House of the Raven (The Eldrystone #1)

38. CHAPTER 38

38

VALERIA

“I deserve better than a second princess, yet one can never predict what fate might befall the first.”

Don Justo Ramiro Medrano - Master Mason - 20 AV

O rys’s espiritu hits my chest and sends me flying backward again. Amira slips from my grasp. The back of my shoulders and head hit the door, and I crash to the floor. Splitting pain bolts down my spine. I sit up, dazed, and crawl back to my sister.

The sorcerer has the veilfallen female suspended in mid-air with one hand, a torrent of espiritu flowing through it, while with his other hand, he points menacingly at me. He doesn’t even spare a glance for his adversary. His piercing glare is fixed firmly on me.

“You are not going anywhere until you give me the amulet,” he says, his voice sounding as if he’s inside a tunnel.

Ignoring him, I try to pick up Amira again. No matter what, I have to take her to safety. Orys growls in frustration, flexes his opposite arm downward, and the veilfallen hits the floor with a sickening crunch. Orys then turns his entire attention on us .

I scramble, trying to pull my sister through the doors. My shoe slips on the marble floor. I stumble. The bulk of my dress makes it hard to move.

A host of royal guards arrives at last and engages the veilfallen. Swords crash, filling the room with the sounds of battle. I catch a glimpse of Don Justo heedlessly confronting one of the intruders. I may not like that man, but I must admit there’s bravery in him.

“Heed my words, girl,” Orys sneers.

Someone get this bastardo! But there seem to be too many veilfallen and not enough guards.

“The amulet!” Orys demands, advancing in our direction, flexing his fingers as if preparing them for his next attack.

“I don’t have it. I told you I lost it.” I manage to drag Amira back a couple of feet.

“That is a poor lie. I am not stupid. You want its power for yourself. You’re greedy like your mother. I learned enough about her from your sister to know what she was. Such a tool did not belong with her or a half-blood like you. Now, give it to me unless you want me to snap her neck.”

As he finishes the sentence, he abruptly jerks his right hand upward, and Amira slips from my grasp once more. His espiritu compels her to stand, and with grotesque, uncoordinated steps, she starts walking toward him.

I clutch a handful of her dress and try to hold her back, but she eludes me. Her head hangs to one side, and her arms lie limp at her sides. She’s standing up only because he bids her to do so. Once more, she’s his puppet. Rage engulfs me.

I glance around, searching for something, anything, that I can use as a weapon. There’s nothing.

“Let her go!” I snap .

“I will, once you give me the amulet. If you don’t, I will kill her. I am tired of this game. I thought you would be unable to resist its allure and would bring the amulet out in the open, but you are smarter than I gave you credit for. It was not all wasted time, though. It has given me the opportunity to spread my tendrils through the council. Castella will be mine, and humans will pay for the way they have treated us.”

“Is that why you’re doing this? To gain control of Castella?”

“It was at first. If it hadn’t been for you all those years ago, my people would be the ones treating your people like refuse. We would be in control, and you would do our bidding. It took me over a decade to recover from what you did to me. I have hated you and your entire family with a force that gave me the will to live and return to finish what I started. I had one more incentive, however. That day I also learned that you were in possession of something precious.”

He stretches a hand out and wraps it around Amira’s neck, then he extends his other hand in my direction.

“The amulet.”

I swallow thickly.

Cuervo, where are you? Hurry!

Orys can have the amulet. I don’t want anything to do with it. All I want is for things to go back to the way they used to be.

Amira .

I put my hands up. “I’ll give you the amulet, all right? Just don’t hurt her.”

He narrows his eyes.

“I don’t have it with me, but we can go get it. We can…”

Behind me, I hear a familiar screech accompanied by the flap of wings. Through the open doors at my back, Cuervo swoops in. He circles once over my head, then lands on my shoulder, one talon digging deep into my flesh .

I wince, and as I look at him sideways, I see The Eldrystone clenched in his other talon.

He tosses it up, and I catch it. My fingers close around the gem while the chain hangs loose. It vibrates, making my hand tingle, warming my chest, and taking me back to the day I saved my father, the day Mother died.

The Eldrystone’s power courses through my body once more, awakened by my fear.

It seems to take Orys a moment to realize what has happened, but when he does, he tightens his grip around Amira’s neck and renews his threat.

“Hand it over, or I’ll break her neck like a twig.” Gray eyes glare at me from his ruined face.

The sounds of clashing swords ring throughout, but still no one comes to our aid. My heart hammers as I take a step forward. Cuervo croaks in disapproval, jumps off my shoulder, and flies directly at the sorcerer.

Orys twirls his hand and releases a blast of energy.

“No! ” I cry out.

Cuervo dives to one side, swoops down, then goes back up. The magic shoots wildly and strikes the ceiling. Fragments break off and rain down.

Fiercely and with his talons outstretched, Cuervo goes for Orys’s face. One of them hits true and carves a long gash along the sorcerer’s already hideous face. He lets go of my sister to cover the wound, while Cuervo flaps his wings and flies out of reach.

“Leave, Cuervo,” I shout. “It’s an order.”

He croaks in displeasure, a sound I know well. He obeys nonetheless and exits through one of the balconies. I’m relieved to see that my friend is unharmed. I didn’t think I’d be putting him in danger once more. I will never do that again. Yet, I’m grateful for his help, grateful for the amulet held tightly in my grip, and for the confidence surging inside me .

Orys lets out a feral growl and grabs my sister again, smearing blood on her neck.

“Unhand her,” I say, “you filthy hijo de puta.” I’m not afraid anymore. I don’t understand how, but I know I will make him regret what he’s done.

“You will pay for your insolence.” Orys’s hand starts glowing around Amira’s neck.

Even in her unconscious state, she lets out a whimper.

My free hand goes up, palm towards Orys.

“No,” I say simply. Certainty and power surge through me, suffusing every single corner of my body.

My word is law.

Orys’s arm freezes, his espiritu sputtering, then flickering out like a candle.

He shakes his head, confused. “You are a half-blood. Unworthy.”

“And you’re a murderer. You killed my mother. You destroyed our peace, my father’s spirit. You will not harm my sister and our legacy.”

I advance a single deliberate step, my eyes locked onto his. “You will die. Today.”

The words carry a weight that seems to saturate the air, heavy with my deadly intent. With a swift, almost casual motion, I flick my hand downward, and Orys crashes to his knees, and the dreadful sound of bones cracking fills my ears.

My sister crumples next to him, free of his magical hold.

Orys struggles to his knees, making a strangled sound as if he’s choking on his own incredulity. His eyes bulge as he stares at The Eldrystone in my hand, his greed to possess it palpable. Desperately, he weaves his hands in a spell that doesn’t come.

“This is for my sister,” I say, jerking my hand to the left.

His right arm snaps, and he cries out in pain.

“This is for my father.” I bend my hand right this time .

His left arm cracks and bends at an odd angle. He nearly falls on his face but manages to stay up. Through his pain-twisted face, his hatred still pushes through. I feel it like the slash of a dagger over my skin, stinging and true.

“And this is for my mother.” My hand makes a cutting motion, like my rapier slicing the air.

A wound opens across Orys’s neck and blood spills like water from a fountain, soaking his clothes and staining the marble floor crimson. He falls limp to the side, eyes open, wound agape and seeping. I stare numbly as the crimson puddle grows bigger and bigger. It reflects the light from the lonely chandelier left above.

I’m dimly aware that all the sounds around me have died out. As my vision slowly expands to encompass more than just that ever-expanding puddle, I notice movement at the fringes of the ballroom.

In a daze, I lift my gaze. Hooded figures stand in a circle all around me. Right in front of me, a tall and commanding veilfallen, whom I immediately recognize, takes a deliberate step forward. He’s twenty yards away, but I feel his presence like a change in pressure all around me: River.

Don Justo lies at his feet—dead? Or unconscious? I have no idea.

My sister stirs. She blinks her eyes open. It takes her a moment to focus, but when she does, Amira weakly kicks back, pushing away from Orys’s discarded husk of a body. He is now pale, his pink-stained teeth showing through his disfigured, half-open mouth.

“W-what… what…?” Amira stutters, unable to finish her question.

Does she remember what happened in the last three weeks? Does she know that Father is dead?

“Amira,” I say.

She looks up, and at first, I’m afraid she doesn’t recognize me, but then she glances around the room, takes in the horrible tableau, and asks, “Val, what happened here? ”

She’s barely finished uttering this question when her body goes stiff, then slides backward at a prodigious speed, pulled by some invisible force. Before I can even think of what to do, she’s in the grip of a veilfallen’s magic, the same female who confronted Orys just moments ago.

Despite being smashed against the floor and her obvious injuries, the female’s espiritu remains undaunted as she propels my sister upward and sends her soaring toward the towering fifty-foot ceiling.

Amira’s legs kick, and she cries out for help.

Renewed rage takes hold of me. I grip The Eldrystone tighter. “Let her down, or I’ll kill every single one of you.”

River’s voice rumbles in that calm way he has of speaking. “Try anything and the queen falls to her death.”

“She won’t,” I assure him, a wicked, lopsided grin stretching my mouth. The amulet’s power still zings through my veins. I can do anything I want.

“Don’t let that feeling deceive you,” River says. “It can be a treacherous thing.”

The surety in his tone gives me pause. How does he know what I’m feeling?

“Are you willing to take that risk with your sister’s life?” he asks.

I glance up at Amira, who is nothing more than a floating small doll with a terrified visage.

I don’t have to listen to him. All I need to do is bring her down, and then I can take care of all these intruders. They will pay for daring to invade my home.

Bring her down , I think to the amulet.

Nothing happens. Amira remains pressed to the ceiling, helpless and afraid.

I try again and again with the same result .

My gaze falls on Orys. It was so easy to undo him, but this… this is different.

“Give me the amulet, and I will let her go,” River says, and I hear a hint of amusement in his voice, as if he knows I’ve just failed.

He takes a step closer, hand outstretched. “I’ll make it easy for you. Toss it.”

“No.”

“Then she will die.” He points a careless finger upward.

“If she dies, we all die,” I hiss through clenched teeth.

“I’m not afraid of death, little princess. Do as you will.”

Little Princess .

Little Princess .

Little Princess .

There’s a tremor in my chest. Something in his voice has released a terrible foreboding feeling inside me, a feeling I choose to ignore.

“If you want it, come and take it.” I hold my hand up, though I don’t release my tight grip on the amulet.

Little Princess .

Little Princess .

Little Princess .

He comes closer, but not close enough. His eyes are still obscured by the heavy hood.

“You must really want it,” I taunt, resisting the urge to break him like I did Orys.

If I do, his lackey will drop Amira. I’m sure of it. What I’m not sure about is if the amulet would break her fall when I call on it. I can’t risk her life. I need certainty.

River takes a few more steps and stops a short distance from me.

I can finally see his eyes. The first thing that I notice is the scar etching its way across the left side of his face. It emerges from beneath the cowl, slashing a jagged path over his dark brow and tanned eyelid, before vanishing once more beneath the concealing fabric.

The scar is distracting enough. It makes me wonder where it starts and where it ends. It makes me wonder how he got it. Was it a sword? A dagger? Animal claws? I have to tear my mind away from all those questions to really pay attention to those black eyes.

It gets harder to breathe. My stomach clenches, and bile rises to my throat, burning like hot coals.

Little Princess .

Little Princess .

Little Princess .

“Take off your cowl.” I hate the way my voice trembles, the way my knees threaten to shatter and leave me wasted on the floor, another broken thing part of the destruction.

“As you wish, little princess.” In one swift motion, he grabs the top of the hood and yanks it off his head.

The sight of him is like a physical blow, a fist to my gut, a hammer blow to my chest. My heart cracks with the impact. I nearly bend over, and it takes all my strength to remain upright.

It’s Bastien.

Bastien with a scar running from his hairline to the middle of his cheek.

Bastien with lustrous onyx hair, as shiny as Cuervo’s.

Bastien with pointed ears.

Bastien, a fae.