Page 46 of Chasing Tail
Chapter 24
Ihad a million questions, but I knew it wasn’t appropriate to ask them until everything had been fully explained. Adamo had dated a mermaid who stayed on land, and Salem studied magic with a sea witch. That was flat out amazing to me because they were very secretive about their magic. Talora liked me, and she’d been nothing but helpful about sending us to land. She absolutely adored Seira, but she certainly wouldn’t have taught either of us her magic, even if we begged.
I believed them totally, but Callum and Forrest weren’t quite there yet. Beck and Topaz were totally on board with this. Beck didn’t care what Sin they were. He just thought it was amazing they existed as actual people. Topaz wanted to know exactly how they planned to take out her father and stepmother.
“I’m confused. If the Seven Deadly Sins are actual people and you travel around punishing people, how come no one knows this? Most everyone is taught you’ll be punished in the afterlife when you meet the final death. It’s used to scare people into behaving,” Callum said.
“If there are seven of you, I’m shocked we didn’t get the whole lot for this,” Beck said. “He’s a hedonist, and he doesn’t exactly rein it in. He’s just good at hiding it from his subjects. I’m guessing you can feel that, though.”
“Tristan is Wrath, and Adamo is Greed. I’m Sloth. Your father commits a lot of Sloth, but I’m mostly here because he’s a druid, and I’m the magic expert on our team.”
Topaz frowned.
“I don’t get it. How has he committed Sloth? He’s literally always plotting something horrible. He’s a horrible person, but he’s not lazy.”
“My sin has gotten a bit twisted up as centuries have passed. It’s not laziness. Everyone deserves their downtime and a day to do nothing every once in a while. Sloth is the complete rejection of anything good and only indulging in the bad things. Your father seems to be doing nothing but that lately. His intentions were good when he seized the throne, but power quickly went to his head. He’s doing terrible things now. Things he needs to pay for, but he’s doing them to save his wife. That’s where Tristan and Adamo come in.”
“There are several ways he could have saved her without resorting to forbidden magic that has long been proven not to work,” Beck snapped.
“Oh, I’m aware,” Salem said. “Who do you think was the one that made sure sacrifices were outlawed and proven ineffective? It took my knowledge of magic and all seven of us working with every single druid leader in the world. It took some time, but eventually, everyone admitted it didn’t work and didn’t want to risk punishment. This was quite a long time ago, but we made damned sure the lessons passed down were pretty clear it doesn’t matter what the moon is doing. Killing an innocent isn’t going to do a damned thing magically.”
“If hereallyloved her, he would have talked her into the surgery. If she still refused, he could have brought in several of our famous wig makers and convinced her to do the nonsurgical treatment. Instead, she’s dying because she vain, and so he is!”
“Connor handles lust. He’ll tell you there are a lot of different kinds of love, and some of them are not even remotely healthy. Wars have been waged for love.”
“You said you had a plan,” Topaz said.
“Yes, we do. Your father hides a lot, and he has many of his subjects believing his lies. His taxes are bordering on unreasonable, and we all know he has every intention of raising them again,” Tristan said. “He’s telling everyone their taxes are going towards the kingdom’s crime problem and making a show of arresting people, but we’ve walked through your streets at all hours. This is probably one of the safest kingdoms we’ve visited in a long time.”
“We’ve been here watching, and we’ve been inside his palace,” Adamo said. “We know in public, he gives off the impression of being a loving husband and father. We know how he treats his children behind closed doors and the warts he hides from his subjects. Kishi, to answer your question, he’s fooled the entire kingdom. If the public thinks someone killed him, they will want them to pay without a trial. If it’s tied to his children, they will drag them from the palace and hang them without asking them why they did it. If they think it was another kingdom, even with Callum on the throne, they will want war.”
I didn’t get it. I didn’t even know what the druid king looked like, but I knew I wanted him dead. I understood he was a manipulative liar, but not that someone hadn’t figured that out by now. No one tried to lie to us about why he committed that massacre in my home, but he’d murdered family members on land too. So theyhadto know deep down that their blood weren’t criminals.
“We all know that,” Topaz said, tossing her hair over her shoulder.
“Not everyone does,” Salem pointed out. “There’s an entirely different culture in the ocean that rarely collides with yours. Honestly, you’re lucky they decided to keep their secret rather than waging war. Merfolk don’t fuck around when it comes to war, and you see what a shark looks like on land. He could crush your skull with his bare hands. None of you are even remotely prepared to deal with sea witch magic, and we all know what would happen if the sirens joined in. So, maybe you can let us have ten minutes to explain how things really are here to the mermaid and shark who came here because your father massacred their family.”
“Sorry,” Topaz muttered.
“It’s okay. I get it. I want him dead, and I haven’t had to deal with him as long as you have. Taron and I are fast learners, but we can’t know something unless we are taught. I’m not sure how Salem got a sea witch to trust him except for the fact that he’s very pretty, but he’s right. Things are very different where we came from.”
Salem started laughing.
“I didn’t seduce a sea witch into spilling any secrets. Adamo’s girlfriend swam back home and approached the mermaid council. A mutually beneficial arrangement was proposed. The sea witch would teach me about ocean magic, and I’d work with her on coming up with new spells for the sea folk using what she taught me and what I know of magic on land. You can thank the two of us for Taron’s legs.”
“He’s upset you took one of his cocks away, but I’m quite happy with just the one.”
“Iadoremermaids,” Adamo said. “They always say exactly what they think.”
“That was a huge point of conversation when we were coming up with the spell. Maryn was adamant it was natural for them to have two, and it took a lot of convincing it would scare women on land into mating with them. Finally, she insisted I get naked to prove my point. So I did, but only because I didn’t know how many sharks were going to use the spell, and I knew exactly how it would go down if they fell in love.”
“You must have been super young when you met that sea witch,” Beck said. “I knowplentyof women who are into that.”
“I prefer talking to women and maybe snuggling with them over more carnal things, unlike my brothers. Still, even if there are women who like that kind of thing, there are plenty who don’t. There are ample toys and willing men to fit those needs.”
Topaz slammed her glass down and glared at everyone.
“I get that none of you can help it and have to go on and on when the subject of penises gets brought up, but can we focus? We’ve got a mermaid, a shark, and three sins here. None of us knew what they were until they told us. Our father is paranoid, but he’s also cunning. He’s going to figure out eventually there are strangers in his kingdom and send the guard.”
