Chapter 13 Nevelyn Tin’vori

Nevelyn thought it was too good to be true.

She could sense Dahvid's excitement. It was like a living thing, pulsing and hungry in the air between them. This strange girl had traveled up the coast, searched their city, all to find them. Now she was holding a mirror up to their deepest desire, perfectly reflecting back the very goal they'd been hoping to accomplish for over a decade? It was in Dahvid's nature to trust fate. He thought this was how the world worked—in spite of all the tragedies they'd suffered. Fortune favored the bold. Favored people like him. But Nevelyn was not so easily swayed. The curse of being the forgotten middle sister was that she'd long been a skeptic of the world.

This was all far too convenient.

"Why would you want that?"

"House Brood is responsible for my father's death," Ren answered. "He got in Landwin Brood's way, and he was killed for it. I was only eight. When I learned what really happened, I made it my life's mission to destroy them. It's why I went to Balmerick in the first place."

"What a story," Nevelyn replied. "It has just the right amount of drama. Believability. Most convenient of all: it is a story we have no way of authenticating."

For the first time, she saw hesitation. Ren Monroe had been so bold from the very beginning. Now she weighed something. An important decision was being made.

"Trust is difficult, especially when you've been running as long as the two of you have. I will not pretend to know what you've been through. My story is not your story, even if I believe we share the same goal. What if I tell you something that I've told no one else? Perhaps we can begin building a trust between each other."

Nevelyn could not help smiling. At least the girl was interesting.

"Try us."

"The portal spell… it didn't malfunction. I altered it. My original intention was to draw Theo Brood and Clyde Winters out into the wilderness with me. Two heirs of two major houses. I was hoping to demonstrate my abilities and earn a position. Once I had my footing, I could begin the process of tearing them apart from the inside out. But Clyde died inside the waxways.

"Theo became my only path forward. From that point on, I treated him like a mark. I carefully forced him to rely on me. I even persuaded him to bond with me. He thinks that I'm also in love with him. Landwin Brood rightfully suspects me. He has done his best to keep me isolated. I have money to spend, but no one I've met would dare challenge the Brood family. I need you as much as you need me."

Nevelyn turned those details around in her mind, attempting to fit them into the grand scheme of everything else they knew and had planned. "You assume a great deal."

"Do I?" Ren performed a brief inspection of their apartment. "I'm pretty sure I've made only two assumptions. The first is that you have very little money. No offense, but this is no summer palace. I don't see any paintings on the walls. No silk sheets on the beds. Unless you've found some other mysterious benefactor, you have nowhere close to the kind of wealth you'll need to take on the Broods. They're a centuries-old dynasty. Their estate is protected by every enchantment you could imagine. They have an army of guards at their disposal. Anger only goes so far without coin to back it. You need my money and my connections."

Nevelyn resisted looking around their dismal flat. She knew all the details confirmed Ren's guess. Her own jacket was missing a button. The partition separating their beds looked cheap and threadbare. Her first thought, upon seeing Ren at their door, had been: Gods, that's a proper cloak. There was no point in denying this particular claim. It was obvious.

"The other assumption," Ren continued, "is the more important one. I assumed that you were like me. That you carry what happened to you in your bones. It physically hurts me to know that Landwin Brood still walks this world. Sometimes I wake up and I can't breathe, because the only thing there's room for in my chest is hate. I will not stop until I've burned his entire world to the ground."

Nevelyn leaned back in her chair. It was strange to hear her thoughts spoken by someone else so clearly and with such venom. That was exactly how she felt about Thugar Brood. Nevelyn had killed him a thousand different ways in her mind. Watched him die over and over again. But dreams alone would not satisfy that sort of hunger. Blood was demanded.

"I want to believe you," Nevelyn finally said. "Dahvid. Let us test our new friend."

Her brother had been waiting for this moment. He strode to the center of the room. They all watched as he closed his eyes in concentration. He reached out and grazed the tattoo on his right wrist. Magic whispered through the air. Light formed—pulsing briefly—in the shape of a sword.

When Dahvid gripped the handle, it shivered from something gossamer into a hardened substance. He leveled the weight of that unnaturally bright metal and approached their guest. Nevelyn couldn't help smiling. She saw the way the girl's fingers stretched, eager to reach for that horseshoe wand that was no longer at her belt. Finally, proper fear. They might have a shared hatred—but Ren Monroe needed to know the Tin'Voris were not her pets. They would suffer no one else's rule over their plans, no matter how helpful they promised to be.

"Do you know what this is?" Dahvid asked. His voice always grew quiet when he was wielding a weapon. As if he was afraid of waking up the violence too soon.

"It's a sword," Ren answered.

"It is a moral sword."

Their guest let out an unexpected laugh. Nevelyn and Dahvid exchanged a glance as the girl covered her mouth. "I'm sorry. It's not you. A matter of personal irony. I had an argument with someone last year on the subject of moral swords. There are some famous stories about them. The tale of Maxim and Rowan is a favorite of mine."

Dahvid nodded. "Perhaps you'll leave with a story of your own. My version of the sword is quite simple. I have channeled the concept of truth into the blade. It takes that concept and makes a god out of it. The metal bows only to truth now. It will obey no other natural law before that one. Nevelyn is going to ask you some questions. It is paramount that you tell the truth. After every answer, I will swing this sword. If you have told the truth, no harm will come to you. But if you've lied…"

He offered that famous Dahvid shrug. The one he used to say a thousand different things. This time Nevelyn knew his shoulders were saying: We'll be cleaning your blood off the floors all night. Ren Monroe surprised her again. She stood and strode purposefully into the range of his blade.

"Ask your questions."

The weapon's light pulsed in response. Dahvid looked back to Nevelyn for approval. She desperately wished Ava were still with them. Even if she was the youngest, Ava had a knack for reading people that both Dahvid and Nevelyn lacked. They'd both learned to lean on her charm after escaping from Kathor, and that habit had left them both unpolished for navigating the political. Nevelyn could only do her best. She tried to summon a confidence she did not feel.

"We'll start with a simple question. Are you truly bonded to Theo Brood?"

"Yes."

Dahvid brought his sword sweeping down in a diagonal blow that would have taken their guest's arm off at the elbow. No blood spilled. There was no scream. The sword swished through empty air. Dahvid rotated the sword and carefully reset his stance.

"How did you first learn about us?"

"An old lady at a party told me the rumor of Dahvid being an image-bearer."

Another swing. The sword swished again.

"Are you a spy?"

"No."

Swish.

"Did the Broods send you here?"

"No."

Swish.

"Do the Broods know you are in Ravinia?"

"No."

But right before Dahvid could swing, the girl recoiled.

"Wait. I'm sorry. I don't know the answer to that. I believe that I left Kathor without their notice, but it's possible they have spies at the docks in Ravinia. I haven't led them here intentionally, but I can't answer your question with complete certainty."

Dahvid didn't swing. He shrugged over at Nevelyn instead. "The answer is too complicated. The sword might cut through her by accident. Ask something else."

What he meant is that even the smallest, most unintended lie would result in a lost limb. Nevelyn considered her next question. "What do you really want?"

Ren stared back at her. "I want to remove the Broods from power and take over their estate. I plan to use their wealth as a foundation for eliminating the other great houses. That includes the houses that helped the Broods raid your home and destroy your family."

Dahvid swung—and even Nevelyn saw the hesitation in the blow—like he was worried she was lying and this was all about to end in a bloody mess. But the sword hissed straight through the air again. Nevelyn took note that Ren's hatred extended beyond the Broods, to all the great houses. She did not point out that they'd once been exactly that.

"Why would you choose to work with us?"

"The Broods have mastered Kathor. It is their game board. They know all the players and control all the potential outcomes. But the two of you are pieces they aren't familiar with. You are unknown quantities with unknown abilities. Dahvid, of course, is an image-bearer… but Nevelyn, you possess powers as well. You used them on my mother this morning."

Nevelyn offered no reaction to that. No denial or confirmation. Her throat bobbed slightly, because it was a secret that even Dahvid did not fully understand about her. She'd been too cavalier if she'd allowed this stranger into some knowledge of her gift. Unlucky, really, that there had been a secondary witness to the small spell she'd performed this morning. The nature of her gift was that the person she used it on normally forgot, but she could not extend her spell to a party that she hadn't known was there. Clearly, she'd been too reckless.

Ren continued. "The two of you are my best chance at surprising them. I want to introduce an entirely new game. I want to make my own rules. I'm pretty sure that's the only way to beat them."

Dahvid didn't swing. He was too busy listening.

"Are you using us?" Nevelyn probed. "For your own benefit?"

"Of course."

Again, Dahvid didn't move. Her answer was clear, almost too blunt.

"Then how could we ever fully trust you?"

"You can't. I am going to use you," she said. "And you are going to use me. It's that simple. I don't think I can take down House Brood without help, but neither can you."

Once more, the answer was clear. It did not need to be put to the test. At the very least, Ren Monroe was good at making promises. Nevelyn had just one more question.

"Theo Brood. You said you don't love him."

Ren remained silent. At first, Nevelyn thought she'd finally trapped her. The one snag in this perfect presentation. But then she realized she hadn't actually asked a question. She turned over the words in her mind. She would have to frame it just so.

"Will you stand aside? If we have to kill him?"

"If it means the destruction of House Brood?" Ren said, altering the question slightly. "I will stand aside."

Dahvid swung his great sword one more time. Nevelyn closed her eyes. There was no sound of iron biting into flesh. None of the gut-wrenching noises she'd become accustomed to hearing down in the gladiator pits. Ren Monroe was telling them the truth. Finally, a proper ally. Dahvid let his sword whisper out of existence. Nevelyn blinked against the afterimage of it hanging in the air. Ren Monroe allowed herself a triumphant smile.

"Now it's my turn. I have no moral sword to test you, but my concern has less to do with truth. I need to know you're the right investment to make. You both possess unique abilities. I am quite adept at magic myself, but talent will only get us so far. I would like to know what you were planning to do. What revenge did you have in mind?"

Nevelyn knew it was a fair question to ask them, but it grated against every instinct they'd followed over the past decade. Even Cath didn't know the entirety of their plan. Just the parts they'd allowed her to know. She felt goose bumps crawling down the back of her neck.

This path had been carefully determined. Years of painstaking effort. Starvation, sacrifices, and loss. Inviting someone else into those secrets felt like kissing disaster right on the lips. But she knew there were choke points in their plan where a lack of money could ruin everything. An infusion of capital would smooth those rougher edges, and Ren Monroe had just proven herself worthy of their trust. Dahvid usually left these decisions to her. She was the careful planner, their great architect. But this felt like a matter of the heart. All instinct. And that was his domain.

The two of them locked eyes. Dahvid nodded his approval.

"Follow me," Nevelyn said.

It was a short distance. She led Ren to the lonely closet on the other side of the flat. A variety of clothing samples hung there, on which Nevelyn had been practicing dyeing techniques. She shoved them aside and stepped back. Ren Monroe actually gaped at what she saw.

The wall was covered—floor to ceiling—with their research. Every article that had ever mentioned the Broods, carefully highlighted and organized. Maps they'd stolen from architects they'd gotten drunk. Sketches of family trees with each name written in Cath's precise handwriting. It was the collective effort of seven years of rigorous study. Nevelyn took a deep breath before crossing over to where a larger map of their continent hung. All of Delvea stretched out before them. She had to stand on the tips of her toes to set a finger on Ravinia, the northernmost port of the continent. Patiently, she began dragging it down and to the right. She paused before reaching Kathor. At nearly the halfway point between the two cities, slightly inland, sitting in the shadow of the great mountains there.

"Our plan begins here," Nevelyn said. "Have you ever heard of a town called Nostra?"

Ren Monroe surprised them with another loud laugh. There was a little madness in the sound. Nevelyn waited for the strange noise to fade. Dahvid didn't look concerned. He was grinning in the doorway as if he was already in on the joke.

"Nostra," Ren repeated, a little breathless. "It would seem fate is with us. As of two days ago, there was a changing of the guard at Nostra. A new watcher was placed there."

Dahvid and Nevelyn exchanged worried glances. She silently cursed their bad luck. They'd researched the old watcher of the valley extensively. He was the very fulcrum of their plan.

"Don't look so worried," Ren finished. "The new watcher is Theo Brood."