Free Madly & the Jackal by M. Leighton Page B

so be it.  Life wasn’t worth living without him anyway, no matter the fate of the Mer.  They’d find a way.  They had for thousands of years and they would again.  But I could not exist in a world without Jackson.  It was as simple as that.
    My legs were sluggish beneath me.  I knew it was in part due to fatigue.  The rest was due to the hands of hopelessness dragging at my feet.  I fought it, knowing I had just a bit further to go before I could make my move.
     
    ********
     
    Transport must’ve had some inkling that something was going on, that I was back.  When the elevator doors opened into the control room, there was utter silence.  Every eye was turned toward me and within seconds of the doors opening, every head bowed. 
    It only made me feel worse.
    I swept the room with my cordial smile until I found Commander Jessup.  His face was stoic, but I’d seen it enough times to recognize the dread just beneath the surface.  He knew there would be bad news.
    “May I have a word?” I asked.
    He nodded once, sharply, and turned toward the conference room.  We’d only vacated it a couple days prior, but it felt as though months had passed.
    I followed him.  Once inside, Jessup closed the door behind me, but neither of us moved to sit in one of the many empty chairs.
    “You have news of Atlas?” he asked without preamble.
    “Yes.  In some ways, it’s worse than I thought.”  I summarized all that I’d learned about the release of the Lore, the plight of my family and the involvement of Leviathan.
    “Rumpel!” Jessup exclaimed, rubbing a hand over his face.  “It really is worse than we thought.”
    If Rumpel weren’t bad enough on his own, his control of Leviathan made him a double threat.  “I’ve already run into Leviathan once.  Rumpel may know we’re on to him.”
    Jessup questioned me about every detail of our encounter with Leviathan.  The muscle along his jawline ticked rhythmically, the only outward sign of his agitation.  I tried to gloss over how we escaped into the cave, but the Commander wouldn’t let it go so easily.
    “Yes, I know of the cave.  I believe it lies behind the waterfall at the Pool of Neptune, correct?”  Commander Jessup had been on land for many, many years. I had hoped he might not remember so many details.
    “It does.”
    “Then how di—”
    He stopped abruptly as understanding dawned.  I understood why it hadn’t come faster.  Never in Mer history had a royal in the ruling house tied with a non-royal, a common Mer.
    I waited for him to continue, whether with a question or a statement.  Instead, I saw his face light with something that looked dangerously close to pride. 
    He cleared his throat.  “And Sentinel Hamilton?  What was his plan?”
    “I don’t know.  The plan that we began with got…interrupted somehow.  He sent me off so quickly I didn’t get to ask any questions and he didn’t seem to have time to explain.  He just told me to swim and not look back, that he would find me.”
    My voice trembled on the last words, the lump in my throat nearly painful in its size and intensity.  I felt like my heart was lodged there, ready to burst at any moment and spray my life’s blood all over the walls around me. 
    “Princess,” Jessup began, his voice a smidgeon less gruff.  “You know he is the very best to ever grace the Sentinel ranks of Atlas.  If he said he’d find you, then he will.  Trust in that.”
    I had the sudden urge to fling myself into Jessup’s stiff arms and bawl my eyes out on his shoulder.  But behavior such as that was not befitting of a royal in my position, so, resolutely, I swallowed as much of my emotion as I could and straightened my spine. 
    “I trust you’ll begin making arrangements to subvert the mechanisms put in place by the traitor and formulate some sort of rescue attempt.”
    “Of course, Princess.  Immediately.  And you’ll begin the search for the next prison escapees I