by Alyssa Day
“By the gods, you’re beautiful,” he said, his body hardening at the sight of her flawless skin.
She abruptly stood up, her chest, neck, and face flushing red, and held her clothes in front of her. “I wasn’t…that wasn’t for your benefit. Anyway, I thought you realized by now that I am not a helpless female who will hide behind you every time there might be trouble. I am what your friend named me: a witch. And a pretty powerful one, too.”
His good mood disappeared, draining out of him in an instant. “Do not think to compare your ten years of dabbling in witchcraft with my nearly five centuries of battling vampires, shape-shifters, and the other creatures that stalk humans in the dark. You are in danger, and I will protect you. That is my duty, and I will carry it out with every ounce of skill and experience I possess.”
He yanked on his jeans and shirt while he spoke. She opened and closed her mouth once, then again, the fury sparkling in her eyes promising that when she did speak, she was going to flay the skin off his hide.
“Well, so the arrogant Atlantean royal shows himself,” she shot back at him. “Don’t bother to waste the formal speak on me, bucko. I am so not impressed. Also, five centuries?”
A knock came at the door again, gentler than Christophe’s pounding. He flung the door open. “What?”
The palace servant standing there with her arms full of clothing took a quick step back, bowing her head. “Your Highness, I apologize. I didn’t know…Lady Riley asked…I can come back…”
Ven forced a smile. “No, I’m the one who should apologize, Neela. Thank you for your kindness. And please call me Ven.”
He took the pile of clothing that she handed him and tried to think past the emotion clouding his brain to reassure the woman. “How is your son? He must be nearly ten now?”
She beamed, maternal pride overcoming her anxiety. “He is to be twelve this season, Your High—…Ven. He brings much joy to our home.”
“And probably much exuberance, I’d guess, having once been a twelve-year-old boy, myself.”
Neela sighed a little, still smiling. “It is ever so. If you or the lady need anything else, please call me.”
“We will.”
As he closed the door again, he took a deep breath, steeling himself to face Erin.
“So you’re not all lord and master of the castle all the time, are you?” she asked. “Is this something special you just pulled out for me?”
“No, I’m pretty much a pain in the ass all the time,” he said, turning around. “I don’t really understand what I am with you.”
She stood there for a long moment and finally sighed. “Well, that makes two of us, because I don’t recognize myself, either.”
Then she headed for the bathroom, leaving him to wonder what in the nine hells he’d gotten himself into.
The Nereid Temple was a faery tale of marble, jewels, and beauty. From the moment Erin walked through the doorway, her gems sang to her in a low, joyous tone that murmured of home and peace. Erin forced everything to do with missions and quests and stupid alpha male Atlantean warriors out of her mind and wandered around the open, airy main room, where Marie and her maidens had set up tables filled with a delicious breakfast. Fruits, juices, and pastries shared space with hot dishes in covered silver serving trays, and Erin’s stomach growled at the delicious aromas.
But she was too fascinated with the history that was coming to life before her eyes to concentrate on food just yet. She sipped her coffee as she studied the statues gracing the room. Stopping before a particularly warlike figure bristling with spears and a trident, she felt a chill skate down her neck and knew who he must be.
She smelled a gentle mix of roses and something lighter an instant before Marie stepped up beside her. “Yes, it’s Poseidon. Even here, in our temple where the Goddess holds sway, we are reminded that Poseidon holds the power of life or death over us.”
“Is it a reminder you need? I mean, not to tap dance on the obvious, but you are living in a bubble far down under tons of water with the force to crush you.”
Marie laughed. “You humans are refreshingly direct, if you and Riley are a representative sample.”
Erin turned to face her, stunned. “You’ve never met any humans before Riley and me?”
“No, I have not. Riley was the first human to enter Atlantis in more than ten thousand years.” Marie’s beautiful face was a study in calm elegance, her dark blue eyes peaceful. Her midnight black hair was pulled back from her face in a series of intricate braids. “Thus far, Alaric has transported her to the human doctors, rather than bring them here.”
Erin nodded. “Ven told me that you’re still deciding when to make the big ‘Atlantis exists’ announcement.” She lifted a hand to her own unruly mass of wavy hair and sighed. “Not to be frivolous, but I wish my hair were more like yours.”
Marie smiled. “Your hair is lovely, Erin. It suits you.”
“Thanks, but I keep telling myself to get it all chopped off. Anyway, haven’t you ever visited the surface? Come up to look around, catch a movie, go shopping?”
“Only the warriors are allowed to visit the landwalkers,” Marie said. “But I am planning to ask the Council to make an exception. My brother, Bastien, has formed the soul-meld with a shape-shifter female, and I wish to visit them and meet her.”
Erin tried to read the other woman’s expression but couldn’t. “What is the soul-meld? Sounds serious. Is it something like human marriage?”
Even before she saw the shocked glance Marie shot over her shoulder, Erin felt his approach. A low humming thrummed through her senses and her skin, and her emeralds trilled out a sweetly seductive call.
Marie’s eyes widened. “Your gems sing for him, then? It is in the scrolls, but…we have never had a gem singer in our temple in living memory. Not since before the Cataclysm, in truth.”
Ven spoke from just behind Erin, his voice washing warmth and desire over her. Apparently the fact that she was pissed off at him had no effect on her gemstones or her hormones. “We haven’t had time to discuss all the circumstances involved in this situation, Marie.” His voice held a clear note of warning.
Marie didn’t appear to be intimidated. “The lady Erin was asking about the soul-meld. You must tell her, Lord Vengeance. It is her destiny.”
Even without seeing him, Erin sensed Ven’s utter stillness at the words. “Destiny is an overused word, First Maiden. Erin has free will, as do I.”
Marie smiled, and there was something dark and knowing behind her eyes. “Do you?” Then she murmured some excuse and moved away, leaving Erin alone with Ven. She swung around to face him.
“So, spit it out, already. Soul-meld? What the heck is that?”
“This is not the time or place, Erin,” he said, his expression closed and cold. “And don’t believe everything you hear.”
“I’m not stupid, Ven. We both felt something last night. Maybe you should explain exactly what it was? Was that the soul-meld? Or do Atlanteans always make love with all mental doors wide open like that?”
He was shaking his head before she finished the question, and he reached out to grasp her shoulders in his hands, then stared down into her eyes with his hot, penetrating gaze. “Never, mi amara. Never have I felt anything like that in all of my days. Do not think I take what occurred between us lightly.”
Shaken, she considered responses, and finally just nodded slowly.
“Erin, I—”
“Ven.” The voice that interrupted them was far too imperial to be anyone but the priest. “Your presence and that of your gem singer is required. Please take a seat.”
Ven snarled a response over his shoulder in that language she assumed was Atlantean, and everyone in the room seemed to take a collective sharp breath. Silence hung in the air for a moment, then Alaric spoke again, dry amusement in his voice. “I cannot think of a way to perform your…request, since it is anatomically impossible. However, if you would care to challenge me, Lord Vengeance, i
t would be my pleasure.”
Conlan stood up from where he’d been eating his breakfast next to Riley. “Enough, both of you,” he said, the words holding affection as much as command. “Don’t make me pull rank.”
Marie glided across the Temple floor to the table and took a seat. “Perhaps all of you will remember that this is the home of the Goddess and you should behave accordingly,” she said. Her voice was gentle but there was the unmistakable whip of admonition underlying her words.
Erin grinned. Speak softly and carry a big Goddess stick. Way to go, Marie. She edged carefully around Ven, not quite sure he wasn’t going to simply toss her over his shoulder and pull a caveman. “Sounds good to me, Marie. Why don’t we all sit down and enjoy this wonderful food.”
She headed for the seat at the table farthest from Alaric and right between Alexios and Denal, figuring it would really tick Ven off. Something bitchy inside her chuckled at the idea. Served him right.
But before she could take a seat, he caught her from behind with one powerful arm around her waist and lifted her into another seat at the end of the table. He took the seat that blocked her from Alexios, lifted a platter of fruit and held it out to her. “Mango?”
“Don’t think that what happened between us gives you any rights over me,” she said, careful to keep her voice low. “I will sit wherever I choose and do whatever I want.”
Deadly calm washed over his expression, belying the suddenly feral look in his eyes. “If you wish to force me to call battle challenge on my friends and brother warriors, feel free to push me in this matter. Be advised that battle challenge is almost always to the death, so choose carefully which of them you wish to see die.”
Pure shock slammed into her. He wasn’t kidding. She could feel the heat of the banked rage burning out from him. If she continued to taunt him, he would hurt or maybe kill one of his friends over it. “What kind of monster are you?” she whispered, suddenly terrified.
“I am worse than any monster you have ever known, Erin,” he said bleakly. “The things I have done throughout the centuries would rot away at your mind if you knew of them. And apparently the soul-meld causes certain…possessive instincts…that I have never experienced before. I can’t understand it or control it right now. Please don’t challenge me until I can figure this out.”
She leaned away from him, not understanding how she could simultaneously feel terrified and yet safe and protected in his presence, when he’d just admitted to being a monster. It was a conundrum she had no time to explore, though, because Alaric and Marie were standing up at the head of the table and raising their hands for silence.
Marie spoke first. “Let us give thanks to the Goddess for this bounty before us and for returning our gem singer to her home. Thanks be to the Goddess!”
“Thanks be to the Goddess,” everyone replied, as Erin studied them. Conlan sat next to Riley, who was looking a little less rosy and well than she had the day before. Brennan and a warrior she did not recognize sat on the other side of Conlan. Alexios and Denal sat on her side of the table. Several women who must be maidens of the Temple fluttered around, serving drinks and carrying dishes, but none joined them at the table other than Marie.
Alaric spoke. “Thanks be to the Goddess, and praise Poseidon, who protects us all.”
“Praise Poseidon,” came the refrain, and then Alaric and Marie took their seats and everyone continued to eat. Erin discovered that she was ravenously hungry, in spite of feeling the emotional equivalent of shell shock, and filled her plate, studiously ignoring Ven except to murmur thanks when he passed a platter.
For several minutes there was little conversation as everyone ate, and then Conlan pushed his plate aside. One of the maidens hurried to remove his dishes, and he smiled and thanked her, which surprised Erin a little. Not a lot of royal snobbery going on here, she thought, remembering Ven with the woman who’d brought the clothes. Thinking of that reminded her to thank Riley.
“Riley,” she said, pitching her voice loudly enough to capture the woman’s attention. “Thank you for sending the clothes. My stuff was getting a little ripe.”
Riley grinned. “It’s the least I could do. That blue looks wonderful on you, by the way.”
Erin grinned, since she’d thought exactly the same thing herself. The sky-blue silk top mirrored her eyes, and she hadn’t exactly hated the appreciative heat in Ven’s eyes when he’d seen her in the top and jeans after she’d showered. Other than the lip gloss she’d had in her jacket pocket, her face was bare of makeup, but she never wore a lot, anyway.
Ven put a hand on her back, and the heat from his touch seared through the light fabric of her shirt. “Yeah, it does. Look wonderful, I mean,” he said into her ear. The touch of his breath made her shiver as if he’d stroked other, more intimate places, and she caught the quick flash of passion in his gaze.
Trying not to be obvious about it, she pulled away from his hand and sent a serious look down the table toward Conlan. “Okay, what are we here to discuss? I’m hoping you’re on board with the alliance to help us fight Caligula.”
“Yes, we are definitely willing to work with your coven toward that end,” Conlan said. “It can’t be coincidence that Caligula’s base in the Pacific Northwest is the center of the increase in newly turned vampires.”
Alaric nodded. “He is clearly consolidating his power, perhaps seeking to expand his territory to encompass that which Barrabas left.”
The warrior that Erin didn’t recognize lifted his head and she was surprised to see power glowing in his eyes. “Why in the hells do we need to work with the witches? They’re not powerful enough to be a help or they would have done something about Caligula ten years ago when he attacked them the first time.”
Erin’s heart stuttered at the callous mention of her family’s murder, and it seemed to attract his attention, because he swung his gaze to her. “Sure, maybe Ven found some pretty little witch to scratch his itch for a while, but that doesn’t mean we have to include her in our plans.”
Beside her, Ven leapt to his feet and roared out a challenge, then launched himself over the table in one mighty leap, knocking the warrior backward, chair and all, as they both crashed to the ground.
Erin shot out of her chair and rounded the table with some idea of intervening, but the sight of them stopped her cold. Ven had one large hand wrapped around the other man’s throat and was crouched on top of him, snarling in a low, animalistic rage.
“If you ever mention her, look at her, or even think of her in a disrespectful way again, Christophe, I will kill you.”
Christophe tried to speak, but could only manage choking noises.
Ven bared his teeth in a terrifying parody of a smile. “Give me a reason. Just one word. Give me a reason to call battle challenge right here.”
Christophe’s eyes glowed with fury, then the flames in them banked and he held up his hands in a gesture of surrender. Ven glared down at him for another long second, then shoved up and off of the fallen warrior. When he raised his head, he caught Erin in his gaze, and she inhaled sharply at the single-minded focus in his gaze.
Trapped again, she stood, frozen, as he stalked toward her. It never even occurred to her to try to resist him as he swept her into his arms and strode up the steps to the Temple doorway. Immediately outside the doorway, he turned right and put her down, backing her up against the marble wall, and slammed his hands against the wall on either side of her.
She tried to push words past the breath caught in her throat. “Ven? What—”
But he simply shook his head and caught her words with his mouth. Caught her lips in a demanding, passionate kiss. She couldn’t help it, she twined her arms around his neck and kissed him back, unable to resist his claim of possession.
Not sure she wanted to try.
He kissed her with skill and hunger until her knees weakened, and she would have fallen if she hadn’t been clinging to him, but he was careful never to touch her body. Finally, h
e wrenched his head away from hers and stood, panting, with his head hanging down. “I’m sorry, Erin. I know an apology isn’t enough, but it’s all I’ve got right now.”
“What just happened?” she asked, her own voice shaky.
He lifted his head and stared into her eyes. “What just happened is that I very nearly fucked you right here up against the wall. All I’ve been able to think of every second of this day is pounding my cock into your body until you scream for me.”
Heat and razor-sharp desire burned through her at his crude words, and she shivered. “Ven, this can’t—we can’t keep going like this. This is too distracting, when we need to go after Caligula.”
He laughed, disbelief evident on his face. “Caligula? Are you insane? You’re not going anywhere near Caligula. Fuck free will. You’re never leaving Atlantis again.”
Chapter 14
After that kiss that had rocked her foundation, Ven backed away from her and pointed to the doorway, unspeaking, his breath still coming in harsh, rasping noises. She hesitated, then ran for the door and escaped inside to the relative safety of the Temple and the people inside. Conlan stopped on his way out the door and stared down at her with that face so like his brother’s, but with compassion in his eyes. “Don’t be afraid of him, gem singer. He would give his life for you.”
Alaric brushed by her on the other side. “Why am I the only one concerned by that fact?” he muttered, then continued to swoop out the door like some marauding grim reaper.
She put her hands on her hips, feigning a steadiness she was far from feeling. “He just told me I’m never leaving Atlantis. If he thinks he can keep me here against my will, then he’s the one who should be afraid.”