Page 44 of The Ever Queen

“You can, and you will. We have no other choice.”

His jaw tightened. Red, cruel rage lived in the kind lines of his face. He roared a curse once more. “Hide. No matter how long you must hide, do not let them find you. Promise me.”

“I am well versed at using the earth, Bone Lord.”

“You better be.” Then, at last, Gavyn faded into the tides.

Serpent, I love you, I whispered through my heart, knowing it would never reach the king.

The warning bells still rang into the night. Soon the shore would be filled with guards, or worse—Larsson. I peeled away from the empty black tides and sprinted toward the shadows of the wood.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

THE SERPENT

I leanedover the rail at the bow, tossing bits of bread into the sea, watching the thrashing fins of yellow-tailed eels that only surfaced on moonless nights.

The journey to the Tower from the House of Bones was a distance, across the whole of the kingdom. The journey would normally amount to three days if sailed atop the surface. It took half that by sailing below.

I’d not given the royals a choice; we dove beneath the tides.

Since leaving Maelstrom, the day and into the night was spent beneath the surface until we reached the edges of House of Mist territory, and the earth fae practically sobbed for a breath of air.

“Bloodsinger.” Mira approached from behind. Her dark hair was done up in wrapped plaits like a crown around her head, and she’d donned a new skirt with a leather corset and thick red fabric that struck her ankles. No doubt, Celine would be grumbling about sharing her wardrobe all over again.

“Princess.” I didn’t look away from the feeding frenzy in the water.

“Listen.” She hesitated. “I wanted to tell you . . . I, well, I believe you.”

“Believe what?”

Mira sighed loudly and rested her elbows on the rail, mimicking my stance.

For a few moments, she watched the eels scour the water for any crumb of the bread. “I believe you truly love Livie. This isn’t a strange obsession or power move.”

I chuckled darkly. “Painful to say?”

“Yes. I’m certain I vomited a little.” She sighed. “The night you took her, I felt like I might die inside. I imagined all these horrid things you were doing to her.”

Sick turned in my stomach. I’d known it. It was my plan: make the earth folk suffer, make them think I was using her body, that I was slicing her to pieces.

The notion of harming any piece of Livia Ferus boiled in my brain, but I knew their fear too damn well. It was the same fear that lived in my every breath since Larsson snatched her away.

Mira flipped around, her back to the rail, and lifted her golden eyes toward the pitch sky. “I blamed myself. I encouraged her to go with you that night.”

“I assure you, nothing would’ve stopped me.”

“I know.” She hesitated. “One of the queens, the fate queen we call her, she is my cousin. I think Elise must’ve told her I wasn’t eating. Hells, I never left my chamber at the tower. My cousin, she and her king have a gift of knowing fated paths and destiny, I suppose. She sent this to me about ten days after the masquerade.”

The princess handed me a battered piece of parchment, thin and brittle from countless folding and unfolding.

It was a simple note, direct, loving.

Mir—

There is a bit of fate at play here. We ought to have some trust.You know how I feel about the damn Norns, so that is saying something coming from me.

It’s what I keep telling my Cursed King. He’s rather perturbed with me, you know, since I may have kept this particular twist of fate quiet. Yes, I’ve known there was still a connection to the sea since the war ended. Understand, the last time we tried to alter fate, our world descended into war. I had to let this go as it was destined to go.

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