Chapter 19 Raven
Raven
“So it’s true.” Daresh’s trident vanished into the ether, and his gaze softened.
“I didn’t want to believe…” His voice trailed off as a tear slid down his cheek.
I felt bad for thinking the worst of the horrible queen’s consorts.
Maybe the mer queen had been using coercive control to keep them under her thumb.
Unlike the queen, Daresh seemed genuinely upset about his son. However, I wasn’t ready to forgive him completely.
“Why haven’t you stopped Queen Laryssa from hurting him?” Rasmus’s hold on me tightened, and his voice purred in my mind.
“Time is running out, mea amica. We don’t have time for questions.” He was right, and from Maverick’s worried expression, Rasmus wasn’t the only one concerned about the queen figuring out our plan.
“Nobody stops my queen, Malakai’s mate, but I can at least help you help my son.
” Daresh straightened his back and stood a little taller.
“Only myself, Krillian, my queen, and the sea witch can cross the wards into the cave where Malakai is being held. I will help you get him out and escort you to the portal. Now let’s go before my queen notices I’m missing.
” He threw a meaningful look at Farris. “And you too, my friend.”
Briney water dripped off the walls and pooled on the floor. Everywhere smelled of salt and seaweed, and something funky, like wet towels abandoned in a locker room. The damp chill sank into my bones, making me shiver uncontrollably.
Rasmus grasped my shoulder and tugged me to a stop, letting the others go ahead.
“You’re cold, mea amica.”
“I’ll be fine,” I forced out through chattering teeth. Some discomfort was nothing compared to what my poor merman mate had endured.
The pain in my chest spiked as I remembered the agony inflicted on us both by the sea witch. Part of me hoped she was still in Kai’s prison cell so I could toast her ass with magic fire.
Rasmus muttered an incantation, and when I looked down, thick pants and a padded coat had replaced my slinky dress. He’d even given me fur-lined boots and a wool hat.
“Thank you!” I reached up and planted a kiss on my vamp’s cool lips. He smiled.
“It is my pleasure, my queen. Whatever you need, I will endeavor to provide.”
I swooned before collecting myself and jogging after the others. Rasmus did his speed-walking trick and scooped me into his arms when he caught up with me. In a flash, we’d overtaken them.
We stopped at the entrance to a small tunnel, where my kitsune waited.
“The sea witch is in there,” Kenji told me. “You need to be careful. The old hag is powerful.”
I turned to the others as they approached and repeated Kenji’s warning. Zane smirked before summoning a sword and dagger.
“She’s not immortal, my pet.”
“No, but she is cunning, and doubtless has many nefarious tricks up her sleeve,” Rasmus warned in a low voice.
I shivered anew. “Have you crossed paths with her before?”
“Yes.” His expression darkened. “And this time she won’t escape.”
Farris tapped his feet and pulled his phone from his pocket. “Can we hurry this up, yes? I have a hot date.”
“Oh my goddess, are you planning to go back and fuck the bitch queen?” Kenji’s scandalized gasp reminded me that one of Queen Laryssa’s consorts was standing less than two feet away.
“Um, that other queen. The really ugly, mean troll queen,” I hurriedly tacked on in case Daresh thought I meant Her Royal Highness, Queen Laryssa, the Esteemed and Most Beautiful Mer Queen.
I totally did mean her, but in hindsight, and also in the interests of not upsetting my in-laws in a major diplomatic incident, I belatedly decided it was better not to be so brutally honest.
Zane choked on a laugh while Farris appeared one heartbeat away from lynching me.
Poor Daresh just seemed confused. I put that down to his being away from his mate’s coercive control. The dude probably struggled to have an original thought outside of Queen Laryssa’s toxic orbit.
“No, Raven, I have a date with a business contact,” Farris finally gritted out while raking his fingers through his tousled, disgustingly shiny hair. “Strange as it may seem, I have an actual job, you know.”
“Gosh, really? I assumed you were some sort of feckless fae-about-town, living a life of hedonistic pleasure.” Color me shocked.
A loud scream obliterated thoughts about the stupid fae and the obnoxious mer queen. My merman needed me, and the fucking bitch of a sea witch was about to have her ass handed to her.
I charged down the tunnel, only to find my path blocked by a glowing door. Kenji blinked into view.
“I can pass through the door,” he said, “but you’ll need the queen’s consort to open it if you want to join me.”
“Tell me he’s okay,” I pleaded.
For once, Kenji didn’t argue, and in a flash, he’d disappeared. Kai screamed again, and this time, I felt the tether between us wrench so hard it knocked me to my knees just as my mates reached us.
Daresh’s blue features turned sickly gray. Even Zane no longer seemed excited.
Hearing Kai scream hurt me both physically and emotionally, and I closed my eyes against the agonizing pain in my head and chest.
Kenji popped back into view, one tail singed but otherwise unharmed.
“Hurry, fish boy doesn’t have long. Tell the idiot consort to open the door and then hit the witch with everything you have. She’s not expecting us.”
Farris cast a noise-canceling shield as I repeated Kenji’s instructions. We didn’t want her to prepare a defense. The witch might be an old hag, but she practiced dark magic, and after surviving one of her curses already, I wasn’t keen on repeating the experience.
Before I could force my way into the cave, Rasmus blocked the doorway.
“All of you, stand back. That bitch is mine.”
“But…” I tried to protest, but he raised his hand.
“No, you’re my queen, little witch. I will not let her hurt you again.”
“She might kill you too!” Tears spilled down my cheeks as Kai screamed again. The pain in my chest became almost unbearable. Kenji was right; we didn’t have long.
Maverick and Zane were more than happy to let my vampire mate be the first one through the door.
“Vampy is right, pet. He’s faster than all of us, so better placed to avoid any nasty curse bombs.”
“He can tear her head off before she even knows what’s hit her,” Maverick agreed.
Farris huffed and rolled his eyes. “Yes, yes. Just get on with it. I’m late.”
Daresh winced again as Kai screamed once more, but he lifted his palm to a smooth circle to the left of the door.
“Are you ready?”
We all nodded.
“If things go pear-shaped, which they inevitably will because it’s you, power-share with me, witch.”
I couldn’t remember exactly how we’d power-shared last time, but I nodded anyway.
If Rasmus did his thing, the hag would be dead in seconds, and we could be on our merry way before the bitch queen even noticed.
Hopefully she was way too busy being railed into the demon realm to have spotted her consort and part-time fae lover were missing.
“Let’s do this!” I punched the air and prepared to send the sea witch into the afterlife with the world’s worst migraine.
Daresh muttered a few words, and then the door slid open.