Heart Of Atlantis

better.”
    Ven pounded his brother on the back. “No worries. Just wander on down to the warrior training grounds and I’ll kick your ass in a sparring match.”
    Justice grinned. “We will knock that kingly arrogance out of you in no time, brother.”
    The queen took her husband’s arm and pretended to glare at them all. “You can knock each other’s heads together later, boys. We have a coronation party to attend.”
    She, Conlan, and the baby made their way through the room, chatting and laughing and making each person in their conversational orbit feel special.
    “It’s a gift,” Quinn said, slipping her hand into Alaric’s and indicating her sister. “They make the royalty thing look easy, don’t they?”
    “Long may they reign,” he replied. “Conlan suggested I might want to sit at the high table at dinner and serve in an ambassadorial capacity.”
    She burst out laughing. “Has he
met
you?”
    “I wondered the same thing,” Alaric said dryly. “I’m not exactly the most tactful or political person.”
    “Suck it up, buttercup,” she whispered, still laughing, as the first of many of the Atlanteans and foreign guests came up to talk to them, barring them from escaping for a very long time.

    Quinn escaped to a dark corner of the corridor that led to the banquet hall, and she sat down on a bench and immediately removed her shoes, sighing in blissful gratitude and relief. An icy breeze caressed her bare legs, and she smiled.
    “I can fight battles on little sleep, march for hours on little food, and survive beatings and worse, but I have to admit I’ve met my match in these instruments of torture Riley made me wear,” she said to the seemingly empty corridor.
    Alaric immediately materialized, his eyes glowing hot emerald green. “You sensed my presence.”
    “I will always be able to sense your presence, especially now that we’re soul-melded,” she said, trying not to pounce on him. He was just so unbearably gorgeous in his ceremonial attire, and she had the privilege of knowing what he looked like underneath the silk and velvet. “So you can quit trying to sneak up on me.”
    “I never sneak,” he said, joining her on the bench with his usual fluid grace. “I was merely trying to escape the party with some measure of subtlety, rather than tossing energy spheres at the Chinese ambassador when he spoke rudely to his wife.”
    “You understand Chinese?”
    He raised an eyebrow. “I speak all languages. It is one of the gifts that comes with the duties of Poseidon’s high priest.”
    “About that,” Quinn began, hesitantly. “If you’ve changed your mind and want to keep your job—”
    He lifted her chin with one finger and proceeded to devour her mouth with searing kisses that tasted like wine and spice and Alaric. She leaned into him and put her arms around his neck, not even caring that somebody could walk down the hall at any minute.
    “I want to say I’ll race you to our rooms, but my feet hurt too much,” she admitted, when she finally pulled away.
    He promptly lifted her feet into his lap and massaged them, adding tiny bursts of healing energy, so she was soon moaning in pleasure and relief.
    “I’ll give you five minutes to cut that out,” she said, leaning her head back against the wall.
    “I have a better idea,” he said. He scooped her up into his arms and strode off down the corridor, in the direction opposite to the banquet hall.
    “My shoes,” she protested. “You left my shoes.”
    “You hate the shoes, why would you care?” Alaric sounded honestly puzzled. “Is this to be like the cake conversation?”
    “What cake conversation . . . Oh. That cake conversation. No, I gave up on that one after the Elvis bit,” she said, laughing in spite of herself.
    “That,” he said decisively, “is entirely too bad.”
    He turned into an open doorway, still carrying Quinn, and she was shocked to see that the room was full.
    “Put me down,” she hissed at him, but he ignored her and strode to the front of the room, still carrying her, while everyone watched and grinned at them. Quinn’s face burned so hot she probably could have lit up all of Atlantis.
    “Where are they?” Alaric called out, and just then a door opened in the near wall and Conlan and Riley stepped through into the room.
    “We’re here,” Conlan said. “Are you ready?”
    Alaric finally released Quinn so she could stand on her own two—bare—feet, and she blinked. “Ready for