Chapter 41 | Ravinica

Chapter 41

Ravinica

LADY ELAYINA BEGAN her slow walk out of the Runesphere room, leaving the rest of us lost and gawking.

I hurried after her, my wings nearly pulling me back to the ground. “Wait—what?!”

My mates were close behind, Corym the most distraught at this abrupt news. “ Anvari, what is the meaning of this? We’ve only just returned you to Alfheim!”

She waved us off like we were nagging children, the short elf sighing to herself. “It is what must come next, I’m afraid. I have spoken with Maltor Vaalnath already, and they understand. The odyssey-grounds have already been prepared, visitor.”

“You look and act perfectly hale!” Corym argued, throwing up his arms. Outside the corridor, once we were back in the larger hall and Elayina had locked the door behind us with her magic, Corym put a hand on her shoulder. “Please, reconsider, Anvari. This is madness.”

Elayina stopped, glancing at Corym’s hand on her shoulder with a scowl. He removed it, and she turned to us, craning her neck to look at everyone in their eyes, finishing with me and then Corym. “Appearances are deceiving, Corym E’tar. These bones are brittle. This vessel is old. Much too old to still be walking among the waken—even for an elf. I require rest. Premanent rest, so I may continue my journey to the golden shores.”

I bit back a retort, opening and closing my mouth fruitlessly. There was determination on her face. It was something I couldn’t argue with. I knew that look.

She sighed at Corym’s sad, handsome face. “I am grateful for your assistance in breaking me out of my prison. I was never meant to die in Midgard, visitor. But I was also not meant to live here any longer than necessary.”

She turned to walk away, and then scoffed at her own words, waving a hand. “Oh, don’t look so dour. The discovery of Ravinica’s origins has been revealed. The Lightbearer is among us. This is a great day, friends.”

I shook my head, sidling up next to her. “But . . . I still have so many questions.”

She looked over with an impish wink. “Then you’d better hurry, lass.”

With my mind spinning all over again, I tried to find the most pertinent inquiries in my mind, among the fog of confusion and dismay.

I started with, “How will I find my father?”

“If he is still alive, I have a sneaking suspicion he will find you , now that you’ve unveiled yourself. If he doesn’t”—she scoffed again, derisively—“then he was never that important after all, now was he?”

She made a good point. Would he be able to feel this change in me? How did that work? Did it even matter? There was always the chance my father, whoever he was, was inconsequential to everything going on. After all, the bastard had abandoned me and my mother.

Elayina’s answer only opened up more questions.

She added, “I daresay there is a finer source than any other in that regard.”

I quirked an eyebrow, forcing my thoughts silent and my racing heart to mellow.

“Your mother. Have you not asked her?”

“Of course I have!” It had been years since the last time I’d brought up my father. “She refuses to answer, shutting down.”

“Almost like she, herself, doesn’t know, hmm?”

My head shot back, shocked. “What?”

I’d never thought of that before.

Perhaps Elayina was right and I needed to dig deeper to discover what Lindi knew. Especially considering this new turn of events and the wings now pulling me down.

Which brought me to my next question.

“Are these things stuck with me forever? Can I, uh, retract them?”

Elayina chuckled. “I believe you can hide your true nature, lass. Focus, use your magic, listen to your body. It will tell you what to do.” Then she shrugged, in her infuriating way, so lax about everything. “Or I could be wrong. Would it be such a bad thing to show people your truth? Your power?”

Of course it would be! If I thought I had a target on my back now , I could only imagine what would happen when people saw me stomping around with dragon wings.

Clearly, her mind was elsewhere—like her own impending doom. That didn’t stop the groan of frustration from passing through my lips.

Elayina slowed her walk. By now, we had made it to a set of winding stairs that led up to the second story of the palace. Gold and red swam around everywhere, coating the plates of the guards who stood at the base of the stairs.

They stepped aside when Elayina walked by, with severe nods of their helmeted heads.

As we gained the stairs to the landing above, she said, “You have the answers inside you, child. You always have. I believe the Runesphere will have awoken more than you know—more than you can feel at the moment. You are still in a state of shock, trying to navigate these new, murky waters.”

I sniffed, realizing there was nothing I could do to talk her out of this fateful idea she had. “Which is why I only wish to have someone to guide me. Someone to speak with and commiserate with.”

At the top of the stairs, in a new hall, Elayina stopped and frowned at me. She gestured at the men surrounding us. “You do, Ravinica. They’re all around you, at all times. Worshipping the ground you walk on. Remember what I once said: Stay with your family, keep them close. Only trust those closest to you. They will provide everything in the coming conflicts—warmth, wisdom, strength.”

I gulped, feeling tears gnawing at my eyes.

She was right. I could never forget my men, and I would never take them for granted. Anything I went through, they would go through too. Because that’s what family did—they cared for each other.

My men let out various grunts and nods of approval, of understanding, before we began following Lady Elayina past archways, rooms, and halls.

She seemed to be in quite a hurry, marching to her death like it was only valid until midnight, and we were deep into the eleventh hour.

Grim said, “The five of us will always be there to support you, love.”

His words soothed me, as they always did. Low, baritone, a rich hue of love and acceptance.

“And we’ve just been given a boon, too,” Sven added. “The wings will help us make any point we need to get across to others.”

“True,” Arne pointed out. “Not many people are going to deny a fucking dragonkin when we’re seeking assistance. For their own good.”

Corym said, “I am curious about what other abilities this new form has awoken, lunis’ai .”

“Can you breathe fire?” Arne asked excitedly. “That would be delightful.”

“That would be terrifying , you fucking fool,” Sven chirped.

We all laughed. It was a sad chorus, a heavy cloud of mourning and grief weighing over us.

Elayina was smiling now, listening to our silly banter. Hearing how my mates worked to take the burden off my shoulders and ease my worries, like they always did.

I was glad she could see it, to know she was utterly correct in her assumption my mates would always be by my side.

Her words lifted something inside me, striking down the doubts and fears I had about Lady Elayina being gone. I got far before meeting her, and I will get far without her again.

We came to a walkway that led outside to ramparts and a ledge overlooking the garden in the courtyard. The wind was cool now, drifting through my hair, my wings, making me take in a deep breath.

Elayina walked up a set of short stairs that led to a small balcony, surrounded by four torches at all corners and an ornate four-poster bed.

“The odyssey-grounds,” Corym choked out, stopping short.

The levity from before died on our lips.

It was a simple outdoor alcove. The scent of starberries, and the sweet waft of wildflowers and roses lilted through the sky, surrounding us.

Undoing the golden broach at her chest, Elayina let her elegant cloak fall to the ground. She let out a sigh of content when she crawled into the bed, on her back, facing up.

We surrounded the sides of her bed.

She stared up with a smile, threading her hands on her belly. She looked so small, frail, and ancient now, as I recognized what I had seen earlier even clearer.

Elayina looked older now, even after a single day in Alfheim, because she was older. Though the barnacles and moss had been lifted from Midgard with the end of the dark enchantment over her, it had been replaced with a contented tiredness I couldn’t deny seeing on her face.

Whether I wanted to admit it or not, she was expiring before our eyes. My assumption was that, with the dark magical hold gone, she was rapidly aging in her usual elven years. And since she had already outlived her counterparts thrice over, if not more, then her body could not handle the stress and burden of those added years piling on all at once.

She gazed into my eyes, a younger reflection of hers. “I have one more request, Lightbearer.”

Fighting back tears, I swallowed over a lump in my throat. “Anything, Aunt Elayina.”

She smiled at the new title. Reaching out with her frail, skeletal hands, she gripped my palm and pulled me closer.

“Reach inside yourself and prove your title, child. Become the valkyrie you are meant to be, and fly me to the golden shores of my people.”