Sea of Starlight (The Riven Kingdoms #2) - Shari L. Tapscott Page 0,2
to snatch you away.”
I glare at him while I say to Rhys, “I threw the blanket over it. It’s trapped between the layers.”
Aeron doesn’t smile or joke, as usual. He merely watches as Rhys nonchalantly pulls back the cover.
I wait, holding my breath, my fingers clenched against the back of the chair. As soon as the knight reveals the wicked arachnid, he bites out a curse and leaps back.
Aeron swears, and Braith pushes from the doorway.
Feeling validated, I smirk from my sanctuary atop the chair.
“Albino Chasm tarantula,” Aeron says. “What’s it doing in Renove?”
“What’s a tarantula?” I demand.
“That thing.” Braith motions to the hairy spider. “Lucky for you, that one there is male.”
“Why is that lucky?”
“Either of you wearing boots?” Rhys asks, knocking the tarantula back to the middle of the bed with his sword.
I glance down, just now noticing his bare feet.
“Females are twice that size,” Braith answers me. “And three times as venomous.”
Aeron pulls off a boot and tosses it to Rhys. “You don’t think you can slay the wee beast with your blade, oh fearless captain?”
“You’ve been around Tryndon too long. I’d rather kill it quickly than try for bragging rights and risk losing it.” Rhys then prepares to sweep the tarantula onto the floor. “Amalia, stay up there.”
“Three times as venomous?” I ask Braith, still clinging to the back of the chair, wondering if I dare climb on top of the table. “Meaning this one is venomous as well?”
“Only mildly,” Aeron answers. “Males have a wicked bite, but they won’t kill you.”
“Watch yourselves,” Rhys says, and then he drags the tarantula to the floor with the edge of his sword.
But instead of falling over the side of the bed as planned, the spider leaps at Rhys just before it goes over the edge.
The knight makes a noise of surprise—a terrifying sound coming from a grown man—and I scream again.
The next few seconds are a blur.
Somehow in the chaos, Rhys manages to knock the tarantula to the floor. It races toward the doorway, retreating and seeking freedom.
“Don’t let it escape!” Rhys yells.
Braith flails, but Aeron manages to redirect the arachnid back into the room.
By this time, we’ve drawn a crowd. The rest of Rhys’s knights join us, along with a handful of other patrons staying at the small inn. The innkeeper crowds his way through, demanding to know what the commotion is about.
“What is that thing?” he gasps, just as another woman gets a peek at the tarantula and goes running down the hall like a tiraith is on her heels.
Rhys chases the spider across the room, quite a sight in his state of half-dress, carrying Aeron’s boot like a bludgeon. Thankfully, the tarantula darts into a corner.
I look away as Rhys smacks the boot against the wooden planks. The thud echoes through the room, along with a sticky crunch that has my stomach rolling.
And then…there is silence.
I dare to crack one eye open.
Rhys straightens. Solemnly, he announces, “It’s dead.”
The gathered crowd cheers as though Rhys just slew a dragon, and the innkeeper rushes in, apologizing. “I’ve never in my life seen such a spider. I am so very sorry—”
Rhys waves his hand, cutting him off. “It’s fine.”
Slowly, Rhys’s men usher the crowd away, including the extremely apologetic innkeeper. Then it’s just the six of us in the room—Rhys, Braith, Aeron, Cabe, Lewis, and me. We’re short two—Tryndon and Morgan. They remained in Saulette and are awaiting our return.
Less than a week ago, when my cousin came down with a sickness unknown on this side of the Chasm, we made a mad dash to the Calmon Forest, looking for a reclusive witch who is known to provide cures for the incurable. What we found was a fairy—the last of her people—and a tangle of information I’m still not sure how to process.
The biggest revelation, and the one that turned my upside-down world right-side-up once more, was that my brother was not killed by bandits as my family was led to believe, but abducted by Draegan’s royal family.
She didn’t bother to mention why, but Braeton is alive, and that is all I need to know right now.
Well, it’s not all I need to know. There’s something just as pressing—something that makes my skin crawl.
The fairy said that if I, a princess of Renove, do not fall in love and marry the crown-prince of Draegan—and sit by his side and rule his wretched kingdom—then our little, secluded world will tear itself apart. It is the only way to appease