Warriors of Poseidon 04 - Atlantis Unmasked

04
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Chapter 22
    Alexios soared over the ruffled lace of the cresting waves and enjoyed the utter freedom of flying as a sparkling shimmer of mist higher and higher into the night sky. Away from responsibility and duty. Away from all of the humans who needed him—and the one human who didn‟t.
     
    The Warrior‟s Creed, burned into his brain through constant recitation as a youngling at the academy, marched in exacting precision through his mind.
     
    We will wait. And watch. And protect.
     
    And serve as first warning on the eve of humanity‟s destruction.
     
    Then, and only then, Atlantis will rise.
     
    For we are the Warriors of Poseidon, and the mark of the Trident we bear serves as witness to our sacred duty to safeguard mankind.
     
    It was a duty Alexios held sacred. But for all of his life, Alexios had waited and watched and protected. He was tired of waiting. Tired of watching.
     
    He had finally found the one woman he truly wanted to protect.
     
    Would it matter?
     
    Frustrated with himself, Alexios dove toward the surface of the water and returned to his body just in time to slice through the top of the wave. The water was icy; the shock of it left him breathless. He rolled over and over in the water, its cold embrace cooling the burning need that had been building and building in him since that morning.
     
    Atlantis Unmasked - Warriors of Poseidon 04
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    Grace. Seeing her wild side, even though it was artificially induced, had triggered something in him that he couldn‟t stop. Couldn‟t repress. Couldn‟t deny.
     
    He wanted to bring that side of her to the surface again. Wanted to see the playful, happy, and carefree Grace. She‟d lived the past ten years of her life crushed under the weight of the oath of vengeance she‟d sworn to her dead brother.
     
    He wanted to show her that life could be different. Better . But of all the men she‟d ever known, he was probably the most singularly unqualified for the task.
     
    What did he know of happiness? He knew camaraderie. He knew the satisfaction of a battle well fought. But happiness? He‟d thought all possibility of it gone forever after what he‟d endured as a prisoner.
     
    But then came Grace, offering grace. Offering warmth and light and a chance at home.
    The only question he needed to ask himself was a simple one. Why was he still here, wasting time in this frigid water, when he could be with her?
     
    He struck out for the surface and the shore, eager to get back to her. Sam, Tiny, and the rest of the men were standing guard all night. Sam had specifically told Alexios that he had no need to take a shift.
     
    “I think you and Grace have things to work out,” Sam had said. Yet another conquest who‟d fallen hard for a woman who was completely unaware of her own beauty and generosity of spirit.
     
    Once at the surface, Alexios folded his hands together, lifted his face to the stars, and offered up a heartfelt plea. “I don‟t have any fancy light tricks or priestly magic, Poseidon. But I do have an earnest desire to move forward with my life. Please accept that I‟m now ending the vows of celibacy I took during the purification rituals. If there were truly any dark desires left in me from that horrible time, they would have shown Atlantis Unmasked - Warriors of Poseidon 04
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    themselves when Grace was vulnerable this morning. Instead, I showed what I still maintain to have been damn near heroic qualities.”
     
    He started laughing, suddenly feeling more buoyant than the waves themselves. “I‟ve never wanted to be a hero before now. I‟m guessing that the desire means something in and of itself. The answer is in me, grasshopper,” he said, grinning like a fool.
     
    And suddenly he knew. A kind of peace washed through him. Peace and anticipation—neither were emotions he‟d experienced for so many long, long years.
     
    Unwilling to take the time even to return to shore and retrieve his clothes, Alexios soared up through the air in his mist form and arrowed his way over to the fort and down the corridor to Grace‟s room. He transformed as he landed gently on his feet, scanning the room. She wasn‟t there.
     
    Which was probably a good thing, considering he‟d just shown up in her room stark naked.
     
    “Well, that‟s one way to make an entrance,” she said from behind him, her voice full of warmth and laughter, and he snatched the blanket from her bed to cover