Total pages in book: 46
Estimated words: 43197 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 216(@200wpm)___ 173(@250wpm)___ 144(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 43197 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 216(@200wpm)___ 173(@250wpm)___ 144(@300wpm)
“Kailar,” he said, holding out a hand to me in appeal.
“No,” I said. “You don’t get to do that. My stepmother has a saying that seems to fit this occasion. ‘You made your bed. Now you can lie in it.’”
He glared at me, his face bright red. Then he turned on his heel and stormed out of the room. Keion gave me a sad look and trailed after him.
“One more thing, Alyx, I shouted after him. “Take this thought with you. I was a child when you gave me away. I’m an adult now and fucking royalty at that.” I was on a roll. “And the next time you or your brother try to use compulsion on me, please remember that Adan and I are connected as twins. Try to fucking compel me again to forget what asses the both of you are, and I can promise you that you’ll be sorry. It’ll take more than Atlantean magic to pull that shit off.”
Neither Alyx nor Keion ever so much as glanced back at me.
Well, it was all bravado, really. I just hoped they didn’t know it. I really did need my mouth to stop moving and words needed to stop escaping. Alyx was my mate. No matter how angry I was at him the pull to go to him…to melt into his arms…was almost too great for me to overcome. I actually breathed a sigh of relief now that he had exited the room. Damn, but our bond was fucking strong. As angry and hurt as I was, I wanted to run after him. I could feel his hurt and rage seething inside him, and I wanted—no I needed to go to him and soothe him.
But I needed strength more. So instead, I climbed up on a chair and climbed and hoisted my way over into the huge aquarium in Alyx’s bedroom that obviously linked all the rooms together. There was an opening at the top of each of them above the water levels, so that must have been there for a reason. I had to admit, the room-linking aquarium had been thoughtful of Alyx when designed the house. I’d never tell him, but it was.
Then again, as an Atlantean he needed the water too. He must miss it terribly.
Instead of focusing on my pain, I splashed around in the water and glorified in the strength it caused to flow through me. Within minutes, gills popped out on my body, and a tail too, where my legs had been. Rather than being shocked by it, I reveled in it. I swam down to the bottom of the tank and rested there among the plants and the rocks. My eyes were open, but they’d just as soon be closed. All my physical surroundings were blocked out as I focused solely on seeking out Adan. Our link as twin brothers was strong; our link couldn’t be blocked—no matter what dark force was out there trying to separate us and keep us apart.
As I floated peacefully at the bottom of the tank, I allowed my mind to probe through all the darkness that had been previously locked inside my brain, keeping my true identity and my memories tucked away in the shadows.
Soon they all came back to me, one by one. All the fucking lies we’d been told finally revealed themselves. My childhood. Our mother abandoning us, choosing true evil over what should have been love for her husband and family. Alyx and Keion becoming our guardians, and our soulmates. Sending us away again…
No doubt, it had been Adan who had rescued me at Tybee—Adan who had been taken prisoner when it should have been me. He’d saved my life at the risk of his own…and I hadn’t even known who he was at that time.
I felt my fury building and a bloodcurdling scream ripped from my lips, the pitch so high that no human and most animals wouldn’t be able to detect it. My brother, however, would hear it through our psychic link. I could follow that link directly to him. Our bodies might not be able to connect, but our minds could. It wasn’t long before I heard his faint response.
I went to him, traveling in my mind out of the safety of that aquarium, across the country and through the depths of the Atlantic, all the way to the deepest and darkest part of the ocean. All the way to the Sea Witch’s lair.
It took a moment for me to be able to see in those murky depths. I waited quietly nearby, while my eyes adjusted to the stygian darkness. I could feel the heavy tons of water pressing down on me—pressure that would have crushed me if I’d been human. And if I’d really been there physically.
The bones of the poor, unlucky sailors who had been lured to their watery grave by the Sirens’ call lay scattered all over the ocean floor that surrounded the cave of the Sea Witch, Beathag. My own mother who had once nurtured me and held me to her breast—now a cruel and terrible witch who led the siren sisterhood.