The Elder Blood Chronicles Book 2 Blood Honor and Dreams (31 page)

With a faint smile the knight pushed off the
wall and turned for Jala to see the Bendazzi embroidered on the
back, set perfectly center of the dark purple wool. Silver words
surrounded the sigil and Jala frowned trying to read them.

“I don’t know that language,” she admitted,
after a long minute and sighed. “It’s beautiful though,” she added
tracing a finger down the silver silk border on the cloak. There
were words embroidered there, too, but she was unable to read what
they said, either.

Valor turned to regard her with a raised
eyebrow and chuckled lightly. “Truly you don’t know the language?”
he asked, sounding a bit bewildered.

Jala frowned and shook her head slightly.
“No, should I?” she asked.

“It’s Merro, or at least the formal Merro.
Court speak, if you will,” Valor replied with a shrug. “All houses
have a motto, though most outside of the actual house typically
don’t know it. House Hai’dia for example is

By the wind at my call and the clouds that
darken thy sky,

you will know me and give way to the Storm
that is my will
.”

Overly dramatic if you ask me, but then
Father never asked me,” he explained with a smile.

“So what does that say?” Jala asked, her
curiosity peaked.

“Neph is the one that wrote it,” Wisp
offered, grinning at Neph who shifted in his chair with a frown. “I
think it’s very poetic. Valor, if you would.”

Valor grinned and cleared his throat.

“
Through darkness I have walked,

through pain I have lived,

through courage I will thrive
.”

With a slight bow to Wisp, Valor grinned at
Neph. “Who would have ever guessed our sour Delvayon could be so
eloquent.”

“I know where you sleep at night, Valor, and
most nights you aren’t sober enough to evade me,” Neph warned.

Swallowing, Valor nodded slightly and looked
back to Jala. “Should you ever happen to find a frog in my room, or
a toad, perhaps, please check to ensure it isn’t actually me before
casting it out of the hall,” he implored quietly.

“Neph wouldn’t turn you into a toad. Ashes
perhaps, but not a toad,” Jala replied with a grin. Turning to
regard Neph, she looked him over from his dark purple tunic to the
matching pants with silver trim. “It really doesn’t look bad on
you, Neph. I’m sorry you have such an aversion to purple. Truly I
don’t think you can blame this on me though. While I favor the
colors, I was in jail when this was decided,” she pointed out, her
grin widening.

“Notice your adoring husband is not adorned
in your colors?” Neph asked.

“Between being impaled on a sword and being
worried sick about my imprisoned wife, I’m afraid I just didn’t
find the time to drop by the tailors,” Finn replied dryly.

“Well, what do you think of everything? Your
own hall, house colors, the orphanage is done. We are well on the
way to putting House Merrodin back on track,” Wisp said, tugging
Jala over to the couch.

Grinning, Jala dropped back onto the couch
and shook her head slightly. “I’m amazed, shocked, and eternally
grateful. Thank you all so much,” she answered and gave the Fae a
light hug. “This time yesterday, I was worried about being executed
and then when I’m released I see everything you have done in my
absence. It’s as if you never doubted I would be released.”

“We didn’t doubt you would be released,” Jail
replied with a chuckle.

“The only true doubt was who would be
releasing you,” Neph added with a smirk. “I could have throttled
Kadan when he showed up this morning. Had I been sitting on the
council the day would have been much less stressful. Did he at
least cast a vote for you?”

“It didn’t actually come to a formal vote,
but I respect your brother for the way he conducted himself,” Jala
replied carefully, guessing this was a touchy subject for Neph.

“Well he usually is very proper,” Neph
muttered, his tone suggesting it was not a trait he admired in his
brother.

“I expect things will get worse from here,”
Jail warned her and glanced at the others in the room.

“Maybe not entirely,” Finn said with a smirk.
“I heard an interesting bit of gossip while I was waiting outside
the Halls for Jala. It seems Cassia has been called home by her
brother. I’m not sure how long she will actually stay there, but
for now, at least, we will have one less howling for blood.”

“Cassia is out of the city? Truly?” Jala
asked looking over to Finn who was pouring drinks.

“Truly, so now all we have to worry about are
her lackeys. That shouldn’t be too bad though, lackeys are
generally easy to bully,” Finn replied with a shrug and moved to
join her on the couch.

Once seated, he handed her a glass and she
stared down in shock at its contents. “Tea?” she asked bewildered.
It was the first time since she had met Finn that he had ever given
her anything non-alcoholic.

“It was that or Firewater, unless, of course,
you would prefer some of Valor’s wine. The brandy is in our room
and still packed as of yet, I’m afraid,” he explained with a
shrug.

Valor held his wineglass out in offering and
she hastily shook her head. “No, thank you, Valor. I know how
fortified your wine is. I would likely get drunk from the fumes
from it. I was just surprised. Actually I prefer tea to wine most
times,” she said with a faint smile.

“So what is next on the agenda?” Wisp asked,
shifting her position on the couch to more of a perch in the
corner.

“Proper housing in our district, I think. If
we start near the gate ward we can work inward and should make
fairly quick progress. Most of the buildings near the gate ward are
fairly solid and only need repairs to be livable. It’s the ones
closer to the docks that will have to be rebuilt entirely,” Jala
said after a moment’s consideration.

“We are going to have a bit of a shift in
training as well,” Neph began. Jala turned to look at him with a
raised eyebrow and he shrugged. “It’s nothing you will object to
I’m sure. From now on, three mornings a week you will be training
with Rose on healing in the morning rather than with Sovann. And
you and I will switch our training to the arena rather than in the
garden. I think you are ready to actually hurl some spells rather
than talking about hurling spells.”

“Really?” Jala asked, her excitement bleeding
over into her voice.

“Are you that happy about learning more
healing or the possibility of hurling spells at me?” Neph asked
with a raised eyebrow.

“Do you really have to ask her that, Neph?
Everyone gets happy at the prospect of hurting you,” Valor replied
with a grin.

“I know I do,” Finn agreed with a shrug.

“The thought has never put me in a bad mood,”
Jail added smiling at Neph.

“It’s the possibility of how much you can
teach me and the healing classes, Neph. I have absolutely no desire
to hurt you,” Jala assured him.

“Hmph! She doesn’t know him well enough yet,”
Jail surmised with a grin.

“So the first free day we start on the
housing. Valor, have you received the supplies from you brother
yet?” Wisp asked, steering the topic away from teasing the already
grumpy mage.

“They will be in storage by the free day, as
I understand they are in the process of being shipped now,” Valor
replied and dropped lazily into a chair. “You do realize, of
course, while I am extremely skilled in a multitude of areas,
carpentry is not one of them, right?” he asked Jala.

“I know how to repair leaks on a ship. That’s
about the extent of my woodworking skills,” Finn said with a
smirk.

“I don’t think any of us truly knows how to
repair these buildings, but we can surely find skilled laborers to
do it,” Wisp pointed out, her gaze flicking to Jala.

“That’s what I was counting on. I’m hoping I
can hire a few supervisors from other districts and use Merro’s
people for general labor,” Jala said.

“It’s worth a shot. If not we will come up
with another plan,” Jail concluded.

“One last thing before we retire,” Finn said
quietly and looked around the room. “Is Emily here?” he asked after
a minute.

“She is. My skin has been crawling since Jala
arrived in the room. It’s only that way when the Blight child is
with her,” Neph answered.

“Marrow has suggested an idea to me but it
needs Emily’s consent and Jala’s approval. I for one believe it is
a very good idea,” Finn explained.

Frowning, Jala looked down to Marrow and then
back to Finn. From the expressions she saw on the others in the
room, they had no more idea what Finn was talking about than she
did. “What idea?”

“He suggested that while we are sleeping,
Emily and he could hunt the Blights infesting the city. He thinks
they can at least thin down the numbers and possibly locate the
hive,” Finn explained.

“But won’t they be horribly outnumbered?”
Wisp objected, a frown creasing her delicate face.

“We won’t attack if we are outnumbered. It’s
a good plan. I like it,” Emily said speaking up at last.

“I will never adjust to that,” Valor mumbled,
taking a long pull off his wine. “When I was a child the saying was
A good child should be seen and not heard
. This whole
heard and not seen
is unnerving.”

Finn grinned at him and shrugged. “Try
adjusting to a three-hundred-pound man-eating cat sleeping by the
wall and the creepy invisible man-eating child in the same room
while you are sleeping.”

“No, couldn’t do it. I’d be volunteering for
couch time,” Valor said shaking his head.

“She isn’t creepy and Marrow isn’t
threatening,” Jala objected with a shake of her head. “I suppose
the plan is a good one but I’ll worry myself sick about them each
night,” she added after a long moment.

“Then we will start tonight,” Emily announced
with clear enthusiasm.

“Tonight?” Jala asked, her tone making it
clear that she objected.

“Tonight, you will be safe enough with him, I
suppose. You have the others here as well if he fails to protect
you, and we will be back by morning, so don’t worry,” Emily
replied, the excitement in her tone growing.

“I won’t fail to protect her,” Finn said, his
tone defensive. Shaking his head he took another sip of his
Firewater. “Brat,” he added in a quieter voice.

“That’s not going to help her realize you are
a friend Finn,” Jala said with a sigh. “Fine. Tonight then, but
stick close to Marrow and watch over each other, I don’t like this
starting so soon but I’m too tired to fight you over it.”

We will be fine, with her guiding my
senses we work quite well together
, Marrow assured her and
rubbed his massive head against her knee.

“If you say so,” she said wearily. Rising
slowly, she stretched and looked down at Finn. “It has been a very
long very horrible day, I need sleep,” she told him, barely
suppressing a yawn.

“I echo your sentiments,” he agreed, rising
as well. Tilting his glass back he polished off the last of his
drink and took both their glasses back to the cabinet. “Good night,
all,” he said and waved to the room.

“Am I meeting Sovann in the morning, or
Rose?” Jala asked Neph as she headed for the door.

“Sovann. He will explain the new schedule to
you tomorrow. Sleep well,” Neph replied.

“Thank you,” she replied with a yawn and
waved to the room.
Be careful please, I don’t want to lose
either one of you
, she added mentally to Emily and Marrow.

I promise to be just as careful as you
are
, Marrow replied back with sarcasm thick in his voice.

Morcath

It seemed the more Shade tried to avoid the
subject, the more the tavern gossip revolved around it. The news
had arrived three days after the trial and since then the town had
been buzzing about the High Lady Merrodin. No matter what bar he
tried to drink in, it was all they were talking about.

Waving a hand at a passing waitress he shook
his empty glass. “Can I get another here, please,” he asked, hoping
his voice didn’t sound as wretched as he felt. She gave him a curt
nod and headed toward the bar and Shade instantly regretted only
asking for a glass rather than the entire bottle.

“The entire lord’s council agreed she is,
never heard of the likes. Thought the Veirasha killed them all
off,” a man’s voice came loudly from a nearby table and Shade
rubbed his face in response. Two days after the first of the news
had arrived, and still they had nothing better to talk about. He
had no doubts it was the truth. He had known there was something
special about her when he first met her.

He hadn’t spoken with Charm about it yet. He
had a strong suspicion the rogue had known the entire time. So he
was avoiding him completely until he sorted out if he was angry or
simply depressed. Had he known when she was in his hall, things
could have been so much different now. There may have never been
that disaster with Cassia. He might have actually been betrothed to
someone he cared about. He fought back a snort of amusement at the
thought, as if his father would have ever consented to letting him
choose his own match. His father or mother … By the aspects, he
wished that waitress would hurry up with his drink.

“I brought you the bottle, hun, you look like
you need it.” Shade looked up as the tired looking woman thumped
the bottle down next to his empty glass.

“I was hoping you would be back quick. Is it
that obvious that I was in dire need?” he asked, his voice only
slurring a bit.

“Just a tad, hun. No worries though. You
wouldn’t be in a bar if you didn’t need a drink.” She smiled
faintly at her quip and sauntered off in the direction of another
table.

“True enough,” Shade muttered and poured
himself another glass.