Page 13 of Wicked Curses
Maybe the approach of The Reaping was making everyone tense, or perhaps it was always like this. It was impossible to relax while living in a snow globe that could be shaken to release flesh-eating beetles.
Sahira refused to let her uncertainty get the best of her, so she straightened her shoulders and stalked across the street to the pub. One way or another, she would get answers. Until then, she required somewhere to sleep.
CHAPTERNINE
“Your Highness,”King Firth of the merfolk greeted in the accented voice of his people that resembled the Greek inflection of humans.
His pale blond hair flowed around his shoulders as his sea-green eyes surveyed Lexi while she sat on her throne. He was missing part of his left foot, but Cole wouldn’t have known until he saw it, as the merking’s limp was nearly indiscernible.
The end of his golden trident clicked against the rocky floor when he stopped only twenty feet away from her. Broad-shouldered and tall, he was an imposing figure.
At his side stood his wife, Queen Mira. Her head only reached her husband’s chest, and her black hair nearly brushed the ground. Her lively blue eyes were inquisitive as they went from him to Lexi and back again.
Cole rested his hand on the back of Lexi’s throne as he stood beside her. He wouldn’t be king of this realm until they married, so he couldn’t sit at her side but wouldn’t leave it.
At her other side stood her father, Del. Alina, the speaker of dragons, sat behind the throne with her tail curled around it and her head over the top of Lexi’s. Her three wyrmlings, rolling around on the dais, snapped playfully at each other.
They’d started to breathe fire, and little balls of it puffed from their mouths as smoke spiraled from their nostrils. Astarot and Belindo were locked together when Firth spoke but stopped tumbling around the stage. Belindo lay on her back while Astarot remained on top of her.
They rocked back and forth in their embrace as they craned their heads to look at the merking. Nithe, crouched like a cat about to pounce, wiggled her ass before jumping on her siblings. The three of them yelped before taking off behind the throne.
The merking and the handful of followers he’d brought with him watched the baby dragons with various expressions of amusement. That amusement vanished when wings flapped and shadows fell across the room as more dragons landed to perch on the edge of the open roof above.
Every dragon made it clear they could descend upon this room, and the merfolk, in less than a second as they craned their heads to peer down from their golden eyes with their slitted pupils.
“King Firth,” Lexi greeted. “It’s a pleasure to finally meet you and your wife.”
“You as well,” King Firth said, “and it’s good to see you doing so well after your recent brush with death.”
Cole’s fingers twitched on the throne. Without Firth, Lexi would still be trapped in a stone-like state, and he was here to collect on that debt, but he could have waited until after dinner before bringing up the topic.
“And we have you to thank for helping to ensure that death didn’t come,” Lexi said.
“You do.”
From the corner of his eye, Cole caught Del’s glance toward him, but Cole didn’t dare shift his attention away from the merfolk. King Firth wasn’t a fool, and he had to know if he tried anything against Lexi, he’d end up dead.
Cole wouldn’t tolerate this man being rude or disrespectful in any way. Firth might not have declared his allegiance to Lexi, but she was still his queen, and if the merking didn’t treat her as such, he’d be dragon shit by the end of this day.
Cole looked to Lexi as her fingers constricted and relaxed on the arms of the throne. This was her realm and situation to handle, but he’d gladly beat the merking down if she asked him to.
“I appreciate all you and your wife did for me by taking Cole to the crudue vine. He’s told me how difficult it was to retrieve it, buthedid.”
Cole inwardly smiled as, with those words, Lexi shifted some of the credit for the crudue vine from the merfolk to him. She hadn’t played the game of politics for long, but she was smart and already becoming adept at navigating the field.
“Very few survive the Malignant Waters.” King Firth surveyed Lexi with a little more interest. Then he shifted his attention to Cole. “But your fiancé did so successfully.”
“And we are both alive because of that,” Lexi said.
“Which is amazing. The last time I saw him, I was sure he wouldn’t survive his injuries.”
Cole bared his teeth in the semblance of a smile. “It will take a lot more than that to kill me.”
“So it seems.”
And Cole could tell the king was pondering what it would take. King Firth may not want to kill him, but every man sought to know the weaknesses of a possible opponent, and Firth wasn’t sure what Cole’s were… other than Lexi.
“What has brought you here today, King Firth?” Lexi inquired with more of an edge to her voice.
