“Alfrikr!” His smile widened until I could see his tongue running along the back of his teeth, like a lion salivating over its prey. “I didn’t even recognize you, with your new look.”
He waved a hand at the armor he wore as a guard, but Alfrikr stared him down stoically.
“You two know each other?” I asked, mentally cheering that I’d pegged my guard correctly that first day.
“Oh yes,” Riker responded, his dark hair rustling in the breeze as he leaned back slightly, his legs spread a bit as his hands hooked onto his belt buckle in a pose clearly meant to intimidate.
I found it intensely curious thatanyhuman thought they could intimidate an Elf, but the nerves I could barely distinguish in Alfrikr’s eyes told me everything I needed to know. This pirate, human or not, was incredibly dangerous.
“Alfrikr here was part of Apsara’s crew,” he explained, as if that meant anything to me. His eyes were locked on Alfrikr’s amethyst ones, and the fiery hate that rose in them surprised me. His entire bearing seemed to change, from loose and sultry to cunning and threatening in a moment.
His fingers moved from his buckle to the inside of his jacket, making Alfrikr grip his sword tightly and pull it partially out of its scabbard. Everything around us became tense, both men tightly wound and ready to spring at any moment.
“I’m not part of that world anymore,” Alfrikr spat at him. “And you’re not supposed to be here, Gunnlod. Take your crew and be out of port by sundown, or you’re going to have problems.”
“Going to run to your king and tattle on me?” Riker laughed, his fingers moving so fast I didn’t even catch when he’d grabbed his dagger, only noticing it when he began to twirl it around nimble fingers.
Alfrikr smirked back at him, looking entirely unconcerned. “Maybe, or perhaps I’ll send a message to an old friend about where The Anamnesis is docked. It’s not often, after all, that one can find your ship so easily.”
Riker’s burning blue eyes stared back at him, his lip curling in a snarl. “I’ll be done with my business and out of Gemaria by tonight, don’t you worry your pretty little head about it. Perhaps I’ll send a message to your old friend instead. Find Aletheia’s Eyes and giveCaptainNixie your regards.”
His distaste as he snarled out the word ‘Captain’left me blinking in surprise at the heat he managed to pack into one word. Whatever dislike he felt for Alfrikr, his hate for this Captain made it seem inconsequential in comparison.
Alfrikr suddenly grabbed him by the lapels of his leather duster, pulling him in until their faces were close enough for my guard to speak directly into his ear, entirely ignoring the dagger aimed at his throat.
“Lay a finger on her, and I will hunt you to the ends of the earth, Gunnlod,” Alfrikr’s voice had deepened to a lethal rumble, making my eyes widen in surprise. I had never seen his temper flare like this. Purple fire raged in his eyes as his menacing words left his mouth. “You will never regret anything the way you’ll regret touching her, that’s a fucking promise.”
With that, he pushed the pirate back, the man glaring as he straightened his coat dramatically. Before he could open his mouth to say a word, Alfrikr spoke once more.
“Now get the fuck out of here, Captain. And don’t return.”
With that, Alfrikr took my arm, gentle but insistent, and guided me past the seething pirate left in our wake.
“Is it smart to just leave him like that?” I asked him quietly once I knew we were out of range of human hearing.
Alfrikr scoffed, shaking his head. “He won’t dare risk doing anything to bring Azurill’s wrath down upon him. The pirates survive by staying as under the radar of the Fae as they can. Getting the attention of the High King, who is allied with one of the major Fae kingdoms, would leave them with a target on their back. Riker knows that, which is why he didn’t stab me back there.”
His wry smirk had me shaking my head at him. “It was a risk. He doesn’t seem to like you very much.” I teased him, and Alfrikr heaved a heavy sigh laced with a sadness I couldn’t figure out.
“I used to be a part of the Apsara family’s crew. The head of the family, Pike, gave each of his children their own ships to captain.” He began to explain, and I perked up, curious to learn more about the pirates. “I was part of the crew of Aletheia’s Eyes, captained by his daughter, Nixie.”
As Alfrikr spoke, his amethyst eyes unfocused, as if he was seeing back into the past. “The Apsara family and the Gunnlod family are rivals, you see. Both families have their own lands they’ve claimed, and they’ve been in a deadlock power-wise for years, dating back to the rivalry between Pike and Tizoc, Riker’s father. But Nixie and Riker…”
He shook his head, a haunted and unsettled look on his face. “Let’s just say they took the rivalry to a different level and leave it at that.”
“So why did you leave?” I couldn’t help but ask curiously.
He looked down at me then, his eyes softening as he smiled at me. “I’d wanted to escape the pressures of my position and the expectations my parents had of me. So I left court to be a pirate, wanting to find adventure. It wasn’t until I joined them that I realized how little my problems compared to the humans’, and I resolved to help them where I could.”
His face twisted then, a grimace lining it that seemed out of place, as he continued. “But when the rivalry between the two families escalated, I couldn’t be part of it anymore. That’s as much as I can say.”
I tilted my head, watching the pained look on his face as he fought to get the words out, considering what I was seeing. “You trulycan’tsay, can you?”
He shook his head, pointing to his mouth. I gasped, a hand coming up to cover my own. I knew the humans had figured out a way to use relics to wield magic themselves, but I had never seen the results of it.
Not until now.
Alfrikr had a magical gag. Meaning when he left, the family thought whatever he knew was too dangerous to let slip. They’d ensured he could never say a word.
