River could see his magic undulating from the boat. It spread through the throne and into the hand of the giant. Would he use the stone as a weapon?
Instead, Archer laughed. The sound carried over the still sea and echoed across the waters. The clouds seemed heavier with his mirthless chortle. The raindrops were fatter, heavier, still flooding the world beyond and rising the sea to impossible heights. “I am still your king, Aquaria. No matter whether you pledged to me or Archer. We are now one.”
Their boat glided, too slow to reach the stone fast enough.
“Damn it,” River swore. They needed the engine to keep moving, even the oars would be too loud. She couldn’t swim fast enough to the stone, her mother would run out of arguments before she got there.
Twin heads emerged from the water. “River,” they hissed in unison. “Come on.”
She looked over her shoulder at her father who stared at Ebb and Tide with shocked eyes. She realized he’d only ever seen her mother, not any other faerie. Undines were relatively normal looking compared to the strange creatures of the Water Court.
She stood shakily at the bow of the skiff. “Dad,” she whispered. “Wish me luck.”
“Good luck, sweetheart.” He looked as though he wanted to say more. And there were a thousand things to say between them. Instead, he added, “I love you, always.”
Don’t cry. Don’t cry, she told herself. “I love you too. I will stop this. I promise.”
And with that, she dove into the water. Silent and smooth, she speared through the hushed waves into the depths.
Ebb and Tide swam to her side, each taking an arm. They said nothing. All they did was guide her through the water at impossible speed. She raced by a hundred faeries, all hovering in the depths and staring up to the surface.
Some of their eyes glowed with a fanatic excitement. Others were wide with worry. She knew the court would be split. The creatures she’d met thus far were kind, and none of them would wish for death. There were dangerous fae, however, like the ones who had come from the black waters to hunt the humans.
They were here too. Seated atop their sharks with spears in their hands, ready for the call to war that would surely send them to the land of the humans. Not if she could stop them, though.
River held the dagger in her hand. She didn’t plan on letting it go until she had buried it in Archer’s chest. Her mind raced with a plan, but quickly realized there couldn’t be one.
Aquaria was giving her a distraction. That was all. River still had to get to the throne and had to be the one to attack him. She wasn’t a soldier. She was a girl from a small town who had only experienced adventure in the arms of a fae.
Ebb and Tide slowed. She saw the monolith of stone coming out of the water. The great being stood with a powerful stance, his hand outstretched and the stairs wrapping around his entire body. Cracks surrounded his knees, however, and she wondered if he’d been kneeling for a very long time.
The twins helped her to the stairs, then released their hold on her arms. She crawled out of the water and shook off as much as she could.
“Thank you,” she whispered. “I’m going to do my best.”
“We know,” they said in unison.
Tide reached forward and touched a hand to her foot. “Good luck, River. He’s a good man underneath all that hatred.”
As if she needed the reminder. The blade in her hand would end the life of a man who loved adventure, and who knew how to make her laugh better than anyone else. She’d only had him for a few moments.
How was this fair? The question repeated in her mind as she climbed the stairs. Her bare feet padded a little too loud, but she tried her best to make sure she didn’t kick any rocks. She needed to remain silent for this.
But her mind was screaming. Turn around, it seemed to say. Disappear into the water and let it all end. You can’t kill him. It would be like killing yourself.
And it would, but she couldn’t be the one who let the world die. Who let all the humans die.
Could she?
The higher up the arm she went, the more she could hear Aquaria’s voice. “A king need not destroy the world to show his power! You would send us all to war again, and we remember what happened the last time we attacked the humans.”
His voice thundered in response. “The last time you attacked the humans, I was not in control.”
“The king always used your magic. Why should this time be any different?”
Attacking his ego seemed to be working well. River reached the top of the stairs and crouched behind the giant’s thumb. She could see the entire palm from where she was, but now she had to figure out her next step.
The throne was in front of the four fingers of the giant’s hand. She could race out from the side, but he would see her movement. Going straight for him also seemed a little foolish. The elemental could throw her from the hand and into the waiting grasp of his dangerous army. They’d only let her pass this time because they didn’t notice Ebb and Tide carrying her behind them.
If they caught her scent, the shark mermaids would tear her apart.
Which only left an attack from behind. If she could somehow climb behind the fingers, maybe she could drop down on him. Her mother had claimed the dagger had to be buried into his heart though. She didn’t know where that was from his back.
The watery figure on the throne looked directly at her hiding spot. “I know you’re there, River.”
How? Was he just guessing? She’d been silent in her approach.
“You still have seawater on you, silly girl. I knew you were here the moment you touched the ocean.”
Damn it. Of course he’d use the sea to his advantage.
There was no point in hiding now. He knew where she was, and a sneak attack was impossible if he could track her just by her wet clothing.
She rounded the thumb and approached the throne. The creature sitting atop it wasn’t her Archer. This watery figure glowed with veins of magic spreading throughout his entire body like a network of fibers.
A translucent crown sat atop his head. Beautiful as it was dangerous, magic threaded throughout the wavering water of its form.
“Hello, Archer,” she whispered.
“Archer no longer, my dear.” The thing on the throne looked at her with pity. “What are you doing here?”
“I came to say goodbye.” River’s tongue burned. Her stomach heaved as though she might throw up, but she held the gorge in her body. She might be a faerie, but she was a half-breed. Lying was part of her bloodline. After all, she was half human.
“He’s not here anymore,” the elemental replied. He slowly stood and left the throne, taking calculated steps toward her.
River held her hand behind her back, the dagger suddenly feeling like a strange beacon he’d sense. “I think Archer is still in there. Somewhere.”
The creature held its arms out at its side. “You think he’s here? He gave up all sense of self to take the throne. He knew what the world would come to if he didn’t. And he understood the kingdom underneath the waves has more value than the one on land.”
River hated the words coming out of the beast’s mouth. Though his seawater form still looked like Archer, it wasn’t the man she’d fallen in love with. Watching it talk was like watching an imposter take over the man she loved.
Perhaps shoving the dagger in his chest would be easier than she thought.
“No,” she said. “He didn’t want any of this. You took control, somehow, or tricked him.”
“I didn’t.” The creature reached out and touched her face with a cold, wet hand. “But he made me promise to keep you safe.”
She wanted to turn her face into that palm. It still felt like him, even though it wasn’t the same form she was used to. “Of course he wants me safe. He loves me.”
“We are faeries, River. We don’t know what love means.” But something twisted in its voice, something like sorrow.
River met its gaze. “You don�
�t believe that for a second. You love me, Archer. I will chase you across the ocean if I must, and I will love you every day for the rest of my life.”
The watery face solidified into the angled features she knew so well. His hand curved down to her jaw. “You love me?”
There. This was him. She’d gotten through and her mother had been wrong. Archer was still inside this creature, he had to be. They were one and the same.
A call went up from the waters below. “My king! She has a knife!”
A cold chill swept through River the same moment his features disappeared into water again. Somehow, his form hardened. His hand snapped down and held onto her wrist even as he dragged her against his cold chest. He peered over her shoulder and glared down at the blade between her fingers.
“An Atlantean blade?” he grumbled. “How unoriginal.”
She should have struggled, but who was she kidding? River could never have put a blade in his heart. She wasn’t a killer.
He squeezed her wrist, too hard. She felt the bones creaking under his angry grip. Metal clanked against the stone as she dropped her only weapon. But he still held her in his arms, even after she dropped it.
River sighed and pressed her forehead against the water of his chest. He wasn’t quite solid there, just above where his heart should be. Instead, all she felt was the warm pulse of magic against her skin.
Tears welled in her eyes, hot and stinging. “What are we going to do, Archer?”
He jerked her arms, forcing her to recognize she was held captive in his grip. “Keep your mouth silent, half-breed. I need to decide where to put you. I promised Archer I’d keep you alive. That doesn’t mean not in a prison.”
Power welled in his chest. It burned her forehead and made the sea boil all around them. Faeries cried out in pain and raced away from the stone statue. He’d kill the creatures in the sea just to create a tsunami that would destroy the humans.
She had to do something. Anything. River could feel him drawing on his power and preparing to destroy everything she loved. Everything that meant something to her.
Even if it meant hurting herself, she had to stop him.
She tilted her head back. Taking a deep breath, she wiggled her wrists in his grip. “I love you, Archer. I never got to say it in person, but I’m saying it now. I love you.”
And there it was. The smallest opening he could give her while the elemental controlled his body. His hands solidified into the warm callouses she adored. The ones that had scraped over her skin in the most delicious of ways. The ones that had held her waist while he kissed her within an inch of her life.
His grip loosened enough for her to wiggle one hand free. She reached up and cupped his jaw, drawing him down to her.
River breathed over his mouth, “I need you to know I love you more than there are drops of saltwater in the sea.”
With that said, she kissed him. She poured her soul through her lips and pressed them into his. She kissed him like it was the last time she would ever taste the sea on his tongue.
Because it was.
As she drew back, she opened her eyes and saw his beloved blue gaze staring back at her.
He smiled, soft and sad. “I love you too, River. Half-breed or not, you are part of my soul.”
She let her shaking hand drop from his jaw and sucked in a shaking sob. “I’m so sorry.”
River drew back her fist and plunged it into his chest. The soft watery portion above his heart allowed her hand to sink into the depths of his power. All the magic gathered in the same place in his chest.
Just like the well, she drew from him as he had taught her. She drew all the power inside him into herself.
“No,” he gasped, two voices laced over each other. “You’ll die, River!”
If her death was the cost to stop all this, then she would gladly pay it. She let the power race through her body, iridescent and rainbow until she glowed with white light. All the colors disappeared until she couldn’t see anything but him. Just his face and the magic pulsing through her hand.
It was the best thing she could look at just before she died.
Hand shaking, body weak, she formed her lips into three words. “I love you.”
And then all the magic inside her exploded.
24
Archer surged into control of his own body as she slumped in his arms. She was drifting away from him on the sea of souls, and there was nothing he could do. Even the elemental inside him was shocked at what had occurred.
“You are banished from the throne of the sea,” he declared.
The elemental tried to argue, “You cannot do that, I am the sea.”
“You broke your promise,” he snarled. “She was supposed to stay alive. You said that was the deal, and you broke it.”
Even the elemental couldn’t argue with the truth. It eased away from his mind, disappearing into the depths where it would remain. Its power stayed, however much he didn’t know how to use it. But Archer would find out how to wade through the unlimited magic in his mind.
First, he had to save her. “River,” he whispered. “You’re still breathing, my love. I can still hear your breath like the sweet, salty breeze atop the sea. You are not lost to me yet.”
He hoped. All the faerie realms in the world should hope she lived. If she didn’t, then the sea would fend for itself. Life wasn’t worth living if she wasn’t queen by his side.
Archer strode to the edge of the hand and leapt into the waves beyond. The ocean cushioned their fall, ensuring he didn’t lose her from his arms. He could feel the currents stroking her hair and the sea’s song whispering in his ears.
“Will she be all right?” it asked. “I thought the strongest of us all was you. She proved me wrong.”
And he wanted to rage at all the people who had questioned them. How dare any higher power question River’s abilities? Or his own? Had he not proven himself worthy of this title time and time again?
Archer didn’t respond to the ocean. Instead, he swam deeper into the darkness of the abyss.
Faeries stopped him along the way. Generals from every corner of the world who had gathered to see the coronation of the true king.
The leader of the fiercest merpeople stopped him first. The teeth in his mouth had been filed into sharp points, and his slitted pupils saw better in dark waters. “Archer, who are we meant to attack first?”
He didn’t stop swimming. “Find the creatures nearest the oil spill and move them to cleaner waters. The humans will contain their own mess.”
“We’re to hide?” the man asked with a frown.
“No,” Archer snapped, “we’re to help.”
Another creature stopped him, this one a jellyfish mermaid with a billowing skirt. “Your Highness, what would you have my people do?”
“Start gathering the trash and deposit what you can on the shores. The humans will pick it up.”
“What if they don’t?”
He stopped swimming then and whirled on the crowd of people who followed him. Breathing heavily and holding his beloved against his chest, he bared his teeth. “Fix what you can, that’s what I’m telling you all to do. Work with the humans, pretend to be one if you must. Our world is linked with theirs forever more.”
All the faeries began to shout. Some of them in support, others in anger that he would lower them so. Archer didn’t have time for their ridiculous complaints. River was the most important thing right now.
A general approached behind him, although he didn’t notice until her hand touched his shoulder.
A burst of blue magic erupted from him, shoving all the generals away except the one who held onto him for dear life. Webbed fingers. He could feel their chill against his skin.
“Aquaria,” he said, his voice a low murmur in the ocean. “What do you want from me? To fight the humans as well?”
“No,” she replied. “I want to save my daughter.”
He didn’t believe it for a second. “You wanted to kil
l her the last time we saw you. What changed?”
When he turned, he could see the agony on Aquaria’s face. She might be a hard woman built for battle, but in this moment she looked like a mother. “I was never a dutiful mother. I never even wanted offspring but...” She reached out and touched a hand to River’s limp one. “I don’t claim to believe I can make it up to her. But I can save her life.”
It was the first time anyone even acknowledged the woman in his arms, and that was good enough. Archer relented with a nod. “Then lead the way.”
Together, they sped through the waters to the realm of the Undines. They lived deep within a kelp forest off the coast of Australia, protected by great white sharks and creatures from the deep. Coral spread through their homes, the last remnants of a once beautiful world.
He swam by multi-colored windows with rainbow haired inhabitants. Undines were every color under the sun and some that humans had never seen before. Their hair swirled with a hundred hues, changing color with their moods. Most turned a pale blue as soon as they saw him. Their fear and curiosity warring in the color of the sky.
Aquaria didn’t pause. She guided them to her personal home, a castle built of spiked coral. Once there, they broke through the bubble of air and strode into her private quarters.
“A healer!” she shouted. “Now!”
The sound of running footsteps filled the room as ten servants dashed toward them. Aquaria ordered them in all directions of the house. Towels. More healers. Clothing so River wouldn’t get cold. A hundred things needed all while he stood stock still with her in his arms.
“You’re going to be alright,” he murmured, his arms shaking and his knees weak. “I won’t settle for any other future, River.”
Aquaria turned back to him. “You’re right, there is no other future for her but life.”
A healer ran into the room, breathing hard with a medical bag over her shoulder. She wore the white robes he knew so well, and her hair was tied back in intricate cornrows. The light glinted off her dark skin like obsidian. “Aquaria, you called?”
“My daughter,” she replied, waving a hand to the body in his arms. “Save her life or forfeit your own.”
King of the Sea Page 18
