Page 51 of A Simple Truth

“Thatisa work of fiction,” Finnleah countered, taking the book back from me. But at my confused glance, she sighed and added, “It’s a book thatclaimsto be an Elvish Dictionary. But whoever wrote it might as well have made up their own language, because this is anything but actual Elvish.”

“And since when are you an expert in Elvish?” I tilted my head, soaking in her delightfulness.

“Since I grew up speaking it,” she nonchalantly answered, putting the book back on the shelf.

“You speak Elvish?” I didn’t hide my doubt as our eyes met and I scanned her face, unsure if she was serious or not.

“I…” She grimaced, lamenting the conversation, but hesitantly explained. “The maid that raised me? Well, she was anelf, and since it was just her and me, I primarily spoke Elvish for most of my childhood.”

“You speak Elvish,” I stated, and my jaw dropped at the realization.

“You play piano,” she countered, as if it was some kind of competition.

“Son of the Emperor, remember?” I refuted back, still flabbergasted.

“Raised by an Elf, remember?” she copied my tone, but her body tensed, her shoulders squared.

“It’s not that…” I sighed, running my hand over my face, calling to Zora and Orest. “She speaks Elvish.” The announcement somehow stopped the lively flow of buzzing conversation, and I could feel Finn shrink behind my back.

“Wait what?!” Zora asked, shocked. Her eyes darted to Finn, and then back to me.

“You read Kaius’s papers...” Orest calmly specified, catching up with my racing thoughts.

“Yes, I read them. I wasn’t going to just blindly hand them off, plus I had to know what they were in case they got destroyed,” Finn replied, defensively.

“No... he means, youcouldread them,” Zora said, standing up from her spot on the large olive couch. “Why didn’t you ever tell me you spoke Elvish?” she asked, her tone and her eyes not hiding a dash of hurt.

“I didn’t think it mattered?” Finnleah uttered, her tone changing from defensive to confused.

“It wouldn’t matter, that is, if any of us could read Elvish,” I explained, motioning Finn toward the hall to get our cloaks.

“It seems our dinner visit will be cut short today,” Orest stated to the De Villiars, apologetically nodding goodbyes, as he got up from the comfortable couch.

“Of course, please keep us posted on your findings.” Lady De Villiar understood, as she wrapped her arm around sleepy Aurelia, cuddled against her shoulder.

“Where are we going?” Finn questioned, while lacing her boots.

“We are going back to the camp,” I replied, grabbing her cloak. The muscle in her jaw strained, but she obliged with the gesture, allowing me to wrap the cloak around her shoulders.

"Why?" she questioned again, her gaze connecting with mine. Lost in the depths of her emerald eyes, my thoughts became hazy, clouded by her beauty but I managed to respond.

“Because you, Finnleah, just became the key to winning this war.”

29

GIDEON

The air in my tent was laced with a certain level of uneasiness. The long, rusty key twisted a few times, unlocking a small safe built into my desk. “Here.” I handed off the blood-stained papers to Finn. “Read,” I commanded. My eyes ignited the lamps with a flicker of fire to give her more light as her face scanned the pages.

“Like I said before, these are coordinates.” She put the papers down, looking straight at me.

“All those pages?” Xentar, in his Creator fashion, was the least frazzled by the news as he lounged back on the couch, observing. Finn nodded.

“The way Elves write…it’s not just by location on the map, but geological location. It describes a few landmarks and distance from those, also pointing out south and east directions,” she explained.

“How peculiar,” Xentar commented.

“It’s also describing a very specific location and how to get there.” Finn handed me the papers back and I took them.

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