I could take my brothers’ hands. We could sprint toward the ley lineto Nesonias. All I would need is to distract the ley warden long enough for them to escape.
The place on my neck where Bran bit me begins to throb warningly. Slowly, the vampire turns his head, meeting my gaze. His smile is filled with silent threat.
“How do they work, Velle?” Gerith asks.
“The ley lines?” Dragging my gaze away from Bran, I bite my lip. Truthfully, I’m not entirely sure.
“Ley lines are places where aether has settled,” Leon says gruffly from where he’s fallen a few steps behind us, and both boys turn their attention to him. They’re the first words he’s spoken, and he keeps his attention on both the sigilmarked and vampires going about their business, as if he’s expecting to be attacked at any moment. “They form gradually, the way water flowing from a mountain steadily eats into rock and soil, becoming a river. Most of the strongest lines have been harnessed for travel.”
I stare at him. For six years, the few times he has spoken in my presence, his voice has been dripping with either fury or disgust. It’s … disconcerting to hear him speak in a neutral tone.
Evren instantly frowns, opening his mouth. But a tall, dark-haired woman is prowling toward us with the predatory grace of a vampire, her long black gown parting at her feet, the high slits displaying teasing glimpses of pale thighs. She could be anywhere from twenty to two hundred, but the bitterness carved into her face tells me she’s much older than she looks.
“Arvelle, this is Elva. She will be taking your brothers to the healers.”
I attempt a smile, but I’m sure it looks more like a grimace. She merely raises one eyebrow.
How can I possibly trust this woman with my brothers?
Gerith gives her a cool look, and she smiles at him, flashing fang. His sigil flares, and I sigh.
“Gerith.”
His powers haven’t woken yet, but he’s still going to have to learn to control his emotions. Vampires consider glowing sigils to be a threat. As they should.
Elva merely studies Gerith and Evren’s sigils. And then her gaze lands on me. “Three gold sigils in a family from the Thorn. An unusual case.”
I shrug. Our mother was gold marked, which means the twins would have had a 46 percent chance at a gold sigil if I hadn’t been born with mine. No one knows the true rate of sigilmarked inheritance among siblings, but the more children sigilmarked parents have, the less likely the next child will carry the same mark. And the chances of having a voidborn—a sigil-less mundane born to sigilmarked parents—increases.
It’s ironic considering our mother wasn’t attempting to procreate for power. She truly loved the twins’ father—a gold sigilmarked noble who never once visited after she became pregnant. And while she never spoke of mine, her expression had turned tight with longing each time I’d asked about him.
Elva seems to be waiting for an answer. When I don’t respond, she sneers. “And yet your own sigil hasn’t grown at all.”
“I need your word that you will look after my brothers.”
Her eyes narrow. “I give you my word that I will keep them alive.”
I give her a hard stare. “Alive, unharmed, and as happy as they can possibly be without me by their sides.”
She rolls her eyes, and the gesture is strangely human. But she repeats my words, and something unlocks in my chest.
I pull Evren and Gerith a few feet away. “Look after each other,” I order, my throat tight.
They nod, and I open my arms once more. Both of them nestle close and I squeeze them tight, blinking away the sting of tears from my eyes.
I won’t let them see me cry.
“We have to go,” I murmur. Evren’s lip trembles as he pulls away, and Gerith rubs at his eyes.
Only the most powerful vampires and gold-crowned can survive the journey by ley line across large amounts of water. Elva, Gerith, and Evren will only be able to take ley lines to the northern tip of this continent. They’ll take a ship for the remainder of the journey.
Will Ev and Ger get seasick?
I wish I could see the wonder in their faces when they see how big this world is.
I wish I could see it with them.
Suddenly my arms are empty, and Elva is walking away with my brothers. They both look over their shoulders at me, and I force anencouraging smile onto my face. All these years, and nothing has separated us until now.
