Queen Lucy groaned and collapsed against Torun.

Soren thanked the Life Tree that he was present for this amazing miracle. The megalodon was destroyed, the army routed, and the first young fry of Atlantis was born!

Torun lifted his young fry tenderly. The tiny infant wiggled his fists and kicked. His chest vibrated in a newborn cry.

Queen Lucy wiped her face and reached out. Torun pressed her son into her arms. She held him and rocked, and Torun hugged the both of them. Heartbreaking joy and awe flowed between the two new parents.

Warmth glowed in Soren’s chest and a lump formed in his throat. They were so beautiful. This was how it should always be. Husband and wife and young fry. Together. Secure in their love. Happy.

And then Lucy pitched forward again. Torun held their newborn son while the second was born.

“She is a female,” Torun exclaimed. “A queen.”

The warriors gasped.

Kadir caught Soren’s eye. Triumph lit his face. He had foretold this miracle.

No female had been born to the mer in a thousand years. Not since before the great crisis that destroyed old Atlantis. Now, a queen was once more born. The problems were reversing. Their race would survive.

Queen Lucy finished with the birth. Torun hugged her again as the beautiful creamy-blue infants cried and nosed for her breasts. Soon they were suckling contentedly. Queen Lucy stroked them, awe lighting her exhausted features, and they all rested against the sparkling, holy Life Tree.

Everyone moved back, toward the edge of the broken dais, to give them privacy.

Aya swallowed hard several times as she observed them.

“Are you well?” Soren asked, thrumming for her ears alone.

She nodded, finally looking away. “I’ve always wanted kids, but I was worried. I thought I was missing an important gene. But that,” she swallowed again, hard, and her eyes rimmed in red, “was more affecting than I thought it would be. I’m not worried anymore.”

Good. “You will be a fierce mother.”

“Yes.” Aya rested her head on Soren’s shoulder. “I will.”

“So.” Queen Elyssa teased Kadir with sparkling eyes. “I expect our birth story to be just as amazing.”

He blinked several times. “I hope it will be more ordinary. I will have trouble concentrating if we are swallowed by another megalodon.”

“It’s fine. Aya knows how to blow them up.”

Kadir rubbed Queen Elyssa’s head. She giggled.

Soren rumbled softly to Aya. “You roused the cave guardian, defeated the megalodons, and routed the army.”

She patted his hand. “I knew I could do it.”

“How?” Gailen asked frankly, crawling up over a broken chunk of sanctuary petal. His eyes were permanently bugged, and he had terrible bloody bruises and scars as though he had been chewed on and spit out. “What were you thinking?”

“You always wanted to try megalodon sushi,” Aya said.

Gailen paused.

She gestured at the ocean floor, visible behind him. “I did this for you, Gailen.”

He looked down.

“What do you say?” she prompted.

“I have no idea.” He started laughing. “Are all brides like you?”

Soren growled and held her close. “My queen is like no other.”

“Thanks, Queen Aya. We have enough meat to feed an army.”

“It is good you do.” Balim descended through the broken sanctuary roof and checked first Kadir, tsking at a long scratch on his arm, and then Soren, poking at his injury. “You have a whole army out here. Most are injured. Many are seeking asylum.” He left them and moved to the new family.

“Our population problem is solved!” Queen Elyssa threw her arms around Kadir and kissed him with delight. Then, she got quiet. “Oh. Our castle is gone.”

It had been destroyed.

“And I don’t see Benji…”

“Your house guardian is there.” Gailen pointed.

The small orange octopus dangled a few branches away from Aya’s purple house guardian, safely ensconced in the Life Tree. Benji must have been exhausted after attacking the megalodon.

“Aw.” Queen Elyssa relaxed. “Okay. Now we’re back to being homeless.”

“The Life Tree will grow a new castle,” Kadir promised, nuzzling her. “Until then, we will rest elsewhere.”

“And it will not be long. Look, castles!” Gailen hung down the hole in the dais and pointed. “The Life Tree is putting out new castles. You can see them rising between the megalodon chunks. One, two, three…seven, eight…twelve, thirteen, fourteen! It keeps going!”

The others came and crowded around.

The bright, green bulbs of new castles pushed up through the soil in three expanding rings. One bulb even pushed up through the wreckage of Kadir’s castle as though absorbing its nutrients to remake itself. The city expanded with hope and promise.

“It’s like fairy rings,” Aya murmured. “Little puffballs. You can’t see them growing, but you almost can...”

“Incredible.” Faier stared down beside them. “I have never heard of so many in such a young city.”

The warrior’s brows lifted with hope. For the first time since Soren had met him, he looked young and full of vitality.

“Well, we did just super-charge it.” Queen Elyssa stroked her husband’s hand. “And with so many new residents coming in, we’re going to have a huge influx of new brides. Right?”

Faier frowned and rubbed the scars on his arm. New ones had joined the others from where he had rescued the Dragon Mar youth, who was sleeping in a lump, curled up in the entrance.

They would figure out what to do with the youth later. He had a story, like these other warriors. Kadir and Queen Elyssa would have a lot of sorting to do. Soren as well — as the First Lieutenant of Atlantis.

“Well, if we won’t be out of our home for too long...” Queen Elyssa grinned at Aya and Soren. “I guess we’re crashing at your place!”

“Oh.” Aya bit her lip. “I regret not having planted or sanded the ledges.”

“You’re still moving in,” Queen Elyssa said. “We’ll have a move-in party! It will be so much fun. We’ll do a sleepover every night. Starting—”

“Not now.” Soren drew Aya to him. “The heart chamber is open. Aya is mine. The castle is ours this night.”

Aya’s soul glowed red. She accepted his claim. They had done everything out of order, but they were bound now in body, heart, and soul.

Elyssa grinned and held up her hands in surrender. “It’s fine. We’re plenty busy out here. Take your time.”

He pushed off the dais, swimming Aya with him. “To the heart chamber, my bride!”