Page 71 of The Ever King

“I-I . . .” She turned to me for a moment, gasping, then reached for the door. “I must go.”

Without a word, Livia abandoned the room. There was something off about all this. I felt as though it stood right before me, and I simply couldn’t see it.

“What was that?” I shouted.

“Think hard, King Erik,” Narza said, teeth bared. “The Chasm was closed to your blood until a woman who defied her people and comforted an enemy came near it. A woman who is drawn to the sea despite being of the earth clans with magic thatthrivesin your realm, thrives beside you.

“Fate smiled upon you, no mistake, for her gift is truly needed here, but to pull back such a fierce plague as this darkening, her power would need tobleedfor the Ever. It does, I felt it, the draw, the desire, the sense of belonging. Think hard as to why, Grandson.”

Livia told me often she despised my kingdom and everything in it, but there were moments when her eyes lit with the thrill of discovery, when she seemed at peace. She’d admitted to being near the Chasm when it opened, and after ten turns of being a prisoner in my own realm, I was led to her.

Ten turns. My heart stopped.

The same allotment of time that had to pass before I could’ve challenged her father for Thorvald’s mantle, the punishment and price for losing a sea witch’s gift.

Narza kept her gaze on me as my mind reeled. The way I’d been pulled through the Chasm, the way I remained drawn to Livia. Each touch sparked in my veins. I thought I would find Thorvald’s talisman when I returned, but I found her. She had the strength to heal my land exactly as I expected if ever I found . . .

No.

“Narza.” My voice was low, lost. It was dangerous. “Your magic lived in the Ever King’s mantle. Tell me if I’ve found the same power again.”

“So I can witness another betrayal of a gift that ought to have been strengthened through love?” She looked away, and lowered her voice. “Yes, you’ve been given that same chance, but you seek the approval of your sire too fiercely. Follow in his footsteps, and you will lose your mantle the same as him.”

Narza moved to the window. Without a word, without a pause, she waved her hand, and a splash of dark water wrapped around her shoulders like a cloak, and she was gone.

Alone, a new coil of pressure knotted in my chest.Shit,I needed to find Livia.

Down in the corridor, Larsson and Tait stood on either side of the doorway, waiting.

“Where is she?” I quickened my pace until the cracks in my leg burned and protested under my skin.

“She came down upset,” Larsson said. “Tidecaller went with her to your chamber.”

I didn’t look back at them until we made it to the black oak doors on the noble floor.

“Erik,” Tait said under his breath. “What’s going on?”

I spun on my cousin. “Stayout.”

Tait’s mouth tightened. I knew he wished to say a thousand things, probably pin me down, arm bent behind my back, and slug me in the shoulder until I pleaded for mercy the way he did when we were boys.

He wouldn’t. Not in front of Larsson at least. Tait had too much respect—maybe fear—for the position of the king.

The front room of my chambers was dim, only the fire was aglow.

“I don’t get what has you like this.” Celine’s voice came from my bed chamber. “Calm down a little.”

Livia was leaning forward, breathing heavily, her elbows on her knees. She removed a serenleaf sprig and held it to her nose. Celine awkwardly patted her head as though that might help.

“Tidecaller,” I snapped.

She jumped and faced me. “I didn’t do anything to her, she’s just been like this since—”

“Leave.”

Celine didn’t argue. She knew me well enough to recognize when I needed to be on my own. With a bow to her chin, she slipped out of my room. Tears stained Livia’s cheeks as she rose from the edge of the bed. She wrung her hands in front of her body and tried to slow her breathing.

Whatever this connection had become, I could sense where my heart and hers began. She was tumbling through unknowns, each one crushing her a little more, and soon they would choke the life from her.