Heart Of Atlantis

this story at this time,” he lied.
    “Oh, no, buddy, you can bet we’re going to hear this,” Quinn said, addressing him for the first time since walking into the room more than an hour earlier. “After what happened on that island today? You bet your sweet ass we’re going to listen.”
    “On the island?” Ven said, looking back and forth between Quinn and Alaric as if he were at a sporting match.
    “Sweet ass,” Justice repeated, grinning like a fool. “Oh, this is going to be good. We knew we liked her.”
    “I will strike both of your personalities dead,” Alaric told him in an ice-drenched voice.
    “Not with me in the room,” Keely said cheerfully. “I’m pretty good with a shotgun, and I always get my man, big boy, so why don’t you hush and I’ll tell this and get it over with?”
    “What is your source?” Quinn demanded. “Anything beyond your so-called touchy-feely crap?”
    “Quinn,” Riley chided her, but Keely just smiled. “It’s okay, I’m used to that. Although someone who is a verified
aknasha
shouldn’t be the first to throw the touchy-feely stone, but whatever. Yes, there is more. I read about it in a hidden set of scrolls, which somebody shoved deep into a niche in a wall behind a thousand-pound statue a very long time ago.”
    “Hidden scrolls?” Alaric was interested in spite of himself. “Behind which statue?”
    “The one of Poseidon, ah, enjoying himself. With himself,” Keely said, blushing scarlet.
    Alaric nodded. “Ah, yes. The Elders must have had a sense of humor, back then.”
    “Or the statue was later moved in front of the niche, who cares, get on with it,” Ven urged.
    “It was actually a narrative history sealed inside a case with a copy of a proclamation,” Keely said. “The librarians verified my translation, and they’re making a copy for you, Alaric, and another for the Elders and—”
    “What did it say?” Quinn cut in, unable to bear it for one moment longer.
    Keely blinked and then grinned. “Sorry. Scientist’s curse, we blather on. Anyway, here’s the headline: after Nereus almost destroyed Atlantis and everyone in it, the Elders proclaimed, on behalf of Poseidon, that every high priest from that time on must swear a vow of celibacy, in order to decrease their power. That way, nobody could ever be as powerful as Nereus again and thereby endanger Atlantis.”
    Everybody in the room started talking at once, but Alaric ignored them all and stared steadily at Quinn. She looked back at him, and she didn’t look happy, either.
    “So it’s all a lie,” Conlan said. “You don’t need to keep to that stupid vow.”
    “I feel like we should not be discussing such personal matters about Alaric,” Riley said, and Alaric nodded at the princess, appreciating that at least one person respected his privacy.
    Quinn’s voice cut through the general chatter. “It doesn’t matter. What a few scrolls might say, what Keely might have felt—none of it matters. This was how long ago?”
    “Nereus was high priest around eight thousand years ago, give or take,” Conlan said.
    “Exactly. Even if that’s true, your insane dictator of a sea god has had thousands of years to turn it into a real rule. There is every likelihood—and a pretty damn good probability, I’d say—that breaking the vow today does
exactly
what the Elders say it does. Alaric would lose his magic and his ability to protect you just when you need him most.”
    Alaric sat silent as the woman he loved stated his own innermost thoughts. Until Poseidon said otherwise, he was forced to believe the truth as the Elders had told it. And Poseidon—his “insane dictator of a sea god”—wasn’t talking.
    “Thank you all for your impassioned analysis of my sex life,” he finally said, ice coating every syllable. “Now I would ask that we get back to discussing how to capture or kill this Ptolemy impostor and retrieve Poseidon’s Pride before, all the gods forbid, Anubisa gets her undead hands on it.”
    The room subsided into silence and general noises of agreement.
    Riley stood up and took her sister’s hand. “No. Not tonight. Quinn has been through too much in too short of a time, and she needs a good night’s sleep. We can discuss battle plans, and which of us are off to put our lives in danger this time, in the morning over a good breakfast.”
    Alaric rose and bowed to Riley, but he felt the wildness growing within him at the thought that anyone, even her sister,