25. Raven #2
“Wonderful.” Valen led the way through the palace and into a massive yard sandwiched between the castle and outer wall.
Bushes five to six feet tall enfolded a world filled with every kind of green. Long, thin leaves. Fat and fuzzy. Ground-hugging to towering. So many plants of various shapes and sizes, one could easily lose themselves in the natural escape.
Valen followed the path to a long bench and took a seat. Motioned for me to join him, and staring at the plants before us, began talking.
“My partner and I were sent here so many years ago that it sometimes feels like a different lifetime. The job was to take three or four days, five at the most. A large poisoning from a bad batch of grain. It wasn’t pretty.
Had it been a one-day job, everything would have probably gone smoothly.
In and out, reap and go. But as it were, during our extra time here, my partner lost her way. ”
I shifted to partially face him. He’d mentioned his partner before, in a far less friendly manner. Neither Valen nor I had been friendly, and now I wondered if we were both suffering from the same thing.
“What happened to your partner?”
“Chiara?” He grimaced. “She’s still around, if you can find her.”
“So, what? Is she hiding or something?”
My thoughts flew to the female I’d encountered in the underground tunnels. The one doing something I didn’t understand to one of Camilla’s twins.
“Most of the time, yes.” He glanced sideways at me. “But if you can find her, you stand a chance of making good on your deal with the queen.”
“How?” My voice jumped an octave.
Valen dropped a gentle hand upon mine and raised a finger to his lips.
We fell quiet to the sound of fabric dragging across the grass.
Three people approached along the path, two servants guiding an afflicted royal.
Daughter to the queen, mother to Winter.
The same female who had hugged me and sent images of me leaving the citadel.
That exchange felt like forever ago, and yet I hadn’t left, and I had no idea when I ever would.
The royal and her two helpers moved silently past as Valen and I sat quiet and still.
“I don’t think she cares much for me,” I said, when the royal was out of hearing range.
Valen raised a brow. “You think the afflicted have thoughts and feelings?”
I thought about Earl at the pub and the twin Myla, and an organic smile curved my lips. “Yeah, I do.”
“Then you would be correct.” He turned his gaze in the direction of the disappearing royal.
“And that one there will not be your ally in fixing what is broken. She realizes that should the curse be lifted, there’s a good chance her soul will be transitioned, and she’ll fight against that inevitability. ”
I leaned forward and gazed down the earthen path. “You know that because?”
“Because I was once tasked her name.”
I gasped and sat straight, ogling him. “Do you still receive tasks?”
He shook his head. “Not in eighty years or more.”
He glanced at my arm, likely recalling the task he’d witnessed marring my skin the other day. He’d asked who my assignment was, and I hadn’t recognized the name, but I knew the soul to be one of the servants passing by in the hall at the time.
“If you’re trapped here long enough, you’ll stop receiving them as well.” He said it matter-of-factly, but I had no intention of getting trapped for a long stretch of time.
In order to make sure that didn’t happen, I needed to know everything Valen did.
“You said that if I could find your old partner, I could fix this broken place?” I asked.
“I said you stood a chance.”
“Okay, I’ll accept those odds. How do I find her?”
His chest rose and fell with a large breath. “She summoned the specters in order to change what was predestined. Find her, dispel the specters, and the queen should no longer have a reason to keep the magical barrier in place. Life and death can return to the balance it craves and deserves.”
“That’s it?” Sounded too simple, but that didn’t mean it was so.
He shrugged.
“Why haven’t you taken care of this partner-specter issue long ago?”
“My relationship with Chiara is complicated, and despite my desire, I have not been able to accomplish the task because of our relationship.”
I considered my working relationship with Chace, thought about how things could be changing. Had something similar transpired between Valen and Chiara only to turn horribly wrong? Could things turn nearly as bad between me and Chace?
I didn’t want to think about that at present. I needed to stay focused on the job.
“Is it that she knows you too well and always sees you coming?”
“You could say that.” He rubbed his bent nose. “Clobbered me good with the blunt end of her travel scythe the last time we came face-to-face.”
“She did that to you?” I dipped my head, indicating the less-than-straight line of his nose.
“She did. And I don’t believe she harbors any guilt.” He patted my hand. “So, what do you think, Ms. Gunn? Feel up to this task?”
“After the way you’ve been treating me since I got here, why are you suddenly acting civilized and telling me all this?”
He barked a laugh. “Being a reaper does not make you a good candidate for this particular problem. I needed to test your character before I revealed too much.”
Seemed plausible. Although he could have done so without being such a reaping prick.
“Where do I look first?”
“That’s for you to figure out.” He squeezed my hand, the encouraging gesture of an elder. “But while you’re working on that, you must also work on the other thing.”
I gave him a questioning gaze.
“You need to work on healing the afflicted because there’s no guarantee that stopping the specters will heal those already touched. In fact, I’m guessing it won’t.”
Find and release the specters to stop further infected, get the queen to release the magical barrier, and heal the afflicted. In any order.
“Tall order, but I’ll get it done.” I smirked, not sure my confidence matched my expression. “And the tower, or whoever is in the tower… What about that?”
Valen’s gaze darted to the palace, possibly seeking out the tower. He remained quiet for so long that I wondered if he would respond or leave us in silence.
“What resides in the tower has muddied and festered and is something for the fae-blooded to deal with, not a reaper.” He lowered his gaze tightly on me. “Tell me, Ms. Gunn, do you wish for death?”
“Not in the slightest.” I shook my head, my lips pulling into a tight line. “At least not in the way I believe you’re suggesting.”
He dropped a hand on my shoulder, commanding my undivided attention. “Then I suggest you stay clear of the tower. It’s not remotely essential to our goal.” Any hint of humor or ease vanished from his features. “And if you walk through that tower door, you’ll be walking straight into death.”