Court’s Fool
The Aermian Feuds Book Six
Frost Kay
Court’s Fool
Copyright © 2020 Renegade Publishing, LLC
First Edition
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any format or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without written permission of the author.
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
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Cover by Amy Queau
Formatting by Renegade Publishing
Copy Editing by Madeline Dyer
Proofreading by Holmes Edits & Kate Anderson
Created with Vellum
Audiobooks
Are you an audiobook addict? I’m happy to announce that all books in the Aermian Feuds are available now in audio! Listen now!
REBEL’S BLADE
CROWN’S SHIELD
ENEMY’S QUEEN
KING’S WARRIOR
Also by Frost Kay
THE AERMIAN FEUDS
(Dark Epic Fantasy Romance)
Rebel’s Blade
Crown’s Shield
Siren’s Lure
Enemy’s Queen
King’s Warrior
Warlord’s Shadow
Spy’s Mask
DOMINION OF ASH
(Post Apocalyptic Fantasy Romance)
The Stain
The Tainted
The Exiled
MIXOLOGISTS & PIRATES
Amber Vial
Emerald Bane
Scarlet Venom
Cyan Toxin
Onyx Elixir
Indigo Alloy
THE TWISTED KINGDOMS
(Dark Epic Fantasy Romance)
The Hunt
The Rook
ALIENS AND ALCHEMISTS
(Sci-Fi Fantasy Romance)
Pirates, Princes, and Payback
Alphas, Airships, and Assassins
Contents
Court’s Fool
Audiobooks
Also by Frost Kay
Prologue
1. Mer
2. Sage
3. Tell
4. Jasmine
5. Sam
6. Sage
7. Sage
8. Tehl
9. Sage
10. Dor
11. Tehl
12. Sage
13. Hayjen
14. Sam
15. Sage
16. Mira
17. Sage
18. The Warlord
19. Sage
20. Tehl
21. Sage
22. Tehl
23. Sage
24. Mer
25. Tehl
26. Mira
27. Tehl
28. Jasmine
29. Sage
30. Tehl
31. Sage
32. The Warlord
33. Sage
34. Sage
35. Mira
36. The Warlord
37. Sage
38. Mira
39. The Warlord
40. Dor
41. Sage
42. Sage
43. Sage
44. Sage
45. Tehl
46. Mira
47. Sage
48. Mer
49. The Warlord
50. Sage
51. Tehl
52. Mira
53. Jasmine
54. Mer
55. Sam
56. Sage
57. Hayjen
58. Tehl
59. Sage
60. Mira
61. Sage
Epilogue
Sage
Jasmine
Sage
COMING 2021
Acknowledgments
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This book is for all the readers who have stuck with me from my very first book. Your experiences in life and your willingness to share them with me is what created characters that stick with you long after the book is finished. Love you guys!
Kingdoms of Aermia
Prologue
Dark Princes and Demon Kings.
Lady Spies and Assassins.
Pirate Queens and Spymasters.
Beast Masters and Dragon Songs.
Freedom and Captivity.
Consorts and Warlords.
Pain and Pleasure.
Death and Life.
Fables and Myths.
Betrayal and Love.
Truths and Lies.
All belonged in fairytales.
All were Sage’s reality.
One
Mer
Sirenidae weren’t supposed to drown.
Mer clutched at her throat, desperately trying to seal the wound that slashed through her gills. Blood leaked between her fingertips, creating a grisly halo of swirling water, debris, and blood.
She choked as warm liquid dripped down the back of her throat. Her stomach cramped and lurched as another casualty from above crashed through the surface of the unruly sea and began to sink.
A chill swept her as the faint notes of a haunting melody reached her ears. Mer cocked her head, and listened intently as the cacophony of the cannon fire and explosions of war raged above.
The hunt song.
Ice filled her veins at the clear words. Her magenta gaze darted to the soldier, struggling as he made his way back to the surface, his movements wild and unchecked. He was beckoning his own death.
Guilt pricked Mer as she pressed harder against her injury and kicked with all her strength toward the surface. The predators of the deep had no interest in the Sirenidae, but with copious amounts of blood, flesh, and prey struggling in the sea, it would be so easy for one of them to mistake her for something tasty.
Her legs ached as she fought her way toward the rippling surface. A deep-seated panic wrapped around her heart and squeezed when the muted, dull tones of death drew closer, and her waterlogged clothing began to drag her down once again.
Mer tore at her clothing, shedding the linen shirt, exposing her bare breasts and scratching herself in the process. Her feet tangled in her pants, and she found herself sinking deeper while she wrestled with the infernal garments.
Relief was a short-lived victory as she kicked free from her pants and caught a glimpse of a huge black fin.
Wicked hell. The leviathan. Time to move.
Abandoning her attempt to seal her gills, Mer clawed at the water and pushed toward the surface. She had to get out of the water. Now.
Her lungs burned and screamed for air. Motion flickered at the corner of her vision, and she locked gazes with the soldier just as a shape formed with oil-slicked skin from the inky darkness.
Don’t show fear.
With the last of her strength, Mer smiled at the man and held her hand out, betraying none of the guilt she harbored for not warning him. Just as he reached a hand toward her, the leviathan struck. She pulled back her arm and slowly moved toward the surface as the predator tore apart his meal so not as to attract his attention. Her gaze never moved from the red haze.
Where there was one beastie, there were always others.
Mer gasped as her head broke through the barrier of one world and into another. Seawater spewed from her lungs as she coughed and hacked
. Lightheaded, Mer tried to make sense of the anarchy lighting up the sky.
Cannons thundered, metal shrieked, and the cries of a thousand men pierced the air. Disoriented, she craned her neck, searching for her ship. Lightning cracked across the night sky, highlighting the skeletal forms of sinking ships, floating debris, and phantom-like fins slicing through the ocean. She sucked in a breath as she spotted her ship to the right.
The Dauntless.
She inhaled deeply and sank beneath the waves, fighting the urge to allow the change to overtake her body. With careful, steady strokes, she worked her way toward the Dauntless, very aware of the dangers lurking above and below.
Her strength lagged as the hull of the ship grew closer, and darkness hovered at the edge of her vision.
Only a few more paces.
Mer crashed through waves and into the open air, the frigid wind stabbing her skin like a thousand needles. It was on the tip of her tongue to call for help, but she caught herself. If by some miracle someone heard it, she would have put a target on them and herself.
The ladder is here somewhere. Don’t be lazy.
She moved along the side of the shuddering ship and grinned when she spotted the ladder the pirates had left for her kind. With blood and saltwater slickening her hands, Mer attached herself to the ropes. Now for the hard part.
Between her silvery-white hair and unnaturally pale form, she’d become a target the moment she scaled the ship.
Be brave.
Mer inhaled deeply and sprang into action, pushing past the pain, nausea, and fear. Hand over hand, she hauled herself up the rope.
One, two, three, four—
Heat seared her bare back, and agony sliced through the back of her right thigh.
“Damn it,” she yelled, clinging to the rope as cannons fired on the Dauntless. Her muscles trembled, and bile flooded her mouth. Mer panted and yanked herself a little higher. A high-pitched ringing filled her ears, then the world imploded.
Her body soared through the air, and she crashed into the midnight waves, knocking the breath from her lungs.
Like a falling leaf, her body began to sink. Mer blinked until her eyes adjusted to the sea. Stillness settled over her soul as she came face to face with a leviathan. This was how she’d die. A memory flashed through her mind.
“I will love you for as long as the tides rise and fall.” Ream’s magenta eyes filled with emotion.
Mer blinked tears back, feeling like she would burst with love. “I will love you and stand by your side as sure as the moon fills the night sky.”
No one was present for their bonding ceremony. Her grandfather certainly wouldn’t approve, but she didn’t care. It was her life, and they’d waited long enough. War was on the horizon, and time was precious.
Seahorses and jellyfish danced around them in the current as Ream leaned close to place a sweet kiss on her lips.
“I love you.”
Her fingers tangled in his loose, white hair. “As I love you.” Would this be the last time they saw each other?
Ream cupped her cheeks and smiled at her. “This is our beginning, not our ending.”
She nodded, fear flooding her for the first time. It was happening. The Scythians were really attacking, and she’d committed treason to give the people above support. There was no going back.
“You’re everything to me.” Mer leaned her forehead against his and stared into his eyes. “Once this is over…”
His soft smile grew. “We’ll spend copious amounts of time lounging in bed and celebrating our marriage and victory.”
Mer snapped out of the memory as the beast glided closer, rows of daggerlike teeth gleaming in the patches of moonlight that lit up what had become a watery grave. Mer gazed blankly at the monster and hummed a few notes of the kin song in a last-ditch attempt to dissuade him from eating her.
He paused and slowed his approach, circling to her left. Mer kicked her good arm and leg and kept him in her vision. If she was going to die, it wasn’t going to be from a sneak attack.
Again, she hummed a few notes of the kin song, something she was taught as a child to help the beasts distinguish her as friend instead of food. Her heart galloped in her chest as he drifted closer.
I’m sorry, Ream. I love you.
The beast did not attack. He bumped her chest with his pointed snout. Mer blinked in shock. Her fear dissipated at the affectionate greeting.
With slow careful movements, she ran her hand along his snout and down his back to his dorsal fin. Mer slid her good leg over his spine and laid her cheek against his rubbery hide, her fingers curled around his fin. She clicked gently, using the last of her air to politely ask for a ride.
A smile touched her lips as the beast glided forward in response. Her eyes turned toward the writhing watercolor surface of the sea as dots crossed her vision and the world blurred around her.
Death wasn’t beautiful, but at least she’d finally know peace from the weighty guilt she’d carried around for far too long.
“Breathe, damn it!”
Mer spewed seawater, her throat burning. She coughed, pain wracking her body as the change took over.
“That’s it,” Sam crooned. “You’re alright.”
It didn’t feel like she was alright. It was as if someone ran a fire poker along her neck and then shoved it down her throat. “What?” she croaked, blurrily staring up at Sam’s bruised face.
He held a finger to her lips and cradled her against his chest. “Don’t speak. You have severe wounds to your gills and neck.”
She swallowed, wincing at the pain, and the taste of metal coins in her mouth, even as her eyes drooped. Damnation, she was tired.
“Don’t worry. Ream will be here soon. Just rest a little and you’ll be able to fight another day.”
Oblivion washed over her.
Two
Sage
Blood sprayed across her face. Sage jerked her blade back as the warm, Scythian lifeblood ran down her hand and forearm. The warrior gurgled something unflattering and bared his scarlet-stained teeth before his lifeforce fled his body. His last breath froze in the winter wind for a moment before being swept away.
She stared at his body strewn across the first skiff of snow winter had to offer—his body an ugly reminder of what the days ahead of her held. Sage crouched and wiped her slick fingers on the warrior’s leather jerkin, her eyes surveying the chaos and violence that rolled like the raging sea around her. She scarcely registered anything but her own heart beating frantically in her ears. Her lip curled as she spotted an Aermian soldier pinned down but fighting wildly.
Damn, Hayjen.
The frigid wind whipped across her face as she stood, and she caught Rafe’s eye signaling her next move, then sprinted toward her uncle, leaving Rafe behind. He’d catch up soon enough.
A warrior spotted her and lunged into her path from the right, swinging a massive battle ax. Sage dropped onto one knee and slid in the muddy snow. Time seemed to slow as the ax cut through the space above her head, the slick soft sound of metal slicing the empty air. It was a sound she’d become familiar with; she’d managed to escape with her life for over three months, incurring more scars than she could count.
She twisted in the snow, then swung her sword backward, catching her enemy above his ankle, severing his Achilles tendon. The man bellowed and crashed to his knees. Pain echoed in every line of his face as promises of revenge fell from his chapped lips.
Sage pushed herself back to her feet and continued to run, the mud beneath her boots threatening her balance. She wobbled for a moment, then steeled herself, before she crashed into the melee surrounding Hayjen. Breaching the madness her uncle had waded into upped her chances of death—or worse, capture—a hundredfold. Her fingers squeezed the hilt of her sword, and she shoved the small prickle of terror away. It had been her constant companion for so long, her sense of fear had dwindled to almost nothing.
Except fear of the warlord, her mind whispere
d insidiously.
Her jaw clenched, and she narrowed her eyes on the Scythian about to cut Hayjen down from behind. The rush of her footsteps must have given her away, but not soon enough to change the outcome she had in mind for him. The warrior spun toward her, his black dreads flaring around him, as she sprinted up the remains of an old war machine and launched through the air. By the time she hit the ground, the warrior fell beside her. It wasn’t guilt, or shame, or rage that fueled her—just a blank numbness and an animalistic need to save her family.
Hayjen was a madman. Scythian warriors came at him from every angle, but he never slowed, never faltered, even as some of their blows struck true.
A pair of hands seized Sage from behind and pulled her against an armored chest. “My lord will be so happy with my catch.”