Atlantis Awakening by Alyssa Day Page A

path.”
    Ven took a step toward the priest. “You are and have been my friend, Alaric. But be warned. If you threaten Erin again, I will come after you with everything I’ve got.”
    â€œHey! Not so helpless here,” Erin said, indignant, but the queen-to-be put a hand on her arm and shook her head.
    Alaric and Ven never even spared her a glance, still caught up in some kind of intense, silent communication with each other. Finally Alaric nodded. “So that is the way of it. I had my concerns when I saw the Flame of Poseidon in your eyes. We need to discuss this in a war council before you go any further with helping the witches against Caligula. It may be that she will be your fatal weakness.”
    Erin was tired of being talked about as if she weren’t there. She shook the woman’s hand off her arm and moved forward to confront Alaric. “What is the Flame of Poseidon? And if you’re going to discuss anything that has to do with Caligula and our alliance, you’d better be damned sure that I’m part of your war council.”
    A tiny noise had the three of them whirling around to see the queen bent over, clutching her stomach, clearly in pain. “Alaric, Ven, please…please help me,” she cried out. “Something is wrong—I can feel it. Something is wrong with the baby.”
    Before she’d spoken the second please , Ven had swept her up in his arms. “Shh, Lady Riley,” he murmured against her hair. “Shh, my dear one. All will be fine. The maidens of the Temple will help you and the baby.”
    He shot a glance at Erin and Alaric. “Please bring her to the Nereid Temple, Alaric.” With that, he leapt up into the air in one powerful bound and shimmered into mist around Riley, so that it looked as though an iridescent, fast-moving cloud carried her rapidly away from them.
    Erin gasped at the sight. “It’s so beautiful when he—” She stopped midsentence and shook her head at the irrelevant thought, then looked up at the priest, whose narrowed eyes told her he was extremely anxious about Riley. “Will she be okay? And the baby?”
    A horrifying thought seared into her mind, and she thought she might vomit up all that ocean water she’d swallowed a few hours earlier. “I didn’t—I didn’t cause this with my magic, did I?”
    He shook his head, the grim look in his eyes softening for a brief moment. “No, you did not, though it goes far to reassure me as to your character that it would count among your concerns. Riley is having a difficult pregnancy and, for all my power, I am helpless to assist in her healing.”
    She had the feeling he hadn’t really meant to share quite that much with her, because the lines in his face deepened as he clenched his jaw shut.
    â€œIs there anything I can do to help?” she offered, knowing that if a powerful high priest of Poseidon couldn’t fix it, there wasn’t going to be much she could do.
    At least he didn’t laugh in her face. He just shook his head, closing his eyes as if to keep her from seeing too much of his pain. “No, there is nothing—”
    His eyes snapped open. “Wait. There may be something. The history of the Nereid Temple…You are a gem singer—”
    â€œWhat? First my coven leaders told me I was a gem singer, but they didn’t know much more than that. I’m part elvenfolk and, well, maybe part Atlantean. But what does it mean? What am I?”
    Ignoring her questions, he grabbed her arm and said, “Hold on.” Then he swept her into his arms and leapt into the air just as Ven had done with Riley. Erin let out a huge whoop of surprise and grabbed on to his neck with all her strength. But instead of carrying her in a cloud of shining mist, Alaric went one better and did some kind of stomach-wrenching Atlantean transporter thing. Because not two seconds later, they were