Warriors of Poseidon 03 - Atlantis Unleashed

was probably the wrong word to use. An artifact was something long buried and forgotten, hidden in the mists of time. This delicate china, fired by a process she‟d never before seen, was part of their breakfast dishes. It boggled the mind.
    The archaeologist in her wanted to cheer or stand up and do cartwheels. Certainly, she was itching to go get her tools from her pack that she‟d reluctantly left in the bedroom, go outside, and dig somewhere, just for the heck of it.
    The excitement suddenly drained out of her like helium from a punctured balloon. They hadn‟t invited her there for digging. They knew what she was. They probably had certain artifacts already lined up for her.
    They‟d called her an object reader, as though the term had precedence in their history. It was both shocking and wonderfully validating to be accepted for something that was so integrally a part of her. However, just as she used tools in her work, she recognized when someone else wanted to use her. She had no intention of being a chisel in their hands, at least not until she got some answers. Foremost among them: where was Justice?
    She poured herself another cup of the delicious coffee and then sat back in her chair, casting a measured glance at Ven and Conlan. It took less than a minute for them to feel the weight of her stare, and they both looked up at her.
    “Is there something else we might get for you?” Ven‟s smile was utterly charming and totally guileless. It might even have fooled somebody who‟d been born yesterday.
    Keely wasn‟t that gullible. “Yes, actually. I‟d like to see Justice. I‟d like to see him right now.”
    “We‟re sure he‟ll be along any moment—”
    She cut Conlan off, choosing not to worry if there were any penalties for interrupting royalty in Atlantis. “Right. You said that. Nearly half an hour ago. How do I know you don‟t have him locked up in some Atlantean dungeon?”
    Ven raised an eyebrow and grinned. “No wonder Justice is so crazy about you. Not much frightens you, does it?”
    “Lots of things frighten me. Global warming. Poverty in Third World countries. Genocide.
    Snakes. I hate snakes,” she said flatly. “But you two don‟t scare me, and if you‟ve harmed Justice in any way, you‟re going to have to answer to me.”
    Ven smiled at her as if he were a teacher delighted with a prize student. “Snakes, huh? Is that common to all archaeologists or have you just watched too many Indiana Jones movies?”
    She stood up, pushing her chair back and out of the way, and bared her teeth at him in the fiercest expression she could muster. “Keep laughing at me, and I‟ll see if I can find a whip, Your Highness .”
    It was Conlan‟s turn to smile as Ven clutched at his heart with a mock expression of pain on his face. “Oh, that‟s just hitting below the belt. Don‟t Your Highness me, if you want us to be the good friends I know we‟re going to be,” Ven said.
    “I don‟t need any more friends,” Keely said, enunciating clearly. “I‟m sure you don‟t need any more enemies, not to mention any international incidents. So tell me where Justice is—right now—or you‟re going to have both on your hands.”

Chapter 26
    She felt Justice before she heard him. Warmth seemed to flow into the room and wrap itself around her, carrying the scents of salt water and sea air. Pure relief combined with utter contentment swept through the tension in her nerve endings, calming and soothing. She could almost feel the whisper of his breath in her hair, the sound of his voice in her ear.
    Justice had arrived, and her reaction was so simply and unreservedly joyous that it scared her even more than those snakes they‟d been discussing. Her body and heart seemed literally to sway toward him, like a flower turning to the sun. How had he broken through her defenses so easily and so powerfully?
    The hard length of his body was suddenly pressed against her back as he wrapped his arms around her. “Even after everything I have forced you to endure, you fight for me, mi amara . I have done nothing to deserve you, but I will never let you go,” he murmured in her ear.
    She stiffened and tried to pull away, the primitive claim he‟d staked on her setting off all her warning alarms, but his arms were like steel bands holding her in place against the heat of his hard body. A struggle would only cost her a measure of dignity and do nothing to reassure Ven and Conlan, who were staring at