Wyrmrider Vengeance: An Underwater Magic Urban Fantasy (The Fomorian Wyrmriders Book 2) Read online

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  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, organizations, places, events and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

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  Chapter One

  "I need you on patrol, Titus."

  "Yes, your Highness," the muscle-bound merman who happened to be the captain of the merlegions said. "But I must ask, what are we to do if we encounter something? These legionnaires still don't have a clue how to fight."

  I nodded. The merlegion used to be a formidable force. Under King Conand, my predecessor, they were a well-trained unit with years of combat training and experience.

  But that was before they were zombified—every last one of them.

  Except for Titus.

  Not much we could do for them other than put them out of their misery—with the aid of the wyrms, of course.

  Now we had the challenge of raising up a new merlegion. And Titus, while he was my predecessor's right-hand man, was the only one left in all of Fomoria with actual credentials to lead a legion, not to mention train them up.

  The new merlegion mainly consisted of young mermen and mermaids. Used to be just mermen. But hello... there was a new queen in town, and I'd be damned before I told a mermaid she couldn't do something.

  Not like we had a lot of mermaid volunteers. While I made it clear that the new legion wouldn't discriminate based on gender, centuries of patriarchal rule were hard to shake.

  A mermaid legionnaire. There were already a few misogynistic jokes about them circulating around the kingdom. I knew of it. It pissed me off. But it wasn't something I could reverse overnight.

  And I didn't have time to screw with their bullshit.

  "Use the patrols as training exercises," I told Titus. "If anything comes along too difficult to handle, give me the signal, and I'll join you with the Wyrmriders."

  "Yes, your Highness," Titus said as he turned to leave.

  I couldn't help but gawk at his body as he turned to leave. He wasn't at all the sort of man I found attractive or anything like that. But he was so muscle-bound you couldn't help but look.

  I half-wondered how he'd built so many muscles. Typically resistance training doesn't work the same way underwater. At least, I assumed it didn't. You know, on account of buoyancy and whatnot.

  I trusted Titus. Perhaps I was naïve to do so. He'd supported the former King almost to a fault, pretty much until the ninth hour when it became clear the king himself was possessed by another Loa. And that Marinette, the Loa who'd claimed the king's body, tried to turn him into a zombie along with the rest of the merlegion.

  Yes, Titus was absolutely loyal. But even absolute loyalty had its limits.

  Joining a zombie merlegion...

  If that was his limit, and since he'd pledged fidelity to me and my new regime, I figured he could be trusted.

  So long as I didn't threaten to turn him into a brain-eating corpse, we'd be good.

  Besides, when I'd thought we lost the wyrms, he was the one who led them home, back to Fomoria. He deserved a chance to keep his job.

  I watched the enchanted map I'd inherited from my predecessor. Fomoria had beacons scattered across the gulf. They interacted with some kind of bioluminescent ooze that revealed any traces of energy—magical or electrical when spread on the map.

  It was a great way to keep an eye on potential threats.

  So why did I need Titus on patrol?

  Because the bokors were still out there. They knew what we could do, the energies we could detect. And if they still had their sights on us, I figured they'd have a plan. Some way of coming after us that wouldn't trigger the beacons.

  Every Fomorian carries a magical signature. I could see Titus and his rag-tag group of legionnaires in training as they left the city and circled the perimeter. They left snail-like ooze trails behind them as they moved, creating something of a spiral on my map.

  Typically, they'd make a round relatively close to the firmament—the magical shell that protected Fomoria—and then they'd swim out a mile or so and make a much larger pass.

  After the second pass, if they still hadn't seen anything, they could either take another mile-long swim and make a third pass or come home. I didn't require the third pass every time. I mean, each round was significantly longer than the last based on the formula for circumference.

  C=2πr

  Learned that shit in High School.

  And if "r," which stood for "radius," was larger, it meant the "C" or "circumference" would be bigger, too.

  Joni Campbell. Mermaid queen.

  What the...?

  No one called me by my real name, of course. Well, almost no one. To Agwe and Tahlia, I was still Joni. To everyone else—La Sirene, Queen of the Sea, Queen of Fomoria!

  Let the trumpets sound!

  Of course, trumpets aren't a thing in Fomoria. Wind instruments, in general, don't tend to work under water. Hell, most of the merfolk around here probably didn't even know what a trumpet sounded like. But I'd only been a mermaid a few months—which made the fact I was the mermaid queen totally surreal.

  Seemed like yesterday I was graduating high school. Yeah, human high school. And now I was ruling and underwater merkingdom.

  My guidance counselor screwed the pooch on that one.

  Culinary arts...

  She thought I'd be a great cook. Well, this bitch became a queen. Suck a lemon dry and pinch yourself in the morning.

  Not sure what that means. But my gran used to say it. So why not? Probably some kind of southern remedy, I supposed. For what? Who knows. A remedy for making sense, more than likely. Seemed to work. Every time I said it.

  As strange as it was to be a queen, though. Child's play compared to being the wife of a demigod.

  I didn't love Agwe. Sure, he was hot. Great abs and a killer tan—particularly for a guy who didn't get much sun on account of spending most of his time in the deepest parts of the Gulf of Mexico.

  And he was kind enough, so far as deities go.

  But I knew enough from history to know royals rarely marry for love.

  An alliance.

  To acquire some kind of power.

  Whatever.

  We did it to save Fomoria and, with it, the rest of the world. The voidbringer might have devoured it all otherwise.

  Not that I didn't want to love him. But you can't just tell your heart to start beating for someone else. Especially not when the wounds from a lost love were still so fresh. Not only my love for my son, Merlin. But for his daddy, too...

  But I couldn't be with them. No matter how much I wanted to. And he was
with someone else now, anyway. And there was the whole thing about Erzulie... the Loa of love...

  Agwe was one of her many husbands, in addition to being mine. No, he didn't love her. He didn't give a wyrm's tail about her. Again, it was about power. Alliances. Otherworldly politics I didn't understand. He assured me it meant nothing. But let's face it... he was a polygamist. All the Loa were.

  Not my jam. Not at all. Call me traditional. But I prefer to keep my husbands to myself. Husband, I mean. Singular, not plural. Seriously, trying to babysit one man is hard enough. Why would anyone want more than that? Reverse harem? No, thank you. And I certainly wasn't going to be a part of Agwe's harem, either.

  Chapter Two

  I casually watched the merlegions as they made their first pass around the perimeter. So far, so good.

  "You know, you don't have to watch that thing so closely." It was Agwe's voice—he swam up behind me and placed his hand on my back.

  It was his way of showing affection. We were married, after all. Hadn't consummated anything. I still couldn't get my mind around the whole process as a mermaid. I mean, all my lady parts were there... in the scales. But putting our respective... parts together was only one part of the problem.

  There was also a leverage issue, I imagined. I mean, how does a merman thrust his hips properly without the aid of a solid surface beneath combined with the full force of gravity from above? We'd have to use each other as leverage, I suppose.

  But then there'd be the whole rhythm problem. I mean, you'd have to have your thrusts in sync with your partner. Otherwise, oops, he'd fall out and poke me somewhere that doesn't accommodate his... mermanhood... so welcomingly.

  At least those were my excuses...

  I couldn't bring myself to tell Agwe I just wasn't that into him. If he wanted this girl's sweet potato pie, he'd have to add the sugar.

  I'm not saying there wasn't potential for romance there. Like I said, Agwe was attractive. And he was kind. But demigods aren't used to romancing anyone.

  They're sort of like entitled celebrities who think their "status" gives them some kind of free-pass to skip the wooing process.

  As if poking me with his semi-divine member was some sort of honor.

  Not that he wasn't trying... but I needed more than an occasional touch and flirtation.

  My body shivered as he ran his hand up and down my spine. Not for any other reason than... well... sometimes I shivered for no reason. I think everyone does that. And running a hand down my neck or back is an excellent way to elicit such a convulsion.

  Agwe laughed a little. "Sorry, didn't mean to do that."

  I nodded. "It's okay. I want to be sure I don't miss it if Titus gives the signal."

  Agwe smiled. "Fair enough. But how many patrols has he taken the new legionaries on since you became queen?"

  I shrugged. "Few dozen times, probably."

  "And have they encountered a single threat in all that time?" Agwe asked.

  I bit my lip. "No, but you're Loa. You know the bokors... I can't believe simply because we foiled their plan before they'd just leave us be."

  Agwe shrugged. "You never know. I mean, you have to admit their initial plan was quite the ordeal. The fact that you basically defeated the voidbringer, which even I find impressive, has to give them a little pause."

  "But what good is a pause?" I asked. "You don't do anything if you just pause. I can't help but think whoever these bokors might be, they're cooking something up."

  "So you watch the map non-stop?"

  "I just want to be sure if Titus needs my help..."

  "Even when they aren't on patrol," Agwe said, interrupting me, "you hardly do anything else, Joni."

  I dropped my jaw a little. "I do other things!"

  "Like what?" Agwe asked.

  "I taught Tahlia how to play checkers!"

  Agwe snorted. "Checkers? And where were you when you taught her that?"

  I glanced over at the make-shift checkerboard I'd carved into the surface of the room's floor using the tip of my trident.

  "In here," I muttered under my breath.

  "What was that you just said?" Agwe asked facetiously.

  "In here!" I said more loudly this time. "I didn't want to miss anything while we played. Just in case... I can't let Formoria fall on my watch."

  "Then stop watching so much," Agwe said.

  "You know that's not what I mean," I huffed. "I mean while I'm the queen."

  "The firmament is strong," Agwe said. "And Titus can handle himself against most anything he'd encounter. I mean, he thwarted a whole zombie legion that was supposed to turn him."

  I bit my lip. "That's true, I suppose. Takes some real savvy to pull that off."

  "As queen, Joni. You can't control everything. You can't be the literal eyes and ears of the kingdom. You need to trust others to do some of the looking out for you. You need to delegate."

  "But outside of you and Tahlia, who can I really trust?" I asked.

  Agwe shook his head as he turned to leave.

  "What?" I asked.

  His shoulders rose and fell as he released a deep breath. "Paranoid monarchs almost always become tyrants."

  I furrowed my brow. "You think I'm a tyrant? No one's ever called me that before! How dare..."

  "You were a high schooler and a pregnant girl trying to prepare for what you thought your life was going to be. Then you were a hysterical mother trying to save your cursed baby. When would anyone ever have had a chance to call you a tyrant until now?"

  "Ok," I said. "I see your point. But I'm not paranoid. And if I'm not, then I'm not going to become a tyrant."

  "You aren't paranoid?" Agwe asked.

  "Nope," I said. "Not one bit."

  "Then how about we get out of here. Go mingle with the merfolk... I'm sure they'd love to see their queen."

  I bit my lip. I glanced down at the map. "Well, let me make sure they get back safely first."

  Agwe stared at me blankly. "Yeah, not paranoid at all, are you?"

  I sighed. "I see our point."

  "Tell me, wife," Agwe said—I hated when he called me wife. It was only a step above calling me "woman." But I let it slide on account of the fact that this was his first meaningful romance with a human or a mermaid, and I was both. "Is it the bokors you're afraid of? Or is it, perhaps, you're afraid of being a bad queen?"

  I sighed. "I don't know."

  "You're self-sabotaging, Joni," Agwe said. "And you are fulfilling your own fears. If you won't take any risks, if you won't delegate any responsibility, but you won't get out there and do anything either... you will be a bad queen. But not because you couldn't have been a good one. It will be on account of your fear."

  Chapter Three

  I suppose Agwe had a point. There was a lot more to being queen than looking for whatever danger might be on the horizon. And it had been weeks since I'd taken a ride with Nammu.

  Riding a wyrm... nothing cleared my mind better than that. It was a thrill. But there was also a connection I had with Nammu. It was, in part, because I had a bit of a dragon's essence mingled with my soul. But it was also because she and I had a special relationship. We trusted each other.

  I know it sounds terrible to say it—but in some ways, I was closer to Nammu than my own husband.

  I felt like we had a bond. Going for a swim together would be... therapeutic.

  So I summoned Tahlia.

  I can't believe I just said I "summoned" her. The whole notion of summoning people made me giggle. But queens can do shit like that, I suppose.

  I didn't want to be a tyrant, either. Agwe suggested I might if I let fear consume me.

  Didn't know a lot of tyrants.

  I suppose my second-grade teacher, Mrs. Cameron, might qualify.

  She was a grade-A bitch... who never gave out A grades.

  She didn't like how I organized my desk, so she made another student clean it out on my behalf.

  Well, this student lost my assignment. Threw
it out with the other garbage I had stuffed in my desk.

  And when it was time to turn it in, Mrs. Cameron didn't believe me when I said I'd finished it.

  I still remember my momma marching into her room after school one day. I think that might be the first time I heard momma cuss.

  So yeah, my second-grade teacher was a tyrant.

  But if I became one... well... I oversaw a whole hell of a lot more than a classroom. People depended on me. And they needed more. They deserved more from me than for me to sit, staring at a map, in perpetual trepidation.

  Was it that I feared the bokors?

  That was a part of it.

  Bokors are those who wield both the "light" and "dark" sides of Voodoo... from what I understood from the Voodoo Queen, whom I'd only recently met, the bokors believe that since Voodoo teaches the importance of "balance," their use of dark magic was necessary if they intended to use light magic.

  I'd faced off with a bokor before. Well, a caplata anyway. That's what they call a female bokor.

  It was a life-altering event... one that ultimately left my mother in a coma for nearly a decade.

  I wasn't exactly eager to face off with a bokor again.

  But that wasn't what had me hiding away in my chambers...

  I feared being a bad queen more than I feared any supernatural baddie.

  I didn't know what to do with so much responsibility. And I'd never spent much time in Fomoria to have the experience to know what to do, what was best for the merfolk who lived there.

  Altogether I'd had exactly one night out... before I'd become queen.

  The night Tahlia got me high on some kind of bioluminescent kelp.

  And if I didn't get out there, let my hair down a little, and get back in touch with myself... well... I'd be a pretty awful queen.

  "Hey there, Queen B," Tahlia said, swimming into my quarters. Tahlia wasn't technically a Fomorian. She was half-Fomorian, half-selkie. Selkies were basically seal shifters. They could become seals or remove their pelts and become human. But since one of Tahlia's parents was a Fomorian mermaid, she became an eel when she adorned her pelt. Otherwise, she was a mermaid like any of us, only darker in complexion and with a beauty that would take your breath way... if breath was a thing any of us had in an underwater world.