Free Warriors of Poseidon 04 - Atlantis Unmasked by authors_sort Page A

without your sacrifices on our behalf.” She had to stop to compose herself, and then she continued. “We love you all, and as aknasha I can feel the depth of emotion from each and every one of you and how much you love us in return. We are so lucky that you are all part of our family. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.”
     
    By the end of her speech, the room was completely silent, until a loud and very demanding wail startled them all. Laughing a little, not knowing what to do with the unfamiliar emotion threatening to choke him, Alexios fell back on tradition and ceremony. “All hail Prince Aidan! All hail the heir to Atlantis!”
     
    The room resounded with the shouted replies. “Prince Aidan! Prince Aidan! Prince Aidan!”
     
    Finally, Conlan held up a hand for silence. “Thank you, but my son is very determined that he have his first meal now, so if you‟ll all excuse us, we‟re going to let Riley and baby have some much-deserved rest.”
     
    Alexios bowed to his friend and comrade the high prince and then turned and ushered the others out of the room. “The ale is quite definitely on me, my friends!”
     
    “Speaking of ale, where is Christophe?” Brennan asked.
     
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    “He said that babies make him nervous,” Alaric said dryly. “I suspect we‟ll find him already ensconced with a mug or five of the palace‟s best brew.”
     
    Laughing and chattering, everyone headed for the dining hall to properly celebrate.
    Alexios hung back to talk to Alaric.
     
    “It‟s a truly grand day, isn‟t it?”
     
    “Grand, perhaps, but not yet without danger,” Alaric said, his eyes narrowing. “Not all Atlanteans welcome so many changes to the old ways.”
     
    “What does it mean, Alaric? The first human-Atlantean prince? What does it mean for tradition and for Atlantis?” Alexios generally tried to stay out of politics, but if something threatened the newborn heir, he intended to be prepared.
     
    “I don‟t know yet. Poseidon himself approved the match and granted his blessing on the child, so there is no basis for denying him his heritage. But zealots don‟t always need reasons. We simply need to be ready for them.”
     
    “Oh, yes,” Alexios said, hands twitching toward the daggers that weren‟t yet back in their sheaths. “We will be ready.”
     
    Fort Castillo de San Marcos, St. Augustine, Florida
     
    Even after the sudden thunderstorm struck, Grace continued to pace the long parapets that bordered the top of the fort for nearly an hour in the driving rain. Sometimes walking, sometimes running. Leaping over the gaps. Gazing out at the ocean as if she could see all the way down through the waters to wherever Atlantis continued to hide from the rest of the world.
     
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    She paced, trying to outdistance her thoughts and escape the crushing waves of despair that weren‟t even her own.
     
    It was all wrong. She never formed mental bonds like this—not like this. Not with someone she barely knew.
     
    Never before with a man . The memory of their last moment together before he‟d disappeared—that kiss—burned across her mind like a wild lightning bolt riding tumultuous clouds.
     
    It shook her up, tossing her nerves into a tempest to match the surf that the winter storm sent slashing toward the shore.
     
    “It won‟t help, you know.”
     
    The deep voice came from nowhere and the shock of it nearly sent her flying over the edge. A strong hand shot out and caught her arm, jerking her back and away from a thirty-five-foot drop.
     
    She tried to wrench her arm free, whirling around with a high kick to smash the intruder‟s face, but he blocked her kick and lifted her into his arms as easily as if she were a child, smiling down at her. The moonlight shadowed the distinctive bronze hair to black, but there was no way she‟d ever mistake that face, even with water