Page 51 of Blood of Ancients

I blinked at the group surrounding me. My faithful friends and lovers. There were two important people missing: my bloodrender mate, who I vaguely recalled was aboveground on a mission. And . . .

“Where’s Corym?” I asked. I didn’t expect much, because I knew he had trouble leaving the confines of his dwelling these days, being watched by guards all the time.

Yet all the faces sank, eyes darting away.

All except Dagny, who said, “He saved your life, most likely, Rav. The elf is an incredible healer. I learned twice as much about herbs and medicine from him than I have in my acolyte training. He managed to siphon out the poison from your bloodstream.”

I was silent for a moment, frustrated. “I’m grateful,” I said, “but that wasn’t my question, Dag.”

Of course I appreciated what Corym did for me. That was without question. But their faces were dancing around my simple inquiry.

So, Grim told me the story of how I ended up here. How he scooped me up after I got stabbed by Damon, and rushed to the only place he could think to take me. How Corym E’tar followed him out of his “dwelling,” and how he managed to get out of his cell.

Which brought us to the reason for all the long faces.

“He poisoned his watchers to get here,” Grim said. “Using some sort of fungi tincture? I’m not sure. He stayed by your side while you slept, like the rest of us, until the Huscarls came calling.”

“The Huscarls?” My voice was meek.

“A contingent of them led by Hersir Jorthyr. The Warden hauled him away after a tense standoff outside this room, after Ingvus got wind of what Corym had done to his watchers. It happened last night.”

My body flexed with anger. “And you didn’tdoanything?”

Grim reached out a calming hand, put it on my arm. “He asked us not to, love.”

“Asked?” Sven spat. “More like demanded.”

“He didn’t want bloodshed while you were resting,” Arne explained. “He was a bigger man than all of us.”

“Biggerfoolyou mean!” Sven roared, whipping his snarling face over to the iceshaper. He punched a hand into his open palm, which made me wince from the loud clap. “We could have slaughtered those fuckers.”

“And then what?” Grim asked.

“I’m not saying weshould have. I’m saying—”

“It’s not helpful,” Dagny interjected. “Arne is right, and so was Corym. He did what was best.”

“Yes,” Sven shot back, “and now he’s likely getting tortured because of our sudden timidity. We were cowards, Largul.”

My eyes swiveled from one talking head to the next, the headache building, their faces floating between me as I tried to come to grips with what had happened.Corym saved me . . . and sacrificed his freedom,again, for my sake?

Gods, how would I ever repay that man? Why did he keep subjecting himself to pain and suffering for me?

I knew the answer, but it didn’t make the feeling sit anymore comfortably with me. I loved Corym as much as he loved me . . . yet, where would this end?

The elf wasn’t playing by Vikingrune’s rules. It was putting him in danger.Iwas putting him in danger with my reckless actions. I knew the duel had been a bad idea, and I went through with it anyway because I thought the only way to stop Damon’s pestering was to put him on his ass again.

That really fucking worked,I thought sullenly.Now he’ll be more argumentative and boastful than ever. He’ll become more than just a nuisance now that all the cadets probably think he’s my better.

Not to mention he had possibly tried tokillme.

It pissed me off. Here I was, in a familiar place, from a familiar situation I’d put myself in, risking everyone else’s freedom again.

I fell quiet, bowing my head toward my chest.

After a few minutes of soul searching, I managed to identify a nagging feeling I had in my head, weighing me down.I need to start thinking about my friends more before I act in such reckless ways. My decisions can’t just be based on what I want anymore.

If I’m going to truly lead a “rebellion” some day, and try to bring the elves and humans together, I need to think of the ramifications of what I plan to dobeforeI do it.

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