by Eve Langlais
She returned his kiss. Wrapped her leg around his hips, and when he managed to undress them enough he could slip into her, she welcomed the hard thrusts. Yelled his name as she came.
Only as the pulse in their bodies eased did Titan realize it. “We’re moving.” The motion was slight, but noticeable. Noticeable enough he reeled back, and swayed, gulping. “I need air.”
Her big, brave Wasteland lover practically leapt out the door the moment he wrenched it open, and she watched as he ran for the closest rail. When he leaned over, she shut the door and gave him privacy. Not everyone took to the seas.
After a nap and a sponge bath, she emerged to find Titan sitting on a low-slung chair, looking green around the edges, but his expression was at least alert. He stared at the open expanse of water rather than the edge of the land where the coast sailed by.
She wondered what he was thinking. What he saw. She crept close to him and crouched. “You don’t have to stay out here. You can come inside.”
“If I’m going to die, it won’t be in a sinking metal box.”
She almost laughed to hear Darius’s pride and joy insulted. “You’d have time most likely to get out so long as you can swim.”
“I can swim.”
“Not fast enough to avoid getting eaten, unfortunately.”
He cast her a glance. “Not funny.”
“Says you.” She grinned. “I am very amused.”
“How long until we make it around the coast?”
“Three days.”
He groaned.
“It won’t be that bad. I know ways we can take your mind off it.”
Which meant three days of pleasure, where they left their mark on every inch of Darius’s bed and cabin. Three days of wondering what came next. Of pretending they stood a chance. But she was a pragmatist at heart. She knew the queen would be well guarded, making it hard to get close enough. What if the queen died and the one to take her place proved worse?
By the second day, Titan no longer lunged for the rail, meaning by the time they sailed into Crimson Bay, he stood tall and clear-eyed. Alfred, on the other hand, sulked atop the mast. Apparently, someone didn’t like she’d taken up the attention of his friend.
She’d make it up to him later. She had a plan to present him a cubby full of bodies so he could choose what shape he wanted to take on daily basis.
Given she was supposed to be a captive, she’d been lashed to the post. Kind of dramatic, she thought, but Darius was known for being over the top. Currently, he stood atop the wheelhouse, using the scope on the turret to scan the shores.
“See anything?” she called from her spot, slightly bored. The ropes were only a sham. A tug and they’d fall away.
“Heat shimmer at the mouth of the river, behind the barricade. More than likely a cloak for the queen’s ride.” Darius leaped onto the deck. His crew remained out of sight, manning the various controls to the weapons and traps the ship possessed. Darius used to say if you were down to a hand-to-hand fight on deck, then you’d already lost.
“If she’s hiding, then there’s no way to tell how many she’s got with her,” Titan remarked. “We’ll be going in blind.”
“You don’t need to play charades. I get the hint. I’m going to look,” Alfred grumbled. Also an act. He liked being useful, and with so many people around, he’d felt somewhat pushed to the side. He shimmered out of sight as he rose, his own hologram hiding him from watching eyes.
She glanced around. She’d only been here once before and only in passing. The ship she’d been on had paused in the bay to outwait a storm. They’d not gone ashore. The captain at the time, Tevail the Golden, had advised that this was a place for the dead. Given the lack of life in the water—and the aquatic bodies that washed ashore perfectly intact, never rotting—she didn’t disagree.
However, the queen awaited them for a trade, which meant going ashore and climbing the pitted red sandstone steps that rose the height of the cliff to the crumbling Lazuli castle. Riella had never learned what came through this place and destroyed it. Whatever it was, she didn’t want to meet it.
Darius guided the ship close to the stone outcropping where an ancient pier had mostly survived, only sections of the rock having succumbed to the sea. With the Ocean Avenger tied, he was all pirate, all business as he ordered Titan around. “Grab her and bind her good. We don’t want her getting away from us before we get our treasure.”
She wanted to roll her eyes at the exaggeration. Despite all their acting, she doubted Mother believed for a moment she was helpless, but just in case, she struggled and cursed as Titan neared. “Bastard. I wish I’d left you in the Wasteland to get eaten. What a waste of my talent.”
“Quiet, or I’ll gag you, too,” he snapped as he leaned in close and played with the ropes. He whispered, “Are you sure you want to do this? This is your mother we’re planning to kill after all.”
“She is the donator of part of my genetic strand. Nothing more.” She pretended to cower and stumbled as Titan led her by her rope-bound hands. A bit of makeup had made it seem as if a bruise blossomed on her cheek. Her hair was mussed. The shields on her mind intentionally were shaky, but no one poked them.
Darius hit the pier first and muttered, “I don’t like this. Something feels wrong.”
“Say the word and we’ll can the mission.” Titan tensed, ready to grab her and run.
“She’s watching us,” Riella said softly.
“If she is, then she should stop wasting our time and toss the bags of dust out where we can see them. This place gives me the creeps.” Darius stalked down the old stone, hopefully paying attention to the many spidering cracks.
The red water appeared much too calm and not opaque at all. She didn’t like it. It didn’t feel dead. It felt as if the water watched her and was waiting for the right moment.
It was after Darius leapt over a broken stretch that the waiting snapped. The thing shot through the watery gap with a clank of joints. It took a moment to realize the shape was familiar though the armor a strange tarnished color. The Centurion hit the pier with a thump even as Darius whirled and fired his energy gun. He hit, but the armor absorbed it.
“Ambush!” Titan leapt in front of her to shield her.
His weapon also made no impact, the bullets bouncing off the armor. More Centurions—the queen’s very own guard, the biggest and best equipped—emerged from the water, their suits keeping them from succumbing to the poison. A dozen of them appeared to take on their puny numbers. In no time, they had Darius and Titan disarmed. The former looking amused, the latter peeved.
“Hands behind your head,” ordered the biggest soldier.
Given Riella’s hand remained bound, she didn’t move, but the men laced their fingers. They’d expected an ambush. She’d just hoped the queen wouldn’t be so brash as to kill a renowned smuggler in front of his crew. She’d have a hard time moving merchandise after, and Mother was first and foremost a businesswoman.
The queen strode down the cliff steps, followed by a pair of green-armored guards, untouched by the water. Those whose armor turned a strange shade parted to allow her passage.
She paused by Darius. “Aren’t you pretty,” she murmured, eyeing him. “Pity about the eye.”
“Where’s my bounty?” he asked cockily. “I brought the princess. The deal was five bags of dust.”
“Six and you’ll keep your mouth shut about what we are doing here.” The queen inclined her head, and a Centurion clanged down the steps, lugging a crate sitting on a hover float.
“For six bags, I’d forget you called me pretty and have you screaming for seconds.”
The queen stared at Darius a moment longer. “Perhaps the next time we meet.” She moved past him and slowed as she neared Titan. Her lip curled. “You again? How is it you’re not dead? I guess it’s true what they say about rats.”
She swept past, and while Titan’s eyes burned, he kept his mouth shut. Riella had warned him Mother would try a
nd make him snap.
Finally, the queen stopped in front of her. “You are getting to be more trouble than you’re worth.”
“Imagine that. I’ve failed to please you again.” She rolled her eyes.
“I should have smothered you the moment you lost that arm. I knew there was something wrong with you. Something Deviant and not Aunimaa.”
“You’re the one who is sick,” Riella said to the woman who was never a mother. “And it’s time the world was rid of you.”
That was when she launched her part of the plan. The part she’d never told Titan or Darius about because they would have refused. Would have tied her so tight she’d have never gotten free.
She reached for her mother and hugged her. As the queen’s eyes widened in surprise at first, it quickly turned to fear as she realized Riella’s intent.
But by then it was too late. They’d hit the heart-stopping waters.
Nineteen
Titan couldn’t breathe. Couldn’t think beyond his horror that Riella had sacrificed herself. She’d thrown herself and the queen into the deadly waters.
He lost it. The Centurions in front of him dented as his bionic fist slammed into the chest plate of one, the helmet of another. Then he was diving into the water, expecting it to burn, but finding it pleasantly warm. Soothing even.
He kept his eyes open as he scoured the murk, looking for her. Even if it was too late, he didn’t care.
He kicked, farther and farther down, feeling his lungs getting tight, knowing he’d have to breathe soon. But he had to find her. Had to…
He kicked to the surface and emerged spewing water. “Argh.”
“What are you doing, you idiot?”
He heard her voice, and it seemed impossible. He treaded water and turned to see her staring back at him.
“I came to save you.”
“I told you the water was dangerous.”
He blinked wet lashes. “Yeah.”
She smiled. “You risked your life for me.”
“Always, princess.”
“In this case, I forgive you.”
“If you’re done yapping, care to help a man out?” the pirate barked.
The lead Centurion had his weapon against Darius’s temple.
Riella grimaced. “Hold on a second. She’s heavier than she looks.” A moment later, a head surfaced. The queen’s head.
Dead.
Damn.
For a moment, Titan wondered if it would matter. The soldier appeared torn. No queen, the killer in sight.
Then there was a shouted question from the moored ship.
“You want us to keep any alive, Cap’n?” hollered one of the crew. An agile fellow who could climb every inch of the rigging.
“Depends. You guys planning to live to serve the next queen, or were you that attached to her you feel a need to avenge?” Alfred shimmered into view behind the Centurion. Even if the soldier couldn’t see him, he knew he was in trouble.
“Fuck that.” The Centurion dropped his weapon and pulled off his helm. “You did what we’ve been thinking of for a while.”
The other soldiers also removed their helms, showing a range of men and woman in their thirties and forties. The ones tough enough to be considered the best when their hearts were in it.
With them surrendering, he and Riella swam back to the docks. He heaved himself out and noticed how the soldiers leaned away from his dripping body.
Just as sopping wet, Riella confronted the soldiers. “The queen is dead. What will you say when you return to Emerald and report?”
The query made Titan wonder if leaving them alive was the right choice.
The lead Centurion, with his crew cut blond hair, snorted. “Who says we’re going back? Even this place seems better than the city dome and all its rules.”
Darius eyed them. “We could always use more men on the ships.”
“Work for a pirate?” More a question than a sneering remark.
“Got any better options?” Darius asked. “Just because this queen is dead doesn’t mean the next ruler won’t be worse.”
Riella grimaced. “Once the Enclave know Mother is not coming back, the fight will begin to see who takes over the throne.”
“You’re not going to try and snag it?” Titan asked.
Her nose remained wrinkled. “Ruling wouldn’t leave me any time to build things.”
“While you all figure out what the fuck you want, I say we get out of here before night falls.” Darius cast a worried glance at the ruins above them. “We don’t want to be here when the sun goes down.”
It was only as they were on board and coasting away that Darius looked at Riella and then Titan. “How?”
“How what?” she asked.
“You know what. How did you survive the waters? Too much of it absorbed by the skin and the heart stops.” He snapped his fingers.
Riella had a sad smile. “Because I have a metal heart. When I was very young, my father discovered I had a congenital heart defect that would see me dead before I reached my teens. He arranged the attack that tore my arm and then used the excuse of repairing my limb to have me spirited away to his lab, where I emerged better than ever. Only somehow the queen found out that not only was my arm not real, but my heart wasn’t either. That was when she had my father killed.”
“You knew the waters wouldn’t stop your heart.” Darius frowned. “And the baby?”
“Won’t show a heartbeat until a few more weeks.”
Titan stared down at his chest. “Wait a second…Does that mean?”
Her lips twisted. “I might have forgotten to mention that, along with your limbs, you also received a metal heart.”
“But why? Why not tell me?”
“Because then you would have thought of it, and we all know how well that worked.” She rolled her eyes.
“No wonder you both dove in. You knew you were immune to the waters…” Darius shook his head in disbelief.
Riella wasn’t done. “I hoped I was. And he never suspected.” She gave him a look that was exasperated and happy all at once. “I can’t believe you jumped in after me.”
“I’ll follow you anywhere, princess.”
“And what if I wanted to return to the Marsh Kingdom and keep my promise to the king?”
He shrugged. “Then I guess I better find something I’m useful at if I’m going to provide for my family.”
“I think I’m going to be sick.” Darius gagged. “Take it elsewhere.”
They took it to the cabin, where they took turns sponging the residue left by the waters off each other. The feel of her slick, moist skin enough to make him realize he’d almost lost her.
He hugged her close. Skin to skin.
“Next time warn me before you do something like that.”
“Why? So you can stop me?”
He shook as he chuckled. “Maybe. But mostly so my damned heart doesn’t stop again.”
“Please, you’ll die of many things, but heart failure isn’t one of them.”
“How about I rephrase that. Without you, I don’t want to live.” He held her closer and brought his lips to hers as he whispered. “I love you.”
And with the wicked queen dead, they might actually get to have a life.
Epilogue
The return trip saw them dropped at the mouth of the Styx River well before the Sapphire Port where a village perched, eking out an existence fishing the waters and selling to the city. They spent a night on solid land, which Titan claimed he’d never leave again, in a room paid for with a fix she did on a broken oven. The following day they hired a guide and transportation to the Marshland’s city, their fare covered by Titan, who, during the night, left with the village men without disturbing her and returned with them, lugging the body of a giant eel.
“How?” she asked.
He’d just smiled and said, “You’re not the only one with skills, princess.”
Alfred cleared his throat, even though he had no thro
at to clear. “It was teamwork, right, son?”
She rolled her eyes, but as funny as she found his interaction with Alfred, she loved it, too. She liked to think this was how her father might have been had he lived. Had he not died for saving her life.
It took less time than expected to return to the Marsh City. Titan appeared surprised no one arrested them upon their arrival. On the contrary, they ended up with their own suite at the castle. The king’s gift to them for, as he said, “Handling a diplomatic issue for me.”
With the Emerald queen gone and the kingdom in chaos, he could now worry less about the mountain border and more about Sapphire. Because he was convinced that king was behind the attacks on the outer hamlets of the marsh.
With all the metal parts she could ask for, and a forge for making new ones, she started work on creating a communication system that wouldn’t be at the mercy of the electromagnetic issues still plaguing this area of the planet. She also upgraded the machinery for the city’s hospital. The first item being an ultrasound so she could see for herself that her adventure hadn’t harmed the baby. The little person inside her appeared healthy and whole.
“Perfect,” Titan declared.
“As if there was any doubt,” was Alfred’s snotty addition.
The day after seeing their daughter on the screen, Titan volunteered to work in the king’s personal guard because, as he said, “Best way to ensure she’s safe is to have a hand in our defense.”
Little did he know Riella was starting to work on those systems, too. Because now that she’d found someone who loved her in spite of her twisted metal heart, she would do anything to protect him. Her child. And everyone else she decided to call friend and family.
“She’s smiling again,” Alfred announced as they entered her workshop.
“Looks like she’s plotting world domination to me,” Titan declared, dropping a kiss on her head.