Enchanted Ever After (Mystic Circle) (34 page)

Yes!
Kiri gestured to the trench.
Down there, on a ledge. His side.
She gibbered even in her mind.

I FEEL him. His essence. His life!
The queen’s face lit with joy. She plunged downward. Kiri recalled she was a healer.

Long, firm fingers clasped around her forearm and she found the elf guardian floating beside her. He didn’t look much pleased to be here, either.
Hang back, you’re hurt.

I can still shoot him in the eye,
she said.

One white eyebrow arched.
You have a broken tail.

I can still shoot him in the eye!
She paused.
The OTHER eye.

Bloodthirsty, I like that,
the dwarf sent mentally.
Need help here.

She looked around. The dwarf was marching across the bottom of the ocean and the trench was coming up.

He sinks,
the elf said.
Go get him.

Kiri let herself descend to the dwarf.

He sent water from his nostrils.
You can’t carry me. You’re nearly all out of magic and energy. And your tail is broken.

She put her arms around his waist and tried to lift the dwarf, cried out in pain as her tail moved. The dwarf didn’t move. He thumped her shoulder, sending her backward.
Go on up and shoot the fucking Dark one in the other eye. The Water Queen comes. She has the power to help me.

Kiri nodded and rose.

Fighters hovered behind the Water King as the great Dark one came near, forming another of his energy balls in his hand, sneering.
One minor king and other very minor royals. I can take you all. Eat you all and be full of magic.

Didn’t he see the guardians?

Kiri looked for the elf and couldn’t see him, glanced down at the dwarf and he seemed to be part of the rough rock landscape.

POW!
A searing blue energy ball shook the water with a hideous explosion.

Screams, blood. Someone bulleted into her. Merman with half his head gone. Hit her right in the tail. She screamed, even as she saw the mers blur fast toward the great Dark one, a net thrown by the elf guardian capture him, the Water King thrust his trident into a massive chest and clouds of blood filled the water.

She couldn’t hold on. Pain took her breath and her balance and her speargun fell from her hand and she fell downward, too. Right into Challenger Deep.

Chapter 35

“KIRI, WAKE UP.
People to see you,” Lathyr ordered.

She groaned and stretched her tail.

Her tail!

She had a tail!

She was merfem!

Her eyes opened and her nictitating lids slapped down.

Lathyr cradled her against his body and that was good....because he was alive, and so was she. She swallowed hard.

“Hey, Kiri,” Jenni Emberdrake said in a choked voice.

Kiri spun in Lathyr’s arms and found she was in a tank chamber. Again. But this one was furnished and had plants and mussels growing in it. “Where—”

“The minor palace in Puerto Rico Trench,” Lathyr said.

“I see your tail is fixed,” Jenni said. She was leaning against her husband and her eyes were too bright.

Duh. Fire Lightfolk, of course her eyes were bright.

Kiri arched her tail under her. An angular pattern spiraled up it, matching some of the dark blue diamond lines on her chest.

“Lovely pattern,” Lathyr said, steadying her.

“Thanks.” She met Jenni’s eyes. “Hey, Jenni, can you hear me?”

“Yes. We have a mic and speaker set up.”

“Oh. Good.”

“I want to talk to you about staying with the Transformation game.”

“I’ll be wanting to work with humans before and after their transitions,” Kiri said.

“Done,” Jenni answered promptly, came up close to the tank wall and stared in. “Please say you still want to work on the game.”

“I
must
work on the game. It’s just not good enough, Jenni.”

The Fire Princess grinned. She breathed on her nails and buffed them on her shirt. “Even my work, very rough, was good enough to snare you.”

“I guess so.” Kiri looked around the place. This was a tank in the water suite. She wished she was in the underwater bedroom with Lathyr instead.

A banging came at the door and a naiad who appeared to be a servant opened it. The King and Queen of Water entered.

They nodded to Jenni and Aric, who left with a nod and a “Later.”

The naiad brought poufy pink chairs for the royal couple to sit on then went out the door when a wave from the king dismissed them.

The royals stared at them and Kiri stared back, glad Lathyr loosely held her with an arm around her waist.

“You took Lathyr with you to the great Pearl,” the Water King said. As always, his fingers were linked with his queen’s, but his whole manner seemed to have changed.

“Yes,” Kiri said. She blinked. He even seemed less crude, more thoughtful, and that she wouldn’t have anticipated. She’d judged him and stuck him in a little cubbyhole and he was defying her expectations.

“I remember the pearl,” the queen said softly, her eyes going dreamy as she looked at her husband. “You took me.”

He met his wife’s eyes and stared into them. “Yes, I did, and I never regretted it.”

She lifted his fingers to her lips and kissed them, a gleam came to her eyes. “Though I don’t think you remember the Pearl as often as you should, or the lesson it teaches,” she chided.

Boundless love for all creatures? Live in the moment? Or lessons that would be revealed later, too? “Lesson?” Kiri whispered.

The queen looked at her. “I think one lesson might be the same, but others are unique to the individual.”

Kiri tried an underwater courteous tail swirl. It went well. She smiled.

The Water King grumbled. To Kiri’s ears it sounded as if he’d started the punctuation as a belch, then decided to change it. “We are pleased you met the great Pearl,” he said. “Demonstrating your magical power and your acceptability as nobles and being included in the royal line. It pleases me that a relative of my lady’s has proven to be as strong as she and as clever.” He looked straight at Lathyr.

Who, of course, bowed. “Thank you.”

“And in succeeding with the royal water quest, you will be awarded lands commensurate with your new status. That doesn’t mean, however, that you are our heirs.” He glared at them, but Kiri didn’t feel any inimical intimidation from the man. “We fully intend to leave Earth for a more magically rich dimension when the gate is opened.”

The queen smiled and hummed with pleasure.

“What?” Kiri asked.

“We have garnered all the magic we can here on Earth and deserve a richer magical realm,” Marin Greendepths said. “The Eight’s current primary project is to create a permanent gate to other dimensions—richer magical dimensions where we—”

“Both we Lightfolk and we humans,” the queen interrupted.

The king grumped, then continued, “Can interact with others. Where magic can flow through.”

“A permanent dimensional gate,” Lathyr breathed. He squeezed Kiri, and she sensed, like her, that he was curious, but loved this planet more than power.

The king smiled with satisfaction. “With the bubbles of magic that were released earlier this year, we Eight have enough magic to build a temporary gate so a true gate creator can come through and establish a permanent one here on Earth.”

Kiri could only think “Wow” and decided it might be too human to say.

Continuing, the Water King said, “The Seamonts remain our heirs. They showed well during the fight with the great Dark one and its execution,” the king said matter-of-factly. He glanced at Lathyr. “Unlike Whitefroth of the North American Great Lakes, who deserted us. She has been removed from her rank, though she has been allowed to remain in the lakes.”

“A wise decision,” Lathyr said.

Marin Greendepths turned his gaze back on Kiri and Lathyr, waved a hand. “It is time for the Seamonts to stay with us and learn our rules and traditions. You Squall-Tricurrents are hereby confirmed as our heirs
after
the Seamonts. Every quest has a reward. For succeeding with that of the Pearl, and becoming royal, you receive a major estate. We hereby convey to you this minor Water Palace here in the Puerto Rico Trench.” He clicked his tongue. “As the humans call it.”

Even without physical contact, Kiri sensed the quick leap of Lathyr’s heart. “Very gracious, Your Majesty,” Lathyr said.

“Thank you,” Kiri managed, her own voice sounding breathless as visions of the gorgeous glass palace flashed through her mind. And fairly close to the States, if not Denver. “Thank you, thank you.” She did the three times thing that Lightfolk preferred.

The Water Queen beamed. “You are most welcome.”

They stood and Kiri did the bow-thing again and it was a lot easier and more graceful in water.

A naiader showed up and opened the door for them, then departed after the couple.

“Wow,” said Kiri.

Lathyr said, “According to Waterfolk traditions, you took me with you on a quest. We fought together, we bled together, we loved together. We are mates.”

Kiri grabbed a strand of his floating hair and tugged his face down to kiss him. “Fine with me.”

She reached out and traced his pattern, the angles and curves, the small dots that showed his special air nature mixed with mer. He shuddered under her hands and returned the gesture until her mind blew apart and they joined in rapture.

Later, she swam to the door of the tank, recalled the spell to drain it. She changed to two-legged form, then human as the water level lowered, all the while holding Lathyr’s hand. Then they stepped through the opening as human. Breathing deeply of the pleasingly fragrant air, she said, “Just think, all of this is ours.”

“We do not need to make haste to claim the royal apartments.”

She chuckled. “No, I don’t think either of us will become as arrogant as the Greendepths. Though I haven’t noticed you being as...obedient...as you were.”

“I am not. We can make our own way, should we care to, in the sea or on land or in between.”

Sighing, she said, “You’re right.”

“Humans have special parties for declaring a mate.”

Kiri blinked. “Weddings?”

“Yes. I would like a wedding. In Mystic Circle. Before Winter.”

“All right.” They discussed the date as they walked to one of the dry rooms in their suite, something she thought the guardians might have furnished especially for them. When they claimed their official chambers, there’d have to be dry portions. She glanced at Lathyr, relaxed her shoulders, knew her expression showed vulnerability. Bracing herself, she said, “Weddings usually include families. Both sides of my family don’t talk to each other.”

He just looked at her, then took her hand and led her to a room she hadn’t been in yet. “Jenni and Aric gifted us with a computer room.”

“Nice.” Under her breath she muttered, “Get notifying my family over with. Fast.”

“And we have a piece of furniture like your friends sat on.” He gestured to a love seat, then fiddled with a mobile computer desk and the laptop on it. He booted up the video conferencing program and pulled Kiri down next to him.

To her astonishment, she easily reached her father and he agreed to give her away and her half siblings were excited to come.

Her mother agreed to attend, too. Probably to show off her new, rich husband, but that was okay. Her half sister wanted to be a bridesmaid, so Kiri said yes.

She turned to Lathyr, stunned. “You didn’t use magic, did you?”

He kissed her hand. “No.”

“I didn’t use magic?”

“No. But you are royal. You carry that in you. People will want to please you.”

“Huh. That was just weird.” She leaned into him. “I want to call Shannon and Averill.”

“Of course.” Once again Shannon and Averill answered quickly. Kiri’s friend laughed when she saw them. “You two look cozy.”

“We’re getting married! The invitations will be going out in a couple of weeks for a ceremony in Mystic Circle.”

Averill toyed with Shannon’s fingers. “In the park?”

“I’d have liked that, but it isn’t big enough for all the people who are coming. The ceremony will take place on the Castle grounds. Dad will be giving me away and he and my stepmom and my half brothers will be there. So will Mom and my stepdad and my half sister.”

Shannon’s brows went up in nearly comical surprise. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen them all together.”

“I don’t think they ever have been,” Kiri said. She glanced at her love. “Lathyr insists.”

“They should act like civilized people,” Shannon said.

Averill laughed, then winked at Kiri. “I always thought I’d give you away.”

“We’d talked about it,” Kiri agreed. “Shannon, you have to be matron of honor.”

“Oh, yeah!” Shannon jumped up and Kiri only saw her swaying torso for a bit.

“On other news, we’re going to stay in Puerto Rico.” Kiri was still too new a merfem to live in the middle of a continent, even if she and Lathyr didn’t have duties. They’d stay in the oceanic trench, but that wasn’t something Kiri could tell her friends. “Enough about us. We can catch up later. Do you have any news?”

Shannon nodded. “We’ve decided on a water birth.”

Kiri’s eyes gleamed. “I bet I can help with that.”

Averill gusted out a breath. “Good. We were always a little wary of asking you to be with us in the birthing room. Didn’t know if you really wanted to help.”

Kiri nodded. “I can do this.” She squeezed Lathyr’s fingers. He hadn’t so much as twitched.

“I’ve been at several births,” he murmured. “You can do this.”

“I know,” Kiri said. “I can’t wait to see you and tell you everything.” She would, someday. She might even talk about
everything
—after all, what else were friends for?

Subjects like the fact that change was scary, but she’d wanted to be more.

And she was. More than human.

More than one, part of a couple.

She’d learned so much, all the way to her cells. Change was scary and inevitable and could be embraced. Respect of others was important but confidence in yourself even more. Life without loving friends was not worth living.

Becoming magical didn’t mean she was allowed to leave her human faults and fears behind, it meant dealing with them.

But she had love now to help her with that, and with becoming magical for the rest of her life.

* * * * *