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Another of the males whispered to his companion, “The wraiths wouldn’t dare disrupt a royal vessel, much less attack…”
“Something isn’t right. The wraiths are a peaceful creature.”
Then the captain, “We must make haste, lest the beasts return.”
The male with eyes of steel resumed his position next to me, dripping wet. He met my gaze for only an instant before taking up his oar and begging to paddle with the other three.
The sensation returned to my fingers, Thana’s cloak and her hands working to rub warmth back into me. “Thank you, sir,” I said to the male next to me, his water dampened skin rippling with flexed muscle at each stroke of his oar.
He offered me one terse nod, his dark hair falling into his face. “Alaric, majesty. You may call me Alaric.”
As we climbed the ladder onto the larger vessel and sailed away, the mist shrouding the island from the rest of Meloran swallowed us up and spat us back out on the other side. The island evaporated as though it was a figment of my imagination. They say the Isle of Mist could only be found by those who knew exactly where to look. And until her assassination, the only person outside of it who knew its whereabouts was my mother. Its location was marked on a map, sealed by Enya herself, only to be opened in the event of her death.
Once out of the mist, the isle disappeared completely. I breathed a sigh. Of relief? Of sadness? I wasn’t sure.
It would be two days before we saw the shores of Meloran and I took my place at the Night Court. Three more days from then and I would complete the Blessing Ceremony and receive my Grace from the Fae who came before us. Thana was Graced with air, and it was her who coaxed the wind into our sails. She thought mine would be tied to water, for the stormy blue of my eyes, or light—for the shinning silver of my long hair, but I believed my Grace would be drawn of shadow, for the darkness surrounding my heart. I didn’t much care what it would be, only that I received one. A queen without a Grace was not one fit to rule.
I stood at the stern of the ship, keeping my eyes fixed to the horizon, searching for the first signs of land. From a cage of stones and mist to one of gold and sentries. At least it would be a change, and hopefully an improvement.
Chapter Two
“Drink it, Liana. It will quell the feeling,” Thana said, tryingagainto push the mug into my hands.
I moaned, shoving the mug back at her, the yellowish liquid splashing to the floor. “Just get me off thisdamnedboat!”
I wasn’t sure if it was the boat’s fault or the nerves. By tomorrow we’d be docking on the shores of the Night Court and I didn’t know what to expect—how the people would react. It didn’t help that Thana brought up my birth father. Still living, Edris was acting as King Regent until my return.
The moment I landed on the continent, the power would fall into my hands, as it had fallen into the hands of each female before me. There hadn’t been a king in power for an age, not since the Mad King brought destruction to our lands. It was his daughter, Morgana, who brought back peace and decreed that the crown should pass to her first-born female heir with full council support. It had been that way ever since. I didn’t care to meet Edris. He left me on that damned rock, the same as my mother.
He didn’t deserve my respect. And he wouldn’t get it.
Thana rolled her eyes at me for the hundredth time, “I don’t know why you always have to be so difficult.”
“I don’t know whyyou—”
“Excuse me, milady, majesty, may I be of assistance? The captain heard shouting.”
I looked up to find Alaric standing in the doorway of my quarters and groaned again, “No. Thank you, Alari—”
“She’s seasick,” Thana said in a huff, standing to fetch more of her putrid tea mixture from the bedside table, “And moody as the gods.”
Alaric stepped into the room, no longer cloaked, but wearing his sentry armor. Glimmering black offset the tan gold of his skin and the blue-silver of his eyes.Stop it, Lianna. Just because you’ve never seen a male before doesn’t mean you need to go drooling over the first one you see… even if he is the most beautiful creature you’ve ever seen.
“I may be able to alleviate it.”
I wanted to tell him he already was, standing there being so distracting and all, but instead I nodded.
Thana tossed the mug onto the nightstand, stomping from the room with a shake of her head. “Knows me her entire life and won’t acceptmyhelp, ohno, but a pretty male she’s only just met—why of course!” she grumbled, her voice growing further away as she stormed through the bowels of the ship.
“May I,” Alaric asked, gesturing to the vacant spot next to me on the bed. The covers were strewn all over and I was laying in a massive pile of pillows, my hair sticking to my neck and temples. I hadn’t thought of how I must look, and rushed to push my hair back and rub the sleep out of my eyes as Alaric sat next to me.
He met my gaze with an unwavering one of his own. I was the first to avert my eyes as he said, “May I see your hand?”
I cocked my head at him, eyes squinting, but I gave him my hand nonetheless, ready to be rid of the nausea, “Is this some sort of sailor’s trick?”
He shook his head, a small smirk turning up the corners of his lips, “No, majesty, it’s something I learned long ago.”
He gathered my hand into his own, holding it palm-up. I attempted to hide the shiver running up my spine when he traced a line down my palm with his other hand. He then pressed firmly on a spot a few fingers width from my wrist on my forearm, deftly avoiding where the wraith’s tentacle left an angry red mark on my wrist—though it had already faded and didn’t hurt anymore.
