Page 16 of The Ever King

“Celine, there is blood in the water.”

“A few folk have died tonight.” Celine arched a brow.

“No.” I tasted the water again. A twist knotted my insides, an insatiable pull toward the shadows of the deeper Ever Sea where currents led the Chasm. “Myblood.”

“Yours?” Her eyes widened. “Your blood was used to . . . seal the barriers. If it’s filling the sea then . . .”

I hesitated, took another breath, as if giving time for the sensation to die like a cruel trick. The pull never faded. “The Chasm has been opened. I feel it.”

Celine drew in a sharp breath. “Erik, don’t taunt me with this. Are you speaking true?”

I wheeled on her, teeth bared. “Would I lie about this? Gather the crew. We’re leaving.”

“By the damn gods.” Celine fanned her face. “It’s happening. Really happening. Okay. Okay. Tait, you swab, get back here!”

I stormed up the gangplank, shoved through a few crewmen cleaning the deck of Murdo’s body, and took the five steps to the helm two at a time.

“Where to, My King?” Larsson leaned over the rail of the steps. Beneath the bloody red shade of the scarf over his skull, his dark hair blew about his face.

I touched the jagged handles on the helm and the ship shuddered beneath the connection. Gusts of cool wind picked up the sails.

The corner of my mouth twisted into a grin. “To the place songbirds sing.”

CHAPTER5

The Serpent

Open. There for the taking, for destroying.

The maelstrom tides of the Chasm had always existed, a common border between the realms of the sea and land. A window to another world. Wilder below the surface than they looked above, the Chasm’s tides thrashed and tumbled in a storm I wanted to embrace.

Powerful ships of the Ever could sail above or below the surface, but when speed was warranted, below was the only way to command the currents.

The bruising pace we’d kept brought us from the Rusa isles to the Chasm in less than half a day. Doubtless, the crew had been as curious as me to see if the wards preventing the king from entering had truly fallen. Here it was, open and unguarded.

Water on the side of the earth fae was like a night sea with white stones and silver fish. The Ever Sea shifted to cerulean tides and vibrant sea life of plants, endless caverns and cliffs, and sly creatures one would never see coming if they did not know the waters.

From the first teardrop of the gods that formed the Ever Sea, the kings held the strength and burden to ease their folk through the barriers between the different fae worlds. But under my father’s rule, the lady of the sea witches gifted Thorvald his mantle, to forever mark his bloodline as the rulers of the waters.

The talisman allowed the Ever Ship to carve through any sea, any ocean, any storm, without straining the natural magic of the king’s blood. It gave the Ever Folk access to all the fae worlds; it shielded ships during crossings into dangerous waters with sea singers and dark creatures.

When the great war between the earth fae and the Ever ended, our enemies held my father’s mantle. The earth bender Night Folk king won it turns before by murdering Thorvald, and I’d failed to win it back. I wouldn’t fail my father again.

“After today, we’ll finally take back our kingdom,” Celine whispered at my side.

“No more waiting.” My lip curled. “Now get to your post.”

Celine never cowered under me. She rolled her finger off her forehead in a mocking kind of salute and bowed at the waist. “Yes, Highness.”

Turns of hating, fighting, of searching, were all at once ended. A thought almost too overwhelming to comprehend.

Almost.

“At your word, My King,” Larsson hummed from the stem.

Beneath the surface, words became a song. A sort of melodic current we felt more than heard.

I gripped the handles of the helm until the skin on my knuckles ached. At the rise of my fist, the ship jolted. Little by little, pressure from the sea gathered as the Chasm drew us into the center of its violence.