Arthur stepped forward and sized the woman up. Her complexion looked fine, but her expression was somewhat vacant. His arrival had clearly startled her. The woman turned her head, and the moment she saw Arthur, she froze.
"You..."
She staggered back two steps in disbelief. Arthur kept studying her, searching her features for traces of himself. In truth, Arthur did not resemble the queen very much, but he looked exactly like his father.
"By Atlan!" The queen covered her mouth in disbelief. Her entire body trembled as she looked at Arthur's brows and eyes, as though she had already sunk into old memories.
"I'm Arthur, Arthur Curry. My father is..."
"Tom! You're Tom's son!!!" Tears spilled from the queen's eyes. "Oh heavens, you've grown so much. When I left, you were only a baby..."
Arthur's Adam's apple bobbed. He could imagine it: a woman forced to separate from her own son shortly after giving birth, hunted by soldiers, and ultimately forced to bear the child of a man she did not love. She had suffered enough already. Worse still, she had been trapped in this dark place afterward, enduring decades of relentless loneliness.
Hal hurried forward and tugged at Arthur. Unlike the others, resurrection itself was an unbelievable thing, and people always needed time to accept it. But if a loved one had never died in the first place, it was much easier to accept.
Yet for that very reason, the Black Hand could easily set a trap here, making them believe Arthur's mother had never died when she was actually someone resurrected from the dead—something that was entirely possible.
Arthur let out a long sigh. "Mother, I've returned to Atlantis and inherited the throne."
"What?!" The queen looked shocked. "How could you... What about Tom? Did he... did he