by Starla Night
And that old trick of imagining her audience naked? Well, they were all naked — displaying large, at-ease, tattoo-swirled cocks as far as the eye could see — but it didn’t help at all.
Her palms couldn’t sweat underwater, but her belly crunched like her insides were made of aluminum foil.
“Hi. I’m Elyssa. Uh…I’m very pleased to be here. I’ve wanted to be a mermaid since I was a little girl, and so this is like a dream come true. But I have a lot to learn, and I still can’t make my feet transform. It’s hard!” She laughed.
No one cracked a smile.
Oh, god.
She scrambled for a serious tone. “Um…I’m sure you’ll all find brides of your own very soon, and we’ll rebuild Atlantis into a great city with Kadir. Thank you.”
They continued to stare. Not aggressive. Just waiting.
She edged to Kadir and whispered, “I’m done.”
He rubbed her back. He seemed…satisfied? Not unhappy, at least. And his casual touch and easy acceptance gave her so much comfort. “Now, form lines and perform the personal introductions common among humans.”
A burly, gray-haired warrior swam forward with a critical eye. “Why personal introductions?”
“Because Elyssa greeted us as is custom for our people. We will now greet Elyssa as is custom for her people.”
“This is highly unusual.”
“You do not have to make my queen feel welcome, Adviser Creo. The All-Council must do what it considers best.” Kadir’s steely gaze settled his warriors, silencing any protests. “We will welcome her to our city.”
Awkward.
The adviser huffed. The extra skin at his throat looked like a turkey’s wattle. Although he was a large, muscular, nude male just like the other warriors, he seemed better fed and more opinionated. Kadir’s pointed remarks ruffled his feathers. “A bride must always feel treasured. What is this human greeting?”
“Stand as you are. Elyssa will lead you in the proper action. This is Adviser Creo of the All-Council,” Kadir said to Elyssa. “He is a neutral observer who guides us so we may be recognized as an official city.”
Right. A VIP. She stuck out her hand. “Pleased to meet you.”
Adviser Creo jerked back and frowned at her hand. “You wish to caress me?”
Oh, no. Mermen didn’t touch. She knew better than to do that!
Elyssa’s heart slammed into her rib cage. She pulled back and curled her hand into a fist. “Sorry. My bad. I just wanted to say hi.” She pressed her fist against her chest.
The burly, gray-haired turkey floated back, staring her up and down, confusion building upon confusion. “What is this? Now she is gesturing at me. Rudely.”
Great. The last person she wanted to piss off was the very first person she met.
Kadir uncurled her fist and smoothed her palm in his larger ones. “Modern brides shake hands, Adviser Creo.”
“Lies.”
Kadir growled. He was, Elyssa was starting to understand, a young king with no experience—and, if Atlantis wasn’t a recognized city yet, maybe even no legitimacy—but it still seemed brave of Adviser Creo to dismiss him outright.
He turned to his warriors. “Ciran?”
Ciran straightened and swam forward. “It is true. All humans shake hands. Brides included.”
“Not mated females.”
“Yes, even those already joined to other males. It is a simple greeting. We observed it many times and partook it ourselves.” He puffed out his scholarly chest. “I, as well as Lotar and Iyen, have already shaken bride Elyssa’s hand.”
The adviser narrowed his eyes.
Kadir lifted his chin, having proved his point. “Surely, as the representative of the All-Council, you knew this?”
“Well. Of course.” Adviser Creo harrumphed. “But it is not done under the water. She is too forward.”
“Shaking hands is allowed in Atlantis. Its meaning is the same as on the land.” Kadir’s powerful resolution echoed across the full courtyard. “Whether above the surface or below, my bride resonates for me alone.”
All eyes returned to her.
Great. Now she’d forced Kadir to rewrite merman law over the first split-second of a handshake. What else would she do wrong?
Kadir gestured for the next male to swim forward. “Faier.”
Faier was older than Kadir but not as old as the adviser, and he kicked using only his left leg. His right dragged in the water. Scars raked his torso and obscured his mauve tattoos. He had a cautious, friendly face, as though he had once been outgoing, but had been beaten down too many times to trust openly.
He stopped in front of her and hesitated.
Okay. She was going to do this one right.
“You don’t have to shake my hand,” she said. “I didn’t mean to be weird. How is the official warrior greeting supposed to go?”
Faier blinked at her. “We do not do this greeting.”
Oh. Right. Jeez. “Sorry.”
Kadir answered. “Do not apologize.”
“No. I mean, I won’t.” That was not very queenly. She shook her head. “Of course. Sorry.”
Kadir rotated to her fully. “You apologized again.”
“Right. Sorry.”
“Elyssa.”
Ah! She couldn’t help herself. She was all messed up and everyone was staring. “I’m sorry! That’s the last time I’m apologizing.” She flapped her hands in distress. “Sorry.”
Kadir captured her hands and tugged her into his kiss.
He was calm. He was centering. He was everything she needed, her one anchor in the swirling chaos.
She rested her hands on his broad shoulders. It felt natural fitting herself into the position she had assumed for so long when he carried her safely to the city. His arms slid around her back and tightened. Her thighs wedged against his.
Her gratitude — he wasn’t angry, he was totally supportive, he was safe — swirled into a ball of fire that ignited in her core. Her need of the kiss changed. She pressed against him, squeezing him with her thigh.
He tightened.
The sweet, hot pressure of his lips slid into her like a shot of liquor hitting her vein. Sizzling heat flowed into her center. A tinkling cry, like a distant wind chime, sounded throughout the ocean.
Throbbing need twisted into an ache. She was suddenly all too aware of his nakedness. And hers—
He released her.
She floated back, torn free when she least expected it. Conflict chased across his hard face, and his gaze flicked over her shoulder.
Oh. Right. They were kind of in the middle of something. She rubbed her head. He wasn’t the only tired one.
She turned back to face the warriors.
Everyone was frozen.
Oh, god. What had she done now? She had stunned them all.
Faier, who she was supposed to be greeting, shifted uncomfortably.
“Continue with the greetings,” Kadir ordered gruffly. His erection was hard and obvious, probably like her throbbing flush.
But the other warriors weren’t too bothered. Even though everyone was naked, the arousal connecting her and Kadir was somehow contained. Their faces relaxed. Oh, maybe they weren’t stunned. Maybe they were just waiting.
“Hello, Faier.” She grabbed the mauve warrior’s large hand. His eyes widened. She pumped it once. “This is a human handshake. What do I say?”
The warrior looked helplessly at Kadir.
“Use your usual greetings.” Kadir brushed her shoulder. “Your name and where you are from.”
Okay. Yes. She could do this.
“I’m Elyssa. From, uh, America. I used to work in HR, but…you know, never mind what I used to do. Nice to meet you.”
His mouth dropped open. His voice was pleasant and commanding. “I am Faier. I am from…” He frowned and looked at Kadir as though uncertain of what to call this place.
“You’re from Atlantis,” she said.
“I do not have a Life
Tree seed.”
“Nobody does. Right? You can still be from here.”
He blinked and straightened. His shoulders went back and his chest puffed out. “Then, I am from Atlantis.”
Kadir nodded his acknowledgment. The warrior Faier swam away proudly on his left leg, and the next warrior moved forward.
Her head swirled with the names, but everyone else went smoothly. Shy smiles were kind of endearing on the massive tattooed faces of the powerful warriors. Maybe, just maybe, she could get through this after all.
But she had a guess that she’d still be stuffing feet — many, many feet — into her mouth with dinner.
Chapter Thirteen
“That was skillfully done,” Kadir told Soren. They floated outside the ring of feasting warriors to discuss the security of the city; Balim silently healed Soren’s shark injury while they talked. “She has performed the welcome as well as any warrior.”
Soren growled. “You prepared her for the first test.”
“I did nothing, Soren.”
He eyed Kadir skeptically. “She resonated with your kiss.”
Yes. The warm memory of it lightened Kadir’s chest.
The warriors who had accompanied them to Florida met many humans before greeting Elyssa in the auditorium. They reacted appropriately to her casual handshake that day. Kadir had not realized she would carry the tradition here.
Adviser Creo’s shock and horror were echoed by others in this castle. If a warrior touched another’s bride to save her life, her husband was justified to take revenge. Cutting off the offender’s parts and banishing him to exile were common punishments.
In the face of that surprise, Elyssa had struggled with her fears. Like when they were attacked by the goblin shark outside the city, her effort to combat her fear was not sufficient. Her anxiety leached into the water, affecting all the other warriors with dangerous levels. They fidgeted and twitched, agitated. Kadir sought only to calm and refocus her with the one action that always worked.
But their kiss changed into something more. A reaffirmation of why she had come. A promise to the warriors of what could be theirs.
And she had emerged from it stronger, calmer, and glowing with his resonance.
That was why he felt comfortable leaving Elyssa’s side now. She smiled for the warriors but her eyes continually turned toward him and, when he met her seeking gaze, she lit up. All the warriors understood. A handshake meant nothing. It was not a punishable offense. Her passion was only for Kadir.
But he had not prepared her to demonstrate that. “Our connection is strong.”
Soren frowned.
“Do not scowl,” Balim ordered. “You still have embedded teeth.”
“Finish quickly. I must interrogate the last patrols.”
“You are lucky you have a thick skull.” He removed another tooth fragment from Soren’s forehead, reopening the wound and causing blood to flow. “And you are lucky to have only suffered one injury in the open ocean.”
“I received it near our city. Which sea slugs need a lesson in border defenses?”
Balim’s lips twisted to one side. He preferred to concentrate silently on his work, but he was also used to being questioned. His dark, heart-blood red tattoos tallied the lives he had saved through his work. “The last patrols were Nilun and Zoan.”
Soren growled. “Untrained young rebels.”
“They are young, but Nilun comes from Djullanar.” Like Rusalka, Djullanar was a city known for strictness; even now the hot-headed young male Nilun sat with a stiff back and his head at a military angle of respect as he took precise portions of the feast. It contrasted especially with the cheery male sitting beside him, Zoan, digging into Nilun’s stiff ribs with a teasing elbow. “And Zoan stormed the prison right behind you to free Kadir. While you were gone, they engaged the raiders and interrupted a kidnapping.”
So, the raiders who drove the sharks across their borders had also attempted to kidnap Kadir’s warriors. Then, he would know which city they were from. Not that it mattered. Any city that could muster a squad would come to Atlantis to demand its defectors back.
“Neither complained about the extra shifts required for patrol,” Balim continued.
Soren grunted. “There were complaints?”
“None that I took seriously.” Balim removed another tooth. “Especially considering their situation.”
Truly, these warriors did Kadir proud. They put aside their differences and worked toward a common goal better than any army.
Soren’s black gaze flicked back to Kadir. “You prompted your bride to tell the warriors to claim this city as their own.”
“I did not.” He would have done so if he had thought of it.
That action was perhaps more important than demonstrating their special resonance. She encouraged the warriors to claim Atlantis as though it was already a recognized city, and they were its warriors.
To take just one example, Faier had been born in Nerissa, a city suffocated and buried by toxic slides after the unexpected emergence of a nearby volcano. His refuge city, Rusalka, passed him over for a bride after he was wounded in honorable combat.
Elyssa told him that Atlantis claimed him as a citizen, that here was where he belonged. She did more to reverse Faier’s discouragement and discrimination in a single sentence than Kadir would have thought to do in a hundred years.
The light of a mer warrior held steady. It was not so easily knocked dim like the humans’. But, it was still possible to change. When Elyssa recognized Faier for Atlantis, he brightened a full notch. The others did as well.
Now, Faier served Elyssa with his usual friendly calm, but he moved more fluidly, as though his injuries bothered him less, and he seemed more at peace.
“It was her idea,” Kadir emphasized.
“It was a lucky idea,” Soren grumbled.
The snarl formed in his throat. He was tired of fighting about whether he had selected the best bride. “Was it? Did luck speak what our hearts need?”
“Her friend joined with a Sireno warrior. He could have prepared her.”
“Her friend is not here now.” Kadir thrust his hand at Elyssa. “Look at my queen. She is your future.”
Elyssa floated in a place of honor surrounded by mer warriors. She smiled, laughed, and talked as she sampled dish after dish of the feast.
Soren said nothing.
Balim sealed Soren’s forehead wound with a strip of healing paste and collected the goblin shark’s teeth. He looked at Kadir’s bride for one long, inscrutable moment. “I hope a queen is all you dream it to be.”
Kadir straightened. Was that a challenge? But Balim simply nodded to him, “My king,” and stowed his healing supplies to join the feast.
He suddenly felt far too tired. He had brought a bride to Atlantis. A modern bride, who chose this life on her own, and promised, despite her fears, to try to become a queen. It was more than any of them could have received in their home cities. And yet, the undercurrent of anxiety seemed to poison everything.
“Where is your faith?” Kadir asked softly.
Soren made a rude noise. “Our faith was traded to be fashioned into jewelry for dark-souled women.”
He meant that the warriors had lost faith when they gave up their Sea Opals for Elyssa. The image of Chastity Angel wearing the mating jewel irritated Kadir too. But worse was Soren’s dismissal.
“This is only a short limitation. The ancient city was full of treasures. We will excavate the ruin and discover enough Sea Opals for a hundred brides. For a thousand!”
“If you can hold your new city from deadly enemies circling just outside.”
Kadir bit back his anger.
The adviser swam up to them. Disagreement pinched his face.
Yet another complaint.
Soren put himself in front of Kadir. “Adviser. Problem?”
“Yes. You are in my way.”
Soren did not move. Adviser Creo growled. The two regarded each other w
ith snarls.
Kadir spoke mildly to defuse tensions. “Does the All-Council have guidance, Adviser Creo?”
“It is your bride!” He glared up at Soren, still partially blocking his way. “You should not put her on display this way. It is tiring and dangerous. And you should not encourage her friendship or casual touch. There are countless tales of warriors driven mad by the unguarded presence of a female!”
Another slice of anger burned hot in his chest. He understood Adviser Creo’s fear, but he could not allow the insult. “She is not unguarded. She is surrounded by thirty loyal warriors and me.”
His words carried. Those nearest glanced behind them.
Let them know that Kadir, at least, had faith.
Adviser Creo lowered his tone. “Your bride’s speech was also irresponsible. She toys with their hopes.”
“No one complained,” Soren snapped, forgetting his own criticisms from a moment before.
“Because they are blinded.”
“Her speech was inspiring.” Kadir controlled his own anger to balance Soren’s dark rage. “They work hard to guard Atlantis and excavate the old city. Remembering the reason is what they need.”
“They must wait years until your Life Tree matures enough to put forth suitable mating jewels.”
Kadir’s hand flexed to choke his fat throat.
“We will possess a hundred brides,” Soren growled, changing his answer in the face of Adviser Creo’s attack. “The ‘old ways’ can swim with stinging jellyfish.”
The adviser harrumphed. “Your Life Tree is only a sapling. This bride is a mistake. Both are vulnerable. You will regret not listening to me.” He swished away.
Soren glared after him.
“We will soon be recognized.” Kadir placed a steady hand on Soren’s taut forearm. “More warriors will come. Then we will have our own representative in the All-Council.”
Soren slowly relaxed.
Adviser Creo’s self-righteous attitude made Kadir want to turn him into chub, but even Soren recognized his importance. After the All-Council approved the city, Atlantis would receive additional protections. Treaties with the other cities would be honored. Raiders would be outlawed.