The woman bit her lip, but ran to Archer’s side. Before he could ask questions, River was whisked from his arms and raced down the hall.
He opened his mouth to argue, but there was no one left to hear him. Even Aquaria had disappeared down another hall. Likely to change out of her armor and into something more comfortable.
The King of the Sea stood alone. Arms hanging limp, his clothing dripping water on the intricate mosaic floor.
In times like this, he usually had another voice in his head. An elemental who would talk him through the stress but this time there was no one. Just his own voice and own fears ricocheting around.
Would she live? He didn’t know.
Would she even want to see him after knowing he had tried to end the world? He didn’t know that either.
The bubble behind him warped as two figures stepped through it. Two familiar figures who he had used and abused their entire life. A fact he saw now as true, though the elemental had tried to hide it for a long time.
“Ebb. Tide.” He lifted his hands for them to take, his shoulders slumped forward in defeat. “I couldn’t fight it anymore. I went into the sea and it was screaming. The elemental-”
Ebb was the first to reach him. She took his hand and squeezed it in hers. “We know, Archer. We know that wasn’t you.”
Tide took his other hand. “We should have been more honest with you, my king. There are many people out there watching the elemental inside you and your kind. We were meant to stop you at all costs, but we couldn’t.”
His own people? Watching him?
Archer furrowed his brow and tried to find the right response. Anger? They had betrayed him by doing this. Hate? They had tried to control the creature within him, and therefore they had tried to control him.
But all he felt was that they were right. They should have watched him, clearly. And they had failed in watching their king. He’d almost ended the world.
He sighed and drew them into his arms, tugging them close against his heart. “Whatever slights we had against each other, they are done now. We have survived the end of the world together, friends. Now please, tell me I didn’t do anything else. I didn’t succeed, did I?”
“No,” Ebb whispered in his ear. “She stopped you.”
And now all he could do was hope she survived.
“Your Majesty?” a voice interrupted them.
He released his two dearest friends and turned toward the voice. One of the many undines stood in the hallway. Her blonde hair shone in the light and the white robe covering her figure was demure. “You’ve been requested to sleep in the blue suite. Will your servants be staying as well?”
He glanced over his shoulder and winked at Ebb and Tide. “My friends will be staying with me. Is there news of River?”
The undine didn’t respond. She turned and walked down the hall with the clear assumption they would follow her. He didn’t have a choice, so he did.
They spent the better part of two weeks in the blue suite. He asked every day for River’s well being, and every time was given the same answer.
“She is improving, Your Majesty.”
That was it.
No one would let him see her, as if his mere presence would ruin the healing process. No one would tell him more than just “improving”. What did that even mean?
But two weeks passed, and he paced the blue room as he had done for every day in his time here. A knock on the door announced yet another undine here to tell him she was improving, here was his food, and please let them know if his accommodations were unsuitable.
Archer opened the door so hard it slammed against the wall. “What is it? Please, just let me see her.”
This time it wasn’t a nameless undine standing on the other side. Instead, it was Aquaria. Mother of River and General of her kind.
Aquaria leaned against the wall opposite his door, admiring her fingernails. “Ah, getting a little cooped up, are we? Sorry about that. Just wanted to make sure River was completely healed before I let you upset her.”
“Upset her?” He stumbled out of the room. “I don’t want to upset her. I just want to see her. To touch her.”
“She’s a little different than you remember. And I don’t know if you’ll like it.”
He didn’t care if she’d somehow grown wings and hated the water. He would give up the sea for her if that’s what she desired.
The thought should have scared him. It used to. The seas were his home and they were also the food to his soul. Without them, he was nothing. But now, he was something so much more than just the King of the Sea. He was the man who loved River.
Aquaria looked him up and down before she nodded to the right. “She’s in the green room. Just keep it slow for her, all right? She’s different. Like I said.”
He had nothing else to say. Archer started down the hall with anger running through his veins. River had been so close this whole time? He could have just walked twenty steps to the right and he would have been in her room?
Aquaria played a dangerous game. He could tear her limb from limb. He could shatter her mind from the inside with magic pouring from every wave in the ocean. Why would she ever risk testing him?
He planted his palm flat against the green coral door and took a deep breath. He stilled the anger in his soul because she didn’t need to see him angry. Not after everything he’d done. Or almost done. It didn’t matter.
River deserved him at his best.
He nudged the door open and then knocked on it. “Mind if I come in?”
There was a long pause of silence before he heard her voice. “Archer?”
Good enough. He didn’t have to wait for her to ask him to come in because it was in her tone. The whispered wonder of his own name dancing through the cracked door like the song of the sea.
He shoved the door open and strode into her bedroom. The green room was much the same as his, only green. The bed stood in the center of the room, the back wall was glass leading out into the sea. The ceiling was painted with whatever mural was up there. He didn’t care.
He rushed to her side and fell to his knees beside the bed. She laid wrapped up in sea-foam green sheets. Her dark hair spread out around her like a curtain and she was the most beautiful woman in all the faerie realms.
He didn’t care that her lips were too pale. He didn’t care that her skin was ghostly white. All he cared about was that she was alive and looking back at him with love in her eyes.
“River,” he said, his words little more than a croak. “You’re okay.”
“Yes, I’m fine.” She reached out a hand for him to take.
Archer couldn’t even look at her. The guilt in his chest threatened to swallow him whole. He should leave. He shouldn’t be here when he’d done so much wrong.
She’d stopped him. She had plunged her hand into his chest and drew all his magic out thinking that it would kill her. And he hadn’t even been able to fight it.
Gasping through a sob, he pressed his forehead into the mattress. “I am so sorry.”
“Archer-”
“No,” he interrupted. “Let me get this out. I should never have given up. And that will haunt me for the rest of my life. I shouldn’t have tested your loyalties to your people. I should have listened to you. Loved you harder. All this is my fault and I will carry that to my grave.”
Cool hands threaded through his hair. The webs on her fingers caught on a few strands, but the subtle tug felt good. Not painful.
“Archer,” she whispered, cupping his jaw with both hands. “Look at me, please.”
He didn’t want her to see him break down like this. But he looked up all the same, tears on his cheeks and heart in his throat. “I’m a little unsteady right now, sweetheart. I don’t know how to be a man worthy of you.”
“Oh Archer, that’s always been your greatest flaw.” She tugged until he sat on the edge of her bed. She shifted until she could wrap her arms around his waist. “You don’t see how perfect yo
u are for me, in every single way. I would save you a thousand times if given the choice.”
He wrapped his arms around her and his soul was finally at peace. She fit herself into the broken pieces, he realized. Healing them with her magic and the light of her soul.
He hadn’t realized he was a broken man until her.
Now, he was whole.
25
River stood in the ocean, waves up to her thighs as they crashed on the shore behind her. So much had changed in such a short time.
Her relationship with Archer was infinitely stronger than it had ever been. She’d moved out of her house with Dad and into the ocean. Of course, Archer wanted to make her queen as soon as possible. She wanted to grow up a little before she accepted a role that important.
Dad, on the other hand, didn’t mind her moving out since Aquaria seemed to be... moving in? Sort of, although some days it appeared she wasn’t at all. They were working on things, however, and it was a start.
At least her mother didn’t hate humans as much as she once had. Any progress was big progress.
The waves crashed against her knees and she breathed in the salty air. Seagulls called overhead, and it was music to her ears. She didn’t know when she’d be coming back to the land. Archer wanted to take her across the seven seas and introduce her to all the faeries there.
He’d made it very clear, no one was to call her a half-breed any longer. Not just because it was rude, but because she’d changed when she’d taken on so much of his magic.
River lifted her hands and turned them in the sun. Blue magic zipped underneath the webs of her fingers. It never went away. The power had forced her humanity out of her blood. She was an undine now, completely and utterly. Just like all the other faeries.
River still didn’t know how to feel about it. She loved the magic at her fingertips but also... she missed being normal.
The waves parted around a figure who strode from the bottom of the sea. Water cascaded down his shoulders, catching in the hollow of his collarbone and dripping down the flat planes of his chest. His tattoos were darker from the water, the swirling marks so familiar now. His hair slicked back from his face, and he grinned as he approached.
The sight of him still made her knees weak. No matter how many times she had him, no matter how many times she kissed him, loved him, held him in her arms as they fell asleep, it wasn’t enough.
He reached her side and took her hand. “Did you have a good visit?”
“Yeah,” she replied. “Dad’s feeling great about Aquaria these days. It’s nice to see him so excited about something other than his job.”
River felt that way too. Did she think Aquaria would ever be a mother figure? Not a chance in hell. The woman couldn’t make up for all the things she’d done. Not enough for River to call her mother.
But somehow, she had a feeling Aquaria didn’t want to be called “mom”.
Archer wrapped his arm around her waist and tugged her against his warm chest. She planted her hands flat against his heartbeat. The steady thump eased her mind and worries.
How did he do that? He could make her anxieties disappear just by giving her a sip of his heat.
He tucked a finger under her chin and tilted her face up to his. She accepted his kiss without question, curling her fingers in the waistband of his pants. He made her want to do things she’d never wanted before. Like exploring the world. His body. All of faerie kind. How did he open her mind and make her see things so differently?
“River?” he asked. His nose traced down the length of hers.
“What is it?”
“Are you done visiting the human realm yet?”
She should have known he’d ask that. He always did. Every time she came to visit her father, he stayed beneath the waves and paced until she returned.
She wasn’t certain why he didn’t visit the human realm with her. Maybe it was because he feared what he had almost done. Seeing their faces only reminded him of his own mistakes. Still, she thought it would be nice to stay an extended period here sometimes. At least the human realm had modern technology.
“Yes,” she replied with a grin. “I’m done. Are we going to your home now?”
“Our home,” he replied. “We’re going to our home.”
“Yes, love. Our home.”
She held his hand and together, they dove into the waves. She didn’t need him to hold her anymore. The magic inside her knew how to swim just as fast. They blasted through the waters, rode currents, and dove into the depths that were no longer so dark to her eyes. All the way to a sunken ship that had once been an Atlantean vessel.
Hidden beneath the rotting wood and ancient mast, a small portal shimmered bright blue in the darkness.
Archer reached and shifted a plank out of their way before holding out his hand. “Would you like to go first, dear heart?”
“First? Since when do you not like to make an entrance?” She lifted a single brow.
“I suppose you’re right.” He stepped into the portal backward, one hand raised in a flourish.
Laughter bubbled out of her mouth. He always found a way to make her smile, even if it made him look silly or even if she didn’t want to smile. The man was a genius, in her opinion, even if he was just a genius when it came to her.
Taking a deep breath of water, she plunged through the portal and out into the realm beyond.
Faeries floated overhead, whales called out in crystal clear waters, and dolphins chattered in her ear. This was a forgotten land, untouched by humans and inhabited only by faeries.
The portal hid a small world the Atlanteans had built a long time ago. Not the real thing, and certainly not able to house all the faeries in the human realm. But they could bring the wounded ones here to heal until they were ready to return home. And that’s just what River and Archer had done.
She swam past a whale whose scarred hide told a story of a rough life. She pressed her hand against an almost healed wound and asked, “Are you feeling better yet?”
In response, the whale rotated onto its back in the water. It winked at her, then flicked its tail to swim off into the distance. She supposed that was a yes, much better.
Archer grabbed her by the ribs and spun her around. Spears of light framed his features, gilding his shoulders and making his smile even more bright. “Welcome home, my queen.”
She both loved and hated it when he called her that. Maybe she loved it a little more than hated. If River was being honest, he could have called her his troll wife and she would have been happy.
“Welcome home, my king.” She grasped the back of his neck and drew him down to kiss her.
The sea sang a song of love in her ears, and she knew this was what genuine happiness felt like. All the pieces of herself were made whole by a single drop of his love in the sea of her soul.
Afterword
And so concludes the faerie king series and I cannot thank you enough for the wonderful support.
I hope you’ve found a new favorite book boyfriend.
I hope you enjoyed the journey.
And above all else, I hope I provided you a few hours of diving into a new world and forgetting about the rest of life <3
Thank you again.
About the Author
Elizabeth Frost is the pen name of USAToday Bestselling author Emma Hamm. You’ll find these stories to be steamy paranormal/urban fantasy, whereas the ones under Emma Hamm will be less steamy and more traditional fantasy worlds.
So if you want spice, you want Frost ;)
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King of the Sea Page 19