Warriors of Poseidon 01 - Atlantis Rising

Drakos with one slippered foot. "Then I will teach your general how to play."

Chapter 21
    Riley planted one hand on her hip, the other still supporting Quinn, and stared up at the walking mountain of muscle who was barring her path. "Look, Bastien, I appreciate your loyalty to Conlan. Really I do. But Brennan already let us go, and I need to get my sister to a doctor."
     
    A trace of warm sympathy crossed Bastien's handsome face, but he shook his head and folded his arms across his enormous chest. "I am sorry, Lady Riley, but I am unable to allow you to pass."
     
    Riley heard a sharp snick sound, and suddenly a lethal-looking knife blade was pressed up against Bastien's neck. And Quinn was the one holding the nonpointy end of it.
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    Riley gasped, but Bastien merely sighed, as if he were totally unconcerned with the six inches or so of steel pointing at his throat.
     
    Quinn moved away from Riley and pushed her a little way back with the arm not holding the knife. "Here's the deal, buddy. You let me and my sister go, or I'll slice your carotid artery into little pieces before you can say 'not-so-jolly giant.'"
     
    Bastien actually smiled. "I am unsurprised that you would have the courage of a warrior five times your size, small one. Your sister's blood is strong in you. Were you suckled with tiger's milk?"
     
    Riley snapped out of her shock and grabbed her sister's arm. "Quinn, stop! These men are… well, they… they're the good guys."
     
    Quinn turned to look Riley in the eye, hand holding the knife never wavering. "Riley, there are things here you don't understand. Those men who were dead—they were—"
     
    "They were shapeshifters and Atlantean warriors," Conlan said, stepping onto the path next to Riley. "What will be interesting to learn is how you came to be lying, injured, in the midst of them."
     
    Brennan silently appeared beside Quinn. "I sensed that you had finished the mortus desicana, and that it would be safe to let Lady Riley and her sister walk toward you," he said, bowing slightly toward Conlan.
     
    Quinn's eyes narrowed, but she finally put the knife down and stepped back from Bastien, who winked at her. "Outnumbered by Atlantean warriors. That would actually explain a lot about the way they… Well. Do you have any proof of this ridiculous story?
    And what are you doing here?"
     
    She swept out a hand at the path. "Were those your men who attacked my wolves?"
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    Riley's heart, which had finally begun to slow down, started racing again. "What? Your wolves? What are you doing hanging out with a pack of shapeshifters?"
     
    Quinn gently patted her arm, with the air of a parent comforting a toddler. "Shh, sis. It's okay. I'll tell you about it later."
     
    Oh, that was so not happening. Riley yanked her arm away from Quinn's hand. "You can stow the condescending attitude, Quinn, and tell me what the hell you're doing here and why you had a… a gunshot wound that you nearly died from?"
     
    Quinn had the audacity to roll her eyes. "A little dramatic, don't you think? It was only my shoulder. I've had worse." Her face softened, and she pulled Riley close in a fierce hug. "I'm sorry, baby sister. I love you so much—I never wanted for you to see any of this world." Quinn pulled away suddenly, and she scanned the area.
     
    "Speaking of which, where is that other man? I had the strangest feeling that he crawled into my skin to heal me from the inside out…" Her voice trailed off, and her hand reached up to touch her shredded shirt and the unbroken skin underneath it. "I know I didn't imagine that gunshot."
     
    "We can share our stories back at the house," Conlan said. "I think it's past time we got away from here."
     
    "The scene of the crime," Quinn added, lines of sorrow and exhaustion on her face.
    "Where are they? What did you do with… their bodies?"
     
    Ven stumbled up to them, looking like he'd been on a three-week bender. His skin was gray, and the dark circles under his eyes went on for miles. Riley looked from him to Conlan, whose face was also drawn and pale, though less so than Ven's.
     
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    "What exactly happened to you two?" she asked, opening her mind and emotions for the first time since she'd seen the bodies.
     
    But Conlan's mental shields were down in a big and serious way. She couldn't