Vampire in Atlantis

their bottoms? Please, Conlan, oh future king, tell me how your lineage managed to lose the only means to release us. ”
    Daniel suddenly shot up off the ground and flew straight up into the air and vanished. Serai stared after him, not understanding why he would leave her at such a time.
    Had she sounded like such a shrew that he needed to escape?
    Before her mind could circle around that unpleasant idea, he was back, dropping silently out of the sky and landing lightly next to Serai. He put an arm around her shoulders and kissed the top of her head.
    “Sorry. Thought I heard something. It was only an animal.” He grinned at her. “You were doing so well on your own, I knew you wouldn’t mind.”
    She impulsively rose on her toes and kissed him. “Thank you.”
    When she turned, Conlan was practically shaking with repressed energy. “You cannot be involved with a vampire,” he said. “Poseidon will never allow it.”
    “Oh, like Atlanteans can never wed a human? Hypocrisy, thy name is Conlan.”
    Ven wandered off a few paces and sat on a boulder. “She has a point. Also, this isn’t a vampire. This is Daniel. Daniel who has saved our lives—who has saved many Atlantean lives—on more than one occasion.”
    “Daniel is a vampire ,” Conlan pointed out through clenched teeth. “She is a princess of ancient Atlantis, a woman with the pure blood of the ruling elders, fit to one day be queen—”
    “If you say anything at all that has to do with breeding stock, I will blast you with energy spheres until you cry for your mother’s teat,” Serai said sweetly.
    “Speaking of blasting, I am standing right here,” Daniel said, sounding surprisingly cheerful. “If you want to debate my worthiness to be with Serai, you can talk directly to me.”
    “You are not a part of this conversation,” Conlan growled.
    “Actually, he is, since he helped relieve me of the unfortunate burden of my virginity not an hour ago,” Serai said, taking a small and perhaps petty joy in telling Conlan about it.
    Ven whistled again, but Conlan stumbled back a few paces as if she’d stabbed him. He speared Daniel with a hot glare that would have killed him had it been a dagger.
    “I will murder you with my bare hands,” Conlan told Daniel, fury all but radiating off his skin. “I will—”
    “You will do nothing at all, as you have no right to be angry, or defensive, or hostile over this news,” Serai interrupted. “However, it will be interesting to tell High Princess Riley of your reaction.”
    “I spent centuries thinking my duty would be to protect you,” Conlan finally said. “I don’t . . . I don’t know how to give that up, especially to think of one of our most cherished citizens of ancient times giving herself to a man with no soul.”
    Daniel made a small noise, as if he’d been struck, but she couldn’t look at him. Not yet.
    Words never spoken hung heavy in the air between she and Conlan, the maiden-no-longer and the prince who had scorned her. There had never been love, but between them they had hurt pride in gracious plenty.
    The realization stabbed at Serai’s heart, and she knew she had to let her anger go. At least until they recovered the Emperor and rescued the maidens. “This is unspeakable of us, Conlan,” she said softly. “I apologize for the part my wounded pride has played in this conflict. Those women depend on us, and every minute we spend in this foolish debate is perhaps another minute less that they have to survive.”
    Conlan hesitated, and then he bowed to her, more deeply than he had before. “Of course you’re right, and you shame me with your graciousness, Princess.”
    She shook her head. “Princess no longer, please. Just Serai. Now we have to get moving.”
    Daniel swung his backpack over one shoulder, but then stopped. “You didn’t mention Jack. Is he okay? Did Alaric find a way to help him?”
    Conlan glanced at Ven, who shrugged. “Alaric did not return to Atlantis, and certainly not with Jack. We don’t even know if Poseidon will allow shape-shifters in Atlantis, so one of our warriors who married a panther shifter has not brought her to visit yet. Why? What happened to Jack?”
    Daniel quickly told them what had happened, and Conlan and Ven’s faces grew darker with every word.
    “We have to find them,” Conlan said. “Alaric may be essential to saving the maidens. Horace knows the stasis pods, but only Alaric has the caliber of magic to handle a