Chapter 20
Gaeren watched Aeliana’s face pale. He wanted to kick Lukai and remind the fool that his role was to comfort his bondmate. Instead, he laughed nervously and tried to minimize it all.
“I think we’re all jumping to conclusions here.
Even if you’re right—and that’s a big if—we’re not powerless.
We start by keeping Mayvus from the winex.
I doubt there are any in the cold Ahmranan climate, so she already helped us out there.
” Gaeren ticked the solutions off on his fingers.
“Then we figure out if there really is a curse or spell or whatever. And then we break it.” He wiggled the three fingers as if a child should be able to follow the plan.
The others stared at him incredulously, making him aware of how impossible that all sounded. But that wasn’t something that had ever stopped him in the past.
“How are we supposed to find answers about a curse we’re not sure exists?” Kendalyhn asked.
“Maybe we can attack two problems with one solution,” Velden said slowly.
“If Mayvus is hunting down the starbridges in order to unite them for power, there’s value in finding them before her.
We have the golden arrow, and Mayvus has the onyx stone.
There are only two left: an iron cutlass and a silver fish. ”
Gaeren tucked his hand in his pocket, letting his fingers wrap around the arrow’s shaft. Orra’s gaze shot to his, her brows pinching in pain. He quickly let it go. Perhaps he should wrap it with something in the future.
“But the starbridges aren’t our primary problem,” Aeliana said. “As long as we keep the arrow from her, she can’t gain power from them.”
“There’s power to be had from each one,” Orra pointed out. “Maybe not the ultimate power she’s looking for, but think about how she’s using the stone to win Ahmranans over to her side. Could she do the same with the cutlass with the Dehvlonians or the silver fish with the Sayhleens?”
The silence in the room grew thick with fear.
“That’s why I suggested we attack two problems with one solution.” Velden let water burble between his hands, then tossed it from palm to palm like a ball. “If we go after the silver fish that would take us to Sayhla Island, we could visit Lady Merinnia and ask about the curse.”
“Lady Merinnia?” Aeliana asked. “The Seer from your story?”
“I don’t remember that one,” Gaeren admitted.
Aeliana turned to Gaeren. “You were back at the palace when he told it. The Sayhleens have a pneumatic progeny who’s so powerful she can see just one or two paths in the future.
Velden’s mother went to her to ask about whether or not she should use the silver fish to cross the barrier.
Whatever she saw convinced her to come even though she probably also saw her death. ”
Velden nodded, his shoulders tighter than normal.
“That was years ago,” Holm said. “For all we know, she’s no longer alive.”
“Then they would have appointed a new Seer,” Velden said. “Maybe not as powerful as Lady Merinnia, but they train them for that purpose.”
“They’ve been doing it since their existence,” Orra added. “The first Seer was also the first Sayhleen—the man who sought out the sprites asking to take refuge in the water. The sprites thought they were tricking him, but he saw the way their people would thrive. He chose that path.”
“But if a curse exists, it’s already happened,” Sylmar said. “She sees paths in the future, not the past. I propose we visit Pacran’s library. If anyone has information about a curse that could connect people’s life sources, it would be him.”
“The collector?” Kendalyhn asked. “Technically he would also be our best option for finding the starbridges.”
Gaeren suspected Kendalyhn was right. In fact, Gaeren had gone looking for Pacran when he hunted down the starbridges on his own, but the swindler had been tight-lipped. Probably because of Gaeren’s status as a prince. Would they have more luck with someone like Sylmar or Velden asking instead?
“What about the witches?” Holm asked. “Didn’t Emeris say Mayvus often asked her about a connection between them? Maybe she was in league with the witches.”
“We already have someone looking into the connection with the witches.” Emeris’ cheeks turned pink as the room went quiet.
“Who?” Sylmar asked.
“You call him Marnok.” Emeris glanced at Rildan, and a look passed between them that made Gaeren certain Rildan knew just as much about Marnok’s identity as Emeris.
“I thought he went in search of his past,” Aeliana said slowly. “Because of things you showed him in your memories.”
“It’s complicated,” Emeris said, “but his past isn’t mine to share. He’s looking into elements of his past, but he’s also attempting to learn if the witches know anything of a curse.”
Sylmar’s eyes narrowed, and Gaeren sensed the old man was about to wrestle a truth from Emeris that he had no right to hear, let alone the rest of the people in the room.
“Actually,” Gaeren blurted out, “I might have a lead for the silver fish.” The words came out with a wince.
Riveran glanced his way, eyes wide. He was the only one who’d been there when Gaeren had made a deal with the sprite.
“I agree that Pacran might have the iron cutlass.” He glanced at Orra, remembering her story of Pirate Redwood handing it over to her husband and letting it pass down the generations.
It was just the type of thing a collector would hold on to.
“But I also heard rumors of the silver fish being down in Andel. Supposedly it’s aboard some fisherman’s boat, mounted on the wall of his cabin. ”
Velden raised his eyebrows. “I was raised near Andel and spent my naval days there. There are hundreds, if not thousands, of fishermen’s boats. That’s not exactly a prime lead.”
Orra’s hands went to her cheeks, her voice breathy. “Maybe not, but it’s the first clue I’ve had for the silver fish since my search began.”
Gaeren couldn’t help wondering when that search had begun. Was it a thousand years ago when she’d first been grounded?
“You never considered this a clue?” Velden held up his webbed fingers, wiggling them for all to see.
Orra’s eyes grew troubled. “I recognized your heritage from the first time I met you, but your mother forbade you from seeking out Sayhla Island. Any hint at where the silver fish ended up died with her.”
Velden’s face paled. “I’ve never told that to anyone,” he murmured. “I wasn’t sure I wanted to find Sayhla Island after she died, but I did search her cove. The starbridge never turned up. I assumed it was lost in the water with her.”
“Then how does Gaeren know where it is?” Cyrus asked.
Gaeren’s face heated as one by one everyone’s gazes rested on him. He opened his mouth, then closed it.
“If he can’t even say where the information came from, I don’t trust it,” Holm said.
Iris smacked his shoulder. “You’ve been speaking your thoughts far more than usual these days.”
“Still, Holm has a fair point,” Sylmar said. “Is it a reliable resource?”
Gaeren’s mouth went dry. Could he honestly answer that?
Who trusted the sprites? They were slippery creatures, bent on tricking everyone who sought them out, but they weren’t known for lying.
Their deals had a prophetic nature to them, and he’d never heard of anyone avoiding the fate presented by the sprites. Which was what terrified him.
He forced a smile. “Even though I got the information when hunting down the starbridges to find Aeliana, it wasn’t a typical treasure-hunting source.
The instructions given to me were as trustworthy as my sister’s visions.
” Several people’s eyebrows rose since Enla’s skills as a pneumatic progeny were widely known.
Good thing they didn’t know about her recent decline in being able to control those skills.
“But my source also said I’d be better off finding the fish before the cutlass. ”
Sylmar let out a huff. “And you just… believe everything someone tells you when you’re hunting for treasure?”
Gaeren and Riveran exchanged a glance. “Not always,” Gaeren conceded. “But this time I did.”
“As much as I like the idea of helping Orra find the starbridges and keeping them from Mayvus”—Aeliana shot an apologetic look toward the other woman—“I think we’re getting distracted.
We need to find out what connects my mother and Mayvus so we can get rid of it.
We can watch for starbridges along the way, but we need to choose what’s best for the danger at hand. ”
“Which is why Pacran and the cutlass are the better bet,” Sylmar said, his tone turning dry, “despite Gaeren’s mysterious insistence that it would be better to find the fish first.”
“The Seer’s connection with a soul’s destiny is far more valuable than a collector’s horde,” Velden argued. “She can show us where and when we’ll discover the strange connection between Emeris and Mayvus. She can show us where the iron cutlass is. She can show us how to defeat Mayvus.”
“And we can also come away completely destroyed by what she tells us.” Aeliana had grown quiet, her face almost green with trepidation, but now a tinge of pink came into her cheeks.
“Don’t leave that part out of the story.
You said some people come away unhinged because of what she shows them.
You said people had to be desperate to go to her. ”
Velden shrugged. “What do you call our circumstances if not desperate?”
Normally Gaeren would agree with anything Aeliana said.
They shouldn’t go to a woman whose magic seemed to spread her madness.
That was reasonable. And yet the sprite had said he’d have better luck seeking the fish first, which meant he’d have more of a chance at crossing the barriers and protecting Aeliana.