Page 80 of Omen of ice
Delkin sets his napkin on the table and leans back. “The Derriga you know is not the Derriga I come from.”
“Which is one of my questions.” I found my father without looking for him. I have a million questions about my mother and about the events that led her to flee into the woods that night with me in her arms. Possibly more than that, though, is the need to understand Delkin himself. His odd eyes and long life. What does that mean for me?
“How is it you’re still here?” I ask him. “How old are you, exactly?”
“My precise age doesn’t matter, but I will tell you that I was born long before Servis.”
Tania chooses that moment to take a bite from her plate, and she nearly chokes on it. “Servis has beendeadfor over a thousand years!”
Delkin winks at her. “Indeed.” He stabs a piece of food with his fork. Some unappetizing purple thing I’m not brave enough to sample. “But let’s talk about something better. Wouldn’t you like to know about Mori?”
Amoriel Icekeeper. Orbik’s sister. Her face is nothing more than an image in a painting that hangs in one of the dining halls at the estate, done long before she had me. She was young. My age, probably. With long raven hair and storm-gray eyes teeming with mischief.
“You said she stayed of her own free will. Why? Why didn’t she go back to her family?”
Delkin’s shoulders go rigid, and his fists clench tight for a moment. “She wanted to. In the first few days, I fully intended to have Benj escort her back home.”
“But something changed?” Tania asks.
“There are Fae among us who choose to come and go. While they are here, they are cared for. Content. On the ground, they need to survive on their own. Doing that sometimes means they resort to less-than-civil means of monetary gain.”
“So, the Fae who kidnapped her were going to hold her for ransom?” It makes sense. The daughter of the only Fae monarch left standing, sister of the next in line to the throne, would fetch a hefty price and make for an excellent bargaining chip.
Delkin’s eyes narrow. “The Fae that kidnapped her were paid to end her life.” He closes his eyes and inhales deeply, holding the breath before blowing out slowly. Like he’s trying to maintain control over his temper. Maybe we have that in common. “I found them as the blade hovered above her neck. I brought her back to our village, saw to her wounds. It wasn’t until I interrogated my men that she decided to stay.”
“Why?” Acid bubbles in my gut. “What could they have said to make her remain here, with you?”
“The assassins were hired by her brother, Orbik.”
The air chills so fast it’s suddenly hard to breathe.
Something about my expression must give me away, because Delkin narrows his eyes and says, “It’s true, boy. He had her removed so he could take the throne from his father.”
“Why? He was next in line to the throne. What did she have to do with it?”
“Valen…” Tania’s voice is low, a shadow hovering on the edge of my consciousness.
“Orbik wasnotnext in line,” Benj says with a scowl. “Mori was to be given the throne. The day she was taken was to be her coronation.”
“Valen,” Tania says again, her tone sharper. I can’t focus on anything other than what Benj and Delkin are saying, though. How is it possible that I’ve lived under the roof of the Fae who ordered my mother killed without knowing? Orbik is cold and cares little about the people, but to murder his own blood? He is lazy and arrogant and greedy, with a very short temper, but ruthless? I never saw that in him.
“Orbik now sits onyourthrone. He killed your mother and then your grandfather.”
Delkin’s words penetrate my haze, but with each syllable, they grow fainter. From the corner of my eye, I see Tania stand. She rounds the table and yanks me from my chair. There’s something wrong with her. She’s pale, and a twinge of discomfort filters through the link we share, but it isn’t enough to break the fury building inside. If anything, it stokes the flames and makes the anger burn hotter.
“You are the true monarch of the Winter Court, Valen,” Delkin says. “You, not Orbik.”
Tania shakes me. Her eyes widen, and she stumbles backward, and it’s the scream that rips from her throat—one that gouges me to the very pit of my soul—that drags me from the haze.
Tania’s body goes rigid, and the tips of her fingers crystalize as her lips turn blue. Her eyes glow, taking on a cerulean hue.
“Everyone back!” Delkin yells. He jumps from his seat as everyone scatters away from the table.
Smoke wafts from her now iced fingers, solidifying and taking the shape of vines made entirely of ice. They coil around her body, wrapping like a snake until she’s engulfed. Then they spasm once before exploding, sending shards of ice in every direction.
Tania collapses, and I lurch forward to catch her before she hits the ground—but I don’t make it in time, because everything goes dark.
27
