Soren stretched and groaned.

He knew his location instantly upon waking. He was in Aya’s castle, resting on the bare ground, alone.

Warriors gathered above. Their murmurs reached him. They were plotting, strategizing.

Unlike sleeping in the courtyard of Kadir’s castle, which was filled with all variety of warriors talking and joking, only intent conversation filtered down to him.

It was like being back in Dragao Azul at the barracks. He had spent so much time there honing his skills, yearning for the day when he would stand beside Elan as a worthy First Lieutenant, never realizing that he was seeking the wrong goal. A goal that would end in blood, tears, and destruction.

The sensations of the conversation moved across his skin, dark and intricate as his tattoos. Familiar, serious.

Dangerous.

Because if he allowed himself to follow the wrong path again, not only would one warrior such as Elan suffer. All of Atlantis would fall by his dishonor.

He used his human feet to push off the ground, shifted to fins, and kicked. The great space echoed.

It was a war council.

Aya’s guards rested at either side of her, and Queen Elyssa’s guards cheery Gailen and serious Tial floated beside her. The others included Balim, Lotar, and Iyen. They all circled around a carved, three-dimensional map of the city out to its borders.

Queen Elyssa was speaking. “—and the patrols closest to the Blacknight trench heard the megalodon right before Blake’s submersible attack on Atlantis.”

Lotar saw Soren approach and brought his hands together in the salute. Soren returned it.

Gailen spoke aloud first. His cheery smile flashed. “Hey, sleepyhead.”

“Sleepyhead?” Soren rumbled, while he returned the salutes of the other warriors.

“Oh, Gailen, that’s a term of endearment only for close family members,” Elyssa corrected. “Like Aya could say it. Hello, Soren.”

Aya fixed on him. A heat pulse flared across the map, communicating from her to him and back again.

What is your dishonor? It was too late to undo his mistake. There was no reason for her to ever know.

He swam to Aya’s side, acknowledged the others, and rested his hand on her thigh.

The other warriors noted his possessiveness.

“Continue with the conference,” he growled.

Aya looked at his hand on her thigh.

Queen Elyssa gestured at Gailen. “Hand Soren something to eat.”

Gailen tossed him provisions and Soren consumed them one-handed, not removing his other hand from Aya. The others watched as he used his knees and feet to accomplish this feat.

Aya focused on the Atlantis map again. “To summarize, we have no defenses against a megalodon. Correct, Elyssa?”

“Not a one.”

“Their teeth can bite castles in half and make short work of the Life Tree. But King Kadir is stuck here. So, our only choice is to stop the megalodon before it arrives.”

Lotar nodded.

“So the megalodon was frightened by the noise of the submersible.” Aya rubbed her forehead. “One of us should really go to the surface and get another one.”

“There’s no time,” Queen Elyssa said. “It’s literally breathing down our door. Besides, I have a better idea. We’ll raise Atlantis!”

Everyone lifted their chests. Raising the ancient city was the reason for founding the new city in the shadow of the old. One day, they would finish excavating the old city and once more raise it to the surface. Human and mer would mingle. Harmony would return. All warriors would find their brides. The mer race would flourish.

“That’s seriously your fool-proof plan?” Aya asked flatly. “Hasn’t the city been underwater for a thousand years? Do you know how corrosive salt water is? Or coral? And wasn’t it wrecked to begin with? Isn’t it a project for hundreds of people, not thirty-five?”

Queen Elyssa lost a little sparkle. “I know it’s a long shot, but it could work.”

Aya pinched the bridge of her nose. “I think I felt better when I was afraid you were relying on mythical superpowers.”

Queen Elyssa brightened again, filling the conference with warmth and light. “Well, that’s Plan A, of course.”

“How have you progressed at the ruin?” Soren asked Balim.

“I have studied engineering diagrams.” As a healer who knew how the body was engineered, Balim could grasp how the muscles of a city flexed and relaxed. “The ancient city was raised in three stages. King Kadir is with a work crew now, unearthing the first lever at the ruin.”

Aya frowned. “What about the raiders?”

“They are a problem,” Balim acknowledged. “Some warriors watch for them while the rest work.”

“I will assist.” Soren removed his hand from Aya. “Go to your stations.”

With all the options discussed, the group moved. The warriors cleaned up the food and Iyen tucked the map under one arm.

“Wait.” Aya held up her hands. “Just a moment. I have a few more questions.”

“Aya, we have no time.”

She glared up at him. “Okay, then answer me. What happens if we can’t raise the city?”

“You will use your powers to—”

She put her hand on his chest, stopping him. “That’s what I thought. Sit.”

They returned uneasily to their conference.

She rested her hands on the map, spreading her fingers across the raised territory. “We’ve discussed scaring off the megalodon. But is it possible to control the lure instead?”

His stomach turned. The other warriors whitened.

Tial gaped at Aya. “Queen Aya, you wish to violate the Seven Cities Treaty and destroy another city instead? The All-Council will never recognize us.”

“No, I…” She tapped her lips. “The All-Council takes away city recognitions from those who violate the Seven Cities Treaty?”

The warriors nodded.

“I was going to suggest we lure the megalodon back to the trench it came from. But now I’m really wondering.” Aya tilted her head and then the board. “Dragon Mar is risking its city status to attack us.”

“We are not a recognized city yet,” Ciran pointed out.

“But we could be. You had an adviser helping you, right?”

“He turned against us,” Tial said.

Aya frowned.

“And you mean Dragao Azul.”

“The lure is from Dragon Mar.”

An uncomfortable silence followed her statement. Cities so far away, working together to end Atlantis, was worrisome.

“You do mean Dragao Azul,” Ciran finally said. “Dragon Mar may experience some censure because of the lure, but the General leading this attack is from Dragao Azul.”

Heat flared in Soren’s chest. “Elan appears in front of me again and he dies.”

Aya placed her hand on Soren’s. “It’s still a risk. Atlantis isn’t the only city near a trench, and warriors have lost control of megalodons before. Why would Dragao Azul risk losing their recognition to destroy a small, upstart city of roughly thirty-five warriors?”

They were all silent, contemplating that question.

Soren knew one immediate answer. It was personal. Elan hated him so much for what Soren had done, he had left Dragao Azul with the sole mission of destroying him and all he loved — not realizing that Soren was already destroyed, or not caring.

The others tried different answers.

“Dragao Azul needs its warriors back,” Gailen suggested, and jerked his thumb at his fellow guard. “It is why the Newas raiders keep trying to kidnap Tial.”

The dark evergreen warrior nodded.

Soren snorted. “Dragao Azul does not want us. If they destroy Atlantis, they lose Kadir. I will die fighting. They get nothing.”

“Dragao Azul is embarrassed,” Faier offered.

Lotar studied the board silently. He and Iyen had little to say. They were quick observers, effective in battle, not meandering thinkers.

Aya tapped her fingers on the map. “Embarrassment is a small thing in comparison to losing city recognition. “

“I have seen decisions made for worse reasons,” Faier said. “King Kadir encourages all warriors to give their best qualities regardless of rank, and he has forged many rules to empower his warriors. Unlike the kings in other cities, he does not take away their power or crush their souls.”

The other warriors nodded, agreeing with Faier’s assessment.

Soren thought the truth was a little different. Kadir had always been a visionary. He saw ancient Atlantis, the original city of humans and mer living in harmony, as the only way their race could continue. And he saw listening to Queen Elyssa as the only way to thrive.

Queen Elyssa’s perspective had already changed the expectations of how a bride should behave. She had revealed their blindness and stopped their enemies from exploiting it. Now Aya’s perspective was forcing them to examine what they believed and expected from an honorable war. Their enemies did not appear to be honorable. What they were blind to, she forced them to examine.

Aya met Faier’s gaze. “Is the ruling hierarchy so strict that one person’s embarrassment could doom a whole city?”

His lips pressed together in regret.

Soren answered. “In a city like Rusalka, yes.”

Iyen nodded shortly. He had been born in Rusalka. Obedience was ingrained in his bones.

Soren had to add his thought. “Elan could be acting alone.”

Aya glanced up at Soren. He braced himself for her question. Why would he have been so furious that he would act alone?

Instead, she asked, “If a single warrior threatened their entire city, does Dragao Azul have no mechanisms in place to stop him? Force him to return?”

Ah. That wasn’t what Soren expected at all. He stared at his open hands. Of course Elan could not act alone based only on his hatred. “They do.”

Elan was a father. He had begged for his life on behalf of his son. All the Dragao Azul elders had to do was threaten his child and he would have returned immediately.

That meant Dragao Azul had decided to attack Atlantis.

And he was likely to see Elan again.

His guts clenched.

Aya nodded, even though she couldn’t know what was going through Soren’s head. “Can anyone go to Dragao Azul now, find out why they’re willing to risk their city status on destroying us, and convince them to call off their megalodon?”

“No.” Soren answered for all of them. “But there is a faster option. We could go hunting. Find the raiders and capture Elan.”

Lotar and Iyen met his gaze. They were clearly willing to try.

“You do not know where they are,” Ciran pointed out. “And taking a sufficient hunting party out of Atlantis weakens our defenses.”

An excellent point. Soren acknowledged Ciran.

He flushed with the recognition.

Lotar rose and left without a word.

Elyssa squinched her lips to one side. “He’s not going off to find the raiders and steal Elan all by himself, right?”

“He is skilled,” Soren said, because it was obvious to any warrior that Lotar had just decided to do so. “Lotar has the best chance.”

“What? Gah!” She wheeled and swam to the tunnel. “Lotar, come back here!”

Tial made eye contact with her other guard, Gailen, and flew after Elyssa.

The rest stared at the board. Although the odds against them were overwhelming, Soren felt clear-headed for the first time since he’d left Dragao Azul. Instead of fleeing from one defense to the next, he was looking at a larger picture. There was room to move. To think. And to form an effective counter-attack.

He hadn’t had that confidence in a long, long time.

Since just before his dishonor—

No. He would not think of it.

“Now the conference is done?” he asked Aya tightly.

She nodded, frowning. “That’s everything I can think of.”

Soren issued commands. “Iyen. Faier and Ciran. Plan the patrols with Lotar gone. See if it is possible to trick a lower level raider into being captured. Even the lowest ranked enemy may know something useful.”

The trio nodded.

“Balim and I will assist Kadir at the ruins.”

The healer rose with a stretch. “I will collect my trident and meet you at the edge of the city.”

“Gailen, organize a work party to fill Aya’s castle with soil and plants. Someone needs to sand these edges to make it livable.”

Gailen nodded.

Aya held up her hand to stop him. “The castle can wait. Concentrate on our defenses.”

“You will need food.”

“Atlantis needs a plan. I’ll go to Elyssa’s castle at meal times just like everyone else.”

But if Aya did not have that sustenance in her castle, then it would remain barren and unlived in, with sharp edges that never softened.

She touched Soren’s chest. “Decorating and wallpaper can wait until peacetime.”

Very well. If that was her will, he respected it. Even if it felt like another rejection.

She removed her hand and paddled toward the tunnel. “I will assist you at the ruin.”

Soren’s blood pumped hard. “Never!”