Chapter 49 #2
The bells rang out over the city.
“Erik.” Tait stepped around a bower. “The crew is gathering.”
I rose and offered a final look at Livia’s gardens. She’d brought life back to the Ever. To me.
Sleepy and disheveled, the Ever Crew gathered on the docks, bidding their wives, their littles, their rum farewell. At the sight of me, most tried to bow their heads, but I carved through the crowds too swiftly to care.
“Erik,” Tait said at my back. “Before we do this, be certain this is the move to make.”
“What am I to think through, Cousin?” I snapped. “She is gone. There is no risk I will not take to get her back.”
Tait gripped my shoulder and forced me to turn around. “They could kill you, and I—” His jaw pulsed. “Erik, you were my brother once. You are all I have.”
I hesitated for half a breath before patting his face. “I’m not greeting the Otherworld until she is back. Help me get her back.”
He shook my shoulder twice. “To the end.”
I gave him a nod.
“I know you killed him,” he whispered as we approached the gangplank. “You had my loyalty already, but after you killed Harald, it was sealed in blood that day.”
I kept silent, not admitting anything, but I didn’t deny it either.
Behind closed doors, Harald beat and brutalized Tait to the gates of the Otherworld often.
He’d forced distance between us as boys, but the bond of brotherhood still had a glimmer of light left.
I’d never told anyone that I’d slipped into Harald’s war tent when the battle drew closer to its end, poisoned him, then slit his throat to make it look like an assassination.
I always suspected Tait knew by the way he’d studied me across the camp when they took Harald’s body to the sea.
We stormed onto the deck. Already much of the crew was in place, humming their eerie shanties and setting to work beneath a high moon.
Celine stood near the steps of the quarterdeck and handed me my tricorn.
I swallowed back the unease and slowly placed it on my head. “He left?”
She nodded. “Gavyn will be hunting the seas. House of Bones stands with the true Ever King.”
I climbed the steps to the helm. Aleksi leaned over the rail. Shadows coated his eyes when he looked at me. He would be needed to speak—and to speak quickly. But there was always the chance the earth bender’s rage would overpower even his nephew’s voice when we stepped foot on land.
I gripped the handles of the helm, offered a last look at the moonlit glitter of the royal city, then waved a palm. Wind snapped the crimson sails. The ship lurched. Eyes narrowed, I took in the bustle of the crew. “Make ready to dive, you wretches.”
Shouts and commands spilled across the deck. I kept my sights on the stars in the sky. The gleam of Nightfire and his lover. I’d cross the skies, Songbird.
The bow tilted forward, carving through the black surface. Songs of the crew were haunting as the water boiled around us, taking us below the waves mouthful by mouthful.
A man he’s not, we work we rot,
No sleep until it’s through.
A sailor’s grave is all we crave.
We are the Ever King’s crew.
Aleksi was pale when the ship surfaced through the Chasm. His knuckles had gone white from clenching the rail.
Tait clapped him on the shoulder. “All right, earth fae? I thought you were supposed to be a warrior.”
Aleksi shoved him off. “It’s disorienting.”
“Better than coming through without a ship though.”
“I’ll take a ship over being crushed.” He came to my side. “Keep a distance. Rave don’t come too near the Chasm line. The ship will be safe here.”
I peeled my grip off the handles.
“Tidecaller.” I crossed the deck to her side. “Man the helm. The ship is yours until I return.”
“I should come with you,” she whispered so only I could hear.
“You must remain here. Guard the ship.” I removed my tricorn and handed it to her. “I need you to be here so you will know if Gavyn finds her.”
Celine swallowed with effort but placed the tricorn on her head. “Aye, My King.”
The Ever Crew would remain behind. Only Tait and Aleksi joined me in the small boat. Alek guided us to the darker side of the jagged isles. Rough tides made it impossible for their longships to sail this route.
With the Ever King, the seas soothed soon enough.
“Shore patrols should be here,” Alek said once we pulled the boat onto the rocky beach. He tugged a dagger from a sheath on his leg, his gaze on the empty paths leading toward the fort. “Stay low. They might be at the point of striking first and asking questions over graves later.”
Meaning they might kill their own prince before we ever got a word in for our defense.
We kept low up the hillside, Alek and Tait three paces in front of me. Every few steps, I’d run my fingers through the long grass. Livia’s fury magic lived in this soil, and it brought a sense of nearness to her.
“They’re not here,” Tait muttered, and took out his own blade. “Something’s off.”
“Agreed.” Aleksi spun the dagger in his grip and stepped over the crest of the ridge.
In the next breath, shadows seemed to fall upon us.
“Illusions!” Alek shouted.
Dammit. Some fae clans had wretched magic that tormented the mind with illusions and tricks of the eye.
Roars of warriors broke the darkness. It sounded as though they came from all sides—overhead, underfoot, from the flanks. I reached for my blade, but the moment my hand curled around the hilt, Aleksi and Tait were gone.
I shouted their names and made a run for where the ground fell out from beneath them. A hidden pit dug into the top of the knoll swallowed them up. Beneath a plume of dust, a net released from its snare and snapped over the top of the pit.
Shadows faded and cloaked warriors erupted from the tall grass.
Dammit! Aleksi’s shouts were muffled over the roar of the guards. Without a moment’s pause they surrounded me. I didn’t fight. I didn’t pull back. Hands took hold of me and shoved my face down in the soil.
I held steady when a cold blade leveled at my throat. A laugh, cruel and raw, followed. “Bloodsinger himself. Some balls you have to show your face.”
A man peered down at me. His hair was braided off his face and runes were inked along his throat and chest. Kohl painted his chin and satin-black eyes.
An unnatural darkness, like the whites were blotted out.
His face was stubbled, and there was a madness to his grin.
“My name is Jonas of House Eriksson. I hoped I’d be the one to catch you. ”
Jonas. I knew the name. Livia mentioned it when…all hells, he was her friend. Another royal of the earth fae. He’d need no reason to cut us down.
“Nothing to say?” Jonas landed a kick to my ribs. I grunted but kept my jaw locked. He lowered into a crouch. “You took them from me. From us all. I ought to slit you open right here.”
Pain was speaking. No doubt he thought I’d slaughtered both Livia and Aleksi. I gave him the honor of holding his stare but didn’t speak. What was the point? He wouldn’t believe a word, not without Alek.
Slowly, he sheathed his blade and stood. “Gather the sea fae caught in the trap.” He sneered back at me. “I’ll be taking Bloodsinger to Valen. Remember my face, sea king. For I will not look away, not for a moment, as the Night Folk king tears you apart.”