vivid blue of the Mediterranean, not devoid of light as she would have supposed, but lit by a radiant blue-green light that illuminated the wide stone road, the marble columns, the statues of stone sphinxes that lined it, and the country estates, small roadside temples, and military stations. The sea around them teemed with vast schools of fish, turtles, dolphins, squid, rays, and octopi. Fields of seaweed and grasses lined the highway, interspersed by what appeared to be crops planted in endless rows.
The road was busy; they passed dozens of conveyances, some carrying families or groups of passengers, others heavily loaded with shellfish or produce. Alex pointed out one beautiful building carved out of pink coral, so exquisite that it looked like a jewel box. “It’s a primary school,” he said. Dolphins swam around the entrances, rolling and playing, diving and hovering. “Those are the children’s companions,” he said. “Come to carry them home when studies are over for the day.”
“Dolphin nurses?”
“Think of them as a combination of bodyguards, best friends, and a big brother or sister. Insurance against an attack by sharks or other predators. You haven’t seen fierce until you’ve seen a nurse-dolphin protecting her Atlantean foster child.”
Images of the children whom she’d left in the care of Anuata, Dewi, and Bleddyn surfaced in her mind’s eye. “They should have had a dolphin,” she murmured. “They would have been better than the mothers they were born to.”
As they left the country and entered the suburbs, houses stood closer together, many two and three story rambling affairs with walled courtyards and outbuildings. They were built of stone, glittering white, resembling the domed and graceful architecture Ree had seen in the Greek Islands. Everywhere were gardens and statuary, outcrops of kelp groves, and more public buildings. Ree saw miniature pyramids no taller than four stories, and open air corridors lined with columns and statuary. Uncounted Atlanteans went about their daily business, visiting, shopping, playing, working, all too perfect and too beautiful in physical appearance to be real.
“It’s like a dream,” she murmured to Alex.
“Wait until you see the city proper,” he answered. “Palaces, libraries, temples, theatres, and parks. You’ll love it.”
“Will I?” she asked. If she was hallucinating, it didn’t matter. Her field of vision was growing narrower, but the colors brighter, and her surroundings more fantastic. But,
“Will they love me?”
went unspoken. This was Alex’s home, his paradise, and there had never been a place where she belonged.
She gazed up into his face, and tears clouded her eyes. Had there ever been a man so magnificent, so strong and virile as Alex?
Maybe I am dying,
she thought.
What else would make me forget the code I’ve lived by and let myself fall for this man?
“Hang on just a little longer,” Alex said. “We’ll be at the temple soon, and the healers will know what to do.”
In Ree’s perception, the colors around her began to smear and run together. A blot of nothingness crept from the corners of her line of vision, slowly enveloping Alex’s face and hair until all she could see were his liquid-green eyes staring into hers.
“Don’t leave me,” he begged her.
But there was no fight left in her, and she let the nothingness carry her into the absolute silence.
 
Alex sent riders ahead to warn the temple healers that he was coming with a critically ill patient. By the time he turned onto the Grand Avenue and reached the temple steps, Alex couldn’t tell if Ree was dead or alive. Her face was the color of ash, and as far as he could tell, she wasn’t breathing. He gathered her in his arms, lifted her out of the chariot, and started up the marble staircase to the main entrance.
Abruptly, the doors swung open, and Lady Athena and a bevy of priestesses appeared, followed by his sister Morwena clad in the formal tunic and veil of a novice healer. “Thank the Creator you’re safe,” Lady Athena said when the attendants placed Ree on a stretcher. “We’ll do what we can for her, but you must go to Poseidon at once. This is a dangerous time for Atlantis.”
He clung to Ree’s limp hand. “I saw that the military was on full alert,” Alex said absently.
“Yes,” Lady Athena agreed. “We’ll see to her. But you’re needed at the palace. The king and Prince Orion have been frantic over your absence.”
He hadn’t wanted to go, had tried to follow them through the great doors into the sanctuary, but Morwena had first embraced him, and then barred his way. “We didn’t know if you were dead or alive,” she said. “There was another attempt on the throne. Poseidon was nearly killed.” She hesitated and then went on in a rush, breaking into tears as she told him of Paris and Marcos’ deaths at the hands of traitors. “Paris gave his life protecting Orion.”
“I heard,” Alex replied. “The soldiers told me.” He gripped her arms. “I loved them both.” He moved toward the doors again, but she tugged at his hand.
“You can’t go with her. You know you can’t enter the inner courts,” she said. “You’re not initiated. Royal prince or not, you won’t be allowed past the public sanctuary.”
“Ree needs me.”
“She needs the healers. I’ll stay with her, but Lady Athena’s right. You have to find the king. Go, now. If I’m going to accompany your woman, I have to hurry. Once they start the ceremony, they won’t let anyone in.”
“I love her,” he said.
“I thought you were immune to love, Alexandros.” A hint of a smile lit her blue eyes.
“So did I.”
Morwena sighed. “She’s human, isn’t she? You’re as bad as Morgan and Orion. None of you can stay away from them.”
“She was human. I’m not sure what Ree is now, but it doesn’t matter. If she’ll have me, I’m going to marry her.”
“That’s easier said than done.” She grimaced. “In any case, you can’t help her now. If you try to force your way in, you’ll cause a fuss. It could delay her treatment, make things worse for her.”
“I can’t lose her.”
“Lady Athena will do everything possible to save her. You know how she loves Rhiannon. Go on. I’ll find you as soon as there’s news. I promise.”
“Keep her alive for me, Morwena.”
“I’ll do my best.”
A platoon accompanied him to the king’s inner chamber where he found, not Poseidon, but his twin Orion seated on the throne. “Where’s Morgan?” Alex demanded.
Orion waved a hand and the two generals he’d been conferring with, their staff members, and the guardsmen left the hall. Orion descended the dais and threw his arms around Alex. “Welcome home, twin. There’s no one I’d rather see.”
“Where’s Morgan? He’s not—”
“He’s alive,” Orion said. “It was a close thing. He lost most of the blood from his body. Danu kept him from dying. She’s blessed when it comes to the healing gift. If I were you, I’d ask Rhiannon to send her to help with your—what’s her name?”
“Ree. And how did you know about—”
“Palace telegraph.” He chuckled. “You should know that nothing remains a secret long here. But I’m serious about little Danu. I think her mother and father are a little awed by her gift ... and frightened. Can you imagine what a healer she’ll make when she’s older?”
“Morgan,” Alex reminded him. “The king. Why are you in his place?”
“He’s recovering. I’ll take you to him. Rhiannon’s orders. She’s fierce, I can tell you. She hasn’t left his side.”
“And he’s weak enough to let her make the decisions?”
“She’s with child again, this time with twins. You know Rhiannon’s our big brother’s weak spot. He can’t bear to cause her grief.” He looked at Alex meaningfully. “She wants him to step down. Perseus was nearly killed as well. One of the rebels broke into his bedroom and tried to run a sword through him.”
“But he’s all right?”
“Safe and sound. But the attempted coup terrified Rhiannon. She’s afraid it will happen again, and next time ...”
“Is Morgan considering it? Giving up the crown?”
Orion nodded. “First the council and then Morgan—Poseidon—asked me to assume the throne. But I’m no more suited for it than he is. He was happiest when he could spend time with his wife and kids, when he spent his days checking lobster traps and fighting pollution. He and Rhiannon have plans for setting up an ocean sanctuary. The queen left a fortune back on land, and it’s growing every day. They want to buy a chain of islands in the Caribbean and protect them from fishing and from the onslaught of tourists.”
“Has it ever happened before? Has Poseidon ever abdicated?”
“Hades if I know,” Orion replied. “Let me fill you in on what happened during the rebellion.”
“Do you expect a second attack?”
“Not now.” Orion grinned and slapped him on the back. “Poseidon doesn’t even know yet. You’re the first to hear. I just received a message through Lord Mikhail’s merfolk network. Both Caddoc and his mother are dead.”
“Dead? Is it definite?”
“You know mermen. Never wordy. But I’d trust the information. It seems our late stepmother was tossed into the lava flow as some sort of offering to the Lemorian gods, and our half brother tried to assassinate Queen ’Enakai and lost his head in the attempt.”
“They cut off his head?”
“Pretty messy, I’m sure. I could almost feel sorry for Caddoc. He never could stand pain or blood, if it was his own.”
“So it’s over.” Alex turned to a window and looked out at the endless sea. “Caddoc’s ambition died with him. He never fathered a son, did he?”
“No, none acknowledged. And to be royal, you remember, a male child has to be entered in the book of kings.”
Alex watched two rays swim past, rising and diving like seabirds in the air. It was hard to concentrate on what Orion was telling him about the attempted coup, when Ree’s pale face kept filling his mind.
What if she wakes and finds herself among strangers?
He had the feeling he should have insisted the healers let him stay with her.
“... Seriously, brother. You have to choose.”
Alex whirled on him. “If she lives, I’m not going to give her up! If I face trial and sentence for loving her, I—”
“By Aphrodite’s sweet ass, Alex! Morgan and I both fell in love with human women. Do you think we’re such hypocrites that we’d allow you to be charged for the same crime?”
“It’s the law, and I broke it.” His mouth twisted into a shadow of a smile. “Shattered it, more like.”
“It’s a bad law. One you’ll have to change.”
“Me?” Alex stared at Orion in confusion. “How me?”
“I’ve discussed this with Morgan ... with Poseidon. We’re in agreement. We want you to take the crown.”
“Why?”
Orion rose up off the throne and motioned to it. “It doesn’t fit. Not Morgan, and not me. Rhiannon has begged him to step down for the sake of her and the children. He’s considering it. I think it’s what he wants in his heart.”
“So, you take it. You’re the soldier. You have the loyalty of the army. You worked your way up through the ranks to general. You’d make a far better king than I would.” Alex shrugged. “I’m an assassin. I’d look ridiculous on that throne.”

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