Page 122 of The Stolen Crown

Not long after, another fist pounded against our door, and a boy’s voice shouted, “Heartwalker and the lady earth fae, Poppy says to tell you the king’s a’comin’ ashore soon. The Ever Ship’s dockin’ now!”

Then small feet scurried away, leaving me disoriented, wondering if I’d truly heard the boy or not. But one glance outside the window and I saw the crimson sails of the Ever Ship approached in haste.

With his deft fingers, Tait helped me fasten satin buttons on the borrowed gown. The skirt was made of auburn silk, with slits on either side that revealed a great deal of my thighs. A leather bodice accentuated what few curves I claimed, and the way Tait looked at me with his blood-honey gaze, I thought he might, for the first time in his life, insist the Ever King wait for us.

“I’m not going to be able to keep quiet,” I admitted, slipping on thin ankle boots left with the clothes. “About Erik, I mean. What he’s been doing for you all this time.”

He pressed a kiss to my fingertips. “He doesn’t know that I even know, and if he finds out I realized he was killing specific nobles, it’ll make for an awkward conversation.”

I blew out a long breath and nodded. “I’ll try to keep quiet for your sake. But the sod better know he’s no longer fooling me when he says he cares for no one but Livia. I think Erik Bloodsinger is made of thorny softness.”

“Thorny softness? How does that even work?”

“He’s a bit of a tyrant, of course. Cruel, brutal, but the more prickly he is, the more threats of death he offers on your behalf, I think it means someone matters a great deal to the Ever King.”

“Have us all figured out, do you?”

I wrapped my arms around his waist and threaded my fingers behind his back. “Yes. I am rather clever. I’ve known you were loyal to a fault since I first learned you took a blade to protect Livia.”

Another fist thudded against the door, heavier than the boy’s. “Oi, Heartwalker. Hurry on. We’re to meet the king in the upper chamber.”

Tension tightened in my chest. Strange to feel nerves at the thought of facing Livia and Erik. The way Tait kept cracking his thumb knuckle, I took a guess that he might feel the same.

“What’ll they think, do you suppose?” I held his arm when we stepped into the corridor. “About the changes?”

“I don’t know. I doubt Livia will protest, and Erik will wish to keep her appeased, so if he has any qualms about it, he’ll keep quiet.”

“I don’t know how he could have qualms. He adores me.”

Tait fell to stoicism when we met the men at the bottom of the staircase. There were multiple levels in the Tower, but at the top were larger, open chambers for councils. Only the king and the lords and ladies of the noble houses could access the upper rooms. We’d have privacy.

Nightseer and Swordeater were there, scrubbed clean, with fresh clothes and a restored brightness to their eyes. If we’d not found them half in the Otherworld, I might not believe they had endured the horrors of Eilifur at all.

Nightseer gave a swift report on Seableeder. The man’s fever had yet to break, but his teeth weren’t chattering as fiercely, and Poppy found the source of the infection, a long gash across his leg from trying to lunge at one of the Eilifur guards. He’d met a blade instead.

Sander and Gavyn were already in the upper chamber, seated at a long table dressed in platters of fruits and candied nuts, glass decanters of wine, and long plates of cheese and eel.

The alver prince rose from his seat at once and rushed to my side. He did not pause before he embraced me again. “Gods, it’s so damn good to see you. I’ll likely be doing this for the next few days.”

“I’ll never protest.” A sharp pang dug into my chest. “How are my parents?”

“Oh, losing their minds, as you’d expect,” Sander said plainly. “Gavyn already sent word to Celine. She’ll tidecall and have them meet us in the Royal City in two or three days. They were across the kingdom near the House of Tides with Lady Avaline searching those borders.”

“They’re here?” I said.

“If you think anyone could prevent Ari and Saga from hunting you down, you must not know your folk.”

Tait’s face paled a bit. I knew he felt unsettled about facing my father, but after all this, I had no doubt my parents would want nothing more than to see me alive and happy.

Sander reported how the Night Folk fae took one coast of the earth fae realms and the alver clans took the other, merely hoping they might catch a whisper of what had happened, while the glamour king and queen joined with sea fae through the Chasm and scoured the edges of the Far Seas.

He’d only finished explaining they were planning to reconvene and widen their searches in the coming nights when the door clanged against the wall and the Ever King and Queen stepped into the room.

My heart leapt in my chest. Livia, her pace frenzied and swift, led a small procession of more Ever Ship crewmen.

The Ever Queen wore a simple dress reminiscent of the Night Folk clan, but she’d embraced some attire of the Sea Folk, like the vibrant scarf keeping her long hair out of her eyes, gold and silver rings in her ears, and a leather corset holding three throwing-knives across her chest.

Don’t speak a word. Not a damn word. I kept repeating the personal command in my own mind, desperate to keep my wits about all I’d learned.