Save the Sea (Saved by Pirates #3)(45)

“The king has sent me to collect you. It is time, Queen Everleigh,” she says, and I smile tightly. I walk around them all and go to my throne, sitting down and folding my hands in my lap.

“You can return to your king, and give him a message instead,” I say, and her eyes widen in shock.

“You promised. You must not break your word,” she hisses.

“I am not,” I say simply, and it seems to calm her down a little. “You can tell your king that if he wants his bride, then he must come to collect her himself,” I say, and she shakes her head.

“The king does not leave his city. That is an impossible demand,” she says, her eyes wide and frightened. I want to feel sorry for her, but this is what I’ve planned. I will not leave my people so soon after the war.

“Then it will be impossible for him to collect on my promise. Now leave and safe travels,” I say, nodding my head at my two guards, who escort Kiaw out. When the door shuts, I wait for the council members to say anything.

“I do not believe that was wise, your highness,” Master Pirate says, his words sarcastic and annoying.

“That was my choice. I do not want to marry a stranger. A king of the mermaids who killed his family for his throne. If I marry him, he will be king of all of Calais.”

“Yes, but you will be queen,” Master Light says and walks up to me, taking my hand in his. “To be queen, you must sacrifice your ideals and your personal wants. The king will come here for you, to collect on your promise. You must return to his world, and come back as the queen of both land and sea.”

“Is the queen of land not enough?” I ask, and he nods, turning my hand over. His finger traces a line in the middle of palm.

“They say our life stories can be told in our hands, in the lines we have. They say the god of souls looks at your hand before he decides whether to take your soul or not.”

“Who is the god of souls?” I ask, only ever having heard of the Sea God.

“Someone you could do to learn about, Queen Everleigh,” he chuckles and lets go of my hand. I watch as he walks out of the room with Master Pirate, before I stand up and look towards the two guards left with me.

“I’m ready to go to my rooms,” I say, but neither of them move, they keep their heads down, looking at the floor. I slowly walk over to the one on the left. My heart pounds in my chest when I see the blood dripping out of the corner of his mouth. I touch his shoulder, and he falls to the floor with a smash. I back away, turning and rushing towards the door, just as I feel a pain rip through my chest. I look down, seeing the black arrow sticking out of my chest where my heart is, and blood dripping down my red dress. I fall to the floor, gasping for air, but only tasting blood in my mouth as my vision goes blurry.

“Death to the throne, and death to the queen,” a man’s voice says, as a blurry figure steps over me, and everything fades away before I can see his face.





-





Everleigh



I sit up, gasping for air and tasting nothing but water in my mouth, feeling nothing other than the darkness around me, and too scared to open my eyes to know what death is. Irun my hands over myself, but not feeling anything other than my chest. No hole where the arrow was. I’m dead, so how can I be thinking anything?

“I saved you, ainma mate,” a dark, seductive voice says, and I finally open my eyes. I look around at the black pirate ship I’m on, and it rests in a dark water. There are no stars and no moon, nothing to let me know where we are. The ship is falling to pieces, with blue fire lights hanging around and making it possible to see where I am. It’s also wet, soaking wet everywhere, and almost looks like it might sink into the sea. I finally look in front of me, at the man who spoke. He is tall, with black hair under his black hat, and odd clothes. They are loose rags almost, and they make it possible to see bits of his toned chest and muscular arms. He holds a hand out, which I look at but don’t take. I scoot away as I look up to his golden eyes that seem to glow.

“Who are you?” I ask.

“The god of souls, who else? Welcome to my ship,” he says, laughing as he walks away.



Coming soon…





Excerpt from Runes of Truth by G. Bailey-





“Are you sure you want to do this?” I ask, trying not to yawn from boredom as I hold my sword at my side, resting on it while I stare at the protector. He isn’t the typical type that comes after me, that’s for sure. Usually Protectors are all posh assholes in shiny suits, but this guy looks like a fake leather store threw up on him.

“You must die, and I will be the one that finally–” He gets interrupted in his boring, predictable speech when my phone starts ringing. I sigh in relief, not wanting to hear that same old speech again. I pull out my phone and see Hali’s name flashing. I answer it and place it on loudspeaker, resting it on the dumpster near me.

“Yeah?” I answer, looking back at the protector as he runs for me, his sword raised.

“Evie, when are you coming home? I’m starving, and you promised me Chinese tonight. The good stuff from Chingwa, not from the crappy one you like,” she says as I hit my sword against the protector’s, and swipe my leg under his, knocking him over. I kick his sword away from him, wondering why they even bothered sending this man after me. He is a worthless fighter.