Ambrose watched the last Octopian fall to the floor, body swaying back and forth like a falling leaf. It was probably one of the most peaceful things in the ocean, he thought, willing the akrina to him. The orb took his blades away from him and jittered around him excitedly.
“I know,” he said warmly as the akrina took away the armor. “It’s been so long… Akrina, tell me. Is Mari well?”
The thing dimmed for a second, and fear flashed through him.
If anything had happened to her, he would personally decimate Deimos for failing to protect her. The thought of anything happening to her brought on a wave of pain so intense it could have brought him to his knees.
“Is she?” he asked roughly, barely able to get the question out. The akrina was taking its time answering, and Ambrose didn’t like that at all.
Right as he was about to believe the worst, he felt the rush of water part beside him before something small, forceful, and laughing hit him straight in the chest.
“I was so scared!” Mari gasped in his ear, strangling him with her arms.
A wave of relief crashed through him so hard, he was light headed. “Thank the gods you are alright,” he whispered against her temple, crushing her body against his. The soft warmth was the best reassurance he could have gotten from her.
But as her lips found his in a heated, desperate kiss, he thought, This is just as good, though.
And it was. Her mouth was hot and soft underneath his, and an ache formed in his chest. She was too much for him, too good for him. He had let her be placed in danger because of how distracted he was by her, and that was not what she deserved.
He pulled back from her kiss, even as his body and soul screamed at him to continue kissing her. “Mari, I can’t—“
Something latched onto his shoulder and jerked him away from her. He saw the alarmed look in her eye before mischief began to gleam in them.
Ambrose knew before looking who had grabbed his shoulder. “You didn’t,” he said, sighing.
Mari giggled, covering her mouth. Her eyes laughed at him as her shoulders silently shook. “I did. I really did.”
“Do I even want to know how?” he asked as Deimos continued to grip his shoulder in a death hold. He could already feel the bruise beginning to form.
“Deimos,” Mari said gently. “Don’t do that. It’s not nice. When you’re angry at someone, you calmly tell them that you don’t like it. No physical harm at all, understood?” Ambrose narrowed his eyes on her before turning around and staring at Deimos, who had yet to let go of his shoulder.
“Deimos,” she said, this time firmer. “I don’t like it when Ambrose is hurt.”
Harsh confusion flickered over his face before he bared his teeth at Ambrose.
He let go of his shoulder, though.
“Good boy!” she said excitedly, clapping her hands. “That’s how you should do it—I’ll work on teaching you how to speak so you don’t have to bare your teeth at everyone. How’s that?” she asked the killer as she grabbed Ambrose’s hand, holding onto him tightly.
Her body pressed against his arm and his body hardened instantly. She was pressed so close against him that her tail brushed against his. “Mari,” he said, exasperated, grabbing her shoulder. “How many times have I told you not to—Holy fuck.”
“What is it?” she asked, and then froze.
He stared at her tail. “What…happened?” he hissed, tightening his grip on her shoulders. Horror flooded him. “This isn’t possible. I don’t know—what did you do? How did this happen? Mari, what did you do?”
She jerked herself out of his arms, crossing her arms over her chest defensively. Her tail curled behind her and she avoided meeting his eyes. “Nothing,” she said thinly.
“Don’t lie to me,” he growled. “What. Happened.”
Deimos shot in front of him, blocking him from Mari. “God,” he grated, shoving Ambrose back. “Respect.”
Ambrose could have killed him. “Did he do this to you?” he demanded, moving around Deimos and grabbing her shoulders again, tilting her back.
Sweet Atlantis, he couldn’t believe this. If her hair had been white and her eyes had been red, she would have looked like the primary gods of Atlantis. The similarity of her tail to theirs was stunningly alarming. And the implications…he didn’t even know what they could be. What would the Atlanteans do when they saw her?
He had to go there. His brother needed him. But he couldn’t expose Mari to the others unless…the gods wanted this to happen. Maybe they knew about his plan to take back Atlantis, and knew he wanted Mari above all else.
No…they didn’t care about him anymore. The second they had sentenced him to exile, they had severed all ties with him. That they would want to give him what he desperately wanted? Foolish. Completely and utterly foolish.
Why had they done this to her, though?
Agony flowed through him. “Oh, Mari,” he whispered, staring at her onyx tail. “I need to know how this happened.”
She didn’t look at him, didn’t respond to his touch. “I don’t want to talk about it, okay?” she said, backing out of his hands.
Ambrose tightened his grip on her shoulders. “Just tell me what happened, this once. I need to know.” There had to have been some sort of trigger, or this wouldn’t have happened. Even when he had been a child, his powers had been dormant until he had gone through something emotionally damaging. It was a way for the gods to deduce that you were ready for the responsibility of having them at all.
His time had been when his parents had died. When he’d seen his father, dying in the hands of an Octopian, he’d lost awareness of everything besides only a few moments. He remembered white light, agony, and then red. So much red…
“Please,” he whispered, staring into her beautiful silver eyes. “I have to know to keep you safe.”
She was silent. So incredibly silent. Torment lashed at his soul. He hadn’t been there to protect her, to prevent this from happening to her. He had promised to take care of her, even if to himself. She had been his ward, the reason he was pushing himself to take over Atlantis again.
Ambrose could have simply gone back and saved his brother, but he was doing so much more than that—and all for Mari. To give her everything she needed to adjust to ocean life.
But he had failed her. In the worst possible way. Now she was going through one of the most painful and damaging changes in her life. The things she would have to do, the duties she would be given, the way she would be viewed by others.
She gave a shuddering breath, shaking her head. “I don’t know if I can.”
“Mari,” he said softly, drawing her against him, heart breaking. “When the Octopians came…who took care of them?”
Deimos stood just behind her, and he met his gaze head on. The knowledge in them barely prepared him for Mari’s watery answer. “I did. I had to. I thought they killed you when Deimos said he couldn’t sense you…and I lost it. I didn’t know I was killing them,” she rushed, voice going a pitch higher with each word.
“Oh, sweet Atlantis.” He crushed her to his chest, closing his eyes as he physically felt her pain. “I can’t…I don’t know what to say to make this better…”
She swallowed, hiding her face in his chest. “I don’t want to be a monster to you, Ambrose.” Her voice was so quiet he barely heard her.
“You could never be a monster to me, Mari. Not ever. You still have the same beautiful eyes, same beautiful hair, smile, laugh. I don’t think that tail changed your personality. Don't you agree?” he teased lightly, drawing her chin up with a finger.
What he saw broke his heart. Tears were flowing from her eyes, face a bright pink, and gaze completely absent of hope. “I want my pretty tail back,” she whispered heartbrokenly.
Ambrose scrubbed a hand over his face. “I don’t know what could…”
Apparently, that was the wrong thing to even start to say. She took one look at his face, and then at her tail, and burst into tears. Loud and horrific, sobbing so hard that she could barely breathe. “I want it back—I’m like the ugly stepsister of the ocean, Ambrose. Look at me—I’m black! Do you know what they say about black?” she hiccuped, grabbing his shoulders and shaking him. “Once you go black, you never go back. What if I never go back!? What if I can’t have my gold tail back? Or what if this tail is black because its cancerous? Am I turning evil? What if I'm starting to rot?”
She froze, and then shook him harder. He swore his brain rattled around in his head. “I’m too young to have cancer!” she exploded, shoving away from him. “I just turned into a mermaid not even three days ago! I have a bastard ex-boyfriend to kill and a family to say good-bye to and that—that bitch that was torturing you? I have to kill her too! And this time, when I get to kill something—since it’s them—I won’t even care. I’ll slit her goddamn throat with a fork and watch as she bleeds to death. So you see, Ambrose? I can’t have cancer!”
She ended on a huff, flicking her hair out of her face. Turning distraught eyes on him, she stared at him as if he understood every word she had just said—which he didn’t.
He looked to Deimos for help, who had taken to moving several steps away from her with a wary look in his eye. He looked at Ambrose with the same confused look.
Well, no help there.
“I can’t,” she said firmly. “If I do, then he does!” She jabbed a finger at Deimos, who looked at her with wide eyes, shaking his head.
“Mari,” he said slowly, lifting his hands as if to ward her off. “I don’t think it works like that—“
“No!” she exclaimed, slapping her hands over her ears. “I refuse to believe that I have cancer! I have so much left to do, like—“ She stopped talking, gasping. Then her eyes narrowed with acute fury.
“Oh, you bastard,” she hissed, stabbing him in the chest. Ambrose jerked away from her death finger, eyes wide.
“What did I do?" He swore right then and there to be never turn a mortal again. Their emotions were through the ocean, and he didn't know how much more of this he could take. He knew it wasn't her fault, but still...Trying to follow a conversation with her was like trying to rip his own arm off—agonizing and impossible.
“You sent me away!” she screeched, shoving him full in the chest. “You think I can’t take care of myself, Ambrose? Do you want to see how well my foot can take care of your fish-asshole? ‘Cause I do! I can’t believe you would send me off like some damsel in distress like that! What kind of woman do you think I am?”
“A pissed off one?”
Her eyes flashed black, and then she shoved him in the chest. Was it wrong that he was scared of her when her eyes did that? He looked at Deimos again, but the guy only shrugged and backed away farther.
Lovely.
“No. I’m the kind of woman that doesn’t like to be kept in the dark! Ray kept me in the dark, and now you? I think not, Ambrose.” Her eyes snapped fire and her voice was like a whip. He winced.
“I’m terribly sorry,” he said, subdued.
She stared at him, panting, face red with fury, tail lashing furiously back and forth behind her. Then, just like that, she deflated and flung herself at his chest.
“The next time something like that happens, you aren’t going to send me away. Okay? What if I freak out again and I grow two heads instead of two tails?” she whispered fearfully, looking up at him with big eyes.
He wrapped his arms around her back slowly, feeling like an Octopian had just bashed him on the head. What the hell was wrong with this female that she could be furious in one second, then sweet and cuddly the next?
He sighed.
Just another thing I love about her, he thought, pulling her tighter to him.
“How far away from Atlantis are we?” she asked abruptly, lifting her head from his chest.
Ambrose met Deimos’s eye, then looked at their surroundings. They were a couple miles away from the initial attack of the Octopians. Before, where boulders and debris were scarce, they were now everywhere. Parts of ships that hadn’t made it through defensive shield over Atlantis were laying scattered over the entire area. Parts of barges, hulls, and masts were everywhere, creating an almost eerie graveyard. He protectively pulled her closer to him and she went willingly.
It had been so many years since he’d had to remember how to enter Atlantis, but the knowledge came easily. Deimos began moving ahead of them, his stance defensive.
Whatever Mari had done, she’d somehow won that creature’s loyalty. Deimos had never before taken exception for anyone, not even D’Marci. She commanded him and he listened to her, but he did not defend her against anything her brothers or sisters said.
Mari, he believed, had the power to overcome any obstacle and any person.
She’d definitely won him over…
His heart stopped at the realization. Mari had done so much more than win him over. In the last forty-eight hours, he had slowly began to fall for her magical spell—without even realizing it.
Wasn’t it too soon? Too fast? Too hard? Too much? The thoughts rolled around his head repeatedly, confusing him. Mari was so much more than just a woman who had helped him escape, but how could he justify what he felt for her when he had known her only two days?
Every Atlantean had a mate, a life partner. His parents had found each other a little before his father had been crowned as king, and the hardships of running a whole entire city hadn’t ruined their love. If anything, it had grown stronger. Two weeks of knowing each other, they had gotten married. Two months after knowing each other, they had been pregnant with Ambrose. Their love had been quick and beautiful, a tale that was spread to children before they went to sleep to give them hope as adults.
One of the most famous rulers of Atlanits, they’d been. One of the most romantic, too. He remembered the emotion that shone in his father’s eyes whenever he had looked at his wife. It could have brought any Atlantean to their knees with jealousy for what they shared.
But was love what he felt for Mari?
No. Not so soon.
But as he thought that, his heart began to pound in his chest. Her sweet laughter, her silvery eyes, her blazing personality…what wasn’t there to love about her?
He closed his eyes on a growl. Women were too much for him—loving them was just over the top. Ambrose didn’t love Mari—he wasn’t even worthy of her, and never would be.
“Ambrose! Oh my god—Ambrose, Deimos found something! Get your scaly booty over here!” Mari’s excited voice snapped him to reality, and he sighed.
“Coming,” he muttered, scrubbing a hand over his face. Thinking about love made him tired. Thinking about Mari made him exhausted. Thinking about anything at this point just made him want to shove his head in the ground.
“Hurry up!”
Her voice sounded several feet away from his. She was squealing like an excited child, and he could see the clear swish of her tail from behind one of the larger boulders that surrounded them.
Ambrose was just coming up to the boulder when a large, resonating groan shook the ocean.