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“Feeling that, did you not worry he would return?”
My father sighed. “As time went on, I didn’t. I believed the barriers against the sea fae would hold. Reckless of me, since I’ve dealt with my fair share of fate. I should’ve known better.” He tookmy hand, squeezing my fingers like he’d done since I was a small girl. “I knew how to recognize when the games of the Norns were at play, and both your mother and I sensedsomethingabout the Ever King and our girl.”
“You truly asked Erik to stay because of me?”
“I would do anything for your happiness. In truth, Liv, there was a common feeling amongst all of us that Bloodsinger had stepped into our world for a greater purpose. Stieg was close to the boy, then he saved your Uncle Tor.” My father paused, a bit of reluctance written on his face. “I think I was merely being too obstinate to admit it was for you.”
I gave him a half smile. “I could pretend that Erik regrets what he did, but we both know that isn’t true. Still, Daj, I hope you know I was never harmed by him. It’s strange, perhaps some might see it as mad, to fall in love with a man who lied and took you from your life—”
“Not so strange.” My father studied his rough palms. “You know of curses that plagued me once, but I’m not certain I’ve ever told you the schemes I leveled against your mother to break them.”
“You met because you were negotiating her vows to a mortal, I thought. You fell in love instead.”
“And what, Liv? You think that was allowed? Your mother’s uncle was a tyrannical king who despised fae folk and anyone stepping outside his plans.”
That startled a laugh out of me. “Daj, did you take Maj away to vow with her against the order of a king?”
“Vow with her? You think too highly of me, daughter.” His expression grew almost wistful. “I took her touseher, or so I thought. It wasn’t exactly the same as Bloodsinger, but I tricked your mother, made her trust me, only to reveal she’d put her faith in an enemy who wanted to destroy her world. I should’ve known after I first met her that she would, instead, unravel mine.”
It was strange, hearing secrets of a love I’d admired from my earliest memories. I knew there’d been tensions between mortal andfae long before I was born, but nothing of my father tricking and lying to my mother. Nothing about him despising her folk.
The door to the study cracked against the wall. My heart swelled as Erik, lost in conversation with Sander, strode in with Gavyn and Aleksi in their wake.
“All I’m saying is I might understand how we got here more than you think.” My father winked—bleeding winked—and turned away. “It looks like we’re gathering.”
Satin sofas, the edge of the polished desk, and a few narrow-legged chairs were occupied. Tavish and his father, a man Erik called Maelstrom, were in attendance. Erik’s suspicions about their relationship with Lady Narza was curious. Like my father’s confession, when this was all at an end, when Larsson’s blood stained the sands of the Ever, I had a great many questions to unravel.
Erik lifted his gaze, a sullen smirk played with the scar on his lip, and while Sander was still speaking, the king abruptly quit his side and came to mine.
The point of his first finger traced the edges of the bones around my neck. “Wear only this tonight. Nothing else.”
“Serpent, may I remind you that my father is in this room.”
“Songbird,” Erik whispered in my ear. “Do you think he has not put it together that we share a bed?”
He grunted when my elbow jammed into his ribs. “You are a fiend, Erik Bloodsinger.”
“I’m offended you’ve only just noticed, love.”
We took a place on the sofa while Sander flipped the pages of a what seemed to be a storybook of fables for littles.
“What is that for?” I asked.
“There are a few myths that involve elven folk.”
Faded drawings of a mystical battle of golden clouds and dark shadows. Warriors with blades as long as their bodies were painted on opposing sides of a field.
“My mother read me this one as a boy.” Gavyn pointed to a page with a collision of night and daylight. “A tale of aprincess of the sun who fled with an enemy of the night, so they could be together. Battles ensued, but eventually her people agreed to the match. It’s one of the few happy endings in the lore.”
“All sagas and myths are shaped from some truth. This fable, I think, is a tale of how the elven clans were formed. Light and shadow. It fits.”
Celine frowned. “Larsson’s a light elf?”
I shrugged. “That’s what he said.”
“He wants the Ever’s crown.” My daj leaned over his knees, taking in the room. “But Liv said his elven kin want battle against us much the same.”
“I think it’s a custom,” I said. “Arion, the elven prince, he hinted that victory in a battle is needed to earn his birthright.”
