Page 9 of Waves (Tangled Crowns #6)

Avia

T ucked into my carriage, my eyes scanned the shadows of icebergs that floated overhead like frozen clouds as we made our way to Kremos.

The underbellies of the bergs were pockmarked by the water but also had jagged edges and tiny crevices where penguins darted.

It was an odd mirror of the sky above the water, save for the fact that every so often a black whale with white streaks painted around its eyes darted after the birds, hunting for its dinner.

Sky breathers had killed off most of the monsters that flew overhead, but beneath the sea, Okeanos was still full of beasts.

Including me.

The water grew colder with each passing hour.

Hence the speckled gray seal skin blanket draped across my lap and the purple cloak folded across the opposite seat waiting for the moment I broke and plucked it up.

I resisted, even though shiver bumps rose on my arms, partially out of fascination about how frigid it would become up north and partially to keep myself awake during the endless trek.

Last night, we'd traveled through the darkness, and we hadn't stopped but for short breaks all day.

Sleep had been scarce. The rough push would leave us all worn but hopefully would also ruin whatever the rebels had in store next.

With any luck, our arrival in Kremos tomorrow would set my enemies on their back fins.

We'd be there an entire day earlier than expected.

But I needed to do more to ensure our safety before then.

With my magic so uncooperative, my wits would have to protect us.

A night of dozing wasn’t helping my head, however, and I rubbed my brow as I tried to puzzle out my next steps during this rare bit of solitude. I guessed that everyone else was still napping. Travel was exhausting. As was trauma.

Suddenly, we hit a rough patch of water, and my carriage swooped up and down, the panes of glass rattling.

“Shite!” My hands automatically gripped the seat beneath me, trying to keep myself from pitching face first into the seat on the opposite side. Panic tunneled a hole through me, and I was sure we were under attack again.

But a glance outside showed nothing. No one.

The sea was just mocking me and the fact that I clearly had no true control over it.

“Sorry, Majesty! Rough patch!” Ugo called back from his place up front with the driver. “Brace yourself!”

My hands went up to the ceiling and pressed against it while the current did its best to wring my lunch from my belly. I managed to fight back and keep it down. Only just. But victory was victory.

Once the journey smoothed and my driver apologized profusely for things outside of his control, I had time to come to some decisions, which I did while battling with my ratted hair.

My maids would fix it just before we arrived, but I used my fingers to undo most of the golden snarls that had formed while I slept with my face smudging the windowpane.

“Who to talk to…” I murmured.

With only eight men left, my marital choices were becoming limited. And while the tournament might officially eliminate them, I wanted the opportunity to delve into the men’s characters more deeply—particularly the three I was unsure that I could trust—Watkins, Valdez, and Taft.

Unfortunately, Valdez’s magic made it difficult to think clearly around him.

As a pink dolphin shifter, his seductive powers were quite strong, and I would need all my wiles to counter him.

Perhaps a strategic outfit to distract him as well, so I quickly cast him aside.

He'd be tomorrow’s problem rather than today’s.

That left Watkins, the shark shifter that infuriated me as much as he attracted me.

Wrapped up with the rebels at the start of this entire farce of a tournament, I’d forced him into competing.

And then forced my heart into his hate-filled chest. I was sure he would deny any connection to the stonefish attack.

But how could I trust him? He had only just begun to turn a new leaf with me—and thinking about it, what if he only asked to start over in order to get me to let my guard down?

His “change of heart” did appear suspicious in light of everything else that had happened.

My stomach sank like a ship under cannon fire. Painful splinters stabbed at me and made me worry that I’d been an utter fool. The shark shifter’s betrayal seemed like a real possibility. Almost a foregone conclusion.

But how did I prove it?

I had to know.

Even though I’d given the bastard my physical heart and couldn’t remove him from the competition… I had to know the extent of his treachery.

Just because I couldn’t kill him didn’t mean I couldn’t punish him.

Gears churned and creaked inside my head, making my pulse rise. My cheeks heated in angry anticipation, as if I’d already found him guilty and was merely looking for the evidence I needed to justify my own desire to hurt. Maim. Kill.

Whoa!

My hands went up to clasp at my chest and I forced myself to breathe deeply, alarmed by the violent and illogical turn of my emotions.

I couldn’t kill Watkins. That would be my own undoing.

But…I reminded myself that I’d practiced magic yesterday. Was this illogical fury a delayed effect? My normal emotions seemed to be ripping away when I most needed to remain calm.

Damn magic and all its horrid consequences.

After a few tense minutes, I was able to regain my rational thought. That’s when I reached up and rapped my knuckles on the ceiling of my carriage. It slowed to a stop, the seahorses pulling it hovering in front of me.

Ugo opened the carriage door, having descended from the spot where he rode next to my driver. “Yes?” my carrot-haired guard asked.

“Can you send Taft over? I’d like him to ride with me.”

The door clicked shut and I waited only a few minutes before the blue-skinned nixe was knocking at my carriage door.

"Come in.”

Taft pulled open the door and folded his bulky body into the seat across from me, right onto the cloak laying across it. His eyes glanced quickly at my face and then down at his lap as he played with his hands nervously.

"Thanks for joining me," I said softly, trying to cut through the silence that bloomed between us.

He nodded, one side of his mouth ticking up and then dropping immediately.

I wondered if the last time I'd ridden in a carriage with him was stuck inside his head and I wanted to kick myself for being so indiscreet with Mateo then. Perhaps I'd made things too awkward for Taft. Clearly, he couldn't even look right at me. Even so, he was my best shot at enacting my plan.

Inhaling deeply, I forced myself to pretend everything was normal. "I wanted to check in and see how you're doing."

"I'm alright."

That was all he gave me. One line as he picked at one of his cuticles. The tension filling this carriage felt as thick as cotton.

"Are you sure?"

A single one of his shoulders lifted in half a shrug as his eyes glanced hesitantly up at me. "Yeah?"

"Your answer sounds like a question." I gave him a small smile, trying not to be too aggressive. Perhaps, there was something more there than lingering embarrassment. Maybe the last attack had thrown him. But if so, why hadn’t he left the tournament?

"I'm not sure what you want me to say."

That answer made me swallow a sigh of annoyance.

Shifting on my seat, I tried a second time to approach him with kid gloves.

"I just want to get to know you more. You've helped Mateo so much.

But the only time we've ever really got to speak, you were with him. I haven’t gotten to speak just with you. " I tilted my head to one side.

He sucked his lower lip in, and I was able to catch sight of those teeth that had been missing after the last challenge. I latched onto that as a topic.

"You got your teeth fixed." Brow raised, I attempted a saucy, knowing look that told him I’d figured out his trick.

A deep peach-toned blush overtook his cheeks as he smiled. "Yeah."

"Thank you for helping Mateo."

He nodded. "Of course."

Silence again.

This one-sided conversation began to feel as if I was wrenching teeth out. Instead of continuing with my roundabout questions, I cut to the point. "Why are you here, Taft? Really and honestly. Why are you competing?"

After a long beat, his eyes dragged up my torso and smashed into me with all the force and intensity of a hammer.

His attention vibrated my very bones. He waited a long moment before he answered, and his words came out so quietly that I had to repeat them in my head to ensure I'd heard correctly. "Have you ever been hungry, Majesty?"

I swallowed, uncertain what to say because he clearly knew the answer. I’d grown up in a castle. Clearly, I’d wanted for very little.

"I’ve been very hungry. On the brink of starving. You’ll do anything then. And that’s when the wrong people find out and want you to use your magic for whatever they want. You're just a tool."

Guilt clambered up my throat...because that was exactly part of why I'd invited him just now.

"So, you don't like using your magic?" I asked, my throat a bit tight. That makes two of us.

He gave a sigh. "Not when my boss wanted me to turn into a key so he could unlock the bank vault."

I sat up straighter in my seat. "Someone asked that of you?"

Taft's expression darkened and his lips pursed before sliding to one side as he mulled over his thoughts, reliving a bad memory in front of my eyes before he spoke. "Yeah. Then they left me on the floor of the vault struggling to change back.”

Teeth grinding, I almost interjected to ask more questions. But I stopped myself. Now that he was talking, I didn’t want to do anything to interrupt Taft’s flow.

“I was twelve. Shoulda’ known better probably. Didn’t. But that's when I swore I'd find a way to never be that desperate again. It’s not easy, though. No one trusts a nixe. No one trusts a former thief."

Damnation. Was Mateo a fool for putting faith into this man? Was I?