Free Captive of the Deep by Michelle M. Pillow

brother.” Nodding, the king added, “You have my permission. Take her north to the mountains. I do not like the reports I hear of her behavior in the palace. When she is not forcing her silence on us, she is screaming at you. I would not have her besmirching the honor of one of my greatest hunters.   That is, I would assume, the real reason you wish to take her, so her words cannot be heard again resounding throughout the dining hall?”
    Rigel stiffly nodded, remembering her comments as to his killing her brother. Whether this is what she truly felt in her heart or not, it is what she said aloud. The fact that the king was aware of this as well stung his honor.
    “You are an honorable man, Rigel. Her words will not change my opinion of you, but yes I think you should take her away.”
    Rigel nodded again and moved to go.
    “Oh, and Rigel, I am truly sorry to hear of your brother. The ocean is a cruel mistress.” The king didn’t bother with false hope, or wishes to see Nemus well again, as he turned his attention once more to the project before him.
     
     
     

Chapter Seven
     
    “Hello there, Mr. Sensitive, feeling better?” Lyra glanced up when Rigel entered, expecting him to be alone. He wasn’t. Behind Rigel stood two very tall, very brooding men. By the look of them they were twins, by the size of them they were formidable, by the expressions on their face they were not amused by her words.
    “Lyra,” Rigel stated, his tone dark, “do you remember my brothers? They were there when we pulled you from the ocean.” He pointed his thumb over one shoulder without looking. “This is Demon.” He pointed at the other. “And Brutus.”
    Lyra forced herself to stand from the low couch. “Forgive me, but no, I don’t. Those first moments were a big of a blur.” Even as she said it, she got a flash of silver eyes in the water and a large black tail shining in a hint of light coming from inside the crystal caves where they entered Altaran.
    Brutus arched a brow and she realized she’d been staring at his face. Without preamble he said, “There is no need to cast your eyes at me, my lady. I am not interested in a wife.”
    “I—” she gasped. Rigel stiffened. “But, I wasn’t… I, ah…”
    Suddenly Demon and Brutus began to laugh. Their expressions changed to instant boyish amusement. They both slapped Rigel on the back as they walked into his home. Without waiting to be asked, they went toward the kitchen to help themselves to food. There wasn’t much, but that didn’t stop their searching.
    “Funny,” Lyra mumbled sarcastically.
    The twins laughed between themselves, talking in a half-language only they seemed to understand. Rigel sat beside Lyra on the couch.
    “My words earlier were not meant to be insulting,” Lyra said quietly. She felt her body pull towards him. All doubts and fears and anger seemed to melt out of her when he was near, erasing her unease and filling her with something else, something much deeper than she wanted to look into.
    She couldn’t look at him as she stared forward. She felt the presence of his brothers behind them.   A hand brushed her thigh, a light gesture but one that held her complete attention. Nerves bundled in her stomach and she had the distinct impression of being fifteen again about to be asked by an older boy to the prom. The nerves, the excitement, the girlish tingle, they all welled insider her and her breath caught in her throat, even as he heart hammered in her chest.
    Lyra tried to think of all the things she should, the logical things that would stop this strangeness inside her body. Why did it hit her now? All of a sudden on such an ordinary day on Altaran—as ordinary as a day under the ocean in a cursed city could be. In a room filled with the laughter Rigel’s jesting brothers?
    Rigel’s finger slid over hers, breaking through the residual numbness left over from her dive down. She hadn’t noticed it before, yet here she was, feeling his