SURPRISE: BONUS SCENE

Enjoy a bonus scene that takes place during events in Dance of Kings and Thieves, book 6 of the Broken Kingdoms. This is where the earth fae and sea fae become enemies and the origins of the Ever King begin. 

You’ll get two different POV’s from this scene, our sweet Stormbringer as a teenager, and Stieg, after saying farewell to the little sea fae boy. 

Content Warning: 

On page child physical abuse

The Stormbringer:

Shit! 

Did the strange earth fae…did he kill The Ever King? How? Ever Kings…they weren’t capable of being defeated.

It…it didn’t make sense. Still, my fingers ached from gripping the rigging with such ferocity. Bile burned my throat. 

King Thorvald fell back into the tides. 

He didn’t surface again.

Mind whirling, I did not know what moves to make, what thought to bleeding think. I’d only sailed aboard the Ever Ship for two turns as a mere deck and galley hand, but after the King was taken by the tricky earth fae, Lord Harald brought me to the upper decks. 

My chance to prove I could be a fighter for the Ever. 

For the king. 

Now he was…dead.

The cry of the tiny Ever Prince broke the stun in my head.

Damn the hells. Harald had tossed the boy to the deck like a bushel of hardtack. Erik Bloodsinger was small and a silly fae boy before his mam met the gods. Now, he seemed brittle, almost frail from little food and water. The wraps and twigs that made up a splint around his leg had snapped off, leaving the boy gritting his teeth and padding at his limp limb.

The young prince, cried, tears were on his cheeks, but the way he bit down on his lip, clearly, he tried to stop.

Harald shouted threats at the Earth Fae…king killers.

Crewmen bustled about, shocked, enraged, befuddled, and readied the ship to dive.

No one noticed the Ever Prince.

Without much more thought than instinct, I stomped across the deck. I did not know much about the heir to the Ever other than what I’d witnessed in the royal city when the prince would traipse about with his mam in the markets. Since his mate’s mysterious death, and rumors the boy had done the killing, Thorvald kept his heir sheltered. 

In truth, the journey through the Chasm was the first I’d sailed with the prince. But when a summons was sent through ancient magics my man once spoke of, the king felt compelled to bring his heir.

I’d been thrilled. Never been to earth fae lands. 

Learned right quick why I never yearned to return. When they asked for Erik and his sea voice, the king began their barters.

Didn’t sit right with me, and all, that the king was barterin’ his boy, but what good were thoughts of mine? 

When they snatched our prince and the king went after his heir, I thought it be the beginnings of a war.

Now, we were pulling away. I didn’t understand it, and perhaps I wasn’t meant to.

What I did understand was a tiny boy prince was lookin’ paler by the moment and could hardly crawl across the deck.

Crew kept stomping around, not noticing, and he was bound to get trampled.

My arms scooped under Erik’s shoulders. He hissed at first, then bit down a cry when I hauled him up. His bloodied, sliced up hands, grappled for his leg. I took great care to watch where I touched the boy, what with his poison blood and all. 

Didn’t think the young prince had much against me, but I also didn’t think he had much left in him to sing me back to health should his blood rot my own.

“Hang on, Prince Erik. I’ll be liftin’ you a bit. Bite down on me arm if you be in pain. I can take it.”

I was a mere ten turns the prince’s elder, but he looked at me with the anguish of a thousand turns.

All the same, the boy didn’t cry out and did as I said, once or twice on the journey belowdecks. Whenever he winced or jostled, his sharp little teeth dug into my upper arm.

I took him to my bunk and settled him as gentle as I could on the tattered hammock. 

For the first time, I got me a good look at the Prince. 

By the gods of the sea, what had they done to the boy? Not only was Erik’s leg clearly broken, but deep, cruel gashes were lashed across his skin—throat, ears, hands, even a wide gash cut through his lip.

Those bastards bleeding tortured him. A boy.

“You got ‘im?” A squeaky voice filled the space.

Another little, one who’d sailed many times before, peered around a neighboring hammock.

I forced a grin. “Aye, young Heartwalker. We got him.”

Lord Harald’s boy couldn’t hide his smile. His wild dark hair stood on end, and he was missin’ a front tooth that left a big gap in his grin. 

The two boys were nigh inseparable in the Royal City before all this dreariness. No one mourned for losing Bloodsinger more than Tait Heartwalker. He was a touch older, but more like a brother to the Ever Prince.

When Tait reached the hammock, he jolted back once he saw the state of his cousin. 

Tears filled his eyes. He didn’t fight them. Then again, Lord Harald wasn’t as harsh a father as the Ever King. 

“What’d they do to ‘im?” 

Erik’s chin quivered. He reached out a hand for his cousin who took it, careful not to hurt his wounds.

“I’ll get ‘em,” Tait said in a pitchy voice.

“They’ll take you,” Erik whispered.

Tait shook his head. “Not a chance. My daj, and Uncle Thorvald, and me’ll all get ‘em for this. Swear it, Erik.”

I didn’t know how to tell either boy The Ever King was gone.

“Here.” I leaned down, rummaging through one of my satchels, and pulled out some sour sweets I’d traded at the Tower. “This’ll help lift those spirits.” 

The prince hesitated, but after his cousin snatched two sweets from my hand, Erik gave in and took one.

Soon enough, a small, hesitant smile broke over his face.

I was mighty proud of that smile for I kept it there through ridiculous tales of drunken merfolk and too many sour sweets until the Ever Ship surfaced again.

A horn blew above us. Thank the gods, Bloodsinger’s eyes were heavy and his breaths were calmer and slower.

“All right, My Prince. Why not sleep? I gotta meet some duties on deck it sounds like, but I’ll be back.” Small steps followed me to the stairs. “Heartwalker, you ought to stay with your cousin.”

“I’m comin’, Stormbringer.” His lip was curled in determination. “They gotta pay.”

Couldn’t argue that. I jerked my head, a signal to follow me, and went to the deck where the rest of the crew was gathered.

We were somewhere near the House of Tides and not alone.

Lord Hesh from the House of Blades had arrived, along with the sleek vessel of Lord Joron. 

The white laths of the House of Bones ship sailed beside us. The House of Bones lord, Fleshripper, was a man I did not know well. Hardly knew his face in a crowd, but rumor of his brutality was a legacy I yearned to create on my own someday.

Harald was shouting with a huddle of House Lords. The Lady of Mists, it seemed, had sent her second—Maelstrom. 

“Killed Thorvald and stole his mantle,” was shouted loud enough for all us to hear.

A small gasp drew my attention. Heartwalker’s gold-red eyes were filled with a bit of horror. “Uncle Thorvald?”

Jaw tight, I nodded.

I kept watch on the boy while the lords hissed and spat and made vengeful plans. Truth be told, I’d never seen Harald so wrapped in rage. He was the brother of the king and one who kept Thorvald calm whenever the king’s anger took hold.

Now, he was murderous. Like a new, darker side he’d kept hidden finally emerged with the death of the king.

Harald shouted commands for all house lords to meet at the Royal City.

“Where is my nephew?” Harald roared over the decks. 

Heartwalker hurried forward. “I’ve got him, Papa! He’s restin’.”

“Resting?” Harald’s teeth flashed. I jolted back when all at once Harald looked at his own boy, his blood, and the red of his eyes flashed in something wretched. With the back of his hand, he struck little Tait hard enough the boy toppled over.

Heartwalker cried out in pain and in stun. 

I went to reach for the boy, but Harald moved swifter. From the cuff of his son’s tunic, he lifted Tait, pressing his brow to his boy. “He is the Ever King now, you little bastard. Do you think a king has time to rest when wars must be planned?”

What the hells?

Harald dropped his son, a boy he’d always held in such regard, then stormed into the king’s chambers. 

Heartwalker sniffed and picked himself up. Skinny and lanky, the boy covered his ear, dabbing at the blood left from his father’s hand.

“It’ll be all right, Heartwalker. He, uh, just be a bit broken over losin’ the king.” I tried to rest a hand on Tait’s shoulder but the boy shirked me off.

Tears were in his cheeks when he faced me. “No, Stormbringer. Daj wanted to kill me just now. He wants to take on Erik as his own. Not me. Wants to make Bloodsinger a killer. Woulda killed me, just like that, til he thought I could make Erik wanna fight harder.”

The boy could read hearts and I wished he couldn’t in this moment. 

Harald was broken now that Thorvald Soulcaller, king of the Ever, was gone. The Ever King was powerful and I didn’t quite understand how he’d simply been bested by a fae of the earth. Thorvald had the voice to call to souls, in any realm, any land. He could reach something in their heart, their very being, and draw them out in a sort of trance like that of a siren. 

Fierce and deadly for his enemies. 

But still, the earth fae got the damn drop on him.

Now, what would become of his boy?

“Stormbringer, is it?” Maelstrom of the House of Mists stepped behind me. Formidable, fierce, mysterious. Like Lord Fleshripper, I knew little of the man.

He had his pale hair tied behind his neck, covered in a blue scarf. “You were with the young Ever King?”

Ever King? By the bleeding gods—Erik Bloodsinger was now the king.

I gave a jerky nod, unknowingly tugging Heartwalker toward me by his tunic. As though Maelstrom might lash out and attack him the same as Harald.

Maelstrom did none of it, merely offered Heartwalker a pitiful smile, then looked back to me. “Lady Narza will know if what happened here. Harald will seek revenge and use Bloodsinger to do it when the boy is grown. Watch over him, Stormbringer. I sense a level head in you. Young ones”—again, he looked down at Tait— “may have need of such levelness in coming turns.”

Strange. “Aye. I’ll stand with the House of Kings.”

With that, Maelstrom left to his vessel.

“Come, Heartwalker,” I said after a pause. “We best be checking on the new king. He’ll need you, know that?”

New tears formed in Tait’s eyes. “Don’t know if my daj’ll let me anymore.”

Gods what was happening here? Something felt…different in the ship, darker.

“Well, until then, we best be lookin’ out for Bloodsinger. I’ll be lookin’ out for you too if you do the same for me.”

Tait used his sleeve to wipe his nose and nodded. “Aye. I’ll do the same.”

***

The Warrior

I saw him. Grown, vicious, tall and broad. His eyes were like his father’s, red and harsh. Images of different seas, different battles, reeled through my mind. 

He stood near a golden palace like I’d never seen. Deep blue tides all around. His hair was longer, his scars were there, but healed. He was a man. And tucked against his side was a woman with hair like the night and eyes that looked too familiar. 

The cruelty of his crimson gaze softened with her, until he flashed a look at me. His voice, deep and rough now, merely said, “Hello, Warrior.”

Sweat soaked my chest. Breaths came rough. I snapped upright in bed when the dream faded. My arm was bound in a roughly made sling. Best we could do in the war-torn East until Niklas’s bone strengtheners took hold and healed the fracture. 

Did little Erik have anyone like the Elixist in his world to help with his leg? 

Damn boy, so reckless and bold, slipping through the window to escape Ivar and Britta. 

He’d only whimpered in his dreams after they’d retrieved him. In waking hours, the little tried so damn hard to stay the tears he wanted to shed. I told him to cry once, told him to scream. He could muffle them against me. 

He did bury his face against my arm once, but only silent tears fell.

Like he’d been taught never to let his emotion show. 

Only when we made simple plans, like the boy visiting my longhouse in Etta, perhaps having a bed all to himself in the loft, tales of him running with Ettan boys and girls, impressing them with his talents with water, did the tiny sea fae smile. 

I ran a hand down my face. Dawn was tolls away, but sleep was finished for me. With care not to wake Frey, Raum, and Lynx who shared my hovel in the wood, I crept outside. 

Battles were not done, but there was much to celebrate. Valen’s curse was gone again, he was whole. Littles had been saved without losing one. 

Except the sea fae boy. 

I rubbed a hand over my chest and went to turn down a path to the wood, until I saw a shadowed figure, sitting on a fallen log in front of another hovel. 

“Valen?” 

My king, eyes weary, looked up. In his hand was that damn coin Thorvald loved so much. The strange relic that dropped upon the longship the moment Valen killed the sea king. 

He smiled, but there was no joy behind it. “Couldn’t sleep. And this . . . for some reason leaves Elise ill when she’s near it. Says the babe turns over and over inside her until she wants to retch. Thought our little was too small still.”

“Must know the trouble that came from such a relic. What a wise little the queen is growing.” I smiled and sat beside him. “I am thrilled for you both, by the way. I cannot wait to meet our new prince or princess.”

Valen let his head fall back, gaze on the night sky. “I have no bleeding idea how to be a father.”

“Does anyone?”

He chuckled. “No. I suppose not. My mother and father will be thrilled. When this is all over, we’ll return with news of Elise, but now Sol and Tor will be bringing home the babe they found.”

True. The Sun Prince and Torsten had already latched to the infant fae found in the briars. I was thrilled for them, the same as I was thrilled for my king and queen. Why, then, could I not stop the ache in my own chest. 

“Ever think you’ll have littles, Stieg?” Valen asked. 

“Gods.” I ran a hand through my hair. “Suppose I’d have to find a woman who could tolerate me.”

The king grinned and slid the strange sea fae totem into a pouch on his belt. “You were good with Thorvald’s son. The boy wouldn’t sleep unless you were within sight.”

There was a roughness to Valen’s voice, something like regret. 

“You think of him at all since—”

“Since I slaughtered his father?” Valen’s mouth tightened. “The moment keeps haunting my dreams. No doubt Thorvald is laughing over it. I saw the way they disregarded him, tossed him aside. I think I will go mad imagining what sort of life I damned a child to. You? Do you think of him?”

Valen was not just my king, he was a friend first. The Blood Wraith, my guild lead. Never in all our acquaintance had I felt I could not speak freely. It did not start tonight. 

“I wanted to keep him, Valen.” I let my chin drop. “It’s mad, I know. You ask do I want littles, I wanted him. I don’t understand it, but I have never wanted to care for a young one until I met Erik Bloodsinger. The way he hinted about his father, I knew he was not comfortable wherever he was from. He did not have the light in his eyes that a child should have. He gave up that a lot of his folk fear him because of his blood.”

Valen nodded. “I can see it might be an isolating power. I’m sorry, Stieg. Had I known, I might’ve negotiated with Thorvald more instead of simply shouting at him to give us his boy. He seemed so . . . indifferent.”

“You say you have regret, not speaking up for Erik, not snatching him back the moment Thorvald fell, I don’t know if I will ever forgive my hesitation.”

We were silent for a long pause. At long last, Valen clapped my shoulder. “I have no desire to see that bastard Harald again, but who knows. Perhaps this was not our last interaction with sea fae of the Everland, or whatever their damn kingdom is called.”

I chuckled and nodded. But I did not let on how something inside, an instinct or a hope, did not think that was the last I would hear of Erik Bloodsinger.