Page 107 of Crown of Tides and Fury

My contentment was enough to override my jealousy.

“Do you know,” I asked, when the laughter died, “if a mortal and a Fae can have offspring?”

Complete silence.

I opened my eyes to see if they’d suddenly left the room. Ivy lifted her chin from the floor. “I…I’ll have to ask Wickham.”

“No. Don’t do that. I just wondered if you’ve ever heard of it. I don’t know why, but I have it in my head that Griffon’s mother is mortal.”

Everly lowered her head to give me a sober look. “I know it’s too soon to ask, but were youmistreated?” By mistreated, she meant raped.

I shook my head before she finished. “Nothing like that. Griffon’s brother wants me dead, but he never touched me. And neither did Griffon.” Except that brief embrace and a farewell caress… “But no, I wasn’t asking for myself.” I remembered something and laughed. “What about fairies and mermaids? Any guesses?”

* * *

“Archer Carew!”

Archer shuddered at the sound of his own name. He’d been back at court for days, successfully slinking at the rear of the cavern, but he’d been spotted by the Pretender. To disguise any reluctance on his part, he marched smartly forward until he stood at the bottom step.

He bowed dutifully, then waited in silence. If he was ordered to address this Fae as King, he wasn’t sure he could do it.

“Why didn’t you make yourself known to us?”

He inclined his head. “I had nothing good to report…sir.”

“You have bad news? From your brother?”

“I do. He found the woman you sought and used her to set a trap for Wickham Muir. But the man sensed it and fled with the woman. Griffon fears they have gone to ground. Of course, we haven’t given up hope of finding them again.” As he spoke, Orion’s copper eyes began to shuffle and darken to bronze.

“See that you do not. Go.”

No amount of resentment toward his brother and that woman could make Archer serve Griffon up on a platter. Particularly for the benefit of a mad Fae who intends to wreak havoc upon the world. In the dungeon, he’d seen how his blessed brother felt about their prisoner, and more importantly, how that woman felt about Griffon. It had enraged him at first. But after a few days of licking his wounds, he’d begun to accept the truth.

That heroic devotion went both ways.

In all their lives, he couldn’t remember a single female with whom his brother had seriously bonded. And though Archer hated this one with a passion, he could admit that the fault for Daphne’s death, and his own lost fight, lay not at her feet, but at her friends’.

For now, that was enough.

As for Archer, he was still trying to accept that Daphne was truly lost to him. It was a miracle he still breathed, and of course, he was grateful. Though Orion might have pulled him from the edge of death, however, he hadn’t truly given back his life. Archer wasn’t free to live again. He was a pawn in the Pretender-King’s court, leverage to be used against Griffon, no doubt. And now, the only purpose Archer had left was to protect his family.

Even if that family included a crow and his cursed mermaid.

Archer had heard the legend of Cormac and Eslyn his whole life. That King had been cruel indeed, for a crow and a mermaid were two species that could never even dwell together. Nor could Griffon and Lennon Todd, for Orion would take her from him, one way or another.

Nevertheless, the story’s true poignancy only resonated after Archer heard those words from his brother’s mouth.

Touch her and die.

* * *

As per my request,Ivy asked Alwyn to send some breakfast to my room the next morning. I never specified who I wanted to deliver it. I should have said anyone but Wickham.

I answered the knock on the door and wasn’t happy to be face to face with the man before I’d had coffee. I pointed to the bed and headed to the bathroom, hoping to get away with not saying a word.

“Lennon. I’m not here to ask yer forgiveness.”

I shrugged and kept moving.

---