Chapter Fourteen #2
Theron’s fingers curled into fists at his sides. “I was told every new member of my crew is to be presented. I brought them on to work in the kitchen.”
“Is that so?” Lucian took a strand of my hair between two fingers and brought it to his nose, breathing in. “She smells like the sea.” His eyes flicked to Theron. “You can leave them here with me.”
“I told you this would happen.” Fraya gritted the words through her teeth.
So that’s what Theron and Fraya had been arguing about. I have no choice. She knows everyone on this ship.
Jina squeezed my hand. Fraya took a step forward, then caught herself and stepped back into position.
Theron shifted his weight. “They need training. They’re a good fit for the queen’s kitchen.”
“Who said anything about cooking?” His tone made it clear exactly what he meant.
Fraya bowed her head. “Please, Crown Prince. They know nothing of such things.”
Lucian’s finger trailed across Jina’s mouth, his eyes lit with lust. “I can teach them a thing or two.” His eyes slid back to me. “Especially this one. The Seaborn.”
The queen had stopped halfway up the dais. She turned and crossed the floor toward me, her gown gliding behind her. Something small and silver slipped from her sleeve and flashed across my cheek before I could react.
I gasped. A sharp sting bloomed along my skin. Blue blood dripped onto the white marble floor. Then the pain was gone, and the wound sealed itself closed.
“You hid this from me?” The queen gave Theron an accusing stare.
“He didn’t know,” I said it before I could think better of it. “Nobody knew.”
I had no reason to protect Theron and Fraya, but they had been good to me, and that was reason enough. Whatever I was, whatever this meant, I wasn’t going to drag them down with me.
Theron blinked, confusion flickering across his face at my words.
“Even I don’t know what this is.” My voice came out low, controlled. “I swear it on my life. Do with me as you will. But the rest of them have nothing to do with this.”
Jina’s hand found mine, gripping tight. “Star—” Her voice shook.
The queen shifted to Jina and before Jina could react, she’d crossed to her and drawn the same small silver blade across her cheek.
Jina cried out, more from shock than pain, her hand flying to her face.
Blue liquid dripped between Jina’s fingers, onto the white marble, same as mine. She stared at her hand. “I’m—” She looked at me, eyes wide, terrified. “I never knew. This was the first time I’d bled.”
Though I didn’t know she had blue blood. I wasn’t surprised. She had breathed and floated in the water like I had. So had Minha. She must be a Seaborn too.
“I know.” I squeezed her arm.
The wound on her cheek sealed itself shut, same as mine had, leaving nothing behind but a faint smear of blue already drying. The queen straightened, looking between the two of us, delight crossing her face.
“Two,” she murmured. “I haven’t seen this many Seaborn in decades. And now I have more.”
More?
Could she mean there were other Seaborns imprisoned somewhere in this castle, beneath all that gold and white marble?
The boarox whimpered then sat silent in its crate. Perhaps dreaming in sleep. If a creature like that was in plain sight, what else might be hidden somewhere I couldn’t see?
The queen’s gaze moved from Theron to me, slow and assessing.
A small sound left her, not quite a laugh, more breath than amusement. “Brave words from someone bleeding.”
She crouched, unbothered by the gown pooling around her, and dipped one finger into the small spot of blue liquid. She studied it for a long moment, turning her hand, the light catching the wet smear on her skin.
“Do you know how long it’s been,” she said, “since I’ve seen this color?”
The queen rose again, wiping her finger clean on the edge of her sleeve and looking at me. “You’re not what I expected to walk through my doors today.” Her lips curved, but it didn’t reach her eyes. “But you’ll do.” The queen turned back toward her throne, gown trailing behind her. “Theron.”
“My Queen.”
“Your debt is paid. For now.” She climbed the dais without looking back and settling onto her seat. “Leave the boarox. Leave the Seaborn. Take the others and go.”
Two soldiers stepped forward, flanking me.
“Wait!” Jina’s voice cracked. She lunged toward me and Fraya caught her arm, holding her back.
“Star—” Jina’s eyes were wide, glassy.
“It’s all right.” I forced my voice to stay even, though my pulse was anything but. “Go with Fraya. I’ll be fine.”
I didn’t believe it. But Jina needed to.
“My Queen.” His voice was carefully measured. “If I may—”
“You may not.” The queen didn’t even look at him, her attention set across the room. “Your debt is paid. Don’t make me reconsider.”
Theron hadn’t moved. His jaw was tight, his eyes fixed on the queen, and for the first time since I’d met him, he looked like a man calculating with no good outcomes.
When the soldiers’ hands closed around my arms, Theron’s eyes met mine for one brief second.
I expected nothing from him. What I saw instead was a look of apology.
Then he turned and walked toward the doors, Fraya pulling Jina and Ranis along behind him, along with the crew members who’d driven the wagon.
“Going so soon?” Pierre’s voice cut through the room, lazy and amused. “Why don’t you stay? Spend the night. Your chamber’s been kept ready, as always.”
Theron halted.
Your chamber.
Family? They were his family?
He hadn’t been delivering tribute to a stranger. He’d been delivering tribute to his own blood. But they looked nothing alike.
Theron had no pointed ears, no silver hair, none of the features that marked everyone else in this room as Seelie. He hadn’t called the queen Mother. He’d called her My Queen, the same as any subject would.
I didn’t know enough about how royalty worked to be sure of anything. Regardless, it was one more thing Theron hadn’t told me.
“Not tonight,” Theron grumbled under his breath. “My crew needs me.”
“Your crew.” Pierre’s smirk widened. “Of course.”
The room went silent except for footsteps.
What did I expect from Theron, to save me? He didn’t care about Jina, Ranis, or me. He had bigger things to protect. A family. A throne.
“Guards, prepare the arena,” the queen commanded. “Let’s see if this Seaborn can kill the boarox.”
“No.” Theron’s voice was sharp. The first time I’d heard him raise it at the queen. “It nearly killed six of my men just getting it into that crate. It’s not a test. It’s an execution.”
“Then it shouldn’t be a problem.” The queen rubbed a thumb along the gemstones on her fingers. “If she’s truly Seaborn, she’ll survive. If not—We’ll have our answer either way. And since you don’t seem to understand that your debt is paid for today, you may all stay and watch her live or die.”
Pierre’s smirk deepened, leaning forward, elbows on his knees, like a man settling in for a show.
“Finally,” he murmured. “Something interesting.”
“No!” Jina sobbed, fighting against Fraya’s grip.
I forced myself to look calm, hiding my trembling hands behind my back.
“Don’t worry.” The queen’s voice was light, almost pleasant. “I’ll make sure she’s given proper weapons, and she won’t be fighting alone. But first, a proper bath, and a warrior’s suit. For the show.” Nothing about her smile was benevolent. “What entertainment this will make for my people.”
The soldiers were already moving, pulling me toward a set of doors behind the dais.
“Sis!” Jina’s scream cracked into something raw, still fighting against Fraya’s hold with everything she had. “Let her go! Please! She’s the only family I have.”
Not Star. Sis. The name she’d given me, the only one that had ever been mine before the sea took everything else.
Tears streamed down my face. I didn’t want to die. I didn’t want to leave Jina alone in this world.
The heavy doors swung shut behind me, and her desperate cry cut off. I was alone, left to face whatever fate had in store. Maybe if there were gods, they would come to our aid. Or maybe Yeri would hear my plea.