He kissed me, doubtless tasting himself on my tongue.
Dark desire still coated his eyes when he pulled back. “What is your decision, Fire?”
“Decision?”
“Will you allow me to devour every piece of you?”
I tugged on his bottom lip. “I’ll consider it.”
A shriek followed his swift movements. In the next breath, Jonas had one of my knees hooked over his shoulder, the other he kept pressed open on the bed with his palm. He fitted his body between my thighs. “I think there might be more tasting to be done before decisions can be made. Don’t move, woman. I have you exactly how I want you.”
He was wholly villainous. Impossible not to move beneath Jonas Eriksson’s cruel mouth. No mistake when I shattered under his tongue, the entire Black Palace heard my cries.
Chapter 35
The Nightmare Prince
To reach the isle,we would sail into the Ever Kingdom again.
With our smaller ships, the dive below the tides to pass through the underwater border between the earth and sea realms was disorienting, but shorter than it had been when sea fae were enemies.
When the stempost burst through the surface, the sun was deeper in the sky, and the winds heavy with more heat than back home. Skadi leaned over the rail near the borders of the far seas and Bloodsinger’s domain, smiling as merfolk burst from the sapphire tides over and over.
Their eyes were like bulging orbs, but a little captivating. Iridescent fins caught the sunlight and glimmered like hundreds of gemstones in the water. Lovely creatures until they flashed their needle-like teeth that could tear out a throat.
“Damn fins.” The old sea fae who ferried us grunted and bit into a blood pear Ylva sent the whole crew. “Always must be the center of everyone’s notice.”
I propped my elbows on the rail, grinning. “Bitter toward the merfolk, Nightseer?”
Nightseer earned his name for his ability to sail beneath the stars as clearly as if it were daylight. A simple magic, but useful enough Bloodsinger placed him as one of the lead seamen for the earth realms.
The fae huffed and tossed the core of his pear into the tides, chortling when one of the mermaids flicked it back onto deck with a few gurgled curses. “Not bitter, Prince. Frankly, don’t be telling me king, but I don’t see the point of merfolk. All they do is swim and try to drown fae who can’t drown.”
Fair enough.
Nightseer huffed and glared at the sea. A scrappy sort of fae with wiry hair and a beard that had not seen a brush in a few turns, he looked less threatening and more petulant, like a child who hadn’t gotten a favorite toy.
“Better to be rid of them now that we be seeing more mortal folk in the Ever. I’ve told my queenie, her mortal maj ought to take great care with them fins.”
I laughed. Livia’s mother was mortal and one of the fiercest warrior queens I knew. More than once Elise had kept my mother and father alive. Then again, mine had done the same for the Night Folk king and queen.
“I’m sure your concern is noted and revered by Bloodsinger.”
Nightseer’s golden eyes brightened. “You’ll tell the king, won’t you, that I’m doing a pleasing job in the earth realms?”
I gripped the man’s bony shoulder and gave him a little shake. “Nightseer, I’ve not a single complaint, and the Ever King shall know it. In fact, it looks like he is nearly here.”
Skadi leaned over the rail a little more, mutely fascinated as she watched the thrashing water boil and bulge until the jagged serpent figurehead shot toward the sky, a sea creature aiming for the sun.
For a few breaths the bow remained airborne before the keel slammed back onto the tides, rippling out its torrent enough our longship rocked violently.
I hooked an arm around Skadi’s waist to keep her from spilling over the edge. “Bloodsinger! You almost knocked my wife into the tides.”
From the quarterdeck, the Ever King materialized. A black scarf held back his hair from his face. He leaned over his elbows onto the rail, a smug twist to his scarred lips. “Had to test if you were keen on the idea or if you’d prefer she stay dry, Prince.”
Bastard. “I amnotkeen on the idea.”
Erik opened his arms as though he were innocent. “How was I to know? You’ve not written to my queen and she’s rather furious with you about it.”
