had survived.”
“And you did not bother to look either.”
“When the All-Council released you, you could have betrayed them. Not us.”
“I was entirely out of my head by the time the All-Council finally released me, Gailen. They promised the torture would stop if only I would kill the warrior responsible for my imprisonment. And so I came to kill the warrior responsible.”
“You are responsible,” Gailen snapped. “King Kadir did not ask you to storm the prison. And if we had known, Zoan would have done anything to free you.”
“Yes, my twin seed.” Roa rolled his eyes. “Do you know Zoan never wanted to leave Siyokoy? But because I wanted a more glorious future for our race, he tagged along.”
“And now he has his own queen.”
“Does he?” Roa looked irritated. “And after he swore to die without ever being a father in penance for failing his own blood. His promises do not last.”
“It is not his fault. It is the soul mate bond.”
“The twin seed bond is at least as strong.”
“If it was, then you would know how bad he felt and how much regret he still has.”
“And yet, that did not help me during the long year I was tortured.” Roa’s eyes opened a little too wide again and he slashed his trident in Gailen’s face. “His regret did not save me one single instant of agony. I experienced it all.”
Gailen floated back to a safer distance. He did not want to start a pointless altercation with this unstable male when the real fight was about to begin. “What do you want Zoan to do? He cannot reverse the ocean of time. None of us can.”
“And that answer gives no satisfaction either.” Roa stared at the trunk he had sliced in half. His crazy eyes glinted. “I am sure you carry the same thoughts about the warriors who destroyed your thumbs.”
Gailen’s hand tightened on his trident. One thumb was almost able to curve around the long rod. “That is different.”
“Oh, yes. It is different. Your injury was a momentary pain that led to a long disability. My torture was a vast agony from which my visible scars may have healed, but perhaps my inner scars never will.”
Gailen did not want to empathize with this dangerous warrior who had stolen into Atlantis and betrayed them.
But a part of him could not help but sympathize with the broken mer.
And his sympathy was the reason he so easily made friends with warriors who would later betray him.
He hardened again. “Why are you here?”
“Because Kadir invited all the kings.” The warrior smiled crazily and opened his arms. “And you are looking at the king of Laot. Meet my queen, Jasleen.” He pointed below the dais.
A warrior—no, a female swam alone beneath the city. Her dim soul was almost invisible as she ascended the Life Tree stalk, passed the dais, and flew above the castles.
Truly, her soul was impossibly weak. She must be even less able to access her powers than Starr.
Her face was viciously scarred, and her eyes were…they were not closed. No, they were gone.
“She is injured,” Gailen murmured, because it was not often he saw anyone with such deep weapon marks.
“I blinded her to keep her with me.”
“What?” Gailen rotated his trident on Roa. “How could you? Your soul mate?”
The crazed king laughed. “You thought I was serious? Always so credible, Gailen. I could tell you anything.”
His anger flared. “I should know better than to listen to you.”
“My queen understands me.” Roa tucked his trident against an elbow and opened his arms.
His queen veered away from him and soared into the empty area before the king’s castle.
Roa lowered his arms. His smile fled.
“She denies you,” Gailen noted, not sure whether he should feel sorry for Roa or gloat.
“No.” Roa scanned the ocean. “She protects me.”
“She rejects your arms.”
“I do not contain her. Like me, she knows what it is to be imprisoned and tortured. We are both more comfortable handling dangers on our own.”
“How can I believe you?”
“Why do I care?” Roa popped his trident from the slack position at his elbow into his hands. “Her eyes may be gone, but her sense of danger is more finely tuned than mine. Invaders have breached your city.”
Gailen’s heart kicked as he rotated in the water, his trident out. “The patrol has not sounded an alarm.”
“Then these invaders have snuck past them.” Roa studied the movement of his queen. He looked down the stalk again. “There.”
A group gathered beneath the Life Tree with a long,