Page 122 of Flame and Sparrow

“Right,” I said, softly. “And because sometimes it’s all we have left of that person.”

The moment stretched into a thoughtful silence. I knelt to more closely study the flowers—the scarlet-tinged, crisscrossing patterns on them were fascinating—while he continued to tend to the herd of his created beasts.

“The veilhound…” he began after a few minutes, “that’s the real reason you ended up in the Death Marr’s territory weeks ago, isn’t it? You believed that creature foreshadowed your sister’s death. You wanted to find out the truth about it, and what happened to her.”

I picked one of the flowers and started plucking its petals off, one by one. “She was the only family I had left. My mother is alive, as far as I know, but she left me and my sister alone a long time ago. My father died several years before Savna did.”

“And that elven male I…spokewith in your realm…” The air turned sweltering, hot enough to make the flowers around me start to droop.

“Andrel.”

“Yes. Him.” He turned his attention toward something in the distance, staring silently at it until the space around us cooled once more. “He took you in after your sister’s death, I presume.”

“Yes. Along with Cillian, who was my sister’s best friend. The two of them both live in the mansion that once housed Andrel’s family, along with various others over the years.”

“So when you offered to become a part of my court,” he said after a pause, “was this all so you could come here and find out what happened to your sister? And perhaps your father, too?” His eyes took mine, still gentle as they pleaded for sincerity.

For a brief, weak moment, I considered telling him everything.

My plans, my fury, my fears. All about the knife and the poison and the wars I was carrying. I wanted to come clean, to lay out everything before him even though I still didn’t fully understandwhy.

But all I said was, “Yes.”

“I should have known.” He gave an amused snort. “You didn’t exactly strike me as someone eager to become a divine servant.”

Silence settled between us again, less easy than before. One of the selakir grew suddenly restless, bucking wildly and then bolting toward the distant hills. Several others followed it, until only two remained—the one Dravyn had initially been brushing, and the small one I’d tried to befriend.

“Are you going to cast me out for lying to you?” I asked, quietly. “Or kill me? Or smite me…or whatever it is you gods do when you’ve had enough of an untrustworthy mortal meddling in your business?”

“Smite you?” Dravyn laughed a quiet, humorless laugh. “No, Sparrow. I am not going to smite you. I’m not in the mood today.”

“But maybe you will be tomorrow?”

“We’ll see.”

I tried to return his smile but couldn’t manage it. Hugging my arms around my middle, watching the selakir turning to tiny gold dots in the distance, I said, “So on to the next trial then, I suppose.”

He didn’t reply. I looked over to see that his smile had faded and his eyes had turned distant; I got the impression he was keeping a myriad of thoughts and concerns from me.

I started to ask him about those concerns when the smaller of the remaining selakir interrupted us, abruptly deciding it was interested in me again, nudging its slender head up under my arm and nearly lifting me off my feet. With a startled giggle, I took hold of its head and gently held it at a distance.

“Zell’thas,” Dravyn informed me. “Or just Zell, if you prefer. And he likes to bite, so watch your hands.”

I carefully slid my hands away from his mouth, giving his chest a gentle rub instead. “Hello, Zell.”

“And this is Farak,” he added, stroking the back of the larger beast.

I studied their anatomy more closely, memorizing each powerful line and curve so I could make a proper drawing of them as soon as I returned to my room. “Can you ride them?”

“I can, and I occasionally do. Some are more tame than the others. Farak here is probably the tamest.”

I stepped closer to Farak, craning my neck so I could take in his full body, trying to imagine how sitting upon his back would compare to sitting on a horse. I froze when I heard Dravyn softly chuckling.

“What are you laughing about?”

“You have the look on your face.”

“What look?”

---