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He spoke even softer, even kinder, as though the earth king knewthe secret and sensed the pull to the little bird standing beside her mother. As though the earth bender didn’t mind if a sea serpent befriended a songbird.
“Stay, Erik Bloodsinger,” he said. “There are folk here who would be better for it if you did.”
Once more, the boy looked to the girl.Better for it. Would she be better if he remained in her world? Doubtful. Still, the boy wanted to agree. Fiercer than anything, the boy wanted to forget the disdain of his father, forget the hatred, and remain with the little bird and her stories.
But hatred was a fickle thing. The blur of want and desire could be blotted out when loathing and fear held fast.
The boy chose his ending. He chose not to remain where songbirds sing their haunting songs. He vowed blood where the enemy offered peace. The boy saw to it the earth bender had no choice but to lock him away.
While the tides spilled over the head of the young Ever King, as violent currents swallowed him and dragged him home, he thought of her.
He thought of how one day he might find a way to finish the tale he began on the land of his enemies. He could rid her of the enemy king since, as he’d already come to realize, she wasn’t theirs.
She was always going to be his.
CHAPTER ONE
THE SERPENT
For Livia.
Her name kept rushing through my head with every kick, every strike from the earth fae warriors.
I needed to live for her. I needed to return to the Ever Ship and find her. All I needed to do was survive long enough for Aleksi to speak for me.
Jonas, a prince from one of the earth fae realms, sneered at me as his men shoved a dirty scrap of leather into my mouth. I swallowed against the musty taste of it, as though it had been tucked down sweat-soaked trousers and baked beneath a hot sun.
Jonas gripped my arms and forced me up. Fire lit in my thigh, as though a flame were devouring the bone.
“Send a signal to the shore watch,” Jonas commanded. “There could be more of these sods in the tides.”
A little longer. Survive a little longer.
Two warriors were trudging toward the trap in which both Alek and Tait had fallen. Soon enough, they’d realize their error. I would face the earth bender—on my damn knees if needed—and we would bleeding sail back to the Ever and find my queen.
I didn’t fight when Jonas commanded two warriors to bind my wrists. I didn’t fight when they tugged me forward to where a row of earth stallions awaited their riders. The charges were strange-looking. I’d seen them before, but unlike the horthane of the Ever, these beasts hardly seemed capable of swimming in the tides. Dull teeth, rounded hooves, and swishing tails that looked like fae hair.
“Henrik.” Jonas nodded at a warrior. “On second thought, let the other sea fae rot for a bit. I want the focus on the king.”
The warrior dipped his chin and halted ten paces from the sinkhole in the knoll.Shit. They were leaving Aleksi.
From here, the muffled shouts of Alek’s and Tait’s voices were there, but wholly unintelligible. Perhaps it was a spell, a curse of fate, but they sounded like nothing more than men shouting through a door far away. Alek’s own people did not realize they’d ensnared a prince. A prince whose voice and support I desperately needed.
A rush of panic tightened in my chest. Through the rancid gag in my mouth, I grunted and protested. Jonas merely freed a chuckle laced in venom, mounted his charge, and yanked on the tether around my wrists. I stumbled at the pull.
Jonas leaned over his leg, eyes narrowed. “Keep up, Bloodsinger.”
I was dead.
The prince tugged on the rope again, and I limped forward, the weight of suffocating failure pressing on my spine with each shuffled step.
What would happen to Livia if I did not reach her? Would Gavyn find her? Perhaps he could bring her home, get her free of the troubles of the Ever. She could . . . return to the peace I’d shattered.
My face tilted toward the sky. The stars were different here. Only Voidwalker would be recognizable, but he was at my back, hovering over the sea.
When I was gone, I hoped . . . I hoped the gods might let me live in both skies like Voidwalker. That way, I could always see her.
The warriors kept a steady pace. There were times I stumbled, and the earth prince didn’t slow, merely told me to get up andquicken my steps. By the time we reached the ominous gates of the main fortress, sweat coated my brow, my leg had long ago shifted from burning pain to sharp, numbing pricks, like stitching needles dug into every pore.
