23. Harven
HARVEN
It’s been a week and Eve still isn’t pregnant.
Nor was I any closer to discovering who was responsible for threatening her life. The former was more palatable.
Eve had explained more about the medicine she took and how it would linger in the body. Most likely she’d have to get her period for us to know when she was able to conceive.
I didn’t like waiting. The longer she was without my heir, the more fragile her human body seemed.
With threats abounding, I need her to be strong.
I’ve had countless sharkin, sirens, merfolk—all manner of seafolk—executed for their parts in the plots connected to that sharkin lair housing the letters. Each time I find the end of a traitorous web, another emerges.
The network of conspirators is great, but not stronger than my need to protect Eve.
The threats to her life have taken a toll on me. I’ve been working more, sequestered away in my study. I want nothing more than to be with Eve, but a part of me doesn’t feel worthy.
Not when her enemies are all around.
She picked up on my mood and, in turn, has grown more reserved. She is vibrant when we finally fall into bed together.
Yet, as each morning comes and I make to leave her, I can see the despair wearing her down bit by bit.
It’s my fault she’s feeling this way. If I were a worthy mate, I’d have found out who was behind it all. This sadness she feels is surely hampering her ability to get pregnant. I’ve failed my mate in many ways.
Taking her to the market tonight had helped.
She giggled over the bubble I used to transport her, the first real sign of her joy in a while. I held her close as we looked over the sparkling stalls. All manner of jewels were on display, along with bolts of glittering fabric. I bought whatever her fingers landed on.
I watch as the servants load her new dresses into the wardrobe.
Boxes of diamond necklaces and sapphire bracelets sit beside her stacks of tinned paints on the desk. I dry the moisture from my hair with one of her towels.
The sea had done me good too. I could use my gills to breathe deeply for the first time.
When Eve transforms, I wonder if she’ll have them. It would make venturing into the city easier.
Turning from the small pool along her window we used to enter her room, Eve’s blue eyes sparkle up at me. I don’t like the dark circles under them. Or the green hue to her skin.
She could never be anything other than beautiful, but she doesn’t look well.
“Thank you,” she sighs, wrapping her arms around my middle. “The market was wonderful. You got me far too many things.”
I hold her close. Her touch soothes some of the ever-present restlessness within me. Her rapid heartbeat gives me strength.
I’ll need all the power I can get for this conversation.
The market had been a way to soften her, and it seemed to work. She was going to hate what I had to do.
With the threat to her life looming, I couldn’t afford to let the public know how important she was to me. More so, I couldn’t let the spy within the castle learn how much power she wielded.
Dismissing my Pearls would do that.
Breaking with tradition would inspire even more of my court to question my ability to rule. Giving such power to a human would make me a fool in their eyes.
If the spy got word of my dismissal of the Pearls, they could act rashly. It wasn’t a flawless plan. I’ve mired in so much unrest that I don’t even know if it’s logical.
At my council's behest, I had to keep up appearances.
I didn’t want to see the Pearls. All I want is Eve.
For her safety, I’ll risk her wrath. Even if she hates me, I’ll do what I must to protect her.
Taking her hips, I release a shuddering breath.
“What is it?” she asks.
Licking my lips, I trace the delicate bones beneath my fingers.
“My Pearls.” My stomach turns. “I’ve agreed to see them tonight.”
I had sent the note shortly before we set off for the market so Seera, Bly and Nixie could prepare.
When I got to their room, I wasn’t certain what would happen. I didn’t have the carnal appetite they were used to. Eve satisfies me, even when I’m not inside her.
My mate flinches as if I’ve struck her.
She stumbles back in a daze. My tentacles reach for her, but she puts more distance between us. The brightness in her eyes dims to a dull blue.
“You haven’t been feeling well.” It’s a poor excuse. A half-hearted attempt to make her understand without revealing too much. “I must see them, or people will talk. My absence from their chambers has already been noted. They don’t mean anything to me, Eve.”
“But you would seek them out over me?”
I make a grab for her. I loathe how she’s looking at me.
Like I’m a stranger, not the male she loves.
“It’s not like that. Eve—”
She reaches for the blanket at the foot of her bed. Wrapping herself in it, I snarl as she conceals her body. Eve sinks onto the bed as far away from me as possible.
Moisture beads in her eyes, and it shatters my heart.
Her sickness has only made her mood worse. She said it was due to her incoming cycle. Once it came, at least we’d know when she was most fertile.
Right now, it doesn’t look like she’ll let me touch her anytime soon.
Rubbing her eyes with the back of her hand, her face goes blank. There’s no fire—no anger that I love so much. There’s nothing.
It feels as if my insides have been hollowed out.
“I understand. You are king.” Her voice is a broken whisper. “I must be a disappointment to you.”
I stalk to her side. My tentacles trail over her feet, but she tucks them away. It would be less painful if she tore my heart out.
At least she understands why I have to do this, but to think it’s because I’m unhappy with her—
“How can you say that, Eve?”
“You blame me for not being pregnant. It’s why you’ve been so removed. I told you it could take time. I’m trying my best.”
Her voice breaks on the last word.
“Eve,” I breathe, wrapping her in my arms.
She is tense, but she doesn’t fight me.
I breathe in her scent. Her head fits perfectly to the center of my chest.
“I’m not disappointed. Far from it, my mate. There’s nothing wrong with you.”
Eve blinks her large eyes up at me.
“But you’ve been keeping something from me.”
I couldn’t admit to it. Not yet. Once I had the situation in hand, I’d reveal everything.
I squeeze her tightly, allowing my tentacles to stroke her gorgeous body.
“I have to see them, Eve.” She steps back. “Let me get this over with, and I’ll come back to you—”
“No.”
“No?”
Crossing her arms over her chest, she turns away.
“Enjoy your evening with them, my king. I shall sleep alone tonight.”
I lift my hand, but I pull it back as she walks towards the bed. I don’t have the right to touch her. I understand her refusal even as it feels like my tentacles are being sliced off.
She curls into a ball at the center of her massive bed.
How can I do this to her? I swore to never hurt her, and yet here she is miserable. I wanted her to be happy.
She gave me her heart, and I squandered it.
Once the threats to her are eradicated, things will change. I have to pray to the gods she’ll still love me by the time the threats are neutralized. Earning her love and losing it would be a fate worse than death.
I cross to the door and pause with my palm on the handle.
“I’ll have Leri bring you tea for your stomach.”
She’s nothing as I step out into the hall.
Eve has built a wall around herself. One too strong for me to climb. It’s agony to feel the space she’s put between us.
I have to do this, and yet it feels so wrong. Stopping in my study, I down two goblets of sea-wine before heading towards the opposite wing of the castle.
The pain in my chest plagues me all the way to the room with the crimson door. A gold-plated pearl rests at the center.
The thick scent of jasmine and seawater filters from beneath the door.
My stomach lurches as I push the door open.
Nixie is there immediately. Her teasing smile is sharp around the edges. A short, thin skirt is her only covering. Seera and Bly are dressed modestly by comparison. I note the surprise in their eyes and the predatory gleam in Nixie’s.
“My king,” Nixie purrs, guiding me into the room by my belt. “It’s been too long.”
EVE
Sobs wreck me as I wail into my pillow.
I don’t know how I managed to hold it together until Harven left. I felt like dying when he told me his plans to see his Pearls. It’s my fault we hadn’t talked about them since the Sea Witch visited.
I hadn’t felt comfortable enough.
When he came back to me, something was off. He’s been distant—busier than usual.
He’s present when we’re fucking, but afterward, he barely makes time for me. The trip to the market was the most we’d been together outside of bed in a week.
Old insecurities raged within me.
He had gotten what he wanted. Was I no longer as interesting? Had he been seeing his Pearls the whole time and was only now coming clean?
Not being pregnant wasn’t helping the situation. Harven’s eagerness for the child had first been about the heir, but his desire had taken on a new intensity.
He kept reminding me how fragile I was until my final transformation. My nausea, which usually signaled the beginning of my cycle, hadn’t helped.
Every morning I woke up retching. Harven had asked me what was wrong as he held my hair back, and I had to tell him.
I wasn’t pregnant. It would take more time. I thought he understood that. He said he did—reaffirmed it to me just now—but I’m not sure. Love means something different to the seafolk.
My stomach rolls as I think about him with them.
Does he touch them as he does to me? Does he whisper the same teases and hold them afterward? Do they know how to make him come harder than I can?
They’ve had decades of practice together.
The thought of another touching me is repulsive.
I was a fool for falling so hard and fast for someone who can’t reciprocate the kind of devotion I’m looking for. When we finally discuss giving up on them, he won’t agree. I’ll be forced to decide.
What will I do? Leave?
It’s not that simple. I was kidding myself when I thought I could convince him I was enough. If I had gotten pregnant immediately, maybe things would be different. He loves me now, but what will that love be like in twenty years? Fifty. A hundred.
Can he ever love me as I do him?
Yes, a small voice whispers. Don’t give in to your doubts. Trust the king.
I snarl at it to let me wallow. How can I not have doubts?
My mate left me when I’m sick to go be with his lovers. The need to vomit pounds again through me. The force of my cries is making me sicker.
My small pool laps against the sides with intensity. It’s the only other sound besides my sobs.
Without Harven beside me, my bed feels impossibly large and empty. Cold. I miss him.
I’m angry with him, but that doesn’t change the fact that I want him with me. I can’t let him, not tonight.
He won’t sleep beside me after fucking someone else. I couldn’t stomach it.
How had all of this soured so fast? Whatever that councilman, Lord Bane, said to him during our dinner turned him against me. I wonder what cruel thoughts he shared to have Harven rethinking his devotion.
Does the court believe the gods have chosen poorly? Is my empty womb proof of their disdain? Will the seafolk ever accept a human as—
A sharp blade presses against my throat.
The cold metal bites into my skin. My sobs end in a hiccup as a large hand grips my shoulder.
“Don’t make a fucking sound,” a gruff voice spits in my ear.
Whimpering, I slowly rise to my feet. The dagger remains at my throat. With one slash, I’ll be dead. The male turns me slowly.
I’ve never seen this sharkin before.
His gray skin is decorated with black veins. The fin on his back is scarred and missing chunks as if bitten off. Scars adorn most of his body. He’s not as powerfully built as Harven, but his muscles are deadly enough. Especially against someone like me.
Madness burns in his eyes. His movements are jerky as he peers around the room.
I scream in my head and will it towards Harven. I beg him to return to me, but I know it’s foolish. No one is coming to save me.
Not unless I can alert them before he slices me open.
The sharkin trails the tip of the blade down my chest. My blanket is left on the bed, leaving me clad in only my thin dress. When Harven is with me, I feel safe wearing my outfits. Being alone with this male makes my stomach feel hollow.
He presses the blade between my breasts and licks his dark gray lips.
“Hello, human,” he murmurs. “You are very pretty. The others will enjoy breeding you.”
I’m a fool for doing it. If I had more time to think, I would’ve devised a smarter plan. My instinct kicks in as he slices the top inch of my dress.
A scream tears from my lungs. I only manage to yell for a second before he grips the back of my head.
“Bitch,” he spits, slamming me forward into the stone pillar.
Darkness engulfs me.