attention, and
'She's dead?' Denal stumbled closer to the bed. 'That wasn't a dream, then?'
'She lives,' Conlan said. Denal's attention finally turned to his prince.
'Alaric says she'll be fine. She's sleeping the same peculiar deep sleep as the two of you were.'
'Thank the gods,' Brennan said, voice low and reverent, as he, too, approached. 'Thank Poseidon, for it truly Was him in the room with us, was it not?'
Conlan's hand shot out and caught Brennan's arm in a steel grasp. 'Tell me. What happened? Was there a battle? Why was Riley unprotected?'
Brennan dropped to one knee before him, head bowed. 'We failed you, my prince. We failed to protect her.'
Denal knelt also, lifted a hand to touch Riley's hair. Conlan allowed the gesture, somehow knowing that the warrior needed to prove to himself that she lived.
Then Denal dropped his face to the edge of the bed and began to sob. Great wracking sobs that shook his entire body with the force of them. Riley's name was in there, and other, wordless, sorrow.
Conlan released Brennan and put a hand on Denal's shoulder. 'Tell me, Denal. Pull yourself together and tell me.'
He looked up, saw Alaric had joined Ven at the doorway. The others crowded the hall behind them. 'Come in, all of you. Find seats. We need to hear this.'
Alaric, moving as one old and exhausted, took the room's remaining chair. Ven and the others filed in and found perches on the floor or leaning against walls.
Denal's shoulders stopped heaving, and he took a deep breath. 'Brennan should tell it. Having no emotion would be a blessing beyond all reckoning at this moment. I can't—' His voice trembled, and he stopped, shaking his head.
Brennan stood straight before them. 'If only I could feel the pain that should be burned into my soul. Lady Riley deserves no less.'
Slowly, and ascribing all fault to himself, Brennan relayed the night's events, his gaze continually returning to Riley as he spoke.
Denal interrupted several times, trying to shoulder the blame.
Brennan shook his head at the younger warrior and concluded. 'And then I pulled the sword out of Denal's body, and the poison from the vampire bites overwhelmed me. I was dying, my lord.'
Conlan listened, silent, shaking with rage. When Brennan paused, Conlan leaned forward. 'We have acted as protectors and only stepped in when the vamps attacked humans in the past. But they brought this to our doorstep. They hurt Riley. Now they die.'
He looked around at his men and Alaric, all of whom nodded, grim faces echoing his own determination. 'They all die,' he repeated.
Alaric spoke up, voice quiet. 'But we need to know what happened after that. Riley must wake up and tell us her part of the story. Clearly Denal is alive, and Brennan is no longer infected with the vamps' poison. And there are… other matters.'
None but Conlan had seen the brand seared into Riley's back. He nodded, appreciating the priest's discretion.
Denal raised his head to stare at the priest, eyes reddened from the tears that still fell. 'I know what happened after that. Somehow, I saw it all. I was in a beautiful place, filled with the sweet scent of the ocean. Nothing hurt, not even the sword wound that ended my life. But as I rested and welcomed the peace, I saw Riley on the floor of that room, holding my body.
'I, too, saw and heard everything that happened. Lady Riley bargained with the sea god himself. She offered her own life for ours.'
The voice from the bed was so thin and hoarse that Conlan thought he was imagining it. 'He told me you do not bargain with a god,' Riley whispered. 'So why am I still alive?'
Conlan was out of the chair, thrusting Denal to the side, in an instant. Riley looked up at him, her eyes huge in her pale face.
'Riley! You're awake.'
He touched her hair, her face, leaned forward to press the gentlest of kisses to her mouth. Thank the gods.
Thank the
She smiled at him, tears glistening in her eyes. 'What's more amazing is that I'm
She shifted in the bed, grimaced. 'My shoulder really hurts, though. I'm not sure what happened to it.'
Conlan felt the tears running down his face, didn't care. 'It's okay. We'll take care of it. You're alive, and that's all that matters. If you had gone from me—'
He heard a throat clear behind him. Alaric put a hand on his shoulder. 'Perhaps we should leave Riley to rest now. There is much we need to discuss.'
Conlan shook off the hand. 'Yes, you should all leave. I'll stay here while she rests.'
Denal stood, happiness and shame warring on his expression. 'There are no words for my joy that you live, my lady. I will spend the rest of my life repaying you for your sacrifice.'
He bowed to her, and tears spilled over Riley's lashes. Brennan also bowed, then knelt beside the bed. 'Your sacrifice for one as worthless as myself is beyond anything I can comprehend. Should you ever have need of me, you have but to call.'
She smiled at them, pulled herself up on the pillow a little. 'You put your lives on the line for me. For me to do the same for you was not a sacrifice. I am so glad you're alive!'
She held her arms out to Denal, who quickly looked to Conlan. Conlan nodded his head, and Denal leaned down so Riley could hug him. When he pulled away she did the same to Brennan.
If Conlan had held any hope of protecting even the furthest dark corners of his soul from his love from her, that moment crushed those illusions. The sight of her reaching out to his warriors, and the knowledge of the sacrifice she had made for them, honored him—honored them all—beyond the greatest gift.
He gently grasped her hands in his own and bowed his head, spoke the words forcing themselves up and out of his soul in ancient Atlantean:
She smiled, of course not understanding a word of it, and her eyelids drifted closed.
He never even heard the others leave the room.
Chapter 31
Death came for Riley, shriveling her skin and burning acid into her flesh, again and again as she slept, until she finally screamed her way through to wakefulness. Except the screaming was confined to the dreams. The only sound corning from her throat was a husky gasp.
Even that small sound was enough to wake the man lying next to her on the bed. A different bed than the one she'd slept in the night before, she noticed.
A different room.
Conlan tightened the arm that lay protectively across her waist. 'Riley? Are you awake? Are you well?'
She looked up into his eyes, saw the familiar blue-green flame burning in his pupils. The sign of his passion for her.
His love.
'They're really okay? I didn't dream that, too?'
He nodded. 'You saved them both. Your sacrifice—' His voice broke.
