When I spoke, I could barely scrape out a whisper. “What are you trying to tell me? Speak it plainly, please.”
“I cannot. My orders prevent me. Buthecan.”
The God of Fear opened the door and pushed me forward. Inside, Sirius was waiting for me with the Mortal Blade clutched in his hand.
Eleven
Niamh
The beast destroyed two ships before the humans killed it with their spears. It took at least three dozen stabs for the turquoise water to burn with red and the thrashing waves to stop. Four more days were then needed for the crews to clear the wreckage and pay homage to the dead. When it was finally time to attempt another departure, my skin was jumping off my bones to get to Aesir.
This was taking far too long.
Now Val and I were sitting around a table deck-side, playing cards. We’d only been sailing a few hours, but I could tell by the paleness of her cheeks that she needed something to keep her mind off the sea. At any moment, our path could collide with another beast. It was a risk we were willing to take, but that didn’t mean it was easy.
As I waited for Val to play her card, I jiggled my knee.
She twirled a strand of her red hair around a finger, tossed a queen onto the table, and said, “I win.” Then her gaze landed on my shaking thigh. “I’m not sure who needs the distraction more. You or me.”
“You know, a king trumps a queen.”
“You have a king?”
“No.” I smiled, tossing down my cards. “Well played, Val. Go again?”
“Sure.” She gathered the cards and started to shuffle them. “But only if you tell me why you’re so on edge. Is it because of the…whatwasit, anyway? Octopi aren’t anywhere near that big.”
“Some monstrous creation of the gods, no doubt.”
Val paused in her shuffling. The sea breeze rustled the loose hair around her shoulders, and the sun above brought out the pink flush of her cheeks. She’d never looked more beautiful, which was quite the accomplishment. Val looked beautiful all the time.
“And they’re the reason you’re so on edge?” Val asked.
“No, not particularly,” I admitted. “I’m frustrated that it’s taking so long to get back to Kal. I’ve spent almost every day of the last four hundred years by his side. Now he’s up against the gods and their army of beasts. It’s the biggest fight he’s ever faced. I should be there.”
“I know how you feel. Tessa and I have a thing we’ve said to each for as long as I can remember. ‘If you fall, I fall.’ We stand by each other, no matter what. But I’m not standing beside her right now. I’m across an entire fucking sea.”
I nodded. “You’re loyal to her. It’s a commendable trait, especially when you aren’t bound to her by oath or blood. You chose her, and she chose you.”
“And what about you and Kalen? I suppose he’s your king, so you didn’t have much choice but to serve him.” Val dealt the cards, though she kept her eyes on me.
“No, I did choose Kal,” I said, half-smiling at the memory. “He gave me the option to leave after his mother went missing. I was her Queen’s Shadow, and he didn’t expect me to serve him when he took her place on the throne. But I saw something in him, something different from his mother. Where she was cunning and sharp, he was—is—well…I can hardly call him soft. There’s blood on his hands, too, but he’s—”
“Honorable?” asked Val.
“He tries. And in a world like this, trying matters.”
“So you stayed.”
“And so I stayed. Now that he’s met Tessa, hopefully I won’t have to worry about becoming the next ruler of the Kingdom of Shadow.”
Val sat back in her chair and focused her attention on her spread of cards, but then said, “I didn’t know he’d named you his heir.”
“It’s nothing to boast about. He only named me because there were no better options.”
Val smiled. “Something tells me that’s not true.”
“I’m a fighter, Val. A warrior with an ugly scar on her face.”
