Page 140 of Blood of Ancients

“During the pregnancy, we had a conversation. Liviana told me to protect our baby at all costs, and I promised I would.At the same time, it irked me, because she sounded defeated when she said it. I detected something amiss.” Kelvar’s brows twitched, a knot forming between them. He seemed lost to his memory, recounting it as if he was there again.

It hurt him to tell. That much was obvious by the pained, almost confused expression on his face as he stared up at the ceiling. The way he blinked rapidly, as if fighting back tears.

“I had made another promise to Liviana once before, to never invade her mind. I happily obliged . . . until her cryptic vow. I broke your mother’s trust by using my mindshaping powers to find the source of the danger Liviana thought she was in. What I saw pained my heart, yet also made me furious. At the time, I was a student attending a faraway school to hone my craft, called Shadowblade Academy, so it was a great trek to return to your mother in Iceland.”

He paused, opened his mouth to continue, yet no words came out. Clearing his throat, creases formed along his forehead.

I watched with pity, feeling a rush of emotions—the same ones Ravinica had awoken in me: shame, sadness, anger, guilt.

Granted, I had not been born yet during this. Why would I feel these things, when it was Kelvar’s life and Liviana’s life, and I had no say in it?Perhaps because it involves me, and is my genesis story I’ve never heard before. After all these years, I’m finally discovering the truth . . . and it’s an ugly one.

“. . . When I made it back to your mother, I was too late.” Kelvar closed his eyes. “Your mother was already dead. Had been for days, Magnus. The next part, well . . .” He trailed off, shaking his head. “You don’t need to know the details.”

“Tell me,” I growled through gritted teeth, leaning forward. “I deserve to knoweverything, Kelvar.”

He looked at me then, a sadness in his face that made him look weaker than I’d ever seen. Stuffed under a blanket in a hospital bed, eyebrows arched helplessly, the Whisperer I staredat was not the same threatening, menacing legend of Vikingrune Academy.

Kelvar let out a small sigh. “You had been ripped from her womb. Fell had left her in a bloody state I still have nightmares about every night, ribs pried open, belly cut. A depraved act that brought out the terror and wrath inside me.”

“Gods,” I found myself croaking. “I am . . . sorry.”

He snorted, as if he was disgusted with himself—with his moment of weakness and vulnerability. “The danger I’d found in her mind was the thing that scared and baffled me most. Because she had planned to tell Fell McKordan of our adultery. Hoped to reconcile with him, which I knew would never happen. And so, he killed her and stole you.”

“What became of me?”

“Fell recognized your power, your bloodrending, early on. Perhaps from how you survived that long in Liviana’s dead womb. I don’t know the specifics. But I do know he handed you over to Vikingrune Academy, so they could run their tests. In return, Fell likely received money, accolades, or the reassurance he’d never have to put eyes on you again. You were a reminder of his failure as a husband, after all.”

“Right.” I scoffed, sitting back, shaking my head in disbelief. “An infant as the enemy. An infant as theproblem.Not his violent tendencies or inability to love.”

“Indeed. Deluded men rarely understand the problem is inward—thattheyare the issue and the enemy.” He chuckled, shooting me a sad smile. “If they understood that, there’d be no need for therapists and marriage counselors.”

I returned his bleak smile, even though I felt dead inside. Deader than usual. It was a broad statement, and I knew he’d made it in jest trying to liven up the situation, but therewassome truth to it.

“So I ended up in Vikingrune as a babe,” I said, bringing us back to the story. “What did you do?”

“For five years after Liviana’s death I went into a hallucinatory psychosis. Put simply, my mind broke.”

“That doesn’t sound good.”

“Even worse for a mindshaper. When you hear the thoughts swirling around, talking to you, it’s difficult to ward yourself from them and not drive yourself crazy. After your birth, I could not differentiate truth from fiction—the voices in my head from the real ones outside me.” He paused, frowning. “I also went on a hunting trip, Magnus. Dropped out of the academy. While I was crazed, I spent every waking hour hunting Fell McKordan. Discovering the truth.”

“Howdidyou discover the truth about what happened to me and where he’d sold me?”

“Torture. The thing I’m best at.” Kelvar smiled like it was nothing to admit such a thing. “I turned from a loving man into a despicable fiend.”

“You were a man ingrief, Kelvar.” My voice rose for the first time, throwing my arms out. “You did what most people in mourning have dreamt of, but never had the balls to do!”

He sighed. “I flayed the man’s skin from his body, boy. Castrated him. Scooped his eyes out. Left his tongue in, because I needed his words, but I kept him alive during all of it, formonthsafter. There’s no honor in that.”

Baring my teeth in a wince, I pulled back. “Okay. That’s a little . . . extreme.”

He barked a laugh then gave me another easy shrug. “I got the information I needed from Fell McKordan. He died, I went to Vikingrune Academy, broke you out, and then shadowed your mind. I felt it was in your best interest.”

I waved my hands. “Youshadowedmy mind? What is that?”

“Similar to a fae’s glamour. I blocked your memory of your earliest days with a combination of my mindshaping and shadowweaving abilities. I became close with a few people, such as Hersir Sigmund Calladan, and I joined the ranks of Vikingrune.”

“So Sigmund was not the one running the tests on me, I take it?”

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