45. Chapter 45
Fyom rushed in with medicine in hand, Uriah and Sury at his heels. The latter two gasped at Peiro’s glowing eye as he made his way to stand. Sury shifted discreetly in front of Ora, ushering her between him and the wall as Uriah all but gawked.
Peiro paid them no mind as he downed the liquid from Fyom’s vial.
“It’ll lessen any aches,” the Healer said gently before he moved to stand next to his son.
We stood in a rough circle, looking to one another with wariness as Peiro coughed and tensed again before standing upright with a large exhale.
I turned to Ora, hoping to draw attention away from Peiro. “You saw her?”
“I didn’t mistake seeing that bitch. She’s here. And looks cozy with Addis,” Ora snipped.
“Who are we talking about?” Uriah looked to us, searching for an answer.
“What do you think?” I looked at Fyom, ignoring Uriah, and watched Fyom stare at his boots with his arms crossed. “We came here to learn more about the keys. Can we even trust Addis with our inquiry with Ariadne present?”
“Why even worry about her?” Sury cut in. “She was a part of this from the beginning. I say we go get the bitch and give her our own inquiry.”
“We can’t risk upsetting the Followers,” Fyom stated.
“Pa.” Uriah’s tone held a warning.
“Risk upsetting the Followers, or upsetting the wife you led us to believe was dead?” Sury spat as he squared his shoulders.
“You know nothing.” Fyom’s bright green eyes cut to Sury, seething with anger.
“Because of you withholding truth from us, the sisters are in more danger. You have put the damn queen into enemy territory,” Sury said in between his teeth.
I felt the tension rising, my magic stirring in response. I needed to calm the room before my anger spiked and ignited the illicitus. “Sury—“
“Don’t ‘Sury’ me!” He glared at me before he looked back at Fyom.
Uriah stepped forward, taking a defensive stance next to his father.
“This whole damn time you led us to believe she was dead, and for what? Was it your plan to lure us here?” He took a step forward but Uriah blocked his advancement, causing Sury to speak around him.
“Seems rather convenient that we not only went to see your sister—who, by the way, we didn’t know was in the damn court—but we also happened to need a Graevick, and now Ari-fucking-adne of all people is here at the exact same time!
” Sury shouted. Each word hit its target as Fyom’s breath grew hard.
“He has a point.” Ora crossed her arms.
We all stood there in silence, waiting for Fyom to yell, shout, do anything to defend his name, but instead he hung his head and sighed. “Because she is dead…dead to me.” His words were so soft they were almost missed.
Peiro grabbed my hand as I worked on steadying my breathing. I was careful not to let it overpower me as I asked, “What do you mean?”
Fyom looked up with a misty glint in his eyes, but it was Uriah who cut in and spoke for his father. “Because the moment she took the Blood Oath that Followers take, she died to us. Along with my brother.”
We looked at one another as Sury asked, “Come again?”
Fyom sighed again. “Addis was always a free spirit and the most gifted Healer—admittedly more talented than myself. When Malko—our youngest son—was born, he had a heart defect.” He sniffed as tears ran down his face. Uriah stepped to his side and clasped his father’s shoulder.
“No matter how much Healing Addis or I tried, our youngest was meant to die. Until one day, she was sought after by a Follower. They whispered powerful magic in her ear. Magic that isn’t supposed to exist. It’s pulled from the in-between of our Wielding, the antithesis, that can be created once you perform blood magic.
It didn’t matter that it’s wrong; it was a promise that the Follower could heal Malko, and they did.
We had never seen such a thing before. But ever since the day that he started thriving, Addis wanted to follow. She was more than convinced.”
Fyom paused for a moment before he continued. “I tried to stop her, but the topic would come up every year around the time Malko had been healed by that blood magic. Until one day—“
“Until the call became too great and lured her away from me and my father,” Uriah cut in.
“Malko and my mother were always closer, possibly because of the blood magic used to heal him. But either way, he packed his bags and followed her. That was the last time I saw them until I set forth my own path and stumbled upon The Hold. No matter how much you try to convince them otherwise, they bought into the thought that Graevick was meant to control all forms of power—and not just the six circles we’re meant to have as Wielders, but all seven.
And since everything shattered, they’re more devoted than ever to acquiring all of the circles of Wielding. ”
My magic flared as I took in these words.
To know someone you loved still walked this plane yet have them still feel so far away.
But why hadn’t he told us from the beginning?
Why didn’t we hold all the cards? I was so sick and tired of the lies and half truths that revolved around me and my sister.
Ora and I looked at one another before she looked at Sury, and the two seemingly had a silent exchange of heated words.
“Fine,” I said curtly. “I’ll put my chips in and believe you…
” I stepped up to Fyom and squared my shoulders, looking down my nose the best I could at the mountain of a man.
“But believe me when I say this.” I brought my hand up and my illicitus magic flashed in my hand, intricate wisps of shadow coiling and striking the air.
I heard Peiro hiss behind me as Ora called my name in warning.
“If you in any way have misled us in an attempt to put us in an early grave, I’ll be sure Thuvina makes your death more excruciating than you can imagine. ”
Uriah shifted to stand in front of his father, but Fyom held his arm out to push him to the side. Fyom stepped forward in one easy step and took my wrist, holding my palm in line with his large chest. “You see my lifesource, do you not?”
Of course I could. It was vibrant and beautiful and my fingers twitched to take it. He knew this though, didn’t he? Why was he willingly putting himself in danger?
“I vowed to you once already, Princess. I told you I serve your sister, you, and the Endromeon line. The moment I cross any of you”—he looked to everyone in the room before setting his bright green eyes on mine—“I surrender my life to your hand. Understood?”
I stared at him for a moment longer before nodding and pulling my hand away, my fingers aching to take his life this very moment. “Fine. Now get Addis. It’s time we learn about these keys once and for all.” I looked over to Sury. “Get Ariadne. It’s time we all had a little chat.”
***
It wasn’t long until we were “granted permission” to speak with the Unveiled, the notion annoying us all, but especially my sister.
I thanked the giants no one recognized her since her features had been aged by at least a decade.
The ruse of her as my handmaid had been working, but we knew the facade was up the moment Ariadne was present.
“Now you finally tell me why you have come?” Addis smiled coyly as she shifted in a large wooden chair at the head of the table in the hut-like throne room.
Guards stood at the doorway, clad in brown, and held spears as tall as Fyom. Ora and I sat on opposite sides of the table, with Fyom and I closest to Addis. Uriah sat to my left and Ora on Fyom’s right. Peiro stood against the wall with his hands folded across his chest, guarding us all.
His silver and brown eyes glowed brightly. There had been no time to ask what spiraled through his thoughts before we left to speak with Addis. I silently looked at him, willing him to look my way, but he wouldn’t.
I turned back while Fyom led the conversation as Ora and I waited to play our parts. “I came across something within my studies…”
“Naturally.” Addis had the gall to look bored.
“And there was a Feodean prophecy that mentioned keys…”
That piqued Addis’s attention. “Fyom. Don’t tell me you came all this way to admit you’re ready to take the Oath.”
“Never,” he growled. I had never seen Fyom so volatile until we came here. The tension made my magic roll, and Addis quickly turned her reading stare to me.
“Where did you say you were from within Oressa?” She looked at me with new interest.
“I didn’t,” I replied. “But as Fyom said, there are keys we have questions about.”
“Yes. And how do you come into play with this? It’s natural for Fyom to find a book and study it until he understands the ins and outs…but what does a minor lady have to do with all of this?”
“Because,” Fyom interjected, “I was clumsy and lost my third volume of Feodean rune translations, and the lady so graciously let me borrow hers—“
“Yes,” I cut in. “And if what he read is true, I want to find them so I can control them myself.”
Addis’s eyes bounced between me and Fyom, and she…laughed. “Control? Do you not know the tales of Graevick? Aside from the hypocrisy the High Seven Temple spews? Have you truly never read the tales?”
“Beyond the fact that Graevick went mad with greed once the giants cut him off from their source of power?” I rushed out in annoyance.
Addis scoffed. “Went mad? That’s all you all ever focus on.
” She tsked before she continued. “Our forefather wanted everyone to know the true power of the giants! The whole of it! Not just the elements and the stars—no, he knew they were withholding. He called them out to prove they were holding back from us.” Addis produced a dagger from thin air, causing us all to gasp, and nicked her finger, drawing out a single bead of blood.
She mumbled words against her fingers, and I watched in terror as her blood turned into mist and flew into her nostrils. Soon her black hair turned the palest of blonde, her uptilted eyes turned big and round, and her nose narrowed at the bridge.