Chapter 1

KING EMERSON

Istep back through the Speculis mirror and into my court, my clothes ripped apart from the Fae King’s use of the Rift power on me. My darkness and shadow magic barely held back the full force of the Rift power he had, but I stopped it enough to allow any fae nearby to escape his monsters. The power was unnatural. The monsters tore through my shadows and darkness, but still, I gave the fae time to get out of the city. He was pulling magic right from the Rift, using it like invisible daggers to rip everything apart. I’ve not felt power like that before.

The fucking asshole used me. He was a distraction so the Siren King could take Calliophe, and I fell for it. I don’t know why he thought taking her was a good idea, but when I’m done with him, he will realize it fucking wasn’t. He won’t kill her. She is worth too much to me, to the Fae King, and to this world to kill outright. If the siren king wanted a war, he has got one.

I slam my throne room doors open, shouting loud. I can’t see anything but Calliophe’s face, the fear in her eyes as she was taken. “We are at war with the sirens and the fucking fae. They are being attacked. Get my army ready. Now!”

I don’t look at my court as they suddenly leave—well, the smart ones—to do my command.

Lorenzo, Felix, Zurine and Solandis don’t move away from the table. My brother gives me a concerned look as I heal myself with shadows. “What happened?”

“The Rift power was strong against my shadows,” I grunt as a large cut on my chest knits itself back together. “And the Siren King took Calliophe while I was distracted like a fool.”

“Your shadow magic is the most powerful magic in the world. How is the Rift more powerful?” Solandis questions in the silence that followed my confession.

“Lock the doors. We need to make a plan on how to get Calli back safely,” Zurine demands, acting strong, but I know she loves Calliophe, and this is just an act.

Solandis shakes her head. “No, we need to make a plan to protect our people now we are at war. That should come first—”

“Calliophe comes first,” I interrupt them all. “Nothing matters except for her, absolutely fucking nothing, and she is in great danger with the Siren King. She is mine. Which makes her all of yours to protect, too.”

“I’m glad to hear it.”

I recognize the familiar voice, someone who is not in my court and not welcome here.

I turn to face the Siren Princess Nerelyth as she storms into my throne room, shutting the doors behind herself, dressed to fight in siren deep blue leather clothes. My shadows darken every inch of the room, vipers ready to strike at my very thought.

“You are not invited, princess,” Lorenzo sarcastically remarks. “Not unless you have Calli with you.”

Nerelyth walks up to me and goes to her knees, bowing her head. I’m surprised enough to let my shadows relax. “I pledge myself, my blood and soul, to the Wyern court and its king. I swear an oath on my soul.”

No one says a word. A siren princess swearing to a Wyern King has never happened. The power in her words is real, and magic laces itself around us both, promising me her power and blood if I accept her.

“Why are you swearing to my court?” I growl. If she weren’t Calli’s best friend, I’d throw her out of this castle through the nearest window and reject her vow because of who her father is. She is a siren and I’ve just announced war on her kind. How the fuck she got into my throne room, through the wards, I don’t know.

“Because Calli is my family, and we both know what she is to you. I know where she is now, and I need help to save her life. I know you love her, likely even more than I do, and this is where I need to be. If you will accept my vow, then my life, knowledge, and power are yours, my king.”

I see the truth in her words, and for Calli, for the female I’m in love with, I speak loud enough for the gods to hear. “Rise, Nerelyth Mist, the newest member of the Wyern court.”

She touches her chest, where my court mark burns into her skin, and she rises to her feet. I feel her power and the bond to the court within me. Lorenzo watches her, along with Zurine, Solandis and Felix. Now she is one of our courts, she cannot betray us, and they know I’d not let her in my court unless I trusted her. I trust her friendship with Calliophe. “Where is she?”

Nerelyth holds her head high, and she doesn’t hide the fear in her voice. “My father forcibly entered her into the Conquest of the Sea.”

Fuck. My shadows lash out, cracking the walls around me, and the ground shakes harshly as I think about Calliophe alone in the sea, in a fucking test made to kill everyone in it for a chance to speak to a god. I can’t lose her. She slowly became my best friend, the one person in this world I want at my side. I have never, ever loved anyone like I love her. If she dies…

Nerelyth bravely carries on, speaking around the chaos as I try to calm my powers down, try not to imagine her dying over and over again in my mind. “My father has already started the test, and it hasn’t been done for five hundred years. Last time, everybody died in it. We need to leave. Now.”

“What is it?” Solandis questions. “Why can’t Calliophe just leave and not compete?”

“The Conquest of the Sea was set up thousands of years ago by the goddess herself, to honor the god of the sea, who was said to be her lover at some point. The god of the sea needs sacrifices, and this is what the test is truly for. To lure people in, there is a gift offered at the end, along with a chance to speak to the god himself. It’s meant for only sirens to enter, but there is no rule against fae entering.”

“Fae have entered in the past on the command of the old Fae King, but they always died,” Zurine adds in.

“Wyerns have entered as well,” Lorenzo says, looking at me, and I remember my father warning of this. There was a time he banned anyone from entering it because they were all slaughtered.

Nerelyth nods. “There are a series of trials that were to happen randomly. Usually there’s three. Sometimes there’s more. You have to survive them and they’re brutal. The whole thing takes place in a monster-filled cavern within the sea that no one can enter or leave without being in the Conquest. Being able to breathe underwater is a must, and most powers do not work down there. The Conquest basically makes everyone mortal until it is over.”

“So, she is in danger from not only the test itself but the monsters in the cavern… with no powers?” Lorenzo wraps it up.

Nerelyth nods. “She also won’t be alone down there, because other people would have entered it. There’s only a certain way to enter, and I can tell you how. But when we go, we have no idea where we’ll be taken, and we need to agree to find Calliophe first and then find each other, as it’s our best chance of surviving. It’s how my father did, years ago.”

“Except your father killed all of his friends once he got to the end and didn’t need them,” I dryly add, remembering my father telling me about it. I try not to think of my mother, of the years I spent hating her, only to find out she wasn’t herself and she never hurt me. She loved me and I didn’t save her. I couldn’t. I failed her.

I can’t fail Calliophe. Fucking hell, I can’t.

Nerelyth leans against a chair. “My father was the last one to win this test, and he asked to be the king of the sirens. He was the fourteenth in line to the throne before the sea god changed the rules. The issue with the sea god, like many of the gods that people don’t believe in these days, is there is always a twist. They’re brutal, cold, unfeeling, and there’s always a price to be paid.

“For my father, the price was that he would never have a male heir to continue his line and his family currently living would all die. That was the price that he was told, and he thought he could go against it. So, he kept having children until my mother fell pregnant with a male, and it killed them both because he could never be born. The sea god killed them both as his punishment to him for not listening, and left my father infertile as a further punishment. My sisters… none of us can conceive either. The sea god made sure my father’s curse was permanent, forever. So at the end of the day, if one of us does manage to get to the end of this because that’s the only way out, be careful what you wish for.”

“Don’t wish for stupid shit and save Calli. Got it. We’re going now. How do we get in?” Lorenzo says. Zurine and Felix step closer.

“A blood promise. When you wake up, there’ll be an amulet mark on you,” Nerelyth explains, holding up a letter that no doubt has the words on them we need to say.

“Who’s coming?” I demand.

“Count me in. Can’t leave my fae bestie alone in this,” Lorenzo says.

Zurine rolls her eyes but comes closer. “Me as well.”

Felix comes to my side and bows his head. “It will be an honor to be at your side, my king.”

I pat his shoulder and look at my court, all of them willing to risk their lives for Calliophe. For us both. I don’t know when I got lucky enough to find them, or them to find me, but here we are.

I look at my sister. “I should stay,” she says.

“You wanted a war, for the world to change, now is that time. I leave you in charge of the court. Save who you can,” I tell her. “Remember, there are good people in every race, and protecting them is our duty. Do not leave them to face the Fae King and his monsters alone.”

“I will do what I can,” Solandis agrees, but we both know she will make sure our people are safe first, and she is too jaded to protect them all. However, I can’t leave the court with anyone else, which only means I need to get back here as soon as fucking possible.

Solandis walks away, turning back once. “Find your mate and be happy, brother.”

No one says a word, even though we all know she hasn’t agreed to be my mate yet, or even realized that we are true mates. I want to tell her without the pressure of what it means. She will be the queen of the Wyern race and at my side. It will be a life of Wyerns never wanting or accepting a fae queen and a life hunted by the rest of the world because she is my only weakness. That’s why the Siren King took her and put her in this test. He knew I’d go after her and leave my people without a second thought.

Love is a weakness, but one I’d happily fucking die for.

“Say these words and cut your hand,” Nerelyth claims, offering Lorenzo the dagger and letter first.

He cuts his hand, nodding at me. “By my hand, I give my blood to the sea. I enter the Conquest of the Sea willingly and give my life to the god of the sea until I win or die.”

As the last word leaves his lips, he fades quickly and disappears altogether. I barely reach out in time to grab his paper and dagger before they fall to the floor.

“Where has he gone?” Felix questions.

“That’s what happens. It just takes you there,” Nerelyth explains. “Who’s next?”

“Me,” I state, cutting my hand. My blood drips onto the floor as I speak the words, and I feel the ancient sea salt-scented power reaching out across the worlds, latching onto my soul and purring in delight as I’m taken to the sea, to the siren kingdom.