MARRY?
Every head, eye spot, and antenna swung toward the doorway.
Angel couldn’t have heard correctly. And then she saw who it was.
Logan?
As gorgeous as the last time she’d seen him, Logan swam into the Coliseum, Mariana right behind him.
Oh gods. What had Mariana done? The Council would crucify him—and she did mean literally. No Humans except her sisters-in-law had ever witnessed a convened Council, but they were married to members of the royal family.
“Who are you, Human?” Thorsson’s last word rasped across the silence as tightly as his clipped beard swung against his chin.
All the beings in the arena followed Logan as he walked—yes, walked, on two legs, every bit as tall and strong and proud of his heritage as he had a right to be—toward The Council.
He didn’t utter another word. Not until he reached her. “Hey,” was that word.
Then he hugged her. Chest-to-chest, thigh-to-tail, arms-wrapped-around-her hug and, omygods, it felt so good. She’d never thought she’d see him again—
And then he kissed her.
Right there, in front of everyone. Everyone, who’d suddenly gone quiet.
Tough. Let them eat kelp. She hadn’t lied to Logan. In Mer form or with Human legs, she was in love with him and The Council could stick that in their collective crawl and stew on it. She was going to enjoy this moment.
It might very well be her last.
She slid her arms around his neck, then gave a good kick of her tail so she was fully in his arms, as involved in the kiss as he was, showing him—there, in front of everyone—just what he meant to her. Let them talk. She didn’t care. If she was going down, she was going down with a smile on her face and love in her heart and the man would finally understand that what she felt for him transcended their differences.
“Ahem.”
Those two syllables reverberated loudly enough to catch her attention.
Logan’s, too.
He pulled back, his eyes never leaving hers. “So. Will
you marry me, Angel?”
Gasps now filled The Coliseum, but Angel didn’t care. She didn’t care when the gasps escalated to mut-terings, nor even when they went to full-out bitching and complaining.
All that mattered was that Logan had asked. “You bet I will.”
And then Logan was back to kissing her and Angel didn’t give one flying fish who was outraged.
Until Zeus poofed onto the scene.
ONE SECOND LOGAN HAD THE MOST BEAUTIFUL WOMAN IN
the world in his arms, and the next, he found himself face to fin with the biggest merman he’d ever seen.
Not that he’d seen all that many. His eyes hadn’t focused on anyone but Angel from the moment he saw her.
This newest, bigger, badder version of merkind clasped him on the shoulder and conjured a chair out of thin air—water.
“Have a seat, son,” he said, steering Logan into the chair. “You, too, Angel.” Another chair appeared next to his, and Angel floated into it.
Logan grabbed her hand. He wasn’t about to let go. Her sister had said marriage was the only way out, and Logan was all for it. And not just to save her life.
“Zeus, Sir.” Rod, one of the two brothers Mariana had pointed out before he’d set foot in The Coliseum, nodded at the newcomer—Zeus, of all people—from behind the table. “To what do we owe the honor?”
Zeus approached the bench, shaking a finger at Rod. “You’re smart, Rod, but I bet even you didn’t see this one coming.”
The merman glanced at Mariana, who was trying hard to keep a smile off her face. Looked like she’d known what she was talking about.
Zeus turned to face him. “By the way, Logan, it’s
mer. Capital M and no man or maid after it. Just Mer. Your kind added the suffixes.”
Wow. Logan thought he’d been prepared for any-thing, but Zeus? An honest-to-God Greek god? Here?
Then he looked around. Mermen—no, Mers—all around him, fish and eels and barracuda sitting next to each other, not a snarling maw in the crowd. Nothing should surprise him.
“Actually, it’s ‘honest-to-gods.’” Logan looked at Zeus. “Sorry?”
“Gods.” Zeus walked toward him. “You thought, ‘God.’ I prefer you use the plural, otherwise, when I return to Olympus, I’m going to hear it from Hera. And Aphrodite and Poseidon and Eros—especially Eros. They’ve accused me of getting too big for my toga on occasion, and singling myself out from the rest of them tends to get their Irish up. Or rather, their Greek.” He patted Logan’s shoulder. “Okay? From now on, it’s ‘gods.’ Lower case, plural. Keeps everyone happy.”
The guy… Zeus… swam back to the head table while Logan just stared at him.
“So,” Zeus thrummed his fingers on the table. “I’m sure you’re all wondering why I’m here. After all, we gods bowed out of your adjudications selinos ago. Close to two thousand, I believe.” Rod nodded. “Right. Well, you see, we’ve obviously been following this case closely, due to your predecessors. Pontus and his heirs didn’t manage their Human interaction well, as we all know.”
“What’s he talking about?” Logan asked Angel.
Mariana hadn’t told him this part of their history.
“The previous dynasty treated their reign as one long party and got too involved with Humans. The gods got
fed up with the destruction that caused and cleaned house. That’s when my family took control,” she whis-pered back.
“We gods decided that an impending marriage neces-sitated some intervention on our part.” Zeus looked back at Logan. “So, son, do you care to tell us why you’ve suddenly decided that life with a Mer is preferable to the normal one you so craved on land? Is this some con¬trived plot to tug on the heartstrings of the assembly? A hope for a celestial pardon?”
Zeus planted his hands on either side of the chair, his face inches from Logan’s. “Or is this a ploy to make the ultimate sacrifice as a means of earning Immortality and escaping death?”
Logan took a deep breath. Of water. Funny how that didn’t bother him anymore.
He met Zeus’ gaze, then slowly pushed on the arms of the chair and rose. Zeus grudgingly allowed him to stand.
Every eye in the place was on him. Logan didn’t care.
He brushed past the god to face Angel, her beauti¬ful eyes both worried and shining with happiness. He reached for her hand, then dropped to one knee.
“Angel, I love you.” He said it loud enough for ev-eryone to hear. There would be no misunderstanding on anyone’s part. Especially not hers. “I have since our night together. Probably even before. I love how you laugh, how you sing, how you make everyone around you feel special and good and valued. I love how you are with my son, and I love how I am when I’m with you.”
Tears filled her eyes, and he had to clear his throat.
“I know I said awful, hurtful things to you that night. I was an ass. I didn’t mean them. I was just so… sur-prised, and—”
She put a finger on his lips. “I know. I should have—” “No.” He shook his head and inhaled that special blend
of hibiscus that was all Angel. “You shouldn’t have. There was no easy way to tell me. I behaved badly. But I want to make it up to you. And not because you saved my son. Not because you put yourself in danger. Not for any of the reasons Zeus said.” But he had used Mariana’s knowledge of Immortality to his advantage. It’d been the only way, and one he’d embraced wholeheartedly.
“I want to marry you because I couldn’t live another day knowing you were suffering. That I’d never see you again. Whatever it takes, if I have to give up living on land or only see you occasionally, I’ll do it.” He stroked her cheek with his other hand, then cradled it and ran his thumb over her lips. “I love you Angel, and I want to spend the rest of my life with you.”