House of the Raven (The Eldrystone #1)

2. CHAPTER 2

2

RIVER

“This night the fear of never seeing her again devours my bones. I long for your embrace, Radina, my beloved mate.”

Kadewyn Zinceran - Fae Trader - 3 AV

M y steps echo across the narrow passage. I would know these musty catacombs even blindfolded. The dank smell comforts me, the same as the torchlight reflecting on the ancient stone walls.

The others walk behind me, keeping their distance, carrying the loot. I hurry my step, eager to see what we got. We need funds to keep financing our efforts, to keep us fed, but I would be lying if I said that is my priority.

At the end of the passage, I walk into a concave chamber, remove my cloak and cowl, and cast them on top of an empty barrel in the corner. A table sits in the middle with many items already strewn on top of it. Obviously, others got here before us. Swiftly, my eyes rove over every single piece of what we’ve plundered.

The disappointment hits me, a familiar jab in the chest. I push it away as, one by one, everyone dumps their takings onto the table. I search once more, and once more, but I don’t find what I’ve been looking for these last twenty years .

“Excellent plundering.” Kadewyn, my second, pats everyone on the back as they pass by and walk deeper into the catacombs. He makes a mental calculation, then asks, “Where are Unmenar and Elassan?”

Besides him, only Calierin and I remain in the alcove. We exchange glances.

Kadewyn used to be a trader before the veil fell. He has a wife and daughter in Tirnanog. He hasn’t lost hope that he’ll see them one day.

“I didn’t see them,” Calierin says, her violet gaze turning dark, the way it does when she fights. She’s an accomplished warrior, a member of the Tuathacath, one of the best fae warrior tribes in all of Tirnanog. She possesses magic capable of toppling buildings, which is useful more often than I’d like to admit. She was stranded in Castella while on a perimeter search of the veil. She was the only one of her regiment to be on the wrong side when the veil disappeared.

Everyone here has a similar story and lives before the veil’s collapse, before we became pariahs in the human realm.

Kadewyn shakes his head, long silver hair swaying. “By the gods, they must be all right.”

Calierin punches a fist into her hand. “We can’t lose any more people. If only we’d gotten that stupid girl. We could have changed so much.”

I grunt in agreement. The Plumanegras are my next target. I’ve been working on a plan to infiltrate their palace for some time now. I’ll get to them sooner rather than later. Though Calierin and Kadewyn know nothing about what’s coming. It is too risky to share.

My head snaps toward the entrance. I hear steps in the distance, but only one set. Some moments later, Elassan stumbles in, hands to his gut, blood seeping through his fingers. Kadewyn catches him and slowly eases him to the floor. We both kneel at his side.

“Get him some feyglen,” Kadewyn says.

Calierin finds a bottle inside a hole in the wall and hands it over. I tip it to Elassan’s lips, and he takes a labored sip .

Kadewyn lifts the male’s shirt and examines the wound. He throws me a wary glance and shakes his head slightly.

“They… g-got Unmenar,” Elassan says hoarsely.

“Dead?” Kadewyn seeks to clarify.

Elassan nods his head once, then goes utterly still. Dead, too.

Kadewyn closes the dead male’s eyes. “May the winds carry your essence to the Glimmer.”

I stand abruptly and turn toward the wall. How many more of my people must die in this godsforsaken, accursed realm? How can I feel guilt over those we kill when they do the same to us?

“Damn humans!” Calierin pounds a fist on the wall. She wears her anger on the surface.

Kadewyn leaves, then comes back with help. “See that Elassan is taken care of.”

They gather his remains and take him further into the catacombs. They’ll have no trouble finding a place for him, but he shouldn’t have to sleep eternally in this rotten land. He should be laid to rest in Tirnanog and be forever protected by Faoloir, god of all creatures.

The excitement over today’s plunder will be bashed by another friend’s death. There is so little to enjoy.

When will we get out of here?

It’s the same question I’ve asked myself for so long.

We sit quietly for an entire hour, passing around the bottle, wishing it actually contained feyglen instead of the cheapest human wine. Feyglen is made from grapes that only grow in Tirnanog. It is sweeter and stronger, what I need right now to put me out of my misery for at least a few hours.

“How do we divide it?” Kadewyn asks, breaking the silence. He points toward the trinkets on the table because that’s what they are: jewels and gold from the human nobility who think strongboxes in guarded keeps can protect their gaudy accessories. But no lock is safe from Kadewyn’s kind of magic.

“Rífíor?” he presses when I don’t respond.

The humans call me River, mispronouncing the name I chose for myself when I stopped wandering this realm and came to the capital. The veilfallen correctly call me Rífíor, a common enough name in Tirnanog, but a fake one, after all. I will soon go by a third name. Will it suit me better?

“Same as always,” I respond.

He nods.

After half of the pile is taken away and distributed amongst the poorest fae families in the city, every veilfallen will receive an equal part. They risk their lives every day. It’s the least they deserve.

After paying everyone, Kadewyn returns with food and drink. I guzzle the rancid-tasting wine in one go and ignore the chunk of bread and dry meat.

I stare at the ground and run a hand down my face, feeling the jagged edges of my scar. I’m still feeling annoyed that a human girl bested me. Fate put her in my path, and l allowed her to slip through my fingers. But that’s all right. My new plan is already in motion, and perhaps this is the one that will ultimately lead me to the escape I yearn for, although I still fear my quest may not conclude anytime soon.

It’s not that I’m jaded. It’s simply that I’m beginning to think I deserve this curse.