The vaulted cathedral ceiling was decorated with intricate patterns carved into ice. Soft lighting illuminated the white substance until it sparkled like stardust. All of this was viewed through a foggy filter, almost like looking through thick glass.
Trevain blinked to clear his distorted vision until the fuzzy images sharpened. Strangely, the ceiling remained as resplendent as it had been through the haze. Scenes danced across his mind and he could not tell if they were from dreams or memories. He remembered an explosion. He remembered drowning. He knew that he had died, but he did not know how long ago it had happened.
When he lifted his head from what felt like a soft downy pillow, he looked at his body and saw that the angel was with him. She was lying against him, resting—her white hair was draped out across his arms and chest. He wanted to touch her translucent ivory cheek, but he did not dare, fearing she would disappear if he did. White eyelashes fluttered gently open, barely revealing pure sapphire irises with a dark limbal ring around them.
“I prayed that I would see you again,” he whispered. “I have never prayed for anything in my life, but I prayed for you to any god that would listen.”
She smiled up at him sleepily though half-lidded eyes. “Good morning to you too.”
He fully raised his head and looked around at the room. Everything was made of ice, even the furniture. There were ornately carved ice torches which lit the area.
“Is this heaven?” he asked breathlessly. “Or maybe Atlantis?”
“Atlantis!” she mumbled, taking offense. “That place was a dump.”
Trevain was surprised when she pulled herself upright and he felt a heavy weight leave his chest. It occurred to him for the first time that all of this could be real and earthly, including the woman. It occurred to him that she could be made of flesh and blood. She was stretching and yawning now, with her eyes still closed. She was lifting a hand to rub her bandaged shoulder.
“Aazuria?” he asked, staring at her in awe.
“Mmmm?” she asked, turning to him. She frowned, reaching up to touch her cheeks. “Do I have something on my face? Pillow lines?”
He reached out and touched her white hair, letting it slip through his fingers. “You’re real. This is all real. I’m alive… but how?”
“Oh, Trevain,” she said, with a light laugh. She clutched her shoulder as her torso shook with mirth. “You did not drown, my love. You just held your breath until you passed out. Once you were unconscious, your body started breathing naturally again.”
“My boat,” he said, sitting up abruptly. “There was an explosion… is my crew okay? Everyone was on the Magician…”
Aazuria’s laughter had abruptly stopped. She reached out to take his hand in both of hers. “I am so sorry. Only Brynne was saved. She was taken back to land.”
“Everyone’s gone,” he said blankly.
She slowly nodded in response. She scooted closer to him to wrap her arms around his neck, sighing against his chest. “Forgive me. I could not get to you fast enough. She shot Elandria and… I did not know what to do. She might not make it. I lost my people by the dozens. My whole body aches from fighting and I just want to sleep for days. Maybe when I wake up Elandria will be better.”
“I like that plan,” Trevain said, stroking her hair, “as long as I get to sleep beside you. Elan’s a tough girl—incredibly tough. I’m sure she will be fine. Why were you fighting?”
“War was waged upon us last night. A fanatical woman attacked us with a sizable army.
“Atargatis?” he asked. He rubbed Aazuria’s back soothingly. “That blonde woman I punched in the face?”
“Yes. Her rage had a righteous source, but she channeled it poorly. She made a grave error when she tried to hurt you.” Aazuria winced when Trevain’s hand skimmed her wound. “She liked stabbing me in the shoulder, apparently. It’s my fault for not being a better warrior. It never snows, but it blizzards.”
Trevain gently began to unwrap the bandages to examine Aazuria’s injury. He frowned when he saw the huge gash that had been stitched up, crisscrossing over an old scar. He lowered his face to plant a kiss on the bluish skin near the stab wound. “Shouldn’t you be in a hospital? Getting antibiotics or something?”
“My personal doctor is the best there is,” Aazuria assured him. “She gave me various needles and said that as long as I got plenty of rest I would be fine.”
“Where is the monster who did this to you?” he asked as he rubbed his thumb along the swollen red skin around the lesion. “Eight of my men are gone because of her. My whole crew.”
“Seven,” she corrected.
“Seven?” he asked with a frown. “I thought you said that only Brynne…”
“You forget that Callder is here. He is alive, and it looks like he will make a full recovery.” She squeezed his hand reassuringly. “We can go visit him if you like. I heard that he regained consciousness right after you lost yours.”
He looked at her for a moment. “My brother’s alive. Are you sure this isn’t heaven, Zuri?”
She responded with a halfhearted smile—her own sister’s life still hung in the balance. He saw her grief and he reached out and pulled her against him, pressing his face into her cheek. She allowed her body to melt into his embrace with a sigh, turning to press her lips against his. When he kissed, her it eased her mind and caused her to momentarily forget; it was blissful. She felt a void when he pulled away, and was about to protest—but she could see the questions and confusion on his face.
“So this is your ice palace?” he asked her. “It is so warm here.”
“Of course,” she said, resting her palm on his thigh. She could not stop touching him, for it seemed to ease the pain inside her. “It is warm inside igloos too. My family was inspired by the simple functionality of Inuit architecture, hundreds of years ago when we first migrated to the Bering Sea.”
“Everyone lives in ice?”
“Just the royalty: aristocratic families, warriors, scholars, and such. Most of us live in submerged volcanic caves under the Aleutian Islands.”
“Why aren’t we underwater?” he asked.
She was growing impatient with his questioning. She just wanted him to hold her. “I did not want you to freak out upon waking up and stop breathing again,” she explained. “I figured it was best to ease you into it.”
He nodded. “So Aazuria, your age is really…”
“I am six hundred and three years old; just like I told you when we first met. I have never been fond of lying. Do not ask me to explain the biology behind why our lifespans are extended underwater; your great-aunt Sionna will have to tell you about that.”
“Six hundred and three,” he repeated.
“Yes, I am truly an old, old woman,” she said sadly, but there was a glint of mischief in her eye. She drew circles on his chest with her fingertip. “I know that there is no possible way that such a young man like you would be interested in an impossibly old woman like me…”
“Are you mocking me?” he said, but he could not keep a smile from his face.
She moved her good shoulder in a dramatic sigh. “No, I just feel awful. I feel as though I have taken advantage of you. Trevain… am I a pedophile?”
“You!” He burst out laughing and tackled her gently back onto the bed. He followed, positioning his body over hers and kissing her soundly. When he pulled away, she smiled up at him. He noticed then that the massive bed was also ornately carved from ice. Everything was suddenly new and miraculous to him; it was like being reborn. “Tell me about your world. Tell me about your people.”
She seemed ready to protest, and request that he just lie down and rest with her, but she knew that she would eventually need to indulge his curiosity. “I believe that showing is always more effective than telling,” she said, pointing to the staircase carved from ice which led out of the room. “Would you like to take the tour?”
“Aazuria… there’s water there.”
“Of course. Much of the glacier is submerged.”
“Can I really breathe underwater?” he asked her hesitantly.
“Yes, silly,” she could not resist a smile. “Just relax and let your second set of lungs do what they were meant to do.”
He was still doubtful. He raised a hand to his chest skeptically. “Wouldn’t they go dormant—even if I do have them (which I suppose I do) from lack of use?”
“The body is magical—many of its parts can be very patient.” She placed her hand on his, resting gently against his chest where he was suddenly very conscious of the possibility of having special organs. Yet he did not feel them, just as he did not feel the lungs he had used for his entire life. She smiled. “In all of my centuries of existence, I have never borne a child, and yet I believe that such a thing would be possible. I think my body would know what to do.”
“Maybe I’ll have to test that theory,” Trevain told her with a smile.
“Please do not delay these tests,” she said with a laugh, but her face quickly became serious. “You once told me that life would find a way—and it does. Your lungs know how to breathe water to sustain you should they have to, just as my body knows how to conceive. That life knows how to grow itself without any persuasion or urging on my part. It is effortless. You should try to take a breath. Just one single breath.”
At her urging, he rose to his feet and walked over to the staircase. There was carpet running along the center of it so that one would not slip on the ice. He stepped tentatively onto the first stair, turning back to glance at Aazuria. He felt a rush of boldness at her calm expression, and he walked down the staircase until he was completely submerged. He held his breath for a few seconds, before gathering the nerve to attempt it; even if he did not trust himself, he had confidence in Aazuria.
When he inhaled his first breath of water, it was a revelation. The cool, refreshing liquid filled his chest in a new sensation that was close to euphoria. He continued half-walking, half-swimming down the staircase, taking deep enthusiastic breaths until he reached a corridor. He looked to either side of the lit ice-hallway, and saw that guards and other palace residents were swimming about and communicating in sign language. It looked like a normal society. A few people glanced at him, and inclined their heads in greeting.
He smiled like a kid who had discovered the ultimate candy store. He swam back up the stairs, and emerged from the water laughing. “I can’t believe this! I can actually do it,” he said between bouts of laughter. It was the greatest blast of excitement he had ever felt. He looked at her, his eyes sparkling with enchantment. “For the first time in my life, Aazuria, I don’t feel like I’m fifteen inches tall. I feel like I have something special.”
“You were special even without this ability,” she said. She smiled, carefully pushing herself off the bed and clutching her shoulder as she approached him. “The joy you feel is due to the fact that this is where you originate from. Being on land is uncomfortable for we who know the freedom of the waves. You are the bonsai tree returned to the earth of Africa; this is the country of your mother. Here in Adlivun, you are more than a giant. You are a warrior; a descendant of elite Viking sea-kings.”
Her face darkened, and her pale blue eyes became hard and determined. “This empire is my little bonsai tree, Trevain. My father kept it trimmed and circumscribed, but I need to find a way to change that. I want to let the magnitude of life that wants to exist, exist. I need to encourage and facilitate it, while keeping everyone safe.” She began to pace across the carpet, anxiously. Her green robes, which had seemed modest when she was horizontal, now trailed behind her to reveal their majesty. “Trevain, there are those that would threaten us with their greed, hatred, and revenge. I need to safeguard Adlivun against that. People just want to live their lives in peace and freedom. I should have realized it sooner, but now I understand—it is my responsibility to protect them, and to ensure that they are able to grow and thrive. Will you… help me?”
“I’ll do anything I can for you, Aazuria.” He approached her, looking down at her in confusion. “As I understand, you are a princess. Well, I am yours. If I can be of any service, I will serve you for as long as I live.”
She reached out to touch his hand. “I feel stronger just having you beside me. Can we lie down now? Every inch of me aches.”
“Wait,” he said softly. “Do you really forgive me for the way I treated you? I can’t tell you how sorry I am, and how awful I feel about it. I called you names, I refused to understand, I was rough with you…”
She held up her hand to silence him. “Let us forget that. It is in the past. Besides, you were shot in the arm for it.”
He rubbed the scar from the bullet gently. “I deserved it. Although it did scare the crap out of me.”
“Your grandmother is my defender. She is an amazingly skilled and somewhat crazy warrior. She makes Brynne look like a bunny rabbit. You will have to meet her—well, technically you already have, twice, but you did not know her. She was the woman keeping an eye on me in the club when we first met, and then she was the woman who attacked Atargatis right after you saved me from getting impaled more accurately by that harpoon.”
“That’s my grandmother? But she’s… young and beautiful. She looks decades younger than I do!”
“That’s the gift of the sea. Just imagine how your mother feels!”
“Can you take me to see them? My grandmother and my mother? And Callder too?”
“Yes, of course.” She was tired, but she could not deny the excitement on his face. “We can go right away if you like.”
“Yes! But Aazuria… I just need to know. Is everything really fine between me and you? I just don’t know how you can forgive me so easily.”
She looked at him with puzzlement. “Of course. I bear no ill will toward you.”
He placed a hand on her un-injured shoulder gently. “I still want you to be my wife. Now more than ever. I just… I don’t know if I’m worthy of marrying a princess with her own ice castle and army and…”
“Trevain, when you asked me to marry you above the surface, I was indeed just a girl. There, in your world, I am nothing…”
“You were never just a girl, Aazuria,” he said firmly. Then he paused, giving her a shy smile. “Although I must confess that the night Arnav was killed… I mentally cheated on you.”
“You did what?” she asked, stepping back from him in confusion.
“Well, when I came home and you wouldn’t let me see you—you had Corallyn guarding your room…”
“A spear had just been thrown right through my body!”
“I know that now, but back then I thought you were just pissed at me and well… I spent all night fantasizing about the mysterious woman in the water with the white hair and blue eyes. I felt really guilty for it too.”
Upon hearing this, she could not prevent a small giggle from escaping her throat. She lightly smacked him in the arm. “I like myself more when I am underwater as well. You have my permission to cheat on me with me anytime. If you are in the mood for brunette, just add sunlight.”
“Will you marry me in the way my mother wanted? The traditional sea-dweller wedding? Although I have no idea what that is.”
Her smile disappeared instantly. Her eyes fell to the ground. “It is not so simple any longer.”
“Why not?” he asked. “I will do anything I need to do to make it simple.”
“Will you lead Adlivun into war?” she asked, with eyes narrowed into small slits. She crossed her arms across her chest austerely. “This nation is being threatened and attacked by another sea-dwelling clan. As king would you be prepared to lead us into battle?”
“King?” he asked.
Her eyes fell to the ground. When they finally lifted, there was something unreadable in them. Her voice was firm when she spoke. “If we marry in that manner, you will be the King of Adlivun. There is no divorce under the sea. Our marriage contract would last until one of us is dead. Are you ready for that level of commitment to a woman you barely know—and to a country you barely know?”
He observed her erect, unyielding posture, and felt the gravity of her words. Trevain suddenly understood why Aazuria had always appeared so stiff and unnatural. She had been raised in a royal family, and she had been subject to the rigorous training of an upbringing he could not even imagine. Everything odd about her suddenly made sense to him, and was suddenly ten times more endearing. He returned his focus to her words. She was asking for his full and complete dedication to her world. He did not know anything about Adlivun yet, but he knew that it was where he belonged. Aazuria lived there. Nothing remained for him on land.
“Zuri,” he said with a smile, “since you stepped into my life, my old life has lost all its charm. Now that I have stepped into your world, and taken my first breath—I hardly think anything else can compare to what you’ve given me. You must be mad if you think I’m going back to live on land—and even madder if you think I’m ever letting you go again.”
Her posture relaxed a smidgeon and her face softened. “I was so worried that you would not agree.”
“King is easy—you could have asked me to declare myself as God, the Devil, or the Dalai Lama. As long as I am by your side, I will do anything,” he vowed.
Her lips curled into a smile. She moved forward and slipped her arms around his waist, inclining her head upwards to kiss him. “Then we have nothing more to speak about. Others may object, but with time they will relent.”
“You will have to teach me everything about your nation, Aazuria. I will feel a bit silly and unworthy to have an important position in a realm I know so little about—and where I am considered an infant.”
“Nonsense. You have often called yourself a seaman! You spent all of your life working on the sea and building your empire on the water. Now you will have an empire to rule beneath the water. It is not quite so different.”
“As long as you have faith in me,” he said uncertainly.
“You have so much knowledge and experience to bring to Adlivun. You are introspective and humble, yet powerful and commanding—most of all, you have the most refined sense of intuition I have ever witnessed. All of Adlivun will welcome you as their king at our coronation.”
“How do you still think so highly of me after all the things I’ve said and done?” he asked sadly. He wished for the umpteenth time he could take back all of his momentary lapses; how much more he would enjoy this moment. How much more worthy he would feel of being given this new chance at life.
“You are a real person, a real human being,” she said softly. She knew that she must accept all sides of him, not just the ones she preferred. Both kindness and rage were part of the man; she had ample allotments of each as well. She laid her cheek against his chest and closed her eyes in contentment. “I still cannot believe that you are one of us. I thought that I would be separated from you forever. Even when we were at our best, when we were first engaged, I thought that I would only be able to love you for your brief lifetime. I believed I would have to live hundreds of years without you. But now that you are here, you will live just as long as I will. My impending disaster turned into a fairytale.”
Trevain returned her hug gently, resting his chin on the top of her head. “I don’t care much about living longer, but I’m just thankful I get to live all of those years with you. I thought I had screwed things up for good. I promise I will make up for how terrible I was.”
“Of course you will. I have an army to keep you in line,” she said. She did not want to pull away, but she knew that she should. She stepped back and took his hand to lead him into the splendor of Adlivun. “Let us go meet your grandmother. I should warn you in advance that Visola will probably give you some sort of threatening speech about how she would not hesitate to shoot you again. Then she will proceed to demonstrate the way her rifle works.”
“I’m looking forward to it,” he said, kissing her hand. He suddenly paused, holding her at arms’ length and looking earnestly into her face. “Aazuria—I need to apologize for some of the awful things I said. I know that you weren’t responsible for the deaths of my men. I know you tried to save Arnav, and if I had listened to you he would not have been placed in danger.” He sighed. “Also, you rescued both my mother and Callder. I should not have wrongfully accused you; I know you didn’t take my family from me.”
“We do not have to speak of that now,” she said, reaching out to caress his cheek.
“Yes, we do. Somehow, everything that came out of my mouth that day was the opposite from what I really meant. Aazuria, you have reunited me with my loved ones. In you and your sisters I have found even more family. You have given me access to a heritage more mind-blowing than anything I could have imagined. You have reunited me with all the courage and hope I thought I’d lost along with my youth.”
His words and manner reminded her of the nobility she had seen in him from their very first meeting. She gazed at him lovingly, thinking that he had not really changed at all. He only saw himself differently now, and it was closer to the way she saw him.
Perhaps the issue had been his discord and disharmony with his surroundings. Perhaps now that he was where he was meant to be, all would be well. But he was still apologizing.
“Aazuria…” On an impulse, he stepped back and looked at her gratefully before bowing forward from the waist. He held the position for several seconds of sincerity before straightening. He met her eyes with an intent gaze.
“You have reunited me with myself.”