When his worst fear comes true, Asgard's Dark Prince will stop at nothing to rescue his pregnant consort. Yet, not even the threat of Asgard's forces looming in the skies over Alfheim can force the Unseelie Winter Realm Elves to produce Shannon when...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
With a jolt, I realized I'd fallen asleep. I bit back a groan. Although I'd needed the rest, constantly fighting off exhaustion, my muscles had stiffened from not moving. I had no idea how long I'd slept. Hours at least, and it had been deep enough this time that I'd dreamt of hearing Mist and Kara talking. Fortunately, I'd neither rolled off the roof nor been spotted.
Still, I was angry with myself for not being more careful. With cautious movements, I rolled onto my side, then onto my hands and knees before crawling to the roof's edge. The wharf was still a hive of activity, but perhaps it was always busy. Without a change in light, I had no way of judging time in this underground realm. After backing away from the side closest to the sea, I crept toward the next building.
A small burst of air later, I was on the next roof, then the next, making my way down the line until I reached the end of the buildings and a much less active section of the wharf. The roof of this building abutted against the wall of the cavern. Climbing down in the shadow of the cavern wall, I crept towards the sea, keeping an eye out for anyone moving this way.
No one came and within a few minutes, I was submerging myself in the cool waters. Despite the temperature, which I adjusted around my body with a thought, the salt water was energizing. The sensation was like pins and needles as it tingled over my skin, but not painful in any way. The buoyancy on my pregnant belly was a relief for my aching back and sore muscles.
When I was certain I was deep enough for it not to be seen, I created a small glow ahead of me so I could see my underwater surroundings. Everything was an eerie green with the sandy bottom reflecting white. Shooting through the water, I swerved around stone pillars and headed away from the rapidly receding shore. Staying underwater, I kept an eye out for any of those boats with their dwarven crews. The farther I got from my captors, the more I allowed myself to enjoy the sensation of the surrounding water.
As I travelled further into the sea, I passed patches of glowing vegetation that seemed to act like a coral reef. These areas had a tremendous diversity of fish, shrimp, sea stars, and urchins. Amazingly beautiful, I marvelled at the rich bounty of life in an underground sea. While I swam, I occasionally listened to the creatures and their conversations revolved around immediate mundane needs.
Although, it made me wonder. So far, all the sea creatures were on the small side, but I knew there had to be larger predators out there somewhere. Even taking breaks and stopping to sleep, I'd swum for at least a day, as far as I could tell, but had yet to see anything threatening.
After passing a particularly extensive area of sea life, I expected it to get darker again as it had after travelling through other patches. Instead, deep down in the water, the green glow intensified.
Curious, I started to descend when a black and silver skinned man, with eerily beautiful black with silver starburst eyes and wavy black hair appeared in front of me. Some kind of scaled black and silver armour blended with his skin and he carried a trident. His unusual colouration, paired with well proportioned masculine features, made for a handsome face that distracted me from noticing the decidedly hostile expression at first.
