The Ever Seas

Thorvald’s name is known to Earth Fae

Malin Eriksson’s POV

We quickly arranged sleeping areas, or those who had the will, beneath draped furs in makeshift tents. Valen had arranged for guards to watch a bend in the river, giving us a place to wash.

I tilted my head, watching as the sea fae spun droplets of water around his fingers, lost in thought.

“You named yourself a king, but do you have another name we should know you by?” I asked, braiding my damp hair over my shoulder.

He lifted his eyes. His beard had been tamed, and his skin scrubbed, yet he still gave me pause. I could not give a reason for my aversion to the man, but he was dangerous. It would be unwise to think he stood by us for any other reason than to retrieve his missing heir.

If the story was even true.

Half his mouth twisted in a grin, revealing one fang. “Thorvald. Thorvald of the Ever.”

“You said that before, the Ever?”

“My kingdom.” Thorvald turned his gaze back to the water, spinning his fingers until a cyclone formed. “Our lore tells us the sea is everlasting. Waters shaped the land in the beginning, and in the end, it will be the seas that swallow the land.”

Pretentious. A little arrogant. Then again, most kings likely believed their land was the truest, greatest, and most beloved by the gods.

“Well, I hope you will soon see your kingdom again.” 

Thorvald scoffed, focused on the river, and I took it as my chance to give my leave of him.

_____________________________________________

Thorvald Learns Erik is Trapped

Kase Eriksson’s POV

The littles. Ash. Hanna. Von. All the children we’d left behind were now in the hands of Britta and Ivar.

“What did you say?” Luca shoved through Halvar and Raum. His attention was locked on me. “They took Felstad. They took my family?”

“Luc,” Raum tried to reach for him, but Luca shoved him off.

“I promised Dagny she would never fear the palace again.” His voice cracked in a heavy darkness. “I left her there. I won’t put her through it again, Kase. I won’t let them take her again.”

I gripped the back of his neck, pulling his forehead to mine. Luca could be flippant and bold, even as a boy it was rare to get him to show anything but irony or playful whims. When it came to Dagny, he was clear glass. The fear, pain, the passion he felt for her was written in every crease of his face.

“Luca.” My tone was dark, but steady. “They won’t touch her again.”

Our littles were in Felstad. Ash, Hanna, most of the North’s warriors. I could not stomach the notion of them slaughtered or strung up like Sigurd.

“They will have my heir.” The sea fae cut through the crowd. His tone was steady, almost unbothered. “Take me to this place.”

“We will all take this place,” I said. My voice was jagged, like broken glass. “There is more than your boy at risk in those walls.”

“He is the heir to the Ever.”

I broke. My hand curled around his throat. Malin reached for me, but no one truly pulled me back. I lowered my voice to something low and rough. A true threat in every word. “I do not care if he is made of gold. His life holds no greater value than my Kryv, than an innocent princess, than Von Grym.”

“You’d do well to remember the importance of some littles over others.”

“I’d do well to kill you now.”

“Enough.” Malin stepped between us. Her voice still quivered but there was growing strength there. “We will take them all. No little will die to the Black Palace. Not one.”

The sea fae sloughed off Malin’s touch. “See that you keep that vow, or it will be your head I seek.”

“Watch how you speak to my wife.” My lip curled, but Malin yanked on my arm before more blood spilled.

She led me away from the pompous bastard of a sea fae, leaving Thorvald to endure the glares and sneers of Luca and Hagen. Two fathers whose children were degraded by the fae, and I had a glimmer of hope they’d deal with the fool and spare me the trouble.

___________________________________________

Erik is Rescued by Earth Fae

Malin Eriksson’s POV

(Valen Ferus is under a fate curse in this scene)

I cupped Hanna’s cheek with one hand, and Ash’s with the other. “We will be fighting our way out. Stay close, use your mesmer, use your blades. I must tell you, if you see the Northern king, for now, do not go near him.”

Ash’s brow furrowed. “But—”

“Ash,” I interrupted. He was fascinated with Valen, likely considered the king his royal friend, and would aim to help him. “You must obey me on this. We will explain soon.”

The boy pinched his mouth together, but nodded. “As you say, Mal.”

Hanna tugged on my hand and pointed to the far corner. She waved her fingers in a finger-speak of the word boy.

A child huddled in the shadows; his arms hugged his knees to his chest. Gods. I’d nearly forgotten about Thorvald’s son. His eyes were the stunning ruby red like his father, but with a bit more golden brown in the center. His ears were sharply tapered to a point, and when I reached for him, he hissed.

The curl of his lip revealed two tiny points to his canines.

Name. What was the boy’s bleeding name? Damn Thorvald had given us nothing. “I’m going to take you to your father.”

The sea fae looked sickly. His skin wasn’t tinted like Thorvald’s. More a russet, almost bronze hue, but his lips were cracked. Flakes of flesh were dried and sloughing off his cheeks and arms.

“He needs water.” Stieg came behind me.

When he looked to Stieg, the boy’s narrowed eyes softened, as if he were looking at safety. At comfort.

He trusted the warrior.

I stepped back. “He’ll go with you. Are you able to take him?”

Stieg’s arms were battered, and blood dripped from open wounds. One wrist looked broken, but still he crouched. “Erik, remember what I said about my folk coming for us? We must leave. You’ve been on land too long, boy.”

Erik hesitated. He was so young. No more than four or five turns, and the fear in his eyes cracked a new wound in my chest. After a few moments, he reached his arms for Stieg.

“I’m afraid I can’t hold you,” Stieg admitted. “Your leg still hurts?”

Erik recoiled, nodding.

Stieg glanced back at me, then faced the boy. “Trust in Queen Malin. She will keep you safe.”

I gave the boy a small smile and opened my arms. He glared. How could we blame the boy? He’d been snatched off his ship, separated from his folk, and mistreated for weeks. Still, with another reassuring look from Stieg, Erik staggered to his feet and limped to me. He allowed me to lift him into my arms, and I held the back of his head, urging him to keep his face hidden.

A rage-filled roar rattled too close for comfort. Our time to leave was now.

“Go!” I shouted to the room.

Those without littles in their arms shoved through the doorway. My blood pounded in my ears. All around us, smoke thickened within the corridors in blackened ash. Injured as he was, Stieg still led at the front with Raum and Tova.

“We’ll go out through Kase’s chamber,” Raum shouted. “The tower has a path to scale down if we tread carefully.”

We didn’t question. There were no titles or ranks when it came to survival. If Raum could see through the darkness, we’d follow him.

Erik whimpered against my shoulder, but never loosened his grip on my neck. The spiral steps rounding up to the uppermost floor came swiftly, and I had to brace against the wall to keep from stumbling.

The screech of steel against steel waned. Cries softened, but at our backs shouts and chaos encroached on us in the shadows.

“We’re all right,” I whispered, holding the fae boy closer.

“Hurry.” Raum stood at the door of Kase’s chamber.

My heart ached at the sight of this place. A place where I fell deeper in love with the man, where we gave ourselves to each other, where we faced our fears together.

It would burn before dawn.

“I’ll go first,” Raum said. “There is rope in a crate at the bottom. I’ll bring it back up and we’ll get out of here.”

In the next breath, Raum was out the window, on his way to the hedges and wild briars below.

“Stieg, you’re bleeding too much,” Elise said, the bite of worry sharp in her voice. Gently, she placed Laila beside Hanna and Ash, then went to look at her warrior’s arm. Elise peeled back his vambrace on the left arm and winced. A ghastly wound looked as if it had been opened and healed countless times. Now the skin was festering in sickly green and milky yellow. “You’re infected.”

“I’ll heal.”

From the stairwell a deep, wet growl rumbled up the steps.

My heart froze. No one seemed to breathe as the rumble of an unseen creature drew closer. Fear strangled me in thick waves in the back of my throat. Valen. But it wasn’t the king, not really. He’d kill us without thought.

“Ash,” I snapped, setting Erik on the ground and stepping in front of the boy. “Hanna, get behind me.”

With Tova and Dagny’s help, we formed a wall around all the littles. Tova glanced out the window and called down to Raum in as low a voice as she could. “Get moving or we’re bleeding dead.”

It was too late.

With a throaty huff, the doorway filled with the broken, bloodied frame of Valen. His eyes trained on the bloody drops from Stieg’s wound.

I swallowed a gasp when he realized there were pumping hearts in the room. His cracked lips were soaked in blood. Jagged fangs hung over his jaw, and his fingers, from black claw to wrist, were stained in red.

“Gods.” Stieg cursed on a breath. His eyes flicked to his seeping wound, to the blood drops behind him that had led the beast to our doorway.

This wasn’t Valen, not now, but if he slaughtered this room, he would end his own wife. He’d end his whole bleeding heart, and he would never be the same.

Stieg seemed to have the same idea and tried to reach for Elise, but Valen lunged in the same moment.

I screamed. Truth be told, the sound of it was swallowed in the screams of everyone.

“No, Valen!” Elise’s cry was broken and desperate.

“Elise!” I shouted as the queen leapt in front of her warrior, her friend.

I was ready to witness the death of the queen at the hand of her cursed husband, but the beast skidded to a halt at the sight of her. Death still lived in the red of his eyes, but he paused. Elise held out her hand, tears on her face. She held his stare; she held her ground.

Valen’s bloody lips curled over his teeth, revealing the whole length of his fangs.

By the gods, for a fleeting moment he seemed to recognize her. At least, something about his wife’s presence brought the monster within to a calm. It must’ve been the power she’d spoken of, I could not explain the hesitation any other way.

It ended too soon. Valen reared one hand back as if he’d strike her down. He didn’t get the chance. From the outer corridor, two dark figures pummeled into the king’s back, knocking him to the ground. He thrashed and snarled.

Tor and Halvar were there, holding the king’s writhing arms.

“Forgot how bleeding fast he was,” Halvar grunted, wrestling Valen’s arm behind his back.

Two more men materialized up the staircase. Sol dropped to his knees to help Halvar pin his younger brother to the ground. “Do it!”

I let out a breath of relief as Lynx rested a hand on Valen’s head. The beast kicked at him, snapped his jaws, and nearly caught his finger.

Elise knelt beside her husband and placed her palm on his tense body. He stopped snapping his teeth, stopped kicking, and Lynx struck. It took but moments for Valen to go still beneath his calming mesmer.

Silenced and bound, with Sol’s help, Lynx draped the king over his shoulders, ready to carry him out.

Tears burned my eyes for all Valen had sacrificed. Because of him, we’d been able to take Felstad by surprise, we’d been able to fight our way in. Now, we’d find a bleeding way to save him.

_________________________________

Death of the Ever King

Kase Eriksson’s POV

Thorvald’s son looked worse than the night we’d found him. Bruises had deepened, his leg was still splinted where the bone had snapped, and the gashes still oozed blood through the hardened scabs.

Despite it all, the child seemed overjoyed to be out upon the waters. His little fingers drifted in the smooth waves as we bobbed on one of the North’s warships in the space where the Howl Sea met the Fates Ocean.

Stieg, Valen, and Elise sat beside the boy, keeping him distracted by asking him questions about his home while we waited for Thorvald’s return.

Gunnar stood at the bow with Eryka, staring at the stars and laughing. Herja and Hagen were with Sol and Tor. The two men had dozens of questions for the princess on raising an infant. Officially, the found fae boy would be named the newest prince in the North. (This is Aleksi)

Malin slipped her fingers through mine. “You are staring at the tide with murderous attention. Has it offended you?”

I chuckled and kissed her palm. “Not yet, but if Thorvald does not hurry his damn—”

The moment I started to utter my threat, the sea billowed in frothy white. The water parted, and in great gusts of wind and power, Thorvald’s ship shattered through the surface of the ocean.

Erik smiled, but there was a bit of trepidation in his expression. As if he looked forward to seeing his father, but feared the man in the same breath.

Thorvald’s massive, strangely shaped ship banked next to the warship.

“Ready, Erik?” Stieg asked.

The boy nodded and allowed the warrior to lift him, careful not to jostle his broken leg too fiercely.

The clank of chains, and the whistle of rope unraveling rattled the night as a long gangplank connected the two ships. From the main deck of the ship, Thorvald appeared. He looked healthier, his skin smoother, his cheekbones less pronounced after a few nights back on the sea.

The sea king stomped down the plank, his brother at his back. Once he stepped on the warship, Thorvald’s red eyes locked on his boy.

Erik’s smile widened. “Papa.”

Thorvald didn’t show a hint of satisfaction. Not a lick of gratitude. Hells, he seemed bleeding angry at the sight of his boy.

With narrowed eyes he looked to Valen, Elise, then found me in the darkness. “What did you do?”

“Do?” Valen’s tone took on a bit of the beastly growl. “What the hells do you mean, what did we do? We rescued your son and killed half an army, you bastard.”

“I asked for the heir of the Ever to be returned in one piece.”

Thorvald snapped his fingers. At once, Harald hurried to Stieg and snatched Erik out of the warrior’s arms. The boy winced, but didn’t cry out when his leg wiggled too much.

“There he is,” Harald said cheerfully, patting Erik’s back. “Ready for a swim, my boy?”

The hair on my arms lifted when Harald scurried back to the plank, almost desperate to get out of his brother’s wake.

Valen narrowed his eyes at the sea king. “If you don’t want the boy, then hand him back. We will tend to him.”

Thorvald sneered. “He will be marred the rest of his life. Likely, he’ll never walk right. What sort of strength and confidence do you think that will wield for the heir?”

“A great deal, since, the little endured torture and did not break,” Valen said, one hand resting on one battle axe. By now, Hagen, Tor, and Sol began crowding behind the king, blocking Elise and Herja.

Gunnar stood by my shoulder. In truth, I’d unknowingly made my way toward Valen and the others, sword in hand.

“Torture.” Thorvald mulled the word around like a rancid bit of meat. “At the hands of your folk.”

“Our enemies,” Valen corrected.

“Land fae, land folk, you are all the same.” Thorvald looked about the ship. “The boy was a perfect heir. Son of a sea witch and the sea king. A prize to his people, and now he has been ruined. Seems only fair we make one of your beautiful things ugly as penance for our burden.”

The next moves unraveled into a bloody mess. I could hardly follow what sword belonged to whom.

Thorvald had a blade with a crimson hilt in hand, and he lunged forward with wicked speed. He did not aim at Valen, or me. He’d gone for the weakest-looking of us. He’d gone for the one who foolishly remained unarmed.

Eryka screamed when Thorvald’s blade aimed for her eye.

“No!” Gunnar shouted.

I did not know if it was his mesmer, or if the roar of his voice startled Thorvald, but the blade swerved off course just enough that instead of impaling Eryka’s face, the edge cut a long gash from her brow to her cheek.

She sobbed, clutching her face as she stumbled. Gunnar caught her in his arms before she slammed into the rail.

Thorvald had a mere moment to grin his satisfaction at spilling blood before Valen’s axe was thrust deep into his chest.

“Thorvald!” Harald roared from the ship, dropping his screaming nephew, and rushed back to the plank.

I stepped in front of his path, eyes black, blade outstretched. “I would think carefully about your move, sea fae.”

“You have no power on the sea,” he spat back.

“So sure?” Inky coils wrapped around his throat. “It seems you’re rather terrified even in your realm.”

Harald swallowed thickly, but he was wise enough to hold his steps.

“You made a mistake touching one of our own,” Valen growled close to Thorvald’s face. “You see, the girl means a great deal to my nephew. That makes her ours.”

Thorvald coughed. Blood splattered over his lips.

“Go to the hells, sea king.” Valen ripped his axe from the fae’s chest.

Thorvald collapsed in a heap of blood. His waist struck the rail of the warship, and as if the waves reached forth to snag its lost king, he was pulled over the edge of the ship to the black depths of the Fate’s Ocean.

No one moved for a few breaths. Eryka’s sobs mingled with the clash of waves against the keel. I met Malin’s gaze. She was stiff, eyes wide, but she did not cower beneath her fear. She held steady, the ring aglow on her finger.

In the next breath, a clank of metal dropped onto the deck of the ship beside Valen’s boot. Thorvald’s gold disc... had simply appeared. 

Valen eyed the talisman with a bit of trepidation.

“Ten turns, earth king.” Harald’s voice was rough, a low timbre riddled in an unspoken threat. “The mantle of the lord of the Ever is untouchable for ten turns according to our laws.” His red eyes dropped to the coin.

The mantle?

“It’s a mark of the king,” I muttered.

“You... you d-defeated their k-king,” Eyrka said through her sobs as if her snippets of wisdom couldn’t be helped.

“The talisman marks the lord of their kingdom,” I said softly, lifting my eyes to Valen. “I suppose that makes you—”

“Ten turns,” Harald spat again. “And the title can be challenged. It can be taken back.”

Valen’s jaw tightened. He scooped the coin from the deck and held it between his fingers. The black of his eyes deepened in a searing glare aimed at Harald. The stunned crew aboard the ship said nothing, merely watched Valen with a strange, bewildered awe.

A muscle pulsed in Valen’s jaw when he stretched one hand over the roll of the waves. The currents deepened to rough swells. White foam gathered and the water began to whirl around, knocking the ship in a wild pitch.

“All gods.” Herja cried out, clinging to Hagen as the warship was tossed about.

Harald hissed commands to his crew in a language I didn’t understand. I stared in disbelief as jagged, sopping peaks of black stone sea floor carved through the surface. A monstrous barrier began to divide the two ships, the two realms.

“I did not need to slaughter your brother to prove we always held more power than the sea.” Valen shouted over the rage of the new wall of sea peaks slicing through the ocean. “Consider this my first order. The sea fae shall remain where they belong. Crushed and locked in their cold, dark depths. Should you step foot on land, we will kill you.”

Before the rocky wall hid Thorvald’s ship entirely, Harald offered Valen a final, hateful glance and held up all ten of his long, knobby fingers. A silent threat. A new feud. A new enemy.

____________________

I hope you enjoyed the scenes showing Erik’s first captivity as a little boy. The Ever King returns to avenge his father ten years after these moments in the final book of the Broken Kingdoms, and as we know, was unsuccessful in claiming his power... but if he had been, I suppose we wouldn’t have had his story.

__________________________

The Memory Thief

Kase had each arm wrapped around the necks of two boys. They squirmed in his grip.

“You stepped on my wife’s toes,” he said to the boy with messy hair. It was always on end and looked like the brown of autumn. “And you,” Kase snarled at the second boy. Taller, with more waves to his dark, chestnut hair. “You shoved him. Now both of you apologize.”

The dark-haired boy lifted his bright green eyes. He offered me a toothy grin. The front two had finally filled in the gaps from when he’d lost his smaller teeth. He wiggled, but Kase only tightened his hold around his neck.

The boy grunted. “Daj, I’mma say sorry, but you gotta—oof—” he flipped off the seat in the coach when Kase released him without warning. He snickered when Kase laughed, then wheeled on me and threw his skinny arms around my neck. “Sorry, Maj. Didn’t mean to smash ya.”

Kase put particular focus on our second son. Born only moments after his brother. Sander was soft-spoken, but a schemer as much as Jonas. Our firstborn was simply louder about it.

With a squeeze to the headlock, Kase looked at Sander’s darker green eyes. “And you? What do you have to say, little heathen?”

Sander started pinching his father’s arm until Kase was forced to release him. With a sly grin—one that let me know he was hardly done causing trouble—he came over to my side of the coach and kissed my cheek. “Sorry, Maj.”

I pulled each of our sons against my side and kissed the tops of their heads. “It’s been a long journey, but we’re nearly there. Try not to wiggle out of your skin just yet.”

They laughed, and their busy bodies did stay still for a few heartbeats as they looked out the window at the different shapes of houses and roads in Etta. But as expected, after a bit of time, our sons promptly returned to wrestling once Sander insisted Jonas wouldn’t be able to run up the castle staircase as fast as he would.

Kase sighed and offered the entire bench for the boys to torment each other, then came to sit beside me. “I give up on them. They’re bleeding lost causes.”

I laughed and elbowed him in the ribs.

Kase played the irritated father, but in truth, he was madly in love with his sons. He protected them, taught them, he bandaged their scrapes, and kissed their heads before they fell asleep. And I think he took a heady bit of pride knowing their mesmer used darkness like his.

The princes’ mesmer was a strange collision of both mine and Kase’s.

Sander used shadows to create nightmarish images. It did not need to be a fear already in someone’s heart. He could create an independent fear they did not even realize they had yet. Then, Jonas would take the nightmare and place it in the minds of anyone he wanted. A dark memory for them to always cherish.

It might’ve been a formidable sort of magic if the boys had a cruel bone in their body. They were plotters, schemers, and they would age me faster than the turns, but our sons were made of light. Vibrant and curious. Their favorite weeks were when they spent time with their Uncle Niklas and Aunt Junius at the academies, or when Raum took them hunting, or visits with Tova and Bard where they could set traps on each other all day.

They were loved by our folk, and would either be forces for good, or the cleverest thieves the East had ever produced.

Kase’s dream of three littles would not be. Giving birth to twins had seen to it there would only ever be the two when my body practically split in half, and I nearly met the Otherworld. But I could not imagine our life any other way.

Since the bloodline of the fated queen was restored in the East, and since there was no female heir, more than a few had made deadly suggestions about how Kase ought to handle the predicament.

Lynx had been forced to intervene when Kase tortured a drunken councilman from Hemlig after the man had suggested Kase take up with a consort who had the ability to properly birth children.

I doubted the man would ever breathe right again the way Kase had strangled him with his darkness.

I hated that my worth, to some, was gauged by how well I could ensure the crown continued. My sons would grow to be powerful men, dangerous, likely with questionable morals at times, but they would be heirs the East could be proud to claim.

“Boys,” Kase barked, tugging on the collars of their tunics, tearing the twins apart. “Listen. Hells, for one more moment, listen—”

“You cursed, Daj,” Jonas sang.

“Cursing means penge,” Sander said with a bit of smugness.

Kase looked to me like he needed to be rescued. I shrugged. “I warned you not to teach them how to make deals, Nightrender.”

His eyes darkened. For other folk, when Kase’s shadows blackened his eyes, it was a thing of terror. For Sander and Jonas Eriksson, it was a delight. The boys mimicked his eyes, darkening their own.

“We’re here,” Kase said. “You’ll both be on your best behavior. You won’t tease Livia like you did last time—”

“Us?” Jonas squeaked. “Livie’s brutal, Daj. Brutal.”

I bit down on my lip to hide my smile.

Kase looked like he was fighting one of his own as he went on. “Doesn’t change that you two will be quiet and still during the ceremony, understand? This is for Laila. Respect your cousin.”

Jonas and Sander both nodded their heads. They loved Laila Strom. She was the cousin who kept every little across the kingdoms glued together. Even little Mira, who wasn’t a blood cousin, and Silas’s and Calista’s tiny Vera. Laila would visit, and once a turn she loved gathering all the little royals for a week of adventures. But today was her honor.

The day she joined the rank of a Rave warrior. Like the rest of her family, Laila had a tender heart, but a fighting spirit.

When the coach stopped the twins lined up at the door, bursting at the seams to be free of the tight space. All hells, sometimes I wondered how we made it to the fort without one of the boys leaping from the coach.

Jonas and Sander spilled out of the coach, but both boys stopped at once. They crouched. One looked left, the other right. Their eyes were dark as a moonless midnight. Jonas even had a small knife he’d gotten for Jul last winter in his hand.

“See them?” Sander whispered.

“No.” Jonas flipped his head to the left. Sander turned to the right.

Three more steps and the twins visibly relaxed. Jonas puffed up his chest, grinning. “Told you they’d be too scared—”

In the next breath, great battle cries rang out over the manicured lawns of the Crimson Fort, and two darkly clad, tiny assassins leapt from the bushes.

Sander and Jonas hardly had a chance to cry out before they were pinned beneath beautifully blooming vines of moonvane and lush shrubs that started to swallow them up.

“Livia!” Jonas shouted with a touch of venom.

A pitchy snicker came from one of the attackers. Livia Ferus pulled back a black mask hiding her mouth. The girl was petite for eleven, but she was fierce. She pinched Jonas’s nose as more of her vines tethered his wrists.

“Told you I’d get you, Jo.” Livia wiggled her fingers and the vines thickened. She had a gift of healing the earth, or if it did not need healing, it was made lusher, fuller.

The second attacker tore off his mask. Aleksi was taller than all three of the others, but did not share the same proclivity for mischief. He could aid in the trouble, but he was never the first to cause it.

“Alek,” Livia said, voice low and dark when she looked to her cousin. “Do it.”

“Don’t even think about it,” Jonas grumbled. “I’ll give you bad dreams. Swear I will, Alek.”

Aleksi simply smiled and whistled a bright tune. At once a swarm of sparrows burst from a nearby tree and perched on the shrubs clinging to our boys. How the boy summoned blood from any beating heart close by was a bit of a marvel.

Kase couldn’t hold it in any longer. He barked a laugh as Aleksi’s glamour kept the creatures fluttering around our sons’ heads.

“Daj!” Sander whined. “Help us.”

Kase took my hand and strode past the shrub. “Figure your way out, boys. I have a feeling you deserved it.”

“They did!” Livia insisted. “They locked me in the dark with a bleeding monster last time!”

“Mira sent the monster!”

Livia’s grin split into something rather vicious. “I know. And when she gets here, she’ll get hers too.”

Jonas grumbled. “I’m gonna get you back for this, Livie.”

Aleksi and Livia snickered again, clapping their palms together in unity.

Laughter from the front of the castle drew my attention. Elise and Valen watched the battle from the stairs.

“I’m leaving the boys here, hope you don’t mind,” Kase said as he clasped Valen’s forearm. “We need a break.”

“I can’t take them,” the Night Folk king said. “We were going to send Livie with you.”

I laughed and embraced Elise. In her arms was a wiggling baby boy. Prince Rorik’s dark eyes gawked at the commotion of his older sister and the princes shouting all manner of threats. The boy protested in his mother’s arms. Gently, I pressed my fingers to his brow, inserting a memory of our journey. The babe cooed and giggled, calming for a breath, as the images flashed through his head.

“Is it boys, Mal,” Elise said with a sigh. “Rorik is one turn, and already I imagine him as boisterous as yours.”

I laughed. “It must be.”

“It’s true, Gunnar was a force to be reckoned with. But I think the daughters are the cleverest and, at times, the most brutal.” My brother stepped from the doorway, grinning.

Hagen was dressed in a fine tunic and two swords.

I rushed to my brother and wrapped my arms around his waist. “It’s been too long.”

“A few months, Mal.”

“Are you saying you didn’t miss me?”

Hagen chuckled. “Not at all.” He released me and looked at the yard with an arched brow. Jonas had broken free of Livia’s vines and now chased her across the grass while Sander was still swatting at Aleksi’s birds. Hagen scoffed. “I’m not even going to ask.”

“Come on,” Elise said, linking her arm with mine. “We’ll let them wear themselves out, then they might be calm for the feast.”

We laughed because the likelihood of that happening was miniscule and we all knew it.

We’d fought battles with these people, and had become a family bonded by love, blood, and magic. Strange how once Kase and Hagen were the only people I truly had in my life.

Now, our walls were bursting with littles, thieves, and royals. I’d fight a dozen wars if it brought me here, to this moment, with these people.

“The Southern caravan will be here soon,” Valen said. “No one forget to wish Ari a happy anniversary.”

“Oh, we wouldn’t dream of it,” I said.

Kase tugged on my hand, a look of worry furrowed in his brow. “What anniversary have I forgotten?”

I laughed and kissed him quickly. “Ari won’t allow you to forget, but this day marks the day he became king. Again.”

Kase grinned, shaking his head at the memory of the ordeal that once more placed a crown on the head of Ari Sekundär. A surprise to us all, but one the man enjoyed repeating whenever the day came each turn.

He made light, saying it was the day the Norns came to their senses and remembered he was born to be a king, but in truth, I was more of the opinion that Ari enjoyed repeating the story because it was the tale of how he gave up his heart and never took it back.

“If you ask me one more time, old man, I will banish you to the far seas.” My voice was rough, an attempt to sound vicious, but in truth, I simply sounded like I might sleep for the next five turns.

Alistair sniffed and peered at me through his hooded eyes, hardly bothered. “Threats no longer become you, My King. And, frankly, I believe you have misheard me for what I said was nothing so awful it deserved a threat.”

“I am the king,” I grumbled. “I hear whatever I want to hear. Perhaps it is you who ought to change your damn words to fit what I wish.”

The pompous bastard clicked his tongue and held out a wooden log, stained to glisten in rich cherrywood beneath the candlelight, with holes in the top to hold the vibrant candles Alistair had dipped for this very day. “I merely asked if you prefer the log to be placed with feast table, or at the head?”

“Why are you asking me this?”

“Because any moment now your palace will be riddled in earth fae, and elven, and more. Forgive me, but since you, Erik of the Ever, insisted you could host our queen’s folk, I imagined you would want to have a bit more thought in where the log for well-wishes is placed.”

My brow furrowed. “What are you talking about? They are arriving tomorrow.”

For the first time, Alistair’s indifference faded to something like smug stun. “No, My King. Today.”

My insides tightened. No. This wasn’t happening. By the hells. I’d been so bleeding arrogant, insisting the earth fae should bring their Jul festivities to the Ever this turn. By having everyone come to my songbird after an exhausting few months, I thought it would be good, restful. Now it was a damn nightmare.

“Alistair.” I scrubbed my hands down my face. “Is it truly today?”

He sighed with a touch of sympathy. “Yes, My King. A feast is set to happen today.”

“Godsdammit.” I refused to destroy Livia’s Jul. It mattered a great deal to her folk—to her—and the first turn I’d taken it on I would not see it ruined because my mind was a muddled mess. “I have not seen to the hall, I do not even know if the cooking rooms are—”

He held up a hand, stopping me. “Fear not, My Fatigued King. I, whom you continuously threaten to toss aside, had some foresight. I merely thought it would not be so desperately needed, more an additional set of hands. Thank the gods I am so brilliant.”

Almost on cue, the doors to the corridor opened, wood clanging against the stone of the walls. There, in the center, surrounded by folk, Mira Sekundär beamed at me like she’d won some grand game.

“Bloodsinger. I am here to save your ass.”

“What is this?”

Mira sauntered down the hall, clad in trousers, a billowing tunic that seemed made for hard labor, and her auburn hair tied up in a tall knot on her head.

Celine was tucked amongst Mira’s brigade and grinned viciously. “Don’t look at me. She can’t be stopped.”

“I have been busy in the House of Blades for two days, and Tidecaller and Stormbringer will tell you the whole of their house is better for it.” Mira paused by my side only to pat a hand against my face. She scrunched her nose and spoke in a higher tone. “Poor Ever King. It’s sweet you wanted to host, Jul. Truly, adorable. But I’ll take it from here.”

I blinked, words lost to me, as my corridors were all at once filled with glamour fae with small antlers and iridescent wings and bright, glossy clothes, a few sirens and sea witches, even several of the Ever Crew tromped toward the great hall, arms filled with clay bowls, evergreen boughs, earthy bark shaped like cones that smelled of the forests above the tides, and tallow candles.

Stormbringer towered over many, and winked with his one eye as he strode past, two stacks of wrapped logs for the inglenook on his shoulders. “My King. Bound to be a fine day, says I. Even if you forgot.”

My eyes narrowed. “I didn’t forget, I...”

He was already gone, hurrying to walk beside Celine. Bastard. His loyalty once would have trembled under my glare. Perhaps I’d grown too soft in recent turns. Perhaps I needed to get out to sea. Perhaps a feckless sea singer might attempt to lure in an earth fae and I would, at last, have an excuse to slaughter someone.

“Erik.” My cousin stood in front of me, arms filled with brown burlap sacks tied in twine in his arms.

“Gods, you too?”

Tait’s eyes were not as sharply crimson as mine, but they still burned like blood when heat filled his face.

My cousin leaned in, voice low. “I dare you to try to talk her out of planning a revel. It’s terrifying.”

“You should be the one to contain her,” I snapped back.

He laughed and shook his head, like I was some pitiful creature.

Once the stampede of fae left me with a touch of unspoken relief (one I would never admit), I watched as Mira took charge, jovially shouting orders about proper places of things, where Jul logs ought to be placed, where folk would sit, down to what time the feast ought to be served.

I jolted when a gentle touch teased the scars on the back of my neck. One corner of my mouth lifted when my heart spoke instead of my words. Songbird.

Serpent.

You are supposed to be sleeping.

Livia stepped in front of me, one brow arched, a soft linen bundle cradled in one arm. “I don’t remember what sleep is anymore.” She followed the sounds of chaos coming from the great hall. “I see you’ve been defeated.”

I leaned forward and pressed my lips to Livia’s brow. “Did you tell Alistair to send word?”

“No.” She chuckled, slowly swaying side to side. “I only received the missive this morning that Mir heard you were overwhelmed and would be arriving early.

“I do not get overwhelmed, love. I get murderous.”

Livia snorted. “Let’s keep bloodshed at a minimum for her first Jul.”

I held out my arms, embracing the burst of warmth in my chest when Livia handed over my daughter. Never did I expect to love anything like I loved my songbird, but Katla filled another piece of my cruel heart I was certain formed just for her alone.

In the five months since she was born, Kat had grown a full head of dark hair, revealed she had a curious shade of lavender for her eyes, and had the soft brown of her mother’s skin. She laughed, cooed, smiled, and took great pleasure in tugging at the gold rings in my ears every day.

There was only one problem.

“Why is it she only sleeps while being held?” I whispered, glancing at Livia, who’d already dropped her head to my shoulder as though she might fall asleep standing up.

She snickered. “Because she is born of two stubborn households and because her father appeases her every whim.” She pinched my side.

“I can’t seem to refuse her mother either.”

“Hmm. The night I came to the Ever, I believe I shouted no plenty of times, Bloodsinger.”

“I don’t think that’s right, love.” I tilted my head and nipped at her ear. “You practically leapt into the sea with me.”

“Ah, is that what happened?” Livia traced the point of one of my ears with her finger. “Silly me, I could’ve sworn I was tossed into the sea, hands bound.”

“Must be the sleepless nights making you forgetful.”

She laughed and pressed a sweet kiss to my lips. “Thank you, for trying to bring Jul to me. I wasn’t certain I was up for such a journey again.”

We’d only returned from the earth realms two months prior, after introducing Katla to the earth fae royals and Alver clans.

“Afraid I was bound to fail, love.” I tipped my head toward the great hall. “Others thought so too since contingency plans were in place—or treason depending on how violent you’re feeling. I have been removed from the festivity planning.”

Livia curled an arm around my waist and tugged me against her. “It’s the thought, Serpent. It’s the thought.”

Doors crashed open again.

“Katla!” Rorik Ferus and his squeaky, ever-changing voice shattered the calm. “Your uncle is finally here! Where is she?”

Katla squirmed in my arms, face scrunched, until a loud cry split from her little chest.

Livia’s shoulders slumped and she glared at her brother. “Rorik, you bleeding woke her up.”

“Good.” The young prince was already taller than his sister, and shoved through us both, a replica of his father from the shade of his hair to the darkness of his eyes. “I want her to be awake anyway. Here, move, I’ll take her. I’ll take her.”

Before I could even protest, Rorik dug my daughter from my arms, making exaggerated faces at the babe until her tears fled and she returned a gummy grin. Once, Rorik spent his time in the Ever trying to impress me. The instant his niece was born, I was but a forgotten memory. Now, his world revolved around future plans of corrupting the girl and sailing every bleeding cove from the Ever to the Northern Peaks in the earth realms.

A heavy hand clapped on my shoulder.

“God Jul, Erik.” Valen grinned, then pulled Livia into an embrace once Elise released her.

“You’re here,” my songbird said, a bit of relief in her voice.

I knew she missed her folk, certainly during festive times, and if I could see the light of joy in her eyes every day, I’d serve a thousand Jul feasts.

“We made it. All of us.” Valen gestured toward the door.

Gods. Everyone arrived at the same bleeding time.

“Bloodsinger! What rooms have you arranged for me? I demand the finest bed. I am a king now.” Jonas led the way, Skadi’s hand in his. He was still a pompous fool, but I’d likely never admit how much I enjoyed the bastard’s company.

“Skadi.” Livia embraced the elven queen. “You’re almost there.”

True enough, it wouldn’t be long until the couple would be living with as little sleep as me and my songbird.

Skadi pressed a hand to her growing belly. “Almost. I’m not certain who is more thrilled, Jonas or the Kryv.”

“Us, lovey,” said Raum as he trudged past with more elven folk. “It’s about time we got us a new Kryv.”

Jonas’s folk strode past, a mixture of elven and alvers, thieves and smugglers. His mother embraced us both, then fell into conversation with Elise. Jonas’s father gave me a nod—an acknowledgement I’d long ago learned was a warm greeting from the alver king—squeezed Livia’s hand, then promptly went to Rorik, demanding he get a chance to hold Katla.

“Sander will be coming soon,” Skadi said.

I let out a sigh. And with him, he’d bring more hoards of folk from his mate’s house. It was the same with everyone. Since I took Livia, fell in love with her, made her my queen, the lot of us had found mates, homes, more folk to call family.

But we always ended here together. And it was chaos.

“Bloodsinger.” The fate queen from the earth realms entered the corridor.

Over the turns, every earth fae royal house took on sea fae. They were part of Livia, and somehow they forgave me, and became part of me.

Behind the queen was her stoic king, the scar on his face one of my many memories of the war. Silas saved Tait and Gavyn during the battles between our realms. He was a man who did not speak much, but I related to that.

And the way he looked down at their busy, young daughter with pride. I understood that a great deal too.

“Queen.” I dipped my chin.

Calista was a blood cousin of Mira, and there were moments when both shared the same look of mischief. But where Mira was boisterous and invasive, Calista was cunning and damn near devious.

“I saw this once.” She stepped aside when Mira’s folk collided with the alver clans and both Mira’s father and the alver king became embroiled in a debate on who had gone softer as a king since both desired a chance to see my daughter.

“Saw what? Madness in the Ever?”

Calista chuckled. “In a way. It was fleeting, just a brief moment I wasn’t certain was even real. But it was enough to make me think there was more to you. Do you remember when we spoke, after you saved my Lump’s Torsten?”

My teeth ground together. “Aye.”

“Remember what I said to you?”

I’d never forget it. “Your story is only beginning. Take care with the hearts you claim.”

A gentle smile crossed over Calista’s mouth. “I saw a glimpse of a future. Livia’s heart as yours, all our folk stitched together in a new path of fate that led to Jul revels, endless Haunts with new earth fae and sea fae littles. I saw laughter and unity. Somehow, in such a small glimpse of fate, I knew you would come to be in a moment as this. Part of our threads in the tapestry of our tales.”

With a squeeze to my arm, Calista left me to help Silas catch their girl before she bolted straight for one of the endless cakes Mira was directing toward the long tables.

“What was all that about with Cal?” Livia slipped her palm around my arm.

I lifted her hand, pressing a kiss to her knuckles. “Reminiscing, Songbird.”

She grinned. “What is your conclusion?”

“Of what?”

“Shall we ever host Jul again?”

I scoffed. “Send me to Murdock or Blister Poppy to have my damn skull checked if ever I offer to play pleasant host again.”

Livia’s eyes gleamed like the richest tides. “Ready for this?”

“Aye, love.”

We stood in the doorway. Together, for a breath, we studied the comradery. Gavyn and Sewell taunted something Jonas and Rorik said. The twins’ mother held Katla next to Narza and Maelstrom. Tait leaned against the wall, drinking with Mira’s father and Aleksi. Elise and Valen sat across from Tavish and two of his children, laughing as my uncle’s young ones gawked at one small axes the earth bender brought as Jul gifts.

“This is all I wanted, Serpent,” Livia whispered. “A life with you and them, and... all of us.”

I kissed the side of her neck and whispered through our heartbond before we stepped into the hall. For a thousand more turns, love.

Livia’s lip curled in a playful sort of smirk. No. Much longer.