Chapter 9 The Serpent #2
“I’m not worried about Ash,” Jonas said. “But Tova? She holds grudges.”
I didn’t know these people. I didn’t care.
Prince Sander squared to me. “Junie said he told the truth, right?”
“She did.” Jonas folded his arms over his chest, mouth tight as though he wasn’t particularly pleased with it.
“Be grateful the lie taster was curious enough to hear you, Bloodsinger,” said Sander.
“We just placed sleeping elixirs into the ale of folk who practically helped raise us. We’re now trusting you to get us to Liv.
We know we can’t wait for a council, and I assure you, should our parents and Mira’s arrive, you’ll face their wrath too. It will only delay everything.”
“I would think you all would like such a thing.”
“Trust us, we would,” Jonas said. “But Sander found lore on this heartbond issue. Seems it must’ve been fierce, as in you really care for Liv, if it made you bleed like that. Then, with Alek’s assurance—”
“Which should’ve been believed straightaway,” Aleksi insisted.
“Look, I’ve been waiting for Valen to tear this bastard apart,” Jonas said. “You’ve now robbed me of the only joy I’ve had these last weeks, so cease your groaning.”
“I can hold the illusion to dissuade the Rave for moments more,” Mira complained. “Do you fools wish to remain here, chattering, or are we going?”
For the first time, I realized the thick mist was not truly there. No salt on the tongue. It was an illusion. The princess’s fingers trembled, sweat beaded over her brow.
“You know your marks?” Jonas asked.
The three royals nodded. Aleksi smacked the back of his hand against my chest. “Keep to the shadows, Erik.”
They tugged their hoods over their heads once more and slipped around the tower into a square tucked near the back of the fort.
Stables with thatched rooftops, stands of straw, and dried oats were lined in neat rows.
Armories stacked in axes, swords, and shields littered the square, and crates with earthy roots and sweet pears were covered in linens, ready for the morning crowds.
Shadows of wide shoulders with spears and blades swayed in the torchlight against the stone walls.
“Rave,” Alek said in a low hiss.
The lot of us took cover between a goat pen and stable with their strange creatures that reminded me of bulkier horthane with their hooves and long swishing tails.
I pressed a fist to the tangled muscle cramping below my hip, bit the inside of my cheek when it felt as though the pressure might snap the bone, and held my breath as two Rave officers strode past on their patrol.
“Hurry.” Jonas led us out, rushing toward a square building with a sod roof and narrow windows that only lined the top edge.
I kept close to Aleksi. I didn’t consider it could be a trap, didn’t try to dissect why these royals, all at once, would turn against their own folk—their kings and queens—to aid an enemy. I knew Aleksi loved Livia, and in turn, I suspected so did the others.
They were not here for me; they were doing this for her.
Jonas held up a fist at the corner of the building. “Who’s on watch, Mir?”
“Edda.”
Jonas stripped his cloak, handing it to his brother. He adjusted the neckline of his dark tunic. With both hands, the prince mussed his wavy, chestnut hair. “Perfect.”
There wasn’t time to ask what he had planned before Jonas stepped out of our cover, bumbling just enough to appear as though he’d had too much hard ale.
“Edda?” His voice carried, slurred and heady in a strange desire. “Gods, how is it you look even lovelier in your leathers than out of them?”
The woman’s response was soft, but her snicker was clear, and the plan grew obvious.
I shook my head. “Surely, this won’t work.”
Aleksi grinned. “You don’t know Jonas.”
For what seemed endless breaths, we waited. Gods, I could poison the guard and be on our way sooner than this.
A heavy hand clapped against a wall.
“He’s ready. Silent steps,” Sander whispered, then emerged from the shadows, rounding toward the door of the building.
I followed, low to the ground.
Around the corner, Jonas came into view.
Bleeding gods, he had the guard’s chest pinned to the opposite wall.
His body caged her, her back to his front, long golden hair tangled in his fingers.
The woman’s head fell back against his shoulder, her gasps laced through the silence of the night, as the prince trailed his hands and mouth over her skin.
If I wasn’t desperate to leave these realms to find my songbird, I might laugh at how swiftly the prince took the guard’s attentions away.
Air inside the new structure was musty with mildew and damp soil, and from the shadows came a dry voice. “Erik?”
My blood chilled. “Tait.”
Bound in chains, tethered like a creature to a post in what was a clear storage shack, Tait lifted his head. Already, Prince Sander was on his knees in front of my cousin.
“What’s going on?” Tait bared his teeth.
“We’re going to the sea, Heartwalker,” Aleksi said.
Prince Sander had tricky fingers. Not what I would expect from the man. Where his brother was dominant and vicious, Sander seemed quiet, lost to his own thoughts. Then again, the ones with a great deal of time to think were often the most cunning.
He slid a whalebone pick into the lock on Tait’s shackles. No more than three breaths, and a click followed. In haste, Tait shed his chains and rose, stumbling over a loose lip in the floor straight into Princess Mira.
She shoved him back. “Watch your hands, sea fae.”
Tait let out a slight hiss before coming to my side. “Are you harmed?”
“No.”
“The bond?”
My jaw tightened. “Lost. It feels empty.”
A flash of rage filled Tait’s crimson eyes. “He’ll pay.”
“Aye. He will.”
“Hurry,” Aleksi said. “Mira, cover again.”
The princess drew in a long breath before we abandoned the shelter. Thick mist hovered around us, nothing more than an approaching storm filling the crevices and corridors of the earth fae fort. I was curious about the fae magic but buried all my questions for Livia.
Soon, she would explain it all while wrapped in my arms. Preferably naked. In our bed.
Outside, Jonas had the guard panting, crying his name, his hands down her leather trousers. We crouched behind the walls, waiting until his low voice rumbled in some brief farewell, and the woman’s pitchy laugh followed.
He joined us, hair mussed, and the kohl on his face smeared.
“Well?” He took the cloak from his brother, glancing at Tait. “Ah, looks like it was a success.”
Mira studied Tait’s face until he shifted away. “What is it, woman?”
“Stop moving,” she snapped. “I’m creating your features. Edda will check on you within a few moments, and you’d better be there, at least for long enough that we have a head start.”
“Mira is highly skilled in re-creating folk,” Aleksi explained. “But it’s simpler and more believable if she commits your face to memory.”
More delays. I closed my eyes, biting back my own anxiety to move, to be free of these gates.
Soon enough, the princess gave Aleksi a nod. “Should hold until we’re gone.”
“Wonderful,” Jonas said. “Is no one going to praise me for my skill?”
“No,” said Sander. “There was nothing spectacular about your everyday antics.”
“My own brother.” Jonas clicked his tongue. “Next time you will be the seducer, Sander. You can put them to sleep by explaining your latest riveting read.”
We hurried toward the outer gates. I ignored my aching bones and crouched when the royals said crouch, ran when they said run, until we reached the same cliffside I’d tumbled off with Livia. Gods, it felt so long ago.
“I warned Queen Elise the Chasm would likely kill her.” I pointed between the twin princes. “As mortals, you both should stay back.”
Jonas’s eyes darkened, like night swallowed the green and left nothing behind. “Forgive me, but did Bloodsinger just call me mortal? Has he not noticed our eyes?” He faced Sander. “Is it not working?”
“You are not fae.” Their ears were the blunt, rounded shape, the same as the Night Folk queen.
“Because our ears are a suitable size, you think we are mortal?” Jonas waved his hands over his pitch eyes. “Does it look like I don’t have magic in my blood, Ever King?”
“They’re called Alvers,” Aleksi said. “A cousin of fae folk, and they’re quite sensitive about their odd-looking ears, if you couldn’t tell.”
I waved them away. “Fine. You follow me, and your lives are in your hands. I’ve no time to keep your royal necks safe in the Ever.”
“We know what we face, you damn sod.” Mira crossed her arms over her chest, frowning. “Alek told us a great deal, but we all remember the power of the sea fae when they attacked, when you attacked.”
I flashed my teeth and peered over the ledge. Horns blared from the fort.
“Time is spent,” Aleksi said. “We’ve been found out. Go now, or we all end up in the dungeons.”
“Follow after me.” I did not waste another breath before falling backward off the ledge. Eyes closed, arms wide, I called to the sea. Cool tides broke the fall, and in the shadows of the dark currents, crimson sails rose from the seafloor to take us home.