Heart of Atlantis

sounded a lot like oh, holy shit, and then his entire body went rigid, his penis hardened even further and swelled, and then he came in her mouth.

When she sat up, he looked both extremely blissful and so comically surprised that she fell over sideways on the bed laughing.

“You . . . Oh, by all the gods . . . you . . . But I have never lost control like that,” he finally said, and she kept laughing until he rolled her over and started tickling her, which led to kissing, which led to him lifting her over his body and lowering her to straddle him again, and this time they both cried out when he found his way home.

She was so deliciously sensitive after the marathon of lovemaking that she was right on the edge of sore, and he knew it, of course, since they’d long since opened the barriers between their emotions. He held her tightly, although he moved in long, slow strokes, claiming her as his at the same time he was so careful with her. When pleasure threatened to pass over the line to pain, he reached down between their bodies and gently pinched her between two fingers, and the added pressure sent her off like a rocket. She collapsed on his chest as he came inside her, yet again, and she had a moment to wonder how she’d ever survive the sheer pleasure between them, before unconsciousness claimed her.

When she woke up again, he wasn’t touching any part of her body, which was so different that it startled her into wakefulness. She sat up and scanned the room, only to discover that Alaric wasn’t there. He’d probably gone to find them something to eat, or at least the growling in her stomach hoped so, but hunger pains faded into insignificance as she stared at the new addition to the room.

For some reason, Alaric had brought an amazing light sculpture into the room while she was asleep. It was unbelievably beautiful. Similar to Art Deco in its lines and curves, it also possessed an inner light source that was almost magical and took the piece from simply art to Art, with a capital A. She was quite literally transfixed by it.

Until the light sculpture turned to her and started talking.

“We have a small problem,” it said in Alaric’s voice.

Chapter 30

“If this is how you try to impress a girl, I would have been okay with pancakes and bacon.” Quinn sat up in bed and wrapped the blankets around herself, staring at Alaric the human light sculpture the entire time. “Well. What’s this about? You couldn’t bear to go without a crisis for ten whole hours?”

“I have no idea what this is about.” His voice was deepened and magnified by the magic, and it touched places deep inside her that a voice had no business touching. She shivered and then shook it off.

“Yes, you do. It’s the Nereus thing. Where having great sex, combined with the soul-meld, turns you into an Atlantean super-magician human lightbulb.”

“I don’t think Keely said anything about the quality of the sex,” he said doubtfully, but she couldn’t really read his expression while he was the Atlantean equivalent of the Human Torch.

She blinked. “Are you saying it wasn’t great sex?”

“It was undoubtedly the most spectacular sex in the history of the planet, but I think we have other things to discuss right now.” He raised his arms in the air and actual sparks flew off his skin in an arc of iridescent shimmer.

She whistled, long and low. “That’s actually really freaking cool, but I’m guessing you don’t want to hear that right now?”

“You guess right,” he said.

“Maybe we should ask for help?”

“Who would we ask?” He shrugged and more sparks flew. “People generally come to me with magical problems.”

He stood up and walked toward her, and she stared at him, utterly fascinated in spite of everything. It really was Alaric, but he was incandescent with pure, shining light. He reached out as if to touch her, but she backed away from him.

“No way, buddy. Don’t touch me until we figure this out. You might electrocute me, which would totally ruin my day. Or, worse, it would send some kind of energy beam through me like when you, um, healed me earlier, and I’m not going to try making love to a glowing light stick just yet.”

He laughed, and the resonant sensuality of it sent shivers down her spine.

“Speaking of glowing light sticks,” he said, gesturing.

She couldn’t believe it. He was naked, a fact she’d tried to overlook, what with the glowing, and his very erect penis was glowing, too. It was actually kind of cool, as far as magic went, and she suddenly threw caution to the Atlantean winds, leaned forward, and licked the tip of his jutting erection, just for the fun of watching his response.

He arched his back and groaned, and then he quickly stepped away. “The sensation is far too intense like this. I don’t think I could bear it,” he said.

Naturally, that was like laying down a challenge, so she jumped out of bed, knelt at his feet, and took as much as she could of his erection into her mouth. He yelled hoarsely and then pulled away from her, and a stream of shining semen arced through the air.

“Now that,” she said, pointing, “is kind of astonishing. Those sparkly vampires in the kids’ movies have nothing on you.”

He closed his eyes and took deep breaths, and Quinn was fascinated by the swirls and galaxies of lights dancing over his skin. It was as if constellations had decided to take up residence on his body. She’d never seen anything like it, ever.

When he finally opened his eyes, she was astonished to see that the constellations of stars had spread to his eyes, which glowed hot emerald green and silver.

“I don’t know about movies, mi amara, but what effect might this have on our children?”

She sat down so abruptly that she missed the bed and landed on the cold floor, on her naked butt. Scrambling up, she ran to the bathroom and closed and locked the door, and then wrapped herself in a towel and sat on yet another edge of yet another tub. The parallels to her situation the day before didn’t escape her.

So. Here she was. Ex–rebel leader, current soul-melded girlfriend to the high priest of Atlantis, and possibly pregnant with a sparkling half-Atlantean baby. She suddenly wanted to throw up again, which made her think of morning sickness, which made it worse.

“You can’t be pregnant now, Quinn,” Alaric said from the other side of the door. “We must petition Poseidon to allow us to have children.”

She glared at the door. “What about free will?”

“I think the light effect is fading, but the magical high is not,” he said, ignoring her question. “I do not wish to create a distraction when Atlantis breaks the surface of the waves.”

“What time is it? Shouldn’t we be near the surface by now?” She pulled on a robe and flung open the door. “Did I sleep through the whole thing?”

Alaric was still glowing but not as much. Or maybe that was simply wishful thinking. The first radiance of magically created dawn was beginning to shine through his windows, and a quick glance out showed her that the tower of light from the temple was still going strong.

“We are still rising,” Alaric said. “I can feel it.”

She took a deep breath and walked over to him, wanting to put her arms around him—her glowing darling— but not quite ready to be incinerated. “We’ll figure it out. Hey, we can always work it into our new job plans. Give the Naked Cowboy a run for his money. You can be the Glowing Gardener.”

He glared at her, or at least she thought he did, since magical sparks shot out of his eyes like lasers.

She started laughing. “You know, this is actually really cool. You’re going to be quite a hit with fourteen- year-old boys who love video games.”

“You are having far too much fun with this, when I am concerned I may actually explode from an excess of power flooding through my body.” He swung around and touched her with a single finger, as if to test the