Page 28 of House of the Raven
Sparing no detail, I tell him everything I overheard.
“Very strange,” he says when I’m done. “And it lacks sense in the way that jousting in the nude lacks sense.”
If he knew my mother was fae, he wouldn’t think so. I’ve been lying to my best friend for years. I’ve wanted to tell him so many times, but Mother and Father made Amira and I swear we would never tell. Even now, when I feel there’s no one else in the world I can trust, I’m notsure I should tell him. I’m afraid he will hate me, and if he does… I’ll be utterly alone.
We’re quiet for a long moment, then I remember to tell him the rest. “She took my Plumanegra key.” My hand goes up to my neck of its own accord. I find that I miss its weight.
“Wait. What?” He takes a moment to process this new bit of information, then works things out by speaking out loud. “She’s afraid you’ll try to challenge her, afraid you’ll reveal the truth of what happened, but…” He trails off, then adds, “That makes no sense. ”
For the first time since I heard the thrum of Orys’s magic, my mind takes over my emotions. “Yes, it makes no sense,” I echo. “Everyone knows I am Simón Plumanegra’s daughter. I don’t need the key to prove that to the council.”
“Exactly, and that’s not the only thing the key does, Val.”
My heart jumps to my throat as the realization hits me, then I’m running out of my bedchamber. I have to check the vault.
As we get close to the Plumanegra vault located at the heart of the palace close to Father’s study, I hear voices ahead. Putting a hand up, signaling Jago, I slow down. I recognize my sister’s timbre.
“It’s Amira,” I whisper. “Hide!”
He heads to the first door to our right, and I follow.
“It’s locked.”
My heart pumps so fast that I feel it will knock a hole in my chest. She can’t find us here. I backtrack, running on tiptoes. I turn the next door’s knob. It opens. We rush inside. The room is dark, and I sigh with relief as shadows envelop us. I don’t close the door all the way and watch through a narrow crack as Amira walks down the hall, Emerito at her side.
“It should have been in the vault,” she says.
“Maybe it’s in her chamber.”
“We’ll have to look when she’s not there.”
The sound of their steps fades away. I press my back to the wall and slide down to the floor. My knees are too weak to hold me.
Jago sits across from me, peering at my face through the gloom. It looks like we are in one of the many waiting rooms that can be found in Nido. I’m not even sure I’ve been in here before.
“What is she looking for? Do you know?” he asks.
“There’s only one thing I’ve ever kept in that vault.” My mind races as I try to figure out this puzzle.
“What is it?”
Not even Jago knows—only Father and Amira. They’ve always known there’s only one thing I consider precious enough for safekeeping.
“My mother’s necklace,” I say.
“What necklace?”
I lift my gaze from the floor and meet Jago’s for only a second. I want to tell him everything.
“What necklace, Val?” He repeats his question.
“Um… you might have seen it a long time ago. It belonged to my mother. She gave it to me.” I shake my head. “No. She didn’t exactly give it to me. She… I don’t remember.” I scratch my head, finding a hole in my memories.
Gods, it hurts so much thinking about all of this.
“Why would Amira want it?” Jago asks.
“I don’t know.” And it’s the truth. I don’t have the faintest idea why she would go as far as to take my Plumanegra key to open my private nook in the vault. Does she want it because the necklace is of fae origin? Does it hold some kind of espiritu?
