Page 139 of Frozen Hearts and Death Magic

He’d given a lot of thought to what he was going to say. His plan was to say that the staff had been destroyed and that the spell hadn’t gone as planned. If he were vague enough, they wouldn’t notice the dissimulation contained in his words. That was what Ancients did, they played with words to avoid having to expose themselves. Yes, they only said the truth, but the truth was like a sphere, and it was all about showing the right angle to make it look the way you wanted.

He found his father eating in the meadow, talking to Forest and Anelise.

River approached slowly, but hid behind a tree to listen to their conversation.

“These lesser Ancients have to go,” his father said. “No way we can keep them.”

Anelise sighed. “But the humans aren’t gone. I mean, it’s dangerous out there for our kind.” It was odd to see her worried about anyone. River had always considered her one of the most ruthless of the siblings, quite different from her twin Ciara.

Forest turned to her. “Well, something went wrong. What do you want us to do? Keep this place overcrowded?”

“Maybe it will take a while?” she asked. “Maybe we could wait?”

They were waiting for the spell River should have done, waiting for all the humans to be dead. He moved beside the tree, to watch them while still unnoticed.

His father shook his head. “The refugees should leave tonight. There’s no room for everyone.”

Anelise actually looked disappointed.

Forest nodded. “I’ll make sure they leave. Any news from River?”

His father had a bitter laugh. “River? How could I have trusted him with anything?”

“Didn’t he bring the artifact?” Anelise asked.

His father shrugged. “It must have been a fake or something.”

River walked up to them. “I’m here. And the staff was real. Taken from the dragon lords’ palace. I almost died bringing it here.”

His father frowned. “What happened?”

The spell didn’t go as planned was on the tip of his tongue. Instead, he asked, “Would you be happy? If every single human in Aluria died? Pardon, every single pure human, otherwise you and all your children would be dead too.”

“What kind of stupid question is that?”

“That spell was for death, wasn’t it?” He turned to Forest. “And you feared it could kill the wielder, didn’t you? That’s why you let me perform it.”

“Did you do it?” Forest asked.

“No. No.” The words sounded right, and all he felt was relief, relief at looking at his father and saying what he truly thought. “A thousand times no. I could go back a hundred times and a hundred times I’d refuse to kill so many innocents.”

“What did you do?” His father’s voice was calm, but more as if he was struggling to keep it contained. “Where’s the staff?”

“I destroyed it.”

His father stared at him. “That’s impossible. Where is it?”

“Gone. I used its own power against it, and it worked. How’s that?”

“Foolish child! Why? We could be returning to Aluria. The land would have been ours. You say you don’t want to kill innocents? What about all the Aluria innocents we’ll have to send back, huh? What about them?”

“Keep them here.”

“There’s no room, no food, no resources.” His father was yelling, all self-control gone. “Soon there will be no food even for us. You’re condemning us to die.”

River kept his head high. “No. I took the staff and I destroyed it. We can beat the humans, I know we can, but we’re not going to do it through mass murder.”

“You are not beating anyone.” There was hatred in his father’s eyes. “River of the Second Dynasty, I mean, River. You are hereby stripped of any claims to my family, stripped of its name. You are condemned to eternal—”

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