Page 117 of Salt in the Seas
Elder Perla’s eyes narrowed, and his wife took a small step back, casting a nervous glance at Aeliana and Nori.
“Perhaps it has less to do with the sprite’s kindness and more to do with a lack of worth they found in you.” The elder’s words came out flat.
Gaeren blinked in surprise, then laughed, making the others chuckle nervously too. “Maybe. They wouldn’t be the first to find me unworthy of something. But they did lead me to the silver fish starbridge, which led me here. So you could say our presence here is guided and blessed by the sprites.”
Aeliana held her breath as the elder considered Gaeren’s words.
“We don’t worship the sprites for their kindness,” he finally said. “We don’t expect kindness. We worship them for their power. Ourexistence comes from that power, and regardless of any… kindness, or lack of, we are grateful to them. The last two sprites on this side of the barrier worked closely with our Seer until they had a disagreement. The Seer foresaw their deaths but promised they would return. We await them.”
Despite Gaeren’s need to escape the dangerous ground of the conversation, he couldn’t help being intrigued. “You await the return of those two sprites? Or any sprites?”
The elder hesitated. “We’re not sure. It could even be their spirits alone, returned in some form we don’t recognize.”
Gaeren focused on the river running in his mind, but Gellen saw through his tactics and reached out to grab his arm. The Sayhleen frowned. “He wants to know if we’d still worship them if they returned as dark spirits. He wonders about when the sprites died—he wants to know if people saw dark spirits rise from them.”
Aeliana inhaled sharply.
“How could you know that?” Elder Perla asked, his face holding more surprise than concern.
Gaeren’s gut twisted, both at this revelation and the precarious position it put him in. Answering this question would be difficult. He shook off Gellen’s hand and asked one of his own instead.
“Are there other dark spirits on Sayhla Island? Do your people call them with blood magic and fuse with them?”
The elder’s face paled and he stepped to the side, placing his wife and son behind him. His voice rose, drawing attention from those nearby. “Blood magic? Of course not. And what do you mean by fusing with a spirit? Is that something Vendarans do?”
Gaeren shook his head. “Only our enemies do that.”
The elder looked momentarily placated. “It sounds…awful. But how did you even know our sprites became dark spirits? Has the same happened to sprites in Vendaras?”
Gaeren glanced at Aeliana, longing for her to say something to get him out of this. What could he say that wouldn’t push this Sayhleen over the edge?
Gellen frowned. “He’s hiding something. He’s blocking me.”
Before Gaeren could guess what they might do, Elder Algaenslapped a hand on Gaeren’s wrist, his face going momentarily blank. All Gaeren’s efforts to block the intrusion fell apart, the river in his mind draining to expose his encounter with the sprite.
Elder Algaen wrenched his hand away, nearly tripping over his wife in his haste to leave Gaeren’s side.
“Murderer,” he hissed. Then his voice rose over the crowd. “They killed a sprite!”
CHAPTER 44
As soon asthe three of them were tossed back in the hut, Aeliana turned on Gaeren, her face a mix of exasperation and rage. “What were you thinking?”
“I tried blocking them.” He shook his head, still baffled over the turn of events. “I kept Gellen out, but Elder Perla was too strong.”
The conversation about the sprites had started as a way to keep thoughts of Nori and her mother’s visions out of his head and, in turn, out of Gellen’s mind. But he’d simply swapped that out for a far more condemning revelation.
“What happened?” Sylmar asked.
“He decided to get into a theological debate with one of the elders by insulting their worship of the sprites,” Aeliana spat out.
“What?” Cyrus’ face paled, making his freckles stand out. “Even I wouldn’t risk that.”
“I want answers about the sprites just as much as you.” Aeliana started pacing in the little space not occupied by the others. “But this wasn’t the time to get them. You should have saved your questions for Orra.”
Gaeren held up his hands in defense. “Wait—that’s not how it went. I wasn’t questioning their beliefs. I was asking them to tell me about their experience with sprites. And only because they snuck into my head and asked me about mine.”
Riveran placed his hands over his face. “That’s even worse,” he moaned.
