Chapter 21
Diflyn cursed at the fact that he no longer had his contract. Meara would kill him if she learned it’d fallen into enemy hands.
She’ll kill me for not taking care of her daughter, too.
True. His life was basically over.
Damn it! He’d barely escaped them with his life. And he still wasn’t in the clear.
It’d seemed so simple in the beginning. Kill the ataswere and then Gisela. How had they screwed up so badly? He could feel the executioner’s blade on his neck. It was a terrifying sensation.
He pulled out a skin of wine while he sat on the side of the road, trying to figure out what to do. He’d just taken a drink when he heard the brush around him move.
Thinking it was a bird or some other small creature, he paid it no attention.
Not until a man appeared by his side with no warning.
Before he could shift into another form, the man snapped a cuff on his wrist. “You’re not going anywhere, shifter.”
Shit!
“Who are you? What do you want?”
The older man had a grizzled face, filled with lines. Long, scraggly gray hair framed a face that might have been handsome at some point, but that would have been decades ago. With his sunken brown eyes and sharp features, he looked more like a walking corpse…
Diflyn ground his teeth as he realized that was exactly what he was dealing with.
A lich.
But they didn’t normally leave their own land in the far north. It was virtually unheard of to see them in the southern kingdoms.
“I want the contract.”
A contract he wasn’t about to part with, so Diflyn played dumb. “What contract? I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
The lich punched him hard. “The contract you transferred onto the skin of an elf. Did you really think they wouldn’t find out and seek vengeance?”
That was exactly what he thought. “I serve Queen Meara. You better let me go.”
The lich laughed in his face. “And I serve King Baldur.”
That made his stomach tighten to the point he feared he’d be sick.
“That’s right, shifter, shit your pants. My king has strict rules for those who trophy hunt his people.”
“I didn’t do it. I bought the skin from a peddler.”
“I know. I killed him right after he told me about you and your partner.”
Of course he did.
Terrified, he tried to think of anyone else he could blame this on. But his mind was blank. He could barely think at all.
“You’re going to die for this, shifter. The only question is how much will you suffer before you do?”
Three Days Later
Gisela stood beside Xaydin as they waited for King Mardyth to appear.
Evar and Marstyn were seated at a small table in the back, dreading the king’s appearance.
Tall and blond with gold eyes, Marstyn reminded her a lot of his father. Except he didn’t have a fish tail or translucent skin any longer.
Honestly, he looked completely human. No one would ever be able to tell that he was Ningyoan.
And at the moment, he was holding hands with Evar who was the heir to the Cosarian and Umaran thrones.
Mischief stood beside her, looking as nervous as her brother. “I don’t know what’s worse about this. Mardyth or our father. I love Evar too much to see him in this kind of pain.”
Xaydin glanced over his shoulder to where they sat. “He looks quite happy to me.”
“You say that. But this could cost him both thrones.”
Xaydin gave Gisela a smirk. “Don’t think he cares.”
“I care. If he abdicates the Cosarian throne, it falls to me, and I don’t want it.”
“That I understand.”
“What do I do, X?” Mischief asked.
“Support your brother. Hopefully, he’ll be able to do his duties, and you won’t ever have to worry about being queen.”
That seemed to cheer her.
Gisela squeezed her hand. Unlike Xaydin and the others, she understood Mischief’s fears. As the illegitimate daughter of the king and one of his wife’s ladies-in-waiting, Mischief had spent her youngest years avoiding a queen out to kill her.
So much so that she’d been taken aboard a ship with her mother’s brother who’d trained her in piracy, not court graces. It was the life Mischief preferred over anything else.
And why she denied her royal heritage. Why she’d been the one chosen to go to Meara’s court.
Gisela couldn’t blame her. She well understood hating the life she’d been born into, too.
The doors to the inn opened slowly. Xaydin had paid for the innkeeper to close his establishment to the public so that they could have their meeting without any disturbances or curious onlookers and gossips.
Mardyth walked in with Ronan and Masakage. He looked less than pleased, though she wasn’t sure if it was from being human or being here.
Although, given the confidence the king showed in his stride and demeanor, she suspected this wasn’t the first time he’d become human.
Either way, he made his way slowly to the table in back where his son sat with Evar.
And with every step that took him closer, he looked less and less pleased.
More like he had a bowel obstruction and was about to spew bile.
Marstyn rose to his feet and cut his father off before he could reach Evar. “Thank you for agreeing to this. I know how much you hate the land.”
“Why are you doing this?”
Biting his lip, he turned to look at Evar. “Because I have no choice. I love him, Father.”
“Love is fleeting. You will regret this decision.”
“It doesn’t have to be. Just as you don’t have to be stubborn.”
His father’s nostrils flared. “I’m stubborn? You understand that you will no longer be my heir?”
“I don’t care about that. I just want to be your son. The throne has never mattered to me. All I want is for you to be king into eternity.”
Those words seemed to work magic on the older fish. Before she realized what he was doing, he jerked his son into his arms and held him close. “I don’t want you harmed. You know how land-dwellers are. I can’t protect you here.”
“But I can.” Evar finally approached them. “I’ll make sure no harm ever comes to him.”
The king’s eyes turned dark and determined as he stared at Marstyn.
“You can always come home…and feel free to bring Evar with you. That was what I wanted you to know. You didn’t have to flee like a criminal.
You did us both a horrible disservice by assuming you understood my objections to this.
As I said, love is fleeting, but you will always be my son, and I will never forsake you.
” And with that, he handed over the underwater breathers to them.
Marstyn hugged his father close. “Thank you.”
His father stepped back and cleared his throat. “Visit when you can.”
And with that, he came over to them and inclined his head to Xaydin.
“Thank you for finding him.” He handed Xaydin another underwater breather. “I’ll uphold my bargain. You’ll now be free to travel over my kingdom.”
“Thank you.” He offered the king his hand.
The king shook it before taking his leave.
Gisela rubbed Xaydin on the back. “You did something wonderful.”
“I didn’t do anything.” He really hadn’t. “I’m just glad it worked out and there was no bloodshed.”
“A rarity for us,” Masakage added.
“Indeed.”
Gisela watched as Evar and Marstyn followed the king out of the inn.
“I feel good about this. Anyone else?”
They all stared at Ronan for his question.
He held his hands up. “Don’t kill the messenger. I mean we got the big guy—” He gestured toward Xaydin. “—squared with the fish king. All we have left is to kill Meara and deliver a rather sick hide to Dash. Day done, right?”
Masakage clapped him on the back. “And avoid a troll and ogre army between here and there. Good luck with that.”
“I can fly.” Ronan winked at them.
Not to be outdone, Candara spoke up. “I can portal.”
Xaydin gave her an irritated smirk. “We all can portal provided Masakage doesn’t abandon us.”
Gisela looked about the empty inn. “How long do you think before your brother finds you?”
Xaydin shrugged. “So far, we haven’t been betrayed, but that doesn’t say much. For all we know, he could be hiding on the edge of the town, ready to strike.”
That was her fear, too.
“Let’s get the contract to Dash and then we go for Meara.”
She liked the sound of Xaydin’s plan, except for one thing. “What about your brother?”
“I’ll deal with him later. It’s not the first time he’s come after me. Every blue moon, he feels a need to eliminate me from succession.”
She felt terrible for him. It must be awful to…
What are you talking about? Your own mother is after you.
True. Her brothers had never seen her as a threat, so they’d never wasted any energy trying to kill her.
Provided they even knew she was a sibling of theirs. Given her mother’s secrecy and her own, they probably didn’t. It wasn’t like she’d ever told a soul that she was their princess, and her mother had murdered everyone who’d witnessed Gisela’s birth.
As far as she knew, no one at home had any idea Meara was her mother.
And she was good with that.
Rubbing Xaydin’s back, she glanced at the others. “When are we leaving?”
“Soon as we’re ready.” Xaydin inclined his head to them. “Fifteen minutes? Meet back here?”
Ronan snorted. “Since I have nothing to pack, I’ll wait here for all of you.”
Mischief stayed behind while the others went to get their things.
For once, Ronan wasn’t quite sure what to say to her. A novelty, as they’d never had an awkward moment between them. But something about her brother and his situation had put a hesitancy in her.
He hated that passionately.
“When will you head back to sea?” he asked her.
“I don’t know. It hasn’t been the same lately.”
He gestured for them to take a seat at a table on his left. “What’s wrong?”
“Hard to explain.”
“Most things are.”
She snorted at that. “What about you? Are you heading home?”
“What home?” He spent his time spying for Dash or running messages.
While his father wanted him to return to Sagaria and resume “royal” duties, Ronan had no intention of ever doing so.
Had his father wanted him to play prince, he should have never traded him to Meara.
Nor allowed his mother’s kingdom to fall and his mother to be executed.