Page 46 of Echoes of the Raven
Torches, instead of gas lamps, illuminate the dank passage. No one else is here but the veilfallen leader, sitting on a narrow stone ledge, a statue with his gaze set on infinity. He doesn’t look in our direction as we appear, doesn’t even acknowledge our presence in the smallest of ways. It’s as if his body is an empty shell.
There is a bowl with untouched bread on the floor. The smell of urine and sweat clog the air, making me wince.
“How many people have you killed, Rífíor of the Veilfallen?” Amira asks, tapping the bars with the rapier. “How many of them human?”
He continues to stare into the distance, seemingly oblivious to our presence. Despite his despondent attitude, his posture is straight, regal.
“Too many to count, I imagine,” she says. “I shudder to think how many more you would have killed if The Eldrystone hadn’t a mind of its own.”
Still no reaction.
Amira glances at me sidelong, appearing disappointed at the lack of answer. At last, she thrusts the rapier into my hand. Frowning, I take it, and she proceeds to unlock the cell.
“What are you doing?!” I demand.
She doesn’t answer. She just throws the cell door open and steps aside.
My heart skips a beat. I raise the sword, ready to defend my sister, but he remains impassive.
“Kill him,” Amira says, pointing at the male.
“What?!”
“Kill him, Val. Do this for me?”
I shake my head. “No. This isn’t how we do things. There should be a trial.”
“Why? We already know what he did. Why waste time and resources on thishijo de puta.” Her curse shocks me. She never uses such words.
“Because Castella stands for justice,” I say.
“Few know he’s here. None care.”
“I care, Amira. I—?”
“You care about him?” she interrupts.
At this, Rífíor blinks and lowers his chin to his chest, the first indication that he isn’t a piece of frozen meat, but a hot-blooded male.
“That’s not what I was going to say,” I reply.
“You love him, don’t you?” She throws the words like an accusation.
“It has nothing to do with love. I hate him for what he’s done to me, for teaching me to distrust people the way Orys taught you, for making me afraid of my dreams at night. I. Hate. Him.”
“Then kill him!” Spittle flies from Amira’s mouth.
I stare at Rífíor, the rapier trembling in my hand. His lids lower, and he shuts his eyes as if resigned to die in this moldy cell.
His defeated attitude perplexes me. This isn’t the male I know. Rífíor is full of determination. He’s intense and driven. That’s why he found The Eldrystone, except… the amulet wanted nothing to do with him.
Rejected and without his quest, he appears to be nothing but a broken male. Why is Niamhara’s conduit opposed to him now? Presumably, he wielded it successfully in the past, if not why else search for it so desperately?
Seeing him like this does something to me. Slowly, I lower my sword. I don’t know what lies in his past, what made him do all the terrible things he has done, and how it all connects to my mother. I don’t know if he suffered, if he lost something precious, and that means I can’t judge him.
Pain has turned Amira—my sweet, compassionate sister—into a person I barely recognize. Pain has also changed me. I can feel it even now, urging me to use the sword and end another life in the pursuit of vengeance, but I have no right to take away that which I didn’t give. I’m not a god and don’t intend to act like one. Not again. Orys deserved what I did to him, but that doesn’t mean the weight of my actions is easy to live with. No matter how much Rífíor deserves the same fate, my load is heavy enough already.
I have to think of my sister, too. If I don’t show her there is another path besides anger and bitterness, might she become a blind, single-minded tyrant like Rífíor?
