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I didn’t disagree.
Movement by our heads forced me to crack my eyes. The earth bender stood over us, head cocked.
“Daj?” Livia said weakly. “What’s . . . what’s with the look? You’ve seen me bloom soil before.”
His face was tugged into something else, not confusion over her abilities, it was more he studied us. “Why did you touch her while she pulled it away?”
I closed my eyes, too fatigued to keep them open. “We found it helps. I thought it wouldn’t without the heartbond, but—”
“It did.” Livia patted my belly, like she might be dozing off. “Your words . . . well,youhelp, Serpent.”
Valen rubbed a hand down his face. “Your touch strengthened her?”
“I suppose.” Did he not realize I wanted to sleep for no less than two days?
“Dammit,” he grumbled, and as he walked away, it sounded a great deal like he said, “like Elise.”
Of course, it could’ve been made up in the haze of my mind.
“Erik.” Tait kicked the bottom of my boot. “You’ll sleep soon, but we need to deal with Joron.”
Damn bastard. Reluctantly, I unraveled from Livia’s body, and together we stood.
Joron was coated in sweat but released from whatever illusion Mira had used to keep him compliant. He blinked his gaze to us.
“On your knees,” I said, voice low. “Bow to your queen. Thank her for her mercy, and perhaps I’ll let you keep your eyes. I’ve not decided on your tongue yet.”
Joron shuffled forward. He bent low, pressed his brow to the stones, and placed his palms out in front of Livia. “My Queen.”
Livia leaned against me, seeking my strength the way I sought hers. She looked to the curious people around us and lifted her voice as well as she could. “I am Livia Ferus, and I have sat on the throne of the Ever King. I am his queen. Stand with us, and you will not suffer the way your lord has made you suffer. You will not be forced to choose a tyrant who steals a crown, who poisons your land, your home.”
I kept a possessive hand on her back but said nothing. Not when a few gazes fell to me, as though they did not know what to do, not when Joron spat his distaste for our abuse of his title.
“I will choose an Ever Queen.” Avaline, meek and uncertain, stepped forward. Murmurs followed from her house. “I will choose you both to lead us through . . . well, just to lead us. I don’t exactly know what all is going on out there.”
“The earth realms stand with Erik Bloodsinger and Livia Ferus.” Aleksi pounded a fist to his chest.
More murmurs rose up when a few folk went to their knees. Some uttered prayers to the gods. Most seemed too stunned to move, too uncertain on who to follow—their king, a new queen, or the lord of their house.
“My King.” Avaline approached, giving her father a wide step as she came. “You . . . you said you came to speak to me.”
“Aye. We did.”
She clasped her hands in front of her body. “I would like to hear what you wanted to say.”
It took little convincing of Avaline to accompany us to the royalcity. I wasn’t certain if she wanted to join to aid us with her voice, or merely to see a bit more of the Ever.
At the docks, Gavyn aided the weakest folk onto his ship.
“You’ll have access to clean food, boneweavers, and fresh beds,” I shouted, leaning over the rail of the Ever Ship to hide how desperately I wanted to slide to the deck. “You are of the House of Tides, but you are of the Ever first and foremost. We do not allow our folk to suffer the way you have been forced.”
Some joined us aboard the Ever Ship, others remained on land, able to work, and now, find unblighted food. Men from the House of Bones and the Ever Ship offered to remain behind and keep Joron in their sights, a sort of imprisonment in his own manor, until this ended.
Should I die, Larsson could free him or kill him. It mattered little to me.
Avaline closed her eyes against the sea spray. “My voice is dangerous, My King. I hope you know.”
“I know some,” I admitted. “But there is a connection I must make.”
