“I’ll call him,” he said and jumped up to find his phone in his pants. He called Keion and I heard him ask about the flight. He ended the call and smiled.
“He’s coming. He said he came by once already and heard us so decided not to come in.”
“Hmph,” I said, still not happy with Keion. He had allowed my brother to be captured by our mother and he was now in grave danger. I decided to punish him with that news when he finally opened the door.
“About time. You realize that Adan is in danger, don’t you?”
His face blanched, but I kept on. “Our mother wants him to die in that cage and let the coral cover his bones.”
Keion got such a look of horror on his face that immediately I felt remorse.
“We can save him though, if we do this right,” I hastened to say, before he started to cry or something and make me feel even worse.
He looked up at me. “I’ll save him if I have to give up my own life.”
“Probably not going to come to that,” I said, not looking over at Alyx in case I saw something in his eyes that would embarrass me even more. “Okay, go ahead—what did you find out?”
“I have us on a flight leaving in two hours. Can you be ready by then?”
“Of course.” I jumped to my feet and then just stood there, not knowing what to do next. Thankfully, Alyx rescued me. “You never really unpacked much. I’ll go and get your things from the room the servants put them in. Get dressed and I’ll be right back to get my own bag.”
He hurried out, with Keion right behind him. I guess he didn’t want to stay there in the room with me and have me go after him again. I couldn’t blame him. I went over to Alyx’s closet and helped myself to some of his pants and a shirt. Shoes too—the whole thing. By the time Alyx came back I was sitting on the bed waiting impatiently.
He rushed in, headed straight for the bathroom where I heard the shower running. I went to his closet and got an outfit out for him that I thought I wanted him to wear and laid it on the bed. In five minutes, he was back, looking delicious with his wet hair and water droplets still clinging to his shoulders. I motioned toward the bed.
“I have your clothes laid out.”
He frowned down at them. “I hate that shirt. I meant to take it back, because it’s too tight.”
“I like it and I want you to wear it.”
He flushed but nodded, moving over to pull it on. I’d picked him out some tight jeans too, and I couldn’t wait to see how his ass looked in them. I started pulling other things out of the closet for him and putting them in a suitcase I found in there too. By the time he was ready, I had him all packed up.
He never said a word—he was a fast learner. He slung the bag over his shoulder and held out a hand to me. “Are you ready to go?”
“I am,” I said, and ignored his hand to walk out the door with my head high.
At last, we were headed back to our home.
****
The flight took only two and a half hours, and then we were landing in Miami. The airport was huge and busy. I clung to Alyx’s hand this time, and we rushed through the airport and out to a waiting car. Keion had arranged for the car to take us directly to the docks, where he had rented a boat. And what a boat it was. It was a huge and luxurious yacht, but I asked no questions about cost. I knew the Atlanteans were rich beyond imagining with a wealth of Spanish gold, silver and jewelry, just like my own Mer people were, though not quite to the same degree. Alyxsander and Keion were from a rich, noble family and had no doubt earned a lot of money themselves in their service to the king.
We boarded the yacht and got underway immediately. I stayed on the deck as we sailed out north into the Atlantic, headed for the last known location of Beathag’s lair. Alyx stood beside me and when I asked, he told me how his injury on his knee had really happened. There had been a vicious encounter with the Hag and the sea creatures at her command. He’d been bitten by a Great White, but luckily for him, it had been a glancing blow of those deadly teeth, and Alyx had escaped with his life. He lost so much blood, however, that his brother and the other warriors had kept him alive with their magic until they could get him back to Atlantis to be healed.
He still wasn’t a hundred percent and still needed a cane to get around. I shuddered at the idea that I could have lost him and never reconnected with him at all. My mother had so many crimes to answer for. I didn’t think I could ever come close to forgiving her.
Alyx was quiet and brooding a bit, and I knew he didn’t like the idea of me going after my brother though for me, that was non-negotiable. To distract him, I asked about the crew.
“Won’t they think it odd to drop us off in the middle of the ocean?” I asked.
He glanced at me and gave a shrug of his shoulders. “These humans are being paid well enough that they shouldn’t have to think at all,” he said, and I smiled. There was the old Alyx I knew and loved. For a while there, I thought I’d broken him.
We stayed out on deck until the wind turned cold and the Miami skyline had vanished, and then we went inside to luxurious lounge. Right away, stewards came with trays of drinks and food. It was nothing I was used to, though Alyx and Keion seemed to take it in stride. I could enjoy it while it lasted, though, and proceeded to do just that.
Afterward, while Alyx and Keion talked quietly, I got up and stretched. “I think I’ll go find a room to lie down in for a while.”
Alyx started to jump to his feet, but I waved him back down. “It’s fine—stay here with your brother. I still get a little tired easily. I’ll take a nap and you can wake me if you need me for anything.”