Halla gave a laborious wail from where she stood behind Eftan. “I have hurt no one.”
“You have devoted yourself to a monster who hunts and kills Sirens. You have willingly given her your flesh and blood,” Isnapped. “Eusia has started to form a taste for Varians as well, did they tell you?”
Halla’s face flushed red, but she only glared on in silence.
Lachlan stood at my back, a palpable shadow, as I went on. “So you should have no objection at all about giving your blood to me, Halla, considering you are now tasked with Varya’s care too.”
A beam of morning light, orange as flame, cut across the deck. It lit Theodore’s broad chest and inscrutable face. “I request a conclave.”
He wanted to meet with me alone—just us monarchs.
Eftan shook his head wildly. “I suggest against it, Your—”
Theodore held up a hand. “Silence.” He looked at me with such single-minded attention that the rest of the world seemed to slip from his consciousness.
But I saw it all. The sun lit everything with shining clarity. The stoic woman in blue robes reminded me of a sturdy pillar. She stood straight, her black hair slicked and marbled with white, and the pleats of her heavy clothes were so perfectly uniform they appeared as carved grooves. Eftan was as he’d ever been, stout and prim, scowling and indignant. And utterly disappointed in his king. He didn’t bother hiding it.
Lachlan had been right to worry that Theodore’s council would turn on him. And I… I’d been right to leave when I had. I forced my attention back to Theodore and his torturous gaze. “I deny your request.”
I wanted to curl back into my hammock belowdecks. I had never wished for Theodore to see me like this, desperate and empty, with matted hair and a body crushed by pain and grief. And yet there he stood, his gaze locked on me in the morning light.
“Halla, I’m certain your husband is downhearted to know you have fed such a terrible monster for so long.” I pulled myselfstraight, keeping my eyes on her. “Helping me with this spell will surely win you back some favor. That is what you wish for, isn’t it? Favor?”
Halla looked to Theodore with rounded, desperate eyes, and I knew I’d struck the proper chord. Itwasfavor she sought.
Eftan had turned crimson. He pushed his way toward me. “This is a farce. Your Majesty, if we give another moment of our attention to this proscribed criminal, I will see to it that—”
“Thatwhat?” Theodore cut him off, threat tensing his every muscle. Even in the face of one of his king’s most reductive glowers, Eftan kept his head high.
The captain had ordered a launch boat to be readied. Beside me, sailors heaved it on its pulleys, but I’d fallen motionless, arrested by the way Theodore strode toward me with staggering purpose. Too close, too fast.
Lachlan urged me toward the launch. “Get in.”
As I hurried to do so, a hand clamped around my wrist. It was hot, and firm, and sent sparks shooting up my arm. My body pulsed as Theodore tugged me toward him until my shoulder pressed into his hard chest.
Lachlan lunged. “Let her go.”
But neither he nor I moved. The world seemed to turn misty. There was only Theodore’s menacing face tipped down to mine and his heat seeping through me. Slowly, he raised his other hand and took the front of my uniform into a tight fist.
Hot, sludgy power began to pour through my stomach.
He spoke quietly, his words a deep scrape. “What in the name of the Gods do you think you’re doing?”
My blood scalded my veins. “Release me.”
His head tilted in warning. “Imogen—”
Lachlan’s sword rang as he pulled it from its scabbard. Thesilvered point glinted at the edge of my vision, where he held it toward Theodore’s chest.
Only Theodore’s furious eyes cut toward Lachlan. “Stand down.”
Lachlan didn’t budge. “My sword is pledged to Queen Imogen until our journey is complete.”
Theodore scowled, dubious gaze darting between Lachlan and me, before his mouth flattened into a line.
I knew he could feel the wild race of my heart beneath his hand. “Releaseme.”
He shook his head, just barely. “You’re hurt.”
