Chapter 29

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

H alle folds her hands in her lap.

"You told me that you only recently learned about your mother's mechanical heart," she says. "What do you know about it?"

"The dragon master, Ryuji, told me?—"

Her eyes fly wide. "Ryuji? You spoke with the dragon master?"

"He gave us permission to stay on his island."

"Well. Then that rumor is true," she muses. "How on earth did you wrangle that? Dragon masters kill first and ask questions later."

"Well, they did try the whole killing thing," I say. "And it was all a bit awkward, but I convinced Ryuji to help us."

"Okay," she says, her eyes still wide. "So he told you about Galeia's heart."

"He wanted to find out more about my claws, since I cut up his scales with them." I grimace at the memory, but it was what saved my life. "He searched through the ancient texts and found that, in the history of our world, there have only been two other recorded cases of supernatural creatures who had claws like mine."

Halle nods. "The first would have been the Vandawolf."

"Yes, the Vandawolf, who was human. Until he was turned into a beast by supernaturals, who controlled an arcane power that nearly destroyed the world. At least, that's what Mother told me."

"I'm assuming, then, that the second recorded case Ryuji's texts spoke of was your mother," Halle says.

"That's correct," I reply. "He told me that the same arcane magic was used to create my mother's heart. But he also said there was no familial relationship between her and the Vandawolf. They were separate beings impacted by that magic at separate times."

Halle purses her lips. "Hmm."

I'm surprised when she doesn't sound convinced, but she continues before I can question her.

"How much do you know about that arcane magic?" she asks.

"I know it was infused into metal," I say. "I also know that it was considered so dangerous that every piece of it was destroyed after those beings were defeated. Except for my mother's heart."

"What else do you know?" Halle asks, peering as hard at me as I'm now peering at her.

"That's it," I reply.

She stares at me for a moment longer before she asks, "What about those arcane beings themselves? What do you know of them?"

I shake my head. "Only what I've told you already. They nearly ruined the world. The Vandawolf brought them down. Their metal was destroyed. Their magic no longer exists."

"Oh, child." She exhales so heavily that it's impossible for me to take offense at her tone, especially when she chews her lip sharply enough to break the skin and reveal the ashen flesh beneath.

She refolds her hands in her lap. Twice. "First, you should know that those arcane beings were called ‘Blacksmiths'. They were so named because of their affinity with metal. I'm telling you that simply because it will make our conversation go easier if we call them what they were."

Again, she refolds her hands, a seemingly restless movement that tells me she's thinking hard before she speaks. "But you're missing a very important piece of information."

"Which is?"

"Not every Blacksmith was capable of the kind of destruction that warranted their annihilation. Oh, they became a cruel people, that's for certain, but not all of them could render the kind of power that belonged in nightmares. No. There were only two Blacksmiths who had that sort of power."

I should be leaning away, preparing for the worst, but instead, I crane forward, thirsty for knowledge and answers, no matter what they are.

All around me, my pack—the dark elves, my brother, even Orlan and the hellhound—is doing the same, as if they're hearing things for the first time, too.

Once again, only Jonah remains in the shadows.

"You must understand, Veda," Halle says. "That even knowing about this power is dangerous. Very dangerous."

As she speaks, her pixie fa?ade peels away and her death goddess appearance rises. One half of her face and body appears blackened and charred. Her eye on that side gleams red. Her clothing splits down the middle so that she's wearing black leather on her un-living side, although her other side remains alive.

But it, too, changes, becoming wizened.

Soon enough, her living half takes the form of a woman with gray hair and slightly stooped shoulders. A much older version of herself than she's ever shown me.

"Many humans and supernaturals would kill to attain knowledge about the Blacksmiths." Halle presses her wrinkled, living hand to her charred heart. "Your mother knew this. I believe it's why she never told you these things. She wouldn't have been able to risk speaking of them once she was captured, in case she was overhead. Dark saints, if those angels knew about the power she carried in her chest…"

Halle spits the word ‘angels' as if there were no darker beings than those creatures of the light.

"I also believe," she continues, "that when the books of magic were created, part of their purpose was to drain all knowledge about Blacksmiths from the pages of every other book. Much like the keepers were created to drain and tether the magic of the dead. To keep it from falling into the wrong hands.

"Even my own family—my older brother, the wolf—was obsessed with attaining the books of magic and discovering the secrets they contained. As for how even a small piece of this information got into one of Ryuji's texts… well, I can only guess the books allowed it for some mysterious reason."

She peers at me meaningfully and I assume she's trying to silently tell me that I was that reason. As if the books had predicted I would be on that island, asking questions of a dragon master, at that point in time.

I shudder at the power that could have identified those events so accurately.

Halle takes a breath, swallowing visibly. "But you, dearest Veda, you have forced this knowledge to resurface. You have forced it to be spoken of once more by those of us who still remember it." She glances around at the others—my pack, her people, and finally, Jonah.

"I could ask everyone to leave," she says. "I could continue protecting this knowledge. Just as the keeper has continued protecting it, speaking in riddles, tell untruths to conceal all of the terrible knowledge from coming out." She rubs her face. "But what am I to do, dearest Veda? Dark saints, what should I do?"

When she looks up at me again, I say simply, "I am more of a danger without this knowledge than I am with it."

I take a deep, shaking breath as I voice the things I've learned about myself, even if I don't understand the why or the how . "My father told me I'm very difficult to kill, even if there was a vision in The Book of Dark Magic that showed my end. And even then, it was one supernatural who ended me. One . After I kill thousands."

Even the crimson wolves in Portland—powerful creatures of old magic—said I was dangerous. Dangerous and wounded . But they also said, despite their instinct to end me, that I should live.

"Then I went and killed a book of magic without understanding how or even knowing that I could . What else could I do without knowing the consequences? So, I say again, I am more dangerous without knowledge than with it. And here is what I also know…"

I cast my gaze across my pack, to Anarchy, Riot, Rumble, and Strife, these gorgeous dark elves with their luminous, blue eyes and lilac hair and dark-as-fuck souls. And then to my brother with all his strength, even if he was told his whole life until now he was weak.

"These beautiful, loyal, strong beings who have chosen to stand beside me… they need to know how to stop me, if it comes to it."

I pin Halle with my gaze. "So fucking spill it, Goddess."

Halle seems to manage a smile, although it quickly fades. "Very well. Then you should know this: The two most powerful Blacksmiths were from separate families. That is, separate Houses. One was from House Ironmeld. The other was from House Silverspun. One tore the world apart. The other bent the fabric of reality to save it. Both at a terrible cost."

A shiver runs down my spine, my palm chilled where it rests near the keeper's face.

"One of them was responsible for creating your mother's heart, but she never knew which," Halle says, pausing for a moment to let her meaning sink in. "She was a baby when it happened. She never knew if she carried pure malice or pure hope in her heart. She never knew if she'd been kept alive because of hatred or love."

The fear in Halle's eyes strikes me hard as she says, "And now, the question that plagues me is this: whose power have you absorbed?"