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Sara stifles a laugh. “I’m sure it was a threat.”
I smile back at her.
Kai groans loudly, the water swirls red, and a perfect little podlet comes out of her. I want to look away, but I can’t.
“Oh, look at that. Bright gold, just like yours.” Ellery kisses Kai’s head. The podlet has a golden fluke and a tuft of blonde hair on the top.
“You did so good, darling,” Bennett, another of Kai’s mates says.
Kai bursts into tears. She reaches down and takes the podlet up onto her breast, and when she does, it changes to a perfect little baby before my eyes.
“It’s a mermaid.” Kai turns to her mates swarming the room.
“A mermaid. Her first podlet is a mermaid,” Ophelia says quietly, her smile taking over her face.
Sara loops her arm in mine. “Now we go sit in the other room and get drunk.”
“Really, that’s tradition?”
“It will be if we do it.” She laughs.
“Where have you been?” I smile at her.
Sara shrugs.
I look over my shoulder at Kai, surrounded by her mates, and nod. I’ll say congratulations later. Sara and I walk away from the birthing room, but she takes me past the crowd in the living room and down a back hall, one that I’ve never been in before, to another sitting room. Eventually, it ends up being the three of us, Ophelia’s three daughters-in-law: Sara, Yana, and I. Another cheer sounds from the living room, this one even louder. Sara’s block dings.
“Poseidon!” Sara says.
Yana gives her a look. Guess Yana doesn’t like swearing.
“What? This is a whale. What Atlas said was true. They’re surrounding Braesen. Annabelle, isn’t that your Zaffiro mate in this picture? Did you know about this?” She holds up a picture of Eros next to Atlas. They’re holding tridents, and Atlas is pointing to the edge of the picture, at the back of a fluke that looks a heck of a lot like Nico’s.
“Yes, my mate. And maybe? Excuse me, I need to go.” I’m down the hall with only one wrong turn. I find the front room where I left... “Castor!”
43
NICO
We’ve been here long enough. You gave him a chance, Atlas. We need to go in there before he does something drastic. Before I do something drastic. I kick my fluke. Holter’s watching the Braesen dome like it might move.
Atlas furrows his brow. I sent the message. “Come out, with your aides and advisors and give yourself up.” The king’s bright silver tale flashes, and I want to smack him for not covering himself with squid ink.
Haden Moretti is desperate. He knows it’s over, and there’s no rationalizing with a male like that. We’ve had the Braesen main dome surrounded for the last few hours.
Eros swims over. He has a pervisculum pointed at the dome. He’s in there, top floor. We can get a drone strike on him.
Atlas moves behind Eros, studying his block. No, Moretti’s mate is in there.
The airlock bursts open, and mermen fire random shots as they surge from it. Five ill-equipped solders who I wouldn’t even qualify as squibs to attack a major force. Their lifeless bodies drift to the seabed. I glance behind me. They didn’t hit anyone. I cock my head at Atlas.
The king turns to an aide behind him. Release all the evidence we have. Tell the Braesen citizens they need to evacuate now.
Yes, Your Majesty. The aide swims off.
We need to move into the docking areas to make sure he’s not leaving with ordinary Braesen citizens. A more modern dome, the Braesen have a good number of airlocks.
Atlas gives the order to charge. Part of the king’s force holds the perimeter, and the elite team head inside. Moretti doesn’t have any military training, and it shows. He didn’t darken the dome’s windows or turn off any of the lights. No, the citizens of Braesen are staring out the windows like they are watching a festival parade go by. But then as Atlas’s decree travels inside, the heads disappear from the windows.
