Page 44 of Seaborn and the Seven Seas

Watching for what?

I thought of the wings I’d seen from the upper deck on Theron’s ship. The growl from the crate. Whatever lived in the air above this kingdom, the soldiers knew about it and feared it enough to keep watch even in daylight.

We turned a corner and the street opened into a wide square. At the far end stood a massive golden gate, three times my height, its upper edge worked with an intricate design, the same rose at its center.

The gate swung open, soldiers on either side hauling it wide without visible effort. Archways draped in pale fabric lined the courtyard, the cloth moving gently with the breeze.

Beyond a courtyard gave way to a castle that rose impossibly high, tower after tower climbing toward the sky until the topmost ones disappeared into the clouds, as if the edifice had no intention of stopping.

Each tower had windows, dark openings against the white stone, and I had the unsettling sense that someone watched from every one of them.

We were led through corridors lined with drapes of white and gold, floor-to-ceiling, until the throne room doors opened onto a space so vast it swallowed my footsteps whole. White marble floors stretched in every direction. Pale drapes hung from the ceiling, so long their ends brushed the gold-accented columns on their way down.

At the far end, on a raised dais, stood three thrones. The queen sat in the center, larger and higher than the other two. On either side of her sat her sons. One was young and sharp-featured, his silver hair cropped close, watching us in silence. The other was older, more heavily built, with broader shoulders, his expression unreadable and his fingers steepled in front of him, a smirk playing at his mouth. His violet eyes were the same as his brother’s and their mother’s.

The queen was stunning. Pearls woven through hair so pale it was nearly silver, but it was the rest of her that stopped me. A crown set with stones in colors I’d never seen—deep blue, vivid green, brilliant white, blood red—each one catching the light differently, throwing small, fractured rainbows across the floor near her feet. More stones at her throat, more at her fingers, every one of them different.

“Sapphire,” Fraya murmured beside me. “Emerald. Pearl. Ruby—”

“Amethyst, Citrine, and Onyx,” Ranis finished.

Fraya nodded toward the queen without looking at her. “Amethyst, Purple Sea is hers.”

Jina leaned against Fraya from the other side. “So each sea is named after a gemstone?”

Fraya nodded, then placed a finger across her lips.

The queen hadn’t moved. Hadn’t acknowledged any of us yet. She stared, the way the soldiers on the rooftops had watched the sky. Then she finally rose. As if that were a cue, the soldiers lining the room dropped their spears to their sides and stood in a resting stance.

Her alabaster hair, unlike anything I’d ever seen, fell past her waist, long enough to brush her fingertips where they rested at her sides. Her gown matched the color almost exactly, white and silver woven together through the delicate material. Small flecks of gold shimmered through it as she moved, like dust caught in sunlight.

“My queen.” Theron bowed. “Crown Prince Lucian and Prince Pierre.”

“Do the same,” Fraya whispered sharply.

We followed suit, lowering our heads practically to our knees, then straightening.

The queen’s lips twitched, and she settled back onto her throne. “What have you brought for me, Theron?”

The way she said his name sent icy chills up my spine.

“I’ve captured a boarox in Morvik.” He gestured toward the crate, set about ten feet behind us.

So that was the reason Theron had been in the Green Sea. And I’d happened to be there too, with Russo. Fate had a funny way of working things out. But he’d known what was inside the crate the whole time, even when he’d told me he didn’t.

The queen’s eyes lit up, her fingers folding together. “And what else have you brought me?”

Her violet eyes cut to mine, examining me the way Russo had at the auction, assessing, calculating, like I was a price tag rather than a person.

My stomach dropped.

Theron didn’t answer right away.

“Perhaps you need a reminder why you’re here.” The queen’s tone made it clear there was more to this arrangement than Theron or Fraya had let on.

The princes said nothing and only watched.

Theron’s jaw tightened, just barely. “I’m aware of why I’m here, My Queen.”