Page 15
On the path to the upper meadows, a few curious folk from the Court of Serpents adjusted briar or rose petal headdresses or satin doublets.
Warriors stood at more distant posts with better vantage points. Lord Gorm was a dear friend but wholly dedicated to protecting his royals. Even knowing who was being delivered to our shores by the sea fae, Gorm would want his strongest warriors ready to defend the fae isles.
A gangplank lowered and passengers stepped onto the docks.
Some were promptly greeted by awaiting families. More and more, Sea Folk took up residences throughout the earth fae realms. It was not so surprising anymore that crewmen for the Ever ships might have homes here.
My lips split into a sincere grin when I saw the wild sunlit braids of my cousin. Calista was a queen of fate, the royal house that resided in Kunglig Palace. Her magic was called seidr, the ability to twist tales of the Norns, for good or ire.
Calista was a queen but had always been a little feral.
Behind her, Silas, her king, followed. He clutched in his arms a bundle of quilts. Their babe was mere months old and part of the reason they did not leave their palace often. I chuckled when Silas glanced about at the crowds—always discomfited with too many bodies in one place—and tightened his hold on the bundle.
Cheers and greetings followed from many of the folk when Shelba and Ash materialized next. Since Ash was from the alver clans, the pair often traveled back and forth, but for the next months, they would remain here until their little was born and old enough to travel.
“Cal!” I waved one hand.
My cousin’s sharp crystal eyes locked on me. She winked, touched one hand to Silas’s forearm, a signal she was abandoning her shy husband to the crowds, then hurried toward me.
“My wild one.” Calista wrapped me in her slender arms.
“How was the journey?” I asked.
“Fine as always. My shadow king was glad to be rid of us.”
A laugh bubbled over my tongue. To Calista, the shadow king was Jonas’s and Sander’s father. The alver king had been forced to endure a weeklong celebration for the bonding ceremony of Jonas and Skadi. I loved the man like he was another father, but he did crave his solitude.
“Mira. I will see you on the morrow.” Tobias squeezed my elbow and tilted his head in a bow toward Calista. “Always wonderful to see you, Highness.”
When he was gone, Calista flicked my ear. “So, what is this I’m told about a run-in with a sea singer?”
“Gods, how did you even hear so swiftly?”
“I speak to fate.”
“You hate the Norns and always tell me to ignore them at all costs.”
A sly sort of grin spread over Calista’s lips. “Fine. Perhaps a few of those eerie merfolk whispered the tale to the crewmen on the way here.”
Three hells, I wanted the earth to split open and swallow me whole. No mistake, Erik Bloodsinger himself would be sending a missive of taunts for the stupid princess who was cornered twice by the same sea singer.
I managed to school my face into something aloof. “I’ll have you know, we’ve since discovered the damn man was basically hunting me. Apparently sea singers do not give up their taste for hearts easily. It could’ve happened to anyone.”
“I’m going to say it.”
“Not this again.”
Calista blew out her lips. “I can’t help it if your stubborn ass doesn’t listen to my thoughts. There is a song of fate for you, wild one. And it sounds like the sea.”
“Forgive me”—I grinned—“but by your encouragement, I stopped trusting songs of fate as a girl.”
“Well, I’ll make an exception this once. Pay heed, Mir. Since the sea fae returned, I’ve felt something shaping for you and I don’t like not knowing where it will lead.”
“Perhaps Livia will introduce me to some delectable sea fae when I go to visit in the coming nights. That is a path of fate I’ll entertain.”
Silas approached, a little flushed, the deep, angry scar down one side of his face less prominent than it had once been. But it was a cursed mark, a remnant from a past of wars and bloodshed. I always thought it made the fate king a bit dangerously dashing.
“Are we to stay out here much longer?” Silas cast a look over his shoulder when a giggling horde of glamour fae strode past.
