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“That was a gift from my father. Watch over it for me, will you? I’ll come back to get it one day, and you can tell me more stories. Promise?”
Perhaps it was the despair that kept her from noticing the strange rune that once marked the surface of the disk was now branded on the smooth skin below the crook of her elbow.
I was able to thicken shrubs, brighten blossoms, even heal deadened soil.
“Ah, Jonas, one day some fearsome creature is going to steal your heart, and you will not know what to do with yourself.”
An omen was the only explanation. The instant the water of the barrier licked my skin, for a fleeting moment, a golden city had shaped in my mind’s eye. Cheerful bells rang like a signal or a summons. As if they were beckoning me to come home.
The deeper reason was my little songbird wouldn’t break a promise, and she had promised to look after it always.
A perplexing kind of darkness took hold in the deep sinews of my chest. It was cruel, wicked, and greedy. Never had I desired something so fiercely. I didn’t understand it, and I didn’t try. The draw to her was like a crawl for water after being lost in the blaze of the sun.
She was never theirs anyway. Not really. From the moment the songbird tried to appeal to the serpent, she was mine.
“What do we have here? A bind rune?”
“That was what you wanted to be, wasn’t it? The songbird the serpent didn’t destroy.”
“A bruise? Is that what’s on your arm? No, I don’t think so.” He slid the sleeve of his tunic up his arm where a raised scar, nearly identical to mine, marked the place below the bend of his elbow. The same rune in beautiful filagree designs. Bloodsinger leaned his face alongside my cheek.
I didn’t trust the man, but he shared the same mark as me.
The magic of transferring breath was myth, but…something was happening. A spark in the blood that shot to the rune on my skin. A heat that dug deep into my chest, drawing me closer, keeping me locked in her essence.
“Careful with your threats of my untimely death, love, or you might end up stealing my heart.”
“Did you call to me through the Chasm? The only way I could sail through was if the wards were gone. I think you had something to do with that.” From under his tunic, Bloodsinger removed the silver swallow. “We’re bonded, you and I. From the moment you began your little tale.”
“Call me foolish to even care, but I was kind to you as a child. Now you have twisted that kindness into something ugly.” I scoffed. “Perhaps it is not you who disappoints me. Perhaps it is disappointment in myself for ever thinking a creature like you could have a shred of a heart.”
“Do your worst, Bloodsinger. The heart I once showed you as a stupid girl is gone away where you cannot touch it again.”
I’d been drawn to him like the flow of the sea; even as a girl he’d sparked some twisted curiosity, some tug to see him. I should’ve resisted, the same way I should’ve had the strength to resist the pull to the sea now.
but accept that you’re mine and you always were.”
“Little fox, that’s what she is. Thinks she be sly.”
“Eels and foxes cut their losses.”
“Called you back home with him. Not the usual way of things, but strange seas toss us now. Don’t let them see.”
“Don’t let them see, or they’ll take you from him. Might even take your eel like they took two little eels, but what could I do? Had to do it, little fox.”
“Reasons we can’t know, but be at ease, the heart of the young is not the same as the sire.”
“Do not sell yourself short and think you are not the most formidable of foes. I’ve no doubt you have the power to destroy me.” “I suppose time will tell.”
“And me, I’m a fool for all the moments I’ve wondered about you, about this world. I even felt sympathy for the barriers of the Chasm being placed against you. Now I realize I’m nothing but a godsdamned fool.”
“She risked her skinny neck for Sewell. I’m not letting anything happen to her after that, Erik.
Hate me, curse me, I cared little, so long as I was the first thought of her day and the last of her night.
“About had to give him some serenleaf of his own to get the man to stop asking if you was breathing right.”
“Why does my protection even matter? When you first took me, you promised I’d suffer. You promised I’d watch my family burn. Now you want to protect me.”
“Livia Ferus, blood of warriors, temptation of the Ever King, you have nothing to fear from me in here. I am the one who fears this place.”
There was pain and I think a death. Erik, I don’t know how it was caused, but I don’t believe it to be something natural. It is a curse.”
“It appeared after reading to a boy locked in a cell where his folk—the people who should’ve stood for him—were nowhere to be found.”
“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.”
Despite what you think, it is not a proud thing for my folk. It is a painful symbol of an unwanted war.”
“I found my mantle, Songbird. It’s you.”
“Hate me all you want, but don’t regret me. Promise me that.”
“Remember the dreary.” His gaze fell to my arm, the spot with the mark of the House of Kings. Remember the dreary, meaning remember he’d warned me to hide certain truths.
“Make no mistake, Alistair,” I said, grinning. “I claimed her long ago.”
“Her worth to me and this kingdom is unmatched. She has become the mantle of the Ever King.”
I wanted the king to face me. I wanted to understand why the unease in my heart didn’t belong to me. The pressure, the burden of the unknowns, belonged wholly to him.
But know this—you might detest what my king did to you, but Gavyn and I, we owe Erik Bloodsinger everything.”
“Erik, I’m going to try my hardest. If it doesn’t work, please know that. Despite how I was brought here, I don’t want your people to suffer.”
I was a fool. We were meant to take strength from each other.
“I am willingly aiding the king. Perhaps it did not begin that way, but desires change. I know the beauty of his black heart, I’ve seen it. But I also know every bleeding step he has taken has been to save his people. I’ve seen that this curse in the Ever was caused by enemies among you.” A few gasps rippled through the hall. “I also know the dark magic in the earth feels a great deal like a spell,” Livia said, an arrogant grin twisted over her mouth. “What house is it again that casts spells?”
“A symbol of the heart bond I began for the House of Kings. A symbol that bonded you to my grandson because, even as young ones, your heart found itself in his.
“I heard you stand for him.” Celine shifted on her feet, then all at once wrapped her arms around me. “He’s never had someone stand for him. Wouldn’t allow it, honestly, but I’m glad you did.”
“Your scars bother you,” I whispered, “but they do not bother me.”
“Those men came to kill the king and take me for my magic. I’m not leaving him since I am the only person in this room who I know does not want him or me dead.”
All I’ve had is hate, Songbird. Hate and drive to avenge the last Ever King. You hate long enough, you shadow the truth all to keep anything that makes you feel.
