The Elder Blood Chronicles Book 4 The Blessed Curse (33 page)

“I’ll try there first, then. Thank you for
the advice,” Shade said quietly and bowed his head in farewell.
“And the sooner I get there, the sooner we can get this all over
with and you and your ladies can return home,” he added as he
turned toward the forest once more. From what he had seen, Nigel
didn’t have the information he was seeking. He doubted the dragon
had even bothered to try to gather information. By his reaction and
words, Shade guessed Nigel had fully expected to be able to talk
him out of the mission entirely.

“Wait, where is he going?” Emerald’s voice
rang out softly behind him.

“You mean he is actually going to try to talk
to those things?” Ruby demanded, her voice filled with disgust and
disbelief. “Oh, bloody hell. I wanted to go home,” Sapphire
whined.

“You were right, Jala. I am the perfect envoy
for this since I seem to be the only other person that thinks this
might actually work,” Shade said quietly as he quickened his step.
Ruby didn’t seem to have the best temperament. He didn’t want to
give her the chance to decide that her quickest way home was to eat
the envoy.

Merro

Neph paused in the doorway of the kitchen. He
had expected the room to be empty at this time of the morning, but
Valor was seated at table. The knight had his back to the door but
Neph could tell by his posture that his mood was not a good one.
Valor’s elbow was propped on the table with his chin resting in his
palm. His attention was fully focused on something in front of him
and he didn’t even stir at the sound of the door. That in itself
was unusual for him. Valor was typically alert to everything around
him, even when drunk.

Stepping the rest of the way through the
doorway, Neph moved to the cabinet, glancing at Valor he walked by.
He had guessed there would be a bottle of wine or glass of whiskey
in front of him, but the only thing on the table was a large gold
coin.
Had to be when I decided to eat
. Neph sighed with
disgust as he pulled a loaf of bread from the cabinet and a wedge
of cheese from the shelf. Turning, he walked back to the table and
dropped both items loudly onto the table before dropping into a
chair himself. Valor didn’t stir or bother looking up even with the
clatter from the dishes.

“Why don’t you just explain and spare me the
trouble of pretending like I care,” Neph suggested dryly as he cut
a thick slice of bread, his gaze flicking to the gold coin once
more.

Valor glanced up at him and back down at the
coin. His hand pushed at it lightly moving it in slow circles in
front of him. The motion held Neph’s eyes for a moment, but his
attention was pulled past the coin to Valor’s hand, or rather to
the rings he wore. Frowning, Neph paused what he was doing and
examined the rings more carefully. One was his signet for House
Hai’dia. That, Neph understood. The other, however, was the signet
of House Arovan which made no sense at all. It should have been a
ring of House Merrodin.

“All right, how about explaining why you are
wearing the Arovan Signet if you don’t want to explain why gold
depresses you. Most people like gold, you know,” Neph prodded as he
returned to slicing pieces of cheese and bread for his
breakfast.

“I am currently the heir of Arovan. I thought
you realized that. It’s the single reason Jala and I haven’t
formally married yet,” Valor replied quietly.

Neph paused once more and looked up sharply
at Valor. “That is the stupidest thing I’ve heard come out of your
mouth. Why in the bloody hell would you agree to be Elijah’s heir?
If anything happens to Elijah you go back to Arovan, which, as I
recall, the people of Arovan kind of hate you, not to mention the
fact that Jala loves you. Your place is in Merro.”

“Well, Neph, with the fact that Micah is
dead, as are my two siblings, the list of suitable candidates is
pretty slim. It basically comes down to me and my mother for those
with royal blood and my mother said no,” Valor snapped. His hand
smacked down over the top of the coin and he slid it off the table
and into his pocket. “Is there any part of me that looks happy
about the arrangement or makes you believe it might have actually
been my idea? What was I supposed to do, tell my Uncle to bugger
off when he asked me?”

“Yes,” Neph answered bluntly. He had been in
Merro for over three weeks now and this was the first he had heard
of this matter. It had to have been something that was decided
before Jala disrupted the council meeting in Arovan. He seriously
doubted Elijah would have contacted Valor after that particular
meeting.

“If not for him and my father, I wouldn’t
have been given probation in Sanctuary, and I would most likely be
dead now. I couldn’t tell him no,” Valor grumbled as he glared at
Neph across the table. “And now, I have fresh reports in and none
of it is good news. Morcaillo is still attacking the Firym border.
The Blights are still attacking in Faydwer. Han’shy has sealed
their border completely and is offering help to no one. Avanti is
wreaking havoc near the Greenwild. My men have already arrested six
slavers this week. By far, the most disturbing is Nerathane,
however. They have moved eight dragons to Seravae, and from what I
understand, the Seravae isles are still in Civil war. I don’t know
if the dragons are there to support one side of the war in Seravae
or it’s a staging ground to attack Arovan. Either way, it’s bad and
Jala can’t spare the strength to support Arovan again,” The words
poured out of Valor in a flood of misery. The knight leaned back
heavily in his chair and stared up at the ceiling. “And I don’t
want to tell her any of this,” he added softly.

“She won’t leave Arovan to rot and you know
it,” Neph said with a sigh. He rubbed his jaw as he stared down at
the food he no longer had an appetite for. When you combined
Valor’s reports with the information he had given Jala about Delvay
it was grim news all the way around. An optimist might see a way
through all of the ill tidings, but Neph had never been optimistic.
As far as he could see it, Sanctuary was going straight to hell
faster than anyone could stop it. “Where is Jala now?” Neph asked
after a long moment. She would need to be informed of the reports,
of course, but if he was with Jala there was a chance he could talk
some sense into her. There was only so much Merro could offer the
rest of the world, and he knew Jala would offer more than she
should. It was in her nature to help others, even when it meant
risking herself.

“Ahh. That’s the other wonderful part of the
day,” Valor sighed. His gaze dropped back down to Neph’s face and
he smiled bitterly. “She is working with Zoelyn and the Blight.
Have you had a chance to see the Blight yet? I just did for the
first time. Jala has finally managed to convince him to show
himself to others.”

Neph shook his head slowly and raised an
eyebrow at Valor. “I haven’t, but what does it matter?” Valor’s
sighed heavily and glanced toward the cabinet with a look of
longing on his face.

“Kind of early to start drinking, Val. Why
don’t you just keep talking instead,” Neph suggested dryly. He had
thought Valor was past his drinking issues. At the Academy, the
knight had been drunk more often than sober, but he believed Jala
had cured that. From the look on Valor’s face now, though, it was
obvious she hadn’t.

“Wine is a hell of a lot better company than
you,” Valor grumbled, but didn’t move from his chair. “Jala told me
on the day we learned about the Blight that he had Arovan blood,”
Valor began quietly once he realized Neph was still waiting for an
answer. He tapped his finger on the table and frowned. “I thought
she meant he was from the people of Arovan. I didn’t realize she
literally meant House Arovan’s blood. She did, though. I figured
that out when I saw him for the first time this morning. The
creature is a spitting image of Micah. I nearly called him Micah at
first glance. I thought somehow Jala had managed to bring him back
from the dead until the Blight looked at me. The eyes are the only
difference until you notice the fangs,” Valor explained in a hushed
voice.

Neph stared at Valor for a long moment, not
realizing that his jaw had dropped open. Closing his mouth quickly,
he shook his head at Valor in disbelief. “It can’t be,” he
objected, shaking his head once more. “Micah was fighting the
bloody Blights. There is no way he took time from his crusade to
bed one of them.”

“Say that again after you meet the creature.
By the way, it has chosen the name Dray since Zoelyn refuses to
call it
Undrae
. Apparently it is quite willing to be called
monster
. That, in itself, leaves me wondering what exactly I
should do,” Valor said as he glanced once more toward the cabinet.
“You see, technically I don’t have to be the heir of Arovan, now,”
he paused as he looked back at Neph. “I just have to inform my
Uncle that his only son bedded a Blight before he died. Somehow I
think that information might put a bit of a shadow on Micah’s
memory. Right now, everyone remembers him as a hero and a champion
against the Blights,” he finished in a disgusted voice.

“I will get the wine,” Neph offered with a
nod as he rose from his chair and moved to fetch glasses. With
everything he had just heard, he fully understood why Valor wanted
a drink. He rarely drank and he was craving one now. “Well, you
have explained your mood. You haven’t explained the coin, though,”
Neph said in an attempt to steer the conversation to a topic that
might be less painful for his friend to discuss.

“Ahh. That. It’s my dead sister’s soul that I
can’t return to my parents,” Valor said in a voice laced with
bitterness.

“What?” Neph exclaimed, nearly dropping the
wine bottle.
Well so much for a less painful topic
, he mused
as he watched Valor’s face. The only other time he had seen Valor
this miserable was after the battle when Jala had died. The knight
was calmer now, but there was the same look of pain in his
eyes.

“Jala saved her in the Darklands when we went
for Finn. I didn’t return her during the war because I didn’t know
if there would be anything left for her to come back to. I had
planned to return her to my family at the meeting in Arovan, but
things went poorly. If I give her back now it will look as though
I’m trying to buy their fealty with my sister’s soul. I won’t do
that,” Valor explained.

“Do you have any good news, Valor?” Neph
snapped as he returned to his seat and set the glasses and bottle
between them. This wasn’t the sort of thing he was adept at dealing
with. This was something for someone with more finesse than he
possessed. Someone rational and compassionate, like Jala. They
obviously couldn’t talk with her about it right now, though.

“Yes, actually,” Valor said in a cynical
voice. He reached for the bottle and twisted the cork free before
glancing up at Neph once more.

“This is Arovan wine, so it’s actually worth
drinking,” he informed him as he poured them both a full glass.

* * *

“I can’t believe you joined him in drinking.
You know Valor has an issue with it. Really, Neph, I expected
better,” Jala’s voice was laced with anger as she stalked through
the hall in front of him. Her back was rigid and her hands kept
flexing into fists at her sides as if she wanted to punch him.

Neph had to fight back a laugh at the thought
of it. The mental image of tiny little Jala punching someone was
too much for his wine sodden brain. Perhaps if they had stopped
with the first bottle he could have kept the stupid grin off his
face right now, but with three bottles drained it was all but
impossible. He had never really found interest in drinking to
excess, but he had to admit Valor was onto something. After the
first bottle, things had seemed bad, but not horrible. After the
second, things were looking up, and by the time they had finished
the third he really didn’t care if they were good or bad.

“Would you please stop giggling, Neph? God
damn it, I have enough on my plate to deal with. I don’t need the
added burden of Valor’s drinking and I truly didn’t need you
drunk,” Jala railed as she whirled on him.

Neph did his best to wipe the grin off his
face, but by her expression it wasn’t good enough. “So sorry,” he
mumbled as he raised a hand to his face and tried desperately to
wipe the grin off. By her expression, it still wasn’t working. Her
violet eyes were stormy and her glare was getting more intense. “I
was against the drinking right up until he told me about his dead
sister money and Micah boffing a Blight. Wine sounded good then,”
he slurred. The room began to spin around him and he fell back
against a wall to brace himself. To his amazement, Jala didn’t seem
the slightest bit alarmed. He gazed toward the window intently
trying to remember what sort of spell one used to spin a house. It
had to be an attack.

“Neph, let go of the magic you are drawing or
I will knock you out,” Jala warned.

He turned back to her to explain why he had
called on his power, but lost track of his words as he noticed the
candlestick gripped in her hand. He fought back a snort of laughter
as he stared at her make-shift weapon. He wasn’t even sure when she
had picked it up. “Sorry,” Neph choked through his muffled laughter
and she glared at him even more fiercely.

“First off, you are not allowed to use magic
until you no longer have the desire to giggle. Understood?” Jala’s
voice had taken on a parental tone and she was thumping the
candlestick in her hand to emphasize each word.

“Understood,” Neph managed, though the demand
seemed entirely unreasonable to him. Surely she would realize magic
would be the easiest way for him to navigate the stairs unless they
could somehow nullify the spell that was moving the house.