Page 41 of Between Fear and Favor

“She must longfor you as much as you long for a crown,” Smokkar said, voice gravelly. He spoke far quieter, with us so close together.

One hand rested gently at the small of my back, the other cold as it held mine. Between his own movements and whatever magick he used on the current, we slowly spun to the music. Gracefully and altogether unsettling, my feet never touched the ground. Seaborn swam amongst us in one of their forms or danced beside us in another, yet they all watched from various angles. A few merrows and a large white shark drifted above us, and there was nowhere I could look to escape their watchful eyes.

“I do not long for a crown,” I said. “Do you, Prince?”

His laugh was soft. “I am no prince. There will never be a crown for me. Do you not know why she favors her daughters?”

“Favors them,” I said, amusement thick in my tone. “With only the one left, I wouldn’t call it favor.” He only looked at me through narrowed eyes. I sighed. “You may not be her daughter, but it is clearyouhave her favor. Perhaps you are not a prince in title, but for all I can tell, you hold the same position.”

Slowly, the ocean current moved us upward, between the circling seaborn above and the ones who stood on the ground below.

“Position here holds little weight unless it is one which helps her achieve an orgasm. I suppose looks can deceive, but you didn’t strike me as someone who desires to be a servant in her bedchamber.”

“I have no desire?—”

“My bedchamber, though? Perhaps you could be convinced.” At this, he pulled my hips against his. I had to admit his body was one many dreams were made of, but there was only one body haunting my nightmares. I certainly didn’t have room to contemplate another.

I leaned back, trying to put distance between us as I looked up at him. I called upon my divinity, wanting to use it to force him off me, but couldn’t summon it. We must have been surrounded by obsidian everywhere. Perhaps each of the spires had been built atop lava rock.

I didn’t bother to hide my irritation. “Certainly someone with influence such as yourself has many a seaborn he can offer companionship to.”

Gods, I sound like my mother.

Contempt flowed through me. I hated speaking so formally. I had never loved the song and dance of court politics. Though I loved my brother, it wasn’t the only reason to rescue him this past winter. Court had always been my least favorite place to be. I was not made for it. Though Smokkar might not have been a prince, he had the arrogance of one.

Everything was more wild here, though, beneath the water. Perhaps I didn’t have to be polite. However much I disliked my mother’s political maneuvering and double-edged words, she’d been an effective manipulator. Maybe it was time I discovered if I’d inherited her guile.

“You would be surprised, Lavenia. Many do not have the tolerance for what I prefer.” He sighed, rolling his eyes. When Smokkar tipped his head back, that porcelain skin, nearly as white as freshly fallen snow, revealed dark blue veins which throbbed in his neck. I watched, certain his pulse was fast. I wondered if he was nervous or perhaps it was just a quality of being seaborn. “For your sake, I hope she doesn’t tire of you.”

“I never agreed to be her companion. I am here for a moon’s cycle, simply so she would send her forces.” My stomach dropped out from beneath me, and bile surged up my throat. How could I have been so thoughtless? “Did she send Nixy? Was-was Nixy with them?”

“Is that the dragon rotting outside?” Brows raised imperiously, his ice-blue eyes held nothing but disinterested irritation. He swept a hand over his hair, tucking it behind a frilled ear. The motion reminded me painfully of Dewalt.

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“The fall outside? Did you not see the swarm of bottom feeders?”

“Please, be direct. I do not know what you speak of.” He had to be talking about Hyše, but I didn’t understand. I saw her fall from the sky—that much was true—and a piece of my soul had gone with her. But I couldn’t understand what he meant.

The musicians began playing a faster tune, and Smokkar twirled me, extending his arm as I surged through the water. It might have been fun if I hadn’t been trying to make sense of his words.

“When great beasts die, they sometimes sink to the bottom of the sea. And when they do, bottom feeders and other creatures will eat their carcasses as they rot. There is a dead dragon outside the palace; I assumed it was your pet.”

My throat went tight. Estri had taken me there—to the place where Hyše rotted on the ocean floor. She’d reprimanded one of her seaborn as he’d gorged himself on that beautiful creature. She had killed that caring, intelligent beast, and then let her body sink to the bottom to be feasted upon. My lip trembled, and I thought I began to cry. I could not tell because of the press of the water, but my mouth dropped open, and it was hard to breathe.

Smokkar pulled me close, dipping my body backwards as he bent over me. “Be careful, or that could be your lot as well. Once she tires of you, you’ll warm my bed, and if your performance is not satisfactory, well…”

“I’d die first,” I snapped, pushing away from him as I straightened. “She will keep me here for one moon cycle and then release me. You certainly won’t find a bed warmer in me. I would rather cut my wrist and test the limits of your seaborn sharks’ self-control than perform for you.”

At this, he grabbed my arm, dragging me through the circle of seaborn moving above us. I couldn’t understand how he moved so quickly, swimming us up, up, up, into the top of the spire, until I looked down. He had partially shifted. Similar to that of the Sea Queen, long tendrils made up his lower half. But where hers were maroon and wide, with enormous cups peppering one side, his were white and reedy. They were far longer too, and my eyes widened as he shot us upward.

“Do you think you will still be her favored child if you kill me? I am an ambassador, and you cannot hurt?—”

“I am not going to hurt you, pretty, little fool. I need to show you something.”

“What is this?”I breathed, blinking at the massive wall in front of me.

Smokkar had taken us out the top of the ballroom, straight to another spire. This one, for whatever reason, was less cared for. Some of the rock had crumbled, and there weren’t as many windows carved into the massive structure. After taking me to the top of the tower, he shoved me through a small hole in the ceiling. Never had I considered myself curvy until that moment—when my hips were nearly too wide to pass through the entrance.

---