Page 74 of The Mortal Queen

“Where?” Lir squeezed her throat harder, purpling the merrow’s complexion.

“Please!” another creature screeched from the edge of the cave. Lir ignored her.

“The Isle of Mirrors.” Sakaala coughed, scratching Lir’s fingers with her claw-like nails. The fae lord’s jaw clenched in response, his hands flexing, considering the female within an inch of her last breath.

At last, Lir released the merrow and Sakaala collapsed against the rock. She heaved for breath and pawed at her own throat. The fae king considered her, uncurling and standingonce more beside Aisling.

“I have one more question,” Lir said, watching as Sakaala gathered herself.

“Anything,mo Damh Bán,” the merrow said venomously, pulling her upper body up with her arms. At the sight, Lir smiled. A flicker of wicked triumph flashed across his expression.

“He is the worst of them: ruthless, merciless, no more than a beast driven by hunger, need, and power. But, unlike the wolf, he is insatiable.”

“What do you sense when you smell her blood?” Lir said, gesturing towards Aisling. The mortal queen froze, eyes darting towards the merrow, eyeing her like a fish within reach.

“Give me her hand,” Sakaala demanded. The creature extended her own hand. Lir eyed the merrow’s outstretched fingers, his eyes narrowing.

“I cannot distinguish her from another by only a few drops of blood. I need to touch. To let the waters feel her.” Sakaala’s face twisted with both fear and frustration, more the hungry beast Aisling knew she was behind her cruel beauty. Her sensuous magic. Behind her lust.

Lir considered, his wicked temper brewing behind the tension in his shoulders. What ran through his mind, Aisling wondered. What variables did he consider and weigh when it came to her life? To the treaty he’d bound himself to with the mortals? Humans Aisling had once believed cowered in the fair folk’s shadow. Not burned their villages and dwindled their numbers.

“No,” Lir declined, his voice resolute.

Aisling, without thinking, grabbed his arm.

“It’s alright,” she said.

Sakaala grinned, curling her fingers impatiently.

Lir’s eyes flashed, searching her expression. The mortal queen could sense his apprehension. The conflict he battledinternally, a taut cord snaking around his neck. Lir’s jaw clenched more tightly, silently watching as Aisling stepped around his shoulder and towards Sakaala.

The mortal queen placed her hand in the merrow’s.

Her skin was as cold as ice, near biting at the touch. But what’s worse was its texture, slimy and slick, the oily belly of a fish.

Cautiously, Sakaala pulled Aisling towards the waters. The mortal queen rested on her knees at the edge of the peninsula. Lir stood behind her, holding the thread of starlight so it bore no slack.

Sakaala paused, the water licking the tip of her chin. The merrow raised a brow in silent question:Are you ready?

Aisling nodded in response.

Sakaala sunk into the water, pulling Aisling’s hand till the waters clasped her forearm. The choppy waves sent shivers beneath Aisling’s skin, numbing her knees pressing against the sharp rocks. But the cold was temporary, for what followed was heat. Heat and the unveiling of thedraiocht.A whisper that called that strange creature from whatever depths it resided till thedraiochtcrawled into the light to inspect its summoner.

The sensation was familiar. For it wasn’t only Sakaala breathing through thedraiochtbut also the sea itself. Just as Lir spoke with the trees, so too was Sakaala speaking with the cold currents spinning around the mortal queen’s hand, inspecting her. The ocean harbored a millennium of knowledge, of memory, ancient waters of salt and foam. Of shipwrecks and lost sailors. Of creatures of both the shallows and the deep. Whispers from the beginning of time till the heartbeat of the present. Fingers that stretched to one continent and the next. Of anger and fury and calm and peace. Ruthless. Immeasurably powerful.

Lir bent down beside the mortal queen and pressed a hand against her lower back. A touch that wouldotherwise burn through Aisling’s very flesh, but now all she felt was the pressure building around her hand. The waters rose to kiss her mortal skin and taste whatever strange power the Aos Sí believed her to possess.

The merrow whispered amongst one another, heads bobbing wildly at the spectacle. What did they understand that Aisling couldn’t? What did the ocean hiss as it stirred and frothed?

Sakaala released the mortal queen. All at once, the heat, thedraiocht, the voice of the ocean quieted until only the churning of the cauldron waters surrounded their black island. Aisling stumbled back into Lir, the fae king catching her shoulders and steadying her once more.

“What did you sense?” Lir asked.

Sakaala slicked her mane away from her face, staring at Aisling as though she were a talking fish. Eyes wide and bewildered. Possibly even frightened.

“Sakaala—”

“She’s strange, Lir,” the merrow hissed, eyes darting between the fae king and his mortal queen. “Strange and powerful. The Ashild doesn’t recognize her blood.”

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