The Rising

by Kristen Ashley

“If you need to release your pain by taking a lash to my flesh, I will endure it.”

  I blinked down at him.

  He was not finished.

  “If it takes you out of your mind and your hurt to use my body, riding my cock, climbing on my face, yanking at my balls, fucking me in my arse, you will do it. You will turn your mind, ease your pain, and I will come for you, I will shoot for you again and again, I will bleed for you, whatever you want to take from me to give you what you need, I will offer it to you. You own me, Elena. I love you and I am yours in any way I’m needed.”

  “I love you too, sweetheart,” I whispered, moved beyond reckoning at the power of his words.

  However.

  “But I’m not sure I’d take a lash to make you feel better,” I went on to admit.

  “I would never mar your beautiful skin,” he growled, openly annoyed, as if I thought he might someday actually do that.

  “Well, I wouldn’t yours either,” I returned.

  I watched him calm as he murmured, “Just know you could.”

  “It will never come to that. I just needed to feel…I just needed to feel you alive, all around me, inside me. I just needed you.”

  His arms left me so he could capture my head in both his hands.

  “I am right here.”

  I closed my eyes and dropped my forehead to his.

  He shifted so he could press his lips there then he moved me to press my face in his neck.

  He then resumed holding me.

  After some time, I noted quietly, “You said the words.” I paused and added, “Now, twice.”

  He gave me a squeeze and not quietly, replied, “I did.”

  “It is quite unfair, the first time you did that and then raced off into battle without allowing me to return them.”

  “I’m not racing anywhere now.”

  I lifted my head and looked down at him.

  And without delay, declared, “I love you, Cassius Laird, my warrior, my prince, my future husband. And I love that you love me too.”

  A small smile quirked his mouth as he stroked my cheek tenderly with his knuckles.

  “Jasmine, I think, would approve of me falling on your cock in my grief,” I remarked.

  Another smile quirked his mouth before he replied, “She would indeed.”

  I felt my face crumble as Cassius watched it, which was why it was again shoved into his neck and his arms went around me tight.

  I wept even as I asked, “How’s Mac?”

  “Undone.”

  His word made me weep harder.

  “She was loved, darling, and she knew it,” he whispered.

  I nodded.

  And I was glad for that.

  But it didn’t make me feel the slightest bit better.

  After a while, I calmed, but Cassius did not move, neither did I, even if I knew I must be heavy, and I also knew he was leaking from me and that had to be aggravating.

  “Your seed,” I muttered.

  “Ignore it,” he muttered in return.

  This was easy for me to do, as it wasn’t aggravating me.

  “Cass—”

  His voice was deeper when he ordered, “Ignore it, Ellie.”

  I sighed.

  Cassius started twisting my hair around his fingers.

  “She would agree with the dragons,” I told him.

  “She absolutely would.”

  “She was a warrior to her soul.”

  “She was. And she lived every second of every day of her life on this earth to its fullest.”

  “She did. And she was the best friend anyone could have.”

  “Yes,” he agreed.

  I burrowed closer into my prince.

  “I love you, Cass.”

  “And I you, my Ellie. You own me, body, heart and soul.”

  I pressed deeper and the tears came again.

  Because I loved he gave me that.

  And Jasmine would love it too.

  And through my tears, Cass held me.

  I loved he did that.

  And Jasmine would love that too.

  125

  The Brother

  Queen Ha-Lah

  Amphite, Underwater Capital of the Mer

  STRAIT OF MEDUSA

  The table was long that separated my king and husband, Aramus, from my other king, Jorie of the Mer.

  But as long as it was, it was truly even longer, for the two men sitting at opposite ends of it, scowling at each other down the length, were making it thus through obstinacy.

  I sat at Aramus’s side, waiting for him to say something.

  But once he had regained consciousness after the Mer had dragged him down to their underwater city, he was not best pleased that he’d been pulled under without his consent.

  Or that they’d magicked him unconscious.

  Not to mention, also mer-napped me.

  It took considerable time to calm him down, even though I agreed wholeheartedly this was not the best way for the Mer to begin relations between our two realms.

  But we’d been in Amphite, the capital city of the Mer, now for hours. Aramus’s men were probably beside themselves with worry that we’d disappeared.

  And Dora and Aelia were likely terrified.

  We needed to move forward establishing relations and then get home.

  And this would be any kind of relations (though, preferably good ones, however, I wasn’t sure how that would happen with such an inauspicious start).

  “My king,” I whispered, reaching out to touch Aramus’s wrist where it lay on the table, the better to give him the ability to irritably drum his fingers, something which he was doing.

  “We will commence when I hear an apology,” Aramus decreed.

  Oh no.

  “Then you might as well leave now,” Jorie retorted.

  “I have no issue with this,” Aramus stated, beginning to rise.

  I grasped his wrist and tugged to keep him seated, hissing, “Aramus.”

  “We have done without them for centuries, my queen,” he stated, his eyes not leaving Jorie, but fortunately his behind not leaving his seat. “We can carry on without them now.”

  “My darling, he is the king of my people,” I pushed. “And we need all peoples allied, Aramus. Especially those with power. With magic.”

  My husband said nothing.

  “And he is Silence’s brother,” I stressed

  Aramus grinned a wicked grin at Jorie. “Good luck getting through Mars to meet her, my friend.”

  Jorie bared his teeth.

  Oh, but he wanted to meet his sister.

  And that made me happy.

  I just needed to get my stubborn king happy about it as well.

  “She has no siblings,” I reminded Aramus. “Her mother is as weak as the king who is her brother. Her father is—”

  Aramus’s head ticked, having sensed as we all did the kind of man (and more importantly, father) that Johan Mattson was.

  But I knew.

  In her missives to me, it was clear she had not been raised in a nurturing manner.

  I did not share all with my husband.

  But he was no fool.

  I took instant advantage. “Can you imagine, growing up as she did, discovering your brother, your blood, is King of the Mer? Indeed, growing up alone in that house, for Silence was very much alone in that house, Aramus, and then coming to learn you have a brother at all?”

  Neither man spoke for long moments, though Jorie now appeared even more unhappy upon hearing how Silence had been raised.

  Aramus broke the silence.

  “Your father, he also was king?”

  “Yes,” Jorie bit off.

  Aramus’s tone had warmed a shade when he went on to inquire, “And he is no longer amongst us?”

  “No,” Jorie answered shortly.

  “I am sorry,” I said to Jorie.

  “I am as well. He was a good man, a good king, and a good father,” Jorie replied.

  �
��Silence, Queen of Firenze, is dear to my wife,” Aramus declared. “I call her husband friend. At any time, but especially in times like these, I would not want to introduce anything into her life that would upset her.”

  “You assume I would upset her?” Jorie demanded indignantly.

  “No, but you say your father was a good man, and yet he begot Silence, and this is unknown to Silence. I do not know for certain, but we suspect Silence not only is unaware she is Mer, now, I more than suspect she does not know the father who raised her is not her own,” Aramus returned carefully.

  Jorie lifted his chin.

  And then fortunately, he gave in a little.

  “My mother died. She was young. I was but seven years old. My father was most grieved. Amongst the Mer, when one’s mate perishes, it is custom to go swim-about. A mate can be gone years in their search for solace after they lose the one they love. My father was gone for two. I know he went to the land, took his legs, traveled widely with the Zee people who are like many of us. They wander in schools, wherever they wish to roam. I did not, and he did not, know, in his meanderings, his seed brought forth a child.”

  Jorie took a breath and continued.

  “That is, I did not know until word reached us that the new Queen of Firenze has silver eyes. No one but the royal line of Mer has silver eyes. My two aunts have silver eyes. My cousins have silver eyes. As you can see, I have the same. My aunts have not left the underwater realm to go to land. However, my father spent much time in the country of Wodell, and in his diaries, spoke of meeting, and lying with, the lady of the arbor. I did not know until I knew of Silence that the lady of the arbor was the Lady of the Arbor. And thus, Silence, Queen of Firenze is my sister.”

  Jorie’s expression changed, grief seeping into it, before he cleared it and carried on.

  “He was beloved, my father. By me. His people. He was generous and he was caring. He valued family above all else. My mother died on her third attempt to bring forth another child for him. In his last breaths on this earth, he apologized to me again, something he had done repeatedly since her loss, that he gave in to her desire to have more children and thus I lost my mother. This before he shared his love for me and called to her to tell her he could not wait to see her again.”

  My husband turned his head to look at me.

  “Both of their fathers were kings, and both of their fathers are lost,” I whispered.

  “And now we know the foundation of what makes the King and Queen of Firenze,” he whispered back.

  He then returned his attention to Jorie.

  “Do you know of the prophecy?” he asked the King of the Mer.

  “We know much. Lena, your witch in the Great Coven, keeps us apprised of the follies of those on land.”

  I could tell by the tightening of Aramus’s jaw he did not like the word “follies.”

  Fortunately, he did not dwell on this.

  “Silence, as well as Ha-Lah, and myself, are part of this prophecy,” Aramus shared.

  “I know this too.”

  “The Beast rises.”

  “We feel the quakes here as well and know what causes them.”

  Aramus again looked at me.

  “Make your request, Sea King,” Jorie demanded.

  Aramus turned again to Jorie.

  “I have outlawed whaling,” he shared.

  “We know this,” Jorie replied.

  “I have abolished the binding,” Aramus went on.

  “We know this as well,” Jorie said.

  “And I have decided that any harm done to a Mer will mean the perpetrator’s death, hanging from the yardarm, blood drained from the neck.”

  Jorie sat still and stared at my husband.

  He did not know that.

  “The law has been written,” Aramus continued. “But it has not yet been enacted, for we will wait until such time as we can call to the Mer on land, and now at sea, to share they are safe. Now is not that time. No one is safe in this time. But when those prophesied make Triton safe, I will assure the Mer are the same. And I will garner oaths from every kingdom of Triton for their protection of the Mer. However, proclaimed or no, enacted or no, if word comes to me that a Mer has been harmed, the perpetrator will hang from a sirens-damned yardarm and be drained of their blood.”

  Jorie did not speak, but I did not fail to note he was watching my husband very closely.

  Aramus stood and looked down the table at his fellow king.

  “My wife is your people. But this is not the only reason your people are my people,” he stated. “I am the Sea King. I will protect the Mer in promise and deed, with my armies, my armadas and my life.”

  Jorie remained silent.

  Aramus did not.

  “Now you may wish to involve yourself and your people with the happenings on land, or you may not. That will be your choice. I will not make a request for your might, your power and your magic. It will be up to you to give it. I will not negotiate you doing the right thing. I will not hold your sister from you. Not for you, but Silence adores her cousin True and she has much love to give. I would not keep a brother from her. Thus, Jorie, King of the Mer, it is up to you what you and your people will do. When you are ready to meet your sister, we will make that so.”

  Jorie still did not speak.

  Thus, Aramus continued.

  “Now, my wife and I are going home. There are two little girls who have already lost too much in their young lives who are undoubtedly frightened beyond reason Ha-Lah and I have gone missing. We must return.”

  “You seem to think much of yourself that you, at long last, have made just decisions for the beasts of the sea, and the beings in it,” Jorie returned.

  “I think only that I must thank the gods for my wife. For in truth, if they had not guided her to me, I would have sailed and raided and whaled and not considered any of these things.”

  “That does not say much for you,” Jorie retorted.

  “Indeed,” Aramus returned. “But it says a great deal about my wife.”

  “My king,” I whispered, warmed to my core at his words.

  He looked to me, and when he saw my expression, his face grew soft. “You are my conscience. You know this, so do not look as if my words surprise you.”

  “You are a fine man, a great king,” I replied. “For you did not have to listen to me and more, do something about it.”

  “How about we settle on the fact we’re both bloody wonderful?” he teased, a twinkle in his brown eyes.

  Oh, but that twinkle.

  I grinned at him. “I can do that.”

  “Though, you’re more wonderful,” he muttered.

  And I warmed anew.

  “Perhaps we can steer your conversation away from mutual admiration and back to matters at hand,” Jorie suggested, and my husband and I turned our attention to him only to see his brows draw together as he looked beyond us.

  I looked that way as well, to see another bare-chested, iridescent-leather-trouser clad mermale moving swiftly our way.

  Not exactly our way, he went straight to Jorie.

  Jorie, taller than this brethren by at least half a foot (I had not seen many of the Mer having taken their home in this realm, but of the ones I saw, and the ones I knew on land, I noticed that Jorie was taller, broader and more powerful of frame than all of them), and thus, he bent his head so the mermale could have his ear.

  In short order, he jerked upright in a manner that had both my husband and I tensing.

  Or it could have been the expression on his face.

  Either way, it caused Aramus to rap out, “What is happening?”

  Jorie’s gaze came our way, and when he spoke, his tone had softened.

  “I am sorry to say, the war in Airen to free their females has begun in earnest this day.”

  “Oh, my gods,” I breathed.

  “The rebels cornered your friends on a mountainside. The Regent’s troops were outnumbered at least ten to one,” Jorie went on.
<
br />   My heart lurched.

  Aramus immediately grasped my hand and started dragging me to the door, which would take us to the island in the middle of the grotto, which was, as far as I could tell, a part of Jorie’s palace.

  “We must get to land. Then to my ship, for we must make haste to Cass,” Aramus declared.

  “They won,” Jorie called.

  Aramus stopped dead.

  I ran into him.

  And we both woodenly turned back to Jorie.

  “Who won?” Aramus asked, his voice dead.

  “Your friends.”

  His fingers tightened so deeply around mine, the bones in my hand might have broken, if my fingers weren’t tightening so deeply around his.

  “They’re alive?” I asked, my voice husky.

  “There were losses, but the Prince of Airen and the new Queen of the Nadirii were not amongst them,” Jorie reported.

  “Do you know aught else?” Aramus asked.

  Jorie shook his head.

  I tipped mine back to catch my husband’s gaze.

  “We must send ravens. Cass may need you to engage. He may just need you. Thus, we need to get home,” I told him.

  He nodded and began to drag me again.

  “We will all go to them, together,” Jorie decreed, and again, Aramus and I stopped and gave him our attention. He continued, “There are rumors the King of Firenze is at the battlefield, with his wife, even though this couldn’t be so, as yesterday, they were in Wodell and Cassius and Elena are at the base of the Night Heights. But regardless, I won’t meet my sister here, in Amphite, not anytime soon. So I go with you.”

  “Then come along and don’t dally,” Aramus bid.

  However, I was stuck on what Jorie said.

  “How do you know so much?” I asked.

  “Mer have powers,” he answered.

  “I know, I am Mer,” I reminded him. “But that doesn’t answer my question.”

  “Some have some powers, others have other powers,” Jorie shared, which also didn’t answer my question.

  “And what powers allow you to know so much that is happening on land?” I demanded to know and felt Aramus, who I could sense was keen to be away, settle in at my side, for the now, keener to know this.

  “There are many of us who have exceptional hearing,” Jorie explained.

  “Ah,” I murmured.

  “And there are others of us, a smaller number, and all of them of noble blood, who can cloak ourselves,” he went on.