The Ever King (The Ever Seas, #1)

by L.J. Andrews

A tale of a serpent who befriended a songbird. A tale where they lived happily ever after, for in the girl’s version, the snake never devoured the bird.

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, once marked on the surface of the disk, now branded the smooth skin below the crook of her elbow.

No bones. No flesh. No blood.

roses and ravens embroidered in the threads—symbols for our Night Folk clans in the Northern realms. The Eastern, Southern, and Western realms would have their own unique markings.

“I do recall you once said I was forbidden to do so, and I simply forgot to care.”

“Hurry, Liv. I mean this with love, it’s going to take some time for you to get presentable. You look like a goat swallowed you, then tossed you out with its shit.”

“You wound me.” He pressed a hand to the emblem of a sword encircled in shadows stitched to his dark tunic.

As if peace were some fragile bit of ice, and it was only a matter of time before it all cracked.

picked up my dainty silver circlet shaped like a vine of blossoms.

She adjusted the circlet in the shape of spread raven wings braided into her dark hair and gave me an exasperated look. “Take this beast from me.”

“My mother is the light of my heart. But I have plans for this festival, and there are some things a mother should not be privy to when it comes to her son.”

Our people—the Night Folk fae—had the gods-gift of controlling the earth, while the Eastern realms with Jonas and Sander, used tricky magic of the mind and body. Mira’s people took the Southern and Western edges where fae could twist fate, shapeshift, or compel the mind with cantrips and illusions.

If ever I found a love, I’d always secretly prayed it would be like theirs.

Rose thorns wrapped around a dagger, and a battle axe painted the door of the Night Folk coach that would take my uncles and parents to the annual royal council.

Even then, the sea blue of my eyes matched Sol’s more than hers. My skin was a soft, roasted brown like my father’s, and my hair was a shade of night with hints of red and a touch of blackened blue.

I didn’t just want a match because that was expected. I wanted passion, the burn that if my love didn’t touch me soon, I’d burst. I wanted heat, and mess, and obsession.

Fear was heady, like stones piled in my belly, but there was a pull to the water. A fascination I couldn’t dull. The mightier I tried to turn from curiosity, the mightier came the pull to the sea. Like a thick rope around my belly, it yanked me back to the edges between two worlds.

“You know, as stupid as you are most days, you have one of my favorite hearts.”

“Then be reckless, Liv. This festival, forget propriety, forget the nerves. I know, I know, easy for me to say. But maybe this is your gut telling you to be daring. A little bold. Who knows what might happen?”

“Maybe you’re right and I should do something bold. Something out of the ordinary for me.”

When I drank too much, tears flowed over the simplest things. Sander was a sleepy drunk. Jonas grew pensive and thoughtful. Aleksi held ale like a stone. Mira giggled. I bleeding cried.

At once, I yanked it back. What felt like a hot barb jabbed my palm and scorched along my skin until it raised the ridges of the rune scar on my forearm.

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 chase, the fight, the knowledge that you overpowered a foe, was half the excitement.

Folk of the Ever always underestimated females.

The only hope for healing I had left was the power gifted to the former king by the most powerful of sea witches. A gift that strengthened the Ever King, and what I needed now was more damn power.

“To the place songbirds sing.”

The talisman allowed the Ever Ship to carve through any sea, any ocean, any storm, without straining the natural magic of the king’s blood.

The earth fae had made me a prisoner within my own kingdom, but I was still the king of the sea. It bowed to me.

I closed my eyes again and dragged my fingertips through the water as it began to calm the nearer we came to the other side of the wall. One command, and I angered the seas on the surface. I wanted thick, rolling clouds over the water. I wanted our ship to be a ghost in their world.

“A man he’s not, we work we rot, no sleep until it’s through . . .” I faced the shore, a grin on my mouth as the rest of the crew raised their voices. “A sailor’s grave is all we crave, we are the Ever King’s crew!”

But the Ever Ship was a vessel made for gods. A vessel powerful enough to sail through the Chasm without snapping a mast. The red sails were stitched with thick canvas, and petrified scales from deep-sea serpents were staked in the hull. Impenetrable.

The magic of the Ever lived in the voices of its people. Some, like Larsson, had no ability of the sea.

Not to mention he was bound by blood, the way his father was bound to mine, to see to it the Ever King never met his destruction.

“You have fought for this moment, now claim what is yours before they get another chance to take you.”

Such a beautiful little bird. What a pity it was that her serpent had come to ruin her.

She was never theirs anyway. Not really. From the moment the songbird tried to appeal to a serpent, she was mine.

“You sweet, little thing. Shall I get you some milk instead?”

A simple black mask hid his features from his brow to chin, only the tousled waves of his dark hair were visible.

His voice was low, a rasp like a stormy wind, when he said, “Dance with me, little bird.” I tilted my head, confused. He chuckled softly and teased some of the raven feathers on my mask.

“So, who are you, little bird?” A rush of something dangerous hummed in my bones. “Yours, I suppose. For a little while.”

My shadow made a noise, a sound deep and throaty like a growl. He leaned his masked face near mine, the heat in his strange eyes burned in desire. “Speak more words like that, and I will need to keep you longer than a little while.”

Then the secret pull to a boy forbidden to these lands.

I was unaccustomed to anyone outside of my friends asking me about what interested me. My stranger had done that with every dance. In turn, I’d blurted out every light to my soul. Fishing with knives and spears instead of nets, blossoms and soft grass, and painting.

“Lead the way, little bird.”

Mira was the best friend to keep around should you need a bolster of bravery. Never one to discourage us once our minds were made up, Mira simply stood back, ready to catch us if we fell.

“I swear to you, I’ve waited a long time for a moment as perfect as this.”

“If I were a wise man, I might deal with your father first.”

“But I’d rather deal with you.”