Warriors of Poseidon 02 - Atlantis Awakening

stared at Marie. "Do something," he demanded, Atlantis Awakening – Warriors of Poseidon 02
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    despairing at the sight of Erin's still, pale face. Marie started to respond, confusion and distress plain on her own face.
     
    That was when the music started.
     
    A single clear, wild note soared out from the walls themselves. The single note was joined by a chorus of others flying at them from all sides. Soon the music was swelling from the floor and the ceiling and through every molecule of air in the room. The chorus became a symphony—an orchestra of music of compelling beauty. Ven stood, hands holding Erin's, and he prayed rusty prayers to compassionless gods.
     
    The music became light, the light became music, until the two were indistinguishable.
    The silvery light Erin had poured over Riley and the baby magnified a thousand fold within the small space of the geode. With a corner of his mind, Ven realized that Marie had dropped to the floor and knelt at the side of the table.
     
    The wild music swept through Ven until the song permeated the very cells of his body.
    He could see the music; he could hear the light; he could feel the rhythm thrumming through Erin's body. And under and over and around it all, he heard a delicate voice ringing simultaneously in his mind and in his ears, a dichotomy of fragile power.
     
    "You have only just returned to me, gem singer. I shall not let you go so easily."
     
    With that, the music crescendoed into a wordless triumph of sound and light. Erin's body began to glow until it shone so brightly that Ven had to close his eyes against it. He called for faith—for the ability to find some ounce of faith inside his own damaged soul.
     
    Finally—finally—he found some measure of belief.
     
    I give her to you, Poseidon, and to you, Goddess of the Nereids. I give her to you. All I ask is that if you keep her, you take my worthless soul as well.
    Atlantis Awakening – Warriors of Poseidon 02
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    The glare pounding against his closed eyelids abruptly ceased and the music cut off at the same time. He blinked his watering eyes open to see darkness lit only by the scattered sparkling of countless jewels. It took his eyesight a moment to make the transition, but before he could see Erin, he felt her hand squeeze his, and the prayer in his soul changed to one of gratitude.
     
    "Thank you," he said, forcing the words out. "Thank you both for saving this courageous woman for me."
     
    Erin looked up at him and her eyes glowed more brightly than all the jewels inside the geode. "Did you hear it? Did you hear the music?" She drew in a deep breath, face rapturous as though she could still hear the gem song spiraling through the room and through her emotions.
     
    She tightened her hand on his. "I heard your song, Ven," she said, smiling, awe and wonder in her eyes. "I heard the song of your soul."
     
    Before he could reply, she slipped into a normal sleep, her chest rising and falling. He pressed his lips against the pulse beating so strongly in the side of her neck and repeated the only words that seemed large enough to fit the gratitude in his heart.
    "Thank you. Thank you."
     
    Erin swam up from a dream of diamond necklaces, a giant, glowing ruby, and sword-fighting women wearing chain mail that looked a lot like fish scales. She straggled to escape what her conscious mind knew must be illusion. Opening her eyelids took almost more strength than she had, and her body felt like it had been run over by a truck. She had aches in places she hadn't even known were capable of aching.
     
    She finally forced her eyes open. Ven's face filled her vision, and the blue-green flames in his black eyes were back and glowing more brightly than she remembered. But Atlantis Awakening – Warriors of Poseidon 02
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    instead of startling her, it made her sigh in relief. "You're here," she whispered, trying to lift her arms to him.
     
    "I will never be anywhere else," he said roughly, then he gently lifted her up and into his arms, hugging her so tightly her aching body protested.
     
    "Ouch! Um, Ven, not so tight, okay?" she said, lifting a hand to touch the strands of his hair. The silky dark waves slipped through her fingers as her arm fell back to her side.
     
    He loosened his grip on her and lifted her completely into his lap, compulsively running his hands down her arms and back. "You're alive," he said. "You came back to me."
     
    She blinked at him.