“To Eldagar where you finally get to understand why you are here,” Lutheron replied, an enigmatic smile on his face.
“The fortress city?” Charm asked in surprise. Eldagar was the only landmark of consequence left in Gaelyn. The city had outlasted by centuries the House that had built it. It had stood solid against siege after siege, and finally it had been treachery and poison within their own house that had ended the Gaelyn Bloodline. As far as Charm knew, the commons had kept Eldagar as their center of commerce in Gaelyn, and the city was thriving.
“The path of carnage is leading directly to Eldagar. If I’m correct in my guessing, the city has already fallen. So we will soon find out how stealthy you really are. You keep saying you are better in a city, so I’m sending you into a city. We need to know if the creatures are there,” Lutheron answered, his pace never slowing, his tone never changing.
“How am I supposed to know if they are there? They can’t be seen, apparently, and they have no scent,” Charm objected.
“I suggest you look for dead people. They don’t seem to be too discriminating when disposing of their victims,” Lutheron replied.
“Wonderful,” Charm sighed. He gazed up at the stars and wondered briefly if this was Lutheron’s idea of punishment for being a Guardian. Well, if he truly was the Divine of Fear, he was getting a lovely bit of the emotion now.
“Once you have scouted the city, return to the Fionahold to report, I will see you as far as the city walls and then there are other matters I must attend to,” Lutheron said.
“You are leaving me there alone?” Charm tried to keep the dismay out of his voice. At this rate, by the time he returned to the Fionahold he would have no dignity remaining to him at all. “What other matters could possibly be more important than invisible man-eating creatures swarming over Gaelyn,” he demanded, trying to sound as steady as possible.
Lutheron chuckled, a sound that Charm was quickly equating with humiliation. “While I have been discriminating in my actions since being locked here, others have not. I go to tend to matters involving my fellow Divine’s gift upon this world.” Apparently sensing the questions on Charm’s lips, he continued. “War has sired a line, and one of the children of that line will need assistance. I will say no more on the matter.”
“What should I tell Caspian when I return? He will expect you to be with me,” Charm protested. Dignity aside, he wasn’t too fond of the idea of being left in Eldagar. It was a feeble attempt to be sure, to try to play on Lutheron’s sense of duty, but it was the only option he saw remaining.
Lutheron gave him a reassuring smile that grated on Charm worse than any of his laughter had. “You will be fine, Charm. You are the best rogue that I’ve seen since I’ve been here and I have been watching closely. If I remained with you, it is assured that we would be caught. While I am a Divine, even we have limitations. I am powerful, but not all-powerful, and sneaking is not my strong point.” His voice was calm and his smile gentle. Charm hated both.
He gave a slight nod in response and remained silent. It wasn’t like him to be this nervous, and he had never been afraid to work alone. It was the idea of an enemy that he couldn’t find that had him so unmanned. It was like Hemlock on a larger more terrible scale. To know death lurked nearby, and no possible way of knowing where it was. He gave a deep sigh, pulled his flask from his pocket, and took a long pull. For the first time since the barrier went up, he found himself wishing he carried something other than water in the flask.
Chapter 25
Southern Goswin
“If we go south any farther, we are going to be in Nerathane and the dragons don’t exactly welcome visitors,” Shade pointed out. They had come to a stop on a small rise between the old forest and the thick growth of the new forest.
“Rivana is our best bet,” Leah said, speaking for one of the few times she had since they had left Sanctuary. The woman’s mood had seemed dark for most of the journey, and Jala had decided it was best simply to let her be. Leah was not the sort you gave a hug and asked if she wanted to talk.
Finn gazed around the forest, his eyes roving hungrily as if a path would present itself if he searched long enough. “We are a good ways south of where we came in,” he pointed out and gave a long sigh. “I don’t care for the thought of provoking the dragons either, so Rivana it is, I suppose.”
Jala remained silent, simply watching them as they debated. Her companions had a much better grasp of the situation here. While she was learning about the various cultures in the Academy, she hadn’t believed dragons actually existed. She knew Nerathane’s monarch called herself the Queen of Dragons, rather than Lady Nerathane, but she had thought it simply a title, not literal truth. From the way they were speaking, she expected a fire breathing monster to break from the forest any moment.
“Whatever we are doing we best do it soon. We spent a lot of time getting this far south, and we have barely three hours of daylight left,” Wisp said, her gaze on the new growth where the souls of the dead were supposedly bound. Since Madren had spoken of the walking dead, Wisp had regarded the trees with a mixture of dread and respect that bordered on fanaticism.
“Rivana it is then,” Shade said with resignation. “This far south we should come out near the border of Nerathane as well,” he added and kicked his horse into a slow trot. Wisp quickly moved her own mount up beside his in order to earth craft the worst of the tangle from their path.
“Have you ever seen an actual dragon?” Jala asked Finn as they moved to follow, her eyes locked on the southern sky.
Finn gave an amused snort. “A few times. They are large, bitchy, and horribly arrogant. Rather like a High Lord with scales,” he replied.
“It hardly seems fair that you should fault anyone else for arrogance,” Shade called over his shoulder.
“Its confidence that I project, Shade, you simply don’t have enough experience with either to tell them apart,” Finn shot back.
Jala rolled her eyes and silently prayed to Fortune for anything that would keep them from bickering. “I’ll be happy to get back to Sanctuary,” she sighed.
You and I both, this forest is damned.
Jala started in her saddle and looked around quickly for Marrow; she hadn’t seen the Bendazzi in so long that she had given up searching for him. “Where are you?” She asked in a low voice. Finn glanced her direction but apparently realized who she spoke to and went back to watching their path.
To your right, by the stand of oak. The game here is wrong, tainted. Marrow moved from the oaks as he spoke, his coat reverting back to the white and silver as he moved.
“I missed you,” Jala admitted with a smile as he moved to pace alongside her horse. Fortunately, Valor had chosen well when he bought the gelding and a single snort of distaste was the only reaction the beast gave to the Bendazzi’s presence.
“Welcome back,” Finn said quietly to the Bendazzi. “I was beginning to wonder what had happened to you.”
I followed the witch for a time. She hunts the borders and shows no interest in four-legged game, Marrow told her, and from Finn’s nod he had spoken to him, as well.
“He says the game here is tainted,” Jala told Finn. She had spent a good deal of time watching for any signs of life, and so far had not even seen a squirrel.
“Not surprising. This place seems damned all the way around,” Finn replied with a shrug. He kept his mount’s pace slow, allowing the others to draw ahead slowly. She remained in the back with him and gave him a curious look. “I don’t care how cryptic the witch’s words were, I know your intelligence. You have it sorted out by now,” he said in a low voice.
“I do,” she admitted and paused considering what to say. They all deserved an explanation, but Anthae’s words about Betrayer’s blood had her nervous. She knew Finn’s father served House Avanti, but Finn himself showed allegiance nowhere. “It was not at all what I expected,” she added lamely, still not finding the words she needed.
“And it has
you upset. I can feel your nerves. You are hiding it well, but you have been quite worried since you left the cottage.”
She gave him a rueful smile and sighed. “Rather hard to hide things from you.”
“I wish you didn’t think you needed to. Ask me whatever you like. I’ll answer you in truth. I have nothing to hide. There are a lot of things that I have done that I don’t like to admit to, but nothing I won’t admit to,” Finn replied.
“What kind of trouble did you get into in Avanti that forced you from home,” she asked with a raised eyebrow, hoping she could get away with changing the topic for now
“I bedded Cassia, and her father walked in during the last bit of it. Probably would have gone better if I would have stopped when he walked in, but Cassia hadn’t noticed him and I was close to finished.” he grinned and gave a shrug. “You know how Valor says, ‘live without regrets.’” He gave a snort of amusement. “Bedding her was one of my few regrets, but I was sixteen and wasn’t thinking with my mind at the time. She is very pretty on the outside. It isn’t till you get to know her that you realize she is a venomous bitch.” He glanced at her and gave another chuckle. “You are staring at me as if I just admitted to murder.”
Jala cleared her throat and quickly fixed her expression. She nodded slightly and remained silent. It wasn’t so much the thought of Finn with Cassia that had shocked her, but the surge of jealousy at the thought of him with another woman. This was ridiculous, for to her he had confessed to bedding nearly every barmaid in the whole bloody city of Sanctuary. To feel jealous of Finn’s sexual exploits made as much sense as being angry that the sky was blue. “Well, I could see how that would cause difficulty,” she said at last her, tone perfectly neutral.
He laughed loudly enough to cause Wisp to turn and regard them from her vantage in the lead. Jala waved back to the Fae with what she hoped was a reassuring smile and turned a glare to Finn. “I don’t see what is so funny.”
“You are jealous,” he pointed out with a great deal of amusement.
“I have absolutely no reason to be jealous,” she objected, trying to convince herself as much as him.
“Regardless, you are jealous of something I did ten years ago,” he pressed.
Jala gave him an annoyed look and turned back to the rough path. “Ridiculous,” she said with a sniff. At least she had succeeded in changing the topic, she mused. Although given the present line of conversation, it was possible that talking about the witch would be preferable.
“Not long after Cassia and my ordeal there, I moved on to Firym as I told you. They are not nearly as prickly about such things in the Scarlet Jungle. In fact, they are rather open about it, and I was somewhat exotic to them, so, needless to say, my bed was seldom cold. And the women, my god you should see them. Almost all of them are red heads and with such curves.” Finn mimicked a very robust female figure with his hands and let his voice trail off sounding far away and dreamy. He let out a long sigh as if in longing. “There aren’t many women like that in Sanctuary. You can get a Firym girl to do things that a city girl wouldn’t even…”
“All right, I was jealous,” Jala snapped, cutting him off before he could continue. “I don’t know why I was. It’s hardly rational, but I was, and your talk about the perfect women of Firym really isn’t helping,” she added, her voice rising a bit with the last.
Finn broke into peals of laughter and leaned hard against his saddle horn. He turned to look at her, his grin full and showing perfect white teeth. “I’m sorry, I couldn’t resist teasing you. The Firym women are really not that perfect. In fact, they are quite mean if you get down to it. Bossy too. Don’t ever argue with a Firym,” he said through muffled laughter. “I don’t think anyone has ever shown jealousy over me before. Not that I’ve noticed, anyway. It’s rather endearing, really. I doubt any woman has ever actually cared enough to be jealous. If I lost interest, they moved on.” He had calmed his laughter but his grin was still there.
Jala gave him a dry expression. “Most likely they were jealous and you simply didn’t notice or care,” she said stiffly.
His grin softened a bit and he gave her a wink. “I noticed you were, that has to count for something,” he pointed out.
She rolled her eyes at him and tried to ignore his smile. It wasn’t fair that someone should have so much natural charm. If she truly worked at it and focused on nothing else she might be able to stay irritated with him, but it simply wasn’t worth the effort. “That does count for something,” she agreed finally.
“It counts for a lot, actually. Normally, I would have bedded you and moved on by now,” Finn replied easily.
She stared at him in mute outrage, her eyes blazing. “Well, would I have had anything to say about that?” she snapped.
“If you were the typical girl, yes, and it would have most likely been, ‘Oh god, Finn, do that again please,’” he replied, his grin appearing once more.
Jala narrowed her eyes, giving him a stony glare. “I am not typical,” she growled.
“I know. I had every intention of bedding you the night you helped me at the Spring Games. You had virgin written all over you, so I took you out for drinks thinking that it would make the process easier.” He slowed his horse again giving their companions an even greater lead. “The fact that you were Shade’s new kitten was simply icing on the cake. While I don’t hate Shade, he is a bit too self-righteous, and it was obvious he was rather taken with you. He’d been dragging you around with him everywhere. Nothing sweeter than bedding his kitten while he was busy being sold to the Avanti, as far as I thought, at the time. It wasn’t until I talked with you for a while that I decided not to. I decided I cared what you thought about me and chose to try friendship instead. That’s not a path I generally consider. As I said at Sovann’s, I don’t have female friends. I have women I haven’t slept with yet,” he said in a quiet voice.
She stared at him unsure if she should be shocked or angry at his confession. “What about Wisp, she is your friend,” she pointed out coldly.
“Wisp started out as Jail’s friend, and after I got to know her better, I accepted her as one of us and stopped sleeping with her,” he replied casually.
Jala’s jaw dropped open and her gaze flicked between Wisp and Finn and then settled on Finn. “Stopped?” she asked dumbly.
Finn smirked and nodded. “That was about two years ago. Wisp generally keeps her exploits out of the hall now. Less complicating that way.”
“Am I the only one that isn’t sleeping with someone?” she asked in amazement. Where she had been raised, both in Merro and in the Temple, people waited until marriage, or if they didn’t wait, they certainly didn’t let it become gossip.
“I’m pretty sure Shade is still as pure as new fallen snow. That would explain why he is so bitchy all the time. He will end up waiting until marriage, though, and won’t do a thing unless his daddy tells him to,” Finn replied. “And Madren, oh, Madren is definitely a virgin.” His gaze falling on the distant riders. He gave a shake of his head and shuddered. “And will likely die that way,” he added after a moment.
“Why would you admit to this? Why would you tell me all of this? Surely you know this is going to change how I act around you now. I was kissing you yesterday morning. Now I can’t even think about kissing you without wondering if you are just looking for entertainment.” She shook her head at him, wishing he had just kept silent. With a long sigh, she looked away from him and chewed on her lower lip. She should have known better than to allow herself to think of Finn in any way other than a friend. This wasn’t his fault. He had been honest with her from the beginning. She was upset now, and it was no one’s fault but her own. She still couldn’t understand why he would do it, though, had he noticed her attraction and was trying to warn her.
Finn gave her a nod and a smile. “My confession has probably made my life a lot more difficult in the near future, but I was trying to prove a point to you. If I can admit to what I just did, surely you c
an tell me what the witch said. It can’t be worse than what I told you, and I want to know what she said that upset you.” He gave her another wink. “I told you there wasn’t anything I would hold back from you, Jala. I’ll admit to what I am and what I do without question. I may not be the best person in the world, but I am honest.”
“Damn. I thought we had moved past that,” Jala muttered. There was really no avoiding it now without outright refusal, and after his confessions it seemed rather petty. She rubbed her face and looked at him again, wondering what he meant about making his life difficult. “You know you just ensured I won’t ever sleep with you, right?” she asked.
Finn shrugged and gave her a smile. “If that’s what you want, I’ll respect it. Just don’t choose Valor .All right? I’d end up having to kill him.” His voice sounded completely serious with no hint of a joke at all.
“I highly doubt you would kill Valor. He is your best friend,” she pointed out dryly.
“I killed someone for calling you a whore. I know Valor is my best friend, but he wouldn’t just call you a whore. He would treat you like one, and I’d drop a black coin on him for it.” He sighed and rolled his eyes. “And Valor is governed by his pride enough, he would pick the damn thing up, and I’d end up killing him.”
“I really thought you had other reasons for killing Devron that you weren’t saying. I thought you’d had problems with him in the past, and the insult was simply the final straw.”
“Nope, I’d barely even spoken with him before that incident,” Finn replied. “Now the witch?” he prompted.
Jala sighed and gave a faint nod. She was beginning to realize why Sovann never argued with his brother. He might bicker but he never pushed a point. “She said one of my companions’ bears the Betrayer’s blood. I don’t think it’s you and I’m not sure who the betrayer is. I’ll tell you what she said, but I won’t tell you now, okay? I want to be back in Sanctuary where I know you and Sovann are the only ones I’m telling. I trust you both with my life.”
The Elder Blood Chronicles Bk 1 In Shades of Grey Page 36
