Marriage ceremony. To Soren. Right now.

Soren didn’t protest. No, he held Aya proudly. Ready and certain, just like when she had fought off the raiders. He wanted to marry her.

Warm bubbles fizzed in her chest.

A man wanted to be with her. Forever.

“No,” she said clearly.

Shock and swift hurt closed his face. He looked away, frowning, as though reminding himself rejection was what he expected.

Elyssa’s mouth dropped open. Even though her words vibrated in her chest. “No?”

Aya tightened her grip on Soren. She didn’t want him to misunderstand. “This is too sudden. Soren and I haven’t worked everything out. We’re both exhausted. If planning to fight a megalodon can wait for the morning, marriage can wait too.”

“Okay, but…” Elyssa worried her hands. “If you aren’t married, you can’t open your castle’s heart chamber, and raiders are a problem.”

“That’s why I have three guards.”

Ciran, Faier, and even Soren straightened.

She rested her head against Soren’s shoulder. “They’ll protect me from any threats.”

Elyssa relented.

Soren took Aya to her new castle. She nestled against him instinctively finding the bulges and hollows of his body where she fit. He kicked, sailing down the long tunnel out of Elyssa’s castle to the rest of the city. Faier and Ciran flanked them a few kicks behind.

He demanded she become his bride. Now he affirmed he wanted to marry her. Did he understand why she delayed?

Once, she would have accepted without a moment’s hesitation. If he’d asked her on the surface, during the bride pageant or right after.

Their relationship was completely different now.

She cared about him as a person. Not as a merman. Not as a warrior or as a trade partner. She wanted more.

She wanted everything.

Bright, holy light shone from the Life Tree, bathing the surrounding ocean. Its light was pure and calming. They flew to the new castle, a smaller bulb that glowed with an iridescent light. Soren followed the curve to a pucker in the wall.

“Press your hand here,” he said.

She touched the wall. It was cool and smooth like marble. The dent twisted to let her in. The portal widened and grew cavernous, almost as large as the main castle behind them.

“It has fingerprint recognition?” she asked.

“The castle has been imprinted with your energy.” Soren swam her inside.

The long entrance hallway opened into another vast courtyard. No tended gardens or dirt covered the floor. It had the new car, new apartment smell — if she could smell anything—and the hallways, doorways, and windows looked rough.

“No plants,” she noted.

“This is the first time it has opened,” he said, confirming her intuition. “I will organize a work crew to gather soil. Gailen is good at planting. You will have a harvest before long.”

So this was hers now.

It was huge. Like suddenly owning a lodge, or five hundred head of cattle, or a really big yacht. She had things she was responsible for. Things to take care of. Things to learn.

Aya released Soren and paddled around, exploring the features that called to her. Sharp, modern angles revealed storage pockets in the walls. One main hallway twisted down, leading to a dead end.

“That goes to the heart chamber,” Soren said.

The most sheltered chamber in the castle. Aya studied the dead end. The first warlord marriage caused the chamber to open, and then all subsequent residents could use its protection.

Aya rested on the floor of the hall, feeling the texture of the plant with her bare feet. Funny how she’d been underwater for months and her toes were smooth. Wrinkle-free. She wasn’t even a little pruney.

There appeared to be a small pucker on the dead end, like on the outside of the castle. She put her hand against it. Nothing happened.

He stood right behind her. “That is not how you open the heart chamber the first time.”

Her mouth went dry. Even though she was underwater.

Soren was the first warlord. He wanted to marry her. Would he try to convince her to marry him with his body? She rubbed her palms on her thighs. Would she let him?

She swallowed. Her chest vibrated. “I know.”

He moved closer. The hallway suddenly seemed far too small.

She turned. “Soren—”

Something exploded next to her hand.

She jerked away from the motion. “Ah!”

Soren made a startled noise and pulled her close. He palmed her head protectively, holding her against his chest with his other arm out in a defensive motion.

A small creature flew out of the hallway and disappeared in the courtyard. Faier and Ciran shouted.

“What was that?” she asked, muffled against Soren’s taut chest.

His heart thundered in her ear. “I do not know.” He flew them out of the narrow hall.

“I thought this was the first time the castle was opened.”

“It was.”

They reached the courtyard. Faier and Ciran peered in a jagged window.

Soren kicked to them. “What manner of creature is it?”

Faier answered. “It might be the house guardian.”

Soren grunted.

Ciran pointed. “There it is.”

The tiny creature exploded again. Soren released her and kicked once, hard. He caught the fleeing animal like a baseball, clapped in his large palms, and brought the squirming creature close to Aya.

“It is the house guardian,” he confirmed.

A tiny purple octopus pooled in his fists, ebbing first one way and then the other, like liquid mercury seeking the tiniest escape. It disappeared and he juggled it, grabbing onto the last bit of tentacle as it nearly got away.

“How did it get in?” she asked.

“They have their ways.”

Clearly these castles were not air-tight.

Faier and Ciran watched its antics. Faier said, “I have never seen one so skittish before.”

“You are right. Normally they are aggressive like Queen Elyssa’s.” He grabbed it again. “Ow. It is biting me.”

Oh. “Let it go.”

Soren released the tiny octopus. It flew laps around the courtyard as though looking for a superior hiding place and then disappeared down the dead end heart chamber hallway.

Huh. “Any more surprise guests?”

The warriors checked the rooms and halls of the castle, communicating their findings quietly.

Aya waited in the middle of the courtyard, free-floating. Her three big guards returned.

“We found no one, Queen Aya,” Faier said.

Queen? Her heart thudded. That was what Atlantis wanted. That was what Soren wanted to marry. Her, a super-powered queen.

She really hoped that Elyssa’s fool-proof plan didn’t hinge on Aya’s undeveloped — or was it anti-developed? — super powers.

“Very good.” She nodded at him and Ciran. “Thank you.”

They glanced at Soren.

His jaw tightened as though he were fighting with them about something. Soren turned to Aya formally. “Queen Aya. Faier and Ciran are rested. They should go to work crews and patrols while we rest.”

“Who will guard us?” Aya asked.

His teeth clenched. A flash of the hurt snapped across his face again. “I will guard you.”

“Then who will guard you?” she demanded. “I’m going to pass out like the dead. Your ex-boss is constantly sneaking past the city guards, and his vendetta against you is personal.”

His brows lifted in surprise. “You wish me to stay?”

“Of course I do. You’re my fiancé.” She nodded at her guards. “You two stay close. Don’t let anyone enter that tunnel.”

They both straightened and saluted using the fingers-looped-in-front-of-their-chests gesture.

She returned the salute. It was easy to do and clearly this was how the warrior culture greeted each other. “Thank you again for your hard work.”

They departed.

Soren gazed at her through dark brows. Tingles walked up her arms. The water grew heavy between them.

Like a coward, her heart raced behind her chest and hid like a little rabbit.

She made a show of stretching. “Well, I’m really tired. I’m just going to stretch out here on this bare patch of floor.” She lay down and closed her eyes.

Microcurrents brushed her body with the hot sensation of Soren. The taste of his skin. The rich anise flavor of his energy.

His quiet voice rumbled too near her sensitive earlobe. “Fiancé?”

She jumped. “It means we agree to marry but not yet. We have to set a date.”

He floated closer. She could feel him on her cheek, on her chest, on her shoulder. “The Life Tree is right outside. Come with me and speak the vows to join us.”

“Us?” Her eyes snapped open. He floated right there, gorgeous, and all she had to do was reach out and capture his mouth for her kiss. She rolled onto her back to face him head-on. “Us, Aya and Soren, or ‘Us,’ Aya-the-super-powerful-queen and Soren-the-dishonored-warrior-who-won’t-say-why’?”

He looked away, then firmed and cupped the back of her neck in his wide palm. “Aya. You are a powerful queen.”

“No, I’m just—”

“Believe.” He nuzzled her. Awareness simmered in her blood. “When you use your power, your soul light is so bright. There is only one other time it is that brightness.”

“When’s that?”

His hot gaze flicked across her body like a caress.

She swallowed. “Not that long ago you said you’d dump me off with some other guy in Atlantis.”

Possession flamed in his eyes. He looped her hand with his fingers, drawing her into his body. “I will never give you up again.”

His fire consumed her.

She clenched his scarred shoulders.

He rolled and pulled her onto him, straddling his taut abdomen. They floated on the bare, curved floor of the castle. He rested on his back, bobbing a few inches off the ground. Her knees kissed the smooth marble.

This was a powerful position. Desire uncoiled between her thighs and she throbbed. “What are you going to do?”

His hands skimmed her thighs, molding her nakedness. Rough, powerful hunger burned in his black gaze. “Make you mine.”

Her breasts swelled and her nipples tightened. How could looking at her, barely touching her, cause this intense reaction? She was love-starved and he really had enslaved her.

Well, okay then. She didn’t want to think any more. About the raiders, about the megalodon, about the things Elyssa thought Aya could do, about anything.

Right now, all she wanted was to fall further under his commanding spell.