Page 19 of The Night Prince 2

Michael guided Declan to the table. Declan sat down and immediately the umbrella blocked out the sunlight. The chill of the Adiva grew less. He let out a relieved breath. He doubted he would ever really like sunlight.

As Shonda poured him a cup of tea, and both of his parents–for they were his parents as much as those who had birthed him were and his adopted parents had been–spoke gently to him, lovingly to him, Declan wondered, What human doesn’t like sunlight?

He knew the answer to that. Every human liked sunlight. They needed sunlight to live and be healthy. The Sun represented hope and the possibilities of new beginnings to them. A brand new day. But the Sun was his enemy. And the Adiva was his armor against it.

For he… was not human.

“Gran”

Rhalyf could feel Finley seething. The young man did not trust him, which was wise. When one had knowledge that others didn’t–in Finley’s case, knowledge of the location of a rift to Illithor–others would surely come to get that knowledge, i.e., Rhalyf himself. It was lucky that everyone else was a fool and hadn’t recognized the magnitude of what Finley had found.

Finley could have been lulled into a false sense of security by all of these idiots, believing that this knowledge wasn’t useful, but that had not occurred. No, Finley had become highly alert the moment that Rhalyf had honed in on his sketches, which just confirmed Rhalyf’s intuition that the young man was extremely intelligent. Even those who might realize that Finley had seen Illithor likely thought that since the rift Finley had seen was now closed, it was useless to know where that rift had been. But that was not true. If Rhalyf knew the exact location of where it had appeared, he might be able to open another.

If I want to do that…

Hadn’t he told himself that Illithor was a poison chalice? Hadn’t he reminded himself how everyone who had gone after Illithor had died? Add to the mix that the area was likely swarming with Leviathan–because, like Darcassan, he did not believe that the Leviathan were in any way reduced in the Under Dark in terms of numbers–made going after Illithor that much worse. That the Leviathan, or at least some of them, were coming from Illithor made terrible sense.

Those damned Kindreth! What I told Aquilan about the Kindreth being the likely culprits in terms of weakening the wards was a wild guess. But it was the most logical one, Rhalyf reasoned. What if it were the Illithor wards that were weakened by them? What if Vulre was coming to warn the Sun King of that? Not to mention, if Illithor’s wards were weakened then Vex would know about it…

A shudder went through him. If Vex knew that someone had found Illithor, wouldn’t he return to the city to find out what had happened? Maybe Vulre was warning Aquilan of that possibility, too. But it had been over a decade. Yet what was a decade for Vex? A second in terms of even elven perceptions of time. But Vex had always reacted in an almost mortal way in the sense that he did not hesitate often. That had given him an advantage.

I need to go to Illithor to check if those wards are affected. And that’s the only reason I need to get this information from Finley. It’s completely selfless!

“You look a little gray and sweaty,” Finley remarked with narrowed eyes.

“That’s rather rude!” Rhalyf wiped the cold sweat that had broken out on his upper lip at the thought of Vex.

“I was just calling it as I see it,” Finley said, but he actually looked a little guilty at being “mean” again.

He has a good heart. Excellent, the easier to get information out of him!

“Are you feeling okay, Rhalyf?” Gemma asked sweetly as she regarded him with worried eyes.

“Yes, dear lady, I am quite well. It was just a momentary hot flash.” He cast a spell on his clothes to have them cool him down.

“I’m so glad. You still look very handsome, but you did appear… uhm…”

“No need to go farther, Gemma. Handsome is good enough.” He smiled at her.

“Speaking of how you look,” Finley began.

“I thought we were done with that discussion?” Rhalyf glared at the young man.

“You can’t go into Hope looking like you do. Elves aren’t welcome there,” Finley said.

“Really? Keeping Aravae out? That’s quite bold of them,” Rhalyf remarked.

“You can go in, but it will be unpleasant,” Finley admitted.

“And you’re all right with this?” Rhalyf lifted an eyebrow. “Me being treated differently because I’m an Aravae?”

The full irony of this, of course, was not known to Finley. If people knew he was Kindreth, they’d be seeking his blood or running away from him in terror.

More guilt filled Finley’s face. “No, of course not! I’m just letting you know that you won’t likely enjoy the experience. So you should go to the palace and not experience it.”

“No, no, I don’t think so.”

“But–”

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