Page 6 of Depths
“You make it sound so appealing.” Though I literally thought the same.
“It shouldn’t be. It took me six years to get my three idiot husbands sorted out. You’d think a stingray shifter would understand he can’t just stick his barb in anyone whenever he feels like it. But no.”
My eyes widened slightly in alarm. “You better be telling me attack stories not naughty ones. That’s all I can stomach right now.”
Sahar gave a true laugh. The sound was lilting like a harp. It was musical and enchanting.
I heard Felipe grumble behind her, but he didn’t voice his opinion loud enough for me to catch. My heart fumbled again, skipping a beat.
Stupid shite of a thing. I couldn’t continue to live with it much longer, according to my undead healer. But as a part human, part sea sprite, I could live with my heart in someone else’s uninjured body. I could find a host for my organ and keep them close enough to access my power but at arm’s length emotionally should they ever need to be … replaced.
So, while these boastful competitors paraded below me, flexing their muscles for the crowd, they didn’t know that they weren’t actually walking into the lap of luxury and a chance at true love. My tournament was a promise as empty as the shaft of sunlight that shone down on me.
These men were walking into the monster’s den. One of them would be sacrificed. Because that’s what queens did. They took what they needed.
Like it or not, I was a queen now.
And I needed something.
2
Patience is but a game, and those who have it will always win.
—Sultan Raj of Cheryn
* * *
Felipe threw openthe door to my chamber and entered in front of me, to clear it of danger, a formality he insisted upon that made me roll my eyes. But to my surprise, my guard lowered his spear and growled, his legs vanishing and his navy tail magically replacing them, whipping back and forth as he disappeared behind the door. I heard low murmurs, but Felipe didn’t yell for other guards to join him. So the danger couldn’t have been that great.
Curiosity got the best of me, and though I knew I’d get an earful for it later, I fluttered my wings and swam forward just enough to peer around the opaque edge of the glass door.
Sarding shite!
There, at the end of Felipe’s spear, his arms raised and palms turned out to show he meant no harm, was my fool of a brother-in-law. His blond hair flickered slightly in the waves we’d created entering the room, but other than widening his ice-blue eyes, he didn’t move. He was right to stay still; Felipe took his job seriously.
“Declan!” I exclaimed in a reprimanding tone.Why the hell is he here?
Felipe’s head did a slow swivel. He glowered at me as I’d known he would, his jaw going tight and his hand clamping down even harder on his weapon as he pulled it back slightly from Declan’s neck. “You know this fool?” he spat out.
“Unfortunately. He’s married to my sister.” Felipe had only been assigned to me after I booted my heroic sister and her husbands from the castle because Bloss was too domineering for her own good, like all big sisters.
I narrowed my eyes at Declan as Felipe yanked his spear back but came to stand protectively in front of me. I leaned around my guard’s wide shoulders as I shook my head at my brother-in-law. They hadn’t even been gone a fortnight. “You couldn’t even give me—”
“Call the tournament off.” Declan crossed his arms and glared at me, bossiness oozing from every pore. Gills were on Declan’s neck, magicked there by the undead witch Lizza, no doubt, so he could make the journey here on a gargoyle, letting the stone beast tromp beneath the waves toward my palace.
Ugh.
Why was he back? The only conclusion I could come to was that Bloss didn’t trust me to take care of myself, which nettled me. Especially now. All I’d wanted was a moment alone after the procession of idiots. A moment where I closed the door to my bedchamber and dramatically flopped onto my bed out of sight, wishing I’d never stabbed myself in the chest to begin with and this nightmare parade would just fade away.
But now I wouldn’t get my little pout. My cry. I wouldn’t get to purge myself of all the stupid emotions battering my stomach before facing a night full of strangers, because my interfering sister and her husbands couldn’t leave well enough alone.
I narrowed my eyes at Declan, who hadn’t seemed to realize he was addressing a queen. “That’s quite the greeting for a foreign monarch,” I told the man I’d once been sweet on, back when I was young and foolish—before I’d realized what an overbearing oaf he was. Annoyance—the type that was a result of years of fondness and familiarity and knowing far too much about one another—filled me.
“Oh. Excuse me. Call off the tournament,Your Majesty.” Declan gave a half-assed bow, sarcasm apparent in his every move. His smile said he knew just how he rankled me.
My nostrils flared, and I glanced back at Sahar, who looked shocked to see Declan here. At least she was cleared of any malfeasance. Who had let him in?
“What happened to your face?” Declan’s jaw dropped a bit when I turned and he caught a glance of the squid ink. His gaze turned accusingly toward my guard.
