Poseidia (27 page)

I closed my eyes. “I can’t imagine living with this over that much time.”

“Perspective makes it easier. Give yourself a higher calling and the self-doubt will fade. Make centuries of wonderful memories and one day you’ll find you won’t remember any of this.”

I laid my head on his chest and listened to his breath, to his heartbeat.
Briefly, I wondered about his life when he was human, before his time as a gladiator.

Without meaning to, I fell into his psyche.
He sensed my presence and chose to show me a happy memory.

Roman was
about six years old and his father had been away on a fishing trip. I could hear voices. Not understanding the language, I wondered how he could sound so different now, from the culture he’d been born into.

His voice whispered in my head.
“Over time my accent has adapted. I immerse myself in the current human world to blend in and learn their languages. It’s a specialty of mine.”

“
I wondered why you didn’t sound like Shakespeare,”
I thought.

“I have had many years to adapt to other ways of life. It gets easier over time.”
He showed me his joy at seeing his father return from his fishing trips. How simple life was for him as he trained with swords. Exceptional agility made him an excellent fighter in the arena.

Then he blocked me and pushed me out
, not wanting me going any further. I managed to view his memories while maintaining a block on my own.

The treasure chest in my mind must be working.

In hindsight, I understood Roman had let me in, hoping I’d let down my own guard so he could heal my heart.

Rolling me over onto my back, he kissed me with a feverish passion I
experienced in the depths of my soul. Distracted, I lost myself in the sensations, floating on a cloud of bliss. For the moment, the nightmare faded away.

His fingers pushed into my
electroreceptors, rubbing the ones along my lower back in circles. Pure pleasure took me to the edge of release. In human sex, this bonding only came from orgasm. In my new world, here with Roman, it came from simply touch.

I couldn’t imagine
how it would feel to actually have sex in this body. Perhaps sharing my body would be the first step in being able to let him share my soul.

Abruptly,
Roman pulled away and said, “You’re being summoned. King Mestor wants to see you.”

“How do you know that?” I asked, shifting gears mentally, though my body was slow
er to accept the transition.

“Lily sent me a message telepathically.” He buried his head into my shoulder
and I sensed him try to fight the summons.

A
direct order from the king wasn’t to be ignored for any reason. “This is it. They’re going to punish me, maybe banish me forever. Promise me you’ll protect my baby.”

“Don’t worry so much. It won’t be as bad as you think.”

“In your memories, the night of my integration, I saw your forced hibernation. I know how serious this is. They disconnected the king because of his grief. The Connective can’t handle the dark emotions inside me now.” I sat up in the bed.

“Don’t react until you know what
he wants. It’ll only cause you needless anxiety.”

“But, but…
.” I slid my legs over the side of the bed.

“We should hang a ‘do not disturb’ sign in my mind,” he
joked and got up from the bed, hauling me up by my hands.

“It’s disturbing, that’s for sure,” I
kidded, smiling briefly. “But seriously, can we do that?”

He
chuckled and strode into the living room.

“I need to clean up, I feel sticky and nasty. Can I have a few minutes before I see him?”

“Fine, I’ll meet you outside the pyramid and inform them of your delay. They’ll understand, but don’t be too long.”

“I won’t—I’ll be quick.”

He left. In the bathroom, I looked at myself in the shimmering wall. So much had changed recently. Miracles I couldn’t have imagined.

Quickly
I undressed, and slipped into the heated waters of the enormous bathtub, attempting to clear my mind of all the voracious guilt I carried. Perhaps meditating would help.

I closed my eyes,
took several deep breaths, and imagined breathing in a white light while exhaling darkness. Soon, I relaxed and my mind cleared.

Focused,
I imagined myself back in No Time. As I went further into my meditation, it seemed as if I floated into another dimension.

Before me appeared the long hallway with all white walls, ceilings, and floors. I looked down the hallway at the doors on both sides.
Where is Sarah?
Signs hung on the doors whereas before I swore they were blank.

Curious,
I strolled down the hallway, looking back and forth at what the signs said. Written in a strange language I could now read as if it was English, one said “MY FUTURE.”

Deciding I didn’t want to know, not now anyway, I picked the door marked “MY PAST.” Afraid to open it, but feeling
strongly I needed to, I gently turned the golden knob and pushed.

A gust of wind blew back my hair as
the door fully opened on its own. The scent of mothballs and stagnation lingered heavily in the air.

In the center of the room stood a table covered in
thick dust. Darkened mirrors lined the walls on two sides and went on as far as I could see, disappearing into a blackened void.

The first mirror next to the door was lit up. Turning to face it, I wiped off the layer of dust.
Reflected, I saw myself, as I was now, but then the image in the mirror faded. Who I was a few months ago, before I died, next appeared in the glass.

I stared at her, the old me, feeling disconnected
, barely recognizing her anymore. Placing my hand on the surface of the mirror, I touched the image. She did the same and our hands met.

For a
moment, I choked back my emotions, but then I let them flow. Tears rolled freely down my cheeks, for I was tired of holding everything inside.

This is the best
thing that’s ever happened to me—remember that.

“I came here to say goodbye,” I
voiced to the image in the mirror, barely croaking the words out. “You’re my past and I need to let you go so I can move on, so I can become whole.” She looked at me long and hard, and then nodded her head in agreement.

“I want to thank you for all you have given to me and done for me. I’m grateful for your sacrifices, and your strength. I need to move on and embrace the gifts given to me in this new life. I need to let go of the guilt
—it’s tearing me apart. I have to let you go… thank you… and I love you.”

She
replied, “Forgive yourself, and forgive me.”

T
hen the image faded.

Stunned for a few minutes, I stared at my current reflection. My throat tightened,
searing with shards of jagged emotions. Letting go was hard. A few persistent tears trickled down my cheeks as my chest swelled with pain. Finally, the feelings moved through me and released as I let out my breath.

Innately understanding
I was done here, I strode out of the door and back down the hallway. I exited No Time and opened my eyes in the bathtub.

P
art of the huge weight I carried had been removed from my soul.
I hope.
I got out of the tub, dried, brushed my teeth, and dressed.
I’m ready to see the king.

Chapter 2
7

R
oman waited patiently outside the pyramid. He cocked his head to the side as I arrived, “You look different, what did you do?”

“Unloaded some garbage.”

“I see. Well, let’s go inside.” He claimed my hand, kissed the back of it, and led me into the pyramid. Then we climbed five floors to reach King Mestor’s chambers.

Lily waited outside the door for us.
“This is the king’s private bedroom. He’s anxious to meet you. Come in.”

Roman and Lily stayed at my side as I stepped inside. The double doors
almost a gateway to another world. King Mestor’s room was the biggest bedroom I’d ever seen. At least ten of my quarters could have fit in here.
Why does one man need so much space?

The place looked similar to the counsel room, although the smell was different. Instead of smelling ancient, the
scent of roses permeated the air. Gold walls, lush drapes, tapestries, gold statues, and jewels decorated the luxurious room. It radiated wealth and power.

In the far corner was a
n enormous bed, its gold posts draped with red velvet. In the middle, propped up by a mound of elegant pillows, lay a slight man, his breathing ragged.

L
ong black hair streaked with gray and dark skin with reddish undertones, contrasted with the people he ruled over. I expected him to resemble Lily, the way the High Council did.
Is he human?

King
Mestor turned his head to watch my approach, and then held up his hand to stop us, indicating only I was to come any further. I knew what his gestures meant even though he never uttered a word.

Roman kissed my hand. “We’ll meet you back at your quarters when you’re done.”

“Okay.” Feeling afraid to be left alone, I watched as they departed.

After a deep breath for courage,
I took the few remaining steps to the side of King Mestor’s bed. He reached out his hand and I placed mine in his. A tingle went up my arm.

Delicately, h
e pulled me in close, and I sat on the edge of the bed, facing him. With both hands, a stronger vibration went through my body. It grew in intensity, and a white light cocooned us.

“It’s easier for me to communicate with you
this way,” he voiced. “It’s good to meet you, Anna.”

“It’s good to meet you as well
, your highness.”

“I’ve heard much about you.” Hands rough and wrinkled
, he looked to be about eighty years old, but I couldn’t be sure with the methods they utilized for longevity.

“Hopefully not all the bad stuff,” I
grinned.

“What you may see as bad, others see as brave and honorable.” His eyes radiated a love I’d never had from my own father.
A love I’d not seen since my mother passed.

Close to tears, I said, “I don’t know about that. I’ve made a lot of mistakes.”

“Don’t be so hard on yourself, mistakes are how you learn.” The euphoria was strong. Even though Lily said they’d disconnected him, it came off in waves, growing stronger the longer he held my hands.

“Well then, I should have learned a lot
because I make a lot of them.”

He laughed
, “That’s one thing I miss.”

“What’s that?” I asked, surprised he missed anything
as someone who seemed to have everything.

“A sense of humor. They’re very serious here,” he
uttered.

“I’ve noticed that,” I
laughed with him. “You speak English.”

“What did you think I would speak?”

“I don’t know, I thought you would speak some ancient language. I was afraid I wouldn’t understand you.”

“I speak ancient as well as many other languages, but I haven’t met anyone who speaks as you do. I can reach into your mind, and speak
in your words, so it’s easy for you to understand me.”

“I’m afraid I don’t understand.”

“I reflect your language so you can understand me,” he explained. “I didn’t believe it when they told me, but I can feel it now that you’re here.”

“Who told you what?”

“The Ancestors told me you were back, and about your power.”

“I’m Anna, and I have no power.”

“You’re Anna now, but you’re so much more. I remember you from Old Atlantis. You were called Hesperis at the time.”

“
Sarah visited me during my integration and told me about some past life, but I thought I was hallucinating. I’m not sure I believe in such things.”

“You don’t need to believe for it to be true. You will remember someday soon,” he
assured. “Here, let me show you.” He placed his hand over the electroreceptors on the side of my head and some of his memories opened up to me. In my mind’s eye, I was in Old Atlantis, and images of people who walked on land in a city, which resembled Poseidia.

I struggled to make sense of it all as I became overwhelmed with emotions. Then it faded and the memories were gone.
Yearning to see more—I believed I was trying to put pieces of a puzzle together, pieces, which were out of my reach.

“You make an old man happy. It has been rather lonely—it’s good to see an old soul,” he
muttered, laying his head back down and taking his hands from mine.

The cocoon surrounding us faded. I didn’t know what to say.
“I’m sorry for what happened to your family.”

“Thank you. I’ll join them soon—it’s what I want.
This life of mine has been too long. Soon, it will be soon.”

“Don’t go.” I placed my hands over his
, but they were cold now.

“Nothing is forever. I’ll cross over to be with the others.”

“But, I still don’t understand.” I needed him. The thought of him leaving me opened a wound. A strong, and deep-seated love filled me.

“It will be up to you to lead my people when I am gone. I think you’re a brave young woman to risk her life for her people.”

“Lead your people? What do you mean?”

“
In your past life, you were a royal soul. And it was your current Native American ancestry, which allowed the DNA infusion to work,” he said with his eyes firmly closed.

Please don’t fall asleep aft
er laying that bombshell on me.

“I’m not sleeping yet, only resting. It takes a lot of energy to show you what I did,” he said. “
Hesperis, or Anna, if you prefer now, you were our queen before, and you can be again. You must or the Connective here will fall into darkness.”

“Fall into darkness, what do you mean?”

“Without me to hold the Connective together it would degenerate. Another colony fell apart because of their king’s death, one of my brothers. I don’t want that for Poseidia. As soon as you’re ready, I can leave and be with my family.”

“I don’t think I can hold
the Connective together. I woke up here not long ago, and I’m still adjusting,” I said, rambling on, overwhelmed, and shocked by what he told me.

King
Mestor took my hand again in his and squeezed firmly. “When you reach full integration, you will be ready. You’ll have access to all memories then and you will know. You’ll have no doubts. Until then, trust in what I say.”

Biting my tongue,
I stopped arguing. I couldn’t whine in front of an ancient king—I had at least that much self-respect.

“Here, I have something for you,” he
whispered as he placed something in my hand and curled my fist over it. Inside was a small gold cube, the size of a dice, with writing in a strange language covering each side. He fell asleep before I could ask him what it was.

Walking back to my quarters, I was stuck in a state of shock.
Their queen? No way—everyone will hate me for coming in and taking over. I can’t do it.

As I stood
outside the door to my quarters, I squeezed my fist tight over the gift King Mestor had given me, the edges biting into my skin.
What is it?

Inside, Roman sat on my couch, lounging into the plush pillows with his eyes halfway closed.
My heart melted—he grew more precious to me every day.

“
Well, what did he say?”

“My brain kind of hurts from overload, can we talk about it later? I could use some wine and then maybe a swim.”

“Lily will be here any minute. She has a surprise for you.”

“Well, I’m hungry. Can we order some wine and food while we wait?”

“Already done. It will be here within minutes as well,” he announced, sitting up.

“You think of every
thing.” I sat down next to him.

He brushed my hand with his lips. “Not everything.” Reaching for my closed fist, he looked up at me with his eyebrows raised. “What’s in there?”

“Something King Mestor gave me.”

“Open your hand
and let me see,” he ordered, a smirk crossing his lips.

T
entatively, I opened my hand. When I glanced up at Roman—he looked ashen for a moment, and then recovered before I could digest the expression.

“What is it?” I
pressed.

“Nothing I recognize. A trinket, perhaps
,” he mused, shrugging his shoulders and looking out the glass wall.

T
hrough squinted eyes, I stared at him, and dismissed his initial reaction. Maybe my mind was playing tricks on me.

“I have no idea what it is. He said I would know when the time came. Why does everyone here have to be so
cryptic? I would think with a Connective there would be no secrets.”

“It’s not that there are secrets
. Explaining is difficult for them.”

I nodded, somewhat understanding. “Do you have
the memories of the Ancestors?”

Roman
looked over at me and raised his eyebrow. “Some, why?”

“Do you have memories of a woman named
Hesperis?”

“Let me think.” He closed his eyes as if he was accessing a data file in his head. “I do know the name, but cannot see her face. She was the first wife of King Atlas but she died when Atlantis fell. That’s all I have. Why do you ask?”

“Oh, no reason,” I lied, looking down and away, unsure what to tell him. More uncertain of what I believed.

“
King Atlas is in Atlia, where I’ll be for the next few months. You can come, visit me, and meet him for yourself. You’ll need to meet everyone at some point anyway.”

“What is
dormiveglia?”

He paused, searching my face.
“The space between dreaming and awake. It’s when you’re more open and sensitive to other dimensions.”

“This is all out of my league.”

Lily entered then with a bundle in her arms. When I looked at her, her broad smile told me what the wrapped surprise was
.

My baby.

My heart soared and I leaped up, shrieking with joy, leaving the item King Mestor had given me forgotten on the couch. Hands covered my mouth in surprise, my throat and chest squeezed tight, filled with an unmeasurable pure elation.

Lily walked toward me and I met her in the center of the room.
Overjoyed, my whole body shook in anticipation. As I opened the blanket, the greatest miracle in my life squinted up at me through bleary and unfocused eyes. My heart overflowed with love. In awe, I knew in that moment, everything I’d been through was to bring me together with this child’s soul.

Lily handed over the bundle and I hugged it close to my body.
A warmth I’d never known radiated from my heart and encompassed both of us. Legs moved in the blanket, and I dared to peek, eager to know the sex.

My son
.

Tears flowed and I turned to look at Roman, briefly afraid of his rejection. When I looked into his eyes, I saw
a strong unwavering love, reassuring me I had nothing to fear. He loved my child, a part of me, as he loved me.

Roman
approached and looked down at the baby.

A
t my son.

“What are you going to name him?”
he asked.

“I have no idea, I haven’t had time to even think about it,” I
admitted.

Lily said, “Spend some time, and then bring him back to the nursery so Lucas can run some more tests.
It would be best for your son to stay there for the first few days.”

“Ok
ay, thank you, Lily. He’s such a miracle and I have so much to thank you for—I don’t know how I could ever express to you my gratitude,” I professed my voice raspy, heavy with emotion.

“I think you just did. I’ll be in the Healing Center when you’re ready,” Lily said
as she left the room.

My son
.
He’s real.

“I don’t know what to do with him. I haven’t done this before. I… I… don’t even know how to change a diaper,” I
confessed to Roman. Self-doubt was threatening to ruin my blissful moment.