Page 38 of Taken By the Crab King of Atlantis

“You don’t mind the bowing?” Kilandra asks after they’re gone.

I shrug. “It gives them hope. I get that now. Sometimes you need hope.” I feel differently about it now I've seen Karkinos' power, and the glow around us both after he saved me.

“You wear the role well,” she says.

“I guess I feel like I owe the people something too,” I confess. “Corvin locked me into the flood overflow system. To get me out, Karkinos had to destroy it. He fixed it, but even that short period of time will have impacted the city. But he needs the magic of our connection to stay in the world, of course.” It’s something that I’ve been considering in the past couple of hours.

“Do you really think that’s why he saved you?” she asks quietly.

I remember the desperate look on Karkinos’ face when I woke up. His fear was like a visceral force, and the relief on his face when I opened my eyes was palpable. I’m still processing it. I’ve never been cherished in that way. He made me feel special. Maybe that’s why I can handle the idea of people bowing to me now. Because whatever they think of me, nothing could match the intensity in Karkinos’ eyes when he looks at me.

“No, but it’s easier if I think of it that way.”

“He saved you because he loves you.”

“I think he’s supposed to be the one to say that the first time and not his advisor,” I snap. I’m tired and strung out from the evening, and Kilandra is a reminder of everything Karkinos has to deal with running this place.

She laughs at me and cocks an eyebrow. “Does he really need to say it?” She gestures around her and my anger ebbs. He was willing to destroy Kilandra’s city. I can’t resent her for interfering when the stakes are this high.

“You don’t seem to disapprove,” I say carefully.

“I don’t.”

I shake my head, shaking off the mounting sense of pressure in my chest. “I don’t know how I feel.”

“You don’t have to say the words. You don’t have to commit to being queen. But if knowing he loves you makes you want to run, go home now.”

I glare at her, and it’s instinct, not intellect, that makes me snap again. “Don’t tell me what to do.”

It's not like me to speak sharply to anyone, or be angry, and I wonder how she'll react.

But she surprises me by smiling. “Good. Because I think he’d like a word." I follow her gaze. Karkinos is heading towards us.

KARKINOS

I walk with Yen away from the emergency services area, back towards home. Several people see us and bow. Nobody stops us.

The streets are still ankle-deep with water, but when we turn a corner onto an empty street, I get down on one knee before her. Her eyes widen.

“You’ve spent a lot of time on your knees tonight,” she quips, but her eyes are wary.

“You quite enjoyed some of that,” I remind her.

She flushes beet red, eyes shifting away, but I grab her hand. “No. Don’t look away from me. I was asking too much of you, to expect you to take on the burden of leadership. Being the leader of Atlantis will make you a target. And it will make the quiet life you crave impossible.”

She pulls her hands away from me. “It’s not your fault.”

“It doesn’t matter. You were put in danger in my city, and that’s unacceptable. I won’t ask you to stay here with me again, but I would ask that you accept a gift. Not to tie you to me, but as an apology.”

“A gift?” Her brow crinkles, and she rubs a hand across it, her eyes flitting only briefly towards mine.

I nod.

“You mean, like the gift of Atlantis to Yvette?”

“Something like that.”

Her eyes widen. “I was joking. You would create a city for me to say sorry?”