Chapter 6 #2
That is how I wanted to marry Maggie. Watching her beautiful lake-blue eyes darken as they reflected the dusky purple petals falling all around her.
I was fucked in so many ways. No wonder the villagers were eager for me to bring her flowers.
With red-rimmed eyes and a watering nose, Vera’s body shook.
I was about to see if I needed to run to the healer when I realized she was laughing.
The great belly laugh threatened to tear her in two and startled the sea dragon a mile away under the waves.
“Is that what happened to the woman you were with? Did you drown her in good intentions too?”
Did everyone hear about Maggie and me? I mean, of course they did because Arthur’s gossip travelled faster than a sea breeze.
As her laughter died, Vera squared her wide shoulders, raising her meaty fists.
The hair rose on the back of my neck. My Nightmare drooled to come to the surface.
But her fists only came high enough to brush the petals off her clothes.
Not getting to fight sent my Nightmare back to sleep. Words were more of an Elven thing.
“Keeper of the Calix. I’m here to petition the Godd object into my custody. The good of the realm is in your-”
Vera held up a hand to forestall any more words. “Come in for tea then. You can make more speeches inside.”
She turned away without another glance in my direction. While I anticipated a battle to the death, I wasn’t above snatching the thing and running. I strolled in and noted anywhere an object of power might hide.
“How were you raised, boy?”
No one had called me ‘boy’ in a long time. “To be King.”
“Ah, that explains it. Go out the door and scrape your feet.” The place was spotless and I understood why she wanted to keep it that way.
I balanced just outside the doorway, scraping my boots of sand and petals.
Vera’s house sparkled. I should have been able to spot the Calix without any issue.
Instead, it remained stubbornly out of sight.
“While you’re busy being King, what happened to the male in all that?”
I blinked and sat in her kitchen chair, propping my arm along the back. Talking about my manhood wasn’t my first choice to get her to relinquish the Good object.
“He’s doing just fine.”
“Is that why your mate left?” she said as she poured hot water.
“So, you’re not giving me the Calix?”
I couldn’t keep up with the whiplash conversation.
Vera set a steaming mug of tea in front of me, taking her own seat, her face inscrutable.
The pottery might have been handmade but the tea was a delicate mix of bladderwrack, emerald honeybush and black pepper.
Each plant rolled through my mouth, appreciated for its essence.
She would taste the amethyst. Save some for her. My Nightmare smiled in the back of my mind at the thought. He was an idiot.
Annoyed, I snapped out the first thing that would end this conversation. “She went home. Where it’s safe. Now, the Calix…”
Goddsdamnit, I should have said I don’t have a mate.
Vera took a sip of her own tea, the cup appearing delicate in her hands. “Safe for her or for you?”
I clutched my mug, the tea turning to ash in my mouth. “For her, of course.”
Vera clucked her tongue. “She sounds like she has her head on straight. I would take her to sea any morning.”
What kind of trouble would Maggie get up to as a pirate? “You haven’t met the witch then.”
Instead of the scowl I wanted, Vera’s face lit up in a smile. “Is hiding from your mate the usual for your kind?”
I wasn’t hiding. And we weren’t mates. I tried my proper standard response, leaning forward so she wouldn’t misunderstand me.
“Elves don’t have mates.”
Her smile only grew wider. “Oh, that’s going to work out swimmingly. And what does he have to say about that?”
I sat back, confused. “Who?”
“Your monster. The one who isn’t King.”
How did she know I could shift? I did everything not to squirm in my seat. Something wasn’t quite right about her. I didn’t expect this much sass.
“What does this have to do with the Calix, old woman? I’m not here for relationship advice.”
Vera’s face grew serious. “It has everything to do with that poor sword. How you treat a partner can show if you’re worthy.”
I bridled at that, even though we finally got to the good stuff. “I’m a King. The True King of Allfenheim. Of course I’m worthy.”
Her expression remained stone. “So? That’s just a name. You think that beautiful face gets you everything.”
“Doesn't it?”
She harrumphed and actually blushed. I couldn't believe color made it into her weathered face.
“I will tear this place apart to find it, old woman.”
She crossed her arms over her chest. “Try it and I will bend you over my knee.”
I tightened my grip on my mug. I didn’t have to test her theory.
She’d been nothing but straightforward so far.
This must have been why the usurper had to manufacture his own Calix because there was no way he earned the right to wield it.
Frustration brought my Nightmare forward, blackening my eyes and lengthening my teeth.
For the first time, the old woman flinched.
I had to give her credit. She didn’t back down, only stood and took my mug from my claw-tipped hands, bringing it to the washbasin.
“Is this why you won’t give me the Calix?”
It had been the excuse for many of the Elven subjects to question my authority.
Her look turned to one of pity. “No, Your Highness.”
I’d had enough of this.
I stood from the table and snatched her up in my claws, partially shifting to tower above her.
“You will comply, old woman.”
Vera, placid as a cow, dangled above the floor.
I expected fear, perhaps some wailing. At least for her to strike, begin a real fight.
My whole body tensed for it but she just assessed me like I was a naughty child.
Her faded brown eyes held no fear, just the patina of a monster who had seen everything and lived through it.
I probed for nightmares in her mermaid mind and found disconcertingly little.
A thick hand settled on one of my forearms and cold trickled into my body.
I tightened my grip as a threat, but Vera calmly continued to fill my lungs with seawater until I gasped without breath.
I shifted, realigning my organs to rid myself of the water, but I suddenly realized Vera teemed with Old Magic.
The seawater wasn’t literal. She unleashed a driving force drowning my soul.
I shifted every which way I knew how and still the water came.
Its icy fingers attempted to drag me down into the nameless deep where even my darkness would be lost. Terror gripped me as I briefly let go of my form altogether and a flood of water hit the kitchen floor.
My mind scrambled as I struck the floor too.
I hated Old Magic. Tricky, untamed, with a will of its own, it was so elemental, it was almost impossible to counter.
A dart prick of fear hit me when I looked up to see Vera holding out her hand to help me up.
“Don't look too glum. I've had lots of practice.”
No wonder the Calix chose her. I wouldn’t admit defeat but I needed to regroup with a different plan. A rare miscalculation on my part, I had prepared for a kindly old caretaker, not an elemental force.
I knocked her hand out of the way and I stood to my full height, which I forgot, was pretty much as tall as hers. “I will be back and you will give me the Calix.”
“See you then, boy.”
Every muscle clenched at her descriptor but I stepped out her front door anyway, unsure if this would end with my blood or hers in the sand.