Page 48 of Across the Sapphire Sea
Elias did.
Not because Valeri had told him to, but because he was so stunned by the harsh words. By Valeri’s glare. By his actions. Valeri had never spoken down to him like this before. They didn’t fight. What was happening?
“I am being realistic,” said Valeri amid Elias’s shocked silence. “You slept with women before me. Do you miss it? Do you want a woman? Because letting her that close was dangerous, Elias. You nearly lost control of the bloodlust.”
Was that what Valeri was angry about? Nearly blowing their cover? Elias sensed the triggered bloodlust was the smaller infraction and what really had Valeri hot was seeing Elias with Jemma in a moment of happiness.
Elias took Valeri’s wrist and stopped them walking. “I don’t want a woman, Valeri. I don’t want anyone else. I have you. I love you.”
Valeri searched Elias’s face and must have seen the truth there. His fury began to visibly melt. He took Elias’s hand. “Let’s go home.”
Hand in hand, they continued toward their rooms. Their pace slowed to normal from the frantic, angry stride Valeri had set from the tavern.
“Did your meeting go well?” asked Elias, hoping for a change of subject, anything to ease the new tension between them.
“No,” snapped Valeri. “It did not.”
Perhaps that accounted for his ill temper. “I’m sorry to hear that. I’m sure you’ll have more success next time.” He knew better than to pick for details. Valeri would tell him when he was ready. Or he wouldn’t. But questions might only aggravate him further.
“Rovaniemi is a dead end,” Valeri huffed. “There will be no next time.”
Good.Perhaps we can move on from this fruitless search for a court of the ancients. He suspected the rumors were only myth, but Valeri couldn’t let the mystery go. Elias wished he knew what drove him, but Valeri didn’t like to talk about it.
“We must leave for Kuusamo and speak with the Breodun nomads there. It’s said they harbor a keeper of records who could aid in my search.”
“Leave Rovaniemi?” asked Elias. He’d grown accustomed to the villages and people in the year since they’d arrived. “But I like it here.”
“You will like Kuusamo too.”
Elias hoped so. “Will you tell me more about what you’re looking for? Perhaps I could help.”
“It’s dangerous, my sweet, and I don’t need your help.”
Elias didn’t want to start another argument so soon after their first, but he couldn’t help but add, “Everyone needs help sometimes, Valeri. Even you.”
* * *
Elias, Present, 1432 Common Era
The journey from Kemi took them four days, following east along the river to reach the villages of Rovaniemi. The town hadn’t changed much since Elias last saw it. Situated between hillsides just an hour’s walk from the Arctic Circle, their old set of rooms would serve as home base for the remainder of the mission.
Elias walked the familiar streets, eager to return to the underground house they’d shared when Valeri first brought them there, only this time, Laurence, Remy, Aella, and Ash would be joining them. Perhaps he’d have a chance to show them around. Elias hoped the others would like the local tavern as much as he did, though Valeri would no doubt disapprove of the distraction.
The court of the ancients. Everything had always centered on them. And the mysterious court had been nearby all along.
Valeri had been denied entry once already, but he thought having a delegation sent by The Dozen would gain him entrance. Ash was a known diplomat, and Valeri assumed the ancients would speak with him. Elias wasn’t so sure. He remembered earlier attempts and failures, but with Mahu’s life on the line, he could only hope they’d be successful.
“Here we are,” said Valeri, leading them to their dwelling beneath the leather shop just before dawn.
Everyone filed in. The rooms had been kept clean, aired, and free from dust by a service Valeri hired with his seemingly endless supply of funds. The colors were as Elias remembered. Bright jewel tones, textured fabric, scented candles. He’d learned this was the kind of luxury Valeri always curated for himself if given enough time.
“This is lovely,” said Remy. “Did you live here long?”
“No.” Valeri set his bag on the hearth and gestured for the others to do so as well. “Off and on for nearly a decade.”
Elias thought that was a long time, but he was the youngest of the group and still measured his life in months and years rather than decades and centuries.
These rooms had once seemed spacious for two people, and Elias supposed they were compared to the tiny compartments on the ship, but with a group of six the den felt no bigger than a mouse hole.
