The Blessed Curse (The Elder Blood Chronicles, #4)

“Only Valor and I are going. I am not taking soldiers with me,” Jala explained in a distracted voice. Her attention was focus ed on the armor buckles rather than her agitated friends.

“Fucking brilliant. You and Valor against eight dragons and a thousand or so Soulreavers. You are quite the tactician, Jala,” Neph growled. The Delvay took two steps to his right and intentionally stopped directly in front of Jala as she moved to gather another piece of armor. “No,” he said levelly as she looked up at him with annoyance.

Zoelyn raised an eyebrow and glanced at the others in the room. Every last one of them had a look of apprehension aside from Wisp who seemed interested and Neph who looked furious.

“What about Legacy? Last time you left the city without him the Nightblades attacked. Surely you don’t plan to take him with you?” Jail spoke up once more with a look of hope on his face.

“I am making other arrangements,” Jala said carefully. Jala turned to look back at Zoelyn and smiled faintly. “For my son as well as Zoey. No one in the city will have to worry about keeping them safe.”

“What kind of arrangements?” Wisp pressed in a concerned voice. The Fae followed Jala’s gaze and her bright green eyes settled on Zoelyn with an intensity that made her skin crawl.

Frowning, Zoelyn shifted away from her stare and looked back to Jala. Wisp had never looked at her like that before and she didn’t like it at all. It wasn’t a friendly gaze; it was predatory. It didn’t look as though Jala noticed. Once again, the High Lady was focused on her armor.

“The kind that involves me.” The soft voice rose from the shadows and Zoelyn’s breath caught at the sound of it. Seth usually appeared as a Raven first, and she hadn’t even known he was in the room. He moved forward, stepping closer to Jala, and pushed her hand away from the armor buckle. With a smirk on his handsome face he quickly fastened it and patted her gently on the cheek. “I will be guarding them both while Jala is gone,” Seth added as he gazed around the room daring anyone to object.

“A Demon? This is your solution? You are going to risk your life as well as Valor’s to help a nation that isn’t even our ally and leave your child and only heir with a demon?” Neph snapped, his eyes flashing with anger.

“Naturally it would be you that objected,” Seth sighed and rolled his eyes. “Have another candlestick handy Jala?” he asked with an amused smile as he moved to stand closer to Zoelyn.

Zoelyn stared up at him with a mixture of dread and excitement as he approached. She still hadn’t fully conquered her fear of him, but it was dwindling quickly. Seth had given her a new lease on life and a purpose, and yet as Neph so clearly pointed out, he was a demon.

“I trust Seth,” Jala began.

“And you trusted Symphony too, remember? Where has that gotten us? The Fionaveir have left everyone to rot,” Neph broke in before she could continue.

“Do not compare Seth with Symphony. He has reason to protect Legacy and you know it!” Jala snarled back with more anger than Zoelyn had ever heard from her before.

“And how do you bloody well know that his intentions are in your best interest and not his own? I, for one, sincerely doubt he is so instantly loyal to his new master. After all, if he was such a great guy, why exactly is he a demon now?” Neph bellowed in response.

“I fail to see how screaming is helping anything here,” Sovann murmured with a sigh as he leaned back in his chair.

“You need to set your priorities in Merro, Jala. Seravae isn’t your ally, Ash is, and he is living in Merro. You cannot risk Legacy and you are whether you realize it or not,” Neph continued.

“I think a dagger might work better than a candlestick,” Seth said quietly with a wink to Zoelyn. Stepping forward he cleared his throat quietly. “Does that mean she should stay out of Delvay as well, Neph?” Seth asked loudly, bringing silence to the room once more. All eyes shifted to him and Seth smiled. Holding out both hands he shrugged in a mockery of apology. “Just curious, because it is the same principle. Delvay never formally acknowledged Merro as an ally. You did. There is of course the same problem with Legacy as well. Surely she can’t take the child to Delvay anymore than she can to Seravae, and leaving him here is simply not an option.”

Neph stared at Seth with fury written on his face, but the logic of Seth’s words left him silent. Zoelyn could see the desire to snarl written all over the Delvay’s face, but the Demon had trapped him. There was no way he could continue to object without sacrificing aid to his own country in the process.

“If I don’t help Seravae right now, the wrong faction will win in their civil war. I need Sirena to lead there. She is Ash’s mother, and with her on the council we would have another vote in our favor,” Jala began in a more rational voice. She inhaled deeply and forced Neph to meet her eyes. “I know I am taking a risk, but if Sirena loses, they will move on Arovan next. I will lose a potential ally as well as Arovan for being too cautious. If Nerathane hadn’t moved, I would have left it alone, but with Dragons involved I have to act,” she finished and dropped into a chair at the table at last. Leaning forward, she covered her face with her hands for a long moment before slowly looking up at Neph again. “It’s Symphony’s place to stop this, but she isn’t doing anything. I have no choice, Neph.”

“I just don’t understand why you always have to be the one doing it,” Neph said quietly as he joined her at the table. His expression was one of pure defeat.

“Because no one else will,” Valor said softly, speaking for the first time since they had gathered in the room. He moved forward to stand behind Jala and the neutral mask he had been wearing faded away showing the sadness he had been hiding. “They are too weak or they just don’t care. Either way, no one is moving. Jala is right, we have to do this.”