The figure draws near one of the orbs of light, and it illuminates a female form with pale skin and long silver hair draped over a naked torso. At her waist rests a belt woven from seaweed from which pouches and sheathed weapons hang. Below the belt, her flesh turns to black scales that extend into a long, trailing serpent’s tail. Her upper body remains upright like someone in seelie form, but instead of walking with legs, she slithers side to side, aided by the movements of her sinuous tail. She stops before me and smiles with blood-red lips that part to reveal a mouth of pointed teeth. Her appearance is equal parts beautiful and horrifying. While I’ve never met her in person before, there’s no questioning who she is. I’ve heard more than enough to fill my nightmares ever since Father first shared tales of her terror.
“Queen Nimue,” I say through gritted teeth.
“My darling Maisie,” she says with wistful warmth. “I’d hoped you’d call me Mother.”
* * *
For several momentsI can do nothing but stare at the woman who birthed me. The monster I never cared to meet and who apparently felt the same about me. Hundreds of angry retorts storm through my mind. It takes all my restraint to remain aloof. With one arm still seized by the fae who captured me, I prop my other at my waist and try to act nonplussed. Finally, I find my voice, forcing it out smooth like sea glass. “You may have given my father a good rubbing and retched me from your nethers, but you’re no mother to me.”
She lifts her chin and gives a tittering laugh. “You’re more my daughter than you know, Maisie dear.”
I bat my lashes. “Is that why I’ve been running from you for a year?”
She slithers closer. “Just look at you. A perfect combination of Ronan and me.”
I bristle at the sound of my father’s name uttered so causally from her lips. As lifelong adversaries, their one-time affair was nothing but a mistake of passions. She has no right to call himRonanlike they’re old friends. He’s a fellow monarch of the Sea Court, that’s all. The calm, careful seelie rule to temper her violent unseelie reign.
Now that we’re standing so close, I can’t help but see what she means about my looks. While all my brothers are the spitting image of Father in seelie form, with his same shade of copper-red hair and his dark, freckled skin, I turned out just a little different. My hair is pink instead of red. My skin, while freckled, is more of a golden tan than umber. I never thought the differences had anything to do with my mother, considering my brothers were all conceived by different women too. Her pale skin and silver hair make my appearance a bit more…logical. And here I always thought I was just extra cute. The realization that I inheritedanythingfrom Nimue makes my stomach churn like a stormy sea.
I channel my unease into anger and try to pull from the fae’s grip again.
“Release her, Zara,” Nimue says gently.
Zara burns me with a glare before letting go of my arm. Then she tosses something at Nimue. As she catches it, I recognize the silver compact Zara had before the light swallowed us whole. Somehow, it managed to take me from my room to wherever we are now in an instant. Or had it simply knocked me out? I find both scenarios unlikely.
Free from Zara’s grip, I take a step away and put both hands on my hips. One hand curls around a hard object, reminding me of the hair comb I still hold. I lift my chin. “How did you find me?”
She laughs. “How could I not? I’m a—what do they call me on land? A witch?”
“They call you a lot of things and none are meant to flatter.”
“Ah, yes. I do like those titles. They make me sound rather vicious, do they not?”
“That’s one word for it.”
She lifts her chin, an approving smile tugging her lips. “Maisie dear, ever since your father told me what you can do, I’ve been looking for you.”
The blood leaves my face. “What do you mean hetoldyou?” When Father warned me I’d be hunted by Nimue after killing Luther, he seemed determined to keep the queen from finding me. He was desperate to keep me safe, which was why he originally intended to marry me off in a different court on land. So why in the name of the shells would he tell her about what I did?
An answer comes to me, one so terrifying I start to tremble. “What did you do to him?” My head fills with the worst possible scenarios. Did she kill him? Torture him? If he’d been assassinated, I would have heard about it through gossip, wouldn’t I? The death of a fae royal is hardly small news.
Nimue lifts a brow. “I didn’t do anything to your father, my little pearl.”
My reeling thoughts go still. I can’t believe her. Can I? Her inability to lie doesn’t mean she can’t deceive. I open my mouth, but no sound comes out.
“We have much to discuss,” Nimue says with a sigh. “But first, I need to do this.”
She slithers toward me, and I lurch away. I don’t get far before Zara is at my back, hands clenched around my arms, restraining them behind my back to keep me in place. Why is she so damn strong? Nimue closes in and frames my face with her hands. I fight to pull away, but her grip is firm on my cheeks. Her face remains gentle as she stares down at me with a soft smile. Then she parts her ruby lips and begins to sing. The tune is strange and chilling, laced with words in a language I don’t understand. The song falls over me, wraps around me like a blanket. Every word seems to skitter over my skin, drawing each hair on my body to stand on end. Pressure tightens my lungs, squeezing my heart with a sharp pain. I bite back a cry, certain she’s killing me—
Then the song cuts off, and the agony ends. Nimue releases me, and Zara frees me as well. My eyes burn into my mother’s. “What did you just do to me?”
She turns away and begins to slither down the coral corridor. “Come along,” she says over her shoulder. “Run away and you’ll be dead in ten days.”
9
Jaw slack, I stare at Nimue’s back.Dead in ten days. Did she just…put a curse on me? My mother continues to slither down the hall while fear and rage fight to drown out my senses.
An elbow to my side snaps me to attention. “Go,” Zara says with a sneer, “or I’ll drag you by your hair.”
