Echoes of the Raven (The Eldrystone #2)

12. CHAPTER 12

12

VALERIA

“I would take it from her, but it’s the only thing she has of her mother. No one will suspect what it really is if they think it’s a child’s toy.”

Rey Simón Plumanegra (Casa Plumanegra) - King of Castella - 9 AV

A surge of panic shoots from the top of my spine and thunders its way down my body. I know something awful is about to happen, and there is nothing I can do to stop it. I reach for my sister’s hand and interlace my fingers with her as my gaze locks with Rífíor’s.

No , I mouth, uselessly begging him to spare my sister, to spare us all. I know I have no right—not when I wished for his own annihilation just moments ago.

What awful hatred festers between us.

Time slows, and a host of emotions play on Rífíor’s face. In the end, a glimmer of regret ignites in his eyes for a split second, then all the emotions are gone, and he falls to his knees, throwing his head back and laughing, laughing, laughing as if he has lost his mind.

Seconds tick by like hours, while Amira and I remain frozen, finding strength in each other. We watch Rífíor in utter confusion and terror. At last, moving as if through thick honey, we turn to exchange a glance .

Rífíor’s laugh slowly dies, and the raven dagger and the amulet slip from his fingers and clank to the floor.

Moving with the same agility she displays in the sparring courtyard, Amira swoops down and snatches The Eldrystone from the floor. Pivoting on one knee and bouncing back to her feet, she lands several feet away from Rífíor, who now sits on his haunches, staring blankly at the floor, looking numb.

I’m still trying to process what just happened when Amira yelps, dropping the amulet. She waves her hand about, then holds her wrist, clenching her teeth and hissing in pain. I peer closer to find the imprint of the amulet seared into her skin, raw blisters tracing the shape.

Without thinking, I pick up The Eldrystone.

Amira’s eyes widen. “No, drop it. It burns!”

However, it feels cool to the touch, and as my fingers wrap around it, relief floods my chest. For a moment, I worried about what Amira might do with it, but it appears the amulet rejects her.

“Guardias!” she shouts.

In an instant, the door bursts open, and what looks like the entire Guardia Real pours in.

“Throw him in the dungeons,” she orders. “I want him guarded every second of the day. Bread and water rations only.”

My heart speeds up and sizzling energy ignites my veins, expecting a brawl. Except Rífíor offers no resistance and lets two guards hoist him to his feet. He is limp, absent, as if his spirit has abandoned his body. His feet drag as they push him along, removing him from the bedchamber.

After a moment, only Capitán Qui?ones remains. His gaze roves around the space inspecting every corner. At last, he inspects us, too.

“My Queen, Princess Valeria… are you all right?” he asks.

“We’re fine,” Amira responds in a tone void of any emotion.

The captain’s brow furrows, and it’s clear he doesn’t believe her. “Should I call… your physician? Or… someone else? ”

Amira should have her hand examined and bandaged, but I suspect that isn’t the reason the captain thinks the royal physician should be summoned. I’m sure he’s more worried about our female sensibilities. I can almost hear him suggesting we drink a nerve-calming tonic.

“No, Capitán Qui?ones,” Amira says. “I will ring for the chambermaid if we require anything at all.”

He inclines his head and clicks his heels. “As you wish, Your Highness. New guards will be posted at your door as well as outside the secret passage through which the intruder infiltrated the palace.”

“Thank you. We’ll talk later about permanently sealing that passage as well as the guardias’ performance.”

Capitan Qui?ones gives a wince at the latter, but he composes his expression before straightening and retiring from the bedchamber with a few backward steps.

To be fair, the guards weren’t dealing with just any intruder. Rífíor is acquainted with Nido. He had weeks to memorize its layout and familiarize himself with every aspect, including guard shifts and placements. Any complaint Amira has about the palace’s security may be somewhat misplaced.

Suddenly, my legs go rubbery. I stumble to a nearby armchair and collapse in it. Amira lets out a barely audible whimper of pain and scrunches her face.

“Perhaps you should call the physician,” I say, gesturing toward her hand.

“I will, just not right this moment.” She shakes her head and sits across from me. “I need to sort out what just happened.” She’s quiet for a moment then asks, “How did that male learn about the passage?”

There’s a slight edge of accusation in her voice, as if she suspects I divulged the secret. But it wasn’t me. She pointedly holds my gaze, demanding an answer.

“ You told him,” I say at last .

One of her eyebrows goes up. “I did not.”

“Well, yes, I mean… Orys told him. Before you sent me to Alsur, I tried escaping Nido that way, but you sent Bastien after me.”

“I see.”

I look down at The Eldrystone, relieved by its… uselessness, but also confused. It didn’t respond to me or to Rífíor, apparently. And then it outright rejected Amira. It’s as if—

“That thing has a mind of its own,” Amira says, reading my thoughts. “Put it away. I don’t like it. It’s dangerous.”

I turn my hand over, concealing the amulet, feeling oddly protective of it.

“Letting you have it was irresponsible of Father,” she goes on. “Now it falls to me to take care of it.”

“Take care of it?” I repeat.

“Yes, destroy it.”

I shake my head adamantly. “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

“And what would you suggest? You want to keep treating it like a toy the way you have all these years?” There’s an edge to her voice that makes me take a closer look. At times, she seems so different from the sister I know, so severe and angry.

But I can’t blame her, not after what she’s been through, not when I feel much the same way.

“There’s power in it, Amira,” I say, my voice quiet. “I’ve felt it. I killed Orys with only a thought.”

“Then why didn’t you kill him ?” She points at the spot where Rífíor knelt before they took him away.

“I tried.”

“Did you really?” Once more there’s an accusatory ring to her voice.

“Yes,” I say emphatically. “It didn’t work, but it didn’t work for him either. He tried to use it. You saw it, but it didn’t respond to his command. ”

“Like I said… dangerous. And if those damn fae want it so badly, it will serve them well if we destroy it.”

“Something tells me that’s easier said than done.”

She narrows her eyes. “You don’t want to, do you?”

“It has nothing to do with what I want. He said it can reopen the veil.”

“Rífíor, you mean?”

I nod.

She shrugs. “More reason to get rid of it.”

“What… what do you mean?”

“You can’t honestly wish to do that?”

I cock my head, confused. The possibility of the veil remaining closed when given an opportunity to open it has never entered my mind. The idea is simply wrong.

“They hate us, Val,” she says. “They killed our parents.”

“Our mother was fae. Are you forgetting that?”

“Not like you will ever let me.”

I was always closer to Mother than Amira. As the future queen, she spent most of her time with Father, learning everything she could about governing Castella, while I happily remained at our mother’s side, making jewelry, growing flowers, helping her with charitable work, sewing tapestries, and memorizing anything she ever shared about her life in Tirnanog. I imagine that is the reason Amira doesn’t identify with her fae heritage as much as I do.

“There are humans trapped in Tirnanog,” I argue. “They deserve to come home.”

“It’s been twenty years. The ones who would miss Castella are either dead or too old to matter.”

I shake my head. “I can’t believe you would say that.”

“It’s reality, Val, and even if it sounds harsh that doesn’t make it any less true. Besides, it doesn’t appear as if there’s anyone who can wield that thing.” Suddenly, she turns her face to one side and winces. Grabbing the wrist of her injured hand, she squeezes it.

“You have to get that checked.” I point at her wound.

“Yes. It hurts like the devil. I will ring for the maid. She can find a salve in the kitchen, I’m sure. You should go and try to get some rest. There will be much to do when the sun comes out.”

I stand and take a few steps toward the door.

“Leave the amulet,” she says.

My head jerks in her direction. “What?”

“Leave it.” She points at the opal in my hand, then at the desk.

“It’s mine,” I tell her, even though I sense it’s the wrong thing to say.

“It’s a security risk, Val. I will make sure it is stored safely until the time we decide what to do with it.”

“I’ve kept it safe for over a decade,” I say. “I can manage.”

She stands and stretches to her full height, watching me warily.

“Why are you looking at me like that?” I demand. “You don’t think I would try to… use it against you, do you?”

She doesn’t answer, doesn’t immediately say, Of course not, Val, you’re my sister. I know you would never do that .

Instead, she says, “If you won’t, you will have no trouble leaving it with me.”

I shake my head, a host of bitter emotions filling my chest. “You honestly think I would do such a thing?”

Again, she doesn’t answer, but she holds my gaze unflinchingly as I scrutinize her face in challenge.

My first instinct is to tell her I will be the one keeping The Eldrystone safe, but something about her expression makes me pause. Behind her boldness, I see the fear she’s trying to hide. Orys took over her mind and used her like one would a soulless marionette. For weeks, she did things she wasn’t aware of, and since she regained control, it has been her sole responsibility to repair the fallout .

I have no idea what she has been dealing with since I was abducted, but I can only imagine how hard it has been, doing everything alone. Without Father, without me, without even Emerito—her adviser. The council expressed doubts about her ability to govern Castella while she was under Orys’s control, and I’m sure that, after what happened at the ball, their scrutiny has intensified. She already has enough worries without me adding to them, without fearing I might try to usurp her position. It’s the most ridiculous notion she could ever entertain, but everything considered, I can’t blame her for it.

Besides, the Eldrystone is nothing but a mystery to me, and I wouldn’t have the faintest idea how to use it to open the veil. And even if I did, reconnecting the two realms isn’t my decision to make—not to mention that doing so may mean more problems than those we faced when the veil collapsed.

“You’re right,” I say. “It’s no trouble to leave the amulet with you. In truth, it’s yours as much as it is mine. If it remained with me after Mother died, it was by mere accident.”

I walk to the desk and place the opal there, finding it difficult to let it go, but telling myself it’s for the best.

“Keep it safe,” I add, walking toward the door.

“The vault will serve well for now,” she says, looking relieved and offering me a conciliatory smile.

I pause. “That reminds me,” I say. “You… I mean… Orys took my Plumanegra key. I would like to have it back.”

“Of course,” she nods. “I will find it and return it to you.”

“Thank you.”

I leave and walk past the four guards Capitán Qui?ones left outside the door. Two of them follow me, and I’m comforted by their presence until I’m reminded of Guardia Bastien Mora and his lies. I always thought of Nido as the safest fortress in all of the realm, but that impression has been shattered. I wonder if I’ll ever feel safe in my own home again.

Not with Rífíor only a few floors below you, you won’t , the most sardonic part of me quips.