Page 135 of The Ballad of a Bard

“I heard them from my room. They were talking about something I couldn’t quite hear but I knew they weren’t from any of the guards.” He stood on his bare toes, leaning forward and she had the motherly instinct to pull him back by the linen collar before he fell in.

Connor appeared to be having the same struggle.

Crimson was curious enough to want to be privy to the battle inside his brain. If he wasn’t sure which role to fill since even if he claimed Cobalt as his son in all the ways that mattered, he hadn’t been the one to raise him. And yet, she was his daughter inevery way,but had taken on the role of parent in his absence.

Cobalt gestured to the black one with diamonds along its body that was nearly two feet long. “This one likes to be called Ranjiet. Altivar named him something else but that’s what he prefers so that’s what I’m going to call them. And that one there is Safia.” He motioned to the striped one with a yellow underbellythat wrapped in on itself. “Then the last one is Giru.” He pointed to the blue one so dark it was almost onyx.

She was flabbergasted as her brother explained, enough so that she didn’t question how he’d gotten up here without either Thalias or Damien hot on his heels. She’d grown up with him enough to know that he could be as slippery as an eel and as tricky as a devil when he wanted something. If he didn’t use it to get out of things like this, she might have been impressed with it as a skill.

“And they talk to you?” West asked, kneeling beside him on one knee as the other sat flush with the floor. “They told you which one was his talisman?”

Her brother nodded quickly. “They told me which it was and how to use it. They said that no one had ever talked to them before and that they were glad of the conversation. I heard you talking about the bones and so did they, so they told me because I responded to them.” Cobalt bent down, peering inward until he found what he was looking for.

And before anyone could stop him, before they could even process what he was doing, he bravely craned his arm over the glass wall and stuck his hand into the pile of serpents.

Sixty Six

The snakes curled around his thin wrist but did nothing to harm him as he searched for the bone. Their scales slank along his forearm as they winded in and out of his fingers, their forked tongues darting out as they made a hissing noise. Cobalt giggled, as if it tickled and fumbled past their long bodies. He reached for a small pile in the corner of the tank, touching a few bones. There was no flash of fangs, not even the whip of a tail.

“Almost got it,” He muttered and stood even higher on his toes, to the point where Crimson winced at how uncomfortable it looked.

West helped him up, allowing him to use his knee like a stool. Cobalt was able to fold over the lip of the cage easily enough that he grabbed the item within one swipe. He pushed off the tank and hopped down without any assistance, proudly showing off the clean bone in his hand like it was a tooth that had come loose from his own mouth. It was longer than most of the other ones, whiter too. There were still specks of dust along it, stained from aeons.

Cobalt was about to say something but then turned his attention towards the largest of the snakes as it rose up, propping its neck on the glass wall. He murmured a few things back to it, as if it were completely normal to take to snakes and then glanced down at the bone in his hand.

“Okay, I’ve got it. Thanks, Ranjiet.” He grinned and took the bone between two hands, snapping it quickly and calling out Altivar’s name.

Crimson prayed that it was the right thing to do. The serpents had no reason to lie, but it wasn’t very well like she could speak to them. West returned to his full height as a wasp buzzed through the air on fast wings. He backed up a couple of steps, urging Cobalt to do the same. He listened, standing in front of him and Crimson.

“Not in your creature form.” The boy commanded with a disappointing click of his tongue that she’d never heard from him before. “Yourhumanform.”

A bolt of coal light burst from the insect, causing them all to look away as Altivar transformed back into his mortal shell. He scowled as he found all their faces, scanning for which of them had summoned him. Surprise plastered his expression when Cobalt held out the snapped talisman.

“Yousummoned me?” He halfway bent to take a better look at him, his chocolate hair sliding over his shoulder. It wasn’t bound in a braid or tail, loose and flowing to his lower shoulders. Even his clothes were more plain that Crimson had ever seen him wear, as if he’d planned to run away and start anew.

“I did.” Cobalt stated, very proudly and very matter of factly. “And you have to listen to mebecauseof it.”

The doors to Altivar’s rooms had been left open for anyone to wander in, and a couple guards had in fact done so. A crowd had begun to form, with a few advisors, some maids and others.Crimson glanced at them all, not caring enough about their presence. They weren’t disturbing anyone and they had a right to know what was happening since the fate of the Empire was at stake.

“What do you want, little child?” He purred, flicking a stray piece of Cobalt’s hair back. His eyes narrowed as he took in his features.

Connor protectively inched closer.

So did West.

Brother or adoptive son, West cared about Cobalt. And it meant the world to her that he’d taken both of them under his wing, under a snap decision, without so much as knowing them first.

Her brother smiled up, as if Altivar hadn’t killed his mother, tried to accuse Crimson for it, attempted to get rid of West and slaughter Connor for his heart.

“I want you to tell them all the truth.” He said.

Altivar looked at the folk that amassed by the entrance and blanched to the point where his golden shade turned nearly milk white. “About what?”

Spoiled milk, to her delight.

Cobalt turned to her, silently asking for the next step. She cleared her throat. “About whoreallykilled the Empress.”

He turned even whiter. “You can’t make me do that.”

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