Sunken Empire

by Brandy Slaven

  I start to pout, but he lifts his tail out of the water as a distraction tactic. Of course, it works. His has the same bright seafoam green color of his eyes, and like Zephyr's, it flows down into a slightly darker tint. Reaching out to touch it, I find the same texture, too. If I'm honest with myself, I expected them to be slimy or rough underneath my fingers. The contrast of my assumption and reality is like fire and ice. One of the things I'm most excited to find is that I'm not as appalled as I originally thought I'd be. I mean, come on, most boyfriends come with some kind of baggage, but all three of mine come with fishtails.

  Mine. the word repeats as I take in the three of them. Yeah, I like that word.

  A hand flashes in front of my face. "Where'd you go, Rubikins?"

  The old nickname has me turning a playful frown towards Zephyr. "I don't think I like that one, Zephy."

  All three of their laughter together does funny things to my insides, which turns to a slow burn as one of their tails wraps around my waist from behind. A quick peek down reveals a blue so vivid that it reminds me of some of the tinier fish swimming alongside the barrier. Where his brothers' colors run darker as they descend to the tip, Zanthus's tail stays the tang-fish blue completely, but as he moves, I notice a darker midnight shade underneath. Each of them is as different as their personalities.

  Letting Zanthus pull my back against his chest, I rest my head on his shoulder to enjoy the show Zephyr is still having the sea life put on above us. My question is aimed at the ceiling. "So...I'll be able to breathe underwater like them?"

  "Sure will, princess," Zanthus murmurs into my ear. Anxiety rips through me at how much I still don't know about their world. Something so small that I should've thought about, but it never even crossed my mind.

  My harsh intake of breath must alert them to where my mind has drifted off to. Zale has my eyes dropping to his as he reassures, "We've got so much to catch you up on, damselfish. What we've had an entire lifetime to acquire in knowledge, you'll have to pack within a short time span. But we're not going to just throw you to the sharks. We'll be here every step of the way."

  Shit, in this protective shield the three of them have me hiding behind, sharks being out here never occurred to me. Trying not to be obvious, I let my eyes wander at the open water around us.

  "Great, brother," Zeph snorts in Zale's direction. "Now you've got her thinking about sharks."

  "There's nothing in here with us," Zanthus says comfortingly. "If you close your eyes and concentrate, you'd be able to feel any living thing around you in the water."

  I do as he says but find myself half-dozed instead of focusing on living critters.

  His arms become bands around my body, and he whispers softly in that secret language as I feel us gliding through the water. My last thought is disappointment at not being able to watch them transform back.

  My brother’s words keep playing on repeat inside my head. Mate. Our mate. I think we’d all held out on the hope that we’d have one, true-fated bond mates are almost impossible to find. Even living as long as we do. Mother and Father had loved each other with an unmatchable passion, yet they weren’t even mates.

  I didn’t see the golden cord Rubi seems to have seen, but I know exactly what she means. Since the moment her body landed in that water in the human realm, everything changed for me. Priorities shifted, and she became my number one.

  Zanthus walked out with her moments ago, and I can’t find any sort of jealousy within myself. Besides the small amount of discomfort from the pain she was in when first arriving, it’s plain to see she’s happy. I’ll get my time with her, so I allow myself to enjoy the small amount of magic I have left in my talisman while my brother takes her to his room.

  Getting to watch her face light up at seeing our fins seriously made the hard shift worth it. Normally, we have to wait a lot longer before we’re able to shift again, but the unlocking of Zanthus’s magic seems to have trickled down to us as well. Though, I wasn’t able to hold my form but for a few minutes after she left, considering I’d used so much of the talisman’s power showing off what she’s in store for.

  Planting my ass in the sand waist high in the water, I look out to where Zale seems lost in thought. I haven’t had a chance to talk to him about the mate thing earlier. If I’m honest with myself, I am a little upset with him for withholding the information from us. No matter if it was an educated guess or not. I know I wasn’t the only one caught off guard either.

  “This is a dangerous game you play, brother,” I say softly, knowing it’ll still reach his ears.

  For a moment, Zale’s eyes flick to me and within them I can see the strain he’s been under lately. All of the unknown finally wearing him down. Making a silent vow to myself, I promise to start being a little more responsible and unloading some of that weight off him for a bit. Not sure how long it’ll last, but having a mate now makes me feel like I should be pulling my fair share.

  Zale slowly focuses while swimming my way, waiting until he’s close to admit, “I play no games, Zeph. It was hard enough keeping the knowledge to myself all the while knowing my hopes could be crushed as easily as the two of yours were I to inform you. We’ve been through too much already, and I didn’t want the news to devastate you if I wasn’t correct.”

  In the loop now, it makes sense. I can’t say I wouldn’t have done the same if it were me. Doesn’t mean I can’t give him a hard time about it still.

  “The powerful and wise Zale be wrong about something? I highly doubt that day will ever come, brother," I tease him. "We all felt the same thing when that small woman hit the water in the human realm. A place where our magic should be dampened even further past the point of the curse. Yet, I didn't feel weak as we crossed through the portal. Something was there guiding us to her."

  "Or someone," he corrects, rubbing a hand down his face.

  I let one corner of my lips pull up. "Yeah, a very sexy, fierce, little female of someone. There's no other explanation other than her. No one else was in the water around us that night. So, looks like we're just going to have to give in to fate's desire and accept we were all where we were meant to be. We've learned humility and earned the ties being severed on our cursed bonds."

  He scoffs, "Don't get ahead of yourself, Zeph. Just because our brother has his magic back doesn't mean the entire curse is going to be broken. For if that were the case, the barrier would be lifted by now."

  "Gods almighty, you sure are a pessimist these days," I concede, laying my torso back in the sand. The position is one I've laid in many times beneath our prison dome. With the ocean directly above my head and on either side of my peripheral, it'd be almost easy to forget we're trapped here. Water laps at my chest as I feel a brush of magic against my skin.

  Back on two legs, Zale steps from the water over to his clothes and waits until he's got his pants pulled up his legs to speak.

  "When the day comes that our people are free and thriving, I shall show you one of my optimism," he vows, adding, "I'll be in the study if you need me."

  I close my eyes and snort. "It's not me you're hoping needs you."

  He doesn't reply this time, and I'm not expecting him to. My words are true and he knows it. I'm not jealous Zanthus was the first of us to lay claim to our Rubi, but do I wish I could join them right now? Sure. Settling for my spot here in the sand, half in the water, I let my imagination run wild with the things I'm going to enjoy showing our mate once we're back in our kingdom. Things are so different than the human realm, and I fully intend to share every single new experience I can with her. Before I know it, my mind is being sucked down into darkness as I doze off.

  How long I stay that way, I'm not sure. I dream a strange ripple in the barrier causes it to split in half, and I come awake ready to brush what feels like tiny bugs off my body. Only, my fingers swipe at nothing but loose pieces of sand clinging to my skin. Heart racing, I stand, turning my gaze out towards the dark abyss. Something doesn't feel the same as it did wh
en we first stepped into our small cove. Searching in silence for a few long minutes, I decide it's nothing other than the dream that has me spooked.

  Letting out a shaky laugh, I head out towards my room upstairs. I've just closed my fingers around my doorknob when I hear soft murmuring slipping through the cracks of Zanthus's door. A low feminine moan has my cock jumping freely since I didn't bother to put my pants back on. I turn to the sound before I think better of it. If I'm going to barge in, I'm going to at least wash off the sand first.

  Taking the quickest shower of my life, I slip into a pair of pants, not wanting Rubi to think I'm assuming anything, before making the trek down to my brother's room. The sounds now resonating throughout the hall are enough to almost drive me to my knees.

  I could knock and wait for them to invite me in, but I don't. Instead, as the door whips open, I'm greeted with a sight so beautiful I can't help but drag myself over to my brother's bed where he has our mate beneath him. Those indigo eyes take a stab at my heart when they glance my way, gliding slowly down my body. Cheeks flushed under that soft skin of hers, Rubi looks a sight for sore eyes. My lips turn up at the corners before I leap to the bed at their side.

  As I start to wake, I realize several things at once. Firstly, I slept what feels to be a decent night's worth for the only time in what's safe to say my entire life. There's never been once that I haven't tossed and turned or slept comfortably without any kind of dreams. I fell so deeply last night that there's dried drool on the corner of my mouth and a crusty eye. Which quickly brings me to my next conclusion as I lift a hand to scrub my face clean. A heavy arm is wrapped around my middle and tightens at my movement. The soft mattress at my shoulder is a sharp contrast to the hot wall at my back. I don't even need the scent that wafts from the warm breath of a sigh through my hair to know it's Zanthus. Before I open my eyes, I can feel that blue thread woven around us.

  When I finally do slit them open, it's to find myself facing the open ocean wall in his room. After feeling the power surging through my body yesterday with the water flowing over my skin, it's hard to imagine any of the males trapped here being kept from their life source. It hurts my heart to think about.

  "It's too early to be thinking whatever's inside that pretty little head, princess," Zanthus mutters.

  I don't question how he even knows what I'm feeling. Without concentrating, I'd felt the satisfaction in his sigh. It must be something with this mate thing. Yet, another question for Zale.

  "Can I have a notebook?" I ask the window barrier. If the now chuckling Zanthus can't, I'm hoping at least the Keep will listen and be so kind as to oblige.

  A kiss falls on my shoulder. "Do I dare ask what you need one for?"

  "For a pros and cons list to being your mate, of course," I tease.

  He growls softly in my ear before rolling my body underneath his.

  "I'll give you a list right now without the waste of the paper," he vows, lips whispering over the side of my neck.

  "Pro," he says, lightly biting the pulse point under his lips, "I'll wake you up every day for the rest of our existence like this."

  My heart jumps as his tongue then snakes out to soothe the spot. "Con, you may have to witness more than one bloodshed as my brothers fight me for my position."

  No matter what he says, I know they'd never do such a thing.

  "Pro," he murmurs now dipping down to my chest and lazily circling that tongue over my left nipple, "This."

  I gasp, arching myself closer to him. He doesn't get to tell me the next con because a braided piece of my hair slides up my chest and a droplet of cold makes itself known. Drawing the item away from my throat, I find a bead that matches Zanthus' weaved into the bottom of the braid.

  "Zanthus," I venture.

  His eyes flick up to mine, and a smile lights up that vivid blue. It's then I notice one of his own braids is gone. The one that hung over the left side of his chest with a bead the color of the one now grasped between my thumb and forefinger.

  "Why?" I ask in wonder.

  Bringing his face back to mine, with a kiss against the corner of my lips, he replies, "Because everything I am belongs to you now."

  "But, you earned these," I say, still stunned. There's no telling the hell he had to go through for them either.

  He awards me another kiss, this time on the tip of my nose as he admits, "That I did, so they're mine to do with what I want. And I wanted you to have one. Does this go on the pro side of that list?"

  I laugh and throw both my arms and legs around his body, pulling him fully down on top of me. When our lips crash together, I could swear I see tiny blue sparks behind my eyelids. My sexy mer never bothered to clothe us before putting us to bed, which works to my advantage this morning as all it takes is lining him up with my entrance to have him filling me.

  Yesterday, he took his time and enjoyed the pleasure of our bodies joining. Today, it feels as though it's his mission to make sure I completely forget that list I'd been teasing him about making.

  I moan my satisfaction right through his lips accosting my own as he drives into me and sets my core alight. I'm only half conscious of dragging my nails down his back and the part hiss part groan from him.

  Rising to his knees, his hands clamp down on my hips, and he hits a new spot that has my back arching off the bed. I'm seconds away from release when Zanthus’ door is flung open wide. My head turns toward it in surprise, but there's not much else I can do as my mate doesn't break stride in his pounding.

  Zephyr's eyes flash bright gold right before he jumps on the bed at our side. The only warning I get is the glint of a grin before his mouth drops to a nipple while his fingers roll the other one between them.

  My release hits me full force and I scream. Right before fluttering shut, my eyes witness Zanthus' own hit him. Cords of muscle stand out, making him look more menacing than usual, but I would never confuse it with the admiration I find written in his expression. His literal roar feels like it shakes the walls and causes Zephyr's teeth to bite down a little harder than necessary. Normal response would be pain, but it's clear I'm not normal, for it sends me into another spiral that has me clamping down on Zanthus again.

  "Mmm," Zephyr says still teasing my nipple. "No wonder our brother has been keeping you to himself. I'd love to see you calling my name like that underneath me."

  His words bring a mental image that has a whimper leaving my throat.

  Zanthus pulls himself free before crashing against the bed on my other side as he shoves some words in the other language at Zephyr.

  The latter tsks at him. "Now, now, brother. You've got to share."

  Whatever dam that had been built up in my firm confusion of being with all three of them was broken down the moment Zephyr decided to join us in bed. Though Zanthus probably swore at his brother, I think it had more to do with his chosen words than him being here. Neither of them radiated jealousy or disgust, which allows that guilt I'd been feeling before wash downstream with the rubble.

  Lowering my face, I capture the playful mer's lips with mine, securing that grin.

  I sense Zale's presence before he's even spoken. Keeping a firm grip on Zephyr's hair, I don't let his lips wander as my eyes crack open to find the missing piece to our puzzle gracefully propped against the doorframe, one wrist clasped in front of the other.

  Crooking a finger at him sets him in motion across the room. Zephyr and I finally break apart as Zale crawls up to where we are and lays his cheek against my stomach.

  "Just out of curiosity," I start, “if I were to ask the Keep for a bigger bed, do you think it would give us one?"

  Three chuckles vibrate through my skin all on sides. Running my hand through Zale's blond hair, I gaze out toward the ocean.

  “The one in your room is clearly large enough,” Zephyr suggests with a wiggle of eyebrows.

  Another question pops into my head before I can respond to him. "I didn't think to ask before, but we can't be seen through that r
ight?"

  Zephyr snickers again, worrying me for a second before Zale puts me at ease. "No, damselfish. That barrier isn't even visible. Anyone who swims close enough to touch it is diverted away."

  "Anyone?" I squeak. Here I was thinking about the animals that wouldn't give us half a glance. I hadn't even thought of other mer.

  The sound of my stomach growling cuts off the train of conversation, and Zale laughs against my belly. "Are we feeding you enough, damselfish?"

  "I didn't think about the energy she expended last night," Zanthus admits defeatedly before sitting up and kissing me with an apology.

  He jumps up from the bed, letting my reassurances of being fine hit his back as he steps into the closet.

  Zeph lays back and props his hands beneath his head with a common grin. "He's going to be increasingly more difficult now."

  "Without a doubt," Zale agrees.

  Stepping back into the room with his lower half showcased in a tight pair of jeans and a sundress in hand, he levels his brother with a glare. "Yeah, and it'll be payback for having to put up with both your antics together on a daily basis."

  Completely ignoring his brother's jab at him and me, Zeph snorts, "Is it just me or are your pants tighter?"

  This grabs Zale's attention enough for him to lift his head and look over to where Zanthus rubs a hand down the side of his thigh with a scowl.

  "I like them," I admit. "They make your ass look good."

  A flash of understanding crosses Zale's face before he buries his face into my stomach and laughs. As soon as the words are out of my mouth, I know what has happened, but it takes Zephyr a minute to catch up. The hoot of laughter that follows has me giggling too.

  Zanthus looks ready to maul all three of us before a still laughing Zephyr explains, "Your closet must like her more now. It tailored your jeans tighter because she likes them like that."

  Strange words flow from his lips in a rapid pace, making me have to cover my mouth with a hand to keep him from seeing the grin plastered there.