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I closed my eyes and faced the sea.A thousand turns, Songbird.
Iron hooks flung over the gap between ships. Gavyn’s crew was already doing the same.
Larsson snapped his orders on the deck, cursing and hissing for his men to kick the barbs free. Once the hooks were lodged against their rails, crewmen in the center of the deck flung the slack of the ropes over their shoulders and heaved in the opposite direction. We drew ever closer.
TheSiren’s Vengeanceand the Ever Ship caught Larsson between our hulls, a fish in its net.
“On the rails,” I called out. “Keep your blades ready, take as you please, but Bonekeeper lives for me!”
This ended now. I planned to start those thousand turns with my queen with new blood on my hands. In another breath, I kicked off the rail and swung out over the sea.
CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR
THE SONGBIRD
The Ever Ship rocked mercilessly.Belowdecks, at the gaping mouth of the hull door, Jonas grabbed my elbow, steadying me when we lurched forward.
“Gods, get me back on land,” he murmured.
Sea water rushed into the hull, swallowing our ankles, our knees.
We had marks to meet, roles to play. Apart, yet Erik and I fought together to protect our kingdom. Sander was the one who’d puzzled through the scheme of where we would all be most useful. Despise it as I did, he wasn’t wrong. Earth fae and Alver folk like him were strongest on the soil.
Larsson’s threats—forces on land and sea—offered up that Natthaven and its armies would match the lands of the royal city. Larsson’s fight was with the sea, but Arion would bring victory on elven lands.
“Jonas,” I said, voice half-formed, no more than a gasp. “I know theneach-daibrings out a need to defend me, but do not do anything that will take you from us.”
He shook his head, grinning. “I am going to tell you something gods-awful heartfelt. I’ve always had the compulsion to keep the lotof you fools safe. I wouldn’t know what to do without any of you. Nothing has changed, I’m merely protecting your kingdom, and in turn, still protecting you.”
Jonas was playful, a bit of a rake, but what he’d done, what he’d offered to win this battle, I wasn’t convinced Erik even knew what to think of it. The Ever King had been rather somber around my friend since, studying him, like Erik could simply not figure the nightmare prince’s motivations in the least.
Once the tides gathered round our waists, we—my father, Tait, and fellow royals—dove into the currents. My lungs burned, my muscles ached. I kicked fiercely, swimming away from the Ever Ship.
The will to remain, to take up a role at Erik’s side, was nauseating. The thought of him boarding Larsson’s vessel, the truth of what he would face, churned my heart until it was nothing but a bloody pulp against my ribs.
I closed my eyes and dug my palms into the water, catapulting me farther from the ship.
Red flashes of the spears firing flickered above us, but when the tumult lessened, I arched for the surface. Only my brow and half my nose breached the tides. Straight ahead loomed the fading isle.
Mira’s head bobbed beside me, half hidden in the currents. She flicked her kohl-wrapped eyes to me and gave me a quick nod, then sank back beneath the water.
Slowly, a bit of sea mist, a touch of fog, some thicker trees formed along the shore to allow us space to slip onto the beach unseen. I’d never tire of Mira’s illusions. Mira could manipulate entire landscapes like a painting to reveal something new, subtle enough it went unnoticed.
One by one, we stepped from the river bank, crouched low in a forest made of half-truths. Illusions of peeling bark on aspen trees, and dewy leaves shrouding our faces, were so real, I could breathe in the clean rain scent as we strode past.
Alek kept a steady hand on the small of Mira’s back, guiding her forward. Her eyes were closed, and her palms were opened at hersides. Focused. Deliberate. No mistake, if we went undisturbed, she’d be able to hold the illusion most of the way.
Palms out, I took on a bit of the burden. Fury heated the tips of my fingers, drawing an unseen tether to the isle, the soil, the dew on blossoms, until I could sense the pulse of life from root to bloom. True branches on real trees thickened, as though creating a canopy overhead. Grass lengthened, shrouding us to our knees.
As we crept forward, I hurried to explain the wooden paths that led to palace steps, where to avoid stepping too deeply into inner swamplands, and where, those who needed to, would find their way into the fortress.
My father crouched, drawing a finger in the soil, casting the occasional look around, as he mapped our location. We each repeated our marks and signals.
“Let’s get this over with.” Aleksi shook out his hands and drew his Rave short blade. He cut a glance to the swirls of clouds wrapped around the ships. Booms and flashes of light carved through the darkness every few breaths. “Bloodsinger will need us all.”
“Daj,” I said, eyes only on the palace ahead. “Time to draw them out.”
My father was a formidable force, he always had been in my eyes. I’d watched him spar with the Rave, knew he’d toppled tyrannical kingdoms, knew he’d lived with insatiable bloodlust. To stand beside him now was an honor. I’d harbored secret insecurities as a Ferus, as though our world would always keep me shadowed in the legacy of my parents.
