Page 237 of Swords of Soul and Shadow
Seven? Holy shocks.
Kase’s father leaned over as well. His mother inspected the pendant with shaking fingers before she pulled her locket out and held it out to the light Saldr provided. Hers was engraved with a woodland scene; trees framed the center of the oblong pendant, but between them was…
A phoenix. Thesamephoenix.
“Isn’t that…” the Stradat Lord Kapitan started, but he trailed off as if embarrassed he’d spoken.
Kase glanced up at him and caught the pain etched on his features a second before he schooled his face back into his typical mask.
His mother rubbed a thumb over the front of her locket before handing it back to Skibs. “That belonged to Ezekiel. He had the pair made the year he left for service. I didn’t know whathappened to it over the years…it saved…” she swallowed thickly. She couldn’t continue.
Skibs replaced the pendant and squeezed it. “Thank you.”
Kase looked back at Jove, but his brother only looked at his boots. What did his mother mean? Saved what? What was she talking about?
Jove didn’t answer. No one explained.
After a few seconds, Jove cleared his throat. “Let’s focus on finding Miss Walker, for the moment. I have this feeling that this isn’t the end of…everything.”
Jove was right. Hallie needed him.
Skibs nodded and closed his eyes, his hand starting to glow once more. He spoke a few different words.
Everyone waited with bated breath.
A soft golden mist floated like smoke from the floor and filled the tunnel. Saldr gasped, and Fely nodded. Skibs said a few other words, his hand glowing brighter, but the mist didn’t change, only undulated in an invisible wind.
Kase ached to reach out and tear through it.
When nothing else happened, Skibs’ hand went dark once more. “Still not right.”
No one else spoke, only watched. But in the quiet, Kase found it impossible to quiet his curiosity any longer.
“Father,” Kase said, standing and turning toward the Stradat Lord Kapitan, “what did you mean when you said Correa killed your brother? Did you mean Ezekiel?”
Jove’s head shot up at that. Harlan merely looked at his wife, who joined Jove at the side of the tunnel. Les didn’t look at him.
“And while we’re at it,” Kase ventured further. Pushing his father was more reckless than any hover stunt he’d ever pulled, but it was something he was quite good at. “I still don’tunderstand why you have a Yalven sword, or why it’s part of the Shackley crest.”
Harlan fiddled with the sleeves of his military jacket, speckled with drying blood. Correa’s blood. He was stalling.
It reminded Kase of when they were down in these tunnels yesterday. He hadn’t wanted to reveal the truth about Ezekiel. This was the same. There was a secret here that wanted to stay buried.
Kase’s mother spoke up without looking at her husband. Staring directly at Kase, she clutched her locket in her hand. “There’s no use hiding it from him. Not now.”
A muscle in Harlan’s jaw twitched. It was still several seconds before he spoke toward the ground. “Roughly fifty years ago, I took the sword from the Cerl commander in Ravenhelm when it was destroyed. Correa was his second-in-command.”
What? Ravenhelm? Wasn’t that the pile of ruins Hallie had explored so she could find the Passage to Myrrai?
Harlan would’ve been a child or even an early teen when the village was destroyed. It didn’t make sense.
“Did Granddad and Nonna have a country estate there?” he asked.
They’d passed several years ago, and Kase only had vague memories of them, but he did remember Nonna always smelled of rose perfume. She also gave the best hugs.
Harlan heaved a heavy sigh. He pulled out his sword and inspected it as if waiting for it to tell its story. “No.”
Kase glanced at Jove. His face was impassive and empty. He looked back at his father. “Then what in the stars are you talking about?”
