Return to Atlantis: a Fantasy Romance (Kingdom in the Sea Book 1) by Vivienne Savage & Domino Taylor

Author:Vivienne Savage & Domino Taylor [Savage, Vivienne]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2018-12-11T08:00:00+00:00

19

Standing Ground

Kai proved him wrong a second time. Shortly after reinforcements came from the keeper depot and Myrmidon barracks, the rioters dispersed into the city and vanished as quickly as they’d come. The whole while they secured the streets, she tended to the wounded with Elpis, helped combat medics apply bandages, and relocated the injured to safety.

Watching her made him damned proud. In only a few weeks, Kai had proven herself to be the princess they needed, but he wasn’t entirely convinced they deserved her. This became painfully apparent when he saw a discarded sign on the sidewalk, its hastily scrawled art depicting her gory demise in the jaws of sharks.

What for? While Manu had no true love for the high mer bloodlines of Atlantis, it struck him as ignorant to wish death on them all for the circumstances of their birth. No one could control who they were born to, otherwise he would have chosen an actual father.

Hours later, long after Heracles guided Amerin and Kailani to safety and the streets were clear of rabble, he retired to the palace and decided to check on their princess.

“Commander, is it true?” a guard asked him when he approached the gate. The two were wide-eyed and alert, youths in their early thirties and barely out of training.

“Is what true?”

“That the princess used the gift,” said the other guard. “They say she extinguished a fifty-meter fire raging over the Coral Spire. Saved a dozen families.”

“Fifty-meter fire,” he repeated.

“That’s what they said.”

“If such a thing occurred, it was prior to my arrival,” he said patiently. Their faces fell in disappointment.

The poor lads were old enough to remember the breathtaking spectacles Queen Ianthe once performed in the coliseum for the entertainment of her subjects. There hadn’t been a better magic-user in all of Atlantis compared to the queen; no surprise given that she’d descended from their prime goddess of the sea. He entered the palace and made his way to the royal healer’s suite, suspecting Kai hadn’t yet been released. His senses led him right, and he heard her protesting further treatment before he even entered the room.

His princess sat on an examination table, eye-level with the old sage who administered curatives and medical care to the palace residents. When Manu strode inside, Kai snapped her attention toward him, away from the attending healer’s craggy face. Vitalis was an elderly, no-nonsense sort of mer, hundreds of years old and probably present for the birth of every high mer in the city. Though he seemed moments from crumbling into a pile of dust, his weathered face split into a big grin at the sight of Manu.

“Good day, Commander.”

“Manu, tell him that I’m fine!”

“I don’t know about that. You may need to be kept overnight,” he said slyly, watching her unconcealed exasperation flare into visible fury. A flush kissed her cheeks, though it was so fetching against her golden complexion that he couldn’t look away. His gaze remained on her brown eyes—trapped in the depths of them.

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