35. The Nightmare Prince
Chapter 35
To reach the isle, we would sail into the Ever Kingdom again.
With our smaller ships, the dive below the tides to pass through the underwater border between the earth and sea realms was disorienting, but shorter than it had been when sea fae were enemies.
When the stempost burst through the surface, the sun was deeper in the sky, and the winds heavy with more heat than back home. Skadi leaned over the rail near the borders of the far seas and Bloodsinger’s domain, smiling as merfolk burst from the sapphire tides over and over.
Their eyes were like bulging orbs, but a little captivating. Iridescent fins caught the sunlight and glimmered like hundreds of gemstones in the water. Lovely creatures until they flashed their needle-like teeth that could tear out a throat.
“Damn fins.” The old sea fae who ferried us grunted and bit into a blood pear Ylva sent the whole crew. “Always must be the center of everyone’s notice.”
I propped my elbows on the rail, grinning. “Bitter toward the merfolk, Nightseer?”
Nightseer earned his name for his ability to sail beneath the stars as clearly as if it were daylight. A simple magic, but useful enough Bloodsinger placed him as one of the lead seamen for the earth realms.
The fae huffed and tossed the core of his pear into the tides, chortling when one of the mermaids flicked it back onto deck with a few gurgled curses. “Not bitter, Prince. Frankly, don’t be telling me king, but I don’t see the point of merfolk. All they do is swim and try to drown fae who can’t drown.”
Fair enough.
Nightseer huffed and glared at the sea. A scrappy sort of fae with wiry hair and a beard that had not seen a brush in a few turns, he looked less threatening and more petulant, like a child who hadn’t gotten a favorite toy.
“Better to be rid of them now that we be seeing more mortal folk in the Ever. I’ve told my queenie, her mortal maj ought to take great care with them fins.”
I laughed. Livia’s mother was mortal and one of the fiercest warrior queens I knew. More than once Elise had kept my mother and father alive. Then again, mine had done the same for the Night Folk king and queen.
“I’m sure your concern is noted and revered by Bloodsinger.”
Nightseer’s golden eyes brightened. “You’ll tell the king, won’t you, that I’m doing a pleasing job in the earth realms?”
I gripped the man’s bony shoulder and gave him a little shake. “Nightseer, I’ve not a single complaint, and the Ever King shall know it. In fact, it looks like he is nearly here.”
Skadi leaned over the rail a little more, mutely fascinated as she watched the thrashing water boil and bulge until the jagged serpent figurehead shot toward the sky, a sea creature aiming for the sun.
For a few breaths the bow remained airborne before the keel slammed back onto the tides, rippling out its torrent enough our longship rocked violently.
I hooked an arm around Skadi’s waist to keep her from spilling over the edge. “Bloodsinger! You almost knocked my wife into the tides.”
From the quarterdeck, the Ever King materialized. A black scarf held back his hair from his face. He leaned over his elbows onto the rail, a smug twist to his scarred lips. “Had to test if you were keen on the idea or if you’d prefer she stay dry, Prince.”
Bastard. “I am not keen on the idea.”
Erik opened his arms as though he were innocent. “How was I to know? You’ve not written to my queen and she’s rather furious with you about it.”
“I am furious.” Livia curled her hand over Erik’s shoulder, looking half earth fae and half sea fae. She kept her hair tied back with a scarf much like her mate’s, but her gown was wholly Night Folk, simple and hemmed in silver. “Hello, Skadi. I’m not as furious with you, but I am a little.”
“Well pardon me, you royal asses,” I said. “I’ve been rather occupied with other things and could not spare the time to write you.”
Livia frowned. The sort of frown I’d known since I was born. If we were on land she would tangle me up in roots and vines with her tricky fury magic. Livia could summon practically anything from the soil, even heal deadened land.
I had been a prisoner of her earthen chains more than once.
“Don’t look at me like that, Livie. You did not write me when you were with Bloodsinger.”
“Well, that was an entirely different circumstance, now wasn’t it?”
Erik flashed a wicked grin. “If you wanted to try something different, love, you could fight me like that first night. I could chase you.”
Livia returned a heated stare to her lover before recalling she was meant to be angry. “I’ve written to both of you.”
Skadi stepped forward. “In my defense, Queen, I do have a reply at the ready. But I merely didn’t get around to sending it before we left.”
“A little better.” Livia pinned me in her narrow glare. “You are another matter, and I like Skadi more now.”
I nodded. “Wise choice, Liv.”
“Are we doing this?” Erik grumbled. “I’d like to be on my way. I am told our palace is about to be invaded with more earth fae.”
Livia chuckled. “Only Mira.”
“Feels like ten souls when she arrives, love.”
“The only one to blame is yourself, Erik,” I called back. “You brought us all to you by taking Liv. Never forget that.”
The sea king tried to look aggravated, but the besotted fool could not whenever he looked at his queen. Like the constant traffic of folk from the earth realms to his solitary sea palace was worth it all as long as he had Livia.
“We’ll see you to the shore,” Livia shouted down. “Then once this week is up I expect you both to write me some damn letters.” She paused. “How are you finding your vows? Better? Hate each other?”
Skadi and I shared a glance. I threaded her fingers with mine and kissed her knuckles. “Blissful, Livie.”
Bloodsinger faced his crew and barked orders to light the spears. Curious weapons that burst in flames and shot burning stones with a deafening boom. We did not have such weapons back home, but the Ever Ship was lined in them.
I kept Skadi close as the Ever Ship aimed its hull toward the empty mists ahead.
An echo of the command to fire rolled from Bloodsinger down to a crewman near the bow.
Skadi’s hands covered her tapered ears when blasts shot from the ship in fiery clouds of ash and gold. The force of it rattled to my bones, a signal of our arrival.
In moments, thick, stormy mists faded and shadows of mountainous peaks took shape. Dark, sandy shores spilled into the tides. Trees, thick enough nothing could be seen between the limbs, shaped alongside spires of a looming palace in the distance.
Natthaven.
Skadi’s smile was genuine and soft, but there was the slightest twitch of unease there.
“I expect to see this hideaway you spoke of, the one where you watch the star showers.”
Her eyes brightened with my fire. “St?rnskott will be tomorrow evening. I think you’ll love it.”
I didn’t care what we did; I simply wanted to be with her.
Hells, I was as besotted as Bloodsinger.
“Take care, Prince.” The Ever King shouted down, the first hint he might care a little about my life. “I don’t trust your folk, elven.”
Skadi lifted her chin. “Likely as much as I trusted you, Ever King.”
Trust would build. Someday. We could not expect after bitter fighting between clans for everything to be forgotten. The sea folk were attacked by the elven first. Their trust would likely come last.
With a vow to recount every bleeding detail of my life to Livia (which I planned to do until she was lost to boredom from descriptions of how I dressed and ate each day) Nightseer bowed no less than five times to his king and queen, and sailed us toward the shores of the fading isle.