Bride of Ashes (Kingdom of Shadow and Ruin #1)

13. Merrick

13

MERRICK

A s I carried Reyla below the drive of the long boom and onto the deck, I shot power into my skin, solidifying it. Elemental symbiosis, they called it when I turned water into vapor and played with it like it was a shadow when I was three. I was grateful to have this skill because I could use it to shield my wife from the sun and now keep her from being injured by our fall on the deck.

I rolled and came to a stop with her lying across my chest.

My cock that would probably still rise to the occasion on my deathbed kicked into action, shoving against the front of my pants. I willed it to settle. My bride may have been willing to marry me, but that didn’t mean she was eager to jump into my bed.

She gaped down at me as the boom swung back toward the center of the ship. Sailors cried out and rushed to secure it once more .

His face florid, the captain hurried over to us, wringing his hands. “Are you alright, my king? My queen? I can’t imagine what happened, but I’ll have the head of the sailor who secured that boom.”

I smoothed my skin back to its original form, which made Reyla gape at my exposed chest above the collar of my tunic. Her brow knit, and I knew I’d have some explaining to do soon.

“I’m sure it was an accident,” I said as I sat up, keeping my fawn in my arms. She was anything but timid, but with her slender limbs and the cautious way she looked at the world around her before plunging in, the name fit. I hadn’t yet seen the rebellion she’d hosted against Lorant, but that suited him more than me.

As much as I’d like to sit on the deck with my new bride for the rest of the day, maybe coax a kiss from her luscious mouth, I needed to examine that rope. This wouldn’t be the first time someone had tried to kill me, though I’d relaxed my guard on the ship full of men who’d sworn blood oaths to protect my life with their own. When my mother had demanded it, I’d huffed, but she wouldn’t let me go out on the ship until it had been done.

I brushed the last of the hardening power from my skin, feeling it ripple back into something softer and more vulnerable. Reyla’s eyes, still wide with concern and a touch of fear, remained fixed on me. If she wasn’t already questioning everything about this union, she soon would. What I could do with nature wasn’t unknown in my court, but no one had seen the true depths of what I could manipulate. It was always better to keep certain things to oneself until the right time .

The boom swayed above us, still loose as the sailors secured the lines with frantic hands, and I knew I had to send her away from this chaos. More importantly, away from what this might mean.

Was this a simple accident or an attempt on my life or hers?

With our marriage, we’d set the course and there were many who’d delight in making sure we didn’t finish the journey alive.

I thrust power into the wind and directed it to lift us and place us on our feet, keeping my arms around Reyla. I couldn’t let go. Didn’t want to let go. Already, she meant so much to me and not only for her potential.

“Lord Briscalar.” My voice stretched across the deck, cutting through the grunts and shouted commands. The lord appeared almost instantly at my side, his face pale, his hands twitching at his throat.

“My king?” he asked, giving me a deep bow.

“Take my queen to her suite. Ensure she stays there.” I bit off the words, keeping my gaze steady on his to ensure he understood.

Reyla shrugged away and turned to face me. “I’m not ready to go to my suite.” Her face flushed from more than the sun, and flames licked through her gorgeous brown eyes. “What happened? We need to find out.”

Ah, there was the rebellious nature Lorant had mentioned. While it thrilled me to see it focused on me instead of him, I could not accept her refusal in this.

“Go with Lord Briscalar.” My tone softened, though only a fraction. “Please.” I wouldn’t have added the last word with anyone but this much-too intriguing woman.

Her eyes flashed, the blaze roaring through her. “What if I say no?”

I was tempted to take on her fury and try to tame it. Never beat it back. She was worthy of much more. But in this instance, she must obey me.

“Please do not.” I possessed flames of my own, and she must see them in the sharpness of my face, in the darkening of my eyes.

She hesitated, her every muscle as taut as a bowstring ready to snap, but finally, after what felt like eternity, she gave me a sharp nod. “Fine,” she muttered, her irritation clear.

A step forward with how many taken backward? I’d soon find out.

“This way, my lady.” The lord led her below deck. Her gown fluttered briefly behind her before she was gone, and the space she’d filled with her presence felt empty. I shoved the hollowness aside.

There was work to do.

I strode to the base of the mast where the tension should have held the boom in place. The sailors paused only long enough to glance my way, before returning to their work, redoubling their efforts to make everything right.

Captain Christoff joined me, blowing out an anxious breath as he crouched down beside where the thick rope lay on the decking, half coiled and frayed in one spot.

“Who was supposed to secure this?” He didn’t accuse anyone outright, but no sailor would meet his eyes .

One of them lifted his voice above the salt-heavy wind and shouted, “It was me, Captain.” A young one, no older than twenty by the looks of him, hurried over to join us. He’d survived a few winters but had too much innocence in his eyes, and as he gaped from me to the captain, he looked like he might keel over onto the deck.

My gaze darted back to the rope. I smoothed my hand along the frayed strands. This wasn’t from wear and tear. The ropes would’ve been inspected and replaced prior to the journey if that was the case, and I insisted on daily inspections to avoid a situation like this. The break in the fibers was too clean to be natural, and that sent anger clawing up my spine.

I placed my palm flat against the deck where the rope had fallen and drew in every bit of moisture I could from the wood, pooling it into a thin layer I spread across my fingertips. There was always an element I could pull from my surroundings, even if it was only the sweat off someone’s brow.

Christoff remained beside me, his gaze scanning the area, trying not to look too closely at what I was doing. He’d buried his curiosity under worry.

The water pooled and shifted under my will, weaving into the cut end of the rope and slipping between individual fibers, seeking traces of anything that might point to what had happened. It only took a moment to confirm my worst thoughts.

“The fibers were magically severed, though partially,” I said, more to myself. “Set to give way when whoever did this knew I and my bride would be within reach.”

“Sabotage, then,” the captain said in an equally quiet voice. “ No one would’ve noticed the lag in tension until it was too late.”

I flexed my fingers over the rope still slick with water. Rage surged inside me, though only Lorant would’ve seen it.

“To anyone else, it would look like an accident,” I said, my voice full of gravel. I met the captain’s gaze. “Someone wanted me or my queen dead.” Both of us, I’d bet.

Christoff’s face darkened, but his professionalism overrode all other emotions. “This is no regular occurrence, neither on my ship, nor anywhere I command.” His jaw tightened as he glared at the rope. “It’s unheard of, especially on this ship that your—”

“Not since the last attempt, Captain?” I cut in, not out of disrespect, but because I wasn’t looking for excuses, just the identity of whoever was involved. “I want them, and I want them now .” At my urging, my magic hummed. I would scour the ship and unearth the perpetrator. “Who’s new on board? Was anyone taken on last minute for this voyage?”

He thought for a moment, the lines of his weathered face deepening, his gaze flicking over the men he commanded. “Two new deckhands, but vetted and vouched for by trusted sources.”

“Bloodsworn?”

“Not yet. There was no one who could do the deed.” He paused. “One of them is a capable sailor yet reserved. He signed up at the docks before we departed for Lydel, but he didn’t seem overly enthusiastic about the pay.”

I narrowed my eyes, chewing on the information, tasting it for gaps but finding nothing yet. “What about the other?”

“He’s barely twenty—the one who bound this knot.” The captain’s voice came out hesitant. “He’s nervous. Eager to please. Not one to question orders.”

New recruits, however innocent they looked, could be anything but, especially when they’d been sprinkled throughout my kingdom and beyond, waiting to be told it was time to act.

“Gather the crew,” I said.

I stepped over to the wheelhouse wait, leaning against it while the captain obeyed my command. Soon, they’d all lined up, from the cook to the cabin boy, the first mate to the regular sailors. Even Lord Briscalar.

Some stared forward stoically while a few twitched and fidgeted, looking anywhere but at me. The cabin boy stood as tall as his skinny frame could, his eyes shimmering with tears, but his mouth and posture firm.

I joined the captain standing at attention in front of them. “I’ll inspect them myself.”

Christoff nodded, suppressing the shiver that raced behind his eyes. He held fear for his crew, but he wasn’t afraid of enforcing justice, harsh when necessary, the same as me.

“Thank you all for gathering,” I said in a booming voice.

A few of the crew jumped while others remained solidly in place. The latter had been with us long enough to know what was coming, and while they might fear it, that terror would show nowhere but in their eyes.

My lungs expanded with a deep, steadying breath. Control was key. If I gave in to the fury roiling through me, it would turn into an inferno no one could withstand. Rage had a place and a time, but right now, clarity was what I needed most. The fates help anyone who allowed magic to control them rather than the other way around.

Ignoring the movement of the crew, I forced my mind to focus on the fragments in the air. I called power and sent it outward, coaxing the mist still caught in the cool salt-tinged breeze to gather in a near-invisible cloud that swirled and condensed in front of me. Then I infused the break in the rope, enveloping that area.

The world and the people around me each had their own distinct scents. Wood, salt, sweat. But those were irrelevant. With precision that took me years to perfect, I used my mist magic to sift across the rope, stripping away the familiar scents until all that remained was the faint metallic tinge of the magic used to cause harm. Magic used with bad intent left something similar to a stain, an oily residue only someone with my type of skill could detect.

I thickened the mist, weaving it through the space where the rope had been frayed to the point it would give way at the wielder’s command. My senses stretched out, probing, like fingers running along the edge of a poisoned blade. My elemental symbiosis whispered secrets in my ear.

There it was. Subtle but telling. The residue clung to the rope, tainting it, and I imprinted that distinct marking in my mind. I dissolved the mist, returning the elements back to their natural state as I let my gaze drift over the crew who baked in the sunlight like me. The captain stood ramrod straight at my side, and I was grateful I didn’t find the scent on him.

I sauntered past the crew like I might if I was taking a stroll through the lovely castle gardens .

Trembling, the cabin boy stared up at me, wide-eyed and anxious. No hint of taint on him, either.

The young, eager sailor intent on proving his worth clutched his cap in white-knuckled hands, showing a fierce determination not to appear weak. His lungs jutted in and out with an audible wheeze.

Nothing on him.

Partway down the line, I stopped, catching a whiff of something sharp and sour.

The next sailor in line, the other new recruit the captain had pointed out, stared forward, his face stoic.

Found you.

I moved past him, projecting my usual, nonchalant facade, before stopping again.

Out of the corner of my eye, I watched the sailor. His shoulders twitched, and a bead of sweat jerked down his temple. He swiped at it before smacking his hand back by his side. His focus darted between me and the deck beneath his feet.

Turning, I stalked over to him, coiling my power around him. The pall of his magic coated his skin, its sharpness biting my throat. With seeking magic, I took in the faint pulsing of his contempt, and I used it to fuel my next move.

I clenched my fists, and the air responded to my will. Specks of dust and wood combined with shaved bits from the shells abandoned in a pile near the front of the ship. Collected by the cabin boy on the shores of Lydel, then discarded?

I whipped the particles together, thickening them into one mass, adding whatever else I needed until I could form it into a rope built from elemental magic .

“You,” I stated calmly, barely suppressing my urge to wrap my fingers around his throat and squeeze.

Terror shone in his eyes, but I didn’t give him a moment to react.

With a snap, I coiled my created rope around his wrists and ankles, binding him tight. I whipped back his contempt at him, using it to block any attempt on his part to wield power against me.

With a swift flick of my wrist, the magical restraints constricted, jerking the sailor off his feet and lifting him above us.

I threw him over the crew, releasing him enough to land with a thud on the wooden planks. His muffled yelp spilled out as he skidded across the surface. Every other person on the ship remained in place, though a few eyes widened in alarm.

“Dismissed,” I told the crew blandly, and they scurried in all directions.

I stalked through them, over to the enemy.

“Who sent you?” I hissed in a voice ready to strike.

The man snarled, twisting enough for me to see his eyes narrowed with simmering fury. “You can’t make me tell.”

“Halendor?” I bit out. “Irridain.” There were plenty in either court who’d take pleasure in making sure I didn’t live past my upcoming birthday.

He bared his teeth, and they morphed into fangs. “Try to make me tell. Dare ya.” He spat the words, venom curling around each syllable.

I tightened the cords, squeezing around his limbs until he grunted in pain, but he didn’t flinch. Didn’t beg. This wasn’t the first time I’d encountered someone willing to die for another’s cause, however twisted it might be.

“Give up now,” he said. “We’d hate to hurt your precious.”

Reyla.

My restraint, the careful control I’d maintained despite the storm lashing inside me, snapped. The need to eradicate this threat slammed down hard on my patience. Without another word, I fed more power into the air, lifting him effortlessly even as wild curses spilled from his mouth.

The crew kept their distance, wary and respectful. They attended to their tasks, not turning this way. The cabin boy, new enough that he hadn’t learned all he soon would, gaped at me in stark terror.

I held the man above the deck, whipping wind against his face, turning his curses into garbled nonsense. His eyes widened, panic clawing at his bravery when he realized what I planned to do. His eyes went wild, but there was something else there too, a flicker of resolve that no amount of pain or fear would break. I wanted to grind that resolve into dust. Let him know his sacrifice was pointless, that his every action had no meaning.

Come after me, if you will, but no one touched my wife. There would be no mercy for those who wanted to harm her.

I clenched my fist harder, forcing my air magic to whip out and tighten around his throat enough to turn his sputters into gurgles.

Yes, he understood now.

I flung him toward the sea and pivoted as he fell.

The captain stood not far away, watching with a grim, satisfied smile curling one corner of his mouth. At my nod, he turned and lifted his voice. “Do your jobs well, and you’ll make it to the shores of Evergorne safe and sound.”

Even the cabin boy jerked away, focusing on the bucket and mop by his feet.

I let the wind die down to a whisper and released my magic back into strands of mist. What was left of the shells settled back where the cabin boy might’ve left them.

Tired. I was so very tired already.

A subtle sound to my left caught my attention, and I spun.

Reyla stood at the top of the stairs; her wide gaze fixed on me.