Warriors of Poseidon 05 - Atlantis Redeemed

current situation.
    “That’s the oddest, yet maybe the best, compliment I’ve ever gotten,” she finally said.
    He remembered something she’d said to him. “Stick with me, kid. You’ll have a new experience every day.”
    Recognition dawned in her eyes, and she smiled. It was just a tiny smile, and it faded instantly, but it had been real. Real enough to let him know that she was strong and resilient and could survive this, just for a while longer. Long enough for Alexios to find them.
    He refused to think about how, exactly, Alexios would find them when Brennan could not reach out on the mental pathway. Somehow, Alexios and Alaric would find a way. No matter if they didn’t, either. All he needed was the slightest opening.
    “That’s the look,” Tiernan said, lowering her voice even more as two new guards came in to relieve the pair on duty. “Your predator face. Oddly enough, it makes me feel safe.”
    Atlantis Redeemed – Warriors of Poseidon 05
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    They fell silent then, closing their eyes and pretending to rest, as the new guards spent some time near the bars, taunting them. It was easy enough to ignore them. They were nothing.
    Litton was the one in charge. Of the thugs, only Smitty had the power and the brains. None of the others had anything to say that Brennan felt it necessary to hear.
    Brennan watched Tiernan through barely open eyes, afraid to close them for too long. Afraid that even a few minutes without her in view would trigger the curse. She was pretending to doze, but every line of her body was tense and held in readiness to defend against an attack.
    She had courage, his woman.
    His mate.
    He would never let her be harmed.
    Time passed, perhaps half of an hour, and the guards grew bored with their games and retreated to the comfortable chairs over by the far wall, where they pulled out drinks and snacks and began a discussion of sports and women. Or women playing sports. They mentioned something called roller derby, but Brennan had no reference for the term.
    It was irrelevant anyway. All that mattered was that they leave Tiernan alone, so perhaps she could get some actual rest. Her shoulders were slumped down and she seemed to be relaxed, so perhaps she truly had fallen asleep. He was glad of it. She needed rest.
    She opened her eye, proving him wrong. “Susannah wasn’t just a fox shifter. I mean, that wasn’t all she’d been hiding from me. She was pregnant, too.”
    He took a second to get his bearings in the story that she’d taken up as though they’d never been interrupted. “Pregnant? This is hard to hide, even for humans, yes?”
    She smiled a little. “Yes. Or, at least it’s hard to hide after a certain point. She was still in her first trimester, and her belly was almost perfectly flat. I never would have guessed for quite a while, with the loose dresses she liked to wear anyway. It’s not like we walked around the apartment naked, having slumber parties, right?”
    Brennan lifted his head from his folded arms. “Could you perhaps elaborate on that last?”
    She tilted her head. “What part? Oh, trimesters? It’s—”
    “No. The naked slumber parties, please.” He flashed his best fake leer, and she laughed, just like he’d hoped she would.
    “Been watching too many Atlantean Girls Gone Wild videos in your lonely old age?”
    He nodded, heaving a deep sigh. “Alas, I am severely deprived of wild girls in any form or manner.”
    Atlantis Redeemed – Warriors of Poseidon 05
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    “How do you do it? How do you make jokes when we’re . . . when things are so dire?” Her voice was steady, but her eyes were pleading.
    “I do it because things are dire,” he told her. “When the situation is at its most bleak, you discover your inner resolve. Laugh in the face of danger, life is darkest just before the dawn, and all of those horrible clichés that are no less true for being overused.”
    He cast a surreptitious glance at the guards and then eased the tiny vial Alaric had given him out of his pocket. “Also, I do it simply because I can. I have never been able to make jokes in two thousand years. You cannot imagine the tonic effect the simple sound of your laughter has on my wounded soul.”
    “Was that a joke, too? Your wounded soul?” She stared at him, all humor gone from her beautiful face. “Your speech patterns are so different. Sometimes you sound almost modern, and then you’ll toss in one of those ‘two thousand