Heart Of Atlantis

challenge Poseidon, if it came to it.”
    “So you just want them to throw down right here?” Riley’s face turned hot pink. “I know this is a crisis, but after all those years of celibacy, I doubt Alaric wants to strip down in the middle of a field and—”
    “No,” Alaric shouted. “No, no, no. We are not having this discussion. Quinn is gone, in any event. The portal abducted her, but even if she were here, we
would not be having this discussion
.”
    Ven made a choking noise, like he was strangling on his own tongue, and Alaric whipped an ice ball right at his head, then immediately regretted it, as calling to even that tiny bit of water magic increased the strain on his overtaxed powers.
    “Where is my sister?” Riley demanded, and little Prince Aidan started crying.
    Alaric closed his eyes and tried to pray for patience, but he realized that he was done with praying to any gods. Poseidon could have his damn temple, just as soon as Alaric saved the people of Atlantis from this current disaster. Atlantis would rise, and he and Quinn would head to a beach. Or maybe mountains, far, far from any ocean.
    Maybe the Alps.
    “Alaric? Did you hear me?”
    Alaric opened his eyes to find Keely staring up at him. He didn’t have the strength to be angry at her.
    “He can’t risk it,” Conlan said. “Even if Quinn were here. The Elders say the loss of celibacy is the end of power. If there’s even a chance that they’re right—the Trident would destabilize and we’d lose the dome and everyone in Atlantis. It’s not a chance we can take.”
    Alaric closed his eyes again, as rage and humiliation battled for supremacy inside him. He’d be better off if he just let the damn dome collapse.
    A piercing whistle interrupted his misery, and when he opened his eyes, everyone was staring at Erin.
    “Alaric, you don’t have to have sex to reach the soul-meld. If we can find Quinn, and she agrees, you can soul-meld and expand your power without risking the anti-celibacy oath-breaking thing,” she said, her cheeks flaming red.
    “I cannot believe everyone in Atlantis is discussing my sex life,” Alaric said from between clenched teeth.
    “Actually, we’re discussing your lack of sex life, dude,” Ven pointed out.
    “If you call me dude again, I will drop the dome on your empty head.”
    “Can he do that?” the young warrior asked.
    “Silence,” Marcus said, staring at the dome, where the warm light of magically created dawn highlighted the water trickling down, now in a small but steady stream.
    Alaric tuned them all out and searched for the still, cold center of his being, where he retreated when there was no choice but blood, battle, or death. He reached a conclusion so devastating that it pushed everything else out of his mind.
    “Here’s the situation,” Alaric finally said, pretending to be calm, as if the lives of all of his people were not at stake. “Even drawing upon the magical reserves of everyone in Atlantis, I am not quite powerful enough to hold the increasingly unstable Trident and also support the dome. We need Poseidon’s Pride, we need to return it to the Trident, and Atlantis must rise. However, there is no one else who is strong enough to retrieve the gem without being burned to ash by its power. So, as I see it, we have two choices. First, I can do nothing but what I’m currently able to do, and Atlantis will slowly be destroyed as the leaks increase and my magic is depleted. Everyone dies.”
    He took a breath and continued. “Second option: I can somehow find Quinn and attempt the soul-meld, if she agrees, and hope that the story of Nereus is true and it gives me enough power to solve these problems. The issue there is that I’ll be channeling my magic at a very long distance, if the portal even takes me to her, which will further weaken me. And if the story of Nereus is false, everyone dies.”
    He looked around at the people he could finally admit he loved. His family. He would willingly die for them. And he probably would. Soon.
    “Bye-bye, Alaric,” Eleni said, smiling a sweet, gap-toothed smile.
    Everyone stared at her. The child had the ability to see a short distance into the future, so of course she must see that she would be leaving through the portal. He wondered, though, why she’d named him in particular.
    The portal flashed into existence before anyone could venture an opinion, and again that deep male voice called out to them. “You need?”
    “Wait,”