Page 142 of The Ever King

“Good enough.”

I took the stairs to the main doors of the palace three at a time. “How did Larsson get around the blood bond of the crew?”

“I don’t know,” Tait said, breathless, but he kept a steady pace behind me.

“There are spells to break such things,” Gavyn insisted. “Might have had the help of sea witches.”

I let out a hiss of frustration and imagined every way I’d take bits of Larsson’s bone from every damn limb once I found him again.

The pain of it was crushing, almost suffocating. For nearly ten damn turns Larsson had sailed at my side. He’d been loyal. Now to do this. To hate me so fiercely in such a way he’d risk his own kingdom—it was a betrayal that lashed to the deepest sinews of my scabrous heart.

We didn’t make it through the doors to the palace before being bombarded by Celine, Sewell, and Aleksi.

“Why are you covered in blood?” Celine paled at the sight of Tait.

“Not important.” He swatted her hands away from his middle.

“Where is she?” Alek shoved through the others.

“Gone,” was all I said before storming into the great hall.

“Erik,” Tait said. “You need to know Larsson has a desire for the crown. I took hold for a few moments before he was gone. He believes the crown is his.”

“He’s a lunatic,” Celine snapped.

“Two eels,” Sewell said. “Winds whisper tales of two eels.”

My jaw tightened. ‘Winds’ meant rumors to Sewell. Two eels. Two of me. “A bastard of Thorvald?”

“Once thought it true,” Sewell said, clear and direct. He pounded a fist to his chest. “Saw whispers in the daylight.”

I paused. “You saw Thorvald with another child?”

Sewell shook his head, frustration on his face when he tried to find the words. “Saw him and a . . . fox.”

Sewell had known Thorvald more than anyone still living. He’d sailed alongside the Ever Ship before the Chasm was sealed off from the earth fae. Before I’d been taken as a child, Ever Folk often surfaced to the fae of the earth realms. Trade, barter of magics, seedy deals, it was all done with a healthy trepidation between the different fae.

It changed when they summoned my father and stole his heir. But before the betrayal was it possible my father bedded earth fae? Possible he’d fathered a bastard between worlds?

“Anything’s possible,” Tait grumbled when I mumbled my thoughts under my breath. “Our fathers were the same when it came to bedmates, you know that. There was no loyalty.”

“Might explain Larsson’s ability to avoid a blood bond,” Gavyn added. “Blood of the king or the lord doesn’t need to bond to his own damn ship, now does he?”

If he shared Thorvald’s blood, it could be a possibility the Ever Ship would bow to him. I was dangling over a damn precipice of madness and bloodlust. Either would do so long as it brought me Livia.

“But to be an heir of the Ever, a chosen mate must bear the child,” Celine said. “A bastard wouldn’t be able to wear the crown.”

“We’ve all heard the rumors of Thorvald’s bastard,” Tait said. “Even if Larsson has the blood of the Ever King, he’ll never have the same power, not since Erik and Livia restored a united throne. Their heart bond is unmatched.”

“Unless Larsson has a heart bond too,” Gavyn muttered.

Tait paled. “You think Larsson has a woman at his side?”

“I think he has whatever damn sea witch helped cast the darkening.”

“Why destroy the Ever if he wants to overtake it?” Celine asked.

“It doesn’t matter!” I spun on them. “He has Livia. She is what matters. I will find her, then tear the answers from his damn mouth when I have my hands on him.”