While Elyssa was gone, Kadir remained still and isolated in the heart chamber.

The last time he had been in this curved room, it had glowed with his and Elyssa’s love-making. Now, it was dull and empty. The difference cut like a blade.

The whole city felt strangely empty. Dimmer than before. As though not only five warriors had left, but his strength and faith left with them. He could not fight his fears, and without activity to distract him, those fears grew into monsters.

Elyssa had nearly died at the ruin. She had been crushed by a cave guardian and seen the horrors of a needlefish attack. Her guards had failed to protect her. And before then, she had been shown the true atrocity of the raiders, who had chosen her to target in their attack. No more did a golden light dance in her chest. She’d faced the cold, hard reality of life with him in Atlantis. Her last act had been to leave it behind.

Eagerly.

Anxiety palpitated in the water like a living creature, dark and toothed and hiding in shadows to assault him in the stillness.

Would she return?

The question was unendurable.

“Stop tensing,” Balim ordered as he changed the dressings on Kadir’s wounds. The pain was second to the anxiety jumping under his skin. “You slow your recovery.”

“Patrols?” He fought through the white-hot pain to demand answers. “Danger?”

“You are the only danger,” Balim muttered.

“Report.”

Balim eyed him balefully. “Will you rest if I place you in the courtyard?”

Yes. He forced Balim to take him to the courtyard. The open currents forced him to make constant minor shifts, kicks he had never noticed, but which now sent fire through his muscles, excruciating.

It was better than drowning in Elyssa’s absence in the heart chamber.

“We have driven off more tiger sharks,” Faier reported. His hands bore new scars. He bowed from respect. “Zoan was injured but is recovering. He does not have Lotar’s skill.”

“Stay strong.” Kadir’s torso ached with the words. “Endure.”

“Yes, my king.” Faier’s head remained bowed. His second city, Rusalka, had drilled in unquestioning respect. “Queen Elyssa is returning soon?”

It was an unnecessary question. They had all calculated the slowness of the sling travel, the time at the surface, and complications if she could not transform or had to be persuaded to descend.

“She will.” Kadir gritted his teeth. “Soon.”

Faier’s head lifted. His gaze slipped to Kadir’s bandages. He scratched the long scars raking his right leg.

He had received his injuries honorably while defending Rusalka from attack, but the elders had slammed him with dishonor. They declared him unfit, unable to protect a bride, and he had been passed over for another warrior.

In any other city, the same thing might happen to Kadir. If he were an ordinary warrior, this depth of injury might have caused his elders to take Elyssa from him and place her with another mer.

That would never happen in Atlantis. He would fight to the death.

She was his.

“Believe,” Kadir growled. His chest vibrations lanced his injuries with agony.

Faier nodded and retreated a few strokes.

Nilun took his place.

“My king.” Nilun stood stiffly, his gaze locked on a spot on Kadir’s wall. Respect in Rusalka demanded a bowed head; in Djullanar, it demanded an unfocused gaze. “The Life Tree is in good health. Zoan’s hand is injured but he continues his duties. He checks every hour for new growth. There are eight large branchings, six medium branchings, and twenty-two smaller branchings, but no flowers.”

“Good. Diligent.”

Nilun waited. His eyes remained focused on the wall.

“Question?”

“When will Queen Elyssa return?”

Again.

Kadir gestured behind Nilun. Someone had carried in a diurnal fish. The fish bumped against the top of the dome, meaning it was daylight on the surface. “Balim marks the days. Gailen listens at the echo point.”

“She will immediately return without resting?”

Yes, that was what Soren had planned. Kadir nodded.

Nilun broke protocol and gazed directly at Kadir. His neck reddened. “She is a weak swimmer. She will tire.”

“All warriors pull the sling.”

Being pulled in a sling was only proper for injured warriors to be carried from a battlefield or the honored dead to be taken on their final swim. His question burst forth, hot and demanding. “How can you allow another male to carry your bride?”

Anger erupted like a fire. Kadir sucked in painful fury.

Only Kadir would taste her lips. Her soft body would only plaster to his chest. Her heartbeat would only sync to his rhythm. She was his.

His growl caused his chest to throb painfully. He cut it off. “She resonates with me.”

Nilun snapped his gaze to the wall once more. He waited a long moment, as though he wished to speak more. Faier floated next to him. Both seemed to want something.

Balim passed the lingering warriors. His censure-filled gaze rested on Kadir. “You will re-injure yourself. Do not speak!”

Kadir lay back for the ministrations and immediately ignored Balim’s orders. “Gailen? Tial?”

“They will soon be healed.” Balim unwrapped his bandages and spread more healing paste. “Soren’s group will not arrive for some time. If Elyssa returns, will you disband the queen’s guards and restrict her to your castle?”

How dare he even ask this? “You listen to Adviser Creo.”

“His questions are reasonable. Your bride’s energy is easy and natural. The warriors find her presence enjoyable, but her mistakes nearly killed you.”

“She learns.”

“Not fast enough. And if you reject the All-Council’s advice and Atlantis does not receive their recognition as an official city, the raiders who harass us will multiply. Our lives will become infinitely harder. Do not antagonize Adviser Creo for stating what we all believe.”

What we all believe.

Did Kadir have to carry the faith for all of them? Did only he see the brighter future? Could no other warrior share his burden?

His voice alone floated on a sea of dissent. All the years in Dragao Azul. Then, when he toured the other cities. Now, he hit his limit. Exhaustion overwhelmed him.

Kadir stared at the fish swimming desperately at the top of the dome, searching for release from the dark pressure and escape into the light. His chest throbbed. A dull ache pounded in his head. “Where…is your faith? Balim?”

“It is in you.” The warrior softened his tone. “You are king.”

Kadir closed his eyes. King? He was Atlantis’s greatest weakness.

Against all odds, he had discovered a city so ancient it had receded into myth. He had rallied others to join his dream. He had brought the first bride here to be queen.

If Elyssa did not return, the city would dissolve and everything he had ever done would be for nothing.

She had gone to the surface eagerly.

Adviser Creo intruded, pushing past Faier and Nilun. “Now, are you satisfied that treating a female like a warrior is an error?”

Kadir’s gut clenched.

“Relax,” Balim ordered, and Kadir forced himself to do so. He wrapped the new seaweed strip bandages efficiently. “Wait, Adviser Creo. You will have a private counsel.”

“My feelings are known. My advice is public record.” He focused on Kadir with heavy determination. As though he feared that speaking to Kadir would not help, but that he was determined to fulfill his duty. “Parading your bride around the ruin nearly ended in death. Hers.”

The growl started in his chest. The ghostly twinge of his injury stopped him. Kadir wanted to argue but he could not.

“Stop tensing,” Balim snapped.

Like Soren, Balim was fiercely protective of Kadir to the point of overstepping their roles — king and warrior — and demanding Kadir preserve his health. Unlike Soren, the reason for his attachment was less clear. They had not grown up together. Kadir had met Balim once in Undine, after his speech about modern brides and before the city rioted. The next time they met, Kadir had been wasting away in Soren’s arms, barely clinging to life. Balim had used all his skill to strengthen that tenuous grip. And he continued to do so, injury after injury.

“You tense because you know my words are truth.” Adviser Creo laid out his orders. “Treat your bride with more gentleness. Confine her to safe areas such as this castle and banish your warriors to the city. They will endure.”

Faier and Nilun both straightened. Two different cities’ military training marked their bearings. They would endure, without fright or complaint.

But they were also Elyssa’s warriors. Kadir spoke. “My queen ordered—”

“That is your error!” The adviser reddened with anger. “How dare you make her give orders? I cared for my bride. I treasured her and kept her safe from all warriors! You make yours swim in this unguarded city with untried youths who can barely make their own fins. She might already be carrying your young fry. How can you be so reckless with your precious treasure?”

“Trust.”

“You do not know these mer!” The adviser nearly shook with anger. “You do not know their fathers nor their grandfathers. They are rejects. Rebels. Outlaws. Broken. Unfit. Unworthy!”

Balim finished tying Kadir’s bandage with a sharper than necessary tug. Did that mean he agreed with Adviser Creo or was he angered by the adviser’s insults? His taut expression was unreadable. He gathered his materials and kicked to the castle cabinet to store them.

Adviser Creo ranted. “Your first lieutenant is a disgrace who takes pride in refusing to follow rules. And if the other cities see how you torture your brides, no other warriors will join you. Atlantis will remain below the minimum population and destroy your only chance for All-Council recognition. Now. Will you, or will you not, treasure your bride?”

His words rubbed Kadir raw. The growl burst, unstoppable. “I trust my warriors and my queen.”

The adviser’s face blanched in shock.

Faier and Nilun hummed with his decree. Even Balim glowed with swift brightness before clamping down on his control and turning away.

Adviser Creo’s lips pinched. “I came here, out of all the councilors, because I believed in your idea. A covenant with modern brides is necessary for our race to survive in this era. But never did I imagine you would hurt, frighten, and traumatize your brides. I thought you made a bad bargain to allow her to visit the surface, but now it is clear that it was a mercy. She will not return.”

His pronouncement punched Kadir in the soft gut.

Fears swirled. The adviser was right. She had never wanted to be a queen and yet Kadir had forced her. Over and over, he had pushed her beyond her wishes. She would leave.

And yet, she might already be carrying his young fry.

“She is coming!” Tial burst from the entrance, shouting his announcement. His left shoulder was bandaged from the needlefish strike. “Queen Elyssa has been spotted beyond the ruin!”

Adviser Creo straightened and looked at Kadir with raised brows. He was surprised she had returned. Then, his brows lowered and he glared. He was more determined Kadir take his advice, confine Elyssa to the castle, and keep her safely isolated.

But Kadir would not. His steely gaze took in Adviser Creo and everyone else who had doubted him.

“She is my queen,” he growled at the adviser.

“If you continue with this treatment, I cannot approve your city.” Adviser Creo snarled at Kadir. “You will not care for your bride properly. Do not be surprised when she injures herself or commits treason against the Life Tree. Again.”