To Kill a King (Hollowcliff Detectives Book 2)

by C. S. Wilde

  “I claim you, Harold Currenter,” Mister Maelstrom pronounced loudly, “I claim you through the seven seas. I claim you under the forever sky, and the endless blue.”

  Professor Currenter caressed his cheek. “I claim you, Yuri Maelstrom. I claim you through the shallows and the deeps. I claim you under the tides, and the currents, and the storms.”

  Mera didn’t know happiness herself, doubted she would ever feel it, but she’d seen it in others. Professor Currenter and Mister Maelstrom were so, so happy…

  She wished Mommy could be that joyful one day. That she could treat Mera with the same kindness Professor Currenter did, but when she turned to the queen, she nearly screamed.

  Instead of her mother, a rotting corpse glared at her.

  Mera could see the tendons through the gap on Mommy’s left cheek, and the dark inside the empty socket where her right eye should’ve been. Three of her ribs showed behind her tattered bodysuit and flesh, and half of her right arm was nothing but bones.

  The queen smiled wickedly at Mera, enough that she could see all her teeth and parts of her jaw. She snatched Mera’s puffy cheeks with her right hand, her bones icy against her skin.

  “Regneerik is coming, merling.” Her cracked and hissing voice didn’t belong to living things. The queen grinned wider, stretching the skin left on her face. “You’re not ready.”

  Mera’s heart beat faster as horror crawled down her spine. She was about to scream when someone beat her to it.

  The bellows came from a distance. Her mommy disappeared, along with Professor Currenter and the rest of the waterbreakers around them.

  Only the screams and the ocean remained.

  Mera frowned, trying to recognize the sound.

  That voice… she knew who it belonged to…

  Bast!

  Chapter 16

  With a gasp, she jolted awake. Her brain hadn’t fully caught up, but Mera was already jumping off the bed.

  She’d been dreaming before, but she couldn’t remember about what… something with corals and corpses.

  It didn’t matter. Bast was in danger.

  “Corvus!” he yelled from inside his room. “Don’t!”

  Mera’s heart thrashed in her chest as she rushed through the living room. Poseidon in the trenches, if Corvus hurt Bast, she would explode that bastard from the inside out without a second thought. Let him have a taste of the macabre.

  “Bast!” She slammed the door open to find him writhing on the mattress.

  He was utterly alone.

  “I’ll fucking kill you!” Bast kicked his blanket away, showcasing a strong naked chest peppered with glowing blue dust and sweat. As if his body was the night sky reflected in a pond.

  ‘Why is he wearing black boxers?’ the siren grumbled in disappointment.

  “Stella, don’t watch!” he cried.

  Rushing to him, Mera climbed on the bed and put a hand over his forehead. “Shh, it’s okay.”

  Bast shook his head left and right, his fingers digging deep into the mattress.

  “It’s okay.” Her waterbreaker glamour flowed into her words, diving into his skin. “You’re safe.”

  “I killed them,” he mumbled as his breathing slowly steadied. “I killed them all.” Eventually, his body stilled, and he exhaled deeply. “Death and darkness.”

  He stayed still, quiet for a while, his sweat clammy against her palm, but Mera didn’t move. She didn’t want to wake him. Instead, she studied the glowing specks across the bridge of his nose, the perfect curve of his lips.

  Fixing a strand of damp silver hair off his face, she smiled. “I’m here, partner. You’re okay.”

  With her voice, Bast blinked awake slowly, until he was staring at Mera with puzzled blue eyes which matched the glow on his skin.

  “Kitten?”

  “You were having a nightmare.” She caressed his cheek before realizing how inappropriate it was. Pulling her hand back, she cleared her throat. “You okay?”

  His gaze locked on hers, like heavy chains that wouldn’t release her. “I don’t think I am.” An easy grin spread on his face. “I might need some company tonight.”

  She slapped his very naked, very sweaty, chest. “Smartass.”

  She attempted to stand from the bed, but he held her wrist.

  “Stay? Just for a while?” Scooting over to the left, he patted the empty space beside him.

  That was a bad, bad idea, but Mera was already lying on her back and staring at the ceiling, scared shitless of what they might do—and at the same time, hoping madly that it would happen.

  Her siren fanned herself, and she couldn’t hold still.

  ‘This is it,’ she cheered. ‘This is the moment we’ve been waiting for!’

  Leaning on his elbow, Bast observed Mera, his eyes curious and kind. There were no walls between them as they looked at each other.

  “Tell me about Mera Wavestorm,” he asked carefully.

  Turning back to the ceiling, she swallowed dry. Mera was expecting a world of things, but not that. Then again, Bast had told her everything about Stella and his brothers. What Corvus had done, the countless lives Bast himself had taken in the League’s name… He’d even told her how Theo, the monk, used to read him stories late at night, and how once, Bast and Ben pranked their Father so badly, that they got sent to the dungeons for a week.

  He told her things that build a picture of his past; things that mattered.

  Repaying the favor was only fair.

  “My mother abused me constantly,” she began, not knowing exactly where that would lead. “The things she forced me to do; the things she did to me, to her own people… at one point, I snapped.” Mera turned to him as a familiar sorrow and regret knotted in her throat, but she swallowed them back. Over the years, she’d become an expert at it. “Like you, I was too young when I had my first kill.”

  Bast nodded, but didn’t say a thing.

  “I speared a triton into my own mother, then fled Atlantea with her body,” Mera went on. “I assumed the magic inside the forbidden zone would’ve ended me. I was only thirteen, and ready to die, Bast.”

  A pair of tears escaped her eyes, but he wiped them with his thumb.

  Against Mera’s better judgement—and Ruth’s advice to trust no one—she continued.

  She told him about Professor Currenter and Belinda Tiderider. About the horrors her mother had inflicted upon her own people. Mera told him she’d been banished from Atlantea, and that she’d gone on a suicide mission to bury her mother in shame. How Ruth had found her, dazed and lost while walking on a beach.

  The Cap had given Mera her last name and a new life.

  Mera told him how Ruth protected her, even when the law said she should’ve shot Mera in the head. It was why Mera joined the force when she’d come of age, actually.

  Sure, she wanted to protect and serve, but she also wanted to make the woman who’d saved her, who’d given her life back, proud.

  In silence, Bast listened to all of it.

  When Mera was done, she nervously cleared her throat. “That’s it, basically.” Taking a deep breath, she faced the ceiling again, not bearing to look directly at him anymore. “I never told my story to anyone other than Ruth.”

  “Thank you.” He caressed her cheek. “I never imagined we had so much in common. You used to be a princess, and you also knew hate and pain at a young age.” He played with a strand of her hair, his blue eyes fixed on it with a certain wonder. “Don’t you find it remarkable we were assigned to each other?”

  Now that she thought of it, yes.

  “It was a huge coincidence,” she admitted.

  Dropping his head on the pillow, he watched her lazily. “Theo says that when we’re born, Danu ties a golden string around our little fingers. It connects us to who we’re destined to be with.”

  Panic suddenly took over her, but she masked it with nonchalance. “Your point, Detective?”

  ‘We know his point,’ her siren whispere
d.

  Chuckling low in his chest, Bast blinked slowly, his tone drawling with sleep. “I’m pretty sure my golden string leads to you.”

  He scooted closer, then turned Mera on her side, spooning her.

  “W-what the hell—”

  Nuzzling the curve of her neck, he kissed her bare shoulder. “Stay?”

  Mera’s heart might have beaten out of her sternum. She swallowed dry as a cold sweat broke on her skin, until finally, she gathered enough courage to speak. “It’s not appropriate for me to stay, Bast. We’re partners.”

  Yet, he was already breathing heavily behind her, his arm limp around her waist.

  Damn it.

  She should go.

  ‘We don’t want to wake him, do we?’ her siren whispered.

  For once, that asshole was right. Besides, Bast seemed so peaceful, his body so warm against hers… maybe she should stay in case he had another nightmare.

  Sleep slowly washed over Mera, and soon her muscles relaxed.

  She couldn’t tell exactly when she’d drifted into a peaceful slumber, but she did dream of golden strings.

  Chapter 17

  Mera had hoped questioning the palace’s servants would have led them somewhere, but the first day of interrogations was a total bust.

  The faeries working in the mailroom claimed the chocolate box had disappeared before they could deliver it to the king. They also said they hadn’t seen anyone suspicious sneaking around the palace, not at the time of the murder or recently. Which meant either the killer was stealthy, or a familiar face.

  Her partner might be right. Maybe one of his brothers had done it.

  Bast and Mera had spent an entire day asking the servants the same set of questions—How long have you been working here? Did you see anything suspicious around the day of the murder? Anyone with a white box?

  She’d expected at least a small clue, but the case was getting colder than the artic.

  Today, they’d began the last batch of interrogations. Their first witness, the cook, didn’t shed any light into the murder, same as the rest of the servants. Their second witness, a Rheina Warlow, was a trembling, elderly fae who gaped at Bast as if he was death itself.

  Rheina had pale, wrinkled skin and dark hair—an uncommon look for a nightling, but not incredibly rare. Mera asked her several questions, but Rheina barely unclenched her jaw to answer. Instead, she kept staring at Bast with utter terror, her hands quivering.

  Her partner leaned closer to Mera’s ear. “She’s never been my biggest fan. I’m only getting in your way, partner, so it’s time to grab those reins you talked about.” He tapped his legs and stood. “Meet me at the gardens when you’re done.”

  With that, he left.

  The elderly fae exhaled in relief once the door clicked shut.

  “I apologize,” Rheina said in a raspy tone. “But I was there when he decapitated the assassin sent for the wolf girl. Yattusei was a youngling, and he murdered a grown fae like it was nothing. Nothing, I tell you.” Rheina’s milky eyes glistened. “I was relieved when the king disowned him, and he had to move away. That child scares me.”

  “Detective Dhay was protecting his sister. It’s what his father should’ve done, instead of ordering her death.” Mera kept her tone poised and calm, hoping it would hide her annoyance.

  Huffing, the old fae raised her chin. “The wolf is not his sister. She’s a dirty bastard who should be resting under the earth.”

  Mera wanted to slap Rheina in her cold, merciless face, but that would count as police brutality and elderly abuse in one strike.

  “You have no reason to fear Detective Dhay,” she assured with remarkable poise.

  “If you believe that, it’s already too late for you.” Rheina pointed at the door. “He has the mad queen’s curse. I’m sure of it.”

  “That’s quite enough,” Mera snapped.

  This bitter, wrinkled fae hated and feared Bast just for protecting his little sister. Mera wanted to tell Rheina to fuck off, but she had a job to do. Biting back her tongue, she turned to the questionnaire in her notebook. “Did you see anyone carrying a white box around the palace near the time of the king’s death?”

  “No,” Rheina answered point-blank.

  Mera’s gut-feeling blared with red warning signs.

  Something was off.

  “Are you sure?” Leaning forward, she pushed her siren’s glamour into her tone. “Try a little harder for me, will you?”

  Rheina immediately frowned, which highlighted the wrinkles in her pale face. Her head went red, veins bulging under her skin as she fought against herself. After a long while, her lips trembled, certainly because she tried to keep the answer from her.

  “Go on,” Mera pushed, adding a final spark of glamour to the command. “I can see you are conflicted.”

  A lie, but also a perfect excuse to hide Mera’s glamour.

  “Well, now that you mention it…” the old fae swallowed, sweat beading atop her puckered lips. “I might have seen Theodore Dhay with a white box, heading toward the throne room.” She inhaled deeply, a certain relief washing over her. “I thought it might have been an offering from Danu. I suppose I was wrong.”

  Rushing out of the room, Mera headed to the gardens to find Bast leaning over the marbled railing of the palace’s outer porch.

  He watched the vast garden ahead, with its exotic flowers of a thousand colors and sizes that decorated the lush green. Birds chirped in the distance as a soft wind played with the free threads of Bast’s loose bun.

  He looked… peaceful.

  Mera’s chest shrunk to a dot. How could she tell him he was right? That the murderer was indeed one of his brothers, just not the brother he’d hoped?

  Stepping beside him, she leaned her elbows on the rails. “What’s up, partner?”

  “Nothing much… I just wish Leon had used our mind link to warn me Father had died. Maybe if he had, this case wouldn’t be getting so cold.”

  “I guess he wanted to protect you. He has a severe case of older brother syndrome, doesn’t he?”

  Bast chuckled. “He really does. Or maybe, he assumed I wouldn’t care about Father’s death.”

  “Do you? Care, I mean?”

  He seemed to consider it for a split second. “Not really, no.”

  “Then Leon knows you better than you think.”

  “He always has.” Bast observed the gardens in silence, until eventually, he let out a weary sigh. “The past days have been a monumental waste of time. At least we have a nice view.” He nodded to beyond the gardens, toward the rest of Lunor Insul, the ocean, and the continent in the far distance.

  She put a hand atop his, her heart breaking. “It’s pretty wonderful.”

  Mera’s job had many unpleasantries, but telling Bast about Theodore, the brother who read him stories late at night when he was young, the brother who was a freaking monk… well, it might top them all.

  Studying her hand, Bast intertwined his fingers with hers. “I never thanked you, did I?”

  “For what?”

  “Sticking around.”

  Guilt weighted on her, but before she could tell him the truth, he continued. “I’m aware you asked your Cap to reassign you after... ”

  … the bloodbath at the Summer King’s penthouse.

  Mera blinked. “How did you—”

  “Before we left for Lunor Insul, Ruth told me that if you asked her to be reassigned again, she would grab a pair of scissors and cut my manhood into a thousand tiny pieces. She said ‘that ought to teach me’.”

  Mera flushed furiously, her cheeks burning. Clearing her throat, she let out a nervous laugh. “You know she would do it, right?”

  “Absolutely.” He chuckled. “I assured her we weren’t involved romantically, though we technically shared a sex dream.” He winked at Mera, never letting go of her hand. “I don’t think your Captain bought it.”

  “Yeah. Ruth’s smart like that.”

  They stayed tha
t way for a while, their hands intertwined, their gazes locked. Mera then studied his fingers, wondering how she could give him the news.

  Poseidon in the trenches, why was this so hard?

  “I’m glad you’re still my partner,” she stated quietly.

  “Do all partners sleep with each other, though?”

  She swallowed wrong and coughed, her throat scratching and her eyes watering. “We didn’t!” she countered through the violent fit.

  “Don’t get me wrong, kitten. I enjoyed sleeping with you the other night.” He nudged her shoulder with his while she coughed like a motherfucker and her cheeks caught on freaking fire. “I wish we could have an encore, actually.”

  Patting her own chest, Mera tried to recompose, her coughs slowly waning. “Okay, technically we slept together.” She thought twice about it. “But we didn’t sleep-sleep together.”

  He frowned at her with amusement. “That’s what I meant, though I’m not against what went through your mind just now.”

  Sneaky, damn faerie.

  “You snore, malachai,” Mera snapped.

  Bast’s busty laughs danced around her, a carefree sound that brought a smile to her face. Raising one eyebrow, he leaned closer. “Newsflash, you snore too, kitten.”

  “Fine, but no more about golden strings and sleeping in the same bed, okay?” Her siren raged in complaint, but Mera ignored her. “We have enough on our plate. Besides, we’re partners.”

  He shrugged nonchalantly. “Can’t make any promises.”

  Slapping his shoulder playfully, she carved his beaming smile in her memory. Mera might not see it again for a while.

  “Bast, I have to tell you something.” There wasn’t a good way to do it, nor a right time, so she went ahead. She had to. “One of the servants saw Theodore carrying a white box to the throne room.”

  Bast’s nostrils flared and he let go of her hand. “Not possible. It was Corvus.”