Warriors of Poseidon 04 - Atlantis Unmasked

who was about to disappear any minute.
     
    “What are you thinking?” He didn‟t so much ask questions as issue demands, she‟d discovered, even though he‟d quite sternly explained that he was not of the royal Atlantean house, but only one of Prince Conlan‟s elite guard.
     
    She grinned. He sure had the attitude for royalty.
     
    He stopped walking and pulled her into his arms again, lifting her feet clear up out of the sand. They couldn‟t walk more than a dozen paces without him touching her, holding her, or kissing her, she‟d noticed.
     
    Not that she was complaining.
     
    “Tell me. Now.”
     
    “Okay, that‟s taking the demanding thing a little far,” she pointed out. “Don‟t forget I can still skewer you with one of my arrows at a hundred yards. Just because I‟m putty in your hands in bed—”
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    He kissed her, effectively making her forget where she‟d been going with that thought.
    “Putty in my hands? I like it. Let‟s go back to bed now.” He kissed a path down the side of her neck and suddenly her breath was a little ragged.
     
    “No, we can‟t. We need to plan what we‟re going to do tonight, and anyway, Tiny and his men are still there. Also, my side hurts a little,” she admitted. “I guess I‟m not super-woman after all. I‟m healing fast but I still may have . . . exerted myself too much.”
     
    Remorse swept over his face. “It is my fault. I pushed you when you should have been resting. I knew I wasn‟t fit for—”
     
    “Stop. Right now,” she ordered him. “I wanted you. I wanted exactly what we did together. I still want you now, but I think a little rest first will make me a more active participant next time.”
     
    She tried to project calm assurance but the betraying hot flush climbed into her cheeks.
    Just not used to discussing sex in broad daylight. Okay, not used to discussing sex at all. She blushed again as the elderly couple walking toward them smiled knowingly.
     
    But once the couple had moved on, she‟d kissed Alexios, putting all the feeling she wasn‟t quite ready to express into it. When she stepped back, she wasn‟t the only one whose breathing was ragged. She cast about for a topic of conversation that didn‟t involve sex or kissing.
     
    “So, tell me about Atlantis.”
     
    They started walking again, threading their way through driftwood shaped in fantastical patterns that had washed up on the shore.
     
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    “What do you want to know?” He ran a hand down her arm, smiling like a little boy on Christmas morning, and she smiled back at him, caught up in his obvious joy.
     
    “Everything! But let‟s start simple. Where do you live? How long have you been one of the prince‟s guard—the Seven, you called it? What is that tattoo you have on your arm?
    Where, exactly, is Atlantis? How is it that none of our oceanographers or submarines have found it? Are you ever planning to rise?” She finally stopped for air and realized he was laughing quietly. “What?”
     
    “You call that starting simple?” He shook his head. “Okay, let‟s see what I can do with that. I live in the warrior‟s wing of the palace, although I have a home ready for me to move into should I so choose. It has been simpler to stay in the palace, although that will not always be the case.” He cast a long, measuring glance at her, and she shivered, hugging the hope to her chest that he might be picturing her in his house someday.
     
    “I have trained to be a warrior in the royal guard since I was a youngling, and I was honored to be selected to serve in Prince Conlan‟s elite guard almost right out of the academy. He broke tradition a little and chose guards based on the potential he saw in us, rather than on long years of dedicated service.”
     
    “Makes for a very loyal team,” Grace said, thinking back to her first meeting with Quinn, and how the commander had given so much responsibility to a teenager. Grace had walked away from the meeting knowing she would do anything for Quinn, and she still felt that way.
     
    “The tattoo is Poseidon‟s mark and he honors us with it when we have successfully completed our training to be a Warrior of Poseidon. Poseidon‟s Trident bisects the circle representing all the peoples of the world. The triangle is a symbol of the pyramid of knowledge. All of Poseidon‟s warriors bear