Warriors of Poseidon 05 - Atlantis Redeemed

made such extravagant claims of devotion, he’d been easy enough to deny.
    That’s not fair and you know it, her conscience accused her. You told him never. That you could never, ever be with him. What would you have had him do? Abduct you?
    Yes. Maybe.
    No.
    She would do anything—anything—to keep that hideous vision from coming true. Even staying away from the one man who’d ever made her feel safe, even just for a little while. They’d succeed on this mission, and then they’d part. Brennan could figure his future out without her.
    And if she could ever figure out a way, she was going to kick Poseidon’s ass for him.
    Brennan made a sharp turn and knocked on a door on the right side of the corridor. It wasn’t a particularly elegant or ornate door, but it did look sturdy. So did the two warriors standing guard outside.
    Tiernan raised an eyebrow. “Guards? Inside the palace? Inside Atlantis?” Her journalist’s nose was smelling news, but she didn’t like the implications at all. If the princes thought they needed Atlantis Redeemed – Warriors of Poseidon 05
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    guards here, then the threat of violence must be high. Brennan’s mouth flattened, but he said nothing, and the guards remained silent, too. Maybe they had to; maybe there was some kind of silence required while on guard duty, like in London.
    The threat, then. Would they call it treason? Or sedition? She was uncomfortably reminded that she knew next to nothing about monarchies, beyond what she’d read in Margaret George or Philippa Gregory novels. History had never been her thing.
    She was more a current-events girl.
    Woo, boy, was she going to help put some current events on the map. The thought of it—the challenge—helped lift her out of the dark pit of gloom she’d sunken into after the visions in the soul-meld. She was Tiernan freaking Butler, and she would figure it out on her own.
    She always did.
    Alone again. She tried very hard to ignore the pain that kept wrenching her chest at the thought of it.
    The door swung open and she sighed with relief. Better to worry about treason now, and a lifetime of loneliness later.
    It was Conlan himself who had opened the door, something she wouldn’t have expected from the high prince of Atlantis, but then again, it wasn’t the first time he’d surprised her.
    “Tiernan, be welcome,” he said now, all black hair and great cheekbones; tall, dark, and princely. Nearly as gorgeous as Brennan, definitely imposing in his physical presence. Like Brennan.
    Surely she’d get over comparing every man she met to Brennan sometime soon. Right?
    Brennan did that mysterious single-eyebrow lift again, but not even a hint of warmth cut through the ice in his expression. “Tiernan?”
    “I’m coming,” she muttered to him, wondering how or even if she should explain what had happened to her during the vision. “Hold your seahorses.”
    Conlan laughed and bowed to her. “Oh, Tiernan Butler. You are indeed very welcome to Atlantis.”
    They followed Conlan into the room, and Tiernan’s stomach let loose with a very unladylike growl of happiness to see the spread of lunch laid out on the long wooden table. She was starving, suddenly, in spite of the circumstances. Or maybe because of them.
    “Lunch looks great,” she said, forcing a cheerful tone to her voice. She smiled at the room in general, encompassing High Prince Conlan and his wife, Riley. Her smile only dimmed a little Atlantis Redeemed – Warriors of Poseidon 05
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    when she caught sight of the high priest, Alaric, in the far corner, doing his usual brooding, menacing thing. For some reason she didn’t want to explore too deeply, the theme music from Phantom of the Opera always started playing in her head when she saw Alaric.
    Riley grinned at her. “Welcome back. Want to see the somewhat drooly center of my existence?” The princess held up a small baby and Tiernan stumbled to a stop, the memory of the baby in her vision—of herself holding up the baby in such a similar way—freezing her in her tracks. Something deep inside Tiernan cried out, but she kept the pleasant smile on her face. All that undercover work was finally paying off in terms of her acting skills. She’d be up for an Oscar any day now, at this rate.
    Riley’s smile faded, though, and her eyes widened. “You—you and Brennan—”
    Brennan, who was leaning against the wall, stood up and bowed to Riley. “I am here, my lady.”
    The