The Elder Blood Chronicles Book 4 The Blessed Curse (36 page)

“We should bring her to our side or kill her.
A siphon that can kill with a touch isn’t something I want to have
against me,” Niaha murmured and Hemlock briefly considered pushing
her off the roof. One little nudge and the Bendazzi below would
take care of one of his problems.

“Niaha, go mix yourself in among the traders.
Spend the day there and find the knight this evening. Get what
information you can from him or anyone else that you deem as
useful. Do not kill, maim, or destroy unless you get word from me,”
Hemlock ordered quietly. His mind was churning with a thousand
different things and he didn’t need her sitting behind him
whispering for death. Things weren’t right here and he couldn’t
quite put his finger on it, but if people started dying he never
would. Jala wasn’t stupid. If her friends died, she would find who
killed them. “Anything else?” he asked Ander as Niaha left the
roof.

“More political crap that we already know,”
Ander replied with a shrug then a brief flash of uncertainty
crossed his face.

“What?” Hemlock demanded softly. There was
movement below him and it was more than just the child playing with
the Bendazzi. His gaze focused on the newest arrival and he
frowned. Neph. He had been wondering where the mage was hiding.
Rumors in Sanctuary had reported him to be in Merro, but this was
the first glimpse Hemlock had of him.

“Well, I’m not sure if it’s important, but
the girl seemed to grow excited when she spotted a crow. Maybe a
Shifter from Glis?” Ander replied with obvious hesitation.

Hemlock froze in place and slowly turned to
look at Ander. He was young and only a half-blood so it was
doubtful that anyone had ever told him of history. By his look of
confusion and his hesitation it was clear that he had no idea how
useful that information was. Ander was usually confident in
everything, and it almost made Hemlock smile to see him so
uncertain now. It simply proved that his underlings were still
terrified of him. It was nice to know the young half-blood was
frightened at the thought of wasting his time. The news was hardly
a waste of his time, though. If Seth was involved here, things were
a lot more dangerous than he had first thought. “Perhaps,” Hemlock
murmured. He had no intention of letting Ander know what he had
discovered. Let the boy believe it was something as petty as a mere
Shifter.

The quiet conversation below had died down
and Hemlock sighed silently. He hadn’t managed to catch a word of
what Neph said. His mind had been too preoccupied with the thought
of Seth lurking somewhere nearby. There were few things that
concerned him in this world, but Seth was one of them. The demon
had too many reasons to want him dead, and he had no intention of
giving him the opportunity to try to kill him.

“Let me get Sovann and we will meet you at
Jala’s,” Wisp’s voice called loudly below him and Hemlock turned
his attention back to the present.

“Can you soulride her, Ander?” Hemlock asked
softly as he watched the Fae disappear back into the house with
Legacy. “Easily,” Ander replied with his typical confidence.

“Do so. I want to know what is so important
that Neph himself came to speak with Wisp rather than using magic
to summon her,”

Hemlock whispered. He glanced around the area
once more, carefully scanning the tree tops. “I will meet you in
town at the bar by the front gates later tonight. You can report to
me there.”

“As you say.” Ander bowed his head
respectfully as he spoke. Leaning back farther into the shadows by
the chimney, the half-blood relaxed. A faint trail of fog rose from
his mouth as his eyes closed. With luck, Wisp wasn’t familiar
enough with the Soulreaver talents to detect him, and from the
information they had gathered earlier, Ash was still north in the
Greenwild. Hemlock doubted Jala would think to inspect her friends
with all of the distractions she had, but if she did Ander was
expendable.

* * *

“Jala, please calm down and sit so we can
talk about this.” Jail’s voice rose above the rest and Zoelyn could
hear the tension in his voice. It wasn’t often that Jail visited
from Sanctuary, but every time he had before, he had seemed calm
and in control. Today he looked exhausted and almost desperate.

“She is too frantic right now to listen. I
think she must have had a full jug of stupid with breakfast this
morning,” Neph snarled as Jala moved past him once more.

Zoelyn moved farther back into a corner and
watched as the High Lady snatched a piece of armor from the table
and began buckling it on her wrist. Valor leaned against the wall
behind her, already armored in his plate mail, with a guarded look
on his face. If he had any objections to the discussion, he had
apparently already voiced them.

“How can we do anything to help them, Jala?”
Wisp asked as she quickly stepped out of Jala’s way. The Fae was
watching everyone in the room with open curiosity on her face and
didn’t seem nearly as alarmed as Jail and Neph.

“Only Valor and I are going. I am not taking
soldiers with me,” Jala explained in a distracted voice. Her
attention was focus ed on the armor buckles rather than her
agitated friends.

“Fucking brilliant. You and Valor against
eight dragons and a thousand or so Soulreavers. You are quite the
tactician, Jala,” Neph growled. The Delvay took two steps to his
right and intentionally stopped directly in front of Jala as she
moved to gather another piece of armor. “No,” he said levelly as
she looked up at him with annoyance.

Zoelyn raised an eyebrow and glanced at the
others in the room. Every last one of them had a look of
apprehension aside from Wisp who seemed interested and Neph who
looked furious.

“What about Legacy? Last time you left the
city without him the Nightblades attacked. Surely you don’t plan to
take him with you?” Jail spoke up once more with a look of hope on
his face.

“I am making other arrangements,” Jala said
carefully. Jala turned to look back at Zoelyn and smiled faintly.
“For my son as well as Zoey. No one in the city will have to worry
about keeping them safe.”

“What kind of arrangements?” Wisp pressed in
a concerned voice. The Fae followed Jala’s gaze and her bright
green eyes settled on Zoelyn with an intensity that made her skin
crawl.

Frowning, Zoelyn shifted away from her stare
and looked back to Jala. Wisp had never looked at her like that
before and she didn’t like it at all. It wasn’t a friendly gaze; it
was predatory. It didn’t look as though Jala noticed. Once again,
the High Lady was focused on her armor.

“The kind that involves me.” The soft voice
rose from the shadows and Zoelyn’s breath caught at the sound of
it. Seth usually appeared as a Raven first, and she hadn’t even
known he was in the room. He moved forward, stepping closer to
Jala, and pushed her hand away from the armor buckle. With a smirk
on his handsome face he quickly fastened it and patted her gently
on the cheek. “I will be guarding them both while Jala is gone,”
Seth added as he gazed around the room daring anyone to object.

“A Demon? This is your solution? You are
going to risk your life as well as Valor’s to help a nation that
isn’t even our ally and leave your child and only heir with a
demon?” Neph snapped, his eyes flashing with anger.

“Naturally it would be you that objected,”
Seth sighed and rolled his eyes. “Have another candlestick handy
Jala?” he asked with an amused smile as he moved to stand closer to
Zoelyn.

Zoelyn stared up at him with a mixture of
dread and excitement as he approached. She still hadn’t fully
conquered her fear of him, but it was dwindling quickly. Seth had
given her a new lease on life and a purpose, and yet as Neph so
clearly pointed out, he was a demon.

“I trust Seth,” Jala began.

“And you trusted Symphony too, remember?
Where has that gotten us? The Fionaveir have left everyone to rot,”
Neph broke in before she could continue.

“Do not compare Seth with Symphony. He has
reason to protect Legacy and you know it!” Jala snarled back with
more anger than Zoelyn had ever heard from her before.

“And how do you bloody well know that his
intentions are in your best interest and not his own? I, for one,
sincerely doubt he is so instantly loyal to his new master. After
all, if he was such a great guy, why exactly is he a demon now?”
Neph bellowed in response.

“I fail to see how screaming is helping
anything here,” Sovann murmured with a sigh as he leaned back in
his chair.

“You need to set your priorities in Merro,
Jala. Seravae isn’t your ally, Ash is, and he is living in Merro.
You cannot risk Legacy and you are whether you realize it or not,”
Neph continued.

“I think a dagger might work better than a
candlestick,” Seth said quietly with a wink to Zoelyn. Stepping
forward he cleared his throat quietly. “Does that mean she should
stay out of Delvay as well, Neph?” Seth asked loudly, bringing
silence to the room once more. All eyes shifted to him and Seth
smiled. Holding out both hands he shrugged in a mockery of apology.
“Just curious, because it is the same principle. Delvay never
formally acknowledged Merro as an ally. You did. There is of course
the same problem with Legacy as well. Surely she can’t take the
child to Delvay anymore than she can to Seravae, and leaving him
here is simply not an option.”

Neph stared at Seth with fury written on his
face, but the logic of Seth’s words left him silent. Zoelyn could
see the desire to snarl written all over the Delvay’s face, but the
Demon had trapped him. There was no way he could continue to object
without sacrificing aid to his own country in the process.

“If I don’t help Seravae right now, the wrong
faction will win in their civil war. I need Sirena to lead there.
She is Ash’s mother, and with her on the council we would have
another vote in our favor,” Jala began in a more rational voice.
She inhaled deeply and forced Neph to meet her eyes. “I know I am
taking a risk, but if Sirena loses, they will move on Arovan next.
I will lose a potential ally as well as Arovan for being too
cautious. If Nerathane hadn’t moved, I would have left it alone,
but with Dragons involved I have to act,” she finished and dropped
into a chair at the table at last. Leaning forward, she covered her
face with her hands for a long moment before slowly looking up at
Neph again. “It’s Symphony’s place to stop this, but she isn’t
doing anything. I have no choice, Neph.”

“I just don’t understand why you always have
to be the one doing it,” Neph said quietly as he joined her at the
table. His expression was one of pure defeat.

“Because no one else will,” Valor said
softly, speaking for the first time since they had gathered in the
room. He moved forward to stand behind Jala and the neutral mask he
had been wearing faded away showing the sadness he had been hiding.
“They are too weak or they just don’t care. Either way, no one is
moving. Jala is right, we have to do this.”

“And if you both die in the process?” Jail
asked quietly.

“Then they will be slightly delayed on their
return home, but they will return, I assure you,” Seth answered
firmly. “There is too much that they must do to allow them to rest
in peace.”

“And once again we have to trust you,” Neph
grumbled.

“Only Jala has to trust me. The rest of you
can cry yourselves to sleep every night and chew your fingernails
in frustration. It hardly matters to me,” Seth replied with a
smirk.

“I trust Seth,” Jala repeated quietly as she
stood once more from the table. “Even if he is working for his own
interests now rather than mine the goal is the same. Keep Legacy
safe,” she added with a shrug to Neph. “Seravae will be taken care
of in a week at most. By that time Vaze should be returning from
Delvay and we will have the information we need to attack there.
That only leaves the Blights to handle and hopefully Shade is
making progress there. If we work swiftly we can have this all
finished before the council in Sanctuary.”

“You make it sound so easy,” Jail said with a
shake of his head.

“Nothing worth doing is ever easy, Jail, and
we are saving a world. It won’t be easy, but it will get done,”
Jala replied with a faint smile. Her gaze rose once more to meet
Zoelyn’s eyes. “You will be staying with Seth longer than last
time. A week here is five weeks there, but you will be safe.”

“It gives her more time to learn,” Seth
offered with a wink and a nod toward the door. “Let’s gather Legacy
and the mountain of toys I’m sure he will want to take. By the time
we are done with that, Jala should have her affairs in order
here.”

“Be careful, Jala,” Zoelyn murmured as she
followed Seth from the room. The day had definitely not turned out
as she expected. Jala going to battle dragons, and five weeks in
the Darklands. It was enough to keep her awake for days with
worry.

“Jala can handle the dragons. There are only
two full-blood dragons in Seravae right now. The rest are
half-bloods,” Seth assured her as he closed the door behind
them.

“I swear you read minds,” Zoelyn mumbled with
a faint shake of her head.

“I read expressions and yours screams
concern. I had to guess which you were concerned about, though. It
could have been Jala, or it could have been five weeks of my
company. I chose the answer that was less insulting to me,” Seth
explained and gave her a devilish smile. “By your answer, though I
was right and you no longer fear my company.”

“I didn’t say that. You are still
frightening,” Zoelyn objected quietly.

“Ahh. But from the look on your face in the
garden when you saw my messenger, it’s frightening in a good way.
Perhaps exciting is a better word,” Seth smiled at her and her
breath caught again. It wasn’t the same expression as the one he
had used in the council room. It was as if he had two different
smiles entirely, one that he showed the rest of the world, and one
that was for her alone.