Page 139 of Blood of Ancients

“Let’s start with that. You said you’re my father. How? I snuck into Mimir Tomes my initiate year and found my listing in the record books. Fell McKordan was my father. It’s in my surname, for fuck’s sake.”

I didn’t tell Kelvar that Ravinica had also been sneaking into Mimir Tomes with me. That was a delicious secret best kept between the two of us.

Kelvar’s lips thinned. He gazed hard at me, reading my face—and finding nothing, undoubtedly. I wondered if he was gathering the courage to finally speak to me about something that made him uncomfortable, or if he was deciding where to start or what to include.

After a lengthy pause, he spoke slowly.

“Do you remember when I tossed the shadowcloak on you to avoid getting seen by Tomekeeper Dahlia in Fort Woden? You were running around like a madman after you escaped the bloodletting tests.”

“Of course I remember.” I lifted my fist and put my chin on my knuckles as I recalled that heart-pounding escape. “I asked why you had helped me, and you said it was because you’d made a promise.”

“The promise I spoke of I made to your mother.”

My eyes widened, the first signs of surprise.

Kelvar stared off, away from my face and up to the ceiling. A faraway look overcame him, trapping him in some sort of trance or dream. A small smile tugged the corner of his lip. “Liviana Brydeen,” he said dreamily, barely whispering the words. Then, his face became hard and serious when his eyes locked with mine. “The love of my life.”

I felt a story coming on, so I grabbed a stool off to the side and dragged it over, taking a seat. “My mother, Liviana Brydeen, was married to Fell McKordan.”

“Yes, the records would show that.”

“You’re telling me their marriage was a lie?”

“The marriage was not a lie,” he said, lifting his hand from the bed, twisting his wrist vaguely. “It was not love, either.”

Frustration shot through me. “Many people get married for reasons other than love, Kelvar. Even someone like me, who has just discovered love for the first time, knows that.”

“Yes, but the problem is, boy, your mother lovedme. And I her.”

I readjusted my weight on the stool. I wasn’t sure what was more shocking: learning my mother and Kelvar loved each other, or that anyone could love the Whisperer at all.

That had not seemed like an emotion Kelvar could feel. Certainly not when his expertise was torture, skullduggery, and rooting around in people’s minds, stealing their dreams, memories, and thoughts.

He chuckled, then coughed and lay back against his fluffy pillow. “You are surprised anyone could love me.”

“Did you read my thoughts to realize that, or is the expression on my face that obvious?”

He smiled. “I was not always this way.” The smile faded. “In fact, it was your mother whomademe this way.”

When I crossed my arms again, I lifted my legs and propped my boots up on the stool’s legrest under me. “If we keep at thisback-and-forth, Kelvar, it will be dawn by the time your story is finished.”

“Don’t be impatient, Magnus. You think this is easy for me? Telling a secret I’ve not spoken about in over twenty years?”

I inclined my chin, suppressing a sigh, and let him have his moment. Even if I was feeling impatient and aggressive—wanting to deny everything he said—I would allow him that.

I thought,Is it so bad, though? Learning Kelvar is my father? It’s not like Fell McKordan was an upstanding citizen to admire. I never even met the fucker, because he abandoned me before I was born.

At least that had been the going theory. My fragmented memories of my childhood had always muddied that part.

“I loved your mother and she loved me,” Kelvar explained again, “but she was married to Fell. That part is true. He was a violent man, and Liviana quickly learned she had made a mistake in tethering herself to him. So she sought love, affection, and care elsewhere.”

“In your arms.”

Kelvar nodded slightly. He steepled his hands on his chest, staring up at the ceiling. “In time, our affair became riskier, as it does when you love someone as fiercely as we did. And then she got pregnant.”

With me, I thought, wondering if that was the end of the story.

I knew it wouldn’t be. Otherwise, why would Kelvar have kept it a secret my entire life? Many babies were born out of wedlock, from unscrupulous behavior, and this hardly even fit that. If Fell McKordan truly had been abusive and violent, then I did not blame my mother at all for finding solace in the arms of another man.

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