Page 48 of Chasing Tail
Chapter 25
Ihad hoped we’d get straight to the part about killing the king and queen. Taron and I were good at that, and people in the ocean didn’t get all pissy about it if it was justified like it was in this case. So I thought they’d get straight to the plan, then we’d do a little killing, but they went back to land history.
“We’ve been around since the first men evolved and started doing bad things. We’d go utterly mad if all we did were travel around punishing people,” Salem started.
“How does that work if there are only seven of you?” Topaz demanded. “Everyone does bad things. For example, I’m technically betrothed to that butt ugly druid prince across the sea for a stupid alliance, but I’m cheating on him with a really hot shifter I’d much prefer marrying.”
“That’s love, Topaz. Every other kingdom in the world has revoked those outdated laws forbidden species to mix. This is the only one that still has them and enforces them. When we get Callum on the throne, I’m fairly certain he’ll have a diplomatic way to get you out of that marriage while keeping the alliance.”
“I’ll also throw you the biggest wedding this kingdom has ever seen with you and your shifter.”
“We should explain some things,” Tristan said. “Everyone is flawed and sins—even us. We mess up all the time. No one is perfect, not even the Seven Deadly Sins. We don’t track you down because you cheated on your spouse, lost your temper, got into a bar fight, or kept messing up your life. Some people are just prone to that and need to learn the hard way.”
“We start getting feelings when someone is doing something theyknowis bad, even if they are trying to justify it to themselves. They have and generally are doing several of them because they are up to something. Like Salem said, we aren’t perfect, and neither are our powers. We get a feeling and a vague direction of where we need to go. We have to do endless research to find out which ship we need to get on, then lie low while we observe and come up with a plan,” Adamo said.
“But we would go crazy if that was all we did, and it takes a lot to get our attention,” Salem said. “You have to be a special brand of evil to get all seven of us at once, and that hasn’t happened in a long time. We’ve been alive a long time. We’ve seen kingdoms rise and fall. So if there’s an opportunity to see something new in our long lives, we take it. Sometimes, even being there when a new baby is brought into the world is the most important thing that day.”
“That’s fascinating, but what does it have to do with stopping our father?” Beck asked.
All three of the Sins were smirking like this was going somewhere. Unfortunately, it just hadn’t arrived yet.
“We have an estate here. It’s how we’ve stayed hidden from your father. We have estates in nearly every kingdom because we travel a lot and like privacy. We all have hobbies because we’d go insane if we didn’t. I like books and research,” Salem said. “Connor is quite the artist. His favorite subject is nude women and seducing them when he’s finished, but he’s also known for designing buildings.”
“He’s quite talented and has an eye for detail,” Adamo said. “Kings have asked him to design their palaces. All seven of us were present when this land was discovered. It was a slow time for sinning, and this land was quite the discovery. We were on a massive trade convoy that was blown off course because of a storm. Our food and water stores were nearly gone when someone spotted land.
“There were plenty of people on the ships, and it was decided to make it a home. There was an abundance of fresh water, fruits and vegetables, and animals to eat. This place was like an undiscovered paradise. So we stayed and helped while they figured out a system of government and started building. Care to guess who designed the palace you live in?”
“Connoradoressecret passages and false walls. If he designs something, they are going to be there. He also loves to hide things in his paintings. The only people who knew about the secret passages in the palace you live in now were the king that asked him to design it and his family.”
“Every king lives with a certain amount of paranoia,” Tristan said. “He told them about the passages before he added them, and they all wanted them, even if it meant someone could sneak through one and kill them in their sleep. It was a heavily guarded secret. Only the king and queen knew. Their children weren’t told until they took the throne. It cut down on princes and princesses sneaking out and getting into trouble.
“This particular throne has been seized a few times now. Sometimes, it was bloody, and sometimes it wasn’t. It’s like that in every kingdom. Connor’s passages are impossible to find unless you know where they are. We usually meet with the monarchy when we need to punish someone in their kingdom because it means less of a mess. None of them knew about the passages until we told them.”
“A long time ago, Connor told a succubus queen about the passages in her castle. She demanded a tour and got infatuated with him. She tried every succubus trick to weave a spell on him before keeping him hostage. Finally, we had to use his passages to break him out and flee the kingdom in the dead of night. Connor’s sin is Lust, and he tends to get in trouble with the ladies a lot. If we could spring him with the passages when the queen knew about them, then we can take care of your father and stepmother with them because we know they don’t,” Tristan said.
“It’s interesting about the passages, but I’m still not sure how you intend to pull this off. If he knew about the passages, he’d have them sealed off, but he sleeps with guards outside his door. Neither of them is going to lie there and let you kill them. Especially we if all pop out of the wall. She’ll immediately call for the guards, and he’ll try to fight. You won’t have enough time to kill either of them and disappear into the passage before the guards come,” Callum said.
I had a feeling there was a lot more to this story. They just hadn’t gotten there yet. If you need an answer about something you couldn’t figure out in the ocean, you sought out the oldest creature you could find for advice. Sometimes, it was very long-winded and deviated from what you needed, like this story was doing, but a solution always presented itself.
Salem pulled out a vial of crystalline blue liquid and set it on the table.
“Kishi and Taron know what this is.”
We both grinned. I was still trying to process that any mermaid council allowed a sea witch to work with him, but whoever they sent was completely thorough.
“The mermen made a stink about it, and now it’s forbidden by most of the mermaid councils. That must have been after she taught you that potion.”
Salem chuckled.
“When I was taught this potion, your mermen were blissfully unaware of its existence, and mermaids were giving the sea witches a lot of business.”
Everyone looked confused, so I decided to explain.
“Mating in the ocean is not like it is here. There’s a lot of fighting involved. Sometimes, you beat a merman half across the ocean with your tail, and he doesn’t win. It can be exhausting and painful, and sometimes, you don’t even get the pleasure of mating when it’s over because he didn’t prove himself. We love a good fight, but sometimes, we just aren’t in the mood for it. Sometimes, we just want to overeat seafood and listen to crazy starfish conspiracy theories.
“Mermaids used to be able to barter this potion from a sea witch. It’s totally harmless and doesn’t have any side effects the next day. You used to be able to offer a merman a seaweed cordial with a drop in it. It’s completely odorless and tasteless. They decide they want to go to sleep early instead of mating. It’s supposed to induce a completely blissful night’s sleep, but the mermen found out about it and had to complain about it. So it’s forbidden now.”
All three druid princes were frowning at me, and I didn’t understand why. If we used this on the king and queen, we could happily stab both of them and disappear into the wall without tipping off the guards. This potion was how we did it without getting caught.
