Warriors of Poseidon 04 - Atlantis Unmasked

then kissed her and stood up. He felt surprisingly well rested, considering that the Fae must have poisoned or magicked him in some way.
     
    The light source was further away than it looked, and they had to cross through what looked like a river of light to get to it. Taking her hand, he nodded to Grace that they should enter together. Other than a strange rippling sensation, he felt no different on the other side.
     
    Atlantis Unmasked - Warriors of Poseidon 04
    Page 282 of 314
    But one glance at Grace showed him that they were different. She was staring at him with similar, openmouthed shock. Their clothing had changed, entirely. Grace was now clad in a long gown of shimmering turquoise, which glowed like a jewel against her honey-gold skin. Her hair was piled on top of her head in some fancy arrangement, and the diamonds at her ears and throat were certainly huge enough to gain them entry to a very posh party.
     
    “You are beautiful,” he said, awestruck. The subtle touch of cosmetics, when added to the overall effect, turned her into a goddess and he felt like an unworthy supplicant. It wasn‟t a feeling he much liked, and he reached up to loosen his tie.
     
    His tie ?
     
    “You‟re not bad yourself,” she teased, and he looked down to see that he wore the formal dress that the humans called a tuxedo. He noticed that his hair was pulled tightly back from his face and tied, too.
     
    “Well, I don‟t think you‟ll see me in one of these again,” he began, but then she gasped, cutting him off.
     
    “Alexios! Your face!” Her own had gone dead white, and he raised his hands to his face, afraid suddenly that he would find that the right side—the only whole side—of his face had been scarred, too.
     
    But instead the feeling underneath his fingertips was so unfamiliar that he couldn‟t quite comprehend it. “What—”
     
    “The scars,” she said. “They‟re gone.”
     
    Atlantis Unmasked - Warriors of Poseidon 04
    Page 283 of 314
    Still walking, they suddenly stepped through a curtain of shimmering light and found themselves on yet another beach. Only this time the beach was a private stretch of sand in front of a true monstrosity of a mansion.
     
    It could only be one place.
     
    “Vonos‟s house,” Grace said, a sneer on that lovely face. “Welcome to McMonstrosity.”
     
    “It‟s just a glamour,” Rhys na Garanwyn said, appearing before them from thin air, as he apparently loved to do. “The scars. I‟m sorry, but I have no magic to heal Hellfire.”
     
    What surprised Alexios the most was that the Fae appeared truly regretful, almost like someone who didn‟t have a slimy gutter snake for a soul.
     
    Almost.
     
    He went for his daggers, but grasped empty air and a fistful of fabric.
     
    “Ah, yes,” the Fae said. “Your weapons would have been inappropriate for a human reporter at a fancy dress ball, don‟t you think?” He pointed to a gray silk bag lying on the sand at their feet. “However, you will find everything you need in there.”
     
    Grace carefully managed to crouch down in her gown and heels so she could examine the contents of the bag. “My bow and full quiver and your daggers and sword,” she reported tersely.
     
    “And what exactly in the nine hells makes you think that we would help you, after that stunt you pulled last night?” Alexios demanded.
     
    “I believe you will help me because in return I will help you. I can get us into that house, and I doubt you could manage that without my glamour. Certainly the security team will Atlantis Unmasked - Warriors of Poseidon 04
    Page 284 of 314
    have been warned to be on the lookout for Atlanteans, and your description is somewhat unique.”
     
    “Why me?” Alexios wasn‟t moving another step until he had the answer to the question that had been digging at him since he‟d first talked to Lucas. “Why are the Fae interested in me, particularly?”
     
    Rhys shrugged. “What makes you think we are? My lovely Grace could have just as easily brought only Alaric or another of your kind.”
     
    “And that wasn‟t an answer, although anybody not familiar with the Fae‟s truth without honesty techniques might have accepted it as such,” Alexios said. “So I‟ll ask again.
    Why me?”
     
    Grace put a hand on his arm. “Alexios, is this really the time? We‟re starting to attract attention, and—”
     
    “I need to know, Grace. So?” He directed a challenging stare at the Fae lord, who