Page 58 of Rook of Ruin
“He gave his life for me,” she whispers. “He was”—her voice breaks—“my soulmate.” Her sorrow shatters my heart. Tears form in the corners of my eyes, but I do not let them fall. She does not need to see any sadness from me; she has experienced enough herself. She pats my hand and tells me to look after the boy next to her.
The young boy, roughly eight or nine years old, with shaggy light brown hair and freckles galore, was one of the first that I healed. His wounds were deep, and he lost a lot of blood, but he will survive.
Without thinking, I begin to crudely sing the song Ralin would sing to me when we were children. “Under the mountains,where the children grow. Down by the valley, where we dare not go. But that is where I met my love, with golden—”
His small chest rises and falls gently. I stare at him and take his little hand in my own. I want to cry for him, I want to destroy those monsters for him. This young child should have never seen the horrors he did. His parents did not survive the attack, and I wish I could have saved them. He doesn’t have anyone here waiting with him, for him. I know what it’s like to be alone, and selfishly, I don’t want to leave him.
A shadow forms over his legs. “O, it’s time to go,” Nora says softly.
“I’m not leaving him,” I flatly reply.
Nora sighs and squats next to my chair. “These are not the only people who need you. There are more to heal.”
Wiping the boy’s forehead with a cloth, I turn to Nora. “Does he have any other family?”
She shakes her head. “No, not anymore.”
“They will send him into care?” I remember how rough Alec grew up.
Nora’s voice lowers. “There’s no one else here who can help him. He will be sent to Enthe to be in care.”
I hold the boy’s hand. “I’ll take him.”
“He isn’t a dog; you can’t just take him.” Nora looks at me, judging.
“I’m not a dog, and you just took me. He needs someone. I can help him.” My eyes narrow, daring her to challenge me. She does.
“You are going to get married, quite possibly to a prince. Do you really think anyone you are to marry would accept someone else’s blood as their own?”
I immediately think of Alec, and then Simon. “Perhaps. He will be my ward, but I will treat him as my own.”
She looks at me hard. “If there are other children in the same situation, are you going to adopt them too?”
“As you said, I’m probably going to marry a prince, so I can do what I like.” I have a hard time not smiling at her. Nora snorts, trying not to smile back.
“Fine. We will come back for him when we are finished with the others. I will let the elders know.”
I softly smile at the young boy. “Do you know his name?”
She lifts the blanket and looks at a slip of paper tied to a string around the boy’s ankle. “It says his name is Elliot.”
The voice of my mother echoes in my head. I whisper in his ear, “Elliot, I swear to you that I will take care of you. I am yours, and you are mine, until the end of time.” I kiss his forehead. Nervous to take care of a child but happy I can save him, I reluctantly leave him. We walk back into the large barn. Everyone is still there, and they kneel again. Nora nudges me forward.
“Ein calonnau!” Our hearts! “Ruby of Acros!” they yell at me.
“Fy nghalon!” My heart!“Calverdea!” I yell back at them.
They stand as we walk out into the cool night air. A cart full of hay is waiting in the moonlight to take us somewhere else. I climb up, ignoring the black-haired man’s hand, which makes him laugh. Unlike Simon, I’m not playing a game with him. He sits next to me, Nora across from me, and eight other men climb in and sit down. The driver clicks his tongue, and the horse pulls forward.
Curiosity gets the better of me, and I blurt out, “Why not ask me, Nora? I would have helped these people. I would have healed anyone you asked me to.”
“O.” She shakes her head. “For a Rook, you’re so naïve. Yes, if I would have asked you, you would have come. But your . . . you would have had to ask permission. You wouldn’t have been able to help everyone. The queen would have set a strict set of rulesof what you could and wouldn’t be able to do. She would have waited until everyone in there had died. Elliot would have died.”
“I would have—”
Nora interrupts, “No, you wouldn’t have. You couldn’t have. You have no idea what is happening outside those walls. You didn’t know until you and the Spider went out and fought the demons. What you just experienced is only a small amount of what is happening everywhere. You think Queen Inara cares for our people? Then why hasn’t she sent out Rooks, warriors,anyoneto help us.”
Shame hits me. She’s right—I had no idea.
