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Erik hesitated. “Tait Heartwalker, I want you and any heirs who might come to your household to be known as the second royal house of the Ever.”
Tait shook his head. “I have no claim to the throne, Erik.”
“You should.” Bloodsinger narrowed his gaze. “You have all the characteristics of the royal house. The only reason I am king and you are not is because Thorvald claimed the crown before Harald. Had it been different, perhaps the blood crown would’ve chosen your father as the Ever King.”
The crimson eyes. The sharp teeth. The devotion to the kingdom. Erik spoke true. Tait was notable in the Royal City and respected for his connection to the king, whether he desired the attention or not.
It was commonly known a house would rise as royals if their eyes burned red and their teeth grew longer than others. At times, more than one shared the appearance of the House of Kings.
“Our fathers set out to challenge another for the crown,” Erik went on. “If Harald had made the challenge first instead of Thorvald, if the blood crown had not scorched the brow of the challenger, the helm of the Ever Ship would belong to you.”
“So, there is another household with claim to the throne?” Jonas asked.
“Not at all, Prince,” Lady Narza said. “Thorvald saw to it the other contender was gutted and dropped in the Far Seas to remove any attempt he might try for the crown again.”
“The point is,” Erik went on, “I want to secure the Ever for turns to come with a royal lineage that our folk trust will be brought up with the wisdom we’ve taken from these battles. With the same fierceness but more fairness. I want the royal house to show the folk of the Ever that to love, to honor, to fail is not weakness. It is what makes a just king or queen.”
Celine folded her arms over her chest. “So, you’re saying if someone slits your throat, then Livia’s, Heartwalker will be king? You’re going to change the crown to choose him?”
“Let us hope it does not come to that, Tidecaller,” Erik said in a low grumble. “But yes. If we have no heir, my cousin is next in line. If he joins us in the Otherworld, his heirs would be next. Then I wish for Tavish Spellbreaker and his household to carry the title. Understand?”
Celine smirked. “I like it. Daj always said the Ever got rather bloody and deadly when an Ever King went to the Otherworld. Everyone always fought for the throne.”
Sewell nodded. “Dark tides. Dark tides, indeed.”
“This’ll make it simpler, without all the fighting.”
“You can alter the crown to do this?” Tait stared at his cousin like it made little sense.
“Aye.” Erik tilted his head toward Narza. “Narza said it could be done.”
“Blood, Heartwalker,” said the sea witch. “All I will need is blood of the successors. Tavish will break the previous enchantments, and we’ll add new ones. Some are unbreakable. The crown will still maim an imposter, but as Erik said, if the direct line of the successors remains true and just, the crown should naturally pass on.”
Erik leaned on his palms over the table. “We begin a new line of the royal house. Today.”
“Unless, of course, any other royals and nobles are in disagreement?” Livia glanced around the table.
“No one will object,” my father blurted out. He pointed at Jonas’s father as he spoke. “You heard Bloodsinger. This puts my house in direct succession for the Ever Kingdom.”
Livia’s father chuckled and argued it was the Night Folk clans who were already in direct succession. More comparisons about titles, lands, accomplishments were leveled between kings. Then again, since my earliest memories, every king of the earth realms kept a rather healthy yet friendly competition on who ruled the greatest.
“Bloodsinger,” I said, “you may take their squabbling as approval.”
“I always thought Heartwalker would be a kinder king than you anyway,” Celine insisted.
Erik glared at her but looked away soon enough, likely so Celine wouldn’t catch the hint of a grin on his face.
“You’re sure about this?” Tait asked his cousin.
Erik lowered his voice so only Tait and I would hear. “If I could not be king and Livia could not be queen, there is no one I trust more to lead the Ever, cousin.”
“If you’re ready.” Narza smiled at Tait, a small knife in her hand.
He spared a glance my way, like he wanted my approval as much as anyone’s.
I pressed a kiss to his knuckles. “Your crown is no longer stolen, Hearttalker. It’s been found in both the glamour fae kingdom and the Ever. Your voice here will be powerful in making certain no one—especially young ones—ever lives with the fear of pain.”
He swallowed with more effort. With a title, with the ability to decree customs and punishments in the kingdom, no young one would ever feel as helpless as Tait had as a boy. Defenseless. Seen only as another notch of the cruel depravity that was once so cherished in this kingdom.
