Warriors of Poseidon 04 - Atlantis Unmasked

Alexios. “Or that you have been targeted by the Fae to be our emissary, especially in your current condition.”
     
    “My condition? What in the nine hells does that mean?”
     
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    “You know what I mean. The human. Grace. Less than a year has seen first Conlan, then Ven, then Justice all fall. All three of the Atlantean royal princes. All victim to the soul-meld with humans. Then we have Bastien and his sister, both mated to shape-shifters, unbelievable as that still is to me.”
     
    “I see your point, although I doubt they would appreciate the word victim . And nobody‟s talking about soul-melding, here,” he hastily added. “It‟s more of the—more of a—”
     
    “More of a what, exactly? Are you denying that your heart is in danger of becoming involved with this woman?”
     
    “My heart?” Alexios could taste the bitterness like bile in his mouth. “Who knows if I even have a heart? As far as I can tell, it‟s a useless organ that shriveled up and died years ago. Hells, all I know is I‟ve been twisted up inside since I met Grace. It‟s just a physical thing.”
     
    Then, because he couldn‟t bring himself to lie to the priest, he tipped over onto the side of blunt honesty. “That‟s probably not the strict truth. If it was just my cock leading my brain, I would have found another woman and gotten over Grace long before now.”
     
    “Then perhaps you should bed her and get it out of your system. Also,” Alaric continued, his voice more grim than Alexios had ever heard it, “I cannot believe I am participating in this conversation.”
     
    Alexios glanced at Alaric but then quickly faced forward again, gazing out over the waves. “This is not fun for me, either. And the reason you‟re having this conversation is because of one we had more than five years ago.”
     
    “Ah.” The utterance carried a wealth of meaning. “Your vows during the purification rituals.”
     
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    “Yes. Are they . . . are they permanent?” Alexios had to force the words past the knot of shame and humiliation in his throat. To have to discuss such things with Alaric was almost more than he could bear, but the priest had saved him from insanity and worse in the days following his release from Anubisa‟s Apostates. Alaric knew more of the inner workings of Alexios‟s mind than any other walking the surface or beneath the waves.
     
    Alaric shrugged. “I mean in no way to make light of this, but considering the many enemies who stand lined up against us, the issue of your love life seems rather unimportant.”
     
    Alexios jumped up, stung. “Don‟t belittle the vows I made that day. You know what I suffered. You saw what I feared when you scoured my mind to be sure I was untainted.
    You can‟t tell me my concerns were unjustified.”
     
    “I am here, am I not?” Alaric‟s face hardened, and he, too, rose from his seat on the wall. “If there were time, if my own soul were not . . . No . There is no time, so there is no point in belaboring it.”
     
    He turned to face Alexios and something of understanding was in the deep silver-green of his eyes. “The vows you made that day—the promises you swore—were only to yourself. I merely stood witness, as your priest. Though we were in Poseidon‟s Temple, they were not vows to the sea god. He would not have asked those particular oaths of you.
     
    “He only demands celibacy of his priests,” Alaric continued, his voice rough. “No matter what Keely claims to have seen when she object-read that sapphire, I have found nothing to support her claims that priests once were allowed to wed in Atlantis.”
     
    Alexios knew that Alaric was thinking of Quinn, but he didn‟t know how to offer comfort to a priest. He did, however, know how to offer comfort to a man. To a friend . “Your Atlantis Unmasked - Warriors of Poseidon 04
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    friendship and counsel saved me from taking my own life back then, after two long years of imprisonment. If there is ever any task I can undertake, anything—”
     
    “This is nothing your sword or daggers can solve,” Alaric said. “For this matter, I must stand alone. However, I need leave you no such dilemma. You swore those vows of purification for a reason. To protect any who might come to harm at your hands because of the darkness you had endured and taken into your soul. What