Warriors of Poseidon 03 - Atlantis Unleashed

together with the Trident would allow Atlantis to ascend to the surface, they had in effect just doomed the Seven Isles.”
    “There‟s no logic in it,” Ven said. “Conlan is right. Without those gems, how could the ancients ever have hoped to return to the surface? It doesn‟t make sense, Dr. McDermott.”
    “I don‟t know,” Keely said. “I don‟t know about logic, or your ancients, as you call them, or any of that. Politics has never been my forte. Maybe they saw the future and knew you‟d find a way to travel to the surface. But I saw it in the vision, and my visions have never, ever been wrong. That sapphire must be in place in the Trident, along with all of the other gems, or you will destroy Atlantis when you try to ascend.”
    The skepticism was plain in their faces. They didn‟t know Keely. They hadn‟t seen her nearly crushed in the throes of one of her visions. They were going to need proof.
    Even as everything in him balked at the idea, Justice realized that, in their place, he‟d want the same.
    But the Nereid inside him scoffed. Everything you do will always be less, to them. Why should they take your word for any of it?
    Keely sighed, and her shoulders slumped. “You‟re not going to take this on faith, are you?
    You don‟t know me from Adam—or maybe from Poseidon would be the better expression—and you‟re going to want evidence.”
    The resignation in her defeated posture touched Justice deep inside, in a place he‟d believed long buried. “No. No, they do not want or need evidence. Your word is good.”
    He folded his arms and confronted the men he still hadn‟t become accustomed to calling brothers. “You haven‟t seen her during a vision. You haven‟t heard the truth and the history that spills forth from her lips.”
    He put his hand behind his back and briefly touched the hilt of his sword. “She‟s an object reader, and she read my sword. She named it. It‟s called Poseidon‟s Fury, and our father gave it to me.”
    Ven and Conlan exchanged glances and suddenly he reached an unpleasant conclusion. They were unsurprised by the news.
    “You knew? All these years, you knew?”
    Conlan shook his head. “No, not that. We never knew that you were our brother. But the sword, yes, of course I‟d seen my father with that sword. At first he told us he lost it, but then one day I saw a stringy little blue-haired boy carrying a sword that was far too big for him, and I recognized it.”
    “I wanted to take it away from you,” Ven said, a faint grin playing at the edges of his mouth.
    “We were about the same size. I told Conlan I was going to kick your ass and take that sword back.”
    “But I was the wiser, as usual,” Conlan interjected dryly. “I dragged Ven back home so that we could ask our father about it.”
    “What did he say?” Justice leaned forward, though he despised himself for his eagerness to hear even a single kind word from his long-dead father.
    They looked uncomfortable. “Is it really the time to talk about the past, when Atlantis‟s future rests on the truth of Dr. McDermott‟s vision?”
    Keely laughed, but it was a bitter sound. “Trust me, Your Highness. My visions are all about the past. And from what I‟ve seen of what your father put Justice and his mother through, it‟s no wonder you don‟t want to talk about it.”
    “His mother? What do you know of his mother?” Ven asked.
    “It was in my vision,” Keely said. “I saw her, lying in pain—in labor with Justice—on the floor of what must be your throne room. Carved dolphins on the back of the throne?”
    “Justice could‟ve told you that. Hells, Liam could‟ve told you that,” Ven challenged.
    Justice felt his tenuous grip on his temper fading. “You, who plan to wed a gem singer who stepped straight out of the waters of time, question the word of an object reader?” He looked from one to the other, realization dawning. “That‟s why you wanted her to come here as an archaeologist, isn‟t it? I wondered at the choice when you announced the list of invited scientists. What is there to excavate on the Seven Isles?”
    Keely pulled free of his hold. “Is it true? Only for that?” Raw anger edged her voice. “Only for something I hate in myself? How did you even know?”
    “As to how we knew, one of your colleagues on the Lupercale dig is a friend to Atlantis. As to the second, do you always hate your Gift, Keely McDermott?” Conlan‟s voice was gentle.
    “I