The Blessed Curse (The Elder Blood Chronicles Book 4)(48)

“Valor, before you begin your conversation with Shade, can we handle something else? It shouldn’t take long. I simply had to wait until we were off the ground to address it,” Jala cut in before Valor could even open his mouth to speak.

“Address what?” Valor asked in confusion.

“Address who, rather,” Jala corrected and rose from her seat. “Zoelyn has a Blight with her. I wanted to wait until we were off the ground so he had no place to go if he was spooked,” she explained with a smile.

“Uhh. What if he doesn’t get spooked and gets angry instead?” Shade asked quickly.

“He doesn’t get angry!” Zoelyn spoke up quickly, her eyes flashing between the three of them as she half rose from her chair.

“Well, that saves me from asking if she knew about him,” Jala said in amusement. Her eyes moved past where Zoelyn stood and fixated on the air behind her. “Will you speak for yourself or shall I speak to Zoelyn on your behalf?” Jala asked quietly with no trace of the hostility Zoelyn had expected to find at the mention of a Blight.

“Old one or young one?” Valor asked. He seemed relaxed as well, but his hand was on his sword hilt.

“Young, but cleaner than Emily was,” Jala answered, her expression unreadable as she studied the Blight. “And a bit more familiar than I would have expected in appearance, Val,” she added softly.

“Familiar how?” Valor asked his hand easing back from his sword hilt.

“He is most definitely of Arovan blood,” Jala explained, her eyes meeting Valor’s for a long moment and then returning to the Blight.

“He doesn’t bother anything. Please, he just helps me with small things and keeps me company. He isn’t dangerous and he has never killed anything or hurt anyone,” Zoelyn said quickly as she took a step in what she hoped was the correct direction to put herself between the High Lady and her only friend.

“Zoelyn, I have no intention of killing him for being a Blight. You don’t need to be so worried I promise you. As long as he is peaceful, so are we. As I said, I don’t believe in Undrae by birth,” Jala’s voice was soothing as she spoke and Zoelyn felt herself relaxing once more, simply from the sound of the High Lady’s voice.

“Seems to have better manners than Emily, too. She would have already told us to f*ck off,” Valor observed with a smirk.

Jala nodded and smiled, her gaze flicking to the back of the ship. Eyes twinkling, she looked back to Valor and smiled wider. “Emily says exactly that in response,” she informed him and turned her gaze back toward Zoelyn. “So he doesn’t talk?” she asked.

“Not often,” Zoelyn answered with a shrug. “How did you even know he was here? I wasn’t even sure that he had followed me.”

“I can see Blights,” Jala explained with a wink and looked to Valor once more. “He doesn’t seem to be hostile. What do you want to do?” Valor shrugged and leaned back more fully against the wall. “Offer him a room at the house would be the polite thing to do. Between you and Emily if he chooses to step out of line he won’t make it far,” he suggested with a smirk.

“You are going to let him stay with me?” Zoelyn gasped, her eyes moving between the two of them quickly. No one in Arovan would have accepted a Blight so easily.

“We judge by actions, not blood. You will see when you get to Merro,” Valor explained with a grin and turned to look back at Shade. “So what did Jala ask you to do?” He asked casually as if the matter of a Blight on the ship were no longer of importance.

Zoelyn watched them both carefully, but their attention truly did seem to have moved on. She had expected an interrogation at the very least.

“Stop at one of the islands in the Black Sea on the way back to Merro,” Shade replied without hesitation.

“Why would she want to do that?” Valor asked, his grin widened and he turned his head to watch Jala as she crossed her arms and stared at the two men.

“Because she is a flaming nutter with a death wish,” Shade offered with a shrug.

“I am not the flaming nutter on this ship. I have never once destroyed a city with exploding goblins,” Jala clarified. “Ya? Well I’ve never won a battle because my enemies had to pee either,” Shade shot back sounding a bit indignant. “It worked, didn’t it?” Jala snapped, though there didn’t appear to be any true anger in her voice.

“So did the goblins,” Shade pointed out with a smirk.