Chapter 10

"Give me the conch!"

The arguing boils out into the streets. Marina has just shared some bullshit story about a weird prophecy where I was going to drown the entire world in water. With that, she is walking away with the conch that is supposed to be mine.

I grab her before she gets too far and I swing her around as hard as I can.

"Whoa!" Reign says, jumping in between us, "You can't put your hands on a female like that Krill."

I'm pissed. Maybe I had grabbed Marina a little too hard but Marina wasn't just a regular female. This bitch lived to make my life a living hell all these years and she was back attempting to do it again. I can see how her eyes gleam with light and happiness when she notices Reign jumping to her aide.

"Get the fuck out of his face, Reign," Wade responds.

Wade gets in Reign's face. Truthfully he is way more aggressive than Reign was being towards me. Wade is being dramatic. I can see it from a mile away. He was just looking for a reason to get in Reign's face and honestly right now I'm all for it. Reign is an asshole at worst and a pushover at best for constantly defending a bitch like Marina. All these years he had to see the kind of person Marina was and he was always OK with it. That's what pissed me off the most about Reign whether they were togethr or not.

"Everyone needs to calm the fuck down," Blue says, "Marina. I understand that prophecy might look a little bad but even if it was true..."

"It's not fucking true," I cut Blue off.

Blue holds a hand out to me continuing to take control of the situation, "Even if it was true. What would happen to the conch?"

"I'll destroy it," Marina states bluntly.

She has this smirk on her face as she says it. It's almost like she isn't really even taking this serious. She doesn't really care what happens to the conch or Atlantis or anything else for that matter. Marina cares about getting back at me for holding Reign's attention. She is staring dead at me. She's hiding behind Reign knowing that he won't let me physically rip the conch out of her hand.

"You aren't destroying shit bitch," I respond.

"Reign, you going to let him talk to me like that?" Marina asks.

Reign looks Marina. He then looks at me. His face is blushing red something crazy. He seems stuck between us as though he doesn't know what to do.

He holds up his hands as though giving up, "Blue is right. Everyone should just remain calm."

"She is planning on destroying the conch and you want me to stay calm?"

"She's not destroying anything," Reign says, "I'll keep the conch safe..."

Marina seems reluctant to give it up when Reign extends his hand to take it.

"You trust him?" Marina asks Reign, "I'm not giving this up. This could be the only thing keeping us alive. What would he not do for it? You want to end up like Yara? I'm not going down like that."

I'm shocked.

"You think I killed Yara?"

Marina shrugs. She stares at me with a straight face, "You were the person who found her body. Blue also made it clear that you were the last person he saw."

"My grandmother gave up her immortality to bring him back bitch!"

"You had no idea she could do that," Marina states before smiling, "Did you?"

I get quiet. I don't know what else to say. I didn't know it was my possible my grandmother could bring back Blue. Things all of a sudden seem to get tense and uncomfortable. My friends are staring at me. All at once it seems like all of them stare at me including Wade. Wade even seems to be all of a sudden confused at that moment.

"No."

Blue shakes his head, "It wasn't him."

Marina raises her eyebrows, "You know that for sure Blue? Who else was there with you guys? Who would have known to follow you there?"

Blue is hesitating. It looks like he's trying his best to remember what happened the day that he died but for some reason the memory doesn't seem to be coming back. Blue struggles for a few minutes to think of something but he doesn't.

Marina looks around at everyone, "Am I the only one who sees the connections? The prophecy. The people dying. Wade, you said it yourself. The sisters wouldn't be sneaking around doing late night murders. There is someone doing a killing. What if the person doing the killing has been the person attempting to play the victim this whole time?"

Marina stares at me.

The scary thing is it's not just Marina either. Everyone. Wade, Blue, Reign and Sebastian all turn to me when Marina says what she says. They all look away quickly out of embarrassment and feeling awkward about this.

"You wouldn't have done something like that Krill," Sebastian asks, "Right?"

I'm shocked.

"Are you really asking me some stupid shit like that?" I ask.

Sebastian looks away. I can tell he doesn't want a confrontation but Sebastian was so weak minded to really let this sway him. Out of everyone here I could understand why he was asking questions. He didn't know us. He was the stranger here. Still, we'd become friends. He could at least give me the benefit of the doubt.

"Blue, tell them I didn't kill you."

"I don't believe you would do that," Blue says.

That's not enough. It's not really combating what Marina is saying right now. Marina smiles even harder when she sees how Blue phrases his response.

I look at Blue hard, "Tell them I DIDN'T DO it!"

Maybe it's not fair right now. Maybe I'm going off on Blue a little bit more than I should. I shouldn't even be so focused on Blue with Wade standing there but I can't help it. I'm pissed.

"I just opened everyone's eyes. They are looking at you right now and they might say to your face that they trust you and everything is OK," Marina boasts, "But best believe that in the back of everyone's minds they are putting two and two together. We are on to you Krill. And if it comes down to us or you we aren't going to be your pawns anymore. Sometimes the pawns make it to the other side of the field and they get elevated. Sometimes pawns kill kings."

It was a threat. Marina was standing right now in front of all these men that supposedly liked me and had feelings for me and she was threatening me. It wasn't Marina's threat that pissed me off, though. The threat was expected from her. It was the reaction of the people I cared about.

My friends were doubting me.

Sebastian tightens his stare. Blue is drumming around his head trying to find something to say but seeming tongue tied. Wade is barely even present for this conversation and seems to not even care if I'm the killer or not. If he didn't believe I was the killer he doesn't seem very intent on trying to back me up except when it came to Reign. Then there is Reign. Reign is still flushed red clearly feeling awkward about the conversation and he changes the subject.

Reign ends it grabbing the conch out of Marina's hands, "It doesn't matter even matter. We'll figure things out and until then I'll keep the conch safe."

"That's it?" I ask.

There is silence again. I'm being dramatic but I have a reason. I feel like everyone is turning their backs on me. Everyone is pretending like Marina calling me a murderer is the most natural thing in the world to do.

"What else is there to say?" Reign asks.

"TELL HER I DIDN'T FUCKING DO IT!" I scream.

"Krill, stop tripping. Reign didn't say you did. Neither did I. Neither did Sebastian," Blue says, "I know you're stressed but we are just trying to stop this shit from escalating."

"I just got accused of murder. How much more escalated can this get?" I ask.

"He's very defensive, isn't he? Aren't guilty people usually defensive?" Marina points out.

"So no one is going to come to my defense right now?" I ask.

I swear I see Sebastian roll his eyes and whisper that I should grow the fuck up. As if I'm acting like a child.

Marina crosses her arms, "No. They aren't. Because they've seen first hand how you are. You sleep around. You have no moral center. When you lack a moral center it wouldn't be a big reach to see you murdering someone."

What the fuck was this girl talking about? She was saying that because I slept around that I was capable of murdering someone. I am so angry that I'm walking around back and forth now with my hands on my waist. She's getting underneath my skin. I charge at her. I'm not sure what I want to do when I get to her but I don't get far. Reign stops me. He literally pushes me hard away from her in order to protect her.

"It's OVER!" Reign warns me.

"Or what? You going to hit me?" I ask.

Reign sighs deeply annoyed, "Can someone help me out with him?"

Wade seeming just to want to spite Reign once again seems to finally have something to say, "Krill has a reason to be pissed. He didn't do it. I know for a fact."

I don't give a fuck about what Wade says, though. I am so emotional that I literally ignore him without even noticing that I am. I look past Wade to the others. I look at the other three. The three people that supposedly really wanted to be with me. They are standing there and have nothing to say in my defense.

"The rest of you just going to let this conversation end with the idea that I'm a murderer?" I ask.

"No one knows what happened?" Sebastian says, "Everyone is confused Krill."

"Sebastian's right," Blue says.

"Fuck ya'll."

I start walking away. I'm pissed. No. It's past being pissed. There is an anger inside of me that is bubbling up. These people didn't care about me. They said they did but they didn't. It was just like the dry land. It was just the illusion of feelings but behind it all there was nothing.

No matter how deep in the ocean it was there was nothing below the surface of my life. Everything was so shallow. Everything was so replaceable.

"Fuck me?" Blue asks, clearly offended.

I'm shocked when out of everyone he gets mad.

Wade shakes his head, "He doesn't mean it."

I'm walking away. I'm pissed but I realize Blue is the one trailing behind me. He is emotional. It's clear he is emotional. He grabs me by my arms and attempts to bring me back with him. I get away though.

"FUCK ME?" Blue asks, "Because I don't say what you want when you want me to? Bring down your walls Krill. I've HERE for you. I'm trying to rebuild our relationship but you keep looking for reasons to run away from it."

I'm walking away from it all. Blue's voice gets lower and lower. Wade is attempting to calm him down. It doesn't work. It's clear that Blue is getting more and more upset. His voice gets louder. I can hear him shouting uncontrollably. It's an emotion that I only saw one time before. Blue shouted me down like this when I cheated on Wade with Reign all those years ago.

This was different, though. Blue wasn't shouting me down because of Wade.

Blue was shouting me down because of himself.

~

"Can we sing for you?"

"No."

"Can we bring you anything to eat?"

"No. I'm fine."

I'm laying in a private bath. None of the homes in Atlantis has a private bath. In the palace I managed to find one though. It was the only place in Atlantis where I could be alone and that didn't work because the sprites had found me and were not letting up. I had walled myself off in the private bath. I felt dead to the world.

God knows if Marina had completely turned them into thinking I was a murderer by now. They were doubting me. Maybe I had been dramatic or maybe I was just sensitive to my emotions.

There is a knock on the door.

I flick my fin in the water. I run my hands up against the scales wondering which nymph it is now attempting to bring me food or something today. I've missed the communal dinners all week. I wanted nothing to do with my friends.

Another knock comes on the door.

"Go away!"

"It's Amphitrite."

Fuck. I struggle to get out of the bath but realize I have fins so I end up just sliding down. The door opens regardless of me wanting it to and my grandmother walks into the bath. She comes and sits down next to me.

"You haven't been eating. You are getting the sprites worried."

I haven't left the bath. I barely eat and I sleep in the bath in full merform. I haven't felt my legs in days. After fighting with my friends I just want to get away from it all.

"Did you know?" I ask my grandmother.

"Know what?"

"About the prophecy that is about me?"

She sighs a little bit. She rubs my fins with her hands touching them and massaging them in a way that only a grandmother can do. I don't want to be comforted right now though. I don't want to be protected. I wanted the truth, no matter how bad it was.

"I didn't want to bother you about it."

"I wanted the truth."

"What would that accomplish? What do you expect me to do give my son to some killers because of some prophecy?" my grandmother asks.

"You still should have told me."

"How'd you find out about that?" she asks me.

"The conch was found by one of the orphans of Atlantis."

"That's good news right?"

"No because she also found the prophecy. And now all of my friends distrust me. They think I have something to do with it."

"That's ridiculous."

"That's what I said. So the prophecy is fake right."

My grandmother rolls her eyes, "Atlantis has a prophecy for everything. You put too much weight into things. You aren't supposed to take those things literal. There is a prophecy that says you would drown the world but maybe it could mean you are drowning the world with joy."

I look at my grandmother like she's crazy.

"Is this your best try at making me feel better? Because it isn't working.

"That was a really bad example huh?"

"Yeah this isn't Disney..."

At first I don't think my grandmother would get the reference to the Little Mermaid but then she hauls her hair back and I see a huge smile on her face. We laugh at that moment. It's been days since I even smiled let alone laughed.

"Listen. You are my grandson. No prophecy is going to shape your life," she explains, "I want you to get up out of that tub right now. Grow your legs back. It's time to walk. I have something I want to show you."

"I don't want to go anywhere."

My grandmother looks me up and down. She offers me her hand and looks deep in my eyes, "Trust me."

~

We walk through the room at that moment. We had ascended to the very top of the stairs. My legs are so weak that my grandmother had to get one of her servants to scoop me up and take me. My grandmother is holding onto my hand. This is a part of the palace that I have not seen. There are two large guards that open the door to a grand entryway. I walk into a huge room. It is candle lit. It's beautiful. There is a red carpet streaming down a path between the candles. The carpet has rose petals all over it.

I look over at my grandmother confused on what is going on.

"What's happening?"

My grandmother shrugs, "You'll have to go see what's down there for yourself."

"Just tell me."

"I can't walk with you down every path but I can show you the way. Sometimes you just need guidance and a gentle push in the right direction."

With that my grandmother pushes me into the room. Her men shut the massive doors behind her. The room is so big that I can barely see the dark ceilings above my head. I pace down the aisle. My legs feel so weak because I haven't used them in so long. I am barely able to walk down the path. They feel numb and useless. I literally am looking down in an attempt to focus myself on walking. One foot after the other I struggle to push through this and step down the path.

When I get to the end of the carpet my legs finally give way completely. I am falling but right before I hit the ground two powerful hands come out of nowhere and stop me.

"I got you," he says.

I look up confused on who is here.

It's Blue.

"What the hell?" I ask.

He is dressed in a tuxedo. He is way overdressed for Atlantis. I didn't even know guys had shirts in Atlantis let along tuxedos. Still as sexy as Blue's body was it was still very sexy to see him in a tuxedo. He looks like some sort of elegant prince or something like that. He's fucking beautiful.

"You surprised to see me?" he asks.

"Yeah..."

"Your grandmother reached out to me. She helped me do this for you..."

"Do what for me?" I ask confused.

"Come see..."

He guides me through to the balcony. On the balcony there is a beautiful fish dinner laid out under candelight on a small platform. Next to the platform are a bed of soft silk pillows of all different colors. The balcony overlooks the entire city of Atlantis. The silence of the city at night time makes it a beautiful view. I haven't seen Atlantis from this height before.

"This is..."

I'm speechless. I don't know what to say. Maybe for the first time in my life I understand what it feels like to lose your breath. Blue looks over at me. He's still helping me as he guides me to the pillows. We sit on the pillows together. The food smells amazing but Blue smells better. Right now he is the only thing I'm thinking about. I watch as he slowly eats a grape from the table and stares back at me as though realizing that he just blew my fucking mind.

"I felt bad about our argument," Blue explains, "I had the idea but as far as the execution, let's just say your grandmother is very thorough."

"She helped you?"

He laughs, "Is that embarrassing?"

I shake my head. I'm shocked.

"I think it's cute. You went out of your way to get help to do this for me," I explain, "I just don't understand why..."

"I should have shut Marina down when I got the chance. I don't care what she says. I trust you. I trust you with my life. I trust you with this..."

Blue turns over and hands me something. It's the conch.

"How the fuck did you get this?"

"I stole it from Reign."

I laugh. I'm a little shocked. Blue was never Mr. Morals or anything but he was very loyal. The fact that he had stolen it from Reign shows exactly where his loyalties lie right now. He hands me the conch. I hold the thing in my hand. I feel a warmth from it. It's exactly how I felt with the trident. I feel a static from the conch. There is power in this thing. I wonder if I'm the only one who actually feels it. I close my eyes enjoying how powerful this device really is.

I stare at the conch but I realize there is something else just a little bit more powerful than the conch right now. I turn and notice Blue.

The connection we have is so fucking powerful.

"Why are you doing this?" I ask him.

Blue sighs a little bit. He must have known I was going to ask that question but I think sometimes with all that has happened with us it's hard to go back there and revisit the past.

"I used to treat you like shit on the dry land. It was because of me that you were so miserable. It was because of me that you hated that world so much."

"I didn't hate that world..." I state but Blue gives me a knowing glare and I admit, "Well...not all the time..."

"Regardless that's over now. It's important that you know that you aren't alone. It's important that you know that Atlantis is a better experience than you had on the dry land. On the dry land we had issues. Here it's going to be different. Here I'm going to give you what you deserve. Nothing is dry under the waters. Everything is wet."

With that he leans in.

He kisses me. His tongue enters my mouth. He kisses me thoroughly exchanging fluids. Blue's kisses are so wet. So much saliva is exchanged as he tongues me down. I allow myself to lean up against the pillows and enjoy his deep, wet kisses.

I don't know how it happens but I realize he is pulling up my kilt. He peaks underneath and lowers his head. We didn't even get the chance to eat but fuck the food right now. This moment was too perfect for anything else but making love.

His wet tongue laps around my dick. Blue's mouth is the wettest mouth I've ever seen in my life. Now that he is turned on his mouth drips with saliva as he puts his lips to my dick. He licks at my dick touching the tip and using his tongue to lick around the edges. He laps around my dick over and over. I let out a deep moan and I throw my head back into the pillows. As I do that he keeps going sucking me off more and more.

"I want you," he tells me.

He isn't asking me. It's more of a demand. I know exactly what to do when Blue gives his demand too. I don't hesitate. I turn around over on the pillows and bend down.

He licks my ass preparing me. His wet tongue and my wet ass seems to create some sort of explosion of moisture. A small typhoon of sexual juices spread between one another. When he comes back from eating my ass his mouth and his lips are dripping wet.

That's when he opens up the fly of his tuxedo pants.

Slowly, effortlessly his dick tip pops out!

The hard dick sways from side to side tempting me and making my mouth water. I can feel my heart beating fast as I put my head into the pillow.

"Don't hurt me," I warn him.

"Don't worry. You'll love every moment of this," he tells me.

"I wasn't talking about the sex..."

I was talking about my heart.

"Neither was I," he responds.

I was beginning to feel something for Blue that I hadn't felt for Wade. I was feeling something for Blue that I hadn't felt for Reign or Sebastian either. Blue had risen above all others and I was falling for him.

He pushes his dick inside of me and I moan out a deep, "Oh..."

My moans get deeper as he puts his dick inside of me filling me up. No matter how wet I am I can still feel him expanding my walls more than they've probably ever been expanded. With each thrust he is threatening to shape my asshole to his dick in a way that no other man will ever be able to fill. It isn't just the physical either. Blue makes very sure he knows that this is more emotional.

We have both waited for this moment for year. We've waited for this moment for so long and it was finally here This wasn't us having sex. This was us making love.

He strokes harder and harder, hitting my prostate like a sledgehammer!

I squeeze the pillows.

He pulls my hair back and slaps my asscheeks. He lets out a moan and I know it's coming. His body squirms and he begins to nut inside of me. As he does it I realize for the first time that I am having an orgasm as well without even touching my dick. My dick is spraying out loads of cum all over the place.

"Fuck...that was amazing. I don't think my Grandmother had that planned when she helped me plan this romantic evening," he says.

"Well honestly I think she likes you. I think she's known all along that you were special to me somehow. I think that's the reason she saved you."

"I hope I don't disapppoint her," he states, "Or you for that matter."

"How could you disappoint me?"

Blue was perfect. As I start thinking about just how perfect he is I realize what Blue is thinking before he even says it. By now he is laying on the pillow. He's holding me and cuddling but I can feel there is something that is bothering Blue.

"I have a weakness..."

I can read his mind, "Wade."

Blue nods, "We have to find a way to tell him sooner rather than later."

"Tomorrow."

We can't lead Wade on. I wanted Blue.

"This will kill him. My brother loves you..."

"Actually I think he hates Reign a lot more than he loves me. A lot of the times it seems like he is just wanting to work things out with me in order to get back at Reign for his betrayal," I notice.

"If he is that spiteful over Reign imagine how he will feel when his own brother does that?" Blue says.

Blue has a point. Wade's anger will cause a storm that nothing would be able to quell. The amount of spite that he had for Reign would be tripled. It couldn't imagine how deep this was going to be. I couldn't imagine the wrath of Wade once he found out about Blue and I.

"This is going to be the hardest thing we ever do. You do realize that right?"

Blue sighs. He turns away, "I know that."

Tears are rolling down his eyes.

"Are you OK? Are you rethinking it?"

I know Blue doesn't want to hurt his brother. Seeing a grown masculine man like Blue cry stabs in my heart. Soon I am crying too. I'm no help at all with these things. I just don't want to hurt Wade or cause a ripple effect that we can't stop. This was going to be horrible. It was going to be scary. It was going to be the worst thing that ever happened to us.

"No. I'm not rethinking it. You can't help who you fall in love with," Blue tells me.

"Wait. You're in love with me."

Blue runs his hands through his curly hair nervously, "You think I would risk destroying my relationship with the only family I have left if this wasn't love. This is more than love. You are my soulmate Krill. It's going to kill me to tell Krill but I have to. Are you rethinking this?"

I shake my head.

"I'm sure. I'm in...love with you."

I'd said it. I said the word. It just came out. After all those years and after all those boys I could finally say there was someone that I fell in love with.

Blue stops crying. He's realizing just how major this is as well. He's just staring at me. He leans over to me and kisses me. It's something soft. It's perfect. This was a fantasy after all.

~

I get back to my room. I have butterflies in my stomach. I am smiling from ear to ear. My heart is racing at that moment. I was in love. After all these years hoping to find love through the use of my sexual organs I had finally found love with my heart. It was deep. It was deeper than anything I've ever felt for anyone really. Nothing compared to how I felt about Blue at this moment.

I am so dreamy that I don't recognize the dark figure pacing around in my bedroom.

"I just had the most interesting conversation..." a voice says.

I jump!

I turn and realize Wade is in my room. The guards must have recognized he was my friend and let him into the palace without asking many questions. I don't think Atlantis was really the most secure place anyway. They never had to be. Their Goddess was always immortal. It wasn't like someone could have hurt her in the past.

"Wade what the hell are you doing here?" I ask.

"I've been sleeping here...waiting for you all week. I've been smelling your sheets. I've been smelling you. I have a keen sense of smell. I wanted to talk to you."

"Wade you can't just show up..."

Wade interrupts me, "You smell like sex."

"Excuse me?"

He doesn't repeat himself, but I heard it the first time. What the fuck is wrong with him? We should have gotten Wade help a long time ago when he came back but I guess with so much other stuff going on we never thought to think of Wade's mental stability as a serious problem. I mean we did have two monsters outside the city as well a murderer in the city walls.

Wade walks up to me, "I just had a chat with Sebastian and Reign. Seems like the two of them both felt like they were getting sidelined and you were losing interest. Reign swears up and down that the day you snuck back into bed with me that you weren't with him. So I had to start thinking...who were you with exactly?"

"Wade...you're being crazy..." I respond.

"Am I?" he asks.

"Yeah."

"Who were you with?" Wade asks me, "Tell me."

I hesitate. Wade is scaring the fuck out of me.

"I was with Blue..."

"Blue?"

"Yeah. Blue."

Wade turns away from me. I expect him to start screaming. I expect him to spas out on me or something and overflow with emotion. That emotion doesn't happen though in the way that I expect it to.

He walks away. He leans up against a wall. I'm so confused by it. He just stands there for a moment. I don't know what else to say. I get quiet. I want to make it better but I don't want to lie to Wade either. I wonder if I should just leave. I even look at the door. I have a feeling if I tried Wade would attempt to stop me even though he's acting like he wants to be alone. He stands up against the wall almost motionless.

I make my way over.

"I have something I need to tell you..."

"You don't have to tell me anything I don't know," Wade says, "You are having sex with Blue aren't you?"

My heart skips a beat.

"Wade..."

I touch Wade's shoulder.

At that very moment Wade turns faster than I can see and he slaps me with something. He slaps me with some sort of scented powder. The powder makes my head spin a little bit and for some reason I feel myself losing consciousness.

There is nothing but darkness.

~

My head hurts! I can't believe Wade actually knocked me out. I still am confused about it not realizing what is going on. I'm so lost. Something just went awfully wrong.

I still see darkness even though i open my eyes. I have been blindfolded completely.

All I hear is Krill's voice, "I'm sure this is him. This is the one you guys wanted. This is the son of Triton."

I come through confused and in the presence of monsters...

To read the next chapter in advance go to www.crushedcrown.com