Chapter 7
The Prophecy
Eloise
Ariadne helps me find blankets for the children, and we set them up on a pallet in front of the fire. On the way here, with Phantom’s help, I scanned them for tracking spells. I found nothing. They’re safe, as safe as two orphans can be in this world.
They weather the news of their father’s death with the sort of reaction I’d expect from battle-worn warriors rather than children.
Zarissa’s eyes fill with tears, but none actually fall.
Zander doesn’t even flinch. He simply nods and then reminds me that his sister hasn’t eaten in days.
His sister. He only asks for her, those haunting, oversized eyes of his fixed on me.
With a lump in my throat, I prepare two heaping bowls of stag meat and goblets of blood, and I watch as they both dive in, choking a little when they try to swallow too much, too fast.
The small cabin has one bed, which Ariadne and Warbill have platonically shared since fleeing Bolvet.
Ariadne offers to give it up for the children, but Zander is quick to point out that he and his sister prefer to be close to the fire.
True or not, the discussion ends there. At this point, we’ve done everything we can do for them.
Warbill leaves to chop more firewood, but I don’t think it’s ash in his eyes making them water as he moves past me for the door.
I can’t stop thinking about Victus, how he gave his life to save these children from New Stygarde.
How these two are all that is left, the only free progeny of Bolvet Village.
“Was Damien not with you?” Ariadne asks. We stand at the back of the cabin watching the children eat and avoiding any discussion of the future. “Where is he?”
“I don’t know,” I say honestly. “He left when I did. Maybe he ran into some trouble. I should go look for—” The door opens, and a dark man with an even darker scowl walks in.
Damien’s boots thunk on the wood floor. His cloak is trimmed in shadows that writhe and coil off it like curls of smoke, then disappear as he steps into the light.
The moment he sees me, he seems to see only me and draws me into a needful embrace.
Ariadne excuses herself to help Warbill with the firewood, leaving us alone, aside from the children, who are distracted with their food on the other side of the cabin.
“You made it,” I whisper. “I was beginning to worry.”
He draws back, his eyes drifting to the children. “Worry is not uncalled-for in this situation,” he says quietly.
“What happened?
“I saw Nevina.” I draw in a sharp breath, and he quickly adds, “She didn’t see me. The soldier who died in the fire, his name was Xerxes. He was one of the sacrifices, a child drugged to do her dirty work.”
“What?” Guilt gnaws at my heart.
“It’s not your fault, Eloise. Neither you nor Phantom could have known. I only suspected when I got a closeup view of him, and I wasn’t certain until I heard Nevina confirm it.”
“So she’s not just training the children as soldiers.
She’s enchanting them to force their compliance.
” My stomach turns with the news. Before we left the castle, we suspected Nevina would use the child sacrifices as her human shield against the rebellion.
But forcing them to fight as pawns sacrificed to defend her is beyond the pale.
“Much harder to rise up when it could mean the death of your child. Harder still when your child is enchanted to fight you to the death.”
Tears well in my eyes, and I cover my face with my hands.
“There’s one more thing,” he says sadly.
“What could be more than this?”
“She knows about the dragon, Eloise.”
I shake my head. “Phantom was invisible. She can’t know for sure.”
“She knows. She saw the scorch marks Phantom left when he incinerated Xerxes. Only a few creatures could carry a cart into the sky like that, and of those creatures, only one breathes fire. I don’t think she saw Phantom’s fallen body.
She seemed surprised when she discovered what remained of Xerxes. But she knows.”
“Phantom fell?” I try to remember, but all I can draw up is a memory of having a sore leg.
“Nevina had no business being in those woods tonight. If this had been about a crime or simply transporting the children, her silver coats could have done that. But the queen was there, and she’d placed a tracker in the crate.
” He shakes his head. “Possibly it was in the children’s food.
Zander and Zarissa said the soldiers tried to get them to eat, but they refused.
The bowl of porridge was still in the crate. ”
“But why would she do that? Why would she be there herself, unless…” I feel sick.
“I believe she was using the children as bait. We were meant to find Victus, and we were meant to try to rescue the children. She was counting on it.”
“But she didn’t count on Phantom.”
He shakes his head. “She didn’t count on Phantom. I don’t think she knew what she was shooting at when she released that arrow, but she knows now.” His expression turns grave. “She has doubled the bounty on our heads.”
“Fuck.”
He nods slowly, his lips pressed into a flat line.
“I don’t know how far Catarina’s prophecy spread, but shades and elves have been fighting over that dragon for centuries.
The magical properties of dragon scales and…
dragon flesh…are well-known. If you controlling the dragon isn’t enough to send the king and queen into a frenzy, the moment Nevina or Brahm learns that the witches foresaw a son of Malek bringing peace to Tenebris with a dragon by his side, they will come at us with everything they have. ”
“How could they have heard Aurora’s prophecy? It’s not like the witches have an open relationship with New Stygarde.”
“You have to remember that, until our return, Caterina believed me to be dead and that Brahm was the son and Nevina was the dragon referred to in the prophecy. I have no idea to whom she relayed that interpretation, if anyone, but we can’t rule out the possibility that someone else knows. Word travels quickly in Tenebris.”
I look over my shoulder at the children. “I’m not sorry we risked everything to rescue them. In fact, I’m thankful for it. It’s a good reminder why we’re doing this.”
He growls. “It was a trap, Eloise. It won’t be the last one.”
“I know.” Our eyes meet and hold. “I’m not sorry.”
He curls his lip and releases a beleaguered sigh. “We did learn one thing tonight that we didn’t know before.”
“What’s that?”
“Phantom is a major asset, but they are also your greatest vulnerability. I don’t think Nevina saw anything to suspect that, when she shot Phantom, it hurt you. But keeping that connection a secret is imperative. And keeping Phantom safe is as well.”
I swallow hard. Phantom and I are linked.
If something happens to them, it happens to me.
It makes sense, but it also raises questions.
Phantom is embodied by the souls of my ancestors.
They can’t be killed, only sent back to the Darklands.
But if someone were able to do that, would the abrupt loss of the bond temporarily suspend my powers until I found another host?
Cause me to pass out? Kill me? I don’t know.
If it’s true, it increases the risk of using Phantom on the front lines of this war, regardless of the power they have as a fire-breathing dragon.
“Understood,” I say solemnly.
He pulls me closer and kisses the top of my head.
“So, we stay here tonight and continue to Aendor in the morning?”
Damien draws back and rubs his chin. “Warbill is right. There is only one place we’re going to find enough skilled fighters to attack New Stygarde.”
“The Rivertoads.”
He nods. “As much as I hate the idea, I think we need to catch up to the caravan, disguised as before, and find out their numbers and their price.” He scowls down at me, his diamond eyes turning hard.
“You don’t like this plan. You don’t trust them at all, do you?”
He reaches up to brush his fingers through my hair. “When Brahm was at his worst, only the Rivertoads would serve him. He’d spend days drunk, following their caravan and blowing the kingdom’s money.”
“I thought your kind couldn’t get drunk?”
“Not on human alcohol. But here, we have certain plants, certain mushrooms, that have an intoxicating effect when smoked or brewed. The Rivertoads never turned Brahm away until he ran out of coin. Rivertoads almost killed us on the way to Mount Damocles. They would have killed me, if not for you. No one should trust a Rivertoad, Eloise. Their only loyalty is to the highest bidder. They have no conscience and no limits. They’ll work for elves or shades or witches, sometimes fighting on both sides of a skirmish.
I don’t relish having to use them, but we may not have a choice.
I owe it to you and this kingdom to pursue every option when it comes to fighting this war, and that includes the Rivertoads. ”
“What use are soldiers we can’t trust?”
“Good question. Warbill seems to believe that Victus forged a relationship with the travelers. According to what he heard, the Rivertoads are as frustrated with this regime as the other regions of the kingdom. For the first time, their routes of travel are being disrupted by new laws and taxes. It’s possible we have aligning priorities. ”
“The enemy of my enemy is my friend?”
He slants me a sad smile. “That’s one way of putting it.”
“So, we talk to their leader and convince him that joining us is for their own good. Promise them freedom once you’re back on the throne.”
“Sounds easier than it is. For one, no one knows who the leader of the Rivertoads actually is.”
“What? How is that possible?”
“Rivertoads are extremely secretive about their political structure. I’ve heard they’re ruled by a king, but the person holding that title seems to change frequently.
In the past, by the time my father figured out who it was, they’d been replaced.
Their rulers are not named by bloodline, although I can’t say how it is done.
My family never understood their culture. ”
I ponder that as I watch the children hunker down in the nest of blankets in front of the fire.
They look so tiny. So vulnerable. “We should get some rest,” I say.
“I need my strength tomorrow if we are going to trick the Rivertoads into believing we’re someone else and trusting us with vital information. I need to be at my strongest.”
He moves toward the bed, but I stop him with a hand at the center of his chest. “Ariadne and Warbill claimed the bed. I’m afraid we have the floor. Lucky for us, Ariadne brought some material with her when she fled her shop. We have something that will serve as a blanket.”
I dig in the wardrobe and find some heavyweight fabric that looks and feels like wool.
Damien helps me spread it out in front of the small wood-burning stove in the kitchen area.
He lies down first and offers me his shoulder.
I cuddle into his side, resting my head on his broad chest, the thump of his heart beneath my cheek a steady, soothing sound.
He tosses his cloak over both of us, and we fall into an uneasy sleep, waking only for a moment when Warbill and Ariadne return.