Page 73 of In the Ravenous Dark
I can already see the answer in Bethea’s eyes, but surprisingly, it’s Crisea who answers. “I can’t leave. This is my duty. If Delphia wants to shirk hers, it’s not my business. That’s between her and the goddess. I serve the crone now. For my mother.” She looks away from me, sheepish, almost. “And I won’t turn you in… for your father. He”—she chokes slightly—“he wouldn’t have wanted me to.”
Tears build in my eyes. Once again, she’s found my heart and stabbed it. But as much as I want to hate her for being closer to my father than I ever was, I can’t.
Bethea says softly, “And I’m with Crisea. I’m not leaving. It’s my duty, too.”
“But how can you stay in this horrible place?” I demand, gesturing at the stone slab and all it stands for. “This isn’t your home. It’s everything you’re not. It’skillingyou.”
“This is what I am now, for better or worse,” Bethea says. “Thisismy home now. I’m sworn to the crone, and I’m loyal. Ihaven’t always had one foot out the door, like you.” She glances at Crisea. “Crisea is keeping me alive, pulling me back from the dark, and I’m helping her. And for her sake, I won’t turn you in, either.”
Making it clear it’s not formysake. I never thought I would be dependent on Crisea’s goodwill.
Delphia lets out a quiet cry and comes dashing around the stone slab. She throws herself at Lydea first, then Japha, and even me, surprisingly. When she pulls back, she doesn’t go far from us, as if not wanting to let us go.
Japha pats the back of Delphia’s head and smooths her cloud of white hair. “Now, can we get to the scheming part?”
“Yes, what exactlyisour plan?” Lydea asks, facing me. “I’ve said we should buy passage on a ship—or hell, buy the whole ship—but you told me to wait.”
Nervousness stirs in my belly.
“That must be the smartest thing Rovan has ever said. Because you have guardians?” Crisea sounds almost grimly satisfied. “Remember them?”
I still want to strangle her, but instead I say, “About that.” I pull two pieces of paper from beneath my death shroud and pass them to both Lydea and Japha. “You’ll know what these are,” I murmur as they unfold the papers to find my string of shakily written sigils. “My father left them for me. You just need a piece of what you want to block out, and then it will be like the veil between us and the blight.”
“And it will work on… all blights?” Japha asks, amazed. “Including the shadowy, brooding type?”
“That’s the idea, but you have to have apieceof that shadow.”
Delphia’s silvery gaze darts back and forth between us. “I think I can help with that. I’ve learned enough to… gather it.” She grimaces. “And after I do that for you, I’m never touching it again.”
“Delphia, Rovan, this is fabulous,” Lydea nearly gasps. “With this we can leave as soon as we want. We can gowhereverwe want—”
I don’t want to say it, but I force myself. “I have some thoughts on that, too.”
“Yes?” The eagerness in Lydea’s eyes nearly makes me wince. Because I know it’s about to vanish.
“Perhaps we should consider Skyllea,” I say quickly, as if to get it over with. Never mind that the worst is yet to come.
“Skyllea?” Lydea’s brow furrows. “Why would I want to go there? Alldan is a Skyllean prince. It’s not as if I could easily avoid him.”
“I was actually talkingtoAlldan about this plan.”
She blinks. “You were talking to Alldan? About ourescape?”
“Yes,” I admit. “He wants allies. Skyllea thinks the source of the blight is here. They’ve been studying it, and found out death magic is causing it. From within Thanopolis, Lydea. And they think they can do something about it.”
“Great,” she says abruptly. “But I don’t see how this concerns usleavingThanopolis. If Alldan wants to stay here and study the blight, he’s welcome to.”
“Thisdoesconcern us,” I insist. “It concerns everyone. The blight is still expanding. It’s going to devour the whole world! Skyllea has done their best to develop shields against it like the veil. These are shields againstdeath magic, like this one my father discovered.” I gesture at the papers still clutched in their hands. “But they’re not enough. This all has to do with Thanopolis’s dealings with the dead, everything that’s wrong here—the blight, guardians, condemning people to the necropolis.” I wave at Bethea and Crisea. “And Skyllea wants tofixall of it. They want to stop the blight, free bloodmages from their guardians, and keep more people from dying. If we can help them, we should at least consider it, don’t you think?”
Lydea is silent. Her expression is unreadable.
“This is all very noble, Rovan, dear,” Japha says. “But how can we help?”
I swallow. “Alldan thinks if they plan things just right”—kill Kineas and the king, I don’t add—“they can use your position, Lydea, to really change things.”
“My position,” she says flatly. “With Alldan, you mean.”
I flinch. “Yes. If you go to Skyllea…” I hesitate. I’m not sure how I’m going to explain everything without mentioning the murder of certain family members of hers—family members of almost everyone in this room—but she doesn’t give me the chance.
