The Elder Blood Chronicles Book 4 The Blessed Curse (35 page)

Neph stared at her for a long moment and
slowly looked down at the idol of Fortune in his hand. He had been
praying for years for a way to save Delvay and the Divine had
finally answered him. His salvation had been delivered wrapped in
black leather and attitude and at the moment she hated him. "Seth
says a lot," he murmured as he carefully set the idol of Fortune
back on the shelf with reverence.

Merro

Sweat beaded on her face as the afternoon sun
glared down at them. Zoelyn frowned and refocused herself trying to
ignore the heat as well as the noise of the people behind her.
Usually when she trained with Jala, the garden was empty, but today
it was bustling. Scouts had arrived from the border and Jail was
visiting from Sanctuary.

“Ignore them. Valor has it covered. Just
worry about focusing,” Jala’s voice was calm and soothing behind
her and she glanced back toward the High Lady. She looked tired as
she often did lately, but her bearing was still that of a leader.
No matter what the situation was, Jala always looked in
control.

“I don’t want them to see what happens,”
Zoelyn whispered as her gaze dropped to the ground. She hated the
look on a stranger’s face when they witnessed her draining
something. It was always a look of revulsion and no matter how
often she told herself that she didn’t care what they thought, the
simple truth was, she did care.

“The goal is to touch the plant without
draining its life, so if you focus, maybe they won’t see anything,”
Jala pressed in an encouraging voice. She sighed heavily and moved
forward beside Zoelyn, leaning over closer. “Honestly I wish they
had chosen another area to talk, but Valor chose here and I can’t
run them off. Don’t worry about Jail, he will understand and would
no doubt be interested in your talents. The scouts won’t be here
long and their attention is fully focused on Valor right now. Just
try to ignore them, please.”

Zoelyn nodded slowly and swallowed heavily.
Her eyes locked on the blooming rose before her. Slowly she lifted
her hand as she focused all of her will on containing her curse.
With the faintest touch she brushed her fingertips across the
leaves and felt her heart sink as the leaves withered and
blackened. “Damn it,” she hissed as she dropped her hand back down
and backed away from the rose. She didn’t look behind her at all.
She didn’t want to see if anyone else had noticed.

“It’s OK. Wisp will fix it and we will try
again tomorrow,” Jala said gently. “You are too nervous right now
to focus. Maybe we should work with the mage stones instead?”

“Wisp has got to be sick of healing the
plants daily and seeing no improvement from me. It’s been over a
week and I still can’t grasp a single thing Seth said I could do,”
Zoelyn’s frustration broke through as she spoke and she shook her
head at Jala in both apology and surrender. “What if Neph was
right? What if Seth was just feeding me false hope?”

“Why would he? What does he gain from it?”
Jala countered with the same patience she always seemed to
have.

Zoelyn knew she had to be growing as
frustrated as Wisp. Jala barely had time to manage the affairs of
her country and yet she still took the time to try to help her
learn. “Why haven’t you given up on me yet?” Zoelyn asked in a soft
voice.

Jala smiled at her. “Because I never give up
on anything I believe in,” she returned gently as she glanced
toward the garden gate. “And look we have more company, and it’s
Noble. What a surprise,” she sighed as she watched the knight
approach them with a crate tucked under one arm.

Zoelyn smiled faintly and nodded in greeting
as Noble stopped near them with a beaming smile on his handsome
face.

“Lady Jala, Lady Zoelyn,” Noble said as he
bowed slightly.

“Ahh. Noble what a surprise to see you
again,” Jala said dryly, her eyes narrowing as she stared at him.
“Didn’t we just see you yesterday at around this time? What was
that urgent business again? Something about a horse?”

“A foal was born and I thought you might wish
to see it,” Noble replied innocently as he shifted the crate in his
arms. His long hair was pulled back in a loose ponytail and his
uniform was immaculate. He was perfection and the smug smile he
wore showed how well he knew it.

“It’s amazing how things always seem to
require my attention while I am working with Zoelyn,” Jala
continued. She rolled her eyes and glanced over at Zoelyn who
simply smiled in return.

In truth, Zoelyn liked Noble. He was always
kind and even in Arovan he had tried to help her, despite hearing
her called
Undrae
. The fact that he was handsome didn’t hurt
either. He always had a smile for her, and it seemed like his eyes
were on her more than Jala. The attention was nice, even if she
didn’t really know how to react to it. So his visits never bothered
her as much as they seemed to irritate Jala.

“So what is it today, Noble?” Jala asked with
an exaggerated sigh, her gaze flicking to the crate in the knight’s
arms.

“The first shipment from Firym arrived. I
thought you might want to see what they sent, so I brought a sample
of everything,” Noble informed her as he opened the crate and held
it out for her to look inside.

“Ahh. Of course that couldn’t wait,” Jala
agreed with sarcasm dripping from her voice.

“Milady, I think you may be spending too much
time with Lord Delvay,” Noble returned with a grin.

Zoelyn ducked her head to hide her smile as
Jala glared at the young knight and dug around in the crate he
held. With a faint smile forming on her lips Jala lifted an orange
and a banana from the crate.

“Fruit,” Jala pronounced raising an eyebrow
at Noble. “Fruit was important enough to interrupt lessons?” she
asked as she waved a hand toward Zoelyn beckoning her forward.
“Here hold this,” Jala ordered shoving the banana toward her as she
moved closer.

“Jala, I can’t,” Zoelyn objected as the High
Lady smacked the banana down in her hand. The last breath of life
held in the fruit vanished the moment it touched her bare skin and
Zoelyn stared down in disgust at the lump of black rotted pulp in
her hand. “I can’t touch it without my gloves,” she finished
softly, but Jala’s gaze was locked on Noble with a savage smile on
her beautiful face.

“Do you see why these lessons are so
important, Noble?” Jala asked as she reclaimed the rotted banana
and held it up for the knight’s inspection. The withered fruit
slumped in her hand, bending nearly double as the peel split open
dropping the disgusting mess of fruit inside to the grass between
her and the knight. “We don’t want our bananas rotted, now do we
Noble?” she asked firmly.

Noble’s gaze was locked on the rotted mess in
the grass between them, and Zoelyn watched him swallow heavily at
the sight. “Uh, no, Milady, we like our fruit healthy,” he
stammered quietly.

“Exactly. So I suggest you keep your fruit
where it belongs and out of my garden until I have had time to help
Zoelyn control her talent,”

Jala snapped as she dropped the orange back
into the crate.

“Yes, Milady,” Noble agreed softly. His face
had grown pale and he was still staring at the remains of the
banana.

“Noble,” Jala grumbled. He looked up at her
quickly and she motioned toward the garden gate. “Go back to your
duties. If you honestly feel someone should inspect the Firym goods
than take them to Joseph. He is my steward for a reason; let him do
his job.”

The knight nodded quickly and turned on his
heels without so much as a wave good bye. Zoelyn watched him
disappear through the gate and sighed heavily. “I wish you hadn’t
done that,” she said quietly.

“It was a lesson for him. I didn’t mean to
upset you. I’m simply sick of him sniffing after you like a dog in
heat. I understand you are beautiful, but he has to understand that
you are deadly as well, for now. That was the only way to get
through his thick skull, apparently. I have tried to be gentle with
him,” Jala replied apologetically.

“I love how you say
for now
,” Zoelyn
sighed as she crossed to a stone bench and dropped down heavily on
it.

“I never give up on what I believe in,” Jala
repeated with another smile.

“Jala!” Valor’s voice rose from behind them
and the High Lady turned at once. “We may have an issue here. Can
you take a look at this, please?”

“Of course,” Jala replied easily. She glanced
at Zoelyn with another smile and waved toward the house. “I have to
see to this. Rest for a while and try to find some faith in
yourself please. You can do this. You are just frustrated right
now.”

Zoelyn nodded and watched her walk over to
join Valor. Several of the scouts were still present, as well as
Jail. Most of them seemed to have their full attention focused on
Valor and Jala, but one of them was watching her. He wasn’t anyone
she recognized, but then she didn’t know many of the scouts. It was
rare that they visited the city and even rarer that Valor brought
them to the house. The scout smiled faintly at her and winked.
Zoelyn blinked in response and nodded her head slowly in return.
She wasn’t at all sure what to make of the gesture. With the way he
was watching her, she was certain he had seen the rose wither, and
most likely the banana as well, and yet he still winked.

I don’t like the thoughts in this one’s
head. Be careful of him. His mind is a dark one
. Dray’s voice
was a whisper beside her ear, but it brought Zoelyn’s thoughts
quickly back to focus. She had been admiring the scout’s dark green
eyes and tousled brown hair until the Blight spoke.

“What do you mean?” she asked softly as she
shifted herself on the stone bench to stare up at the sky rather
than Jala’s group.

Perverse, but not in the harmless way
Noble’s mind works. This one likes to hurt people. Noble thinks of
sex and enjoyment between both involved. This one thinks of pain
and his own enjoyment
, Dray explained in a disgusted voice that
was still pitched low enough to not carry to the others in the
garden.

“So, essentially what you are saying is, I
only attract raving perverts?” Zoelyn sighed and shook her head
softly. “I don’t even know why I am complaining about what I
attract. I don’t need to attract anything right now,” she added in
a wistful voice. Her eyes followed a pair of birds as they flitted
through the treetops and she felt herself relax further. She knew
serious discussions were taking place just across the garden. With
everything as peaceful as it was in Merro, it was still hard to
believe the rest of the world was in chaos.

A flash of black feathers drew her eye and
Zoelyn stiffened on the bench as she frantically scanned the area.
A slow breath escaped her lips as her eyes locked fully on the crow
hidden in the uppermost branches of a large oak. She watched it for
a long moment with held breath until it looked back at her and
bobbed its head twice. A smile broke over her lips as it confirmed
what she had hoped. It was a messenger from Seth rather than just a
bird. She had been waiting all week to see his sign, and now she
had. Seth would be here tonight, and maybe, just maybe, he would
have the answers she needed so badly. Jala was trying so hard to
help, but Seth was the only one that knew what an Undrae really
was. Maybe he could tell her why, after a week of tasting, she
still couldn’t tell magic apart. Then again, maybe he would tell
her she should have been able to learn it by now. Her smile
faltered with the thought and she nodded faintly to the bird before
returning her gaze to the smaller finches that were still flitting
through the gardens in search of food.

* * *

“The little bitch is a siphon,” Ander
announced as he sat forward on the roof. A strand of his long pale
hair swung down across his face as he moved, partially obscuring
the hungry look he wore on his face.

Hemlock nodded once and watched as a wisp of
fog disappeared between the man’s lips as he reclaimed the fragment
of his soul. It was always unnerving when Ander used his soulriding
talents. He was so subtle that the Jala’s scout probably hadn’t
even noticed he wasn’t alone in his body. “That explains why my
magic isn’t finding her,” Hemlock murmured softly. A childish
giggle broke through the silence and he glanced over the roof to
watch the boy run by with the Bendazzi following him closely.

“So full of energy and life, and so powerful
for one so young,” Niaha murmured, her dark eyes following the
child as he ran. “Why are we letting him live? He will be a problem
in the future,” she added as her eyes rose to meet his.

“Because we want Jala happy right now and
killing her son would not make her happy,” Hemlock explained
slowly. He was beginning to wonder if he should have brought his
companions to Merro at all. Both had their uses of course, but both
were much more adept at killing than spying. No doubt their fragile
little minds were confused at the thought of returning home without
blood on their hands.

“What else can you tell us?” Hemlock pressed,
his eyes locked on Ander. Maybe, if he could manage to keep them
busy enough, things would go smoother.

“She has an admirer. One of the knights. He
seemed a lecherous fellow. Niaha might be able to get something
from him,” Ander began, his gaze flicking to his counterpart with a
bit of loathing. It was no secret that the two hated each other,
but Hemlock had thought they could manage one mission together
without a fight.

“Let’s push past Niaha’s talents and keep
going. You were possessing a scout. Surely you have more
information that will be useful,”

Hemlock broke in before the two could begin
to snarl at each other.

“Jala will be leaving Merro soon. She didn’t
say as much, but she seemed very concerned with the news brought to
her regarding Seravae. I don’t think Jail expected her reaction on
the matter. He seemed distressed that she hinted at leaving Merro,”
Ander continued. “Avanti is still harassing her northern borders,
though from what the scouts are saying, it isn’t military
harassment, so Truce isn’t involved. She didn’t seem overly
concerned with it and brushed it off. Her main focus was on the
girl, even while listening to the reports her gaze kept shifting to
watch the siphon. Perhaps she is training a weapon. The girl did
seem to have a talent for draining life. That’s unusual for a
Siphon, isn’t it? I thought they just drained magic,” Ander
finished, his pale eyes moving to watch Hemlock.