Someone cleared his throat and the moment was broken. She raised her chin and looked, in turn, into every pair of eyes at the table. "I have made a name for the Scarlet Ninja. A thief, true, but one who preys on the evil and the vile. Well, to be honest, occasionally, I borrow things just for fun and to keep the authorities guessing."

"The Raphael?" Christophe grinned at her.

"Yes." She sighed. "It's on the schedule to be returned next month. I'm really going to miss that painting. Saint George is a kind of hero to me."

"We have a painting of his dragon around here somewhere," Alaric said casually. "I think the dragon lived a very long life."

Fiona opened her mouth, but then closed it again. No. Later. She was not not asking about dragons now. asking about dragons now.

"But the sword, Vanquish? You planned to return that?"

"No, actually. I have some guilt about that, but I did plan to provide a perfect copy, or at least the best I could devise, for the display. It might not even have been noticed for a very long time. But so many people are starving right now, thanks to the worst unemployment rate we've ever had. So many are homeless, thanks to the vampires claiming ancient homesteads and tangling property up in the courts. People need help, and the sale of that sword was going to fund a huge number of programs."

"Including the whales," Christophe reminded her.

She blushed. "No, that was my personal money, remember? I only use the Scarlet Ninja's money for humanitarian causes. I have several animal charities that Fiona's Friends, my personal charity, supports."

"Fiona is a very successful children's book author," Christophe told the rest of them.

Riley smiled. "I know. She's going to autograph a book for His Royal Drooliness. I'm so excited to have her paint in the gardens here."

Alaric groaned for some reason, but said nothing.

"Thank you. I'm very honored and hope to have the chance to do that someday. But right now, I need to focus on getting my name cleared. The Scarlet Ninja stands for something. I've been a symbol of hope to a lot of hopeless people. I'm not going to let these thieves destroy that by portraying me as a murderer."

"We'll help ," Christophe said.

"If it doesn't interfere with our retrieval of the Siren. That is our clear priority," Alaric said.

Christophe slowly shook his head. "My priorities seem to have shifted. I will retrieve the Siren, but I will also help Fiona clear her name. I hope you'll all help me, but I'm doing this no matter what your decision."

"We cannot let you have the Siren, Fiona," Conlan said. "Your English queen only had the gem on loan, whether or not she knew it. The gem has waited more than eleven thousand years to return to us, and so it shall."

"I understand," she said hastily. "I wouldn't do anything that might harm you or Atlantis. Anyway, the diamond Christophe gave me will certainly fund my programs for more than a year."

"The diamond?" Conlan's face was twitching, as if he was trying not to laugh. "You gave her a diamond?"

"It was mine to give," Christophe muttered.

"Oh, my friend. It's going to be an interesting journey for you." Conlan lost the battle with himself and started laughing.

"It won't be easy," Christophe warned her, ignoring his prince.

"I hate to sound like a walking cliche, but nothing worthwhile ever is," she replied.

"Then we're done here," Conlan said, rising. "Riley and I have a baby to feed. Christophe, why don't you show our guest some of Atlantis before you have to return?"

"Just what I was thinking," Christophe said.

"Thank you. All of you," Fiona told them. "It's good to feel like I finally have allies."

"Oh, the more the merrier, certainly," Alaric said darkly. "Will there be more diapers? I love diapers."

Riley burst out laughing. "Ignore him. He gets a little moody sometimes."

As they all filed out of the room, Christophe pulled Fiona to him for a hug. "It's all going to work out."

She looked into his lovely green eyes and smiled. "I know. After all, what could defeat a team made up of an Atlantean warrior and a Scottish ninja?"

Chapter 26

Christophe watched Fiona as she wandered through the palace and the grounds, exclaiming over and over in wonder like a child. His facial muscles felt strained from the unfamiliar smiles. Everything held for her the joy of discovery, from the tapestries on the walls to the throne room to the kitchens. Even the taste of her first Atlantean blushberries, which she savored so sensuously that it made his c.o.c.k harden in his pants.

He could tell by the way her eyes flew open and her cheeks turned pink that she remembered exactly where she'd heard the fruit's name before.

"Oh! You said-"

"Yes, I said," he agreed, stalking her around one of the smaller garden fountains. "I'd like to say it again. Would you like to make love in Atlantis?"

"Here?" She looked around, almost as if she were considering it, but then she shook her head. "No, of course not. What if someone came along and saw us?"

"They'd be jealous?"

Her lips curved. "Funny, but no."

"I was thinking my rooms, Princess."

"Don't call me that. There are too many princesses in our lives. Riley and now Maeve. It's just odd."

"Neither of them are my my princess." He pulled her in for a long, deep kiss and only released her when they were both breathless. "My rooms?" princess." He pulled her in for a long, deep kiss and only released her when they were both breathless. "My rooms?"

"Your rooms."

They didn't run, as much as he would have liked to, but walked at a barely more than normal rate of speed up the staircase and through the hallways of the palace, until they came to the warriors' wing and threw open the door to Christophe's suite of rooms.

"What do you think?" He figured it wouldn't be very impressive to her. After all, she lived in a mansion, and he only had a few rooms. But they were pretty nice rooms, after all. He did live in a palace. The view from the balcony was stupendous.

She ran across the room and opened the gla.s.s-and-crystal-paned doors. "Oh, Christophe. This is absolutely magnificent."

He followed more slowly, enjoying the view of her lovely round bottom as she bent over the waist-high barrier and looked down. "The gardens are lovely from here, too. What a wonderful place to live. You are so lucky."

He fitted his body against hers from behind and put his arms around her. "You live in a mansion, my ninja. You're pretty lucky yourself."

"We survived a vampire attack, too," she reminded him. "We're both pretty lucky."

"That's skill. Not my first vampire attack." He kissed his way down the side of her neck, enjoying her shivers, and then he slowly reached around in front of her and unfastened her silk trousers.

"Christophe," she gasped, capturing his hand. "What are you doing? Someone could see."

"Not unless they can see through walls, and there's not a single recorded incidence of that in the history of Atlantis." He pointed to the walls dividing his balcony from its neighbors and then to the solid barrier in front, which covered her completely from toes to just under her waist.

"n.o.body can see me do this, for example," he whispered in her ear as he slid his hand down her silken belly to find the nest of curls between her thighs. "Or this," as his hand moved even lower, and he traced her c.l.i.toris ever so lightly with the tip of his finger.

Her sharply indrawn breath was her only reply, so he nibbled the edge of her ear and whispered a few suggestions as to what he'd like to do to her. She stood perfectly still, except for pushing her hips back until his c.o.c.k was nestled against the sweetly firm cheeks of her still-covered a.s.s.

"I want to hold your b.r.e.a.s.t.s in my hands."

"No, someone might see," she said breathlessly. "We should go inside."

"We will. But first I want to watch you come in the bright magic of Atlantean sunlight." With that he slid his fingers farther down, until they touched her liquid heat. He coated his finger in the slick wetness and then rubbed up and along her c.l.i.t again, causing her to buck against him.

"Christophe, I can't-we can't-"

"Oh, yes, we can," he said, tilting his head to take her mouth. He kissed her long and hard while his fingers continued their play, until she started shaking in his arms.

"Now, please, I want you inside me," she whispered against his mouth.

"Your wish is my command." He unfastened his own pants and then pulled hers down as he leaned forward slightly, bending her just the tiniest bit over the rail.

"Now, you said," he reminded her. He plunged the thick head of his c.o.c.k into her silken sheath and she bit her lip against crying out. Then, slowly, ever so slowly, inch by blissful inch, he entered her, his body barely moving, until his c.o.c.k was so deep inside her that he felt like part of her. He stood perfectly still, unmoving, as she clenched around him, and then his fingers resumed their rhythmic stroking on her swollen c.l.i.t.

"You have to move," she whispered. "You're driving me crazy."

"That's the idea," he said, alternating pressure with his fingers. Firm, then gentle. Rapidly, then slowly.

"Oh, no. There's someone coming." There was real panic in her voice, so Christophe reminded her that n.o.body could see her from the waist down, especially from the ground below.

"Hail, Christophe," the man called up. It was one of the palace gardeners. "You owe me another chance at darts."

"Soon," he promised, waving to the man in hopes he'd get the hint and move on. Which he did, thank Poseidon.

Fiona collapsed forward onto her folded arms, which rested on the balcony ledge. "I can't believe that I-that we-oh."

"Well, we didn't yet, but we're going to, now." He withdrew a little and then, grasping her hip with the hand not busy driving her to an exquisite madness, he thrust into her, hard. "I told you n.o.body can see you."

"Of course. n.o.body can see me. Why didn't I think of that?"

A split second later, she disappeared, for all intents and purposes. He stood holding her a.s.s, his c.o.c.k buried in her warm, sweet heat, but all he could see of her was a swirl of light and shadow.

It was simultaneously the oddest and most erotic experience of his life.

"I won't come without being able to see your beautiful face, but that doesn't mean I can't make an invisible woman have an o.r.g.a.s.m right here on my balcony," he said, teasing her, his fingers stroking harder now.

She bucked against him, frantic now, trying to get him to move, but he laughed and held her still against him, barely pulsing his c.o.c.k in tiny movements inside her. The rhythm of his motion matched that of his fingers, and it took only seconds more for her to reach her climax, spasming around his c.o.c.k like a velvet glove. He nearly came then himself, but instead he lifted her by the bottoms of her thighs so that he was carrying her in almost a seated position in front of him. He made it to the bed in seconds and gently lowered her to her hands and knees and then took a firm grip on her hips and released the power he'd been holding back.

He drove into her, over and over, and she let go of her shadows so he could see every gorgeous inch of her. Her luscious a.s.s rocked with his motion and she'd thrown her head back so her hair trailed along the curve of her pale, perfect back.

"More?" He sped up, thrusting harder and faster. "Do you want more of me?"

"All of you," she said breathlessly. "I want all of you."

He bent down and pressed a kiss to her spine. "I want all of you, too, Lady Fiona Campbell."

She cried out, coming again, and he thrust into her, over and over, riding the wave of her o.r.g.a.s.m to his own. They collapsed in the bed, exhausted and safe, and she almost immediately fell asleep. He, however, lay awake for a long time, again contemplating the irony of humanity, his most hated foe, giving him such a gift.

Chapter 27

Atlantis, the royal suite

Conlan smiled to see his son mash banana slices into his own hair. "He's clearly a brilliant child."

"Hey, buddy," his princess and bride said, pulling him down for a kiss. "You did the same thing at your age, bet on it."

"I'd do the same thing now, if I thought it would relieve some of this worry."

Riley nodded. "Denal?"

"All of it. Denal, the vampires, the impending war, the jewels for the Trident." He ran a hand through his hair, wondering when he'd pull enough of it out to go bald. "h.e.l.ls, what isn't isn't going wrong? Will I ever be able to live up to the demands of being king? Alaric keeps pushing for the coronation but I don't feel like I'm even handling the high prince job well yet." going wrong? Will I ever be able to live up to the demands of being king? Alaric keeps pushing for the coronation but I don't feel like I'm even handling the high prince job well yet."

"Do you have to become king?"

"You mean could I abdicate?" He smiled at her. "I tried that once, for you, remember? Poseidon wouldn't let me go so easily."

"What about Christophe and Fiona? Does that worry you, too, my handsome prince?" She cleaned up their sleepy son as they talked, so she could put him down for his afternoon nap.

"Should it? I don't know. What right do I have to meddle in the warriors' private lives? But he has been so close to the edge; so dangerous and out of control with his power. Is he even safe for her to be around?"

"Maybe only for her, but yes, she's safe with him. It's anyone who tries to hurt her I worry about," she said.

"They must find the Siren. All hope of Atlantis rising is lost without it."