Page 146 of The Stolen Crown

I jerked against the hands holding my arms. “I swear to the gods, if you even look at her again—”

“Then do not fight,” Djur snapped. “Take my offer, and I will have Lena seal a vow that your pretty fae goes untouched.”

I looked at the sea witch. There were spells that could craft words into something unbreakable lest the deceiver wished to die. My uncle Thorvald had made such a vow with Narza when he took her daughter as his mate. He was never to harm Oline.

It was the reason Erik was the one forced to kill his mother.

It was a sure way to protect Mira.

“Make the vow and I will leave with you,” I said. “You cannot harm her, you cannot harm anyone else in the Ever or earth realms. You must leave and never return for her.”

The wardings would keep them from returning to the Ever. A vow would keep them from harming Mira. She had a chance to be safe. To live.

I would miss her every damn day until the Otherworld brought her to me again. But I would wait, gladly. I’d wait there in the sea of the gods, hearing tales about the glamour princess and her endless celebrations until I saw her face again.

“Vow it. Leave the Ever, leave my folk.”

Djur smirked. “Wise, sea fae.”

He snapped his fingers, and Lena stepped in front of me. With a knife, the woman dug into my palm, then hers. Blood on blood would often twist my insides. In this moment, I could hardly feel when her palm aligned with mine. All I could think about was getting them out of my land, getting them far away from Mira.

Lena sang swift words, but I caught each one. A vow they would never return, vows they would not hunt in the Ever Seas, nor distant earth realms. They would return to be the monsters in the Far Seas, as they’d always been.

When the sea witch pulled her hand away, a snap of something sharp and cold shot up my arm. I doubled over until the spell lanced across my chest, settling as an alliance in my heart. Should I break the agreement and escape Eilifur, I would fall. Unless Lena met the gods first.

I glared at the sea witch.

Her face was as stone, but she peered down at the dead girl in the sand. For a moment, I imagined a look of remorse in her eyes. But it was gone, fleeting, likely never existed, when she turned and strode toward the shore.

Djur’s men guided me toward the sea. The strange longship from the Far Seas anchored in the shadows of the palace.

I made quick work of throwing my pocket watch onto the sand. When Erik found it, when the spell broke, my cousin would know there was no longer any purpose to search for me.

He’d know I was gone.

Secured to the mast, I stared at the shimmer of the palace for the final time.

Djur spoke in their strange language, his crew shuffled about, then rowed us away from the shore. Lena hummed an eerie tune, and darkness grew heavy over the ship.

I closed my eyes. Forgive me, Vicious. I wanted one more dance.

Anguish from leaving Mira kept my head spinning, my focus pinned on the deck of the ship.

Nothing else mattered. The distraction, the pain, was all part of the reason I never noticed a glossy black raven perched on the yard overhead.

43

The Illusionist

I had not seen Tait leave. Concern was sharp beneath my ribs. Had the revel grown to be too much? He’d only cast soft smiles my way the whole of the night. Now I could not find him anywhere.

Over the heads of couples dancing, I tried to find the burn of his gaze but came up wanting.

Two paces to my side, Livia observed the hall while sipping a flute of wine. I tapped her arm. “Have you seen Tait?”

Instead of a response, all at once, Livia drew in a sharp gasp, clutching her chest.

“Livie.” My hold on her arm tightened. “Are you all right?”