Cute, Caddoc thought, with promise of becoming a real beauty in a century or two.
“What are you doing here?” Morwena asked suspiciously.
“Poseidon has forgiven me. I'm a prince of the blood. I have every right toâ”
“Not if it were up to me!” Morwena's blue eyes narrowed. “You may have wormed your way back into Father's graces, but everyone knows what you did. You'll find small welcome in the city and less from the rest of your family.”
“The twins? Bloodthirsty bullies, the both of them.” He smiled at the child and crouched down to peer into her face. “And where is your mother? I hear she'd not been feeling well.”
“Mama threw up.”
“Sshh, Danu,” Morwena said. “Don't talk to him.”
Caddoc laid a hand on Danu's curly blond head. “Pay no attention to her. I'm your Uncle Caddoc. I'm sorry your mother's ill. Maybe she ate something that didn't agree with her.”
“Daddy says there's a baby in her tummy.” Danu giggled. “That's silly.”
“A baby. Well, congratulations are in order. Pass on my good wishes to Morgan and the mother-to-be, sister.”
Morwena started to walk away, but he took hold of the child's shoulder. “Don't hurry off. Danu and I are just getting to know each other.”
The next thing Caddoc knew, he was lifted and smashed down against a wall. Groggily, he raised his head, but before he could rise, his brother Orion seized him by the throat and pinned him to the floor, holding him there with one sandal-clad foot.
“Don't ever speak to Danu or Morwena again,” Orion said. “If you do, I'll twist off your head and use it as a fishing weight.” He twisted to look at his sister. “Are you all right? Did he touch you?”
“No. He didn't. We're fine.”
Orion removed his foot and stepped back. “Don't move,” he warned, raising one finger.
Danu's eyes widened, and the child began to whimper.
“You're scaring her,” Morwena said. “It's all right, baby. They're just playing.”
“It's not a nice game,” Danu said.
Caddoc felt the rush of blood to his face and throat. He wanted to lunge at Orion and run his sword through him. He wanted to kill all three of them, but his muscles wouldn't work. He lay there, mortified, unable to move.
His brother turned away from him, ignoring him, letting him know that he considered him no threat at all. “Why did you bring her here?” he asked Morwena. “This part of the palace is too isolated to be safe for either of you. You don't know what slime you might slip on.”
Morwena picked up Danu. “We were on our way to the archery range. I thought it would be a shortcut. I didn't expect to meet Caddoc.”
“What if it was Tora? You have to use caution. Halimeda is still out there.”
“I can take care of myself,” she said.
“And Danu?”
“He didn't hurt us. He was just being Caddoc.”
“Come. I'll see you to the archery court.” Orion glared at him once more. “Remember what I said. Stay away from them. Stay away from Morgan and Princess Rhiannon.”
“Your word is not law here,” Caddoc spat. “Poseidon still rules in Atlantis.”
“He does,” Orion agreed. “But if you're dead, and the morning tide washes your body away, it won't matter to you who is king. You'll still be fish bait.”
CHAPTER 9
“
W
e should have killed Caddoc,” Alexandros draped on e arm over Orion's shoulder. “We'll only have to do it later.”
“In cold blood?” Orion grimaced. “I'm a soldier, not an executioner.”
“Sometimes, you have to be both.”
“I hope not.” They'd escorted their sister and niece to the archery range on the palace grounds and left them in the care of several of the king's guards. Their brother Marcos and some of his friends had been practicing their skill with the bow, accompanied by a group of young noblemen and women, and Orion had asked Marcos to watch over the two, much to Morwena's annoyance. Marcos was only fourteen, but he'd proved his skill with a bow and his courage. Orion was certain that Morwena and Danu would be safe enough from Caddoc's scheming today.
“I don't like the way he looks at Morwena,” Alexandros muttered, stepping away and dropping his arm.
“Nor do I,” Orion agreed. “His mother's depravity runs hot in his veins, and she would swive a naiad if he took her fancy. But we could hardly do away with him in front of Danu for the crime of intimidation.”
“The kid's tougher than you give her credit for. She was with us at the old palace, wasn't she? She saw blood flow and good men die. And it was her wit and nerve that freed the dolphins and kept Halimeda's forces from killing Korinna and the children.”
“Still, she's a baby. There's no reason for her to see two of her uncles murder a third.”
Alexandros's mouth hardened. “Poor reason for letting that scum live.”
“We don't know he meant harm to them today.”
“He always means harm.” Two scouts passed by accompanied by a trio of harbor seals, and Alexandros smiled and greeted them in the old manner. “Tadeu. Moises. Seal folk. May the tides bring you substance.”
The mermen saluted and the seals made acknowledgment in their graceful manner, but only Moises spoke. He was a particularly dashing figure, and his voice was the sweet beguiling melody that the nobility of the mer people cultivated. “Prince Alexandros. Prince Orion. Swim safely.”
Alexandros waited until they were out of earshot before continuing the earlier conversation. “You're wrong about Caddoc,” he said to Orion. “I think he is dangerous.”
“He's too weak witted to be dangerous.” Orion gazed after the company of scouts. Tadeu and Moises were not the mermen's given names, of course, but ones assumed to make it easier for military service to the kingdom. Most of their names were impossible for Atlanteans to pronounce and harder to remember, following no known pattern.
Sjshsglee's brother was a scout, but Orion had never met him. He would have liked to ask if either of these men were kin and to offer his condolences, but the mer were a race apart. Dead was dead, and although they possessed a certain general sadness, it wasn't their custom to mourn lost individuals. Sjshsglee's brother, had Orion been able to locate him, would have been offended if he acknowledged his relationship with her or showed remorse at her tragic death.
Most Atlanteans believed that the mer were entirely narcissistic, lacking the emotional development to have deep feelings about others, even their families and friends. Orion had never believed that. He'd seen too many brave mermen and mermaids die to protect each other. Rather, he supposed, their attachment to their own kind was so deep and abiding that it was impossible to either express or talk about a personal loss with an Atlantean. Sjshsglee had been the exception, and he vowed to take personal vengeance on her murderers and the source, Melqart.
“I suppose they were here to report to Mikhail.”
Orion nodded. A relative newcomer to the court with a vaguely mysterious background, Lord Mikhail had risen quickly to a position of power under Poseidon. As the consort of Poseidon's sister, Princess Eudora, Mikhail could have lived a life of luxury without turning a hand, but he had quickly shown that he was a brilliant administrator. The king had rewarded his services with even higher offices, and recently Mikhail had assumed a command post in international security.
“I would have liked to question those scouts,” Alexandros said.
“And what would you have gotten?” Orion grinned. “Songs? Sarcasm?”
The good thing about the mer was their skill at covert actions. Who could suspect a cute and cuddly seal of spying on a commercial fishing fleet or an oil drilling operation? Even those who knew that mer folk spent part of their lives as seals and could readily cloak themselves in sealskin at will, could rarely tell a disguised mermaid or merman from an actual seal. By Hades' rotten cock, he couldn't say if the seals he'd just seen were real or transformed mermen.
The bad thing about the mer, as Alex knew all too well, was that the mer had no system of nobility and no organized government. They maintained a stoic independence that bordered on fanaticism, so much so that most harbored an all-abiding distaste for Atlantean royalty and the intricate system of administration that had worked so well for the kingdom since the beginning of time. As a rule, mer folks would form no alliance with Atlanteans that could be counted on and wished only to be left alone to sit on rocks, sing their haunting songs, and seduce humans for sexual pleasure.
The mer bore grudges for centuries, seemingly without reason. Many a ship had been lured to destruction and all hands drowned because of a vendetta by some scheming mermaid.
Lord Mikhail possessed the uncanny ability to convince the mer that cooperation with the Atlanteans, the naiads, nymphs, and other sea folk was in the best interest of all. The mermen that Mikhail recruited had proved faithful, so far, but they would answer to none but him.
“Are you listening to me?” Alexandros asked.
“Sorry, I was thinking aboutâ”
“About that woman?”
“No, about the mer.”
Alexandros shrugged. “It's a waste of time. They are a totally irrational race, worse even than humans. There's no understanding mer.”
“You're probably right.”
“I am, and I'm right about our half-brother Caddoc, as well.”
“I like him no better than you do,” Orion said. “But as evil as Halimeda was, she had the brains. Without his mother to think for him, Caddoc is an empty shell. Rotten and stinking, but without substance.”
“Father doesn't think so.”
“Poseidon's wisdom is clouded by his attachment to Halimeda.”
“Even after she tried to poison him?”
“He ordered her thrown into prison, instead of executing her,” Orion argued. “That tells me he still has feelings for her.”
“Which is a polite way of saying that he's ruled by his cock.”
“Father's more sentimental than you give him credit for.”
Alexandros shrugged, his expression conveying his skepticism.
“It can't be easy to order the death of a wife, even an unfaithful one, or to exile your own son.”
“All the same, I think Father will live to regret it.”
They crossed another garden complex where schools of blue-and-yellow spotted fish swirled in intricate patterns and entered the great columned portico that led to the smaller palace of their Aunt Eudora. This aunt, a favorite of Orion's, had a deep and abiding love for the sculpture and art of lost civilizations, both those of the earth and those beneath the sea. Her home was filled with such treasures, all carefully researched and catalogued. Scholars from many humanoid species came to study her collection. Lord Mikhail shared her passion for these treasures, a trait that had contributed to their attraction to each other.
Mikhail preferred to hold meetings of state in their private library, away from Poseidon's official gathering places. The majority of the staff and officials were trustworthy, but with so many with access to the public halls and rooms of court, security wasn't always as tight as the ruling family wished. Here, Mikhail and Eudora maintained their own palace guard, a company of hardened Atlantean commoners, mer folk, and highly training fighting dolphins. These veterans of many battles answered only to the princess and her consort, and had pledged their lives and honor to their service.
Orion and Alex had come prepared to report on their search for Melqart's horde and the murder of the two German tourists that had gone unreported. Soon after they'd left Elena sleeping in the boat, they had come upon a pack of the killers not far from the harbor. With Alexandros and a full patrol of armed Atlantean warriors, they had eliminated the shades. The fight had been fierce, and the price high. One of their own had been killed and two critically wounded. Never had Orion seen shades battle with such determination. Usually, when the tide turned against them, they would flee, but not this time. Not until the last monster had been destroyed had the struggle ended.
Both Orion and Alex were certain that the attacks would continue until Melqart, once again, sank into a state of torpor. Orion had seen that happen three times in his life and, each time, while the god of war slept, peace reigned, once for over three hundred years.
“We'd be foolish to believe that the outbreak is over, after your victory,” Lord Mikhail pronounced, when Orion had finished. “I received confirmation of yet another kill near Rhodes, a fisherman whose nets became entangled. He went into the water to try to free them and was cut to pieces. There wasn't enough of a body left for the other humans in the boat to retrieve. Hopefully, they will believe that the man was attacked by sharks.”
“It's rare for shades to kill in daylight, isn't it?” Lady Jalini put in.
“It is,” Orion agreed. “But not unheard of. Prince Morgan's daughter, Danu, was nearly devoured on a sunlit morning off the Maine coast. And I have no way of knowing when the German couple met their deaths. The horde is becoming bolder. Something has enraged Melqart.”
Faces around the table acknowledged the gravity of Orion's statement. War had raged for millennia between the Atlanteans and the Phoenician god of war, but incidents were generally isolated. This increased hostility could only mean danger for all who lived beneath the oceans. If the humans invaded the seas, it didn't matter if they came hunting sharks or shades. There was bound to be conflict between the kingdom and those who walked the earth.
“Do you believe that the disturbance of the shipwreck off Crete by humans could have set this off?” Lady Jalini asked. Orion turned his full attention to her. She was tiny and dainty, with a childlike voice, but her keen intellect commanded the respect of generals and princes alike.
“It hasn't helped,” Lady Athena answered gravely. “It's common knowledge that the ship is Phoenician and carried priests, sacrificial victims, and items sacred to the cult of Melqart. It was bound from Carthage to a temple, perhaps in Tyre, when it went down under a massive wave during a storm. It sank, rather than overturning, so that the treasures were not strewn across the sea floor. All aboard perished.”
“I remember that,” Poseidon said. “Wasn't there a curse involved?”
“Set and sealed with the deaths of three white bulls and a dozen virgin priestesses,” Lady Athena replied. “It's said that any who venture to that spot will die a particularly unpleasant death.”
“We've done what we can,” Lady Jalini explained. “The area around the ship is forbidden to Atlanteans. We've left the site untouched and made the usual attempt to hide it from curious humans, but another storm last winter exposed part of the hull. Now an expedition from an American university is excavating. Melqart can't be pleased about that.”
Alexandros rose. “As you say, Lady, he can't be pleased. But the mass killings began before the dives on the wreck began. Whatever his reasons, we can't wait any longer. We have to quell this before it escalates.”
“You're urging all-out war?” Lord Mikhail asked.
An older nobleman leaped to his feet. “Prince Alexandros is too quick to rush us into combat. I demand a public full vote in High Council!”
Poseidon brought the chamber to silence with an impatient gesture. “I've heard all I need to. Not a year has passed since Halimeda and her followers attempted a palace coup. I've little doubt that she's in league with Melqart. There's no time for committees and debate. If it's war they want, war they shall have!”
Queen Korinna laid a hand on the king's forearm. “Not yet, I beg you, husband. Wait but a little while. We can ready our warriors, but unless Atlantis itself is assaulted, no good can come of rushing into that which will mean certain death for so many of our people.”
“And so many humans,” Lady Jalini added.
Alexandros frowned. “When have humans ever cared about us?”
“Not all humans are our enemies,” Lady Athena replied. And then to the king, she said, “There is wisdom in what our good queen says, Majesty. Humans multiply much faster than Atlanteans. We cannot afford to lose loyal men and women unless there is no other option.”