Echoes of the Raven (The Eldrystone #2)

7. CHAPTER 7

7

VALERIA

“San Miguel, protect that sweet child from those awful fae!”

Serena de la Aguila - Royal Governess (Nana) - 21 AV

A s I slowly resurface from a troubled sleep, the sound of whispered voices leads me to fight against my drowsiness, compelling me to open my heavy lids.

I’m in a similar cramped space as before, but the difference is the blessed absence of the awful, inescapable dank smell. One more difference, everything is swaying from side to side.

“You’re awake.” Jago leans over and enters my field of vision. “Hello there, cousin. You need to take better care of your wardrobe. What have you done to that poor dress?”

With difficulty, I push onto my elbows and look around. Two more people are here: Gaspar and the Romani traitor, Esmeralda.

I frown, expecting Calierin to slap me in the face to jolt me out of another cruel hallucination, but the fae female doesn’t appear, and the longer I stare into Esmeralda’s green eyes, the more I start to suspect this isn’t an espiritu-induced dream, after all .

My gaze travels back to Jago, whose eyebrows are raised in an expression that suggests he thinks I’m deranged and expects me to start summoning a flock of singing fairies.

“We rescued you,” he says as if speaking to a child incapable of seeing the obvious.

I blink.

Jago glances at Gaspar. “Is she… all there?”

“If I were to hazard a guess, I’d reckon they messed with her mind.” El Gran Místico rubs at his braided, beaded beard, frowning at me.

“It’s all right,” Esmeralda says. “You’re safe now.”

My head whips toward her, and I fix her with a glare as sharp as daggers, half-expecting a swarm of maggots to spill from her lips. Calierin tormented me with visions of Amira’s lifeless form overrun by them, crawling out of her mouth, nose, ears, even her eye sockets. I screamed until my throat went raw, all while Calierin laughed and Rífíor watched on, unmoved.

I hug myself and shiver at the thought.

Esmeralda puts both hands up and presses her lips into a tight line.

“Don’t be mad at Esmeralda, Val,” Jago says. “If it weren’t for her, you’d still be deep in the ground. She figured out where they were holding you. And Gaspar… he used his pointy ears to infiltrate and his espiritu to guide him straight to you.”

I hold my head in my hands and squeeze my eyes shut.

Wake up, Val. Wake up!

When I open my eyes again, Jago, Esmeralda and Gaspar are still there, peering at me as if I’m made of glass and they fear I’ll shatter at any moment.

This is real.

No. It isn’t !

I shake my head, feeling on the verge of tears. Slowly, I lie back down, bending my legs toward my stomach and hugging them tightly. I close my eyes and will everything to go away.

“Oh, Val.” Jago presses a hand to my forehead. “What did they do to you?”

“You best let her rest. She’s been through a lot,” Gaspar says.

“Those damn veilfallen!” Jago growls. “Amira will make them pay. Just wait ‘til I tell her where to find them.”

“I can make a draught for her. It will help her sleep peacefully,” Esmeralda suggests. “I’ll see to her feet and that wound by her eye, too.”

“Yes, please, do that.” Jago squeezes my hand, and I find comfort in his touch.

I try to sleep, but I’m too jittery, my body rippling with intermittent shivers that make my teeth shatter.

Bottles clink, then a moment later, Jago presses a small cup to my lips.

“Drink this, monita .”

I swallow, surprised and oddly relieved by the moniker. He hasn’t called me that in a long time, and there’s no way Calierin would have known my cousin used this term as an endearment when we were little. He used to say I was a little monkey who loved to climb trees, that I was born in the wrong body.

You’re safe, Val. You really are safe.

It is this thought and perhaps Esmeralda’s draught that help me fall into truly restful sleep. Something I haven’t had in days.

The softest whisper of fabric travels over my skin. The scent of lavender tickles my nose. There is a click, click sound to my right, and I open my eyes to find Cuervo standing on my night table, shifting from talon to talon, his sharp claws tapping against the wood.

When our gazes meet, he bobs his head up and down excitedly.

“Safe, safe, safe,” he croaks, his body wiggling from side to side while his head keeps bobbing. I’ve never seen him this happy before.

“Hey,” I reach out a hand and gently pet the side of his neck. “I missed you too, friend.”

That’s when the realization hits me, I’m in my bedchamber. In Nido. I sit up with a jolt. Jago is slumped in an armchair, snoring lightly, one arm hanging over the side.

Someone walks out of my bath chamber, startling me. The urge to run assaults me, but when I realize I’m naked, I hug the sheets tightly to my body.

“Val!” my sister cries out, runs to me, and wraps me in her arms. “Oh, my sweet sister.” She rocks gently, her cheek pressed to mine.

We cry and hold each other without words, and only then I’m convinced that I’m out of the veilfallen’s control and out of Calierin’s reach.

“As heartwarming as this is,” Jago says, “Side boob, Val.”

He turns away. I pull apart from Amira and gather up the sheet to my chest. I had let it drop, giving Jago a healthy lateral view of my torso. Good thing the rest of me was squeezed tightly against my sister.

Amira holds my face in her hands and looks deep into my eyes. “I was so afraid I would never see you again.”

“I was afraid too, since Fa…” I can’t finish, can’t mention Father for fear I will fall apart. I haven’t allowed myself to truly mourn him. My desire to avenge his death and my determination to free Amira propelled me forward, and then… then came more pain and betrayal.

Tenderly, Amira caresses my cheek. “I know. Jago told me everything you went through while that sorcerer was in charge. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”

I shake my head. “No. I’m not the only one who has been through a lot. You… Orys… what he did to you.”

She hangs her head, hiding her gaze from me.

“You know what, Cuervo?” Jago says. “We need to let these ladies talk. C’mon.” He gestures toward the open balcony.

Cuervo, normally at odds with my cousin, offers no opposition and flies out of the room, barely making a sound.

“I’ll see you in the morning, Val.” Jago inclines his head. “I’m absolutely knackered. I haven’t slept in days. I’ll send in a maid with some tea and food.” He exits the bedchamber as silently as Cuervo, leaving me alone with my sister.

“Hold on a second.” Amira leaves my side and returns with an oversized tunic, the one I often wear when lounging with a good book. She hands it over. “You were filthy. I had to cut you out of your dress and clean you as best as I could. I don’t know what the Romani girl gave you, but you were out cold and didn’t seem to feel a thing. You still need a good bath, though.”

“You know Esmeralda?”

She nods. “And I’m forever indebted to her.”

I slip the tunic over my head, glad to finally wear something comfortable, familiar, and clean.

“What happened?” I ask, fully aware that we are both avoiding talking about Father.

Amira climbs on the bed, gets under the covers, and sits next to me—the way she used to do when we were little.

“After they took you,” she explains, “I mobilized the guards and offered a reward for any information that would lead to you and the capture of the veilfallen leader.”

“Oh,” I say, finally understanding Esmeralda’s involvement. “It seems she will do anything for gold. ”

Amira frowns and shakes her head. “No, she didn’t want the reward. Neither did her companion. In fact, she gave me back the coin Guardia Bastien Mora gave her after the Romani helped you escape Alsur.”

Esmeralda told me as much the day Jago found her and put her in a dungeon cell at my request, but I didn’t believe her.

Amira goes on. “When Esmeralda heard you’d been taken by the veilfallen, she began inquiring amongst her people. Some of them had an inkling of where the veilfallen might be hiding, so she went searching. One of the places her kin suggested turned out to be the right one. She and Gaspar came to Jago earlier today, and they went out to get you. Jago didn’t even tell me what he was doing.” Amira sounds displeased about this. “But I suppose it was for the better. Castella’s Guardia will take care of them. They have their orders.”

Her words send my heart hammering. Apprehension takes hold of me, and I can’t understand why. I shouldn’t care. It’s the least they deserve for what they did to me, for invading my home and nearly killing my sister, for all the unrest they have caused in Castella, and for… for…

I straighten and say, “Good. They need to face justice.”

She nods firmly.

I’m quiet for a moment, then a question bursts out of me of its own accord. “Why did they lie to us?”

“To protect us, Val.” She knows I mean our parents. “Father thought he had more time. He was going to tell you. Eventually.”

“If he had trusted me, he would still be alive. I should’ve known it was the amulet that helped me vanish Orys after he killed Mother. I foolishly thought that it… that it was me. That I had espiritu. I didn’t even remember I was wearing the stupid thing that day. If only I’d been able to save Mother, and I had turned that damn sorcerer to ashes.” I’m breathing erratically now, feeling as if my heart will give out.

“ Shh .” Amira grabs my hand and squeezes it. “We don’t need to figure it all out tonight. I have questions for you, too, but we have time. You need to rest and heal. We’ll set everything right. We’ll… have a proper funeral for Father. We will honor him the way he deserved.”

“Yes, that would be… nice.”

Turning to face me, she runs a hand over my hair. “How about you take a hot bath and wash your hair? I’ll help you, and then comb your hair and get all those tangles out.”

I nod, and she takes my hand, leads me to the bath chamber, and fills the tub. My injured feet are tender with every step. The water is blissfully hot as I step in. Goosebumps cover my arms and legs as the heat ripples over my skin.

Amira uses a small container in the shape of a seashell and pours water over my head, then begins to soap my hair. It takes several rinses to get all the dirt out, but when she’s done, my hair smells of lemons and my scalp tingles. She uses a small brush and runs it over my fingernails, getting rid of the grime encrusted there.

I feel like a child, and I don’t mind. My sister is with me. I’m not alone.

There is a knock at the door, and I startle, nearly jumping out of the tub.

“Don’t worry,” Amira soothes. “There are guards outside. No one can get to you again. It’s probably the maid with the food. Wait a moment, I’ll be right back.”

A niggling sensation starts in the back of my mind, but I can’t put a finger on what is causing it.

She leaves, and I try to stay put, but I can’t. Instead, I climb out of the tub, legs shaking, and grab a towel. I wrap it around me, go to the door, and peek outside.

“Put it right there.” Amira points to a table by the fireplace. “Light a fire, and make sure no one disturbs Princess Valeria.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.” The maid gets to work by the fireplace.

I pull away from the door, relieved. For weeks, I lived in Nido fearing our enemy was ensconced within the walls of our home and would attack at any moment. In the end, I was right. Orys supplanted Emerito, my sister’s closest adviser, and when the sorcerer got tired of playing his game, he struck, nearly killing Amira in the process.

My sister returns. “Oh, you got out. I thought you might like to soak a little longer.” She smiles, meeting my gaze through a large, gilded mirror in the corner. “Sit, I will comb your hair.”

I watch her, surprised by her fortitude. She has been through so much, and yet she shows nothing but poise, acting like the queen Father raised her to be.

While she retrieves a comb, I sit on the velvet-upholstered stool in front of the mirror. The wound under my eyes is not as bad as I thought. She starts at the tips of my hair, gently undoing the tangles to make sure she doesn’t pull on my scalp.

“Are you all right?” I ask, meeting her gaze in the mirror.

“Let’s not worry about me.”

“But of course I’m worried about you. What Orys did…”

She pauses, contemplating the floor for a long moment. Making a decision, she begins to talk. “I don’t remember any of it, and I guess that’s a blessing. I think he came in posing as a petitioner.”

Yes, that makes sense.

She and Father used to split the responsibility to speak to denizens with requests, ranging from charitable requests to help resolving a conflict with a neighbor to asking for a blessing for a newborn. Orys could have infiltrated Nido under such guises without much trouble. After all, he had the ability to assume different appearances.

“The last thing I recall,” Amira continues, “is our conversation about the guard detail Father wanted me to arrange for you. And the next moment… I was waking up in the ballroom amidst utter chaos.”

“Oh, Amira, I can’t imagine how difficult all of this must be for you.”

She nods and smiles sadly, the comb running down a strand of hair she has fully untangled. “I can say the same for you. ”

If she only knew how my foolish desire for a man I scarcely knew ended up complicating things further.

She goes on. “We found Emerito’s body in a seldom-visited dungeon.”

I gasp, realizing that I hadn’t given the real Emerito a second thought—not that I’d had the time or the mental ability to process everything that has happened since the engagement ball. Unbidden, the figure of another person emerges from the recesses of my mind: Don Justo. The last time I saw him he was sprawled on the floor after facing the veilfallen at the ball and losing. Did he survive?

“The poor man,” my sister says. “He paid unjustly for being my closest adviser.” She pauses and holds my gaze. “I hesitate to bring this up right now, but I have tried to find Guardia Bastien. I have been unable to locate him.”

I swallow thickly and stare at my hands on my lap.

“There is no record of him at the Academia de Guardias. Few can even remember him, and I have questioned everyone in Nido. Not even his fellow guards can tell me much about him. Jago… he told me that you and the guardia…”

I close my eyes and inhale deeply, the heat of shame rising from my neck to my cheeks. I don’t want to admit to anyone the magnitude of my mistake, but Amira needs to know. I armor myself with courage and speak.

“The… the reason you can’t find any record of Guardia Bastien is because he… wasn’t a real guardia. He was an impostor.”

“An impostor?” She considers. “Was he working with Orys?”

I shake my head, fighting back tears and the aching knot in my throat.

“Val,” she says in a sorrowful breath, “I’m so sorry.” She puts a hand on my shoulder for comfort.

Abruptly, I stand and walk out of the bath chamber, my hair only half combed. I don’t want Amira’s pity. I would prefer her anger, would rather hear her say I was stupid and na?ve and had no business sleeping with a guard.

I walk to the fireplace and stand in front of it. The maid is gone, and the logs already glow and warm the room. A tray with food sits on a table surrounded by four armchairs. Amira comes out and offers me the comb. I take it, and she sits in one of the armchairs.

“I don’t know what I was thinking,” I say. “But it’s the most idiotic thing I’ve ever done.”

“Anyone in your position would—”

“No, Amira, you don’t know how well he played me. You don’t know the enormity of my mistake.” I turn and face her, determined to own my blunder with dignity, if that is even possible. “Bastien Mora is Rífíor of the Veilfallen,” I blurt out.

She seems unable to wrap her mind around it at first, then her expression twists in outrage. “A veilfallen! Here in Nido. How?!”

“Not any veilfallen. Rífíor, the leader.”

She frowns, understanding slowly dawning on her. Rífíor. River. A slight mispronunciation of the bastardo’s name.

“Now, do you understand?” I ask. “He used me. I fell for his lies. I was reckless and compromised our situation with a person I knew nothing about—only because he was handsome, and I felt… I felt… star bursts .” I lay a hand on my chest to show her where those stupid fluttery feelings took root.

I can see disappointment and understanding warring in Amira’s expression. She wants to yell at me and console me at the same time, but she can’t decide which one should take the prize. I can tell her though. I know what I deserve.

“Somehow,” I continue, “he infiltrated our home and fooled everyone. He came with a recommendation from General Cuenca himself and gained access to Father, to you, and me. He could’ve killed us all if he hadn’t been so obsessed with finding The Eldrystone.”

Her face is growing red, and her jaw is clenched tightly. I’m tipping the scales, fueling her desire to yell at me.

“He was here for weeks, gaining knowledge that he can use against us,” I add, hoping to finally set her off.

Instead, my words defuse her anger, and a smile slowly stretches her lips. “No, he can’t.”

I frown, unable to understand the gleam in her eyes.

She rises from the armchair and stands in front of me. “You don’t have to worry about any of them anymore, my dear sister, because they’re all dead by now.”