Page 30 of Swords and Curses

"I was planning on it. I'm an excellent sulker."

"I can tell. You can't hide from it forever."

"Ithas a name, anditcan't be trusted. Whatever she's told you about why she is here, only twenty percent of it will be the truth."

"She told me to petition you."

"Ha! And what did you say?"

Rosa smiled and took another sip from the flask. "I told her hell no."

"That's my girl."

"She's got information that we can use. She would tell you a lot more than she'll tell me." Rosa hesitated before adding, "She said the Autumn Queen kept her trapped at the bottom of a lake since the day Ryn raided Gwaed Lyn."

"She should've stayed there."

"She said she broke out."

"Broke out or was let out," Eldon added. "Although, if the Autumn Queen's power is weakening, then who knows what's going to come creeping out of their prisons."

"Excellent! Then we agree that we need you," Rosa said, shifting closer and taking his scarred hand. He contemplated removing it, but it was only a moment before he twisted his fingers around hers.Weakness.

"You don't think I would leave you alone with all those posturing men fighting for your attention," he replied, and she squeezed his fingers.

"They aren't trying to get my attention. Just one, and Bal got it." The self-satisfied smirk on her face was pure Wylt.

"I wouldn't be so sure of that, Rhosyn."

"Saul will flirt, but he will flirt with anyone, and Eli helped raise me."

"My father, as Eli, is a tame, almost human, construct," Eldon tried to explain. "When he is Bleddyn, he's as wild and elemental as a lightning storm. He is a different beast altogether. He's unrestrained, older, and more powerful than your mind can comprehend. He's the wild thing in the night."

"Why are you telling me this?"

"Because I'm drunk and uneasy, and you are the glue that holds us all together. You know how to be what we need. You stood up to Bleddyn last night and stopped him from killing Nimue." Eldon shook his head. "You don't understand the pain she caused that day with Ryn. She undid this family. Yet, you made him stop. Only Deryn could do that. You aren't her. I know that. But the Star of Midnight, theSeren Duhimself, harkens to you. He loves you, and he respects you."

"He didn't love me enough to come after me when Ryn took me," Rosa said, her voice bruised.

"No. He only offered to tradeWidow's Furyto get you back."

"What? I didn't… He didn't tell me that." She was frowning as if trying to grasp a memory. "In the courts there was… The queen talked to a mirror."

"He would've used it to contact her directly." Eldon barked a bitter laugh. "If Balthasar hadn't disobeyed and gone after you, I have no doubt Bleddyn would have."

"I didn't realize."

"The love of a powerful creature is a curious thing. Take it from the only person who truly knows. He might not be the easiest person to understand at times, but once he lets you in, there is no getting out. Even when you deserve it least, he will come for you."

"That sounds like experience talking."

"It is," Eldon murmured before drinking from the flask again. "My mind was as shattered as my heart after Nimue. But Bleddyn…he was something else entirely. Deryn is the only woman he has ever loved in his long life. I was angry, but he was ready to burn worlds."

"What happened?"

"To my eternal shame, I left him. I had brought his enemy's daughter into his house, and she'd taken everything from him. That was on me, and I couldn't live with it, the despair, pain, and anger that was etched into every line of Bleddyn's soul. So I ran."

Rosa lifted his arm up and put it around her shoulders. "Tell me about it."

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