Chapter 14 Valenna
Chapter fourteen
Valenna
Balancing two bowls of soup, Valenna led the way up the stairs to a snug little room over the bar. It boasted a four-poster bed covered with shabby blankets, a small fireplace, and a creaking rocking chair.
“You know, if you showed more of that to your trainees, they might not dislike you so much,” Valenna said, setting the bowls on a round table by the stove.
“More of what?” Evander asked, shutting the door behind him and shaking out his wet hair.
“Don’t tell me the man who spent a week’s wages so one little girl didn’t have to work for Haldir couldn’t give an encouraging word to a young trainee.”
Evander sat on the bed and pulled off his muddy boots. “I’m training them for war. There won’t be any second chances or kind words on the battlefield.”
“I thought you were teaching them how to train dragons for war. Cobblepine is neutral.”
“When the dragons are gone, Cobblepine won’t serve any purpose. Cadmus and Marwenna will consume it. They would have already, if they knew where it was.”
Valenna was too tired to argue with him. She opened the little cast-iron stove and prodded the fire, wondering again what her life would look like if Evander hadn’t left, or if she had followed him. She could think of a few ways to put this room to better use than a quiet refuge to eat dinner in.
Evander lay on his back and let out a long sigh.
“Come and eat,” Valenna urged.
“Later,” he grunted.
“Is your head bothering you?” Valenna crossed the room, sat beside him, and studied his face. His hair had fallen over his closed eyes. Tentatively, she brushed it aside.
He opened his eyes and looked at her, his brow creased. Suddenly uncomfortable, Valenna cleared her throat and stood, smoothing her blouse. Outside the casement windows, thunder rumbled.
Here she was, getting sidetracked again. This man left her. Broke her heart. She needed to keep that in the forefront of her mind, or she would fall for him all over again and be heartbroken a second time.
“Is your head hurting?” she asked again.
“No,” he replied.
“I’ll fix you some tea with your medicine. It’ll help.”
“It doesn’t hurt.”
“I know you, Vander. You’re lying.”
He let out a short laugh and draped one arm over his face. “Alright. There are tiny miners chipping away at the inside of my skull.”
“There’s a vivid picture,” she said, poking at the fire again and setting the kettle on the stove. “Do we need to talk more about my magic?”
“I don’t think so.”
“Well, then,” she said, lighting a match and touching it to a lantern on the wall, “you can explain how you know about Raska.”
“You mean the giant bird who brings dead bodies to Marwenna, Queen of Ashkendor, in return for her own elongated life because she was cut off from her homeland and must subsist on the queen’s life-giving magic?”
“Yes.”
“I’ve never heard of her.”
“Vander,” Valenna groaned, slumping into a chair by the stove. She sipped her soup. It was thick and tasted of beef and beer, but her appetite had soured.
“I’m being sullen, aren’t I?” Evander asked.
“A little.”
“And you think it’s because I’m angry at you, don’t you?”
“A little.”
“Gracious, I’m not the one with a right to be angry,” he said, propping up on one elbow. “I assumed you were angry at me. I deserve it.”
“I am angry at you, but that’s beside the point. Why won’t you talk to me?”
He chuckled. “I’m trying to sort through everything, and I can’t think about more than one subject at a time because I’m a man. I wish I could, but I can’t. It’s a failing of the species, I’m afraid.”
Valenna swirled her spoon in the soup. “I know that my magic was a shock to you. And so was my parentage. But I can’t help either of those things, and I’m wondering if … if you …”
He cast her a piercing look. “If I what?”
“Could you forgive me, and perhaps we could try again? Pick up where we left off?”
What was she saying? She couldn’t start over with Evander; she had to find Olivette. But, in that moment, she couldn’t make herself care about anything but him and his stupid, stupid headaches.
Evander's lips parted in an expression of shock. “You want to pick up where we left off? With me?”
“I’m sorry,” Valenna cried, her cheeks flushing. “This isn’t a good time.”
“No, it’s fine.” He stood and paced to the window, then turned to face her. Valenna’s stomach dropped. His mouth was set into a grim line, and she knew he was about to break her heart. Again.
“Could you forgive me?” she asked, her voice raw.
“What’s there to forgive?” he said with an incredulous laugh.
“You haven’t done anything wrong. I’ve never met anyone like you.
I’ll never meet anyone like you. I want …
I wish … Val, it’s just … I have this problem, and I don’t know how .
.. I don’t know if I can … I am not managing this well at all. I’m sorry.”
“You can say no, Vander, it’s alright.”
“No … I mean, not that kind of no. I don’t want to say no. But I think I have to.”
A piercing nausea came over Valenna. He didn’t want her—of course, he didn’t. What right had she to presume he would?
Her head spun, and she felt like a mouse locked in a box with no holes for light or air.
A tapping at the door interrupted them, and Valenna, eager for something to do, got up to answer it, but Evander lunged after her and caught her arm. “I’ll open it. It could be a highwayman.”
“And what are you going to do if it is?” she asked. Evander didn’t even carry a decent dagger. Trained as a warrior from childhood, Valenna always had a knife concealed under her jacket or skirt.
He shrugged. “I’ll think of something.”
Before he could grasp the handle, Valenna darted in front of him and wrenched the door open, but it was not a highwayman. It was the girl Evander had paid to watch Hera.
“I’m sorry to bother you,” she said. “I had some information I thought might help.”
“Yes,” Valenna replied, taking the girl’s arm and directing her to the chair by the stove.
The girl didn’t sit—just hovered, hugging her slight body.
“I wanted to warn you,” she said. “Those woods are dangerous. Our people don’t go into them.”
She addressed Valenna, ignoring Evander, as if he weren’t in the room.
“Why?” Valenna asked.
“I don’t know what they’re called, but I’ve seen terrible creatures there.”
Valenna exchanged an anxious look with Evander. “What kind of creatures?”
“Plenty, but the ones I’ve seen were plants that eat men.
” She jerked her head toward the window and the lightning flashing outside.
“They come out and feast on lightning. One ate my husband. Swallowed him whole. I ran to the village for help, but when we returned, the plant had disappeared, and my husband with it.”
Valenna tensed against a shudder. How was this girl old enough to be married? “I’m so sorry,” she stammered.
The girl shifted from foot to foot, her eyes downcast. “Oh, don’t be. He wasn’t …” she paused. “Don’t be. Just, if you go searching for that dragon, be careful in the woods."
“Thank you.” Valenna wanted to squeeze her hand, but the girl flinched away, and Valenna settled for a simple smile.
The girl started toward the door, then paused and said, “If you do see one of those plants, and if you cut it open and a rather horrible man spills out, please shove him back in, won’t you?
“With pleasure.” Evander winked. “Now, I’m very worried about someone sneaking in here and taking my bag.
” He indicated his single saddlebag, which Valenna knew contained nothing but a novel and, hopefully, a tin of wyvern bone powder.
“We might be gone all night, and I’ll be uneasy if I don’t have someone watching it.
I don’t suppose you could stay here while we’re gone? ”
The girl hesitated. “Didn’t you want me to watch the hydra?”
“I’ll be taking the hydra.”
She huffed a laugh and handed him his coat. “Whatever you like.”
Valenna followed Evander into the corridor, their boots clacking against the wooden floor, and shut the door.
“Are you in the habit of feeding violent husbands to carnivorous plants?” Valenna asked.
“Someone must,” he said with a second wink that threw Valenna off-balance. “If we hurry, we might find the dragon before it travels too far.”
With a twinge of guilt, Valenna stopped at the top of the stairs. “What about Haldir?”
“It seems a risk, doesn’t it? He and I and carnivorous plants? Someone’s bound to get eaten.” He paused, then added, “And it won’t be me.”
As they descended the rickety staircase, Valenna glimpsed Haldir at the counter, his arms around the shoulders of two men in mud-spattered coats, singing a lewd travelers’ song and tossing back pint after pint of cheap spiked cider.
One of the men leered at Valenna over his shoulder, and Evander took her by the arm and guided her to the door.