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The fact that I could see certain elves being okay with abandoning a portion of their brethren to be ripped apart by monsters angers me. It would be easier if I could convince myself that they didn’t know. That it was an accident. But knowing what I do about the elves and how they see the world, I imagine they did it and haven’t looked back since. “I am sorry that you were forgotten here.”
“As are we.”
“How are you no longer elves here? Is it the time away from the elven city?”
She shakes her head. “Obsidian blocks magic,” she tells me. “Which is why your Pegasus was unable to fly once he crossed into the barrier.” Salma turns to Fort. “And why your Tenebris Warrior has lost his strength.” Beside me, Fort stiffens. “Magic cannot get out. And it cannot get in either. You are not natural to this realm; therefore, you are not allowed to exist as who you are within the obsidian.”
“He is not Tenebris.” My tone is serious, my expression fierce. If she comes for Fort—
“You denying his truth does not make it a fallacy. Your warrior is of Tenebris blood. I can smell it on him, a lingering spice that only the beasts who hunt our walls at night carry.”
“That does not make him Tenebris. He comes from Navalis. Just as I do.”
At that, she cocks her head to the side. “The ice kingdom. That is your home?”
“Yes. But I thought you would have already known that given the prophecy.”
“Suspected, yes. But the prophecy never specified where the queen would come from. Just that she would rise, the daughter of ice, and wield the Blade that would unite the kingdom.”
“I am the daughter of the King of Navalis. The Tenebris came to my home and slaughtered my entire family. Only my brother and I survived.”
Her gaze widens, face paling even further, which seems an impossibility. “The Navalis Royals have fallen?”
“Yes,” I tell her.
“How long ago?” She jumps to her feet and begins to race down a narrow bridge. Fort and I jump up and follow.
“A few months. I cannot remember the date,” I confess. I should, but for whatever reason, it’s been little more than a blur since Alex was killed.
“A few months,” she mutters as she rushes into a room full of parchment. Rolls of it stand in wooden baskets while others lie open on the floor. In here, the lack of pillows makes me wonder if this isn’t supposed to be a place of comfort but rather of knowledge and focus.
My mother was someone who believed comfort and knowledge couldn’t go hand in hand. She’d make sure I sat up straight on a hard chair rather than seated on a plush one like the high-back she’d sit in.
She believed that if you were too comfortable, it made it difficult to retain knowledge.
“Months,” she repeats as she searches through a pile of parchment.
“What are you looking for?”
She doesn’t answer Fort, and he keeps a hand on my lower back, prepared to rip me from danger should any present itself.
Finally, Salma stills, her hand hovering over something. Slowly, she removes the parchment and sets it flat in front of her, dropping to the floor beside it.
“What is it?” Now, I cross over, determined to discover what it is that has terrified her so. It’s written in a language I cannot understand, so I wait patiently for her to answer though, with each passing second, an ominous weight presses down on me.
“The giants were hidden away in the ice mountains so that the Navalis line could keep them at bay. History was changed to hide the truth, and the giants became little more than legend.” She stares down at the paper. “This is the rest of your prophecy, written by an elf who was among the first to hear of it. She died ten years ago when the monsters invaded our walls the last time.” She shakes her head. “If there is no one of Navalis blood in that kingdom, then it is only a matter of time before the giants rise again.”
“The prophecy says that the Son of Flame will use the Daughter of Ice to awake the giants.”
“Yes,” she agrees. “Only a Navalis royal can weaken the elven ward on their prison. The blood in their veins is a magic all its own.”
“Their blood.” A sickening realization hits me square in the gut, and I nearly double over. “Is that why they killed them? Is that why they slaughtered my family?”
“Their blood drenches the ice of Navalis,” she says sadly. “The process has already begun.”
“Then what’s to stop them from waking the giants now?” Fort asks. “Why does the Son of Flame need Carleah?”
Salma looks to me sadly. “Because Carleah is the first daughter born since the fall. Navalis royal blood is the blow that weakens the ward. Hers will open it.”
