I stood from my seat, removed my hood, and waited as the fae in the room slowly realized their king sat among them. The moment the whispers grew louder, the selkie’s head snapped to mine, and we locked eyes. She stood and darted for the door. I should have stopped her, but I let her go. I’d get to her eventually.
The room dripped with animosity toward me. Faces reddened, lips curled, someone growled from the back corner. There was not a kind eye in sight. The laughter and celebrations had twisted to rumbles about burning down that farm and killing fae. About hiding in my castle for years.
“Silence,” I belted, letting my enchantment ricochet around the room. “Raise your hand if you have seen the sea queen.” Every hand in the room shot to the ceiling. Angered eyes and vicious sneers greeted me. “Raise your hand if you have seen the sea queen on this day.” All of the hands dropped.
“You will forget all of the toxic lies she has told you. Every word from her mouth will leave you, and you will have no memory of it. Whatever she has demanded of you, it is gone now.”
The fae visibly relaxed. The ire melting from the stone-cold faces.
“You did not see me here tonight. You will not spread lies about your king any longer. You will go home, and tomorrow, when you wake, you will make sure every fae you know in my kingdom shows up to watch the Trials.”
I stood, pushed back the exhaustion from enchanting so many, and exited the tavern. I stormed the darkened streets as thoughts poured from me.
She had stood beside me. Morwena. When I watched my mate’s pyre drift off into the ocean. She had stood there and offered condolences. Coro was there. Autus stood beside him. But Morwena? She had reached for my hand, and yet Efi had died at hers. She had poisoned her like a coward, knowing it would be the most crippling thing she could have done to the Flame Court.
Southerners were a dangerous enemy. Snakes in the sand that bite when angry. Had she poisoned me, she would have had the wrath of my kingdom to deal with. Instead, she broke me and let them watch my degradation. Let them doubt me, until their minds were easy to turn against me. If her plan came to fruition, she would have a willing kingdom delivered on a silver platter.
Morwena. The thought of her name sickened me. The snake of the sea came into my home and destroyed one of the only good things in this world for her own rise to power. She had shed tears. Had seemed genuinely sorry. Caused our son to suffer the loss of his mother. And for what purpose? She was no closer to the throne now than she was fifty years ago. Did she really think Autus loved her? That their marriage was anything but a political move? No. Likely, she didn’t, but that didn’t matter.
For each step I took, that tiger pounded within me, guiding me, building me taller. I heard Efi’s laughter in my mind and watched her sleeping peacefully in my memories as I remembered the way she reached for me, called to me when I made love to her. I saw her dance in the halls with the staff and stumble into bed when she’d had too much wine. I remembered the way she would curl into my body and stroke her finger across my chest deep into the night. No female had ever loved a male the way that one loved me. And she had been ripped from my hands by a coward. An evil, lying coward.
Lost in the maze of my own mind, I found myself standing at the crest of the tumultuous ocean. “Morwena,” I yelled, sending my voice as far across the ocean as it would carry. Perhaps it wouldn’t need to come down to a war between the kingdoms. Perhaps we would settle it tonight, right here between the two of us. “Morwena,” I screamed again and again until my voice had nearly left me. Somewhere in the distance, I heard her. A cackling, cringe-worthy laugh riding the foaming waves that crashed to my feet. “Come out, you spineless sea hag.”
“Ohhh.” She leaped from the water and laughed as she spun, the scales of her leviathan body catching the moonlight before she dove back in. “We’re calling each other names now?” She laughed again.
“Tell me why.”
“You’ll have to clarify.” She waded in the water as it lapped around her waist.
“Why did you poison Efi? Why would you take her from me?”
“Finally.” She moved her hands through the sea as she smiled. “It took you ages to figure it out. I nearly thought I was going to have to write you a full confession letter.”
“Why, Morwena?”
“Oh Tolero, did you really think you could sit in your hole all the way down here and we would just forget about you? What have you been doing since Efi died? While we have been building armies and putting our plans into motion, where has the Flame Court been?”
Her ice-blue eyes glowed in the darkness, and for one small moment, regret slid through me. Would she just kill me now? Did I care? “What will you do, Morwena? When you’ve married Autus and conquered the world? What then? When your own mate finds you and you’re married to that beast? I knew your parents before you ruled the seas. Even they would have detested him.”
“Yes, well now they’re dead and they don’t matter. Just as you will be. Just as your son will be. My selkies have become quite fond of your little kingdom. Perhaps I’ll set them loose and let them devour your people after I’ve killed you.” She paused, moving her hands through her saturated hair. “You’d like that, wouldn’t you? To join Efi? I see you spend so much time on that little isle. Perhaps I’ll destroy that favored landmark of yours just before I end you.”
There was a time when I would have begged her to kill me. When I had wanted nothing more than to be with Efi. Things had changed. Efi was still with me, and this kingdom—my kingdom—needed me.
“Come to shore, Morwena. Let us settle this between ourselves.”
She huffed. “Oh no. I’ve got pieces all over the board. I might have taken you out before the game has begun, but I still have great plans for you, Tolero. I’ll see you soon, my pet.” She leaped out of the water, her body contorting into her true form as she laughed again and disappeared.
The tiger within me roared, and I stalked off. She was gone and would not be back. I didn’t have a plan. I had no idea what I was doing, but I knew one truth: I’d have to catch that fish in a net. And that meant letting her think she had the upper hand until the very last second.
Walking back to the castle, I knew I wouldn’t be able to sleep in my own bed tonight. If I slept at all, it wouldn’t be in the place I had shared with my love. I’d failed her. So thoroughly. I couldn’t protect her from my own enemies, and she had paid the ultimate price for it. But so had Fenlas. I stopped before I opened the door and looked to the starry night sky wondering where in the world he was. I could only hope his mission was proving more successful than mine—that his mate would never leave him and he would never know the pain of life alone.
Trotting up the stairs to the rooftop, I stood for a long time looking out over the beautiful city. Thousands of reasons to join this fight slumbered below me. I was ready.
I stepped carefully to Asha’s shelter, walked inside, and laid on the floor beside her. Though I thought she slept, she pulled her wing over me and curled in, her deep warm breaths protecting me from the crisp night air.
Chapter 27
ARA
