House of the Raven (The Eldrystone #1)

34. CHAPTER 34

34

VALERIA

“Why can’t I shift, Father? Carola and Benito can, so why can’t I?”

Fatima Plumanegra (Casa Plumanegra) - Princess of Castella - 784 DV

J ago walks next to me as Bastien lingers many paces behind. I glance over my shoulder and briefly meet his eyes.

“What’s going on with you two?” My cousin asks.

“What? Nothing.”

“I’ve never heard you deny anything faster than that. Not even the day of the stained glass window incident.” He thinks for a moment, then asks, “Did you sleep with him?”

I roll my eyes. “Of course, I didn’t sleep with him.”

He moves his head from side to side. “ That , I believe. You took your time to answer, which means…” he snaps his fingers. “I know, you two kissed.”

How does he always do this? I can never keep any secrets from him.

“Yep, that’s it.” He nods, satisfied. “How was it? As good as I suspect?”

“Just be quiet, Jago, and take me to her.”

“Fine.”

“Was it hard to find her?” I ask, wishing to change the conversation.

“Very. She’s a slippery one. You didn’t tell me she is pretty. ”

I huff. Of course, he would say that. “She would sell your soul to Bodhránghealach for a copper, and she would use her beauty to lure you there.”

He shrugs. “She didn’t seem all that bad.”

“Are you saying that because she batted her lashes your way?”

“Maybe.”

Jago leads me to go to a section of the palace I haven’t visited in a long time. When I was little, I made it my goal to explore every corner of Nido, whether or not I was allowed. The four dungeons located at each cardinal point of the lower level fell into the out-of-limits category, but I managed to get as far as the iron door of the west wing cells, which is where we are now.

Two guards stand at either side. They bow their heads and let us pass. Only a few years back, they would have dragged me back upstairs.

A dank smell welcomes us. A jangling sound of jewelry that I recognize comes from one of the cells to the right. I turn that way and find Esmeralda pacing. When she sees me, she stops mid-step.

“Hello, Romani girl,” I say.

She lowers her eyes sheepishly, looking as innocent as a dove.

“You thought you could get away with betraying me?” I demand.

She mumbles something.

“Speak up. I know you aren’t shy.” Anger makes my words as sharp as daggers.

“I’m sorry, Princess Valeria,” Esmeralda says.

“You knew who I was from the beginning.” The recrimination comes out before I can stop it, and so does the hurt in my voice.

She nods.

“Is anything sacred to the likes of you?”

Her emerald eyes snap up to mine. “The likes of me?”

“Now, that’s the fire I’m used to. ”

“We wouldn’t exist if it weren’t for people like you,” she shoots back. “And what is so bad about me anyway? That I have no money to feed my sick mother while you live in a fortress palace and lack for nothing?”

“I would have helped you.”

“Like you helped us before?”

I have no comeback for that. While Mother was alive, she ran the charities and did work for the poor. She always made sure Amira and I helped. I loved it, loved spending time with her doing things for people in need. But after she died, I lost my taste for the task because it reminded me of her absence.

“You even hate your own kind,” she spits. “The fae suffer as much as we do.”

“I don’t hate the fae or the Romani.” I think of warning her to keep her mouth shut about my fae blood, but Jago is right. No one will believe her even if she scatters the truth to the four winds.

“Since your father died everything is worse. We’re hungry, and the veilfallen and their chaos isn’t helping things,” Esmeralda says.

Is it? I have no idea. I’ve been too busy trying to figure out who killed him, trying to unravel what’s going on with my sister. But what does Esmeralda know or care about that? I’m wasting my time. She would never understand the poor, rich princess.

I turn away from her and start to leave. “I’m wasting my time.” She can stay in this dungeon until I remember she exists.

“I regretted it right away,” she says.

My foot freezes mid-step.

“I haven’t even been able to spend the money that guard gave me.” She lets out a mirthless laugh, then collapses on the stained cot by her side and peers at me sideways. “Be careful princess, El Gran Místico asked me to deliver a message.”

Something in her voice is like a command to the hairs on my arms to stand on end. With a shiver, I meet her eyes. “What message? ”

“Danger lurks. Ready yourself.” She glances away and stares at the wall, seemingly resigned to whatever fate I’ve decided for her.

The shiver bleeds into my bones, and I feel ready to break.

“Danger lurks, Val,” Bastien’s voice echoes in my mind alongside Esmeralda’s. “ I can feel it in the air. Ready yourself. ”

An unsettling feeling of foreboding washes over me like cold water. Hastily, I leave the dungeon, Jago following closely. Bastien waits beyond the outer hall and stands at attention when we approach. The direction of his gaze changes several times, but it never comes my way.

Once we are out of earshot from the dungeon guards I turn to Jago. “Let her go.”

“What? It wasn’t easy to catch her,” he protests.

“Just let her go.” I leave him there, Esmeralda’s words still echoing in my mind.

Danger lurks. Ready yourself .

Ready myself. How?! What can I do?

The answer begins to creep into my thoughts, and I avert my gaze from it. It feels like everything and everyone is pushing me toward The Eldrystone. But if I trust my instincts, if I heed my intuition as Father taught me, I will keep my distance from that amulet. Doing otherwise feels like tempting fate.