Page 147 of Blood of Ancients

It baffled me that the Dokkalfar, humans like Frida . . . everyone wanted this thing, because of the power it supposedly held. The ability to wield it as a weapon.

“If this thing is so grand,” I said, pointing toward the glass, “why is it stuffed in a tiny side-room like this? Shouldn’t it be given, uh, the respect it deserves?”

Elayina walked up alongside me. “Should we broadcast its whereabouts and importance in the largest, grandest hall available, with thirty guards watching over it at all times? That would not alert suspicion or ask for trouble, now would it?”

Her last sentence dripped with sarcasm, and had me nodding along with a cringe.Playing down its importance. I get it.

A question popped to the front of my mental list, out of nowhere. “Do you know how much elvish blood is inside me, Elayina? For my ears to be half-tapered like they are? I feel my elven heritage must be more recent than, say, a distant ancestor like Solzena, for me to keep these ears and this hair.”

With a sharp smile, she shook her head. “It doesn’t work that way, child. I understand what you are trying to do. You are trying to solve the mystery of your lineage by reason of deduction, and wondering if your father is an elf.”

I shrugged. “Is that so wrong?”

“Nay, but you will bury yourself in circles doing that. There is a reason I have brought you here. Not everyone gets to evenseethe Runesphere, as you well know. I have brought you here for the same reason you are pondering: to gauge my theory of your inheritance.”

I scratched my head, running a hand through my hair nervously. I abruptly felt overwhelmingly anxious, because this “history lesson” had become more than just a simple talk.

“What . . . must I do?” I asked.

Lady Elayina strode forward to the glass. At the same time, I took two big steps back, putting it ten feet from me.

The ancient seer wrote a complex spell in the air around the box, surrounding the air with motes of ancient script that faded within seconds. When she had completed her circle of protective magic around the dais, she lifted her hand and the glass box magically floated into the air about three feet.

I went taut at the sight of the uncovered Runesphere. The object many, many people would kill to be so close to, practically within arm’s reach.

Without the protective glass around it, the stone began to shimmer. It was dim at first, hardly recognizable. Within seconds of being revealed to the open air, the gray rock turned to silver, still glittering brighter as the moments passed, until I had to squint to see it.

I shielded a hand in front of my face. “E-Elayina?”

“All you must do, child, is reach for the stone.”

I shook my head. “It’s glowing like it’s about to explode!”

Behind, at the end of the twenty-foot corridor, I heard Corym’s voice call out, “Lunis’ai? Is everything all right?”

He could surely see the reflection of the illumination permeating the room, and I heard footsteps sounding down the hall, headed our way.

Elayina frowned. “The glass will lower once your mates step into this room.”

I had to make a decision. I wasn’t going to tell them to stand back, because I knew they wouldn’t do it—not when they thought I was in danger.

My mind spun, a thousand things running through me at once. Intense need to solve this mystery, if such a thing could be done. Greed, somewhere in the deepest regions of my mind, wishing for the Runesphere to be mine. Anxiety over what might happen to me if I touched it. Trepidation and hesitance for the same reasons. Excitement.

That tangle of emotions began to swirl with other, more solid feelings I recognized: fear, happiness, sadness, pain. Stepping stones of a life well-lived.

Yet I had no idea where these big feelings came from. Staring at the bright stone, fragments of pictures and scenes played in my head I couldn’t understand. Nothing made sense anymore.

“Ravinica!” the seer shouted into the sunlight at me. “You mustmake a decision!”

Elayina’s voice ripped the timidity from my flesh.

Soaring confidence, bordering on arrogance, took its place. My heart lodged in my throat and I strode forward with purpose, as the footfalls of my lovers pounded the hallway behind me, getting louder.

I drew closer to the Runesphere—ten, seven, five feet away. I put my hand out, fingers trembling—

Reached out with a sound of despair and sweltering heat passing through my lips, almost like a moan of regret and acceptance.

Not able to handle the pressure, the intense aura of this magical relic enveloping me, I screwed my eyes shut.

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