“Gliss!” Elowynn’s sharp voice cracks across the cave, but it carries a hint of the panic I first heard in her voice. Her tone softens, but not by much. “Come away from the Blacksmith.”
An unexpected hint of stubbornness passes across Gliss’s face, and her expression reminds me so much of my own sister, Tamra, that my forehead creases.
Still, if she won’t move away from me, I will move away from her.
I take deliberate steps toward the center of the cave, increasing the distance between us. Then I incline my head sharply from her to Elowynn and snarl, “Fuck off.”
Gliss doesn’t hesitate another moment, her footfalls pattering as she races toward the women blocking the way out, pausing beside Elowynn. Despite a clear difference in age, they’re the same height, and very similar in appearance now that they’re standing side by side.
Gliss reaches out to Elowynn, her fingertips brushing her sister’s arm. “Asha wasn’t going to hurt me. I’m sure of it.”
Elowynn’s lips thin again. “Seal off your heart, little sister, and remember the damage that Blacksmiths can do.”
They fall silent then, and my questions only increase as I study the unspoken communication that seems to pass between them.
“Go,” Elowynn whispers. “Quickly now.”
Gliss gives a brief nod before she darts toward the women at the front of the cave, zigzagging between them and disappearing from sight.
“Your sister’s safe,” I say to Elowynn, my voice hard. “Now, either leave me the fuck alone or explain yourself. But if you persist in your desire to grant me ‘amnesty,’ then speak quickly. I have little time left and no wish to spend it listening to your voice.”
Elowynn considers me for a moment. “Your tone indicates that you’re accustomed to having your orders followed. What were you to the humans in theVadlig Odemark? A leader? A queen?”
“The what?”
“The Cursed Wasteland.”
“Is that what you call the Southlands? No, forget I asked.” I wave my hand dismissively. “It’s clear you’re determined to stall until I pass out?—”
“We found your family,” she says, throwing back her shoulders, her purple-black braid slipping from her shoulder.
My heart leaps painfully in my chest and I jolt forward before she can say more. “My family! Where are they?”
“They’re safe and well,” she says. “We were scouting this part of the mountains and found them sheltering in a cave back that way.” She inclines her head in the direction I passed to get here. “They were with a creature who calls himself ‘Thaden Kane.’”
I bristle at the way she calls Thaden a ‘creature.’ To my mind, it’s one step removed from ‘beast.’
“I’ll admit our meeting with your siblings wasn’t exactly amicable,” Elowynn continues. “Blacksmiths have long been the enemy of the fae and we recognized your brother’s and sister’s power immediately.”
Fae.
She mentioned them earlier.
I’m not totally unfamiliar with the fae as a species, but I don’t know much about them.
When I was younger, there were books in the Blacksmith library that mentioned delegates traveling to other kingdoms and forging alliances with them. There were only scraps of information about the kingdoms themselves and the people who live in them. In fact, some books had pages torn out and I wondered if that had been done on Malak’s orders.
The three most important things I know about the fae are that they supposedly live far away, certainly far enough that they shouldn’t be here; their power is related to nature; and they are a cunning and deceptive race, which means they are best avoided.
I can understand why Blacksmiths might be their enemies, particularly given that my power destroyed their weapons and armor.
It can’t make them feel terribly safe around me.
Elowynn is continuing. “Luckily for your siblings, the creature named Thaden Kane stepped between us and them.”
“Man,” I snap. “Thaden Kane is aman, not a creature.”
Her eyebrows rise slightly, but she doesn’t otherwise respond to my anger. “He convinced us that Tamra and Gallium aren’t our enemies. He claimed to have grown up inMyrkur Fjall, which is one of the few human villages not aligned with the human kingdom in the north. He told us that he and your siblings were fleeingVadlig Odemark, and he asked for amnesty.”
