“Good.” I keep my thoughts and words focused on Ilryth.
“Now, to answer what I believe you wanted to ask… Ventris blames me for the rocky start to his leadership as the Duke of Faith, and for the circumstances of his father’s death.” Ilryth wastes no time and doesn’t mince words.
“What do you mean? How so?”
“His father gave up much to learn of the offering fifty years ago. My mother worked closely with him on helping to decipher the words of Lord Krokan and their meanings,” Ilryth says. No wonder he had his own theories about the words Duke Renfal heard from Krokan. “After the first eight offerings had failed, my mother offered herself as the ninth. Duke Renfal could try communing one more time as they were working together, trying to learn all they could about the anointing. Connecting with the old god again was too much and he perished.”
“So Ventris blames your family for his father’s death?” I reason.
“In part. But Duke Renfal was already deteriorating from his earlier communing with the god. That might have been the moment of his undoing, but he was well along the path,” Ilryth says with genuine sympathy.
“Grief is rarely logical,” I say softly, thinking of a young Ventris, not quite understanding why his father’s body and mind were so weak.
“Then I didn’t ascend to the mantle of Duke, as I was supposed to, which caused my mother’s anointing to be delayed.” Ilryth’s tone turns solemn and sad. “So Ventris not only sees my family as the cause of his father’s death, but me the reason behind that death lacking purpose. I held my mother back, and for that reason both she and Duke Renfal died for nothing.”
“That’s not true,” I say softly.
Ilryth just shrugs and moves on with his tale. “That night, I made my vow no other siren would die. I chose you—marked you as the next offering without consulting the chorus or the Duchy of Faith. It was a slight to Ventris right at the start of his rule. He looked like he no longer had the control his father wielded with such grace. Now, he resents me and my duchy.”
“That will change when I quell Lord Krokan’s rage,” I say firmly.
“I hope so.” The words are faint, almost sad.
“Let’s carry on then.” I swim toward the entrance of the room with even more purpose fueling me. I cannot let Ilryth down. I will not.
CHAPTER28
Ventris is alreadyin my chambers, and barely looks our way as we arrive.
“Thank you for bringing the offering, Ilryth. You may go.”
I glance between Ilryth and Ventris. Ventris’s tone is casual enough, but he’s already taken Ilryth from me once. He’s stricter about the amorphous rules surrounding the offering. I’ve little doubt that, if Ventris wanted, he could find a way to keep me from Ilryth entirely for the next eight weeks. That shouldn’t matter to me, but it does, and I’m too tired to fight it.
I don’t want to be alone.
My attention lands on Ilryth. I bite back words and force myself to look away. I can’t speak now or I’d ask Ilryth to do something I know he shouldn’t.
Somehow, Ilryth seems to read my mind. Even more incredibly…he acts on it.
“Actually, Ventris,youmay go.”
“I beg your pardon?” Ventris turns from the Abyss, wearing a shocked expression.
“I will continue overseeing the anointing for the offering,” Ilryth declares. His boldness in the face of Ventris’s authority has a depth of meaning I wouldn’t have picked up on had I not just learned of their shared history.
“The Duke of Faith has always overseen the anointing after the halfway point,” Ventris says coolly.
“You’re right,” he agrees with almost dangerous ease. “But this is Victoria’s and my duet. We are the ones to determine how it is best sung.”
“The chorus—”
“Made it clear that they trust my judgment when it comes to the offering, however unorthodox it might be.” Ilryth drifts forward. His powerful aura makes him feel taller. He seems to loom over the younger man, making Ventris look like little more than an insecure child. “I was the one to first teach her the hymns of the old gods. I will oversee her anointing until the very end. It will take Lord Krokan himself to take me from her side, so there is little you can do.”
A flush rises up my chest and hits my cheeks. I try to fight it but my body has a mind of its own. I know Ilryth shouldn’t be doing this…but seeing him stand up for me in this way has my insides knotting with a sensation that borders on the unbearable.
Ventris’s eyes dart between us. They narrow slightly before returning to Ilryth. “It is incredibly inappropriate, Your Grace, for the offering to have only one person anointing her. The process is about removing the bonds with this mortal plane, not tying her to it.”
“I would never do anything that would tie her to this plane,” Ilryth says defensively, perhaps a bit too much so.
