Echoes of the Raven (The Eldrystone #2)

4. CHAPTER 4

4

RíFíOR

“The Eldrystone corrupts everyone. She is not the exception.”

Rífíor - Veilfallen - 21 AV

“ I told you this before, but you don’t seem to want to listen, so hear me out one more time… I will never give you The Eldrystone. Never. I don’t care if it has the power to reopen the veil. I only care that you are forever kept from what you want most.”

Valeria’s unwavering words ring in my ears.

I believe her.

I believe that she would rather die and suffer than give me The Eldrystone.

Calierin could torture her in any manner she wishes, and it wouldn’t make a damn difference.

Afraid I would lose my temper beyond repair, I left Valeria after our frustrating conversation, and now I pace the length of my sleeping area. It is a small space with only a cot and a barrel in one corner, which serves as both a table and clothes repository.

I heave a heavy sigh, exhausted. I should rest, but there is too much on my mind .

Ever since the attack on Nido, things have grown increasingly harder for me and my people. Amira is searching for her sister, has vowed to leave no rock unturned until she finds her. To that purpose, Castellina’s Guardia as well as the Guardia Real are moving across the capital, searching for the veilfallen who took the young princess. It is only a matter of time before they find us, before someone gives away our location.

I knew this would happen when I decided to abduct Valeria. I anticipated it, but I also thought she would give me The Eldrystone once confronted. At first, I tried talking to her, both rationally and threateningly. When that didn’t work, I resorted to lower methods, and as Valeria pointed out, I was too cowardly to administer them myself. Instead, I enlisted Calierin, who is more than happy to take out her pent-up anger on any human dregs , as she often refers to our unwilling Castellan hosts.

And now, after all of that, I am down to begging, which also has turned out to be a waste of time.

Damn it all to the lowest hell!

One slip in my resolve, and I ruined everything.

If I hadn’t allowed my attraction to Valeria to get through my defenses, none of this would have happened, and my kin and I would already be in Tirnanog. The magic of our ancestral land would be coursing through our bodies, healing our wounds and rebuilding our spirits. Instead, we continue to suffer. We’ve been here too long and have had enough. Being severed from our realm chips at our will every second of the day, and I fear that, in time, this separation will break us all. I fear the fae in Castella will die out, our magic-bound souls too weak to keep going.

And now, despite all my efforts to persuade Valeria, I’m left with only one recourse to make her understand: telling her the entire truth. But what if revealing even this much fails to sway her? The prospect makes me feel wretched because it would mean that my mistake has irreversibly erased all the good in her .

You are an idiot, the harsh voice of my subconscious hisses in my ear. If she was ever good, that part of her doesn’t exist anymore. She tasted the power of The Eldrystone, and there’s no going back from that. She is forever changed by greed. She would rather die than part with the conduit.

I crack my neck and take a deep breath. Yes, I know this to be true. The Eldrystone corrupts, the way it corrupted Saethara, the way it corrupted me.

Is blaming the amulet how you hope to exonerate yourself from your own wrongdoing? Another part of me asks.

Shame and anger mix like poison in my chest. I loathe what I did. I taught Valeria to distrust, but just like her, I also had a teacher who imparted the same teachings. Fate had it that I should be her mentor in that timeless lesson.

Regardless, she will never renounce the power of the conduit. And if she can’t have it all to herself, she will make sure no one else does.

That is why I must explore every conceivable avenue to reclaim it. I cannot afford to overlook any possibility, and if partial truths failed to coax her into divulging The Eldrystone’s location, then I shall disclose my deepest secret and tell her exactly how I fit into this puzzle.

If that doesn’t work, I suppose Calierin will have her way.