The Blessed Curse (The Elder Blood Chronicles, #4)(82)

“All bark,” Zoelyn sighed and Neph’s hands tightened in response. He had never hit a woman, but he wasn’t entirely sure that Zoelyn qualified. “I honestly don’t know why Jala loves you so much. You are an ass,” she added with a slight shake of her head.

“You aren’t too sweet yourself,” Neph grumbled. Letting out a long sigh, he pulled on his magic once more and focused it into another stone. If this was Jala’s idea of punishment for drinking he would be having nothing but water until he returned to Delvay.

“I don’t see any reason to be nice to you. You are rude to everyone including your own people and as far as I’ve seen you haven’t done a thing to help Jala since you have been here,” Zoelyn pointed out in a matter of fact tone.

Neph glanced up at her but didn’t bother to dignify her remark with an answer. In truth, he hadn’t done as much as he would have liked to help Jala. The most he could really claim as work was helping Sovann with the portal project, and that wasn’t even the tip of what needed to be done. As Jala put it, they were in a holding pattern until Vaze returned with the information on Delvay. He dropped another stone to the bed and shrugged in response to her comment. “Why does it matter if you know what magic tastes like?” He asked in the friendliest voice he could manage. The last thing he wanted was Jala storming in later to bitch at him for being rude to her new pet. If he at least made an attempt to be nicer, maybe Jala would forget about the drinking, or at least not hold as much of a grudge.

“Seth says if I learn what the magic feels like, I can use it later,” Zoelyn explained hesitantly. “He says I’m more like a magic item than an actual mage, but it’s something. Right now, I have nothing but death, but if I learn maybe one day I can have more.”

“What?” Neph stared up at her in complete confusion and shook his head. “That’s not how siphons work. Seth is feeding you false hope.” “I’m not a siphon. I am an Undrae. We are another matter entirely. Seth says if I store healing magic and I recognize it for what it is I can use it when I need to. It won’t work on me, but it would work on Jala if she were hurt. I just have to learn how to recognize what I have absorbed,”

Zoelyn corrected him in a voice that brooked no argument.

Neph paused and rolled one of the mage stones on the bed as he watched her. He could see the desperation deep in her eyes. She needed to believe that one day she would have a purpose in life beyond destruction. From what he had seen of Zoelyn so far, she hated herself. Seth had given her something to distract her. He had given her hope. “I have never heard of Undrae. I thought it was the Glis word for monster,” he said quietly and returned to his magic. As much as he wanted to argue the point on siphons, he understood how important hope could be. Even if she never achieved what Seth had promised, at least she had something to take her mind off her self-loathing. That was another aspect of life he understood all too well. He didn’t exactly get along with Zoelyn, but he could relate with her. There were few things in life worse than being inadequate.

A faint thud from the wall behind him drew his attention and he stared at the altar by his door. One of the idols had fallen to the floor.

Most likely it had been knocked off balance by the damned slamming of the door earlier. With a heavy sigh and a glare in Zoelyn’s direction, Neph stood and walked to the altar.

“Seth says the Undrae were more common before the barrier. He has known them before and the stories he told me were amazing. He says if I learn enough, I can function like a mage on the battlefield and will only absorb the magic I want. Like, if there is a healer nearby I can focus on the fireballs in the distance rather than absorbing the healing magic near me. Or I could siphon a damaging spell from a friend without destroying their protective magics on their armor,” Zoelyn continued.

Neph paused as his hand wrapped around the idol and glanced back at her. He tried his best to keep the look of hope from his own face as he replayed her words in his mind. “You can learn to drain specific magics while not damaging others?” he asked quietly as he lifted the idol, his eyes still locked on Zoelyn.

She nodded slowly, her eyes flicking to the mage stones on the bed. “If I can learn how to taste the magics. So far I haven’t been able to. Seth says it will take a while, though. He says I have been starving for too long and it’s like asking a man starved for food what spices were in the dish you served him.” There was a note of discouragement in her voice but she smiled faintly and shrugged. “So I will keep trying until I can be useful or Jala runs out of time to help me.”

Neph stared at her for a long moment and slowly looked down at the idol of Fortune in his hand. He had been praying for years for a way to save Delvay and the Divine had finally answered him. His salvation had been delivered wrapped in black leather and attitude and at the moment she hated him. "Seth says a lot," he murmured as he carefully set the idol of Fortune back on the shelf with reverence.





Chapter 13





Merro





Sweat beaded on her face as the afternoon sun glared down at them. Zoelyn frowned and refocused herself trying to ignore the heat as well as the noise of the people behind her. Usually when she trained with Jala, the garden was empty, but today it was bustling. Scouts had arrived from the border and Jail was visiting from Sanctuary.