“Pretty much,” he said with a shrug.
I turned back to the gate and reached out to press my hand against the glittery symbols. “What are the seven laws of conduct?” I asked just as my index finger traced the first mark.
Before Connor could answer, the gates made a loud click and swung open. They had moved silently, not at all like they had been rusting under water for the past ten thousand years. In fact, I couldn’t see a freaking sign that Atlantis had aged or been damaged by all its time beneath the sea.
If anything, it looked perfect, brand-new, not a fucking scuff on the wall.
I had the insane urge to take out a Sharpie and scrawl my name across the gate, just to see if it would stick there. Something told me it wouldn’t.
“Should we go in?” Connor said, sounding unsure for the first time. He was always so confident of the path he was supposed to take. Secure in his one goal to bring about the return of Atlantis. I wondered what it would be like to have such a strong, singular goal, and then finally have it come to fruition.
“Is it everything you dreamed of?” I asked as we shuffled closer to the door.
He paused. “Is what?”
“Your dreams finally coming true?”
If I thought the sun was bright, it was nothing compared to the smile on Connor’s face in that moment. It was blinding. “Best feeling I’ve ever had.”
I examined his face; for once it was open and relaxed and happy. He looked his age—young and carefree. I wondered if I would feel the same way if Asher turned out to be alive. Because right now, that was my sole dream.
Where is he, then?
“He might be unable to find you,” Connor said, and I jerked my head toward him. We were still just on the edge of the gate, not quite willing to step through yet.
“What are you talking about?” I hadn’t even mentioned Asher.
Connor chuckled sadly. “You get this look on your face when you think about him. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen pain so visible … and that’s how I know Ash is on your mind. I promise he’s alive, and I promise that if he was able to come to you, he would have. I’ve known him a long time, and what he feels for you is beyond even a true mate bond. It’s beyond any bond I’ve ever known. Asher would never deliberately hurt you.”
Clearing my throat, I shook my head. “Guess we’ll find out soon enough.”
I couldn’t think about it any longer; the pain was absolutely breath-stealing in its intensity. Thankfully, I had a pretty large distraction right in front of me.
Atlantis. The fable. The myth.
All I had to do was take the first step through those slightly-open gates. I thought for sure Connor would have been pushing and shoving me to go through first, but he wore his nerves across his pinched face, hands that were opening and closing subconsciously into fists, and rapid breathing. He was scared.
Just to prove I wasn’t, I stepped forward and pushed the gates all the way open. From where we were, the huge statues were visible far in the distance, at the opposite end.
With one tentative step forward, I found myself inside the gates. Inside Atlantis.
Holy shit.
My power buzzed inside me, swirling and jumping about the way a happy puppy would when its owner was finally home to greet it.Home.The word raced through my mind and settled into my blood.
I was home.
25
Right in front of me was a huge fountain. It was the same shade of gold as the writing on the bronze doors, and it reminded me of something. Slowly I lifted my shirt. This was the first time I’d been able to look at the crown on my skin since Asher died, and I really should have been shocked at the pure gold on my mark, but I wasn’t.
My death had released the mortal shell, and I was now wearing my forever skin—disgusting but true. The gold, it had to be the color of the Atlantean gods. I still didn’t fully understand why I’d been more “god” than Asher, but apparently that was that old “magic and DNA worked in mysterious ways” thing that Connor was talking about.
Focusing on the statue again, I examined the multiple figures carved across it. Figures that were dancing, and it was clear that water should be shooting up between them and through their open arms. Only it was still and dry. Not a speck of water visible in the pristine design.
The carved figures were all paired up as they danced, the women in what would be flowing dresses of gold, and the men wore suits, but they all had bare feet that tangled in the very space water should have flowed. It would have been spectacular with the shooting streams going through it.
But just like everything else that I’d seen connected to Atlantis, it was silent … empty.Dead.
