“I don’t believe she’s a threat, little as she is. Clearing my uncle’s paternity was the first test of many performed by our palace physician once he saw the connection.” Kai couldn’t help the smirk on her face. “His wife insisted.”
“Aegaeon must be relieved. Could you imagine how much of a barracuda Nammu would have become if he’d fathered some poor bastard behind her back?”
Kai almost roared with laughter, his commentary doubly funny that he knew their aquatic lingo, and that he was correct. It struck her as both hilarious and awful that the intolerable reputation of her bitchy aunt was known even to the fae of another magical realm hundreds of miles away. Any contact between the two during the decades of her absence must have been unpleasant. “I’d say I couldn’t blame him, knowing her, but I’m not sure anyone deserves to be cheated on. Even a bull seal like Nammu deserves honesty.”
Not that she assumed much legitimate cheating actually occurred in the majority of noble families. The deeper she delved into court politics, the more she uncovered about mistresses and secret lovers, of merwomen and mermen marrying for title and name to breed their noble lineage then carrying on in secret with the lovers they would have preferred to live beside. It made her sad, that status was valued over happiness. It was why she had moved to abolish the caste system.
Pacifica had done well without a rigid structure, after all. There, the terms merchant and warrior were mere titles one earned through hard work instead of a yoke carried the rest of their life without relief. Anyone could marry a merchant, could become a merchant, and their royal family did not discriminate against their youngest members marrying common mers.
Soon, Kai would have to visit the other underwater realm.
“One last question, Kailani.”
“Kai.” She smiled back at the fae in the mirror. “My friends call me Kai.”
“Well then, Kai you shall be,” the king of the fae replied, nodding his head. “One final question before we part ways to attend to these vital matters.”
“Yes?”
“Have you considered reopening the investigation into your friend’s assault now that you know actual Loyalists may not have been to blame?”
Kai blinked at him. The thought hadn’t even crossed her mind. So long had passed. “No. There wouldn’t be any evidence to support it. I imagine the keepers would only find dead ends.”
“Yes, perhaps that would be true. If you weren’t armed with new data and leads that weren’t present before.”
“Yeah?”
Andarien’s smile turned calculating, his violet eyes a hard contrast. “Twice someone has attempted to murder Amerin. Once is chance, and twice is a coincidence. Of course, the mers who abducted her know you two are close friends, but I would search deeper and seek the hidden pattern. I would be willing to bet neither assault was an isolated occurrence.” He shrugged.
“How? Where do I begin?”
“If it were me, I would determine who has the most to gain from your friend’s death. All things are connected, Kai. You’ve merely stared too long to see the ties that bind them. And now, before we part ways, I regret that I must mention another likely source of parentage for your mysterious foundling. One which, I am quite surprised Vitalis himself has not suggested.”
Kai blinked. “Really. Who?”
“A daughter of Calypso. This infant may have been placed precisely where it was guaranteed for you to find it.”
18
Unconditional Loyalty
At the end of a long and trying day divided between the Myrmidon and keeper offices, Manu trudged onto the palace grounds with a single plan: vegetating with a case of beer in front of a televiewing screen and whatever recent movie the city had imported, after his daily meditation by the garden.
Thought their conflicting schedules in recent days had prevented Manu from meeting with Elpis, all of her efforts hadn’t gone in vain. Manu set aside the first few hours of his free time for solitary study. The triumph with the jag had been the encouraging beginning to discovering other areas where he excelled with his new gifts. The crustaceans especially enjoyed his company.
Not that he wouldn’t check in with Kai at some point as well. The two of them tended to eventually cross paths like two celestial bodies aligning in the heavens, each with duties of their own to accomplish. He just wished he had more to report to her regarding his day.
Manu had hoped for goods news, but his time at the keeper offices had been ill-spent, Demetrius unable to offer than more vague promises to provide updates soon.
Not that Manu blamed the captain when he was doing the best within his ability to track down corruption within his own ranks as well as reviewing the records of several important office-holding mers across Atlantis. The downside to having privileged, restricted information was that Demetrius could only involve a limited number of his best investigators in the case. They needed indisputable proof if they were to take action.
Each member of the small investigative team, according to Demetrius, had received a portion of the files—a piece of the puzzle, so to speak. He wanted to guarantee that if one of his most trusted mers was also corrupt that the damage was minimal.
Manu understood. He didn’t enjoy the prolonged wait, but he understood the necessity. Good and thorough work couldn’t be rushed when lives were on the line. Inaccurate results would be as devastating, if not worse, than no results at all, because inaccurate results had the potential to ruin innocent people.
His squad of Royal Guards dispersed upon reaching the perimeter of the safe zone—the area Heracles deemed to no longer require close observation of the king and queen—and all went their separate ways. Other palace guards throughout the grounds could take it from there.
Manu, help me!
Manu jerked awake so rapidly he scared a patrolling guard.
“Your Majesty?”
“Apologies,” he muttered, waving the young merwoman on. “I dozed.”
Imagined it. He was dead on his feet after all.
And losing his mind.
“Manu!” Cosmas called, loping from down the lane in his casual clothing. For once, it appeared he took a day away from his duties that he didn’t spend hiding inside his cottage. “Moment to spare, mate?”
Conversation had been minimal between them since Cosmas proposed to Amerin, and then nonexistent after she took in the infant. They each had far too many responsibilities, though Manu had wondered how the addition of the child would impact the newly betrothed couple’s relationship. The smile on his friend’s face implied nothing had been hampered.
“For you? As much as you need. How are things?”
“Excellent.” As Manu redirected his path to the gardens, he and Cosmas fell into stride beside each other. “I owe it to you, I think. You and El for encouraging me to finally take the proper steps.”
“Encouragement is nothing. You were the one to finally act and confess your feelings to her. It’s no more than what you did for me.”
“True. But you’re certainly up to your elbows in whale shit lately. My sorrows should have been at the bottom of your list. And…I thank you for being more than a king now, and still finding it in you to be my friend.”
Manu blinked, then he cocked his head and stared the other mer down. His steps slowed. The palace path leading to the gardens was redolent with sea salt air and tropical flora, and the heliolamps blazed the bright orange glow of midday. “What’s this about?”
“Precisely what it is. I figured you don’t hear that nearly enough. You’re my friend first and king second, but I appreciate that during all of this rot, you haven’t forgotten that.”
It seemed sad to Manu that someone should thank him for doing what was right, even if it was exhausting work that kept him up at night and disrupted his life. He rubbed his face with the heel of one hand, put off his plans for a quiet beer, and gestured for Cosmas to follow him over the threshold into the private conservatory. Lately, Manu had taken to occupying the space for an h
our or so each day to center his thoughts.
“You’ll always be one of my closest friends. You and El. I wouldn’t dream of dropping you because I’ve got some responsibility. Now who is it that put that foolish notion in your—” He knew. He didn’t need to ask Cosmas what had happened. “I swear if you’ve been listening to that bloated dogfish again, you deserve to be throttled.”
Cosmas winced. “Is it that obvious?”
“Very.”
“In his defense, it wasn’t said to me. I merely overheard a conversation between the old codfish and Councilor, er—Lady Arete. She must have dropped a communication line to him to discuss the recent decision to sack them all, hoping my father would ask me to…” He gestured with a hand, then dropped his head, bitter laughter concluding his words. Manu understood too well the disappointment Cosmas experienced in his father.
The difference between them was that when it came down to doing the right thing in the end—the honorable—thing, Lago had chosen to spare his son. He didn’t think his friend’s jelly-spined sire would have found the strength.
“I’ll go out on a coral limb here and guess he wanted you to convince us to reconsider?” Manu guessed.
Cosmas nodded, frowning. “I wouldn’t, of course. It isn’t my place, and it isn’t my business. If I wanted a position in politics, I would have striven to earn one of my own. I’d prefer not to be put in the middle. The cavalry is where I belong, and I’d prefer to keep that part of my life separate from our friendship for as long as I can.”
“A noble and understandable request.”
“Now, if you and Kai jump the shark and pull a one-eighty, I’ll have no choice but to tell you both off. But this eelshit? It’s nothing.”
Manu slung one arm around his friend’s shoulder. “Planning to stick around for a while?”
“Amerin doesn’t expect me to return for a bit. I have time. Why?”
“Beer is always better with friends. You can tell me about your little girl and how much you’re enjoying fatherhood.”
With the canopy of the Pacific palms swaying above them, Manu and Cosmas sat among tropical trees laden with fragrant plumeria flowers for a moment to catch up over the recent days’ events. They reclined in the loungers and sipped Manu’s favorite brand of Dwarvish ale for close to three hours, the drinks kindly supplied by a member of the palace staff. During these three blissful hours where no one had expectations or requests from him, Manu learned Cosmas had fallen deeply in love with unexpected fatherhood.
“Look, I was able to avoid a nine-month pregnancy, swollen feet, backaches, and leaking breasts. This entire affair has nothing but advantages. Mum still wants us to have one of our own, in time, but that can wait.”
“And she’s content with this all?”
“You know her. She told me she’s happy that I’m happy again. Now that Amerin and I are together and she understands what happened years ago, it’s like a weight off my shoulders.”
“I can imagine.”
Contrasting Cosmas’s father, the Lady Diana cared mostly about her son’s happiness and had gone to bat for him time after time when Manu was sure Arcadius would have preferred to give up and disown his firstborn son. They had time, after all, to conceive another heir, and Cosmas wasn’t absolutely integral to their plans.
Manu knew this, because Arcadius had told the mer as much, in what Manu thought was one of the most cold-hearted things a father could say to his son. It made him realize Lago wasn’t all that bad after all.
But it was necessary to return to his duties and Cosmas had to complete Amerin’s list of errands for him to run. Making a note to himself to track Cosmas down later, or perhaps the next day, Manu went his own way into the palace to unwind in the company of his wife and discuss each other’s findings.
Only those most beloved of the king and queen, as well as the monarchs themselves, dwelled in the royal residence. Amerin had her own suite in the uppermost levels, and soon Cosmas would be moving in as well.
Sometimes all of life still felt like a passing dream and he waited to awaken in the healer’s wing to discover it had all been a feverish fantasy inspired by wounds sustained in battle against the Gloom.
Beyond the main corridors of the palace, the residence’s expansive private parlor awaited him. Kai’s favorite vanilla and sandalwood scent hung in the air, guiding him to his wife in the upper level’s zenana where she often sprawled to enjoy reading when she wasn’t lounging on the balcony overlooking the palace gardens. Instead of nose-deep in a book, he found her seated on the sofa with an open communication shell balanced on her hand.
“He just walked in. Why?” Her gaze cut over to Manu. “Wasn’t he with you only a moment ago?” She tapped the glossy surface within to project the voice of her conversation partner. Then the proud but weary voice of Demetrius reached him too.
“He was, Your Majesty, but circumstances have changed.”
Manu moved into place behind Kai and rested his hands on her shoulders. “We’re both here.”
“Not long after you left, I made a breakthrough in the case. I’ve spent every moment since your departure verifying the information personally for accuracy.” Demetrius inhaled a long breath then let his shoulders fall. “I’m afraid it isn’t good news. In fact, it’s news of a rather personal nature to you, and discretion does not permit me to share it over the communication lines. I hate to bring you back, but I need you in office. Right away.”
“Then I’ll be there soon.”
Kai leaned forward, anxiety humming through her blood. Manu could feel it beneath his touch, the emotion bouncing through her and jittering through his fingertips. “Can you tell us anything prior to our arrival? What is it?”
“We’ve traced the theft and completed our investigation into the mers responsible for funneling money from the royal coffers.”
19
Blinded by Love
To say that Kai was stressed long before her arrival to the Office of the Keeper Corps would be an understatement. Since her chat with Andarien, nothing had gone right, and she wasn’t sure how to feel about the infant’s probable ancestry.
A daughter of Calypso would be put to death immediately. A child of the three sisters who had harassed and plagued the Atlantic for centuries wouldn’t be welcome in their kingdom by anyone. Yet, at the same time, she thought that were she watching a movie she would have shouted, more than once, “You fool!” and urged the character on the screen to commit to full disclosure.
That thing was living with Cosmas and Amerin.
Then she told herself the infant was only a helpless baby and not responsible for her parentage. She included Vitalis in her confidences, and he promised to conduct another test. With a sample from the deceased Desma, he believed he could confirm the child’s parentage before they would mention a word to others.
In the meantime, she felt like an ass keeping it from Amerin, and didn’t know what they’d do if the child did prove to be one of Calypso’s spawn. Her friends were already in love with the baby, and she, despite the circumstances of her birth, was innocent.
Which meant she had no choice. She had to tell them the moment they returned to the palace. To leave them in the dark would be an act too evil to bear.
“How certain are you of their involvement?” Kai asked, keeping a white-knuckled grip of the documents in her hands. When Manu reached out, she divided the stack and passed the ones she’d already skimmed to him wordlessly, too stunned to say much more.
How could I have been so blind?
Demetrius, in all of his effort to be discreet about the investigation, had not trusted their digital data sources within the keeper offices for more than vague searches. True to his promises to get to the bottom of the case, he produced a mountain of evidence for her as a bundle of hard-copied data printouts, photographs covertly mined from surveillance feeds, and individual videos. Apart, none of it provided much information. Together, it was damning, a web of deceitful behavior imp
licating over a dozen individuals.
“Absolutely positive,” Demetrius replied. “That photograph is of Nammu and Aegaeon’s chief servant at the vault withdrawing a large sum of drachma from their account, which then entered the possession of several mers from my own units throughout the warehouse district and the docks. I managed to pull surveillance footage on these days from the backlog of data, and I’ve taken down names of each keeper involved.”
“There’s no proof they were aware,” Kai said glumly. This won’t be good enough to convict.”
“Alone, it’s circumstantial evidence at best, unless she were to confess under pressure. I’ve learned many servants, even free of ownership, often refuse when they’ve been treated well.”
“Nammu treats her staff like shit.”
“But Lord Aegaeon does not. He’s decent to them. If we brought her in for questioning, it could go either way. I tasked each of my investigators with following different members of Atlantian upper crust society, though I was cautious with how I created my assignments. I gave no names, only occurrences and places, and I used other open cases in the system, some of which had been opened by the nobles themselves. I allowed my investigators to categorize the data and put forth their own evidence. Because of that, I’m positive the keepers working for me are loyal to the crown. When they discovered proof of wrongdoing, they turned over the evidence without understanding the bigger picture.”
Kai’s heart hurt. “I feel sick.”
Manu squeezed her knee with one hand and continued perusing the investigative report. She knew what he currently read—proof that Thalia and Nammu had been together during multiple occurrences, each of the dates in close proximity to a crippling attack within Atlantis from the supposed Loyalists.
“This is a personal report from one of my best agents in the field. I’d trust him with my life. If he’ll turn over evidence implicating the former acting regent and his wife, I imagine he can’t be bought. Not like the others.”
Goddess of Sea and War: a Fantasy Romance (Kingdom in the Sea Book 3) Page 16