The Blessed Curse (The Elder Blood Chronicles Book 4)(59)

“I’d love an explanation,” Neph said quietly, his eyes searching her face for any remorse for what she had just done.

“The Morcaillo are Changelings,” Jala began, her eyes following Sovaesh as he disappeared through the temple door. “I don’t harbor ill will toward them for that sole reason, however. As I say, often I judge by merit, not by blood. These Changelings, however, have proved themselves enemies with their manipulations. I would face them in honorable combat or challenge them directly if I could. They won’t face me, though, and everyone in this room knows it. They have existed the entire war in hiding and they will remain in hiding. The Blights failed to kill us off so they will find another way to attain their goal.” She paused and dropped her hand firmly to the table. “I cannot allow them to stab us in the back again. The only way to stop them is to kill them and the only way I have to do that is Sovaesh,” Jala finished, her eyes moving from man to man once more and then settling on Neph again. “It is cowardly in your eyes to use an Assassin and I regret that I may have lost your respect by doing so, but as far as I see it, I have no choice. You are the one that taught me magic, Neph. You drilled it into my skull for countless hours that you use the most efficient magic to preserve your strength. I could waste my own time attempting to find these creatures and then pray that I would be able to pin them down in a fight, but I can’t waste the strength. Sovaesh is the most efficient way.” “Vaze found them,” Havoc pointed out with anger still lacing his words.

“I did not find the creatures. I found the method that was used. It would take me months to track down a Changeling in hiding if I wanted to put forth the effort. I spent nearly a year trying to find the true Myth Morcaillo and while I have my suspicions, I still can’t say for a fact that I know where she is,” Vaze corrected.

“How is Sovaesh going to locate them, then?” Havoc demanded.

“He is one of them. He thinks like them and he has more experience in locating his prey than they have in hiding,” Vaze answered.

“Once Sovaesh has eliminated the controllers, Shade will move into Glis to make contact with the Blights. I have arranged a territory for them to call their own that will not put any other lands at risk with their presence,” Jala said, her words pushing the conversation past the objections.

“What territory?” Zach asked as he settled into his chair once more. The expression on his face wasn’t one of acceptance, but for the time being he seemed willing to tolerate the situation.

“Tevonale,” Jala answered simply.

“The cursed isles? While I agree that is a fitting place for Blights, I doubt you are going to convince them to stay there,” Havoc observed dryly.

“I raised Tevonale. The territory is no longer cursed,” Jala informed them quietly and the room fell silent.

Neph shook his head slowly and rubbed his face. “When?” he asked a bit sharper than he intended. So much was going on that he had absolutely no idea about that his frustration was hard to contain. The Jala he knew before never kept so many secrets from him, and yet here he was finding out everything at the last moment.

“After the council meeting last night,” Jala answered gently.

Jala watched him for a long moment and Neph could see the pleading in her eyes. She needed him to support her, but she was making it damned difficult for him. Neph nodded silently and motioned with his hand for her to continue. He couldn’t summon appropriate words at the moment. In all honesty, he wanted to shake her until her teeth rattled for all of the vague and cryptic behavior she had shown him recently.

“I understand the harsh feelings the other High Lords have and I, too, felt the same way about the Blights at one time. I was wrong and so are they. I knew the moment I left that council that the Blights must have a land without borders to another country. Tevonale is just that. They will be isolated until they find acceptance.” Jala’s voice rose with her conviction and she let out a long sigh. “We have to have peace and we need the Blights as allies for the exact reason that Arjuna argued we should kill them. They are strong and their numbers will grow swiftly and by all of the Divine we need them. We are so weak right now that another push from our enemies and we will be gone.”

“And if the Blights grow too powerful and turn on us?” Neph asked. He couldn’t understand Jala’s complete reversal on the creatures. She had explained about the Barrier threads, but that didn’t change the basic nature of the creatures. They might be innocent in the same way an animal was, but that didn’t make them good allies.