The Queen of Elysium

Chapter 56 - Deep water

The four dragons make an impressive sight, their size and red colouration denoting the status of their Dragonite's. Riding up front is Zane on Roth and flying beside him is his brother Zander. Elissa is snuggled up with Kai on Antares, while Dusk and Darish are on Fuego.

The day of Zane's wedding is almost upon them and they are destined for Atlantis. Well, all except for Tabbi and Drake, who are using it as an excuse to revisit the secluded house by the sea. The pair are currently following in their avian forms.

Not much later, the peculiar manor house balanced on a massive rock and surrounded by sea, comes into view. Elissa reckons that she will have to gift it to her best friend Tabbi as a wedding present.

One by one the dragons land in a field, allowing their passengers to dismount before cavorting about on the soft sandy beach. Even the giant Antares demonstrates his playful side by chasing after the others and splashing in the shallows.

A servant ferries over the small rowboat but with saucer-wide eyes glued on the dragons, he seems reluctant to disembark, even for royalty. Kai huffs and shoves the smaller man out of the way and takes up the oars.

It takes several trips but soon they are all standing on the little jetty at the foot of the rock.

A head slowly rises out from the water and the sun glints off hair in shades of peacock blues and green. Triton, the crown prince of Atlantis himself, has come to meet them.

"Where is Ianthe?" asks Zane, looking down, trying to spot signs of purple through the waves.

Triton gives a wide smile, displaying his razor-like white teeth. "If you wish to be united to one from the House of Atlantis, then first you need to prove your worth."

Zane shoulders stiffen, and his voice becomes a little brittle. "How do I do that then?"

The sea beneath Triton foams and a huge swell brings him eye level with Zane. The sight of the droplets of water trickling down his bare golden torso are enough to make Elissa shiver in sympathy.

Winter has not yet loosened its grip upon spring, yet the Atlantean seems unaffected by the chill of the air.

Triton places a hand on Zane's shoulder, his lethal black talons slack. "You have already won her heart and the child of your loins grows within her. Yet it is our tradition to hunt the ocean and bring back a token of your esteem for your intended."

Zane snorts. "Something to impress Ianthe? That will take some doing."

Triton shrugs, a slight smirk playing on his face. "You can take two warriors with you. I am sure that your hunt will be successful." His gaze purposefully moves between Kai and Zander.

Two feminine heads pop up from the sea, one with long copper coloured hair and the other with hair a similar shade to mint ice cream.

"Hello, Zane," they chorus, and Elissa recognises them from her previous visit to Atlantis.

"You are looking lovely as always, ladies." Zane is ever the charmer, but unlike in the past, he does not look to capitalise on it nor allow his gaze to linger on the scantily clad mermaids.

Their flirty smiles are replaced by pouts. They turn their attention to the other males in the party and their gaze remains on Kai for the longest, much to Elissa's chagrin.

The copper-head lifts up a wicker basket containing the symbiont starfish which will enable them to survive underwater without breathing. Elissa is not impressed at how the mermaid helps divest Kai of his shirt, nor the way her hands move all over his back on the pretence of finding the right spot to put the starfish.