40. Holter

"This is the place?It really doesn't look like a home." Belle cranes her neck to see through the window.

"It's not." Eros makes a sharp turn and points the omada in the other direction.

"But this is where Jupiter lives?" Belle's looking at the giant dome behind us.

"That's what the address says." Eros gives me a look, and I pass it on to Nico. We're not doing this now. Not with Belle in the omada. Nico nods back.

"Where are we going?"

I place my hand on her leg. "You're trained in a lab. You know your way around science. But if you had a military level, what do you think it would be?"

"Negative one hundred." Her lips purse, and she reclines in the seat.

"We'll drop you and Castor off at home."

Castor laughs. "I don't mind more alone time with our mate."

Eros pulls up to the main entrance of Glyden. Belle and Castor climb out.

"You expect me to stay here and do nothing?" she asks, standing on the dock with her hands on her hips.

Nico leans across me. "No, we need the address of Fero Stourch. Can you find it?"

Belle nods. "Okay, yeah, I can do that. I know you're just placating me, but I appreciate the effort, Poseidon." She smiles and closes the omada door. The three of us watch as Castor loops his arm around our mate's waist and walks her into the lobby.

"The sooner we get this done, the sooner we can get home." I nod at Eros, and he pilots away from the dock.

As the omada swerves through the docking dome, Eros laughs. "This vehicle makes it look like we're going out on a family joyride instead of on a mission. Nothing wrong with that, I guess. Makes us look harmless." He's loaded with weapons, two hunting knives strapped to his calves, and two tridents.

"Harmless. Right." I nod at Eros. "Let's go get your solo. I want to look less ‘piloting to nursery school' and more ‘you don't know we're here.'"

"Fine," Eros grunts.

There are mermen who live all over the city in different domes besides the big ten. They're still associated with a dome, still citizens of that dome. But what Constantine said about us doubting his allegiance to Glyden really turns in my gut. The fact that Jupiter Course is one of the Braesen governor's two brothers and the other one was asked to steal the blocks from the Maelstrom? I'm going to have to work hard to get one question out before Nico kills him.

I think of Alder back when he was in the hospital. Practically giving up. Ophelia almost squeezed Belle in two when she saw the mark on Belle's hand, but damn, Alder is going to be over the moon when he sees it. And the attack almost took that away from him.

Maybe a question isn't necessary. I've gotten the first shot off before Nico fired at least once before. I can do it again. Belle doesn't need to know.

"Move your elbow, Holter. I told you I should pilot. I'm the biggest," Nico growls.

"You're also the one showing the most emotion right now. That's not good for a mission." Eros swings the cloaked solo back to the rear of the agricultural dome. It's a large complex back here. I'm not sure I've even been here since my time in the military. Things have certainly changed since I was a podlet. There's a force field pen behind two large domes, side by side. There must be a dozen great white sharks, one in each of the pens.

"And no one thought to come talk to this guy before," I remark.

"Who would ever think of the Braesen as being evil?" Eros shrugs and positions the solo to the side of the dome, where it is mostly in shadows.

The two structures are gigantic, much larger than other agricultural domes. One is partially flooded, for aquatic mammals. The other is a land-based one. Through the side of the glass, I can see some sort of poultry pecking at a small school of sardines that have gotten too close to the glass.

Nico pushes at me. "Move your arm."

"Here." Eros hands me two bags containing the personal cloaking devices. At least we know the chances of someone else having a set of discs are minimal. Not when we have three sets and Atlas has one of the discs of the fourth, making it impossible for it to function. I pass a bag back to Nico, moving my elbow. That didn't have to be sitting in his ribcage, after all.

"Ready?" Eros asks. He's a shimmer in the seat next to us.

"Stealth is good, but I want him to know who is killing him."

I glance down, and Nico is still visible. "Yes, but think of the terror he will have when you turn off the cloaking device before you do it."

Eros turns his cloaking off. "This is a mission. You're both going to leave emotion out of it. We're here to find out what Jupiter knows. He might not have anything to do with Alder's attack. Being the brother of a murderer doesn't make you a murderer." Eros looks in my direction, and his eyebrows are raised. "And just so we understand how things are going to go in there, I'm the commander now. This is my wheelhouse. What I've done for a decade. We're not just going in there and blowing shit up."

I feel Nico twitch under me.

"If we don't have leadership, someone is going to get hurt and Sunshine is going to be mad. So I need you two to agree with me. I'm in charge."

"We know what we're doing," I say.

"No, you fucking don't. You know how to blow Vikings out of the water. This is different. Eros is in charge. Say it with me now."

"I'm not repeating after you," Nico grunts.

"Then I'm going to turn this solo right around."

"You're in charge," I say, pushing my elbow back into Nico's stomach.

"You're in charge." Nico snaps his cloaking device on.

"Okay, now we're ready. We'll scout around the outside of the domes. I'll take the land mammal one. Holter, you've got the sea mammal, and Nico, take the shark cages. We'll meet back here in ten. No telepathy or communication unless it's an emergency."

"Copy," Nico and I say, and Eros opens the top of the solo, letting us shift and swim out. He uses a remote to close it, and the solo vanishes into the shadows.

I swim between the two domes. As soon as I do, a pod of dolphins inside one dome come over to me. I'm not invisible to them at all, not with their echolocation. In fact, I think they're more interested in me because they can't see me. I kick harder, going around the structure, leaving the land mammal one behind. The dolphins trail behind me, so I stop, getting close to the glass before the dolphins catch up, and peer inside. It's a training ring. There are targets and hoops. But no Jupiter or other trainers. I clear around the other side, back to near where we left the solo. The one thing we all have in common is the ability to completely shut our minds from leaking thoughts out around us. Without a signal, I'll have no idea that any of them are back. But then I see a shimmer by the land building.

I head for it, keeping my hands in front of my body to keep from swimming into whomever it is. My hand lands on one of them. A single click lets me know it's Nico. It's one of the codes we used against the Vikings. I click back.

The door to the airlock on the side of the dome opens. I swim to it, keeping my hands out in front of me. Still, I bump into Nico's fluke twice and he bumps back. Maybe cloaking wouldn't be great for military purposes. You have to swim a lot slower to keep from running into those around you.

The airlock closes behind us, and a hand lands on my chest. Definitely Eros. Nico doesn't touch anyone willingly—anyone but Belle, of course. We shift out of fluke and step into the next airlock and then out into the land dome. There's a small fence holding back the livestock from the airlock area. There's also a large pile of manure on the concrete. I'd forgotten how different it is in here, how the smells are overpowering, both the clean scent of grass and dirt and the deep scent of land animals.

There's a shack off to the side, an actual shack made from pallets, scrap wood wrapped in canvas bags. Eros flicks his device off and uses sign language to tell us to move to either side of the door. He turns it back on. The door opens, and a blast comes through the opening. There's no thud, no shimmer on the ground. I've got my long-handled trident in my hand. It's got blast capabilities, but I prefer using it in hand-to-hand combat. I can only see half of the little space. It's dark but full of rubble. The end of a cot pokes into the side of my vision. There's another blast, this time from either Nico or Eros, and a male goes flying onto the cot. It breaks. His trident flies to the side of the room. I don't see any signs of injury on him. Eros must have used an air blast.

"Poseidon, help me, what's going on?" He's older, a long gray braid down his back, hair randomly sticking out of it. His crossbody sack is caught up around his neck. Eros hits his cloaking device, and the strap of the satchel isn't caught around the male's neck, it's being held around his neck. He's wearing a tunic and nothing else, like someone who shifts a lot during the day.

"Do you have any other weapons on you?" Nico barks.

"No." His voice has a slight tremble. "What do you want?"

Eros lifts the side of the male's tunic and runs his hand down his calf. He pulls out a sheathed knife hidden there. "And what's this?" Eros tosses it into the corner of the room.

The gray-haired male's eyes follow it.

"Turn."

The male glares at Eros. Eros holds the strap around the old male's neck with one hand.

"Turn." Eros tightens the strap.

The male turns, and Eros removes two more weapons, tossing them across the shack.

"I have a little gold. It's in the drawer over there."

"I don't want your gold, old-timer."

"Don't hurt my animals."

"Wouldn't dream of it."

The male's shoulders drop. And for a second, I almost forget why we are here. "What do you want?" he asks.

"What's your name?" Eros demands.

"Jupiter."

"No surname?"

"Just Jupiter."

"Just Jupiter, the brother of Haden Moretti? Or another just Jupiter?"

"Haden's my brother. But he won't pay a ransom for me."

"Interesting. How are you so sure?"

"Because he cares about nothing but himself." He looks Eros directly in the eye. "And the glory of Braesen."

"And you have no use for your brother? He lets you live in squalor?"

I glance over to where I know Nico must be standing from the slight shimmer in front of the wall covered with feed bags.

"I choose to live here near my animals. They do no harm."

"Do you train those sharks out there?"

"Yes." His hands don't move from where he is trying to keep the strap from tightening around his neck.

"What for?" Eros takes a trident from his waist with his free hand and drops the strap.

"Protection of Braesen."

"Not the Veiled City?"

"Yes, the city, of course, the city." He rubs his neck and takes in a breath.

Nico appears out of the vapor, and I follow.

"Poseidon, what is this tech?" Then the old male's eyes focus on us. "Callis. You, you are the ones who brought that human into our midst. You will ruin everything." The male spits on Nico's leg. "You're no second coming of Poseidon. You're the arrival of Hades. Take your serpent back to the humans."

Eros pushes the trident into the male's neck. "That's my mate, sea slug. Answer my questions. Tell me what you know about the attack on Alder Callis, and I won't let him torture you."

The male's eyes widen. "If he'd died the first time, when he was supposed to, none of this would have happened."

Nico's gone silent. His eyes flick over Jupiter. Nico moves, changing his angle, giving himself a clean shot if he wants it.

"What do you mean?" I ask.

"He was supposed to die in that omada with all the hagissa's mates and her spawn."

"You killed Richeal?" Eros pushes the trident into Jupiter's neck.

"No, Haden wouldn't let me. It was someone else. I would have done it correctly."

Nico growls.

"Wait." Eros's voice is calm. "But you attacked Alder?" Jupiter holds on to the strap around his neck. He doesn't speak. Eros tightens the strap. "Now's your chance to confess all your sins." Jupiter groans. "Tell us; let your legacy live."

Jupiter glares at me. "Alder Callis was a sign. A sign to the rest of the city that change wasn't going to be brought about by Glyden, Zaffiro, Diamont, or Stele—you've had your turn at power. A sign that Haden would finish what his father-in-law couldn't. She almost ruined it for us years ago, and now you want to do the same."

"The power of the domes is balanced," I say.

Jupiter tries to laugh but ends up coughing. "Haden wanted it as a message to you. That's why he sent B988." He stares at Nico. "He wanted to crush anything left of Richeal's. Haden knows how to tie up loose ends."

"No," Eros growls, but he's not talking to Jupiter—he's talking to Nico. Nico has his trident pointed at Jupiter.

I move closer. "B988. How did security not know the shark was a Veiled City trained one?"

"Not a shark, not trained here, but he made the old male suffer. I hear he'll never shift to fluke again." Jupiter smiles.

Nico vibrates next to me. Eros turns to glare at him.

"What is B988, then?" Eros asks, but Jupiter lunges for his trident. He doesn't make it. His body falls back onto the cot from the blast I put between his eyes.

"I didn't think I had to tell you not to fucking kill the source until you have everything out of them. Damn it, Hero of Hestert?tten," Eros says in a mocking tone.

"He was going after you," I say. But I wanted to kill him. You hurt my family, you die.

"I could have handled him. I wanted him to think he had a chance at freedom."

"Fine, but I wanted to be the one to kill him," I say.

"Exactly. There it is." Eros pulls the corpse onto the floor and moves around the room, trashing the place. He finds the gold in the drawer and puts it in his pocket.

"What are you doing?" It comes out before I realize I know the answer.

"Making it look like a robbery, but also, I found this." He holds up a mini drive, the kind no one uses unless they're trying to keep information away from people. "Interesting, no block."