Chapter 3
M y feet marched over the gravel of our front drive leading up to our two-story home. The first level—reserved for cars and storm surges—remained quiet in the dead of night. The house was likened to a beacon, with its white paneled exterior reflecting the moonlight. I could make out the kitchen light in the second-story window toward the back of the home, and I briefly caught Dad’s worried expression as we ascended the stairs. My growing sense of unease climbed. I had an inkling that this was beyond the men who followed me home from the bar, as was evident by how he entered the house in a sort of panic.
“It’s all right, Dad. I’m home in one piece,” I reassured him. Shutting the front door behind me, I followed him down the hall, but a strange feeling had me twisting around. Something invisible to the eye but detectable to my senses cascaded down from the ceiling to the baseboard. I blinked a few times and looked around but came back with nothing. Without any further hesitation, I hurried after him.
Dad sighed. “It’s not all right, Sher.”
My jaw opened to protest, but went slack when I saw who was in the living room. “Myles?”
Myles Anthysius, my mother’s long-time assistant, drew his gaze from her, his expression morphing from anxious to warm. “Hello, Asherah. It’s a pleasure to see you again.”
I couldn’t recall the last time I’d seen him, but his perfectly combed, peppered brown hair, sculpted dark brows, rich brown eyes, and impeccable dress still all looked the same. He reminded me of a butler, only hotter. I could swear he didn’t age, but it was hard to tell since I didn’t encounter him often. Myles preferred to draw a firm line between business and personal. I’d seen him in passing on occasion after school when work carried over into family time.
Whenever we had family time, that is.
Mom didn’t look up at us. It was as if we hadn’t entered the room. She just continued to pace back and forth in front of my father’s favorite gray sectional, the fluorescent light emanating from the kitchen revealing the dark circles under her eyes and the crease between her brows. Her long legs stepped with effortless grace, and her long, black hair flowed behind her. She looked oddly out of place with her black pencil skirt and pearly white blouse amongst all the nautical decor of their home.
I couldn’t help but take a moment to admire her beauty. Neleah Delmar was a successful businesswoman who was constantly absent from my life for weeks at a time, leaving Dad the task of raising me. While she was there during the most important times of my life—when a girl needed her mother the most—I couldn’t help but feel her absence growing up. The effort she made to call every evening before bed just to let me know how much she loved me was always appreciated. I tried desperately not to hold it against her, but truth be told, I missed having my mother present for my day-to-day life.
I stepped into her peripheral, and Mom’s emerald green eyes shifted to me, her shoulders sagging. “Asherah. Darling. I was so worried.” She wrapped me in a tight embrace. “Those men didn’t do anything to you, did they? Did they approach you?”
I froze. “How did you know about the men at the bar?”
She slowly pulled out of our embrace, her face turning serious. “I’m afraid that is a longer story, one you deserve to hear. But there is no time. We need to leave.”
I lifted my palms in the air. “Wait. Wait. What?” I whipped my head around to Dad. “What’s going on?”
“Cathan, there is no time for this,” Mom cut in.
“Madam, I must insist we go. Your guard will only be able to distract them for so long,” Myles carefully insisted as he rose from the dining table.
My breathing began to accelerate. “What the heck? You have bodyguards now?” I squealed.
Mom’s hands flexed at her side. “Asherah, do you trust me?”
I rubbed my temples. “What kind of a stupid question is that? You’re my mother. Of course, I trust you. Oh, God—”
“Goddess,” murmured Myles.
“Please tell me you haven’t switched careers into drug trafficking or something.”
Her mouth twitched slightly. “Goodness no. My life isn’t that interesting.”
“I beg to differ,” Myles murmured again.
She cupped my face, her eyes pleading. “Please, do as I say. Save the questions for later. I promise to answer all of them. We need to leave.”
“But what about my job?” I questioned. “I leave for California tomorrow.”
“Asherah Ray Delmar. This situation is bigger than your job. It is bigger than us.”
A sudden sense of dread rose from my gut. Dad put a gentle hand on my shoulder. “Sher, we have to go. I’ll be right by your side the entire time.”
“But when will we be back?”
A knock sounded on the front door. Everyone in the room tensed.
“Dax?” Myles asked.
“Possibly,” Dad replied. “I’ll go check.” He dashed from the room while Mom and Myles gathered the suitcase I’d packed earlier. I’d open my mouth to ask why they were in my room when a looming presence at my back captured my attention. I turned, my eyes going wide. An imposing Viking-like man filled the hallway. The muscles of his arms, stacked and ripped, were on full display. His light grey tunic and black trousers looked like something from a Renaissance festival. Dirty blond hair reached to his shoulders, and he had a chin that begged to be sculpted in stone. He was—in short—godlike.
The man’s cobalt blue eyes landed on me, and his jaw fell open. My lifted brow seemed to jolt him out of his shock. He shook his head and bowed to Mom. “Your Maj—”
“Dax, I don’t believe you’ve ever met our daughter,” Dad said, pulling him upright by the shirt. “Asherah, this is Dax, a long-time friend of the family.”
I tilted my head as I inspected Dax from his head to his toes. “Looks pretty young to be a long-time friend.”
Dax beamed, seemingly taking my comment as a compliment.
Dad cleared his throat. “Dax, this is our daughter, Ash.”
Dax’s forehead creased. “Ash?”
“Is there something wrong with Ash?” I questioned.
He blinked repeatedly. “Well, no, Princess. But—”
My body jerked back. “Princess?”
Dax grimaced. “My apologies.”
“It’s alright, Dax,” Mom interjected, glaring at the newcomer. “But we need to save the…formalities for later. Those men could still be out there.”
Dax straightened with a nod. “I searched the perimeter. The other men have searched the surrounding areas. It appears they have fled.”
“For now,” Myles said with a sigh. “I’m assuming the other guards are preparing for departure?”
“Yes, sir. All is prepared. We wait for orders.” Dax glanced at my mother.
“We are ready.” She placed a hand on my back. “This way.”
Mom’s tone left no room for argument. The five of us fled out the sliding glass door at the back of the house and down the stairs to the small yacht tied to our dock. It bobbed back and forth as we silently boarded, Dad leading us toward the interior cabin.
As we stepped inside, I found Dax curiously observing every detail of the room—his brow furrowing at one of the decorative sconces on the wall. His head jerked back as it lit. “Fascinating.” He continued his assessment, moving around the length of the room.
I quietly padded behind him. “First time on a yacht?”
He glanced at me, a wry smile on his lips. “First time above water in a while.”
“Above water?” The yacht gave a violent jerk, and my arms flung out to steady myself.
“Best get settled, Sher bear. The water will be a bit choppy,” Dad said as he strolled into the room.
I sat on the white leather bench that lined the room with the strangest feeling that my whole life was about to get choppy.
The yacht rocked steadily over the water, the black outline of the shore disappearing in the darkness and the evening sky swallowing the distant specks of lights. The walls of the yacht were covered in a luxurious, white wallpaper with floral accents that exhibited a sparkling, barely discernible pattern in the moving light. The living room was luxurious, with comfy leather couches at its center on top of plush white carpeting that had been vacuumed obsessively, as evidenced by the lines still marring the floor. There was still a hint of lemon-scented cleaner in the air. Floor-to-ceiling windows showcased the open ocean, now dark with night. I stared blankly out of them, my arms wrapped tightly around my knees as I watched Dad, Mom, and the wall of muscle, otherwise known as Dax, chatting among themselves in hushed whispers from where they stood on the other side of the room. I couldn’t make out what they were saying, but the occasional glances my way left no doubt that this was about me. By the twelfth glance, I’d had just about enough.
“Can someone please tell me what in the world is going on?” I bellowed. Their heads turned collectively in my direction, a palpable look of concern etched on their faces. However, it was Dax's persistent expression of anger, worn since the beginning of their conversation, that left me perplexed.
Mom wrung her hands. “Yes, dear. Of course. I suppose…well, we’re just trying to figure out the best way to tell you.”
“Seems like that should’ve been taken care of twenty-three years ago,” Dax said.
Dad pointed a finger at him. “She was just a child at the time. Beyond “mama” and “dada,” there wasn’t much comprehending.”
“But surely you could have let her know when she was older. Shown her something.” Dax motioned at me. “Look at her. She’s so…” His face went askew.
I gave him an incredulous look. “I’m so what?”
“Human.”
“That’s quite enough out of you, Dax,” Mom reprimanded.
Dax bowed slightly. “My apologies. I meant no disrespect, my Queen.”
“My…my what ?” I jumped from the bench. “What did you just call her?”
Dad rubbed his hands down his face, letting loose a long sigh. “This is going terribly.”
I came to stand in front of them, my back ramrod straight. “Someone better start being honest about what’s going on. Don’t just ask me to trust you. I need more than that. I deserve more than that. You all took me from my home in the middle of the night, telling me that we needed to leave, and now, we’re in the middle of the ocean with some mountain of muscle telling me that I’m so “human” and calling my mother a “Queen.” Would someone care to explain what the heck is going on?”
Mom sighed, grabbing my hands and squeezing them gently. “My dear, I’m afraid the truth will be a bit of a shock.”
“How shocking,” I quipped.
“I understand you’re frustrated, but try to curb your tone. I understand you’re a young woman now, but I will always be your mother.” She inhaled deeply, seeming to work up the nerve to reveal whatever secret they held from me. “Asherah, there’s a reason why I’m gone all the time, and it’s beyond my role as the CEO of a company. I’m afraid that’s a lie we had to tell you to keep the truth hidden, at least until you were old enough for us to reveal it.”
“And I’m guessing you feel I’m old enough now?” I tried but failed to keep the anger from rising in my tone.
“Yes, darling. You are.” She glanced at Dad, who nodded to her in encouragement. “The reason I’m gone frequently is because I’m greatly needed in my homeland, now more than ever. And I…” She paused to clear her throat. “I am the Queen of Atlantis.”
The waves lapping against the yacht were the only sound in the room for a long minute. “The Queen of Atlantis? Do you mean the resort in the Bahamas? Like, their CEO or something?”
“No, honey. Atlantis, as in the lost city of Atlantis.”
I felt her eyes widen and then busted out laughing. “You’re kidding me, right? Is this some sort of prank?”
“This is no prank.”
I stopped laughing. “No, seriously.”
“We are serious,” Dad confirmed.
I dragged a hand down my face. “This is bullshit.”
“Language, Asherah,” Mom scolded.
“Perhaps it would be better if you just showed her, my love?” Dad suggested.
“Show me what? Atlantis? Are you going to throw me to the bottom of the ocean?”
“If you keep speaking to our Queen that way, you may very well find yourself there quicker than you think,” Dax threatened, his eyes narrowing.
“Not helping,” Dad said, glaring at him. “Neleah, show her.”
She nodded, and her gaze landed back on me. I placed my hands on my hips, waiting in anticipation. Suddenly, my breath caught in my throat. Her hair began to shine, her skin took on a bluish tint, and her eyes gleamed blue like the depths of the ocean. Pointed tips materialized on her ears. The lines creasing her eyes and forehead vanished instantly, revealing a woman who could easily be mistaken for my sister. I couldn’t reconcile just how young her face had become in just a matter of seconds. But what had my heart kicking out of my chest were the bluish-green fishlike scales that flowed down to her wrists from underneath her elbow-length sleeve.
Every inch of her body was rich with indescribable vibrancy, from the color of her hair to the tint of her scales to the color of her eyes. Tiny stars began blanketing my vision.
“We’re going to lose her,” Dax cautioned. He lunged to my side, his arm pressing into the small of my back.
Panic clawed at my throat as my eyelids began to flutter. “Who are you?”
My mother’s spine straightened. “I am, first and foremost, your mother. That will never change. But I am also the Queen of Atlantis, ruler of the Water Fae. And you, my darling daughter, are my Heir.”
The roar of a distant engine grew louder by the second. Mom, Dad, and Dax looked at each other, their eyes going impossibly wide. The quick tap of footsteps raced down the stairway of the cockpit, a panicked Myles meeting the alarmed gazes of the room. “They found us.”
A chill crawled down my spine. “Who are they ?”
“Myles, I need you to prepare Asherah and Cathan for their arrival in Atlantis,” she instructed as her trembling hands reached to cup my face. “There’s no time to explain. I need you to listen to me and listen to me carefully. Whatever happens, I need you to stay with your father and Myles.”
“I’m not leaving you,” Dad pleaded.
She straightened to her full height. “You can and you must. One of us must see her safely to Atlantis, and it can not be me. Dax will be with me. I trust him implicitly and have my whole life. Besides, I will do what I must to resolve this diplomatically.”
Something terrifying began to consume me as I watched my father’s face fall. “Neleah, you know the Fire Fae are not here for diplomacy.”
“We must not be the aggressor. It would drag our people into a war they didn’t ask for. I will not allow it.”
“Cathan, I will protect her with my life,” Dax swore.
“Then I risk losing my mate and my best friend in one night,” Dad wrung his hand through his hair. “This is insanity. I can’t do this. I cannot leave you all.”
The rumbling from the approaching boat vibrated through the cabin. Mom closed her eyes, a tear escaping down her cheek. “We knew this might happen. Please. Please do not make this any harder. For Asherah’s sake. You need to be there for her if something happens to me.”
“But we can all leave together. Now.”
“I have made my decision,” she said, her voice leaving no room for argument. “You are to bring Asherah to the gates and wait for me there.”
Dad stiffened, his hands dropping to his sides with clenched fists. “Is that a command?”
“Yes.” Her lips trembled, the tears flowing freely now.
A sigh escaped his lips as his hair began to shine unnaturally. His skin transformed into scales stopping below his collarbone, just like my mother’s. His deep brown eyes glowed amber and pointed tips appeared atop his ears. A youth he didn’t hold a minute earlier graced his features from head to toe. He bent at the waist. “As you wish, my Queen.” Dad flicked his head toward me. “Unbind her.”
Mom reached forward, her arms wrapping tightly around him. As she pulled back, she kissed him fiercely before twisting to me and placing her hand on the crown of my head. A thick liquid trickling energy traveled from her palm over my entire body, causing me to draw a sharp breath. The strands of my hair gleamed, and the tips of my ears itched. The energy moved like a slow drip over my collarbone, breasts, and hips. It continued down my legs until my feet felt too tight in my shoes. I swiveled to my reflection in the window illuminated by the soft glow of the cabin lights, and my breath snagged. “I have scales,” I breathed.
“Dearest goddess,” Dax whispered. His eyes were firmly on me in his reflection in the darkened window, his own ears peeking through the curtain of shining blond hair. “There is no mistaking the likeness.”
I frowned as the scales disappeared, my own skin appearing again.
“Shit. She’s not holding them,” Dad said in a panic.
“We knew this might happen,” she warned. “I’ll have to compel her. Swim with her to the gates as fast as you can. There’s no telling if the Akani are with this lot.”
My father’s fingers dug into my shoulder. “We need to go.”
I shifted my gaze to my mother, and my vision blurred. “Mom?”
Her arms came around me in a tight hug. “You are the best thing to ever happen to me,” she whispered. “My greatest achievement above all else. I love you. Always.” She pulled back, the tears welling in her firm gaze. “Listen to your father.” Heavy thuds sounded from above, quickening in our direction. Her lips wobbled as she placed her hands on top of my head. “Sleep.”
And the world went dark.