The Ever King (The Ever Seas, #1)

by L.J. Andrews

“That’s enough. All these turns, I thought you wanted me to take you away from here.”

“Touch me and my father will hunt you down to the depths of your hellish kingdom.”

“Oh, love.” Bloodsinger stroked his gloved knuckles over my cheek. “That is exactly my hope.”

“Foolish games bring dangerous rewards,” he hissed near my ear. “Remember that.”

“Listen to me, love. The sooner you follow my order, the sooner we leave your folk in our wake. Less lives lost. Your choice.”

“Keep up, love, or I change my mind and scatter his bones.”

“Stieg, stand down.” “Can’t do that, Princess.” “They take me, they leave,”

“Erik, think hard about what you’re doing.”

“For turns I’ve had nothing else to think about, warrior.” “You’re starting new wars.” “No. I’m finally ending them.”

To travel the Chasm without the aid of a sea fae was another matter.

She’d hate me, maybe bite me—gods, I hoped so—for what had to be done. I gripped a hand around one of her ankles and pulled her back to me. She gulped, released too much air, and stared at me with a hint of betrayal.

Would I choke her? Run her through? I didn’t have plans for all that. Yet. There was suffering to be had first. Instead, I kissed her.

“I’ll give you breath, but only if you behave.” Lore existed about the kiss of sea singers, one that gave endless breath to a land walker they loved more than the sea.

In the meantime, I got to torment those sweet lips. I got to bring out the hate she buried beneath her cloak of innocence.

The princess was mine to ruin by right and destiny, and I planned to begin now.

My tongue slipped through my teeth and swiped over the salty...

I demanded her mouth, and took it. She tasted like rain on the sea, fresh and wild. As expected, she resisted. Until I released a soft breath over her tongue. With my hands on the small of her back, the shudder rippled beneath my palms.

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.

In another heartbeat, she clung to me like she craved the heat of my hands as much as I craved hers. The princess had her wrists bound, but her fingers curled around my tunic, holding me close. With a graceful slide through the current, she pressed her hips to mine.

“What ways are you thinking of slitting my throat, Songbird?” “It’d be foolish of me to give up my plans,” she hissed. “I swear to you, it will be a show worth the wait.” “Such venom.” With one knuckle, I stroked her cheek. “Careful with your threats of my untimely death, love, or you might end up stealing my heart.”

“Hang onto me. I’d hate to lose you along the way.” She scoffed, teeth bared. “I’d rather drown in the depths than touch you.” “Suit yourself, love.”

“Say goodbye, Songbird.”

“Face me, Songbird,” he said, almost gently, against my ear.

He pulled me between his arms and aligned our chests in such a way my nose struck his. Gods, his eyes . . . I could tell myself they were awful, but in truth, they stole my breath.

“Wrap those arms around my neck. Like you did so well before.” “My greatest shame,” I spat back, but complied.

“By the gods,” I breathed out before I could stop myself. Bloodsinger scoffed. “Welcome to the Ever.” The Ever Kingdom.

“No worries, love. Needs to mix with your blood before it boils your insides. Best not to swallow it, though.” “Maybe I have a taste for blood.”

He was a fiend, a tyrant, and his smile should fill my head with hate and bitterness. I could not look away. The man had a dimple in his cheek when he smiled, and it did something to his eyes. They burned like fire in the brush, wild and free.

“Admittedly, I don’t understand how you have the rune, but it led me back to you. Face the truth, love, you fastened your own chain around your throat.”

“You want to think I am lying,” he went on, “because it means those who love you with such tenderness might be as monstrous as me.”

“Fae clans battled for turns before the great war between our worlds, Songbird.

“Look at me!” he shouted.

We all have a darkness within us, and desperation to survive can reveal the cruelest pieces.”

“I’ll sleep better knowing they are imagining all the horrors you must be enduring.” “Horrors you plan to bestow soon enough, true?”’ “I’d hate to spoil the surprise.” Erik leaned into me, his mouth hovered over mine. “Let’s just say you’ve become my most prized possession.”

“I’ve upset you. I do hate when you’re upset.”

“Disappoint you? Strange response. How might I better meet your expectations as your captor?”

“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.”

“You took pity on a boy because you knew I’d always be a threat. You wanted that threat tamed, so do not pretend you were kind out of the goodness of your heart.

Kindness is not free, love. There is always something expected in return.”

“What sort of sad existence have you known to not understand genuine concern?” “Save your pity and worry a bit more about your life.”

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.

“If only it were so simple, Songbird. You are the perfect, unexpected blade that will cut out the hearts of your folk. They’ll suffer. You’ll watch. Only when they’re on their knees, pleading, will I give them the death they crave.”

“I will never help you hurt anyone I love.”

“You’re mine to use as I wish.” He stepped back and opened his arms. “Face the truth. You belong to the Ever King.”

accept that you’re mine, and you always were.”

“That is what I am, Celine Tidecaller. Had

“We don’t do family names in the Ever. We are named by the talents of our voices. Most sea folk blessed with a bit of magic have some gift of their voice, some ability it can do. I’ve honed mine to travel through water, so I earned the name Tidecaller.”

“The first mate, you already met. Tait is called Heartwalker. Larsson, the second mate, has no sea voice, but we call him Bonekeeper. You’ll want to get a glance at the chain around his neck. Don’t mistake a lack of magic as weakness. I assure you, he kills well enough.”

“Sleep well, love?” His eyes roved over my figure, halting on his shirt. A flash of heat—or rage—filled his gaze.

“When you sail on the Ever Ship, you’re given a duty, be it king or crew. We work as one, or we don’t live long. There are two positions open, and I thought you’d take to a galley hand with Sewell better than the other option.”