Jax slows when we’ve almost returned to the inn, eyes keenly observant, as if she’s looking for something specific. Her gaze fixes on a door to our right, one door back from the corner building positioned diagonally from the inn. A small upside-down triangle isetched into the wooden door, and I would’ve missed it had Jax’s gaze not clung to it.
She withdraws a blade from her thigh and nods at me to do the same. The Starforged Blade sings in my hand, sharp and ready.
Taking a deep, preparatory inhale, Jax steels herself, nods to me, and rushes through the door. She instantly presses into a body and lands an elbow into the attacker's face. I don’t know what happens with her next, because I am accosted by a solid body. I swing my elbows before lashing out with my blade, piercing skin, and the sharp intake of breath and a hushed “fuck” comes next. Seren’s voice cuts through the air, “El, stop! Stop. It’s us!”
The rush of a fight quickly fades before I realize that I’ve nicked Kael, the skin on his side bleeding and sizzling. I look around and find Jax with her blade at Therion’s throat, before seeing Ronyn, Seren and Merrik watching on in this dimly lit storage room that reeks of damp wood and rusting tools.
“Oh my Stars, I’m so sorry,” I gasp, scrambling to reach him. “Kael, I didn’t mean?—”
He catches my wrist. “It’s fine, Duskae. Just a scratch. I’m more impressed than wounded.”
But I see the grimace he tries to hide.
Without dwelling on whatever just happened, I say, “Okay is someone going to explain what in the fucking Stars is going on?” I ask, looking around for an explanation, the air thick with tension.
Seren clears her throat, a book clutched to her chest like a shield. “We’ve been found,” she says quietly. “Marked by The Aegis Covenant.”
“The Aegis what?” I blink, because that wasn’t an explanation at all.
“The Aegis Covenant are a rogue faction of anti-prophetic rebels that want to shield the realms from destruction. They believe that if the Lightborne rises, the world shall fall.” Seren states it without emotion, trying to shield me from the weight of her words.
“They believe I will be the end of the realms,” I murmur quietly. I knew there would be people who were sceptical of the prophecy, so I’m not sure why hearing this stings so much.
“Elyssara, these people are trying to play the role of the gods. They’re nothing but a nuisance,” Merrik adds. “If it’s not this prophecy, it’s something else they’re making a big noise about.”
“Regardless, they’re a threat and they’ve marked us. Their symbol is a weeping eye—it represents the Stars weeping when the balance is tipped—and they’ve smeared it over the inn’s door. It was our safe house, and none of us have left since we arrived. Someone’s been watching us. These people see themselves as vigilantes—protectors of the realms. They may be a big noise, but their blades are still sharp,” Therion chimes in with common sense as usual.
“They’ll be coming and they’ll be out for Elyssara’s blood. We haven’t got long, so it’s time to make a plan,” Kael’s no fuss approach is a balm to my nerves.
“I still have a lot of questions,” I murmur.
“Later. I’ll answer themalllater. But for now, we prepare to fight.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
ELYSSARA
The next houris a balance between a waiting game, and thorough strategy from all angles. I keep one eye on the group huddled in a tight circle around an old crate, running through possible scenarios for the impending fight, and the boy from the inn, who is keeping watch through a crack in the wooden door.
I don’t trust him.I don’t trust any of this.
So many questions are running through my mind about The Aegis Covenant, the triangle symbol, the role of this boy, the weeping eye blood sigil, Kael and his true motives and everything else that has happened since I left the Virellin slums. So many questions, so few answers.
I am so fucking tired of being left in the dark.
I know Kael is keeping secrets, but that knowledge becomes more and more ominous as the hours pass by. I also can’t deny the pull to him. It’s infuriating, almost as if something within me is drawn to him like a magnet, despite the stark awareness in my mind that he can’t be trusted.
Kael’s steady steps penetrate my thoughts and he moves around me to the boy at the door. “Finn, I need you to do what you do best and stay out of sight. Find Torvyn. Tell himit’s time.”
Finn. Torvyn.I store the information away for later.
Questions.
Questions.
Questions.
I hold on to the thought that Kael will answer all of my questions later in the way a child clings to a soft toy. That knowledge is the only thing quelling my urgency... and my magic. I can feel it swelling and dissipating at my fingertips, the lesson with Jax having already paid off in this small way of being able to soothe my magic into submission.
