Chapter 7 #2
The sound of cracking bone sent a shudder down my neck. On the opposite side of the Ever Ship, a spine broke free. The first in the histories of the Ever—a king had been slaughtered by an enemy.
Red stained my sight. A maddening heat boiled over my flesh. I did not know how or when, but they would pay in blood.
In the next breath, something heavy dropped onto the deck of the earth fae ship. No. Bleeding hells, no. So, it was true—the mantle, a powerful relic meant to strengthen the whole of the kingdom, could be taken.
A king was truly defeated this day.
Sea witch spell casts always came with restrictions. Narza warned Thorvald, should he lose the gift of the mantle, it could not be reclaimed for ten bleeding turns. Already, I could sense the shift, a strength that had been there was no longer present on the Ever Ship.
My brother was a damn fool. Inwardly, I cursed his every action that led us here. What was I left with? A broken heir, a weaker Ever, and a future battle to restore what was lost. All of it now rested on my shoulders.
The earth bender plucked the golden disc of the mantle off the deck of his ship.
“Ten turns, earth king.” I backed away on the plank. “The mantle of the lord of the Ever is untouchable for ten turns according to our laws. Ten turns,” I said again. “And the title can be challenged. It can be taken back.”
It would be. There was no reality where I did not destroy these bastards for the humiliation they leveled at the Ever Seas.
The earth bender glared at me. He held the mantle between his fingers, then lifted his hand over the tides. Crewmen murmured. The Ever Ship rocked and swayed violently. I was forced to hold on to the rail to avoid spilling overboard.
My lips parted. From below the surface of the sea, jagged, sopping peaks of black stone sea floor carved through. A monstrous barrier began to divide the two ships, the two realms.
“I did not need to slaughter your brother to prove we always held more power than the sea,” shouted the earth bender over the torrent.
“Consider this my first order. The sea fae shall remain where they belong. Crushed and locked in their cold, dark depths. Should you step foot on land, we will kill you.”
Oh no, earth bender. You will be the one to fall when we meet again.
“Dive!” I roared.
Skulleater, a squirrely sod, rushed to take the helm. The Ever Ship jolted forward and dove beneath the sea, a new enemy in our wake.
We surfaced near the House of Tides. A summons sent to every house of the Ever was answered. Even the House of Mists surfaced in their sleek ship, but Narza was nowhere to be seen. She’d sent her second, Maelstrom. No mistake, Lady Narza would rejoice at the news Thorvald was dead.
The white laths of the House of Bones ship sailed beside us. Fleshripper, dark hair tied off his brow in a red scarf, stood near the rail, awaiting word. Hesh took the starboard side and Joron’s strange sleek vessel surfaced at the stern.
“Earth fae have slaughtered the Ever King and taken his mantle!”
The crews of the noble houses muttered to themselves, the house lords shouted questions.
What of Bloodsinger? From Fleshripper.
Do we take to battle? From Lord Hesh.
Thoughts on the transitions of power to the young Bloodsinger and the blood crown came from Joron. No doubt he would now wish to put his daughter forward as a potential royal mate rather than the sea witch Thorvald chose at the boy’s first turn.
Never had I been so drenched in rage. But more frightening was how natural it came. As though all the darkness I kept inside had, at long last, spilled out.
“Meet in the royal city by sundown!” I abandoned the rail and carved through the Ever Crew. “Where is my nephew!”
“I’ve got him, Papa! He’s restin’.”
My heir grinned at me, one tooth missing in the front. Did the boy think I’d be pleased?
“Resting?” The very sight of my own child brought such a suffocating anger, I did not even try to stop my palm from striking the boy’s face.
Tait flung back across the deck, landing in a heap. Violence was part of the Ever, but I’d always remained in control of mine. Look where that had led—a dead king and a shattered heir to rear into a man capable of avenging all we’d lost.
Plans to position my own heir as the right hand of the king were worthwhile when Thorvald still lived, a way to keep my house in the direct favor for generations.
Now it did not matter. I had immediate access to Bloodsinger.
I would be his guardian. His mentor. I would always be in the direct favor of the House of Kings and had no need for a strategic heir.
In truth, it would serve me better to remove my own son’s influence. Make him a distant memory. A political piece should I ever have use for him again.
Tait held his cheek and looked at me with such terror, I nearly beamed.
From the cuff of my son’s tunic, I lifted Tait, pressing his brow to mine. “He is the Ever King now, you little bastard. Do you think a king has time to rest when wars must be planned?”
Tait drew in a sharp breath, confused, a little frightened.
I released my hold on his tunic and let the boy fall. Without a look back, I made my way to the helm. “Get us to the Royal City you swabs, unless you wish to join your fallen king in the seas of the gods.”
Men bustled about. Ten turns. I had all that time to mold a new Ever King into the sort of leader I wanted, the sort the Ever needed.
Erik Bloodsinger would become hateful, powerful, and vengeful. Then, the earth fae would truly know the power of the Ever Kingdom.