Page 100 of The Stolen Crown

Mira returned her attention to her palms. “Very few have ever seen behind those shields I keep over my fears. I gave you a glimpse. Back home, amongst our friends, our lives, you may wake and not like what you see any longer.”

“Mira Sekundär.” I cupped one one of her cheeks. “You are the one soul in all the realms who knows everything about me, even more than Erik. Does that make me less worthy to you simply because we return home?”

“No.” She lifted her chin. “In fact, to my dismay, I’ve come to find you more endearing than ever.”

“Then stop thinking you will not be what I want. How could I not want a princess who revels, fights in wars that are not her own, can dress me in every color that might work with my eyes, and has fears she thinks make her weak, but to me they only make her shine brighter?”

A tear dropped onto her cheek. Mira laughed with a touch of nervousness and wiped it away. “Gods, to think all those sweet words were buried inside your stoic, ill-tempered mouth all this time.”

“For you, I will say them.” I leaned back. “But that is another thing to consider. I might show you all of me, but I plan to be even surlier after all this. I’ve no desire to speak to anyone but you at this point.”

She leaned against my shoulder. “Many thanks for the warning. I will drag you about but will not force the frown from your face.” For a breath, we were quiet until she whispered, “My folk will accept you, Tait. I assume your concerns of disapproval stem from my father?”

“It’s not much of a secret the king is not fond of me.”

Mira blew out a long breath. “He is protective, but please understand, I was born shortly after the man who tortured his wife escaped into the Ever. For nearly the first nine turns of my life, my father was constantly waiting for that bastard to come back and take me and my mother.”

To imagine the glamour king knowing that every day, an enemy who’d abused his wife and would do the same if ever he caught his daughter might come back, I could understand why the man wanted to cherish and protect Mira’s happiness.

“You may not believe this,” she went on, “but if he has singled you out as someone to watch with care and threats, I would wager it’s because he sees that I am drawn to you.”

“And when I return drawn to you, what’s to stop him from taking my head?”

Mira used her shoulder to nudge mine. “Me. He might bemoan I am no longer a little girl for a few moments, but if I am happy, that is enough.”

“And are you?”

“Yes.” Mira kissed the top of my shoulder. “In spite of being trapped in the middle of the Far Seas with the sun gnawing my skin from my bones, I am happy with you.”

The last of the berries were gone. Sooner than anticipated. Only three days into the hunt for the border of the kingdom.

Mira’s head was curled on my lap. I leaned back against the mast, fingers threading through tangles in her hair. My glare aimed at Voidwalker overhead. The spiral of the Far Seas had grown distant, but I could not yet make out the arrow he held, pointing the way. He’d not led us to the skies of the Ever.

Water would last for a time, but I had to ensure Mira found land before it was gone. She insisted on rowing through the night. I insisted on resting for at least a few chimes.

My argument won out when her eyes grew heavy.

For me, sleep would not come, not when my body rippled in the familiar disquiet of quelling any danger. Gently, I positioned her head over a small stack of folded linens and crept to the oars. The distance between them was wide enough to fit us both, but I could stretch my arms a bit and row as one.

I dug the paddles into the sea. Again. Again. Focus never waned. It wouldn’t, not when I had a singular goal of protecting the one who mattered most to me.

In this moment, Mira Sekundär was my concern.

The night thickened, blotting out the stars. I kept rowing. Mists rose off the surface of the sea. Breath caught in my chest. Were the waters shifting?

It was common knowledge that earth fae seas were colder than the Ever. I’d never given much thought to the Far Seas, but the mists and change in the air might, at last, be the signal that new tides approached.

I rowed faster.

My shoulders throbbed and I only paused when, all at once, a light flickered in the distance. A strange golden orb seemed to sway in the darkness. It drew nearer.

Hair lifted on the back of my neck.

Shit. I made quick work of securing the oars and yanking out my knife from inside my boot. The light approaching was secured to a damn ship.

We were not in the Ever, and there were too few lanterns to be from the royal fleet. This was an unknown vessel. Unknown folk.

And they were headed straight toward us.