Aya emerged from the city like a beautiful red star.

Soren watched her approach from a speck in the distance to a shining flower. Her chest glowed with the force of her light. Her fins propelled her forward with grace that left even her expert guards behind. Next to her, Queen Elyssa flew like a pink shadow.

The warriors working on the ruin beside him paused and also watched.

Aya said his honor wasn’t lost. She said he was still a good person. She said he’d suffered an injury by being asked to do something that conflicted with what was right.

Could that be possible? Was he still honorable?

His heart raced as though an army were approaching. His hands trembled. And his guts clenched.

No. He was no honorable warrior. An honorable warrior would serve his king without question. Soren questioned Kadir all the time. An honorable warrior would assume the title of First Lieutenant and execute all orders without argument. An honorable warrior would not feel so churned up and mudblack inside.

An honorable warrior would not stop defending his city to stare in awe at the two approaching queens.

He put his head down and pushed on the stuck lever. Kadir had unearthed and then activated the first layer. Luck was on their side. The structure had shaken loose some of the rubble.

But now something was wrong. Maybe that rubble had fallen into the mechanism.

“This is the lever to activate the second stage.” Balim tapped Soren’s beam. “I have swum all around it. The structure is the same as the first tier. I do not understand why it does not operate. Push harder.”

Soren pressed his human feet against the rock and heaved.

The warriors resumed their places and all shoved.

It did not move.

He released the lever. His whole body shook from exertion. He and the other warriors rested with huffs.

“Perhaps the opposite direction.” Balim frowned. “Push again.”

“Read the diagram again.”

Female voices teased the waves, tickling his chest. Aya was here.

He refused to look, rubbing his face and arms…and then he looked despite his intention not to.

Aya barreled straight toward him.

He shot upright and caught her. “Are you trying to hurt yourself? This is a dangerous area!”

She clung to him. Her lips curved in a secretive smile that plucked his cock like a string. “I landed safely.”

“Yes. Because…” What was he angry about? Her power did something to him, stole his thoughts while heating his blood. He gripped her fiercely. “You must control yourself around me. I may not be here to catch you.”

Something flashed in her eyes. Her fins curled up into human feet again and she floated in front of him. “What does that mean?”

He didn’t know what it meant. He didn’t know what he was trying to say. Only that the tension jumped under his skin again like water fleas, biting with sharp nails.

Soren shook off the unease. “It means this is a work zone.”

“And I’m here to work.” The cool distance returned. She straightened. “Show me the writing.”

He pulled her to the end of the lever. “Do not touch anything.”

She paddled, looked down at her human feet, and frowned. Closing her eyes, a slow smile curved her lips.

Her sweet tongue touched her lower lip. He wanted to nibble. To kiss it.

Soren fought his urges.

Her fins grew unfurled. She opened her eyes, nodded at them in satisfaction, and kicked steadily. “Now I can help you.”

The fire in Aya’s soul, shining as brightly as the Life Tree, flashed in her clear blue eyes. The rise of her soft curves and exciting body, opened to him. The promise of her true self, united to his, made him shake.

No. He refused to succumb to his wishes.

“The writing is around the lowest tier.”

Swimming down the column, the ancient city spread around them. New currents fought chaotically around the revealed rock. Rubble the size of the Life Tree had broken off the wreck and sank, smashing into the sea floor. Even now his shoulders were pelted with small stones.

As they descended, the affronting noises of the cave guardian grew louder and more offensive. It was like a cadre of warriors snoring and retching at the same time. Soren tried to ignore it.

The first lever was flush against the seafloor a few strokes from the giant cave guardian’s home. Aya eyed the gaping hole as she touched down on her human feet. “That’s a cave guardian?”

“Inside. Try not to disturb him. He’s easily angered.”

Her brows rose. She released him, turned to the first lever, and examined what she could. “Can you move these boulders?”

He shifted to his human feet and tried. Grunting, he said, “The force of a falling rock pushed the lever.” He gave up. “I can get more warriors.”

“No, it’s fine.”

She studied the markings she could see. Her focus narrowed. Her fingers traced the lines.

He waited, vigilant in case the excavations unbalanced the wreck.

She straightened. “Where is the other lever?”

“What does it say?”

“Pierce the hand.” She rubbed her palm. “Take me back to the second lever.”

He obeyed, drew her near, and pushed off. His human feet unfurled into fins. Although, she didn’t need his assistance to move. She could move all on her own.

“You made your fins.”

She smiled, nestling into their old embrace. “You noticed.”

“They look good.”

She blinked. Her hand on his shoulder tightened. “Soren. We were talking about marriage.” Her frown deepened and her soul light dimmed. “I think—”

“Here is the second lever.” He stopped abruptly, opening his arms to release her. She landed on her human feet. A wave of uncertainty crossed her face.

He didn’t want to see it. He couldn’t stand for her to deny him. Not now. Not after she knew the truth. Not this way.

She frowned and composed herself, pinching the bridge of her nose. “Where are the symbols?”

“There are none.”

She opened her eyes and glanced around him. “Oh, look! Here they are.” She touched symbols on the handle he had never noticed. “This is marked with a five.”

“I believe it is the fifth stage,” Balim said, from above them. He paddled on his fins, surveying the site. “Three were controlled under the surface, by the mer. Three were controlled above the surface, by the humans. Truly, a city in harmony.”

“Hmm.” She touched the immobile lever. “And this is the same style of lever as the lower stage? It says here to ‘Pierce Hand Bone.’”

“Push it until your hand breaks,” Balim suggested. “Harder, Soren.”

“I have pushed in every direction. Up, down, left, right.”

“It’s been a thousand years, so I’m not surprised the coils remain compressed.”

“They are not coils,” Balim said. “It is a weighted system. There are four struts counter-balanced with weights. Much of the rubble — aside from destroyed human-style dwellings — is the wreckage of upper tier counter-balance weights.”

“Four struts? Like four fingers?” She reread the markings. “Pierce the hand bone…Soren, did you try pressing in?”

“I pushed in every direction.” But to appease her, he went to the end of the lever, made his human feet, balanced against the opposing rock, and heaved the lever into the structure.

It moved with a grinding shriek.

Crack. Crack. Crack. Crack.

The tower shuddered. Debris puffed out former windows and holes. Mermen shouted. The water filled inky black.

“Get back!” he shouted.

The wall containing the lever fell outward. Balim shot out of the way. Aya scrambled back on her human feet…right into the path of a huge swinging beam!

He dove and rolled her out of the beam’s path. It roared through the water and disappeared into the thickening darkness. He kicked hard. The city surged upward, catching him on a broken wall. He curled around Aya, sheltering her.

It roared forever.

Eventually, the shaking stopped. The water pressure lightened and warmed, sliding over his skin more breezily. The dust was still choking. He rose and held Aya, carrying her up and out, trying to free them of the dust cloud.

In the outer area of safety, the other warriors formed a cluster of awe. The cloudy, debris-filled water returned the ordinary sounds of the ocean.

He counted everyone. His work crew was there, and Balim. Kadir sheltered Elyssa. Gailen and Ciran were watching the clouds for them.

Gailen saw Soren and laughed shakily. He rubbed his pepper-orange tattooed head. “The next time you will raise the city, tell us! I almost inked myself. So to speak.”

Ciran kicked to them. His gaze was on Aya, curled around Soren. “You are uninjured?”

She nodded and brushed her hair out of her eyes. “I didn’t think it would be so sudden. Sorry.”

Kadir laughed and coughed. “The same thing happened the first time. We were struggling and then the ground shifted and we were two clicks higher, choking in dust, and the megalodon had turned away.”

That reminded Soren. He rounded on Ciran and Gailen. “You are reckless! The next time you wish to fly after a megalodon, come to this wreck and work instead.”

They both looked chagrined.

“Did you learn anything useful?”

Their expressions said no.

“We confirmed the attackers are waiting for something,” Ciran said.

“You do not know what?”

“The lure made an effort to entice the megalodon away, but it would not turn aside until the noise of the rising city disturbed it.”

Sobering thoughts. If Balim’s reading was right, they had one more stage to raise.

“At least we know now for sure we can raise or lower the city as an anti-megalodon defense,” Queen Elyssa said. “Great! We can just keep doing that to get rid of the megalodon, withstand raiders, and then wait for the All-Council representative to arrive! He’ll declare us a city, and then no one can attack.”

Balim cleared his throat. “There is a slight problem.”

Everyone looked at him.

“I have reviewed the engineering schematics. Every time a tier rises, it locks into place. I believe the mechanism for releasing the locks was on the human side.”

“The destroyed human side,” Aya clarified.

He nodded.

“Then we only have one more time when we can raise the city and deter the megalodon.”

He nodded again.

“We just wasted one of our three shots. Three tiers, three shots.”

“I was tasked with raising the city, not with lowering it again.” He rolled his lips and shrugged one shoulder. “I did not analyze that portion of the schematic.”

Everyone digested his announcement.

Aya pinched the bridge of her nose. Queen Elyssa hugged Kadir. He stroked her shoulders, wordlessly comforting her. His other hand rested on her belly.

Soren was always going to fight to the end. This changed nothing.

A terrible, off-tone, gargling wail grew louder, rising from the depths as the debris settled.

Ah. They had disturbed the cave guardian.

“Ooh! Aya, come over here.” Queen Elyssa untangled from Kadir with an excited kiss and motioned for Aya to join her.

Aya pushed off of Soren.

He tightened his grip.

She stopped and met his gaze. “Am I in danger?”

“The cave guardian can crush you into paste.”

“Then I won’t get too close.” Her lips twisted in a sardonic smile and she pressed a secret kiss to his hard jaw. “I don’t let too many things hold me like this.”

His belly pinged with awareness and his cock pulsed.

Satisfied, she pushed free and swam to Elyssa. Her fins unfurled like a red lace dress.

He swam to Kadir’s side. They watched the women from an uncomfortable distance as a lurking shadow rose from the dusky depths, emerging from a broken hole in the city. Warriors approaching too close made the mammoth cave guardian nervous.

Across the way, Queen Elyssa was introducing the guardian. “This is Octopus Kong. He lives in the cave below the ruins. He’s probably coming to chastise us for disturbing his peaceful Sunday.”

“Is it Sunday?” Aya asked, holding back at what Soren considered an unsafe, although better than Queen Elyssa, distance.

“Who knows?”

The mammoth cave guardian’s awful song changing to screeches. It coiled one massive tentacle around Queen Elyssa and dragged her close to its huge cross-shaped eyes.

“Whoah. Hello there. You are one giant Pacific Octopus.”

“And we’re not even in the Pacific,” Aya murmured.

“This makes me nervous,” Soren commented.

Kadir huffed a laugh and crossed his arms over his chest. “What can you do?”

“Put a stop to it,” he growled.

The mammoth unleashed another tentacle toward Aya.

She kicked back. “Excuse me.”

It curled around her hands, legs, and hair.

Aya jerked away. “Stop that. Down.”

“Aw, he’s just trying to get to know you,” Queen Elyssa called. “It’s how octopi communicate. They taste you through their suckers.”

“He can look at me and guess.”

“Let him give you a little hug.”

“Absolutely not.” Aya kicked free of another tentacle and stood tall. “I only hug in a professional capacity.”

A tentacle crept around her shoulder from behind.

She jolted and her chest flashed. The tentacle flew away from her. A space appeared around her body, a sphere of light nothing could penetrate. “You will respect me.”

The cave guardian released Queen Elyssa and withdrew its tentacles in surprise.

Had she just used her power against the cave guardian?

Octopus Kong finished its exploration and dropped, uncoiling its tentacles from Aya with gentle grace. It gargled down to the lower depths and receded into the background noise of the ocean.

“Come on.” Queen Elyssa tugged Aya’s arm. “Let’s go apologize.”

“I have nothing to apologize for.”

“Octopi are useful, you know. These guys are formidable against sharks.”

The women headed after the cave guardian.

Ciran and Gailen waited beside Soren, indecisive about going after them. No warrior could catch a cave guardian on the move. Soren thought the women would be back shortly alone.

“How was the health of the lure?” he asked. “The youth from Dragon Mar. Did he seem strong enough to keep the megalodon away?”

Ciran and Gailen both frowned. Ciran shook his head and Gailen answered. “It was no youth from Dragon Mar.”

“Outside Dragon Mar,” he said. “An outsider promised citizenship if he performed the task.”

They shook their heads more firmly.

“That is the wrong region. We were not going to say anything.” Gailen looked uncomfortably at Nilun and Pelan on the work crew. “But the youth was from Zoan’s city.”

Nilun and Pelan shifted closer together. They were friends. Close friends with Zoan.

There were definitely two megalodons.

Kadir caught his eye. His grim expression told Soren he had understood everything.

Megalodon.

It didn’t have the same ring as merman warrior. The same chill. The same eerie, unearthly sucking teeth-studded nightmare. The tense nervousness of water fleas jumped under his skin again. He wished, for a second time, Aya would go to the surface.

“Raiders!” someone shouted.

He jolted. Two distant specks flew down from above, heading toward them.

“Tridents!” Soren shouted. “Defend the Life Tree and the castle!”

Aya and Queen Elyssa emerged from the ruin.

His mer moved.

Soren grabbed Aya and shouted at Kadir. “Take your queen!”

Queen Elyssa was already reaching her hand out to Kadir. Her gaze fixed upward on the specks. “Wait, Kadir. Something’s odd about them.”

Kadir waited beside his wife. “What is it?”

“They’re not raiders. I think it’s Lucy and Torun.”