Heart of Atlantis

The vampire started laughing, chanting a nonsensical song, and Ptolemy laughed right along with her. It was going to be a very, very joyous day.

Chapter 12

The war room, Atlantis

Quinn sat in the chair the farthest away from anybody who’d recently pissed her off, which included everyone except her sister, so the logistics were tricky unless she wanted to move out into the hall. She put her empty plate down on the table next to her and considered going back for more roast chicken. She might be angry, but long years of fighting and hardship had taught her that you ate when there was food, slept when there was a bed, and felt grateful for either or both.

Riley leaned over and handed Quinn a chocolate cookie. “Are you going to even look at him? Poor man is dying over there. He’s the scariest guy in the world, and yet I think he’s a little bit afraid of you.”

Quinn scoffed. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. He’s not afraid of anything, although you’d think the size of his over-inflated head would be terrifying as it crashes into walls.”

She crammed the cookie in her mouth and tried not to bliss out too obviously as the melted chocolate and spices exploded on her tongue.

“He’s worried about you,” Riley murmured. “And he doesn’t know how to worry about anyone. His life has been all about power and command; balancing the demands of a capricious god with the bleak reality of his loneliness. For Pete’s sake, Quinn, you should have seen him when I was pregnant. He practically set a peacock on fire for daring to walk across my path in the garden one day.”

Riley screwed up her face into a fierce scowl. “It might have tripped you and damaged your womb or the heir to the throne, Princess,” she said gruffly, clearly imitating Alaric.

Quinn started laughing. “Damaged your womb? Oh, no, he did not!”

Riley handed her another cookie and sat back in her chair. “Oh, yes, he did, and I could tell you worse stories. Let’s just leave it at this: Alaric has never been in love in his life and he’s head over heels for you. He has been since that first day we found you on the ground, with a bullet in your shoulder, and now he thinks he might be able to do something about it, thanks to Keely. Can you blame the poor man for losing his mind?”

Quinn shook her head. “I can’t quite wrap my mind around the idea of centuries of celibacy,” she whispered. “Even if Keely is right—and that’s far too big of a chance to take—what if he doesn’t remember how?”

Riley rolled her eyes. “I imagine it’s like riding a bike.”

The sisters both froze and then looked at each other and cracked up.

“Riding a bike,” Quinn gasped out. “Can you imagine?”

“Doing—doing wheelies,” Riley said, which set them off again.

By the time they caught their breath, every other person in the room was staring at them.

“Care to share the joke with the class?” Erin said, grinning.

And that started them off again. They were both gasping for air by the time they could regain control and stop laughing.

“Dinner at your house must have been very interesting,” Ven said.

“You have no idea. Two emotional empaths during puberty? It was hell,” Quinn said.

The men winced, and Erin laughed.

Just then the door opened and a tall, athletic redhead walked in. Justice jumped up and pulled her into his arms, so it must be Keely.

“We have been alone for too long today,” Justice said firmly, but Keely just laughed.

“Hey, relax. I’m starving after a long, dusty day translating scrolls from the library of Alexandria. Thank goodness Eleni is having a sleepover with one of her many friends tonight.”

“It is good she finally has friends, after what she endured,” Justice said grimly.

Their gazes met in a glance of shared understanding, and then Keely leaned down to grab a slice of bread from a basket on the table, tore a piece off, and ate it.

“Now I need a plate full of whatever smells so delicious, and a hot bath, and, oh, hey, we have company,” she said, as she finally saw Quinn in the corner.

“That is not company, that is family,” Justice said. “Keely, my love, meet Quinn Dawson.”

Keely whistled, her gaze quickly snapping to Alaric and then back to Quinn. She dropped the rest of her bread on a plate and quickly crossed the room, hand outstretched. Quinn stood to shake her hand, but at the last minute, Keely pulled her into a hug.

“Family, right? Hey, I am a big admirer of yours,” she said seriously after she released Quinn. “It takes a lot of courage to do what you do every day, without special powers or magic. Thank you for making the world safer for the rest of us.”

Quinn shuffled her feet, uncomfortable with the expression and even more so with the honest sincerity of emotion the woman projected. “Yeah, it’s nothing. I mean, I’m just one of many, and we all do our part.”

“Untrue,” Alaric said. “You are first among many, and you do far more than your part.”

“Jack was first,” she fired back at him. “And I left him, trapped as a tiger forever for all I know.”

Riley took her sister’s hand and squeezed it. “We were all so sorry to learn about Jack. We’ve been praying that he finds his way back.”

Quinn couldn’t bear to take comfort she knew she didn’t deserve, so she snatched her hand away. “Praying to which god? Because from what I’ve seen of Poseidon, he isn’t much of a bargain.”

“I still believe the same things and pray to the same god,” Riley said softly. “My worldview has expanded, that’s all.”

Keely headed back to the table and quietly began arranging a plate of food. While she ate, Conlan and Ven ran through everything that had been discussed, but Alaric sat silent and brooding. When she, Quinn, and Riley were up to speed, Keely nodded and put her fork down.

“I don’t know if this is a good time for this, then, with the impostor and the danger to Quinn and Anubisa and everything else. But I have confirmation about Zelia and Nereus, Alaric. They were definitely married. I know why the ruling king at the time and the Elders implemented the new rules about celibacy, too.”

She looked at Quinn and then returned her gaze to Alaric. “It’s absolutely definite. Nereus went insane when Zelia died, and he almost blew up the entire dome.”

* * *

Alaric sat back in his chair, a mask of implacable calm on his features, his emotions shut down behind an impenetrable steel wall. Everyone was staring at him—everyone but Quinn, who looked anywhere else but at him. He felt like someone had torn out his guts and put them on display for everyone in the room to pick over and examine.

“I have no interest in this story at this time,” he lied.

“Oh, no, buddy, you can bet we’re going to hear this,” Quinn said, addressing him for the first time since walking into the room more than an hour earlier. “After what happened on that island today? You bet your sweet ass we’re going to listen.”

“On the island?” Ven said, looking back and forth between Quinn and Alaric as if he were at a sporting match.

“Sweet ass,” Justice repeated, grinning like a fool. “Oh, this is going to be good. We knew we liked her.”

“I will strike both of your personalities dead,” Alaric told him in an ice-drenched voice.

“Not with me in the room,” Keely said cheerfully. “I’m pretty good with a shotgun, and I always get my man, big boy, so why don’t you hush and I’ll tell this and get it over with?”

“What is your source?” Quinn demanded. “Anything beyond your so-called touchy-feely crap?”

“Quinn,” Riley chided her, but Keely just smiled. “It’s okay, I’m used to that. Although someone who is a verified aknasha shouldn’t be the first to throw the touchy-feely stone, but whatever. Yes, there is more. I read about it in a hidden set of scrolls, which somebody shoved deep into a niche in a wall behind a thousand-pound statue a very long time ago.”