Chapter 22 #2
The gleam in his eyes transformed to a deep, heated rage. A shiver lanced down my back; I could practically taste the violence misting off him. “Maybe you’re right. I should’ve.”
His anger didn’t come from a place of regret at missing a cruel opportunity. It was pointed at me. As though Bloodsinger was enraged I’d even suggest such a thing. He threatened me in one breath, then looked at me like he’d tear out the throat of anyone who came close.
I wasn’t certain if it was the effects of the trance still peeling away, but my head spun, and I tired of it.
“What do you want with me?” The words spilled out like a plea. “You keep me safe yet tell me to anticipate death and suffering and pain. The way you took me, the way you tell me you plan such brutal things with me, makes little sense anymore.”
“Tell me where the confusion lies so I might clarify.”
I crossed my arms over my chest like a shield. Maybe more of a challenge. “If you cared about spilling our blood so much, I would be dead already, and you certainly wouldn’t have thought twice about leaving my brother alive.”
He swirled a finger around the edge of his goblet. “You want the truth, love?”
“Yes.”
Erik’s jaw pulsed once, then twice before he looked at me. “Your people deserve to suffer for what they’ve done time and again to people of the Ever. But you?” The king paused. “I might have different plans for you.”
My stomach tightened. “And will I be…privy to these plans?”
“Yes. You asked for honesty, and I will give it to you. No matter how brutal.”
I did ask for honesty. What was the point in sparing feelings? I’d rather be prepared. “Tell me.”
“After the events of last night, I’ve come to realize the Ever is too foreign for land fae to be walking about freely.”
Dammit. He planned to keep me truly caged, maybe bound or chained in his small chamber on the ship. I rubbed another sprig of serenleaf between my fingers. This wasn’t a surprise, so it would do no good to wallow.
“I won’t risk you getting your pretty neck carved up or taken from me prematurely.” Erik took another drink from his goblet. “So I will claim you.”
My brows pinched in the center. “Claim me? You have already taken me—”
“To claim a prize from a raid is more than simply declaring you belong to me. It’s not done often, not unless a crewman feels a particular connection to a piece.”
“A piece.” I scoffed. “An object.”
Bloodsinger tilted his head, grinning. “What would you like me to call you, Songbird? My pet?”
“Livia.” My name sliced between my teeth, jagged and harsh. I clenched my fists. “I would have you call me Livia Ferus, daughter of Valen and Elise, blood of the Night Folk fae. Blood that is not yours to win like some treasure.”
“Ah, but you might be my greatest treasure.” Erik studied me, his fingers swirling around his goblet, his coy half grin never fading. “And what is wrong with it? The title you wish me to say is quite a mouthful.”
“Bastard.” I shook my head and looked away.
The king laced his long fingers together and leaned forward, propping his elbows on the table. “To be claimed, Livia, means it is punishable by death should anyone touch you.”
“I’ve always dreamed of being an object for a tyrant. Tell me, Bloodsinger, how many women have you claimed before?”
“None,” he said. “It is a risk. You will be mine, meaning you are in my possession. You’re near me, in my palace, my chambers. We’re not exactly seeing eye to eye, love.”
“Think I’ll stab you in the night?”
He hesitated. “No. You wouldn’t be able to do it.”
“Ah, this sick claiming ritual keeps you safe from me, then?”
“No.” He slipped his hand inside his tunic and pulled out the silver swallow. “This does.”
“That means nothing.”
“It means something.” Erik cracked his neck to one side before going on.
“Out of all the earth fae, one girl came to see to the comforts of an enemy. I thought the first night I saw you that you would throw stones or rotten pomes at me. Imagine my surprise when, instead, you sat down and read to me.”
I didn’t want to talk about the past, didn’t want to remember the war, the blood, the nightmares. I didn’t want to remember that he still believed we had his gold disk hidden away. What would become of any of us when the king of the Ever learned I’d shattered it so long ago?
“This claiming, what exactly does it entail?”
“A public proclamation and brief binding spell.” Erik picked at another piece of fish but never ate it.
“I will arrange it once we reach the royal city. There is always a return feast when the Ever Ship arrives to port. We’ll do it there.
” He leveled me in a sharp stare. “That means keep your head down for a few more sunrises, Songbird.”
“And what does it make me, being your claimed possession? Your prisoner? Your whore?”
“It makes you mine.” He glanced at the table. “It will demand the people give you respect. You will be untouchable, for you will be mine.”
“I don’t understand. Like your queen?”
Erik’s face was unreadable. “There are no Ever queens. There are mates to breed heirs. No one sits on the throne but the king; it has always been this way.”
It sounded miserable and lonely. He could say what he wished about my folk—perhaps they were his villains—but they loved fiercely and equally.
Bloodsinger sighed. “I do this not to rob you of more freedom.”
“You’ve robbed me of all my freedom.”
His jaw went taut. “I do this for your protection. You will be considered my property, and as such, you will not be harmed unless the one who attempts it wishes to suffer.”
“Why does my protection even matter? When you first took me, you promised I’d suffer. You promised I’d watch my family burn. Now you want to protect me.”
His eyes were distant. I wasn’t even certain he’d heard me until he spoke in a low voice. “I was drawn through the Chasm, drawn to you, but there is something else keeping me drawn to you. Have you felt it? The burn at my touch?”
I shook my head at once—too swiftly—and the king grinned with a touch of venom.
“More sweet lies.”
I let out a long breath. “What do you want from me, Bloodsinger? Yes, there is something that pulls me to you. It was what pulled me to you the night you ruined my life. I’d rather not think of it.”
“Is it so horrid?”
“Gods, you’re arrogant.” I shook my head in irritation.
“Yes, it’s horrid. Do you think I’d revel in the idea of indulging some strange attraction to the man who speaks only of slaughtering people I love?
To the man who had no thought for me, my life, or my future when he ripped me away into a world that despises me? ”
“Attraction, you say?”
“Through all that, you only picked up that word?”
Erik chuckled softly and dragged his fingers through his hair. “You did not seem to mind all that much last night.”
Wretched heat flooded my cheeks like a thousand pinpricks across my skin. “Mock me all you like for succumbing to a damn lust spell, I care little. Know this—in the daylight, I’d rather be doused in hot oil than let your mangled body touch mine.”
Erik’s grin faltered. If I’d not been so close, I would have missed it. “I suppose you wouldn’t be the first.”
The king stood, more distant than before, and a flare of shame clung to my chest. I shoved it down.
Erik went to the door. “Come with me, Songbird.”
“Where are we going?”
Erik’s jaw tightened. He scrutinized me for what felt like a thousand heartbeats, until he finally said, “To the purpose for our visit to the Tower. The truth of the Ever.”