Page 106 of The Stolen Crown

I bit back a scoff. There was a naiveté to her desire, like she anticipated loyalty and truest friendship from this moment on. No doubt, the woman rarely met new folk.

Mira’s heart burned against my voice, the desires of my Vicious there for the taking. For a moment I considered being a fiend and reading her heart. I cut off the somber tune. I would not invade her privacy in such a way.

“You are a ward of the king?” Mira asked Eeva, voice soft.

“Oh, yes. It is customary in my clan to live amongst another culture for at least ten turns.” Eeva beamed. “My Lord Djur and Lady Lena are so gracious to house me and teach me their ways. It is believed by my people that to live among others extinguishes any potential animosity. It is a show of unity in these isolated seas.”

I fought the urge to roll my eyes. What sort of people sent their children to live amongst strangers, all in the name of potential unity?

“I find that rather wonderful,” Mira said, again proving who held the propriety between us. “And Lady Lena, you are fae, yes?”

“Sea witch,” I muttered.

Lena’s painted lips curved. She peered at me over a slender drinking horn. “Astute, friend.”

“You are why they know of the Ever Kingdom?”

“No.” Lena placed her horn on the table. “I have never lived in this kingdom of yours. I hail from these seas. You know many witches?”

“Oh, sea witches rule a whole noble house in the Ever Seas,” Mira interjected. “They’re magnificent.”

Lena cast a glance at Djur. “That we are.”

Djur chuckled, deep and low. “My wife is part of the old clans. Those who never sailed much of the seas. Her clan’s lore did speak of travelers and explorers. No doubt they are the ancestors of the sea witches in your lands.” Djur reclined in his chair, a drinking horn in hand, and looked at me. “Tell us your tale. What brought sea fae so far from home?”

“We befell a rather deadly storm not so many weeks ago,” Mira explained. “The Norns found it prudent to wash us ashore on a small isle instead of sending us to the Otherworld. We’ve been preparing to sail home ever since.”

“This isle,” Lena said. “You were there for some time?”

“Seventeen sunrises,” I grumbled.

Eeva pressed a hand to her heart. “You must’ve been so frightened.”

Mira smiled softly. “Tait has an uncanny knack for survival. There was no chance he would not see us off the isle.”

Djur clanked his drinking horn on the table, and the others followed suit. “We are honored to have you here in our humble kingdom. I’m curious. What are your, uh, sea voices? I know this about sea fae from my wife.”

Mira opened her mouth to respond, doubtless finding a bit of comfort here. I squeezed her thigh beneath the table, gently silencing her. “I have a weak voice, only causes a few ripples here and there.”

“And I am, well, I’m not exactly sea fae.” Mira’s knee bounced, likely unaccustomed to lying about her glamour. “I have a simple gift at”—her gaze bounced about, falling to the tome near Eeva—“tongues. Riddlers, tricksters. I can help puzzle through their words. Hardly formidable.”

Djur hummed. “Well, fae are always welcome, powerful or not. From sea or distant realms, it matters little. We always take a bit of delight when the gods remind us of the gifts they’ve given to so many. Like dear Lena and Eeva.”

The young woman’s cheeks flushed.

“Are you a sea witch as well?” Mira asked, using her chin to gesture at the golden coils around Eeva’s arms.

“Oh, no. I’m not.” Eeva nudged her spectacles back up the bridge of her nose and brushed a palm over the bands. “They are a mark of a mature Veri Ikuinen, my folk. Some merely call us Veri.”

“I’ve never heard of Veri Folk.”

“Veri Ikuinen are a rare people,” Lena told us before daintily sipping her own drinking horn.

“True.” Osatt tore into a soft roll, speaking with his mouth full of bread. “Veri are a gift from the gods.”

“How nice,” Mira said with her practiced poise.

“No, lady fae.” Osatt shook his head. “She is more.”