Page 33 of Between Fear and Favor

“Now see what you have wrought?” Estri said, and her voice was far louder than it should have been. Every seaborn turned toward her, frozen. Except Smokkar.

He moved toward me with an ethereal grace. Though he placed one foot in front of the other as he walked, the way he moved was so fluid, it seemed as if he were part of the drifting current. His haunting eyes traced my body, and I wished yet again that my dress was not so sheer. I couldn’t help glancing at Mairin. I’d avoided looking at her, wishing she’d disappear. If I never heard from her again, it would be a blessing. But she was the only person present who might care enough to step between me and someone intent on killing me.

With this man, I couldn’t tell if it was murder or marriage he had on his mind. Mairin’s arms were crossed, but she watched Smokkar with a shrewdness I knew too well. Behind him, I glimpsed Foxglove, the small pink woman who’d been kind to me. Her expression wasn’t dissimilar to Mairin’s.

“Stunning—for a landwalker,” he said. His mouth twisted as his gaze traced my breasts, my collarbone, my neck. Assessing me for weakness. Gods, did I hate when he found one. “Her heart belongs to another, though,” he said. “But I will enjoy her nonetheless.”

What did it say about me that the first instinct I had was to refute my feelings? Not a single thought about how he meant to break me crossed my pitiful mind. I couldn’t bear to look at Mairin. Too much shit had happened since that day on the ship, and I hadn’t allowed myself to think about it. For me, it had only been a day, but for Mairin, it had been weeks. I hoped her choices tormented her.

“Smokkar, I am not giving you a new toy. Not after what you did with the last one,” Estri said, and she reached for my hand. “Sit, my jewel.” The smile she gave me might have been comforting if it weren’t for those horrendous teeth. Still, I sat down, avoiding looking straight ahead. Smokkar stood directly in front of me, still painfully nude.

“How was I to know she was ignorant of a jellyfish’s sting? Princess, you know many jellyfish are deadly, correct?” Smokkar planted both hands on the table in front of me, leaning over it. At closer glance, his hairwasglowing.

I met his gaze and squared my jaw. “I am no toy.”

“Oh, I think you’d be delighted to find out exactly how I play.” His tongue darted out as he gently licked his lip. I did my best to hide my reaction; the full body shudder which rolled through me would have been obvious if everyone hadn’t been paying attention to Mairin. For when Smokkar leaned over the table, the merrow had made her move.

She held a blade, rusted yet still sharp, flush against his neck. Mairin used her powerful tail to keep her afloat, holding him tightly, though he towered over her. Her red hair was dark against his luminescence. Seeing her defend me might have thawed something in my heart if I had let it. Instead, I turned toward the Seaborn Queen, putting on a polite, if surprised, smile.

“Are these events always so amusing?” I asked. “What were we speaking of? I believe you were telling me about Rhia?” I had questions I would like to be answered, and I found myself modeling my behavior after my mother’s. It probably wasn’t exactly a good thing, but feigning disinterest had seen her through some rather perilous situations in the past. With a pang in my chest, I resolved not to think of her. I couldn’t allow myself to wonder if she’d be proud of me. That was a road I’d traveled far too many times before. During my time here, I’d learn to have pride in my own actions with or without the promise of maternal regard.

“Little sister,” Smokkar purred, patting Mairin’s hand as if she were no threat to him. “I was quite bereft to know I missed your homecoming. My apologies.”

It wasn’t until I really looked at Estri, did I realize why Smokkar wasn’t threatened by Mairin and her dagger. The Sea Queen’s hand was fisted, knuckles impossibly white, and Mairin’s eyes bulged. She couldn’t breathe. My pulse quickened, fearful for the merrow despite everything. This kind of magick astounded me. No wonder the seaborn had been left alone for all these years. There was no standing against them, especially in the Sea Queen’s element.

“I could exile you, girl. I returned your pendant, but I can just as easily take it back.” Mairin dropped the blade and launched herself backward. When her chest expanded and she coughed, I felt my heart in my head—a throbbing beat. I refused to look at her, though, uncertain of what the fuck to do with my feelings, and I was relieved when she swam through one of the giant windows above us.

Smokkar, who still leaned over my plate, reached down and grabbed a chunk of raw salmon. “Thank you for saving me dinner, beloved bride.”

“That is quite enough,” Estri said, sighing, before turning to me. “This is what happens when the two children with the poorest manners attend my balls. I have found myself exhausted, my jewel. We will talk more in the morning. For now, enjoy yourself. Foxglove will see you to your chamber when you are finished.”

I stared, dumbstruck, as Estri dissolved into a school of fish. Silver, tiny, and fast—they left before I could utter a word.

The moment Estri was gone,Fox had rushed to my side. Though many of the seaborn remaining in the hall immediately transformed into their more beastly forms, she stayed in her humanoid one—perhaps to keep me at ease. But her words did little to that effect.

“Stay away from him,” Fox seethed, grasping my elbow and pulling me toward the back of the dais. Her cheeks went darker, nearly turning purple. Jabbing her fingertip toward him, she reiterated her point. “He is not kind.” The man in question was on the other side of the hall, wrapping netting around his waist. It did little to cover him. As he leaned over one table, where members of Estri’s court still gathered and spoke, the curve of his muscled thigh where it met his ass was on full display. His body was so severe, I wondered if it would have looked as such in his landwalker form. “Smokk is—Smokkar, I mean—is an evil liar. Do not trust him. Please, if you only listen to one piece of advice from me during your time here, let it be that.”

“What did he lie about?”

“A better question to ask would be what he didn’t,” she snapped. When she registered the rise of my brows, she sighed, shoulders rolling in. “We were friends,” she said. “And then suddenly he was the oldest son, and it changed him.”

“Suddenly?”

“Nothing lasts long against the ocean’s tide, does it?”

Biting my lip, I turned, watching as Smokkar made his way over to what I realized were musicians. As I stepped toward the edge of the dais, my gaze on him didn’t waver. Passing one table, he dragged a long, pearlescent fingertip over a man’s back. At the touch, the seaborn shifted, turning into a small shark. A dark grey blue, the seaborn left the same way as Mairin. From what Fox had said, I assumed it to be fear which drove him. Within a moment, over a dozen seaborn had shifted and left in the same manner.

“If you leave this early, she will find out and be displeased,” Fox murmured. “But I cannot control him.”

Smokkar leaned over a man sitting in front of a stack of bells, and my heart raced when his gaze met mine. A smirk formed upon his lips, and I had the urge to wipe my palms on my dress. Underwater, I couldn’t know if my palms were sweaty or not, but the twist in my stomach told me they should be.

Turning to face the remaining seaborn, Smokkar went stock-still. Even though I willed myself to match his stillness, the faint current forced my body to move back and forth the slightest bit. Yet Smokkar stood firm. With hands behind his back, he waited for all of three seconds before the hall quieted on its own.

“Let us dance, Princess Lavenia. Show them how it is done in Astana.”

With that, the music troupe began to play. One seaborn pounded on drums which reverberated through my body. Another rubbed a cloth against a stack of metal bells, making them ring. And then a woman stood, her belly round with child, and started singing. Without words, she crooned a dissonant melody, and fear gripped me as the eery notes caressed my skin.

I could not risk Estri taking offense if I snubbed Smokkar, so I made the only reasonable choice.

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