Warriors of Poseidon 01 - Atlantis Rising by authors_sort

endearments."
     
    Conlan shifted to stand between the two men. The last thing he needed was his two most trusted advisors bashing each other's brains out. "Calm down, Ven. You've gotta be a role model for my warriors, right?"
     
    Ven snorted. "I am a role model in all things that matter. But standing emotionless and icy in the face of seriously deep trouble is not my style. I'm more a 'take names and kick ass' kind of guy."
     
    He paused for a moment, slamming his daggers back in their sheaths. "And agreeing that we take a human to Atlantis? Especially now, when the Trident is in the hands of the enemy? I repeat, you're both out of your fucking minds."
     
    Shaking his head, Ven nonetheless stepped back and away, sweeping an arm out as if to urge Alaric to continue.
     
    Alaric shrugged. "Knowledge is power. The human has powers that are unknown to us.
    If she truly can convey emotion over the mind path, then she must be studied and analyzed for the source of that ability."
     
    Atlantis Rising – Warriors of Poseidon 01
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    Ven started to interrupt, but Alaric held up a hand. "Not to mention the potential enormity of a weapon with the power to bring a warrior of such strength and mental shielding as Conlan to his knees," he said, his tone clinically dispassionate.
     
    Conlan made a growling sound low in his throat, surprising himself and, from the looks of it, everyone around him. "You would dissect Riley in a laboratory, if you believed that was the only way to understand her gifts, wouldn't you?"
     
    Alaric raised one eyebrow. "Riley? You know her name?"
     
    Fury rising, Conlan clenched his fists until his knuckles turned white, fighting to regain enough composure to speak. "You. Will. Not. Touch. Her," he gritted out.
     
    Alaric immediately held his hands out, palms facing down, as if to show that he intended no harm. He lapsed back into formal speak, perhaps realizing the threat from Conlan. "I sense a disturbance in the elements surrounding us, and yet you showed no outward sign until now. As I am unlike your human, and cannot sense emotions, you must explain your reaction to my words."
     
    Conlan forced his hands to unclench and took cleansing breaths. "I don't even know if I can explain. Or, if I could, that I would want to."
     
    He shook his head, trying to clear it. His mind involuntarily reached out to touch Riley's restlessly sleeping consciousness. That simple touch calmed him a little.
     
    Just enough to piss him off. What the hell was going on?
     
    "I need time to understand it, myself," he admitted.
     
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    Ven broke in. "Alaric, surely you must see that our most important job is to retrieve the Trident, not play babysitter to some human female. I like humans myself, Conlan, and have enjoyed many a happy hour with them."
     
    Conlan's brother flashed a wolfish grin. "Hell, sometimes with two of 'em at a time. I've even defended thousands of them from the vamps and the damn shapeshifters over the centuries. But you don't see me going around staking out their houses."
     
    Someone barked out a laugh. Conlan's gaze whipped down the line of his warriors.
    Bastien. Of course. He was too damn big to be afraid of anything. Even the wrath of two Atlantean princes.
     
    Damn. He had to admire the sheer balls of the man.
     
    Conlan turned back to Ven, nodded. "You're right. But this one is different. She may have the ability to be used as a weapon against me—against any of us—and how can that be good?"
     
    The part of his brain where duty gave way to need shouted out at him. And I want her. I will have her.
     
    Duty be damned.
     
    "Agreed," Alaric replied, startling Conlan. But of course Alaric was responding to his words, not his thoughts.
     
    Or so Conlan hoped. If the priest had mastered thought-mining, the politics of Atlantis were headed for a big pile of reeking whale shit.
     
    Alaric's gaze never flickered. "She could