“More like the army,” Ian muttered. “You hurt my mom, and I’m going to go all Call of Duty on your ass.”
Ivy’s lips quirked up as if she were fighting a smile. “Ian, don’t say ass, and don’t threaten the scary vampire,” she said, and then she blinked. “I just fell down the rabbit hole, didn’t I?”
Nicholas wondered if he were getting his first headache in a couple of hundred years. “What is a call of duty in this context, and what rabbit hole?”
Mother and son looked at him in unison, then at each other, and they both burst out into laughter that was tinged with hysteria.
“Humans,” Nicholas said, throwing his hands into the air.
“I’m not going anywhere, Mom,” Ian said. “I won’t promise to be quiet. I’m staying right here with you until we both leave together.”
“I need one more thing from you, and then you are free to go,” Nicholas said. “But you shouldn’t attempt it alone. I have sent for one of your coven to attend and assist you. I don’t want you to be harmed.”
Ivy shook her head. “No. Absolutely not. You can’t put another of my people in danger. I know that your . . . ex-partner lied about Aretha. She wouldn’t have just up and left for Aruba without telling me. She’s dead, isn’t she?”
Nicholas stared at her for a long moment, wanting to spare her the truth but knowing he could not. “Yes, but not at my hand or even his. The power surge from the amethyst that rendered you unconscious killed her.”
Ivy stumbled back a step. “It’s my fault, then. I killed her.”
Ian put his arms around her. “No, Mom. You heard what he said. How could you know what the King stone would do? You’re lucky it didn’t kill you, too.”
“The boy is right,” Nicholas said. “If anyone is to blame, it’s me for using you and your apprentice like pawns. Yet another bad decision in a long line of them.”
“You want me to help you gain even more power, when you admit you make bad decisions right and left? Hurt people? Get them killed?” Ivy patted her son’s shoulder and then stepped toward Nicholas. “Why would I possibly do that?”
Nicholas considered mentioning her own use of the dark arts, but decided against it. After hearing about her husband, he knew why she’d turned to the black. Instead, he told her the simplest truth.
“I am the lesser of many evils, and sometimes that’s the best you can do.”
Chapter 28
High Princess Riley, surrounded by the three women she trusted as much as she did her own sister, stared down into the crystal stasis pod, at the dark-haired woman sleeping serenely inside. The story of Sleeping Beauty come to life, right here in front of her. Of course, she was standing in a temple, under a dome, underneath the ocean, in Atlantis, so everyday reality had taken a left turn quite some time ago.
“It’s not your fault,” Erin said, putting a hand on Riley’s arm. “You tried to set them free. Everybody has been working on it.”
“Maybe. Maybe I didn’t try hard enough,” Riley said. “Maybe I didn’t really want to meet Serai, the woman my husband was supposed to marry. Hard to measure up to a princess with ancient magic and, oh, yeah, who happens to be the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen.”
“Yeah, if I were a guy, I’d do her,” Keely said.
Riley jerked her head up to stare at the archaeologist in disbelief, only to see that she was grinning.
“Sorry, Riley, but somebody needed to lighten the mood,” Keely said, unrepentant. “You aren’t doing anybody any good feeling sorry for yourself.”
“I think you’ve been spending too much time with Lord Justice. You are losing your sense of tact,” Marie, the head of the temple devoted to childbirth, said gently. Marie, the only native Atlantean of the four of them, was a classical beauty like Serai, and wore her dark hair up in its usual intricate braid. “Shouldn’t you be with him, after he was caught in that spell?”
“He’s fine. Just sleeping off the after-effects and bad mood. Speaking of men, though, how’s your kitty cat doing?” Keely replied. “Still smoking hot?”
Marie’s mouth fell open, and Erin laughed out loud. Marie was very much in love with the alpha of a panther pride in the southeast United States. Unfortunately, their respective duties didn’t allow them very much time together. Riley hoped they could work something out soon. Marie too often looked tired and sad these days.
“Perhaps we could remember why we’re here,” Riley admonished them. “One of us can surely figure out something. Erin, with your magic and Marie’s healing, isn’t there something—”
“We have tried, Princess,” Marie said. “You know that.”
“Tried and tried, and tried some more,” Erin added. “My gem-singing magic is growing stronger every day, but the Emperor doesn’t respond to it, the maidens don’t respond to it—it’s useless. I’m useless.”
Marie chided her. “You are far from useless. Just this morning you saved that woman’s baby, and we’d thought he was far too sick to live.”
Erin shrugged. “Sometimes I get lucky. So much of this is a wish and a prayer, after all.”
“We’ve all been praying for them,” Riley said. “The maidens. Why do we call them that? They have names. Serai is gone. Delia is dead. Merlina, Helena, Brandacea, and Guen remain. We have to save them. We have to.”
Keely touched the crystal over Brandacea’s face. “She looks worse,” she said grimly. “I don’t know how much longer they can take this.”
Horace approached them and bowed to Riley. “Princess, I wondered if you will be here for very long. My attendants haven’t had any rest or food in quite a while, and—”
“Of course, please send them out. You, too, Horace. And call me Riley, please.”
“Thank you, Princess,” Horace said, bowing again. “I’ll remain here. I’ve eaten and am rested enough.”
She studied his pale face and the dark circles under his eyes. “I doubt it, but I understand. I don’t want to leave them, either.”
“I wondered—” He broke off and bowed again. It seemed to be a nervous habit.
“Wondered what?” Keely said. “If you have an idea, now would be a great time to quit bowing and tell us.”
Horace shot her an unhappy look before turning toward Riley. “I would like to try to release one of them. We are accomplishing nothing by trying to shore up the Emperor’s fluctuating magic. Serai clearly survived leaving stasis. What if—”
“What if we could save them by taking them out of the pods? Let’s do it,” Erin said. Her eyes lit up as she surveyed the four remaining women in their crystal pods. “We have to at least try with one, Riley.”
It didn’t take Riley long to decide, since she’d been thinking along exactly those lines for a couple of days by then.
“Yes. Yes, let’s do it. Who is having the hardest time now?”
Horace turned pale, as he realized that she’d agreed to his idea. “I don’t—I shouldn’t—”
Keely put her hands on her hips. “Spit it out, Horace. Which one is closest to being lost if we don’t rescue her now?”
He gulped and then pointed to Brandacea. “She is so weak; her life force is barely flickering now.”
Erin nodded. “It’s true. I can feel it, too. If we’re going to do this, we should try with her first. She’s in the most danger if we do nothing.”
“Should we call the high prince?” Horace asked. “This decision is—”
“The decision is mine,” Riley said firmly. “Conlan is finally catching a nap after being out all night searching for the Emperor and spending all morning setting up his plans for going back with a contingent of warriors to find Serai, Daniel, and the Emperor.”
“What do we do?” Marie asked.
“It’s deceptively simple, actually,” Horace said. “We just open the lid.”
Riley and Erin exchanged a glance. “Why haven’t we tried it before, then?”
“We have, Princess. Within minutes, the maiden—it was Delia—was choking for air, almost as if she had lost the ability to breathe. We had to return her to the pod, or she would have died, I’m almost sure of it. She almost did, anyway, but a surge of magic from the Emperor restored her.”