38. Eros

I've gotone of the stools next to the bathtub. All of Sunshine's favorite things are on it: some more gel, water, cookies, and some popcorn. I test the temperature—perfect. Sunshine likes the water somewhere between cooking a lobster and, well no, she likes it warm enough to boil herself. I give it a quick stir, making sure the last of the bath bomb has dissolved.

Nico has her in his arms, and damn, we need a bigger tub. Because instead of lowering her in, he steps in with her in his arms, pulling her back to his chest once he settles.

"Yeah, next time I'm not going to fall for letting you carry her, Nico." Holter pours a tablespoon more oil into the water. "It's going to need more scent." He arches his eyebrow at Nico.

"You could have said no." Nico grabs the end of one of Sunshine's braids, and with more care than I thought him capable of, he undoes it. I'm not going to stand around and watch when I could be touching her. I gently pull apart one of the others.

A squawking racket goes off down the hall, and back in the pod room too, as all of our blocks ding at the same time. I don't want to look at it. No one moves. They ding again, and Castor takes off.

"Poseidon," Castor swears, coming back down the corridor. "Braesen has announced that Atlas is falsely blaming them for the Maelstrom collapse." He's got not only his own block but a stack of all of ours and a tablet on top.

The tidal wave of reality washes over all of us. This fight is far from over. We have a long battle in front of us, more than a few braids of deceit to untangle.

Sunshine closes her eyes and opens them again. "Well, you didn't expect them to just admit to it, did you?" She sits up from Nico's chest. A wave of water splashes from the tub to the floor. "Did you?"

"No, Sunshine, I don't suppose we did."

"Okay. Good." She shakes her head. "Evil doesn't lie down and die. You have to put it in the ground. Or whatever the equivalent is here... anyway, that's not the point. Of course they're going to deny it. But we have things we can do. We can find Calvin Degree." She scrubs her arm with the sponge with so much force. I realize all of us are watching her. "And we can... Oh, I had a thought as I was falling asleep. Alder was attacked by a shark or a Kraken, something big. Have you talked to Constantine to see if he might know anyone training something like that?"

Castor shakes his head. "No, I haven't. We pulled all the film we could. A search was done of the area. But as far as I know, I don't think anyone interviewed a Braesen."

It feels like such a long time ago that Holter and Nico's dad was attacked. It's hard to imagine a time when I didn't know Sunshine.

"We can go talk to him." She nods at Castor.

"Yes, it's a good idea," he replies.

Nico laughs, and we all turn to him. "Yes, it's a good idea. If Constantine can help find Alder's attacker, it could lead back to Richeal's?—"

"—and our fathers' murderer," finishes Holter.

"Yes," says Nico.

I narrow my eyes at Nico. I see humor where others can only find pain, but I'm at a loss as to why he's smiling. "What's up with you? Castor's right—it's creepy."

"If we go see Castor's parents, he's going to have to tell his mother about us. And I want to watch. It will be fun."

"Nico." Annabelle stands in the tub and gives him a playful swat on his arm. "That's not nice."

"Ophelia's going to blow a gasket," I say.

"She doesn't like me, does she?" says Annabelle.

"Oh no," says Castor. "No. Shut it, all of you. It's not funny or fun. I mean, watching my mother lose it is a bit fun. But not this. It's not you, Annabelle. She loves you. She would never have sponsored you at the first ball if she didn't like you. And she knows—hell, all my parents know—how much I'm head over fluke in love with you, so they're not going to be surprised. Not in the least. It's just not part of her grand plan. And she doesn't like it when she has to shift her plans to something else. She'll get used to the idea of us. It might take her a little while, but she'll come around." Castor puts the stack of blocks down and wraps her in a towel.

"I know one way to win Ophelia over, Sunshine."

"How?" Her blue eyes blink up at me. Our mate is something else. One minute she's steadying us to prepare to take down the Braesen, the next she wants to convince her mother-in-law to like her.

I put my hand up to her.

"Give her a high-five?"

"No, Sunshine, show her your mark. The thought of a second grandpodlet will make her forget about all her grand schemes for Dorian political domination."

"I don't know about that." Holter holds out a robe for Sunshine.

"No, Eros is right. My mother will faint if you choose to show her that mark. But that's up to you."

I take the towel from her and dry the side of her leg she missed. There, on the back of her thigh, a faint purple marking of scales shines beneath her skin. But just like on her foot the other day, they disappear as quickly as they came.

Another block dings from the stack Castor brought in. Castor hands me mine.

I read the message. "Atlas heard back from the Kraken king. Marina is on her way home. And the northern route to Asia is now shared with the Kraken."

Nico's eyes widened. "That's a big concession."

"Indeed." My stomach sinks. I'm glad my sister is being returned to where she belongs. And I would have paid any price. But this is a big one, one that a good portion of the city is going to be furious about when they find out why it's happened. Marina is going to have a truly hard time finding a mate now. No family is going to want to link their son to her. Well, that's not completely true, but Marina will have to lower her standards drastically.

"My sister is coming home. That's fantastic." Sunshine jumps. "This day couldn't get better if we tried."

"Well then, we should definitely go see Ophelia." Nico's trying not to laugh. But when Sunshine walks into her dressing room, his menacing smile returns.

In the elevator, Sunshine straightens her tunic on her shoulders. Her eyes go wide. "Does my hair look okay?"

"It's beautiful," I say.

"Why am I asking you? Of course that's what you're going to say." She turns to Holter. "Is it okay? No, forget it. You're all useless. We should stop by Kai's apartment. She'll tell me the truth."

"We are not stopping by my sister's apartment. She'll scream so loud the entire city will know before we tell my parents."

"Right. It's fine. I look fine."

"You look more than fine," Castor says. "You look perfect. And I'm telling you, you have nothing to fear. They love you. What they don't love is me doing something without telling them. But I'm a grown male, and they will have to deal with it."

"Right. Grown male."

The elevator doors slide open. "Who's a grown male?" Ophelia is standing in the entryway waiting for us. Castor messaged ahead. Because nothing would be worse than arriving as a surprise and upsetting Ophelia twice.

"Mother." Castor steps off the elevator with Sunshine's hand on his arm.

Ophelia, I've heard, is an amazing card player. She goes home with all the gold at the end of the night of the mermaid card games. My mother more than once refused to go if she knew the Grand Dame Duchess was going. "What would be the point?" she'd say. "I should just messenger her my money now."

"Julius, Prescott, Lyle, Otto, Constantine— Oh crab cakes," she shouts. "Everyone get in here, now." I'm fairly certain I've never heard Ophelia shout. Not even when Castor, Atlas, Nico, and I put crayfish in Kai's bed. "Now!" Her voice echoes around the apartment. And males come scurrying out from everywhere. I move behind Sunshine. I can feel her shaking in front of me. I place my hand on the hollow of her back.

"What?" Castor peers around.

"Poseidon, what are you... Oh hello," Otto says.

Constantine is one of the last males to arrive. He's wearing a towel. Ophelia glares. He holds one hand up in surrender, the other securing the towel. "You yelled. I assumed we were under attack."

"No, he's done it." Her eyes are wide, and then she breaks out into a smile. A real one, not one of those she uses at the ball when she's leaning over the balcony at the dancers judging them.

"Thank fuck," Constantine says. "We thought it would never happen. Julius wanted to pay a hagissa to slip something into your drinks."

"I did not."

"It might have been less painful than waiting all that time." Ophelia smiles. "Come here. Let me give my new daughter a hug." She tugs at Sunshine's hand, and her loose-fitting glove comes off in Ophelia's fingers. "Oh, my, I'm so sorry. How clumsy of me." Clumsy? Ophelia yanked on it. There was no way it wasn't coming off.

Sunshine turns and looks at Castor. He nods, and she opens her palm and lifts it up. And Ophelia jumps like a schoolgirl. Her large skirt bounces all around her. Then Sunshine is engulfed in Drakoses. So much so that the rest of us, Castor included, are pushed out of the way. Like the useless males we are.

"Mother. Don't stampede my mate."

"Your mate. Oh, that's... I'm going to cry." Castor's fathers recede, and Ophelia steps away, dabbing at her dry eyes with a lace hanky. "Our new daughter is fine. But we need to feed her. She needs to eat." Ophelia grabs Sunshine's hand and leads her down the hallway. Sunshine turns and cocks her head at Constantine, who hangs back.

"I'll see you at the table," she says and is gone, swarmed by her new fathers-in-law, all asking questions at once.

Nico puts his hand on Constantine's shoulder. "Can we ask you a few questions?"

"I saw the news. I'm not sure what to believe. It's my podlet dome, but I'm not loyal to them now. I hope you know that."

"Damn, we're not questioning your loyalty," says Holter. "No, we... we've gotten to thinking about the attack on Alder, before Nico returned. Could someone have trained a Kraken or a large shark to do the work for them?"

"I mean yeah, of course. It can be hard, but certain animals take to their trainers well. I mean, look at Annabelle and the sharks we put outside your place. She's taken them to a different level. Not sure it's the best thing for protection, but that's what's happened."

"Can you think of anyone who might have the knowledge of how to do it?" Nico asks.

"As much as I hate to say it... I would never have said it before, but with the weird announcement that the king is trying to pin the collapse of the Maelstrom on the Braesen, it makes me wonder. Usually things that are odd have a bit of truth in them, you know?"

"I agree." I am sure the rumors are true, but it's going to take a lot to convince the city.

"Right. Well, my mentor for training animals is the Braesen governor's brother."

"That might not mean much. How many brothers does he have?" Castor sits on the foyer sofa.

"Only two. Teneric Course, his older brother?—"

"Yes," Nico says.

"And my mentor Jupiter Course."

I put my hand on Nico's arm because I know he wants to leave this apartment, find Jupiter, and make him pay. I do as well, but patience is what will make us come out on top.

"Do you know a Calvin Degree?" Nico takes a drink from a tray on the table and sits next to Castor.

"No." Constantine takes a drink too. "Is he Braesen?"

"Yes, but he's older."

"I haven't lived there for a long time, so it's hard to say. But enough talk of politics. Let's raise a glass to the new mates. Salvomaris." Constantine toasts.