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Lion
I had to save her.
The water was pouring into the ship, and I had to move. I’d hit my head when we nailed the water, but I was going to be okay. It was my leg that was the problem, really. Somehow, I managed to make my way to Asherah, but we were sinking fast. The ship was heavy and it was damaged. This wasn’t going to be some slow descent beneath the water.
We were going down and we were going down now.
Asherah was screaming for me, but the space around me was spinning.
Focus.
I needed to focus.
First things first: she was bound to the chair. I managed to get my bearings enough to get over to Asherah. The ropes that bound her to the chair felt like fire. No wonder they were so effective. How was I going to get them off?
Then I remembered seeing Dolion. That bastard hadn’t been shot to death. The queen mother may have had a laser gun, but she’d stabbed him to death with a knife. I left Asherah long enough to reach her mother’s body. I felt around until I found what I was looking for. Once the knife was in my hands, I hurried back to her and sliced.
“Lion!” Asherah screamed as soon as she was free. She threw her arms around me. I hugged her back quickly.
“We have to move,” I told her firmly. We had to go now. The two of us were going to have to swim to the surface, but she couldn’t breathe beneath the water and I had a serious leg issue.
This was going to get very complicated very fast.
We didn’t have to wait long, though. The leak in the bottom of the ship was strong enough that there was already water up to our shins, but now the small door to the ship burst and the space filled with water. “Hold your breath!” I called out as we were submerged beneath the water.
This was it.
This was my chance to save her.
I hadn’t always been a good husband. I hadn’t always been the best citizen or the best guard. There were plenty of times when I’d failed at taking care of things, but I wasn’t going to fail at this. I was going to rescue her. The two of us were going to make it.
Failure was not an option.
I grabbed Asherah and wrapped one arm around her. With the other, I propelled us forward and out of the opening of the ship. My leg ached and I was sure it was going to be fucked beyond belief for a long-ass time to come, but I didn’t care. I just had to get her to the surface of the water. As soon as we were out of the ship, though, I realized just how far we had to go.
I would be fine, but Asherah...
Well, she had me.
I wasn’t going to let her die.
Her eyes were closed as we swam toward the surface. She moved her arms, but I could tell that she’d never actually done any swimming before. Undoubtedly this was thanks to her mom trying to handicap her even more. Awesome.
As we swam toward the surface, I periodically stopped to kiss her and breathe air into her lungs. This wouldn’t work for very long, but it kept her conscious and alive as I kept swimming, kept fighting, kept moving. Oceaileans with water tattoos did this all the time when they took non-water breathing children beneath the surface. We could make this work.
Soon I could see the sun shining through the surface of the water. Soon I could see that we weren’t alone. Hope started to feel my heart as I realized that we were going to make it. We were.
Jasper must have called for help because there were divers from Malum swimming down toward us. Someone reached us and I gestured for them to take Asherah. One of the divers attached something to her face to allow her to breathe properly, and she instantly opened her eyes and gasped into the little machine.
It’s going to be okay. I couldn’t speak to her, but I thought really, really hard at her. You’re going to be just fine, princess.
*
“WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING on?” Alixei strode into the room without actually knocking. He looked around at the medical team who were stationed in various positions around me and Asherah. There were people checking our vitals, tending to our injuries, and of course, examining the place where Asherah’s mom had shot me in the leg.
“Nice to see you, too,” I grimaced as someone poked at my leg. Shit. I needed better painkillers for this kind of slow torture. I wished that Andryssi had splurged for something better or stronger. Then again, maybe this was as strong as they came.
Alixei marched over to my side, grabbed both sides of my face, and kissed me right on the damn mouth.
“What the fuck?” I snapped when he pulled away.
“Don’t ever fucking scare me like that again,” he told me firmly.
“Don’t kiss me on the mouth, weirdo!”
“I’ll do what I like,” he said. “Just be glad I didn’t choke you.”
I frowned. He had a bit of a reputation for grabbing people by the throat. It was weird, really, and nobody liked it very much. Well, maybe his wife, April, did. I didn’t want to know about that.
“You’re alive,” he said.
“As are you.”
“I heard you let the prince get killed, though,” he said, cocking his head.
“I wouldn’t say I let him get killed.”
“Lion, we had one job: get the prince to the queen.”
“The queen wasn’t there,” I told him. Ignoring the people around us who were working on keeping me alive, I glanced over to see Asherah. She was asleep, as she had been for the last hour or two. The medical staff assured me that she was alive, but she was exhausted from what had happened. Quickly, I filled Alixei in on everything that had gone down.
“Woah,” he said, letting out a breath. “So you’re telling me that the queen was willing to kill everyone just to stay the queen?”
“It wouldn’t be the first time a monarch has gone rogue,” King Andryssi said, striding into the room. His wife, Queen Lane, was beside him. The two of them marched over to me. Andryssi kept his eyes on me, but Lane’s gaze roamed over to Asherah. Lane squeezed my hand, letting me know she was here, and then she moved over to the woman I loved. Good. I was glad someone was going to make sure she was okay.
“Tell him what you told me,” Alixei encouraged me. Quickly, I recounted my story.
“This is the most I’ve ever heard you speak,” Andryssi told me, frowning. “I’m not sure that I like it very much.”
I rolled my eyes. “Of course not. You’d rather let chokey-boy be the one to dictate how things work.”
“What? Is that my nickname?” Alixei glared. “Please don’t tell me that’s actually my nickname.”
“It’s not,” said Grixei, Alixei’s sister, walking into the room. She smiled as she came over and placed a hand on my shoulder. At that point, the doctors and nurses gave up on treating me and all backed up to let my friends find out how I was doing.
“You’re here,” I said to her. “I’m surprised. Heard you’ve been a bit busy making your brother worry.”
“Something like that,” she said. “Heard you’ve had a bit of a time yourself.”
Once more, I shared the story of my great adventure and what had happened. This time, I even included the fact that I’d long-ago been married and had gotten water tattoos that let me breathe beneath the surface of the water.
“You mean to tell me you’ve been able to breathe underwater this whole time?” Andryssi snapped. “Do you know that I could have had you recovering lost treasure and shipwrecks and things like that?”
“I’m not your bitch,” I said, “and treasure hunting is not in my job description.” It came out a little more harshly than I intended for it to. Andryssi’s eyes narrowed at me in a silent warning. I might not have been his bitch, but he was still the king, and he was still in charge of me. I was his guardian, after all.
I had a feeling that was going to change, though. From what I’d overheard of the medical staff, the shot to my leg had severely damaged it. The chances of me being able to run again were next to nothing. I wouldn’t make a very good guard if I couldn’t run.
Then again, maybe it was time for me to hang up my guardian’s hat. I glanced over to where Asherah was still resting. She really was incredible, and not just because she was now the heir to the Oceailean throne. She was smart and she was clever and she was brave as hell.
“I’m pretty sure her uncle figured out what was going on with the queen,” I told them. “I don’t think he was the one who killed Dex. I think the queen hired someone. Dolion just happened to figure things out and came out to confront her.”
“I think so, too,” Andryssi confirmed. “We finally managed to track when he landed, and you arrived shortly after he did. He must have found her fast and she killed him right away.” He cleared his throat. “We’ll have the ship brought up and the bodies recovered for proper burial.”
I knew why he was doing this. They might have been terrible people, but they were still royalty. The people of Oceaile would want a chance to bury their queen and the late king’s brother. They’d want to bury Dex, too. There would be quite a few funerals to arrange when we got back to Oceaile.
I stiffened at the thought.
We?
When had I decided that I was going to go back?
Only, when I looked over at Andryssi and Alixei, I could tell that they already knew what I was thinking, and I didn’t get the feeling that they were upset with me for it.
Grixei moved over to Asherah’s bed, leaving me with my two companions. Alixei was my friend, and Andryssi was my king, but I still thought of him as a friend. I wasn’t sure when that started happening.
“I love her,” I told them quietly.
They both smiled.
“Andryssi, I don’t think I can be your guardian anymore,” I said firmly. “My leg is beyond fucked up.”
“That’s okay, brother,” he placed a hand on my shoulder. “Oceaile is a beautiful place filled with wonderful people. They’re going to be lucky as hell to have you as their king.”
I looked up at him and nodded. I didn’t care about the king part, but I did want to marry the princess Asherah, I realized. I wanted her to be the queen, and I wanted to worship her even more than her people would.
She was everything to me, I realized, and I was crazy about her.