Warriors of Poseidon 01 - Atlantis Rising

controlled ferocity underscored his words. "She does. But I can't… I won't let her go. Not ever, Ven."
     
    Ven shrugged. "It's not me you have to convince. Alaric seems to have some thoughts on the matter. I'd be glad to get out of the 'do not pass Go, marry an eleven-thousand-year-old virgin' rules myself. But smarter men than me are going to have to figure that one out."
     
    He showed Conlan to a spacious room at the end of the hall on the second floor and excused himself. Conlan gently laid Riley on the bed and covered her with the quilt, wishing her breathing weren't so shallow.
     
    Her skin weren't so pale.
     
    Then he dragged a chair across the carpet, right up next to the bed, and took one of her hands in both of his. And prayed to the god who had left him to suffer for seven years.
     
    Some hours later, Ven came back to let him know that Denal and Brennan were asking to see him.
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    Conlan sat in his chair, still holding Riley's hand. He needed to touch at least her skin, since her mind and emotions were closed to him.
     
    He forced himself to breathe past the rock in his throat that threatened to choke him.
    Alaric had said she'd be fine. He had to hold on to that.
     
    Poseidon's silence had. been deafening.
     
    "Bring them," Conlan demanded. "I won't leave her."
     
    Ven nodded. "I figured as much. They're here."
     
    Conlan watched as Denal and Brennan walked into the room, their gaze focused on Riley. Brennan gave him a cursory nod, then returned his attention to the bed.
     
    Denal threw back his head and howled a cry of such anguish that the hair on Conlan's arms stood at attention, and am icy shiver shot down his spine.
     
    "She's dead?" Denal stumbled closer to the bed. "That wasn't a dream, then?"
     
    "She lives," Conlan said. Denal's attention finally turned to his prince.
     
    "Alaric says she'll be fine. She's sleeping the same peculiar deep sleep as the two of you were."
     
    "Thank the gods," Brennan said, voice low and reverent, as he, too, approached.
    "Thank Poseidon, for it truly Was him in the room with us, was it not?"
     
    Conlan's hand shot out and caught Brennan's arm in a steel grasp. "Tell me. What happened? Was there a battle? Why was Riley unprotected?"
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    Brennan dropped to one knee before him, head bowed. "We failed you, my prince. We failed to protect her."
     
    Denal knelt also, lifted a hand to touch Riley's hair. Conlan allowed the gesture, somehow knowing that the warrior needed to prove to himself that she lived.
     
    Then Denal dropped his face to the edge of the bed and began to sob. Great wracking sobs that shook his entire body with the force of them. Riley's name was in there, and other, wordless, sorrow.
     
    Conlan released Brennan and put a hand on Denal's shoulder. "Tell me, Denal. Pull yourself together and tell me."
     
    He looked up, saw Alaric had joined Ven at the doorway. The others crowded the hall behind them. "Come in, all of you. Find seats. We need to hear this."
     
    Alaric, moving as one old and exhausted, took the room's remaining chair. Ven and the others filed in and found perches on the floor or leaning against walls.
     
    Denal's shoulders stopped heaving, and he took a deep breath. "Brennan should tell it.
    Having no emotion would be a blessing beyond all reckoning at this moment. I can't—"
    His voice trembled, and he stopped, shaking his head.
     
    Brennan stood straight before them. "If only I could feel the pain that should be burned into my soul. Lady Riley deserves no less."
     
    Slowly, and ascribing all fault to himself, Brennan relayed the night's events, his gaze continually returning to Riley as he spoke.
     
    Denal interrupted several times, trying to shoulder the blame.
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    Brennan shook his head at the younger warrior and concluded. "And then I pulled the sword out of Denal's body, and the poison from the vampire bites overwhelmed me. I was dying, my lord."
     
    Conlan listened, silent, shaking with rage. When Brennan paused, Conlan leaned forward. "We have acted as protectors and only stepped in when the vamps attacked humans in the past. But they brought this to our doorstep. They hurt Riley. Now they die."
     
    He looked around at his men and Alaric, all of whom nodded, grim faces echoing his own determination. "They all die," he