Page 93 of A Land So Wide
Greer froze. “Took the boy? Ellis?”
It didn’t make sense. Hessel had sent Ellis out as a sacrifice for the Benevolence. The Bright-Eyeds had nothing to do with it.
Did they?
Greer recalled the deep slashes carved into the skull she’d found in the woods. She thought of the Bright-Eyeds’ talons, how they were just the right size, more than capable of inflicting such damage. She thought of the Bright-Eyed who’d been there, waiting for Ellis to cross the border, ready to follow after him.
The Benevolence were giving the Bright-Eyeds the sacrifices. There was no other explanation. But it was too terrible and too unwieldy a thought to process; Greer slammed it to the back of her mind, to return to later.
“What happens to Ellis once everything is over?”
“I suppose that depends on who wins.” Finn brought the snow hare to his mouth and took a ferocious bite into its side. Though patently not cold, Greer shivered.
“Elowen will kill him,” she guessed. “Feed on him.”
“She could make him her consort,” he offered, talking around a mouthful of meat.
“Against his will?”
“She can be quite beautiful when it suits her.”
“But Ellis loves me.” Though these words were so small and simple, they held everything.
Finn said nothing as he continued to eat, chewing through tendons, snapping and grinding bones, wholly indifferent.
Greer could scarcely believe what she was about to ask, but she saw no other choice. There would be no reasoning with a Bright-Eyed, no way to assure or make promises. “How would I fight her? How do you kill a sovereign?”
He shrugged. “I’ve never seen it myself. Ailie had been queen since before I was made.”
“Made?” she repeated.
“I wasn’t always this way,” Finn admitted. “I was like you, once.” Here, he laughed. “Well. No one has ever been quite like you. But…mortal.”
“You were human?” She was aghast.
He nodded.
“What happened?”
“Elowen.”
She waited for him to explain.
“She turned me. Gifted me her blessing.”
“Blessing—blood,” she clarified. “She fed you her blood?”
Finn nodded.
“How much?”
“I wouldn’t know. No one ever explained it to me. Ailie was very adamant that our numbers must remain small. When Elowen made me…it was an uncomfortable time for the Gathered.”
“Do you remember what you were like…before?”
He chewed thoughtfully, taking his time. “It was many, many years ago.”
Greer sighed, exhaustion settling in. Too much had happened in too short a time. Her mind felt stretched full, unable to hold any more. Wearily, she pulled the rabbit from her skewer and ate, mulling hard.
