The Ever Queen (The Ever Seas Book 2)

Haze blurred my vision, but I recognized the glass panes of the king’s window in his chamber on the Ever Ship. I was bleeding atop the soft blue quilt on the king’s cot. My eyes cracked enough to see strong hands on my blood-soaked skin, tenderly washing it away with a thin linen.

I knew those hands. They’d loved me since my earliest memories.

I tried to call to him, wanted to see the laughter I knew so well in those dark eyes, but words dried to ash in my throat, and I fell away into heady black.

When I woke again, I knew nothing of how long I’d been sleeping, only that it must’ve been a great while. My lips were cracked and dry, my throat parched and desperate for water.

I squinted and peered out the bubbled glass. Sea—beautiful, cerulean Ever Sea surrounded me at all sides. Ghostly mist hovered over the white tips of waves, but a sliver of golden sunlight was chasing away the bleary night.

A soft groan slid out when I rolled onto my shoulder. Beside the bed was a clay basin and ewer. With wild hands, I snatched the ewer and tipped it against my mouth, drinking and drinking, until my tongue no longer stuck to my inner cheeks.

When I returned the ewer to its place, I startled.

There, seated in a wooden chair, his dark stubbled chin propped on the claw of his hand, was the first man I ever loved.

My father’s sleeping face was fatigued, but strong as always. Youthful, yet ancient with worry. Blood stained his hands, mine or his, I didn’t know. His breaths were steady as he slumbered, but his body was clenched in unease, as though he might step into battle at the slightest sound.

I sat up, the creak of the bed fluttering his eyes. My father dropped his arm, peered around the room for a breath, until his eyes locked with mine.

One heartbeat, and his face pinched. Two heartbeats, he shot off his chair. Three, and his arms, safe and strong, were holding me, the way they’d always done.

I clung to his neck, desperate to keep in the wet rattle of a sob in my chest.

“Livie,” he whispered against my hair. “Gods, I’ve missed you.”

My ambition to keep my wits cracked. Shattered, more like it.

I clung to my father’s tunic and sobbed. Tears fell for the ache of missing him and my family, the ache they must’ve felt. I cried knowing he’d come after me, for the truth that I would tell him, and how it would break his heart all over again. That I loved them all so fiercely, but the Ever was my home.

All the while, Valen Ferus said nothing, merely let me cry.

I wiped at my eyes. “Daj, you’re here.”

He cupped my face in his palms, a wet smile on his face. “Always.”

“How . . . how am I even alive?” Only hints of fleshy scrapes lined my arms when it had felt as though every bone in my body had shattered.

My father hesitated for a breath. “Seems there is powerful healing blood aboard this ship.”

Erik. To heal so much, it would’ve been dangerous for him. I opened my mouth to press about my king, I needed my eyes, my hands, on him soon, but voices beyond the door cut me off.

“Hello? We’ve waited long enough.”

I pressed a hand to my chest. I knew that glib tone.

A few clicks, a few moments, and the door swung open. A frenzy of bodies stumbled through, all speaking at once, but one boomed over the rest.

“Livia, I will have it known I have fought the hardest to get back to you, first damaging your lover, in your honor, of course. Then pleasuring a lovely Rave to free him—do not tell my mother, Valen—and I expect the fiercest thanks.”

“Jo—” I couldn’t finish his name before Jonas Eriksson descended upon me like a wild storm. He held me, squeezed against his broad chest, and I thought there was a soft shudder in the way he let out a breath.

“Missed you, Liv,” he whispered.

My mouth hung open, stupid and stunned, when Sander took me next, muttering about all he’d been studying of the Ever, thoughts on the fading isle, and where he’d like to research next before Mira shoved through.

She crushed my windpipe against her shoulder. “We are never going to be allowed at a ball again,” she said, snickering through her tears. “Unless you hold one, of course. Queen.”

Gods, they knew it all.

“You . . . all came for me?”

Jonas rolled his eyes. “She says that like she actually thinks we wouldn’t.”

“I’ll likely be named a traitor, or at the very least lose my standing in the Rave, but it was worth it.” In the doorway, Aleksi smiled, leaning one shoulder against the frame.

My father helped me to my feet. Every joint ached, every muscle protested, but greedy pain burned fiercest in my chest, one I could not sate if I did not find him soon.

“I love you all.” I hesitated. “But I need to—”

“Out there.” Mira pointed toward the main deck. “I want to know everything.”

I spared a glance at my father; he seemed torn on letting me out of his sight. Perhaps it was selfish of me to desire to be anywhere else, but when he shook his head and waved me away, my feet could not turn me around swiftly enough.

The crew busied about their duties. At the sight of me, they would dip their chins, smile, greet me with a soft, “Welcome back, lovey.”

I did my best to respond, but my pulse was frantic. I scanned bodies, looked to the helm, desperate to find . . .

Crimson eyes lifted over the shoulder of a man I did not know. Hunger lived in those eyes, beautiful, consuming, mine. Erik’s top was unlaced over his chest, revealing his scars and the dark ink of waves on his chest.

“I’m trying to set the spell. Hold still.” The tall man in front of the Ever King barked orders. Erik paid him no mind and shoved past with the strength of a dozen men.

I did not meet my king gently. My arms, legs, all of me wrapped around him, forcing his back to strike the rail.

Erik swallowed me up in his arms, his face burrowed against the slope of my neck. His body slid to the deck, my legs straddled over his hips, his back against the side, arms around my waist. He breathed deeply. His fingers curled into my flesh. I dug one hand into his hair before I pulled back, studying his face.

Sharp lines, that scar through his top lip, the points of his two elongated teeth visible in his parted lips.

His thumb brushed over my cheek, once, twice, then his mouth crashed to mine. There wasn’t anything sweet or gentle about the kiss. It screamed of greed, of a restored addiction after being deprived for too long.

Erik’s mouth claimed every bit of mine. One kiss slid to the next.

“Songbird,” he uttered against my neck, low, almost a growl.

My fingers glided under the neckline of his top, tracing scars along his shoulders, his back, reveling in the heat of his skin after so long of being without, wondering if I might ever feel him again. Erik shuddered and pulled me more tightly against his body, deepening the kiss.

His tongue swiped against mine—gods—his taste. Salt and fire, all of it collided in my mouth, and I let out a groan. I could not get enough.

Until a throat cleared.

We pulled apart, his brow on mine, our harsh breaths a song between us. Erik didn’t look away but smiled at me. A true smile, the most beautiful sight.

“I want to say I will murder whoever has stopped us,” he whispered, “but I can hardly draw up a drop of anger, not with you here.” His palms stroked my hair, my neck, my shoulders, like he was proving his words true.

I kissed the hinge of his jaw. “I never wish to be anywhere else.”

“Good hells. They’re awful.” Jonas groaned behind us, drawing a few laughs.

It was then I realized my father was an unwitting spectator to my moment of passion. As was—all gods—Stieg was here. My face heated. I cleared my throat and unraveled myself from the Ever King’s lap.

“Erik Bloodsinger!” I pawed his ribs. Fresh blood soaked his tunic. “What were you thinking?”

The tall man hissed a curse. “This is the last time I’m going to set this damn wrap. If your horrid blood kills me, I’ll have you know my mate will come for you for robbing my children of their father. Catriona is rather skilled at hexes, and she will not hold back for royalty.”

“If you’re going to keep whimpering, have one of us crewmen do it,” shouted Skulleater. “Longs as we’re on our ship, we be safe.”

“No. Now, it’s simply become a challenge I must conquer, you sod,” the man retorted and dug back into Erik’s wound.

Perhaps it was the blood loss, maybe Erik was delirious with relief much the same as me, but instead of scowling, he murmured under his breath, “Do your littles look at all like me, Tavish?”

The man’s hands halted over the herb-soaked bandage. “Such questions should not be asked without a hefty ewer of strong mead, King. But I wonder if you’ll ever dare ask my father the question you long to ask.”

“Doubtful.” Erik waved him away, keeping his heated gaze on me. “Tavish is aggravated with me, Songbird. Seems when you are on the brink of death, I lose my mind and slaughter myself.”

This damn man. I gave him a withering look that could only hold for a moment before it dissolved into something stronger, more lascivious.

“I’m still trying to puzzle out what sort of spell caused all that damage,” Tavish murmured, focusing on the bandages.

“I was told blood spells kept me on the isle so long as Fione remained,” I said, voice soft. “Only death of the caster or a forced removal would break them entirely.”

“Your father broke the soil and tore us away,” Erik said through a wince. “It forced you to leave.”

I nodded. “But the blood . . . I was told, removal from the isle was fatal.”

The man wrapping Erik’s waist paused for a tense moment. “Then it is a remarkable blessing the king was there to heal you. Dark blood spells as that—I’ve never heard of anyone surviving. The good news is there is truth to a forceful severance of blood bonds. The wards they created no longer exist. We can set foot on those shores again without the marked bone.”

Marked bone? It must’ve been what Skadi mentioned about Hesh and Larsson being the ones who could cross the wards without trouble.

While Tavish dressed the wound, I stepped aside, finding Celine beside Gavyn and Sewell.

“Don’t do that again,” Celine whispered, locking her hands around my shoulders when I embraced her. “We stick together, remember? Can’t be doing that if you get yourself snatched.”

“I plan to never leave a room without a dozen guards, lest another liar tries to steal me away.”

Celine’s eyes glittered. “Trust me, the king will never let you out of his sight again.”

I wasn’t certain I’d mind.

“Glad you found your way off the isle, My Queen,” Gavyn said, his elbows propped like the smug lord I’d seen from afar before our world toppled. “If I’d known I could force you away by merely peeling all the flesh off your bones, I certainly would’ve done so and avoided a lot of nasty threats from the king.”

“I’m rather glad you didn’t.”

Gavyn blew out his lips. “It would’ve been a grand adventure.”

“Little fox,” Sewell shoved Gavyn—his son—aside and pressed a kiss to my head. “Strong as the sea.”

“It is good to see you, Lord Sewell,” I whispered against his chest.

Sewell lifted a finger to his lips and slunk back between his children.

“The royal city!” Tait, alive and stern, shouted down from the helm. For a breath, his gaze stayed with me, but as quickly as he looked, he turned back to the sea. Tension knotted over my heart. I needed to speak to him, but what to say, how to thank him, left my tongue wanting.

I leaned into Erik, holding his freshly bandaged waist. Spires of gold, cliffs and coves, the glitter of the pale shores of the royal city gleamed in the rising sun.

Erik pressed a lingering kiss to my forehead. We did not need to have a bond that spoke through our hearts—I knew what he was thinking, for I thought much the same.

We were home.

Merfolk guided the Ever Ship into port. Their orb eyes surfaced every few moments, scanning the laths for a peek at the king and his crew. Frightening and lovely, the merfolk captured the awe of my fellow royals.

Mira gasped when a woman with moss green hair and skin like a storm cloud beamed at her from the currents, flashing her jagged teeth and wailing her sorrowful voice.

Even my father seemed fascinated by their iridescent fins and cunning voices, urging the earth fae to join them for a swim.

“Don’t even think about it, Jonas,” Sander said, gripping his brother’s arm.

“She’s a bit pretty.” Jonas pointed down at a slender mermaid.

“They’ve no interest in your life once you’re beneath the tides,” Gavyn insisted, swinging a heavy canvas sack over the rails into some of the smaller skiffs taking supplies into the city. “They’re enamored by other folk but lose interest soon enough.”

“I’d see to it she wouldn’t lose interest.”

Gavyn chuckled. Strange, watching a bit of camaraderie between my lifelong friends and family, and my new people.

But for two.

Daj kept close to me, always a few paces away, but a clear distance was built between Erik and my father. They would give occasional nods to each other but didn’t speak.

I wanted to know everything—Erik’s journey to my homeland, how they returned, how they discovered the isle. I wanted to know my father’s thoughts about the few times I was certain he’d heard me addressed as queen.

More than anything, I wanted to slip away with my serpent. I wanted to touch him, hold him, tangle arms and legs with him, and for a moment, forget we’d ever been parted. There were conversations to be had. Larsson, Arion, and Fione still had some wretched power over Skadi and her people.

Larsson had been bruised, nothing more, but he would not stop his pursuits for the crown.

Now, we simply didn’t know how he would strike.

Another horn was followed by cheers from the crowds packed along the winding stone road. From the windows of red gabled rooftops, children waved banners of the Ever Ship, and women flailed their white linens, waving their men home.

“So,” Daj said, voice low. “This is the Ever.”

Erik took a step to one side, mutely offering us a moment alone, and pretended to busy himself with the unloading of packs and crates and crew.

Webs of cobbled roads wove around cottages and taverns. Mighty stone archways marked each curve of the roads, and powerful waterfalls spilled over the rocky ledges. The verdant hill which embraced the tiered levels of the palace brightened under the beams of sunlight, like the royal city was celebrating the return of its king.

“This is the royal city,” I said, slipping my arm through the bend of my father’s elbow. I let my head fall to his shoulder. “It’s . . . it’s home, Daj.”

He dropped his chin, eyes closed, for a breath. Then took hold of my hand on his arm and lifted my knuckles to his lips. “I know.”

“It does not mean I have not missed you all horribly,” I whispered, mortified by the fearful tremble in my voice. “It does not—nor could it—lessen how much I love—”

“Livia.” My father pulled me into his arms, holding me against his chest. “I know.”

A thousand unspoken words lived in such a simple statement—he knew what it was like to take on the burden of a kingdom. He knew what it was like to give your heart and soul to another.

He knew I was no longer only his daughter.

“Coaches are waiting, love.” Erik’s low timbre took me from my father’s arms.

With a touch of hesitation, the Ever King eyed the Night Folk king, then held out a hand for me.

On the outside, the moment was simple. To me, it was pivotal. A moment where I released my grip on my father, my people, and took hold of the man who’d come to own every facet of my soul.

Erik understood it and squeezed my palm in reassurance as we made our way to the plank.

Daj understood it and kept several paces behind me, joining Stieg and the others, like he’d accepted a new place where he could keep a wary eye on his girl, while letting her step into her own power.