Triton was lit up like a star on Broadway when they approached, so Kai cut their speed and reached for the radio. “What the hell’s going on, Barney?”
“The coast guard said they found something and they want all our people off,” Barney whispered as if he wasn’t alone. “Are you guys close? This shit’s getting intense.”
“We’re close, so don’t let anyone push you around.”
“If someone punches me I want a raise.”
“What else could they have found?” Vivien said with her arm around her waist. “The boxes were bad enough.”
“Did you bring your phone?” She had the engines set to the lowest speed that propelled them forward. Vivien held up the device so she relinquished the wheel. “Make a loop around from the east, then park it.”
“Why not go right in?” Vivien did as she asked despite the question.
“I want to see if they’ve got divers in the water. Look for lights away from the rig, because if something else was attached to Triton we would’ve spotted it.” She stepped away and typed a text message, erasing it when she was sure it’d been sent. “Thanks,” she said, handing it back. “Call your dad and see if anything else has been reported to him.”
“Has anything like this ever happened to you in any other situation?”
“There’s always some strangeness on every job, but this is a first.” Vivien didn’t leave her side as she spoke to Winston, and when she stared in the direction Kai pointed, she saw a line of light in the water. “Keep circling but don’t get too far away.”
“Why?” Vivien asked not moving.
“I don’t think these guys are planning to share with us what they found, so I’m going to go peek. I won’t get too close, so don’t worry—in and out so we have a clue as to what’s happening.”
“They might shoot you, too, so I don’t want you to go,” Vivien said before blowing out a long breath. “But I guess I can’t stop you.”
“You can if you asked nicely, but I also don’t want you to lose Triton.”
“Be careful at least.”
It would’ve been easier to go over the side unencumbered, but she had no choice but to strap on a tank and put on a mask. The darkness didn’t bother her as she swam as fast as she could toward the lights, and after a few minutes she didn’t see divers but Triton’s unmanned subs. They were hovering over a spot, and she cursed when she focused on what it was.
A command module that resembled an upside-down mushroom was floating in about eighty feet of water, from what she could tell in the inky water and with no moonlight. Again the object appeared to be theirs but a more antiquated version of what was in their arsenal. The info the boxes were collecting was evidently being recorded into this and sharing it. It was like an office’s server, and the boxes were workstations. If she could get close enough she could find the answer to so many questions—the most important being who was responsible for all this.
She couldn’t pull the brains out of the thing without appearing in the sub’s video feed, so for now she’d have to think of something else, but she had time. The unmanned subs were in the water for only one reason: the coast guard didn’t know what the hell this was. When you were afraid of something in the water, the government wasn’t any different than the rest of the world—it proceeded cautiously.
She swam back to Vivien more confused than ever, since she and her team couldn’t have missed something like this given all the time they’d been in the area. The boxes were at times hard to find unless you were tuned into them, but a command module sent out a stronger signal.
“Hey,” she said, tossing her mask aboard the Sea Dreamer.
“Find anything?” Vivien peered down at her with what Kai assumed was worry.
“A big something but they’ve got it surrounded.” Vivien grabbed her tank so she could come up. “Let’s dock so we can make some calls.”
“Is it another clump of boxes?” Vivien put a towel over her shoulders and gave her a quick kiss.
“This is something bigger and looks like the capsules from the Apollo flights. Now that I’ve seen it, they’ll speed up their timeline to get it out of here without telling us anything.”
“Did they see you?”
“They don’t have anyone in the water, but once we make the first call or ask the first question, the jig is up, as they say.” She wondered if this would be some of the last moments she’d spend with Vivien. A quest was important to everyone in the realm since it officially finished your education and prepared you for your future, but security would reign over all that once she reported this situation. “The subs are down there, so they probably don’t know what it is either.”
“You think they’ll boot us back onshore for good now?” Vivien stood next to her as she guided them back to Triton.
“This is a bizarre set of circumstances, so probably yes. Might save your dad a trip back out here.”
“Promise me you won’t disappear on me,” Vivien said softly, and the need in her plea made Kai want to hold her.
“I wouldn’t do that to you,” she said, and she meant it.
*
“Highness, we patrolled the area yesterday and that wasn’t there,” team leader Edil Oliver said to Galen and Hadley by video link.
“Did it drop from the sky?” Hadley asked, making Galen poke her for the sarcasm.
“No, ma’am.”
“I’m more interested now in what we’re going to do about it,” Galen said before the blame game got going.
“The coast guard has the unmanned subs monitoring it, so we’ve kept our distance, but we plan to get close enough to stick a probe in it and backtrack the information. Once we know who, it’ll be easier to ask why. Both of you have my apologies for this failure. If you’d like to replace me, I’d certainly understand.”
Galen wanted to do just that, but Hadley took her hand, which calmed her. “Throw yourself on your triton later, Edil. Right now we just need you to do your job,” Hadley said without a trace of humor.
The screen went blank without them dismissing Edil, so they both leaned forward, knowing why. Galen’s emotions swelled when she saw Kai’s face on the screen, but she took a deep breath to tamp down the urge to sob in relief. From the surroundings, Kai wasn’t on the Salacia, but she didn’t appear tense or afraid.
“Highnesses,” Kai said with her fist over her chest as she bowed slightly. Their child was only this formal when she knew they weren’t alone and she was acting in an official capacity. “I’m sure you’ve heard about what was found, so I was reporting in for instructions.”
“How—” Hadley said.
“Vivien and I were on the water and saw the lights from the unmanned subs. I took a quick look but stayed out of camera range.”
For all the times she was glad Kai was like Hadley in most things, Galen didn’t care for her need to jump into anything without much thought. “Has the Salacia picked up on anything?” she asked as she studied Kai’s face for signs of anything amiss. She wanted to call Kai home before any real danger presented itself, but she had to balance her maternal instincts with her daughter’s future and how the realm would view her.
“Can I speak to you two privately for a moment?” Kai asked, as if reading her mind.
The room cleared instantly, and Hadley sighed as she tightened her grip on her hand. If anyone in the realm had worshipped Kai from her first breath, it was Hadley. “Kai, don’t take this as a criticism, considering I would’ve done the same thing, but think before you act from now on,” Hadley said softly. “I’m your mother’s consort, so if something happens to me she’ll still be queen and the realm will survive, as will she, but you are our future. Our people need you to survive this or anything else that’s found.”
“I promise to let Edil’s team handle the underwater missions, but I don’t want to be locked in my room at home either.”
“Is it about your purpose there, or is this about Vivien Palmer?” she asked, Oba’s warnings on her mind.
“Both,” Kai said, crossing her arms over her chest. “I won’t abandon her or the goals I’ve set. If I leave now, Vivien will be more lost than before, and I won’t do that to her. Not again.”
“Kai, we’d never presume to arrange a union for you, but…” Galen said.
“I know the rules better than anyone in the realm, Mom, but you can’t order me not to care about her and what happens to her.”
Galen knew in that moment that Kai wouldn’t come back the same. Vivien Palmer had somehow woven a spell that she’d cast years before, and Kai was happy to be mesmerized. She’d had her suspicions back then, since Kai had risked leaving the water for her out of all the mortals she had swum by in her life. Something about Vivien had called to her, and Kai had listened like a sailor following a siren’s song.
“All right,” she said as a coldness settled in her chest that made her place her hand over her heart. “Remember well what Oba told you. We will love you no matter what path you choose, but our choices are so much more catastrophic than most when they are different than what’s expected.”
“I know my place, and more importantly, I know my fate. Trust me enough to not betray you and everyone else on a whim,” Kai said with a smile that made her appear more sad than pleased. “I love you both, and I’ll be back when I’m done.”
“Take care, tadpole, and we love you too,” Hadley said, and the screen went blank.
“She’ll remember everything, right?” Galen needed reassurance.
“Kai will no more betray you than I will,” Hadley said as she helped her to her feet so she could hug her. “She’ll need us when she returns, though, to help her heal the crack in her heart that will happen when she leaves the woman she loves.”
“Do you think it will heal?”
Hadley pulled back so she could see her face. “Do you want me to lie?”
She shook her head, in no mood to be coddled.
“If she loves as fiercely as I love you, then no. Time will dull anything, but it will not make you forget.” Hadley pressed her hand to her cheek. “That’s my answer, but yours might be different when it comes to love.”
“If I lost you, an eternity wouldn’t dull the pain. That would shatter my will to go on, so I pray to the goddess she doesn’t fall that deep into Vivien’s abyss.”