Warriors of Poseidon 05 - Atlantis Redeemed Read Free Page A

doesn’t need to put herself in any more danger, especially now,” Alexios muttered, a look of grim resignation on his face. “But I may as well spit into the wind as tell her that.”
    Almost as if on cue, the door opened and Grace walked in, accompanied by Conlan’s new bride and infant son, High Princess Riley and Prince Aidan.
    Ven started laughing. “Busted! It’s like they have radar.”
    Conlan swiftly crossed to his wife, who handed him the baby. The intense emotion on Conlan and Riley’s faces as they gazed at each other and then at the child stirred something dry and barren deep inside Brennan. He filed the sensation away to consider later. A curiosity, no more.
    Riley suddenly looked up and cast a startled glance at Brennan. “Brennan? Was that you?”
    He bowed. “I beg your pardon, my lady?”
    She shook her head, sunshine-gold hair flying. “No . . . It’s nothing, I guess,” she said, her brows drawing together. “I thought . . . No. Nothing.” She laughed. “Being aknasha and a new mother certainly is interesting. Not only can I pick up emotions from everyone around me, but I’ve got an overload of my own to deal with. It makes my mind play tricks on me.”
    Brennan raised an eyebrow, but she didn’t elaborate. He briefly wondered if her emotional empathy had sensed some emotion hidden deep down in his psyche, but he had to discard the idea as impossible. Although there had been that one time when Riley’s sister Quinn, an even more powerful aknasha, had claimed to feel buried emotion from him . . . But he’d doubted Quinn’s claim then, and he doubted it now. Poseidon’s curses were not so easily broken. He’d spent many lifetimes coming to that realization.
    Grace, a study in lean elegance with her swimmer’s body, honey-gold skin, and long, dark hair, crossed the room to Alexios, whose entire face lit up at the sight of her. She leaned into him for a moment, then took a position against the wall next to him and flashed a saucy grin at Conlan Atlantis Redeemed – Warriors of Poseidon 05
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    and Ven. “So, boys. What’s up?”
    Alexios looked simultaneously chagrined and amused. “You probably shouldn’t call the high prince and his brother ‘boys,’” he muttered.
    Ven laughed. “Please. She’s fine. Great, even. Trust me, it’s way better than ‘pigheaded fool,’
    which is what I got from Erin this morning before I’d even gotten out of bed. Seems like my suggestion I go along on her trip to Seattle to visit her friends was ‘being overprotective.’ It’s not like she nearly got killed by a traitor in that witch’s coven or anything.” His tone was light, but Brennan noticed that Ven’s hands clenched into fists at his sides at the memory of Erin’s brushes with death.
    Riley shook her head at Ven. “You should know better by now. She is a very powerful witch and needs to work with others in her circle to refine her control over the Wilding magic. If you want to go along as the man she loves, that’s one thing. But as the big, tough guy who can protect the helpless little woman? Not so much.”
    Ven snorted. “Women.” But then his eyes widened, and he jumped up out of his chair. “Maybe I’ll just go help her pack. Do we have this mission resolved? Alexios and Grace are heading to Yellowstone to see what they can find out, protect the wolves, so on and so forth?”
    “Yes, it is resolved. Alexios and Grace and I will go to Yellowstone,” Brennan said firmly, leaving no room for them to doubt his resolve. “There is also the matter of the final missing gems from the Trident. We must discover where the tourmaline, aquamarine, and amethyst have been hidden and retrieve them, or Atlantis cannot rise.”
    “I love the gem names,” Riley said. “Poseidon’s Pride, the Emperor, and the Siren. Has Alaric figured out which is which yet?”
    “Not yet,” Conlan said, holding his son to his shoulder and patting the infant’s back. A resounding