She blinked a few times and stared at her own legs in amusement. “Why didn’t you do the same?” It didn’t take much from her imagination to envision Manu cruising through the waves with a powerful tail whipping through the water. She’d never gone through a merman phase as a teen, but she definitely rated the vision an 11 on the Austin Powers to David Gandy scale of sex appeal.
It had to be seen.
“I’m not a high mer. Such tricks are a talent belonging only to the highborn.”
“Oh.” Damn. “That must suck.”
“But I wouldn’t need a tail to keep up with you, Princess.” He grinned and swam around her in a lazy circle, long hair drifting in the gentle current. “How did it feel?”
“It felt…” She paused, considering the initial terror as well as the exhilaration. “Kinda bad-ass.”
“Yes?”
“Like something I’d done a thousand times before, could do a thousand times more. Really natural.”
“Show me.”
She did. Her legs melded together once more into a sleek fishtail, sparkling gold scales glittering beneath the coliseum lights. “So, if I wore sharkskin?”
“Shark tail. Now that you’ve mastered the basics we learn as babies—”
Damn him. Her feeling of accomplishment dwindled.
“—we’ll move on to the elementary lessons.”
“What are elementary lessons?”
He grinned. “Evasive maneuvers, Your Highness. I’ve been ordered to make you battle-ready, and I don’t intend to fail.”
9
Perpetual Failure
Helike had fallen to the Gloom.
It surprised no one, least of all Manu, that one of their distant cities to the south had been crushed by the spreading darkness. What did surprise him was that there were so few survivors to tell the tale.
Of course, he had to be the bearer of bad news.
Commander Lago slammed a fist against the war table’s desk. “Unnecessary. What a hopeless, unnecessary fucking loss. We told them to evacuate.”
“We did, but they believed their fortifications could withstand a round of attacks from the Gloombeasts. Had they obeyed Regent Aegaeon’s official decree, they would still be among the living. This is no fault of ours nor a reflection on your leadership. They chose to break apart from the monarchy.” Helike had been one of the first cities to claim independence from Atlantis, seceding to become their own sovereign Loyalist state.
They’d claimed they could protect themselves. And they had for a time, building up an impressive military that could never rival Atlantis, but had certainly stood against the forces of the dark for a decade on its own.
Now the proud Helicians were dead, their corpses food for the ocean scavengers, and any survivors used as shock troops for the never-ending tide of Gloombeasts.
Lago grunted, kneading his temples with one hand. “Some good news would be appreciated. Tell me, Commander, how goes your training with the princess?”
“She learns, but progress is slow and difficult, General.” Manu couldn’t recall the last time he’d called his sire “Father,” as Lago hadn’t been much of a father at all over the past few years. He’d been a teacher, a mentor, and certainly a leader, but he’d not been a father to Manu at all. “I have my doubts that she will ever be prepared to lead the army as Queen Ianthe once did. In fact, I—”
“Then you aren’t trying hard enough.”
The sharp words sliced through Manu with the force of a harpoon. He blinked a few times, squared his shoulders, and took in a careful breath through his nose. “I do my best, as does she, but there are twenty-five years of surface living to unravel. What you and Regent Aegaeon expect of her is impossible. It will take years to make her into a warrior-queen.”
And while Kai did try her best, he struggled to see her as anything more than a stunted adult, albeit a sexy, desirable one with legs that went on for miles and a mouth his traitorous imagination pictured wrapped around his cock.
Yeah. Training sessions with her were hell, and he didn’t foresee that changing in the near future. Putting professionalism first in the training arena didn’t mean his body understood and heeded the command.
Thank the gods for Atlantian codsarmor and the protection it offered—both from damaging assaults and revealing spontaneous, future queen-induced erections. Popping a hard-on in front of their princess wasn’t part of the training regimen.
“Perhaps I should have tasked Commander Cosmas with this honor, as he would have no doubt achieved results.”
Manu’s back stiffened tight and tension drew across his shoulder blades. “If you find my methods unsatisfactory and prefer Commander Cosmas to step in as the princess’s trainer, you won’t receive any objections from me.”
Lago leaned back in his seat and studied him. “Is that so?”
“It is, sir. It is also my personal opinion that Commander Cosmas will encounter the same difficulties. Neither her intelligence nor my methods are at fault. However, I find myself unable to dedicate adequate time to both my duties and our princess. My fellow commander is far more deserving of the distinction as her royal tutor.”
Kai was putting everything she had into learning basic self-defense, but she struggled with it. In the two weeks since he’d taken up the role of her instructor, he’d sacrificed valuable evenings of free time between sleep and duties as Commander of the Myrmidon Artillery Units.
But he couldn’t make her learn faster.
His father stared at him, stoic features unchanging and perpetually unimpressed.
Had he ever in his life made this man proud of him? Manu thought back to the day Regent Aegaeon named him leader of the coral glider units, passing the coveted position of cavalry commander to Cosmas, his wife’s nephew. Lago had merely glanced at his son, shaking his head. “A mediocre promotion. You could have done better.”
Better indeed. Acquiring either position should have been seen as a tremendous accomplishment at his age, but his father had wanted him to follow in his footsteps, riding into battle upon a shark. Though sharks were preferred for their maneuverability and the bond that often grew between a rider and his beast, Regent Aegaeon chose Manu to lead their artillery for his unparalleled talent behind the wheel. No one piloted a glider better than him.
Lago, however, saw it as a failure.
The general saw everything as a failure when it didn’t align with his plans for Manu.
“No,” Lago growled. “It’s your task.”
All right then. “Then am I dismissed, sir?”
Lago waved him off.
Free from further judgment, Manu strode from the war room where his father planned out the kingdom’s protection and met with his subordinates. He loathed that room as much as he loathed the man who commanded from it.
“Manu! There you are.”
Manu froze when Cosmas’s voice echoed down the corridor. He ground his teeth and slowly turned to face the high mer son of Lady Nammu’s oldest sister, his childhood friend and greatest rival, the man against whom his father always measured him, though his opponent couldn’t be more oblivious. The other commander had no time for conflicts and jealousy, and whenever one of his peers attained some small advancement—especially Manu—Cosmas was among the first to offer genuine, heartfelt congratulations.
The man didn’t possess an envious bone in his body and did in fact live for doing the best for Atlantis, one among few high mer who voluntarily served his kingdom’s military and set an example for all other members of the nobility.
He’d deserved his title as Commander of the Cavalry. And Manu had deserved his promotion to artillery commander. It was only a shame Lago would never be satisfied with any of his professional accomplishments and saw him as a perpetual failure.
“Greetings, Cosmas. What may I do for you?”
Cosmas halted in his tracks and arched a dark brow. “What happened?”
Wondering if it was his expression that gave him away, Manu
’s gaze darted toward the polished wall. His tense posture, tight shoulders, and grimacing face told a story of frustration. “Nothing.”
“You’re an awful liar. What happened? General Twat at it again? Have you told him to shove it in his blowhole yet?”
Manu failed to snort back a laugh. The chuckle escaped him despite his effort to remain stone-faced. “He is, and no, I haven’t. My training with the princess isn’t to his satisfaction, so I offered the task to you.”
A deep furrow slashed across his friend’s brow. “I’ve seen your training with her. She’s flourishing.”
“She is. Of course, I would prefer if she grasped some concepts sooner rather than later, but…”
“But what?” Cosmas crossed his tattooed arms. “You have an idea. I can tell from the devious expression on your face.”
“I do. I think she’ll need a little more pushing. Much like the new trainees, our princess requires a different kind of encouragement.”
“What are you suggesting?”
Manu grinned. “She seems to respond best to being told what she can’t do. Perhaps I’ll appeal to her anger.”
And if she was furious with him, it’d be easier to push her away and not fantasize about her lovely thighs wrapped around his waist.
10
Love is War
Kai hated Manu’s smug face.
His absurdly handsome, perpetually gloating, smug face that seemed all the more gleeful whenever he knocked the water out of her lungs. Manu struck her so hard she spun in the current and saw stars.
“Isn’t it illegal to strike royalty?” Kai demanded at last, voice rising with frustration.
“Not when it’s in the name of training. I’m allowed to strike you as many times as I want then.” He cocked a brow, and then his smarmy grin returned, making her want to strangle him.
All those weeks of underwater aerobics and yoga suddenly didn’t seem like wasted time anymore, though she wished most of all that she could write home to tell Sadie she’d been right. That one day, she’d be glad of all those hours spent at the group workout sessions.
Today, Manu proved he was more of a bastard than any fitness instructor on the surface. Her body was screaming for rest, every muscle from her abs to her—Kai’s exhausted mind couldn’t even recall the name of the muscle connecting her caudal fin to her piscine half—ached like she’d swum a thousand miles.
Maybe she had. A thousand miles would be an understatement however, since Manu made her swim the same exercise over and over from day to day without any rest in between. In the real world, a physical trainer would have let her rest a day, allowing her muscles to recuperate, but Commander Taskmaster didn’t believe in breaks.
The moment she acquired mastery of one skill, he ran through another until she wanted to cry. Under his instruction, she twisted into loops and performed spirals, also learning to bolt from a standstill. Yet he always caught her and wrestled her to the sandy ocean floor. For more than a fortnight, they’d maintained a pace of training four hours each morning no fewer than three or four days a week. The rest of the time, Kai attended classes with stoic scholars who drilled Atlantian history, law, and religion into her head. The tales of Thalassa’s blessings never ended.
Exhausted, Kai settled across a patch of sea grass and sprawled on her back. For the day’s lesson, he’d taken her to the city outskirts beyond the dome, introducing her to the discovery that mers weren’t affected by sea pressure.
Manu stood over her. “It isn’t yet time to rest, Your Highness.”
“I’m going to rest anyway. Everything hurts.”
He settled opposite her in a relaxed, cross-legged pose, resting both hands on his knees. “You’ll heal. Besides, it wouldn’t hurt so much if you didn’t let me pummel you. You kind of stand there and take these ass-beatings.”
She jerked up into a sitting position. “Let you?” Feeling petulant, she flicked him with her tail then swept it again, stirring a cloud of sand into his face.
He coughed a few times and waited until the dust settled before replying. “Very mature.”
“You bring out the child in me.”
“How unfortunate that I haven’t brought out the child in you during our practice, since we teach children these maneuvers and they seem capable of comprehending the skills.”
“Eat a dick.”
“Such words from a princess. Is this what the mortals taught you during your land-bound years?”
God, there wasn’t another man in the world she wanted to punch more than she yearned to strike Manu, and that one love tap in the coliseum seemed years ago. “My language isn’t any worse than yours! Besides, I’m barely a princess. I don’t remember anything about being one.” Then she muttered, “I wish I wasn’t.”
“Ah, wishing it were not so does not change the facts. You are a princess, and until you grasp the importance of this exercise, we will remain here.”
Fucker.
For this lesson, they had the roles of aggressor and prey. His aim was to disable her, and her goal was to thwart him and escape. Thus far, she’d only broken free from the initial grapple once, and was caught on the escape route. The man swam faster than a fucking harpoon bolt.
“Ready?”
“Ready when you are.”
When he came at her, she twisted into position and slapped him with her caudal fin hard enough to bloody a normal man’s nose. Then she bolted toward the east.
Manu caught her again by her dorsal fin—appearing at her rear as if summoned by magic—and slammed her beneath him in the sand. He trapped her body beneath him and caged her with his muscular forearms. “This should be performed in one motion, Princess Kailani. Time and time again, I watch you waste precious seconds. It needs to be fluid, without time between the flick and dash. One second can be the difference between life and death for a child. That is why we teach them the importance of fleeing an attack.”
“I thought the Gloom never comes this far? A hundred leagues or something like that?”
“A rough three-hundred-mile radius has been safe, but it was once larger. Besides, it never hurts to be prepared. If it isn’t the Gloom, it could be a hungry predator. There are dangers everywhere.”
Kai quieted. She’d discovered only high mer and specially trained Myrmidon guards developed the technique to command sea life. It was not a gift all shared, and thus traveling too far from the city could prove dangerous at any moment. For high mer, it came easily. For common mer, they had to fight for every milestone.
The way she had to fight for improvement as Manu’s student.
Head in the game, Kai reminded herself. She had to do it. Had to.
Ignoring the pain in her ribs and the ache throbbing in her belly each time she flexed or bent, she assumed her defensive position again.
He came at her fast, a blur of muscle and man, hard fists and a grip tighter than a locking vice. If the youngest children of Atlantis could learn to evade a predator, then so too could she. She twisted to the side and let his palm strike glance past her torso, barely skimming her, but the motion synchronized with the curve of her lower body.
Kai imagined herself driving Manu’s balls into his throat and making him choke on them along with all his taunts. She snapped her tail, simultaneously striking him in the junk and propelling herself away from her phony assailant at the speed of light.
It felt like the speed of light, anyway. Probably nothing close to it, but what mattered most was that she heard his grunt of pain when the blow folded him in half and dropped him like a stone to the ocean floor. Another whip of her tail jettisoned her away, so fast she probably left a streak through the water. He didn’t have a prayer of grabbing her, too busy cupping both hands to his abused genitals.
When Manu caught up, he squinted at her through a haze of unconcealed pain. He’d probably have tears in his eyes if they weren’t underwater. By then, Kai reclined on a bed of algae and feigned interest in examining the little hermit crab rummaging thro
ugh it beside her. She aimed a satisfied grin at him.
“Looks like I managed. How was it?”
“Acceptable,” he grunted.
“Thank you.”
“Let’s never speak of this again.”
“Oh no, let’s. I think my accomplishment should be shouted from the tallest rooftops of Atlantis. But I’ll begin with the barracks as we pass by, en route for the palace. How are the boys? Recovering well? Pain is a weakness foreign to Myrmidon, so you must certainly be all right by now.”
He glowered at her and opened this mouth, only to snap it shut when Amerin approached on a sandskipper. The little buggers were as nonaggressive as sharks came, a bottom-dwelling carnivore that only hunted small fish and crustaceans. In the weeks since her arrival, she’d noticed children of wealthier Atlantians sometimes kept them as pets, no different than human kids riding ponies. Merchildren rode everything from magical sharks to giant seahorses.
A Royal Guard swam alongside Amerin. As a member of the domestic caste, she had little experience in combat, trained no further than the lessons Kai struggled to comprehend.
Well, had struggled to comprehend.
The guard bowed to Kai and spoke a polite greeting before he fell back and went silent.
Amerin bowed courteously from astride her beast. “Excuse the interruption, Your Highness and Commander, but I come bearing a message from Regent Aegaeon.”
Still flushed and clenching both fists, Manu gritted between his teeth. “Of course.”
“Is something wrong?” Kai asked.
Amerin shook her head. “No. Your uncle would like to see you in private before dinner. It’s not urgent, he says, but important.”
“Thank you. Tell him I’ll—”
“She’ll be with him shortly. Our lesson is finished,” Manu said tersely before he strode away. After a few steps, he pushed off the sand and swam away quicker than a mer pursued by a megalodon.
Served him right. Maybe he’d be a little less cocky next time.
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