She didn’t have to explain her worries to him. She didn’t have to pretend everything was all right, because he wouldn’t let her. He wanted her to tell him what was going on inside her head.
Could she?
In short, yes. She could trust him, more than anyone else she’d ever met. He understood so much about her history and herself. That had to mean something.
River opened her mouth to explain she was finally ready, that she wanted to know what this was like, when she heard the sound of water.
Not the trickling music that had surrounded them the entire time she stood before him. But the bursting rush of a dam breaking, like someone had stepped through the surrounding walls.
She flinched into him, tucking herself against his chest before she turned around to stare at the creatures who entered the temple.
All five of them were unlike anything she could have conjured up in her imagination. Their skin glowed like the deep sea creatures with bioluminescence glittering through their veins. They wore armor made of coral and ancient shells. Their hair was gathered at the top of their heads, dark like hers and reflecting a rainbow of colors.
Webbed fingers clutched spears with obsidian tips. Wicked and deadly weapons pointed directly at River and Archer.
She couldn’t stop staring at their hands. The webs. They looked exactly like her own. The light reflected on them in a thousand directions and the oil-slick texture was so beautiful.
This was what she was. These creatures were where she had come from.
One warrior shouldered the others aside, and she was even more stunning than the rest. Her skin was a pale white that glowed from deep within. She held twin daggers in her hands rather than the spears. Two shells covered her ample chest, the rest of her armor made of plates from some ancient and deep fish who lived in the abyss.
“You are not welcome here, half-breed,” the woman snarled.
Half-breed? She knew that was what Archer had called her, but she hadn’t thought coming here meant someone would actually attack her. All the creatures raised their weapons as though they would run her through.
Archer stiffened beside her. “Now wait just a minute, undine-”
The woman lifted a dagger and pointed at him. “I would advise you to keep your mouth shut, King of the Sea. You know the rules. No half-breeds are allowed in our seas.”
Was that really the rule? River looked up at him and saw the truth written on his face. He had known she wasn’t supposed to be here. And he’d brought her nonetheless.
This wasn’t right. The creatures were just protecting their home, and she had trespassed without realizing what she was doing.
River cleared her throat and ascended a few of the stairs. “My sincere apology. I didn’t know I wasn’t allowed here. I’ll go back to the surface.”
The creature to the woman’s left raised his spear. “The penalty is death.”
Her blood froze in her veins. Death? She didn’t want to die just because she had explored a bit of her own history. River stared up at the creatures and saw no pity in their gazes. They would kill her.
They wanted to. Something deep inside them hated her. She could see it in the grip of their spears and the rage radiating off them like turbulent waves in a storm.
She straightened her shoulders and took another, brave, step forward. “I don’t want to die. I’ll go home.”
The next step brought her close enough to make eye contact with the woman, and then she saw it. The slope of her nose, the tall peak of her forehead, and the tiny beauty mark on her right temple.
River had seen this woman before. Not in person, but she’d seen her.
“I know you,” she whispered, her eyes widening. “My father has a picture of you on his bedside table.”
The woman turned white as snow. “No human has ever taken a photograph of me.”
“I’ve seen you before.” River narrowed her eyes while her stomach rolled acid up into her throat. “He said you were an old friend, someone he met at college. I believed him.”
Tears filled her eyes just looking at the woman. There weren’t any pictures of her mother in the house. None. Her father said she looked just like her mother, so why would he need photographs? He had her mother right in front of him.
But that wasn’t the truth. Yet another thing her father had lied about.
This was her mother. The woman who had grinned with an arm wrapped around Dad in the photo.
River had stared at the photo for hours when she was little, pretending the gorgeous woman was her mother. She hadn’t ever realized the woman really was her mom. That she had been staring at the answer she’d searched for her entire life.
She sucked in a deep breath, eyes watery with tears. “Mom?”
The woman swallowed hard and shook her head. “I have no children. Half-breeds are nothing more than an inconvenience.”
Each word struck her chest like a blow. River stepped down, retreating to Archer with her heart bleeding in her chest. “You don’t mean that. I’ve been looking for you my entire life.”
“I have no daughter.” Her mother snapped out the words like a whip.
They struck River in the face until she hit Archer’s chest with her back. She tried to suck in a deep lungful of air, but she was hyperventilating now. River recognized she needed to calm down. Why couldn’t she breathe?
He wrapped an arm around her shoulders, holding her hard against him. “Aquaria, you have no right. I am King of the Sea, or have you forgotten?”
Aquaria—was that her mother’s name?—straightened her shoulders. “Even you are not above the law.”
“No, I’m not. But I can protect what is mine far easier than you can kill me.”
“You would attack us to protect a human?” Aquaria asked, incredulous and horrified. “Has she cast a spell upon you?”
As if River knew magic! If she was nothing more than a half-breed, how would she be capable of such feats?
River wanted to argue with them. She wanted to throw a tantrum like she was a child and she wanted to scream at her mother asking why couldn’t she love her. After all the things she had done, after all the years River had spent searching for her, how could she just throw her own daughter away?
She hadn’t even known her name. Only that Archer called her Aquaria.
Tears threatened to spill over her cheeks. Tears of anger and rage and sadness.
All she had ever wanted was to fit in. She just wanted to find a place where she was loved and accepted. Even if she was different.
Apparently, the faerie world did not differ from the human one.
Archer was stiff as a board behind her. He stared at the creatures who held their weapons without fear. In fact, she could practically feel magic coming off his body, dripping down his feet and landing on the ground in glimmering droplets.
“A spell?” he repeated, his words echoing in the chamber. “Do you believe I am so weak that a half-breed could sway my mind with a little magic?”
There it was again. Half-breed. Said as though she didn’t feel the words to her very core. They were an insult. Why couldn’t these people see that?
He released her, striding up the steps as though she wasn’t there. His entire body undulated, as though he were no longer made of flesh and bone, but water barely held together in a humanoid form.
Aquaria held her weapons tighter and stuck to her words. “She must have. The King of the Sea would know not to bring such an animal into our midst.”
“She’s your daughter, isn’t she?”
“I recognize no half-breed as one of my own.” Her mother’s voice deepened, so dark and dangerous there was an edge to it. A sharpness no voice should have. “Now step aside, King. Allow us to kill her, as is the law of our people.”
River wanted to rage. She wanted to scream they had no right to take her life when they’d never been a part of it to begin with.
She couldn’t say any of the words, though. Her heart was shredding in
to pieces and her voice had disappeared. She wanted to curl up in a little ball, or seek safety in her father’s arms.
He’d been right. The sea was dangerous.
Archer snarled, and the sound was the crashing thud of waves against stone. “You will not lay a finger upon her!”
“Shall you break your own laws then? Step aside and allow us to do what we must.”
“If you try to touch her, Aquaria, I will kill you all.” The words were filled with a dark promise.
River didn’t want any of them to fight. She followed him up the steps, light on her toes and almost silent.
As she watched, Archer changed. Something deep in his chest glowed, blue and lovely as it was powerful. It spread through his limbs, the bright light spreading through all his veins, and reached up to his head where it formed peaks. No, not peaks. A crown.
It shimmered on top of his head even as his body became translucent. She could see straight through all his skin. The watery image of Aquaria stared back at her.
“Archer,” she whispered.
Her words reached him too late. Tendrils of water struck out at the creatures holding weapons. Like snakes, the water wrapped around them and squeezed.
She would have thought it wouldn’t harm them, considering they could breathe underwater. It wasn’t meant to drown them, she realized. The water carried with it all the weight and pressure of the sea.
The creatures, undines she could only imagine, choked under his magic. They dropped their weapons, slapping at the water. Clawing at it as they tried to free themselves.
But water had no form. Every time they touched it, more replaced what they had dispelled from their mouths.
They were dying. Right in front of her, and River watched with a horrified expression.
Her mother’s eyes bulged out of their sockets. She was the only one who didn’t struggle. Instead, she remained stoic and still, staring at her daughter with a purple face and still body.
Was this what she thought she deserved?
River reached out and touched a hand to Archer’s shoulder. She sank right through his skin, her hand disappearing into the water of his body and touching the magic that ran through him.
“Archer,” she whispered again. “Stop.”
“They wish to hurt you,” he growled. It wasn’t his voice. This was a thunderous crash of power and man. She hadn’t heard this part of him or even seen an inkling of it. But there it was.
Magic.
This wasn’t fun loving Archer who seemed young and vibrant with life. This was a powerful faerie king who wanted to kill someone. And if he wanted it, then he would take it by whatever measures necessary.
Gulping, she stepped even closer. Until the water brushed her cheek as she leaned against him. “Stop, for me.”
“I will kill them for you.”
“No, that’s not what I want.” She tried not to look at her dying mother and the nightmarish features of the other creatures. “I just want to go home, Archer. Please. Take me home.”
Perhaps it was the sob that warped the last few words. Or perhaps he didn’t want to kill the subjects of his court. Whatever his reasoning, Archer’s magic subsided.
The blue glow eased within his chest. His body returned, warm and strong beneath her hands. The tendrils of water released their hold on the faeries who dropped to their hands and knees.
Aquaria coughed up a mouthful of water before looking up at her daughter. “The sea is no place for a half-breed,” she choked. “I told your father that. He was supposed to teach you.”
Her heart broke. Of course her mother had been the one to set the rule. She would have known what would happen to her daughter if she dove into the waves.
“He did,” River replied. “I just wanted to see where I came from.”
“Not here,” her mother replied. “You are not from here.”
“I’m not from the land either.” And therein lay the problem.
River was a woman from both land and sea, but welcomed by neither. How was she supposed to find herself when she belonged nowhere?
She turned to Archer and held out her arms. She needed him to hold her, to feel his hands against her back and know at least someone still saw her. “Take me home,” she whispered, the words more of a whimper than request. “Please.”
He gathered her against his chest and together they left the temple of her people to rot.
12
They emerged from the ocean in a great wave of water that spat them out onto the sand. River barely noticed the magic that had rushed them back to her home, but she noticed the sun rising just above the horizon.
How could she focus on the wonders of magic and the powers of the fae, when she wasn’t wanted? When she’d finally met her mother and the woman didn’t even care she was alive?
River would have understood a surprised reaction. Perhaps even shock or anger. Aquaria had birthed her, she knew she had a daughter, because she’d been there when River was born.
How could she say she didn’t have a daughter?
So many emotions pounded against her skull. Anger at the woman who should have loved her. Sadness that even her own mother couldn’t find a good reason to want a relationship with her daughter. Guilt that she’d betrayed her father. Horror that she’d almost seen many people die because this faerie king wanted to protect her.
King?
She stumbled out of the water, turned on her heel, and pointed her finger at him. “You lied to me.”
Archer paused. He stood with waves crashing around his calves, so handsome in a ruined suit and big blue eyes watching her every move. “I what?”
“You didn’t tell me you were... You’re a king.” She hadn’t even registered the words when her own mother was denying her existence, but he had even called himself king. “What does that even mean?”
He opened his mouth, closed it, clearly struggling for words.
Before he could say another lie, she lifted her hand for silence. “No, you know what? I don’t want to know. I don’t want to be involved in this anymore.”
River stomped through the sand. She was such an idiot.
Why would any man like him be interested in her? Because this was all a fun game for him. He thought it hilarious the little half-breed didn’t know anything about the sea. He was probably bored sitting on his spoiled throne and wanted some entertainment.
Well, she was done being the jester in his court of freaks.
Done.
“River?” he called out.
No. She wouldn’t turn around and give him that satisfaction. She was going home. Back to her father who only lied to her when he was trying to keep her safe.
She was going to tell him the truth this time. A faerie had twisted her mind and forced her to go into the ocean. The same as her mother. Oh god, she had to tell him about Mom.
The sand sucked at her feet, slowing her progress. Or maybe it was her own dread about telling her father the truth. She’d wanted to know where she came from. And because she hadn’t listened to him, she had almost died.
Other people had almost died.
Sniffing hard, she wrapped her arms around her waist and started toward the stairs leading up to her home. A lot of truths had to come out tonight. Her own and her father’s about the woman in the photograph next to his bed.
“River!” Archer shouted. She could hear the wet slap of his feet thudding against the sand as he raced after her. “I know you need some time to process all this, but I think we need to talk.”
“Talk?” she whipped around, damp hair flying around her face like snakes. “I’m not talking about any of this, Archer. I want to forget it ever happened.”
“How can you say that?” He pointed to the sea. “Your home is right there, calling for you.”
“No, it’s your home. I think that was made very clear. I’m not welcome there.” River shook her head, a mirthless laugh slipping from her tongue. “I can’t believe I let you convince me of some fairyta
le ending where I dove into the sea like the Little Mermaid. God, I’m so stupid.”
He reached for her hands. She pulled them away before he could make her feel even worse. He couldn’t make this better with simpering words and empty promises.
Archer’s brows furrowed. “River. I will tell you everything if you give me a chance. The undines are horrible creatures, and they uphold an ancient law. I didn’t think they would know we were in the ocean. I would never have put you at risk if I thought they could find us.”
“That’s not the point. I don’t care that you put me in danger, I care that you made me face the truth.” She spat the words so quickly she almost stuttered. “They don’t want me, Archer. The humans don’t want me. I’m floating in limbo because you proved my worst fears were true.”
He threw his hands up in exasperation. “I didn’t make you go into the ocean, River. You chose.”
“I never would have if you hadn’t sung your siren song and convinced me to leap.” She wanted to tug her hair out by the roots in frustration. How could he not understand this?
She was just a twenty-four year old woman who’d never left her father’s house. She hadn’t traveled. Every part of her day was dedicated to family and living in a fantasy world of art and charcoal.
She wasn’t ready for adventure. She’d just hurt herself.
He stared into her eyes, brows furrowed and lips pressed thin. “I thought this would help. I wanted you to see where you came from, and the world you could take in the palm of your hand.”
“That’s another lie,” she whispered, tears filling her eyes. “You knew I could never stay in the ocean. So all you did was dangle an impossible dream and then shatter it in front of me.”
His jaw dropped open in shock.
She couldn’t stand here and argue with him. He wouldn’t see this situation the same way she did.
River didn’t have to explain her feelings. She felt them, and that was enough reason to leave.
Clearing her throat, she swallowed hard and let her shoulders slump forward in defeat. “It was a good fairytale while it lasted. But fairytales aren’t real, Archer. Just like this was never real.”
King of the Sea Page 9
