Page 64 of Taloned Heart

“Because they’ll find us.” She turned her attention toward a particular line of trees whose roots were higher than the rest. And then she pointed up to that line, to a small hill that rose in the distance. “In fact, I think they already have.”

At her words, a line of elven warriors appeared from behind trees and hidden in the shadows. Their black armor glimmered in the dim light like slick oil. Their skin had been given a similar treatment, darkening their already deep skin tone into something that was almost difficult to see. But she’d seen the flash of their weapons and heard the familiar whispers of blades that wanted Lore to use them. She could make the world tremble, and they wanted to feel its heart beat, those blades whispered.

Three deepmongers approached them. Their white hair was twisted on top of their heads in intricate braids, appearing almost like crowns. But the woman between the two men wore an actual crown, and Lore knew better than to stare at the obsidian gemstones for too long.

Sinking down onto a knee, she kept her gaze on the ground as she honored the Matriarch before her. “It has been a long time, deepmonger.”

“I thought we had seen the last of you.” The Matriarch’s liquid voice had hardened with hatred. “You are supposed to be dead.”

“I did not remain dead for very long. A mere six months to convene with my ancestors, and to learn from the mothers before me.” Lore looked up and met the other woman’s dead eyed stare. “A feat I have a feeling you are quite familiar with.”

If her instincts were correct, the Matriarch’s lineage was very similar to Lore’s own. While Lore’s mothers passed down their magic to her, the Matriarch could convene with those who came before her and use their knowledge as her own. They were not so different, if only in power.

The Matriarch tilted her head to the side and bared her teeth in a snarl. “So that is what the prophecy referred to, then. You are the power of our mothers.”

“Generations of women who have lost.” Lore stood and dusted off her knees. “And years of heartbreak all rolled into one person. I am here to put an end to that.”

A sharp tsk echoed through the clearing. The two young men on either side of the Matriarch reached for the weapons at their hips, but did not draw them when Abraxas gave an answering snarl. Instead, they turned their attention back to their mother, who had not moved other than to make her sound of disgust.

The Matriarch stepped closer, her hand outstretched to cup Lore’s jaw. “You are not the generations of pain felt by our people, nor are you worthy of their power.” Her hand clenched, long fingernails biting into Lore’s skin. “Now, self proclaimed goddess, where is my son?”

Ah. Of course.

Lore had forgotten that the Matriarch likely thought Lore had stolen him away. Or that she’d killed Draven. It was always a possibility in their line of work. Or that her son had died protecting the one creature that the Matriarch did not like.

They might have fought beside each other, but that did not mean the woman in front of her trusted her. Not at all.

Lore sighed and endured the pain on her jaw and cheek. “He is alive and well on the dragon isle.”

“Why did he not return?”

Draven had given her a message for his mother, although Lore had forgotten about it until this moment. “He said to tell you he’d found his blade in the shadows, but it must first be tempered. Honestly, he went on a very long time about making a knife and all the stages that he needed to wait for, but apparently that was something you would understand. I don’t know what any of it means.”

The Matriarch dropped her hand as though Lore had burned her. “Truly? He said all that?”

Lore gave her a wry grin while testing the new holes in her face. “Would I say something so truly random otherwise? I have no idea what any of that means, Matriarch. But you do.”

The woman pressed a shaking hand to her lips and stared at her two other sons. They both looked lost, or perhaps shocked. And none of the family had anything to say until the Matriarch nodded.

“Well, if what you speak is true, then that changes things.”

Lore glanced behind her with a frown to see Abraxas making a similar expression. “Why does that change things?”

“Who is she?” The Matriarch asked. “Who is this blade that has buried itself in my son’s heart?”

Draven was fine. What was his mother going on about? Lore had just told her that he was alive and well and still on the island...

Ah.

Oh.

Lore looked over her shoulder again to see Abraxas’s expression had turned furious. His skin flashed back and forth between mortal and scaled, and even Zephyr looked a little frightened to be in his arms.

Her dragon pulled himself together just enough to snarl, “My daughter.”

Silence stretched between them all, tenuous and far too brittle until the Matriarch let out a sound that was almost a giggle.

Lore’s eyebrows flew up as she turned to see, stunned, that the Matriarch waslaughing. The woman even snorted before she looked at her sons, who then lost it as well. All three of the family couldn’t stop laughing until their mother wiped a finger underneath her eye, catching the tears that had gathered there.

---