The Elder Blood Chronicles Book 2 Blood Honor and Dreams

by Melissa Myers

  Finn regarded her for a moment with a neutral expression and nodded slowly. His pace slowed a bit and she slowed her steps to match his. “Jala, people don’t hire me for first blood. They hire me so someone dies. I am not known for mercy in the arena,” he explained slowly, watching her as if he expected her to recoil.

  “I won’t mourn Devron. Perhaps you should use the swords you used against Kithkanon this time, though,” she replied, drawing a startled expression from him.

  “I uhh …,” he began and then chuckled slightly, shaking his head. “I charge more for using those blades and she isn’t paying that much. I have to admit you just shocked the hell out of me,” he finished, his tone matching his words perfectly.

  “I can tell,” she said with a smile. Wrapping her arm tighter around his she glanced up at him and smiled. “Do you remember when Arjuna was explaining the marriage tradition to me?” she asked.

  Frowning in confusion, Finn nodded and raised an eyebrow at her. “Yes, but it’s an odd time to bring it up.”

  “When he told me of the Immortal divorce, he said that Immortals didn’t leave enemies alive. Killing him once created hard feelings. Killing him twice will make a mortal enemy, I think. I’m simply following your Uncle’s advice, don’t leave an enemy alive,” she explained, her voice oddly cool, considering the topic.

  “Using a soul stealing sword when it hasn’t been paid for would make his entire family my enemy,” he countered. “If he dies in a duel his father will call him a fool for fighting me again when he is revived. If he can’t be revived, his father will do everything in his power to see me dead.”

  “I hadn’t considered that aspect,” Jala admitted with a sigh.

  Finn shrugged and smiled at her. “That’s the Rivasan way of it. If I killed a Delvay in that fashion it wouldn’t make enemies of the Delvay house. The Delvay outlook is survival of the fittest. If Neph dies in a duel, his family will write him off as being weak and won’t avenge him. Each house has their own beliefs about it. Some will revive others won’t.”

  “That’s horrible. You mean they wouldn’t revive him?” Jala gasped with a tinge of anger in her voice.

  “No, they wouldn’t, but that’s where we come in as his adopted family. I would avenge him while you revived him,” he told her with a wink. “He may be an ass, but he is family.”

  She grinned at the words and nodded her agreement. “Although I don’t really think he is an ass anymore. I suppose I understand him better now. Actually, I consider him one of my better friends I think,” she said with a chuckle.

  “Neph is a damn good friend to have. I think he is closer to you than he is to me but that suits me fine. Knowing Neph is at your back, actually reassures me a great deal. Despite what his father thinks, Neph is pure Delvay, and a Delvay won’t back down from a fight they believe in, for anything. If you need help, Neph will stand by you no matter the odds,” Finn informed her with a grin and stopped to open the Academy gate for the both of them.

  “You know all of the houses fairly well don’t you,” she said, stepping through the gate quickly.

  “Decently, I’d say. They all have their quirks and it pays to know them,” he answered.

  “Did you know the Merrodin well?” she asked, watching his shoulders stiffen slightly as he closed the gate.

  He turned back to face her slowly and nodded slightly. “Better than I ever wanted to. I had no love for them at all, Jala, and you are nothing like they were.” His voice was level, all humor drained from it.

  Shaking her head slightly she sighed. “I think you misunderstand why I’m asking about them. I don’t want to know the history of my house. What I’ve read so far disgusts me. I’m no slaver and I don’t find joy in the suffering of others,” she explained, taking his arm once more. “It’s just that I’m having difficulty at healing. It’s not that I can’t do it well, it’s just very draining on me and Rose thought it might be from my Bloodline. She suggested I ask Sovann more about their magic but I thought you might know,” she finished, looking to him.

  He nodded slowly and cleared his throat, looking down at the ground and then back down the road. “Sovann hasn’t told you anything yet, eh?” he asked quietly.

  “Not so far, and until now I hadn’t thought to ask,” she replied.

  “It seems everyone likes leaving the sticky subjects to me,” he sighed and gave her a slight smile. “OK. Well yes, I do know about the Merrodin magic but it’s a dangerous topic,” he began. She raised an eyebrow at him but he held up a hand before she could speak. “That, of course, doesn’t mean I won’t tell you. You know I will. The Merrodin had Djinn blood and were gifted with Wish magic. Or, what Sovann explains to me is simply a higher form of Entropy or Luck magic. The ability to manipulate fate in their favor. This is a potent gift and you are no doubt wondering how a culture that could manipulate fate was extinguished.” He glanced sideways at her and she nodded, her confusion obvious. “Well, while it is potent, it is risky as well. If the magic is not used with utmost caution, it can have unfortunate results,” he said and sighed.

  “Such as?” she asked, still confused.

  “I’m by no means an expert on magic but I’ll give you the explanation Sovann gave me as a warning to you. He used a common enough wish that is echoed daily in the streets of Sanctuary for it, only he used me as the example. See, this discussion came shortly after I left home and was not doing so well for myself.” He frowned as he spoke and his steps slowed again. “I was about to go against Merrodin, or that’s what I believed at the time. I was questioning him about their talents and I was quite concerned about their strength at the time. He shook his head at me and told me it was a double edged sword and the Merrodin wouldn’t use it on impulse. For example, say you wish to be rich. The next day your parents die and you inherit a fortune from them. You are rich, but you are also an orphan. Was the wish the best path to the fortune? I suppose if you hated your parents it would be, but despite our differences I love my parents dearly. So Sovann’s example worked well for me,” he finished and gave her a smile.

  “So there is a trick to using it carefully then?” she asked.

  “They used it to create the Veir plague, Jala. Have no doubt they phrased that spell very carefully. To a point, it worked flawlessly, Veir was destroyed. The double-edge caught them in the end though. Merrodin was destroyed as well. A couple of the Veirasha survived, of course.” He glanced at her and winked. “But then so did a Merrodin,” he added with a smile.

  “Well, I don’t think we have to worry about it in any event. I wished over and over throughout my childhood to have my parents back and I’m still an orphan. If it’s a birthright, I didn’t inherit apparently,” she said with a shrug.

  He stopped walking and she stopped beside him, puzzled. “Are you sure it didn’t work?” he asked. “As far as I know, magic doesn’t have a time limit and you do have the chance to get your parents back now.”

  “But that’s through bargaining with Death,” Jala objected, pausing in her own steps and turning to face him.

  “It’s Luck magic Jala. It alters fate. As far as I understand from Sovann, it creates opportunity for something, not instantly delivering what you wish for. You know, most orphans don’t get a chance at all of bringing their families back.” He paused and reached a hand inside her coat, drawing a thick gold coin from the inner pocket. “And it could explain this. If your magic did work, this is the double-edge,” he added, holding up the coin Anthe had given her.

  She felt all color drain from her face as she stared at the coin. “I didn’t know you knew about that. I didn’t really believe what she said about it,” she said, her voice thick.

  Finn raised an eyebrow at her and cocked his head, a trace of a smile playing across his mouth. “Truly? Well, no secrets between us right? You told me the night you were drinking after Shade visited. Jala, if you didn’t believe Anthe, why are you so pale now?” His voice was gentle as was his expression.

  �
��You believe I have gambled you,” she explained, watching his expression closely. “Finn, I wouldn’t gamble with your life. It’s a glimpse of the future that’s all it is. Sovann says Time magic is unreliable because the future is always changing. I would never risk losing you. I will change the glimpse Anthe told me about.”

  Finn let out a snort of laughter and grinned widely at her. “Jala, I’m not upset. If my life is the price of your dreams, I accept it. I will by no means be laying my head on a chopping block willingly, and I will fight to my last breath, but if that’s the price, so be it. It’s kind of poetic justice, actually. Considering how many lives I’ve taken, it seems like a balance to know my death might return so many to life.”

  Jala stared at him in bewilderment and shook her head slowly, her jaw dropping open slightly. “No, no, no,” she said, her voice choked. She shook her head again more violently. “There is no so be it here, Finn Sovaesh, and that is not justice that I want any part of. There is nothing at all in this entire wretched world worth that price. Nothing!” she said, her eyes locked on his and a trace of hysteria in her voice.

  “Not even the restoration of two countries, Jala? Are you saying one life is worth more than all of those people?” he asked, his voice still calm and rational.

  “I would burn two countries to keep you, Finn!” she snapped, her voice rising again.

  “Rivana and Avanti?” he asked in amusement.

  Stepping forward, she smacked him lightly on the chest, her violet eyes flashing. “Not funny, Finn. This is not funny at all to me. Rivana and Avanti or Morcath or any of the rest. You are worth more to me than any of it,” she pressed and let out a long unsteady breath.

  He smiled at her and shook his head slowly, his expression filled with affection. “Jala, a single life isn’t worth that, no matter whose it is,” he said and wrapped his arms around her drawing her close. She buried her face in his shoulder as he rested his chin gently on the top of her head. “It’s OK, Jala. I knew about the coin and I know about your other guilty secret, and while I’m not happy about it, I appreciate the thought.”

  She stiffened in his arms. shocked into total silence for a long moment. “You know about what, exactly?” she asked carefully.

  He chuckled. “How many secrets do you have, exactly? For someone who isn’t supposed to be keeping any, you seem nervous. How about you confess your sins and we will see if you have one I don’t know about?” he offered, a trace of teasing in his voice.

  “You know about the bargain with Hemlock? That is the only other secret I have, other than the coin and the coin I didn’t think important because I never intended to allow that to happen.” She pushed back from him as she spoke, no longer caring if she was late to class or even made it to her classes at all.

  He nodded in answer and shrugged. “I knew about it before Hemlock left the Hall that morning. It’s part of the reason I couldn’t’ sleep. I don’t have to warn you of what he could use the blood for. I’m sure Sovann already has.”

  “How did you know? Time was stopped, or he said it was anyway. I don’t understand …” Her voice trailed off and she stared at Finn.

  “We are going to be late for class,” he replied with a smile and looped an arm around her waist guiding her once again toward the Academy.

  “Finn, how did you know?” she demanded again, her steps slowing once more.

  “Don’t you think you have been truant enough this year Jala?” Finn asked, his tone mockingly parental.

  “Finn!” she exclaimed in frustration and elbowed him lightly in the side.

  Chuckling he grinned down at her, amusement written clearly on his tanned face. Running his fingers through his tawny hair he tilted his chin a bit and sighed. “I’m just that damn talented,” he said, exhaling as he spoke and then chuckled again. She elbowed him harder in response. “All right calm down,” he said through laughter and grinned at her boyishly. “I have contacts that keep tabs on certain individuals. Hemlock happens to be one of them,” he said with a shrug.

  “I thought he was the sneakiest man in Sanctuary. How does a contact of yours keep tabs on him?” she asked.

  “Because my contact is a Nightblade,” Finn answered smoothly with a shrug.

  An odd flutter passed through her from the link and it took her a moment to recognize what it was. Pausing in her steps again, she looked up at Finn in astonishment. “You just lied to me,” she said quietly.

  “Hmm. You have gotten better with your link.” He considered her briefly and nodded. “OK, the truth then,” he sighed and pulled her back into motion once more. “Hemlock bragged to me over it. I know him a bit better than I let anyone know. I worked for him for a time but it’s not something I’m proud of. My father is an Assassin as I’ve already told you, so naturally I picked up a few tricks. When I first came to the city and realized how much tuition at the Academy was, I knew I wouldn’t earn it in the Pits or dueling at low levels,” he explained and shrugged.

  “I thought no one ever left the Nightblades. I thought it was a lifelong commitment,” she said quietly, wondering if he had another secret to reveal. He was gone in the early morning hours though she had always thought he was training during that time.

  “Typically, it is. There were special circumstances and they are part of the reason Hemlock hates me so much. I have no doubt whatsoever that had you not traded the blood he would have already moved on me. Cassia offered him money, of course, but Kithvaryn has made offers as well and I doubt it was in coin. The temptation had to have been strong for Hemmy,” Finn said giving her a smile.

  “Hemmy? How well do you know him, Finn?” she asked, her voice low. They were nearing the stairs to the Academy now and she found herself tempted to stop once again. This was an answer she badly wanted from him.

  “Too well. He considered me his protégé for a time. I think he came as close to trusting me as he ever has anyone.” Finn slowed his pace beside her and glanced over at her. “I’ll explain before you ask,” he sighed, and kept his gaze on the looming doors of the hall as they climbed the stairs slowly. “A contract came in on Valor. I accepted it before anyone else could. Hemmy never questioned whether I would kill a friend. He naturally assumed I would. He was right. I did hit a friend, just not Valor. I backstabbed Hemmy with a concoction I had made and forced him into a deal. So Valor lived, I got out of the Nightblades, and Hemmy hates me. That’s the short version of it, of course, but I’m afraid it’s all I have time for at the moment.” A frown crossed over his face as his hand touched the door to the hall. “No one else knows about that, Jala, not even Sovann. Honestly, I don’t think Valor would talk to me if he knew I had worked for the Nightblades. I’ve heard myself described in quite a few ways by many people. Never once has the word virtuous been used. Valor is virtuous in his own fashion though, and he couldn’t abide learning about this.” Regret and sadness brushed her through the link and he turned back to the door pushing it open silently.

  She nodded slowly as she digested the story and glanced around the hall as they entered. Marrow and Emily had been strangely silent the entire walk and she honestly wasn’t sure the Blight child was even still with them. This area however would be safe enough with just Marrow. “You are already late for your own class, Finn. You should probably let me go on alone from here,” she said quietly.

  He sighed dramatically and placed a hand over his heart. “I divulge my secrets and she casts me off,” he said in a mournful voice, then winked at her, flashing his charming smile, though she could tell the teasing was forced. The emotions running through the bond between them were still in too much turmoil. “I told you I switched things up a bit so we could spend more time together. As it turns out we are both wretchedly late for basic geography, though with that particular instructor if we are quiet when we go in I don’t think he will notice.”

  “You switched your schedule?” she asked in shock. “But what about your own classes?”

  He shrugged and smiled at her. �
�I live by the blade, Jala. I likely have more of an education than any other duelist in the city. Given the choice, I’d rather spend time with you and refresh the basic classes than advance further with knowledge that I will likely never have a use for,” he explained.

  She nodded slowly and pushed the doors to the lecture hall open silently. The droning voice of the instructor echoed out into the hall and she glanced at Finn one last time before entering the room. “You are likely going to be very pissed off later today, then,” she whispered.

  “Why?” he asked in confusion.

  “Because I’ve arranged to have lunch with Madren today to discuss what he has learned about the Goswin curse,” she informed him in the same hushed voice and quickly entered the class before he could voice objections.

  Chapter 17

  Delvay

  “I don’t even know why I’m riding through all this gods-be-damned snow to stop this war from starting. I would absolutely love it if the Delvay wiped Rivana off the map,” Havoc grumbled over his shoulder. His horse struggled beneath him as he spoke, trying to find purchase on the steep, snow-packed path. Without seeming to consider it, Havoc adjusted his seat and leaned forward more in the saddle to ease the burden for his mount.

  “Because Symphony asked us to and Caspian ordered it,” Victory reminded him with a deep sigh. A fresh cloud of steam rose around Havoc’s blood-red stallion as he pushed through another deep snow bank. It wasn’t often that Havoc rode his Flame Steed on missions, but he had chosen it without hesitation for this particular trip. Not only was the beast doing an excellent job at clearing the trail, it would stand fearlessly before the Delvayon snow cats when most horses would bolt.

  I’m not sure which is more agitated our fiery friend or the sentinels watching us approach. Avalanche’s voice came as a warm breath in Victory’s mind. His Familiar seldom spoke anymore, and hearing the voice brought a smile to his face. Speech wasn’t truly needed between them, of course. They had been bonded for so long that Avalanche didn’t truly need to speak for Victory to understand him. Yet, at times like these, hearing Avalanche’s calm rational voice was like a beautiful work of music compared to Havoc’s ranting.