Olympic Cove 2-Breaker Zone (43 page)

Fergus tilted his trident in ironic
salute. “My duties are to oversee the safety of the grotto and its inhabitants,
First Elder,” he said. “Once I was confident that the accident at the transfer
station was indeed an accident, I ordered my people to come to the assistance
of one of this grotto’s citizens.”

“The Bearer of the Rod of Asclepius,
while a minion of a god, is not a citizen of this grotto.”

“No, but both his mates are, and by
rights of the mating bond that citizenship is also extended to him,” Fergus
pointed out. “In any case, First Elder, my actions weren’t in support of the
Bearer. They were in support of my ranger.” He nodded at Aidan. “If one of my
people are in danger, it is my sworn duty to do anything I can to assist them.
That’s in the Captain’s Charter, if you wish to refresh your memory.”

Eine’s jaw muscles tightened. “I wish to
get to the bottom of this regrettable contretemps where a junior member of this
council took it upon himself to shirk his sworn duties, inveigle another junior
member and a triton commander in his plans, and interfere with the legally
designated assistance being extended to this ranger and his mate,” she bit out.

“He’s my mate, too,” Liam growled. “And
I will not sit by uselessly if either of my mates is in danger.”

His mother glared at him. “You will do
what the council tells you to do,” she said, her voice rising. “And if you
cannot bring yourself to do this, may I remind you that this body is within its
rights to have you incarcerated, your release to be dependent on the pleasure
of the council?”

Liam stiffened. That particular law was
reserved for those who were deemed a danger to the general public, and hadn’t
been enforced in centuries.

“You can’t do that,” Nick yelled,
red-faced.

Eine’s expression turned flinty. “I
assure you I can, human. And you shall be silent until you are called upon, or
you shall also be incarcerated.”

“Then you’ll have to throw all three of
us behind bars,” Aidan snarled, grabbing Liam’s hand. He felt Nick take his
other hand, the three of them presenting a united front. “This is an idiotic
ruling, and you know it.”

Her glare was now turned on Aidan. “This
is what comes of showing leniency. You and your entire family should have been
banished years ago from this grotto.”

“Yeah, you did your best with that,
didn’t you?” Aidan taunted. “Too bad one of your own colleagues screwed up your
plans.”

Eine gripped the obsidian sphere on her
desk and slammed it down hard. “Guards, take them to the cells—”

“Hold.”

Liam looked over his shoulder as the
crowds parted. A determined-looking set of Sea Lords entered the circle, hooves
and tails gleaming in the chamber’s soft light. Lord Ian swam between them,
looking as grim as his mates.

“I apologize to the Elders of Bright
Water for our tardiness, but we were delayed by certain events requiring our
attention,” Lord Bythos said, hefting his trident. “We have been made aware of
the situation regarding the Bearer of the Rod of Asclepius and his mates,
including their recent battle with the Mad Nereid, and we are here to intervene
on their behalf.”

Eine’s eyes widened slightly, but she
retained her composure. “We thank you for your presence, Sea Lords, but I can
assure you that this council is more than ready to deal with those who cannot
follow the laws of our grotto,” she said evenly.

“Which pleases me,” Bythos said. “That
being said, you are unilaterally threatening the three males currently on trial
here.”

“They’re not on trial, Lord Bythos,” the
beaky Elder interjected, earning a dirty look from Eine. “They’re simply here
to answer questions about their whereabouts and what happened with regards to
the recent battle with the Mad Nereid.”

“Ah. Good to know.” Bythos nodded. “In
any case, First Elder, threatening these men with incarceration falls outside
of your purview. Incarceration at the pleasure of the council must be voted
upon by all current members of the council and receive a unanimous vote, if I
remember this grotto’s laws correctly.”

Eine’s lips thinned. “Thank you for your
clarification, Lord Bythos. I shall put their incarceration to a vote
immediately.”

“Before that, however, I think everyone
should hear about what happened with Thetis.” Lord Aphros kicked forward, planting
the butt of his gleaming trident on the council floor. “Lords Bythos, Ian, and
I were sent to help quell some unusual weather patterns in the mid-Atlantic. We
now suspect these were created by Thetis in order to keep us busy and
unavailable to Nick—sorry, the Bearer and his mates. We’ve questioned some of
the mers and tritons who were present at the skirmish, as well as the freed
mermaids who had been captured in order to be mutated into new ilkothelloi.
Their unanimous report is that these three behaved bravely and in the best
tradition of mer defense. In fact, if Nick hadn’t distracted Thetis long enough
to allow the Lady Claire time to attack her, we wouldn’t be having this
discussion at all.”

“And why not?”
Eine said
waspishly.

“Because the three people
currently being
questioned,” he glanced around the chamber,
“as well as a large number of spectators present, would all be dead.”

Horrified gasps and mutters echoed throughout
the chamber. “So you’re saying they’re heroes?” the beaky Elder asked.

Aphros nodded. “Every member of Bright
Water grotto should be proud of their councilor and ranger for their courage
under fire, as well as grateful to the Bearer for his quick thinking. I would
also strongly suggest that the threat of incarceration be tabled, as none of
them pose a danger to the grotto’s public.”

Liam watched his mother rear back as if
slapped. He couldn’t remember the last time her personal authority had been
challenged in this way.

The beaky Elder knocked on his desk. “I
will not vote for incarceration.”

“Nor will I,” said another Elder.

“Nor I.”

The rest of the Elders chimed in with
agreement, leaving Eine white-faced at the center of their arc. “So be it,” she
said through her teeth. “This council shall show clemency to Councilor Liam,
Ranger Aidan, and the Bearer of the Rod. That being said, it still remains that
Councilor Liam contradicted a direct order and abandoned his council duties.”

“
True,
and he
should be punished for that.” Bythos moved closer to Liam, those grey eyes
studying him carefully. “I believe the traditional punishment is to have the councilor
stripped of his position, yes?”

Eine stiffened. Liam could imagine her
dreams for ruling the council through him washing away on a sudden high tide.
“That is the ultimate punishment, yes, but—”

“Then it is appropriate. He does need to
be punished, after all. Elders, what say you?”

One by one, the Elders agreed to strip
Liam of his councilor rank. He bit his lip, afraid that he would break into a
huge, beaming smile and ruin it all.

His mother grabbed the edge of her desk,
leaning across it. “I won’t agree to this,” she barked, desperate. “Liam, do
you have nothing to say in your defense?”

He paused for a moment, then reached up
and unclasped the councilor neckband for the first time since it had been
placed on him. He felt free. “I bow to the wisdom of the council, and accept
their judgment for my actions, First Elder,” he said, depositing the band in
Bythos’s open hand.

Murmurs sounded throughout the chamber
again, louder this time. He went back to his spot between Nick and Aidan,
taking their hands. Bythos swam easily to the First Elder’s desk, depositing
the neckband on it. “If you have any concerns over your son’s future, First
Elder, rest assured that I intend to offer him employment as my aide-de-camp,”
he said.

Liam startled at that.
“My Lord?”

Bythos smiled at him. “I’ve needed a
good assistant for quite some time, and as your mate now lives in our cove, it
makes sense to appoint you to that role.” One eyebrow went up in amusement.
“If you wish it, of course.”

Liam nodded so hard he started floating
backwards. “I do,” he said as a chuckling Aidan and Nick pulled him back. “I
do, Lord. Thank you.”

“And just so everyone knows, I’m
offering Ranger Aidan the same position,” Lord Aphros said, gesturing at
Fergus.
“With your permission, of course, captain.”

Fergus shrugged, but Liam imagined he
saw a twinkle in the mer’s eyes. “I hope you’re ready to ride herd on him, Lord.”

“Oh, I’m sure I can think of something
to keep him busy,” Aphros said easily. “Ranger, what say you?”

Aidan’s face bloomed in a wide grin. “It
would be my honor to be in your service, Lord.”

“Excellent.” Bythos rubbed his hands
together. “And with that, I respectfully request that we call this council
meeting to a close.”

With a glacial movement, Eine raised the
obsidian round and clacked it gently on her desk. “The Elder council of Bright
Water grotto is released,” she said dully.

The room exploded into cheers, and more
than one mer and triton crowded into the circle to clap the trio on the
shoulders and congratulate them. Fergus forced his way through the scrum,
pulling Aidan into a backslapping hug. “We’ll miss you, lad, but I’ve got a
feeling you’re meant for bigger things,” he said roughly. “Don’t let me down
out there.”

“I won’t, captain,” Aidan promised.

Liam threw an arm around Nick as soon as
there was room, pulling his mate close and kissing him as the blond storm god
kicked inelegantly over to them. “Bet you weren’t expecting this to happen on
your vacation,” Ian said with a smirk.

“Hell no.”
Nick squeezed
Liam and grinned when Aidan claimed his other side. “This is way better.”

****

“So Thetis is infected with nanotech?”
Ian returned to the kitchen table, sweating bottles of beer carefully clamped
between his hands. He distributed them to Nick, the mers and the redheaded
demigods before sitting down again. “Are you sure?”

“It’s definitely not organic,” Nick
said, taking a deep swig of his Sam Adams. After getting back to the cove with
a delighted Moira in tow and sleeping like the dead for a good twelve hours, he
and the mers had finally rejoined the land of the living. Checking his
voicemail, Nick had found one message from Heather informing him that her
friend was still looking for a replacement doctor to cover the one about to go
on maternity leave and to call her in the morning and arrange for an interview.

The second message was from Ian saying
to come over to the cottage whenever they got up for dinner and a “how to stop
Thetis” meeting. The three of them headed over to the West cottage for a
blowout Italian meal, trading stories and information with Ian and his mates about
the previous day.

When Liam haltingly explained what had
happened with Barnard, however, Nick asked the three gods at the table if any of
them could reanimate people.

Bythos and Aphros shook their heads. “I
don’t think that’s in my skill set,” Ian admitted. “Why?”

Nick bared his teeth.
“Because
I want a turn at slicing that bastard up.”

“And afterwards it’s my turn,” Aidan
said darkly.

Liam gave them both a wistful smile.
“The important thing is, Whitfield’s dead, so Nick is safe. Although I don’t
know what the land officials will do about it.”

“I’ll have a talk with Jimmy. If anyone
federal comes sniffing around, you and I spent the evening here drinking beer
and arguing about baseball,” Ian said. “The only thing witnesses would have
seen
was
Barnard and his thugs dragging Liam to the
ship. And you, my friend,” he nodded at Liam, “don’t legally exist on land, so
you’re good.”

But Nick still held Liam’s hand as the
topic turned to Nick’s confrontation with Thetis and his discovery of what was
contained in her venom. “They’re the size of big molecules, have carbon shells,
and can unzip DNA and mutate it,” Nick said. “It’s got to be nanotech of some
sort.”

Ian took a thoughtful swig of his beer.
“Before I knew Thea was Thetis, we went over to the Gulf side to do some
research into the oil spill,” he said. “While I was there, I found out about a
reclamation company that was running experiments on the water. According to the
bartender I spoke with, they were called TerraFirma. I’m wondering if they
might be involved with this.”

“Sounds like something we need to
check,” Bythos agreed. “We need to know how these miniscule machines were able
to infect a goddess.”

“We’ll figure it out,” Nick said with a
shrug. “So where were you three yesterday, anyway?”

“Distracted,” Ian said with a scowl.
“Thetis was deliberately planting hot spots all along the equator so that
Poseidon would have me defusing them as practice. By was inspecting the new
coral transplants, and Aph was off training with the tritons. She got us all
out of the way just long enough to get her hands on you.”