Chapter 7
The Songtaker
“You trust they retrieved him, brother?”
“They are desperate to find their young ones and made a vow they would get my heir.”
I faced the open tides over the frothing current of the Chasm. Over two weeks had passed since we left the Ever. For much of it, I believed my brother dead until he returned to the ship, escorted by a bedraggled group of earth fae.
I’d never seen a true earth fae. They did not look so different from us. Not built for the tides, broader, more for swinging blades. To have one who chattered too much come aboard the Ever Ship was odd.
Thorvald insisted the man was there to convince some woman in a distant land who held the power to twist fate to curse one of the earth fae kings. Intentionally.
“It is the only way to retrieve my heir,” Thorvald said when we dove beneath the currents, searching for a strange woman who communed with the Norns.
“The forces who took him are too well guarded. The earth fae insists this fate curse creates a bit of immortality for the Night Folk king. He will get them through the gates and they will retrieve the boy.”
We’d done our part. Brought the fate speaker—odd girl—and now we had nothing more to do but wait. For two bleeding days we’d waited.
Thorvald insisted the earth fae were worthwhile for this task. As for me, I thought the earth fae plan placed a great deal into the hands of fate. I did not revel in such a thing, then again, I’d not seen sights my brother had seen.
There must’ve been some merit to their ability to battle or Thorvald would not waste the time.
The Ever King remained rather gaunt. For nearly a fortnight, my brother was trapped in some pit in the earth realms. The sea, the Ever Ship, all of it had returned the viciousness to his gaze, but it would take more time to restore his sunken face.
“What if they are unsuccessful and Erik remains a prisoner?”
Thorvald crossed his arms over his chest, considering my words. “The Ever needs its king. Multiple heirs can be made.”
Without another word, he turned and strode toward the helm, awaiting the signal from the earth folk.
I leaned onto my forearms on the rails, watching the tides slap the dark hull. Rather callous of my brother, but understandable.
“We’re not leavin’ him, right, Daj?”
I glanced down at the boy who looked eerily like me. I forced a smile. “We’re doing all we can to get him back. Now go belowdecks with Stormbringer.” I gestured to a young galley hand who’d joined the crew not even two turns before. “This isn’t a place for you, boy.”
“Come along, young Heartwalker.” Stormbringer was a sturdy lad, and his voice to summon rough tides and furious skies intrigued the Ever King enough to let him aboard.
He was a favorite of my son and I suspected it had something to do with Stormbringer’s love of sweets he kept smuggled in his hammock.
I watched Stormbringer take my son to the hatch on the deck, my smile fading with each step they took.
Tait had been given the name Heartwalker nearly two turns before when his blood was tested. What a convenient voice in an heir—the ability to read a man’s true desires.
I was slowly training my son how to use his voice to leverage anyone who might threaten his position in the royal house. He’d know who to target, and know who to convince his cousin to avoid. He’d be unstoppable as an advisor, the most trusted of the Ever King.
Formidable as his voice could be, it was also a challenge to hide the true indifference I felt for the boy of my blood.
Fatherhood was not my ambition, but merely a means to meet my truest desires.
An heir of my own kept me tied to the royal house indefinitely.
If the earth fae did not retrieve my nephew, it’d be a pity to lose Bloodsinger.
His affection toward my son was exactly as I intended.
They’d be formidable together, and Tait’s favor with the future Ever King kept me with a grip around a piece of power in the Ever.
No, the blood crown would never choose me, but I had the king’s ear. I intended my son to have the same.
Thorvald’s disinterest in his own son left plenty of influence for me to claim.
If my brother abandoned his son and created another with a lesser mate than Oline, I would do as I did with Erik—be the softer place to land, to foster trust. With that trust would come power and a voice respected even over a father.
Tides frothed; white caps rolled around the ship. I whirled around. “Thorvald! The signal’s been sent.”
My brother peered over the rail of the quarterdeck, a cruel sort of grin splitting his lips. “Make ready to dive, you sods!”
Crewmen shuffled about, meeting their posts, then hummed shanties, chanted good omens, and watched the Ever Ship’s bow sink beneath the waves.
Gods, what had they done to the boy?
Erik was coated in gashes and welts and mottled bruises. One leg was broken and wrapped in a splint. Still, he looked at the Ever Ship with a bit of cautious relief. An earth fae warrior with his own healing wounds held him close.
The king they cursed was weary. An earth bender. Strange magic lived in these realms, but a man with the power to split the soil was a force that might be a proper ally if my brother could be diplomatic.
The earth bender king slumped against the rail of their ship, midnight black hair that was free over his shoulders, scrapes and bruises marked his throat and chest, and a bit of red stained his black eyes like a royal sea fae.
Chains unraveled, iron clanking against iron, and the crew worked to join the gangplank of the Ever Ship to the strange earth fae vessels.
My brother had not seen his heir up close.
The obsession with his line being seen as the fiercest, the strongest, would be challenged when he laid eyes on his battered son.
I knew the moment Thorvald saw the truth. The way the king stiffened, I could sense the rage he kept just below the surface.
My nephew cracked a weak smile. “Papa.”
Thorvald’s fist curled at his sides. He pinned his distaste at the fae king who’d been cursed. As though this was all his doing. “What did you do?”
“Do?” The earth bender’s voice was low and brisk. “What the hells do you mean, what did we do? We rescued your son and killed half an army, you bastard.”
My brother’s voice only sharpened. “I asked for the heir of the Ever to be returned in one piece.”
Thorvald snapped his fingers at me. I did not hesitate and rushed for the warrior holding my nephew. The boy was injured, but there was no time to coddle the child. Not when my brother seemed ready to throw knives any moment.
Truth be told, the way his disappointment only deepened at the sight of his heir, I suspected he might create a new one all the same.
What fate awaited Erik Bloodsinger in the Ever?
I patted his back when he winced, forcing my voice to be calm, almost delighted. “There he is. Ready for a swim, my boy?”
“If you don’t want the boy, then hand him back,” the earth bender shouted. “We will tend to him.”
Thorvald sneered. “He will be marred the rest of his life. Likely, he’ll never walk right. What sort of strength and confidence do you think that will wield for the heir?”
“A great deal!” The earth bender’s temper matched my brother’s. “The little endured torture and did not break.”
“Torture.” Thorvald scoffed. “At the hands of your folk.”
“Our enemies!”
“You are all the same. The boy was a perfect heir. Son of a sea witch and the sea king. A prize to his people, and now he has been ruined.”
What was he doing? On the deck, I paused. My brother reached for one of his blades tethered to his belt.
I wasn’t certain any of the earth fae took note.
My brother’s lip curled. “Seems only fair we make one of your beautiful things ugly as penance for our burden.”
He moved so swiftly. Thorvald was always the better swordsman, a way to prove himself when his sea voice did not strengthen. Gods, the beatings he’d deliver if ever I bested him during a spar.
The Ever King lunged forward. He did not strike at the earth bender.
He aimed for a waif of a woman. Icy golden hair and a whimsical, empty look in her gaze.
She seemed a simpleton, but the way a man at her side reacted, the way the earth fae jolted for their own blades, she must’ve mattered a little.
My brother’s blade sliced down the side of the woman’s pale cheek. She screamed. I let out a sigh, hand still on Erik’s back. There’d be no new allies on this day.
Thorvald grinned, clearly satisfied. I did not see the earth bender move for the Ever King until it was far too late. In the next breath, the glint of a dark axe slammed into my brother’s chest.
“Thorvald!” His name tore from my throat. I did not think, did not pause, and released my hold on Erik, then sprinted for the place my brother gasped.
On my first step over the plank, I was met with a dark blade aimed at my heart. Another man, eyes pure black, not a sliver of white to be seen, stood in my path. “I would think carefully about your move, sea fae.”
“You have no power on the sea.”
“So sure?”
Skeins of inky black slithered off the palm of the man and coiled around my throat. They twisted and tightened, choking off enough air a jolt of panic rushed to my head.
The black-eyed man grinned. “It seems you’re rather terrified.”
Beasts. Creatures of the hells. That was all we could expect from earth fae.
New, hot hatred rolled beneath my flesh. Not even ten paces away, Thorvald coughed. Blood spilled over his lips. The earth bender king dipped his face close, teeth bared. He muttered something to the Ever King, something I could not hear, then ripped his curved blade free of my brother’s heart.
Thorvald stumbled back. A wave rose from the sea, like it reached for the king, then pulled my brother below the tides.
Shit. Shit. Shit. My gaze locked on the frothing sea. Waiting. Rage rising. Waiting. The Ever king did not surface.