Warriors of Poseidon 02 - Atlantis Awakening

legacy that apparently very rarely happened around here in the past few thousand years. As the legend goes, certain Atlanteans have the capacity to reach a higher, almost divine level of connection with the person they fall in love with. When this happens, the doors to their souls fall open and each can travel inside of the other." Riley paused and bit her lip, then continued. "It's a connection far Atlantis Awakening – Warriors of Poseidon 02
    Page 130 of 296
    more intense than anything else could ever be, and intimacy with someone you're soul-melded with will rock your socks off."
     
    Erin stared at the other woman, her mind racing frantically. "But I'm not Atlantean. Well, maybe one-one-thousandth or something."
     
    "Same here," returned Riley. "Apparently only one of the pair needs to be pure Atlantean. In fact, Alaric has a few theories about some of us humans having DNA from the Atlantean ancients who left Atlantis just before the Cataclysm. It would make sense, in my case, because of my emotional empathy. My sister has the same talent."
     
    Erin shook her head, relief sweeping through her. "No, that doesn't make sense. I don't have a drop of emotional empathy."
     
    Riley leaned forward and touched her hand. "But you are a witch, Erin," she said patiently. "What do you think the proportion of witches is in the general population?"
     
    "I don't know. Fewer than one percent?"
     
    "Way fewer. Fewer than point zero one percent, to be exact. My sister is… well, she knows this kind of thing. From what we're learning from the Fae and from what Alaric has learned from the scrolls in Poseidon's Temple, it seems that the witches are descended from the ancient Atlanteans." Riley leaned back in her chair and sipped some more of her juice. "Throw in your gem singer Gift, and you're almost certainly descended from Atlantis."
     
    Erin rubbed her temples, where a fierce headache was beginning to form. "Okay, let's assume for the moment that I am some kind of great great great to the nth power granddaughter of some old Atlantean couple. And let's assume the bunny thing, too,"
    she said, ducking her head and staring into her coffee cup rather than look at Riley. "But Atlantis Awakening – Warriors of Poseidon 02
    Page 131 of 296
    Ven said free will. So just because we might have done the soul-meld thing once doesn't mean we're stuck together, does it?"
     
    Silence. When she glanced up at Riley, the other woman's expression was troubled.
    "Nooo," she said, drawing out the word. "But I guess, considering the bond I have with Conlan, it's hard for me to understand why you'd ever want to leave Ven if you truly have reached the soul-meld with him."
     
    "Because I'm not a possession. I don't mean to offend you, and I'm not saying that you are. But maybe Conlan is more of a modern thinker than his brother. Ven is a cross between some marauding Viking lord and… and a pirate! Or a big, hairy caveman. And I'm not about to be his captive or his wench or his, um, cavewoman," she trailed off, running out of righteous indignation at about the same time the ridiculous nature of the whole thing hit her.
     
    Riley was clearly having a hard time not laughing, from the way she was biting her lower lip.
     
    "Oh, just laugh at me. I sound like an idiot," Erin admitted, smiling ruefully.
    "Cavewoman, for the Goddess's sake."
     
    They both burst into giggles, and laughed so hard Erin actually felt tears rolling down her cheeks. A tingle of sensation warned her just before she felt Ven's hands on her shoulders. She looked up to see him staring down at her, unsmiling.
     
    "Perhaps you would care to share the joke? I could use some humor right about now,"
    he said.
     
    Conlan did a sort of flashing thing across the table and lifted Riley up and into his arms, bending his head to kiss her in a "don't care that we're in public, can't wait to get you home and naked" kind of way that filled Erin with a powerful sense of longing.
    Atlantis Awakening – Warriors of Poseidon 02
    Page 132 of 296
    Alaric rounded the table more slowly and took up a position at the end. "We need to talk."
     
    Conlan gently helped Riley, who looked a little stunned, back into her seat. When Riley blinked up at her, Erin mouthed the word "bunnies" and it set them both off again, peals of laughter ringing out.
     
    When Erin could catch her breath, Ven was seated beside her, one hand twined in her hair as if he needed the contact. She chanced a quick look at his