Neridia’s fist was shaking on her pearl pendant. She bowed her head, and said nothing.
“You are wrong,” John’s own fists were shaking too, though with rage. It took all his control not to smash the shark’s teeth straight down his lying throat. “Neridia, my heart, my mate, do not listen-“
“Mate?” the Master Shark said sharply. “You are mates?”
“Yes.” Regardless of the breach of protocol, John placed a possessive, protective hand on Neridia’s shoulder. “I am the Empress-in-Waiting’s mate. And so I know, know, that you are lying. She is a true dragon.”
The Master Shark ran a hand through his close-cropped grey hair, his mouth tightening. “This is a complication I could have done without.”
Join the club, John’s inner human muttered.
The shark lord sighed, dropping his hand. “I had hoped to persuade you to escape your knightly keeper,” he said to Neridia. “To disappear permanently into the human world. But I suspect you will not be willing to abandon your mate.”
Neridia covered John’s hand on her shoulder with her own, squeezing it. “You’ve got that right.”
“Your cowardly plans come to nothing yet again, traitor,” John said to the shark. “You cannot separate us. Even your power is as nothing compared to our bond.”
“And so history repeats.” The Master Shark’s mouth twisted ironically. “And it seems I repeat my role.”
“What do you mean by that?” Neridia asked warily.
“As I helped your father, so do I help you.” The Master Shark pulled his pearl pendant out from beneath his shirt. “If you wish it, I will give you this.”
Neridia stared down at the gleaming pearl, slowly turning on its chain. “I thought you said that was another pearl of concealment. I’ve already got one.”
The Master Shark tilted his head at John. “But he does not.”
Neridia gasped. “We could both disappear.”
John was speechless with outrage. Only the thought of attracting the attention of the humans still surrounding them stopped him from snatching the pearl from the shark lord and crushing it under his heel, there and then.
How dare he? How dare he?
“I will give you a day to decide.” The Master Shark turned, starting to walk away. “Ignore my warning, go to Atlantis, swim straight down the gullets of your enemies…or hide. Live out your lives on land. Be happy together.”
“Like my father wanted,” Neridia whispered, barely audible.
“Yes.” The shark lord paused, glancing back over his shoulder. “He gave his life to keep you safe. Don’t let his sacrifice be in vain.”
Chapter 21
“I cannot understand why you are still contemplating his so-called offer!” John looked like he would very much like to punch something, preferably the Master Shark. “It is clearly a trap. He would say or do anything to keep you from the Throne!”
“But what if he’s telling the truth?” Neridia shot back, her own fists clenching with frustration. “I don’t understand why you won’t even consider the possibility that he might not be lying!”
They’d taken refuge in a small pub called The Full Moon, at John’s insistence. He’d explained that it was a shifter-only establishment, and it was clear he considered it to be the most secure location in Brighton. Neridia hadn’t been impressed by the old, dingy building from the outside, but the interior had turned out to be surprisingly snug, with old oak beams and comfortable chairs.
The Full Moon was owned by Rose, the beautiful, middle-aged black woman Neridia had briefly encountered at Griff’s wedding. When they’d walked into the bar, Rose had taken one look at them both, immediately shooed out the few mid-afternoon customers, and turned the sign on the door round to CLOSED. Then she’d called the other firefighters of Alpha Team.
At the time, Neridia had been grateful for the additional protection. Now, however, she could have done without the audience.
Dai and Chase were fidgeting uncomfortably, exchanging uneasy glances. Hugh had the expression of a man who’d rather be neck-deep in bodily fluids than where he was now. Rose was looking back and forth between John and Neridia like someone who’d placed a very large bet on the outcome of a tennis match, and didn’t like the way it was going. Only Ash still appeared as cool and unperturbed as ever.
Neridia took a deep breath, trying to rein in her emotions. “Look,” she said to John, more calmly. “I know you don’t like it, but the Master Shark’s story does hang together. When I glimpsed him at my dad’s house, four years ago? My dad did say that he was an old friend who’d unexpectedly dropped by. He seemed genuinely delighted to see him again. I think they really were oath-brothers.”
John opened his mouth, his expression thunderous, but Neridia didn’t give him a chance to voice his objection. “And if the Master Shark is telling the truth about that,” she forged on, “maybe he’s telling the truth about everything else too.”
John slammed his fist down onto the polished oak bar, making pint glasses jump and clatter. “And maybe he is not! You cannot seriously be contemplating throwing away your birthright, throwing away everything that you are, on the word of a shark!”