Heart Of Atlantis

sex,” he said doubtfully, but she couldn’t really read his expression while he was the Atlantean equivalent of the Human Torch.
    She blinked. “Are you saying it
wasn’t
great sex?”
    “It was undoubtedly the most spectacular sex in the history of the planet, but I think we have other things to discuss right now.” He raised his arms in the air and actual sparks flew off his skin in an arc of iridescent shimmer.
    She whistled, long and low. “That’s actually really freaking cool, but I’m guessing you don’t want to hear that right now?”
    “You guess right,” he said.
    “Maybe we should ask for help?”
    “Who would we ask?” He shrugged and more sparks flew. “People generally come to
me
with magical problems.”
    He stood up and walked toward her, and she stared at him, utterly fascinated in spite of everything. It really was Alaric, but he was incandescent with pure, shining light. He reached out as if to touch her, but she backed away from him.
    “No way, buddy. Don’t touch me until we figure this out. You might electrocute me, which would totally ruin my day. Or, worse, it would send some kind of energy beam through me like when you, um, healed me earlier, and I’m not going to try making love to a glowing light stick just yet.”
    He laughed, and the resonant sensuality of it sent shivers down her spine.
    “Speaking of glowing light sticks,” he said, gesturing.
    She couldn’t believe it. He was naked, a fact she’d tried to overlook, what with the glowing, and his very erect penis was glowing, too. It was actually kind of cool, as far as magic went, and she suddenly threw caution to the Atlantean winds, leaned forward, and licked the tip of his jutting erection, just for the fun of watching his response.
    He arched his back and groaned, and then he quickly stepped away. “The sensation is far too intense like this. I don’t think I could bear it,” he said.
    Naturally, that was like laying down a challenge, so she jumped out of bed, knelt at his feet, and took as much as she could of his erection into her mouth. He yelled hoarsely and then pulled away from her, and a stream of shining semen arced through the air.
    “Now that,” she said, pointing, “is kind of astonishing. Those sparkly vampires in the kids’ movies have nothing on you.”
    He closed his eyes and took deep breaths, and Quinn was fascinated by the swirls and galaxies of lights dancing over his skin. It was as if constellations had decided to take up residence on his body. She’d never seen anything like it, ever.
    When he finally opened his eyes, she was astonished to see that the constellations of stars had spread to his eyes, which glowed hot emerald green and silver.
    “I don’t know about movies,
mi amara
, but what effect might this have on our children?”
    She sat down so abruptly that she missed the bed and landed on the cold floor, on her naked butt. Scrambling up, she ran to the bathroom and closed and locked the door, and then wrapped herself in a towel and sat on yet another edge of yet another tub. The parallels to her situation the day before didn’t escape her.
    So. Here she was. Ex–rebel leader, current soul-melded girlfriend to the high priest of Atlantis, and possibly pregnant with a sparkling half-Atlantean baby. She suddenly wanted to throw up again, which made her think of morning sickness, which made it worse.
    “You can’t be pregnant now, Quinn,” Alaric said from the other side of the door. “We must petition Poseidon to allow us to have children.”
    She glared at the door. “What about free will?”
    “I think the light effect is fading, but the magical high is not,” he said, ignoring her question. “I do not wish to create a distraction when Atlantis breaks the surface of the waves.”
    “What time is it? Shouldn’t we be near the surface by now?” She pulled on a robe and flung open the door. “Did I sleep through the whole thing?”
    Alaric was still glowing but not as much. Or maybe that was simply wishful thinking. The first radiance of magically created dawn was beginning to shine through his windows, and a quick glance out showed her that the tower of light from the temple was still going strong.
    “We are still rising,” Alaric said. “I can feel it.”
    She took a deep breath and walked over to him, wanting to put her arms around him—her glowing darling—but not quite ready to be incinerated. “We’ll figure it out. Hey, we can always work it