The Blessed Curse (The Elder Blood Chronicles, #4)(83)

“Ignore them. Valor has it covered. Just worry about focusing,” Jala’s voice was calm and soothing behind her and she glanced back toward the High Lady. She looked tired as she often did lately, but her bearing was still that of a leader. No matter what the situation was, Jala always looked in control.

“I don’t want them to see what happens,” Zoelyn whispered as her gaze dropped to the ground. She hated the look on a stranger’s face when they witnessed her draining something. It was always a look of revulsion and no matter how often she told herself that she didn’t care what they thought, the simple truth was, she did care.

“The goal is to touch the plant without draining its life, so if you focus, maybe they won’t see anything,” Jala pressed in an encouraging voice. She sighed heavily and moved forward beside Zoelyn, leaning over closer. “Honestly I wish they had chosen another area to talk, but Valor chose here and I can’t run them off. Don’t worry about Jail, he will understand and would no doubt be interested in your talents. The scouts won’t be here long and their attention is fully focused on Valor right now. Just try to ignore them, please.”


Zoelyn nodded slowly and swallowed heavily. Her eyes locked on the blooming rose before her. Slowly she lifted her hand as she focused all of her will on containing her curse. With the faintest touch she brushed her fingertips across the leaves and felt her heart sink as the leaves withered and blackened. “Damn it,” she hissed as she dropped her hand back down and backed away from the rose. She didn’t look behind her at all. She didn’t want to see if anyone else had noticed.

“It’s OK. Wisp will fix it and we will try again tomorrow,” Jala said gently. “You are too nervous right now to focus. Maybe we should work with the mage stones instead?”

“Wisp has got to be sick of healing the plants daily and seeing no improvement from me. It’s been over a week and I still can’t grasp a single thing Seth said I could do,” Zoelyn’s frustration broke through as she spoke and she shook her head at Jala in both apology and surrender. “What if Neph was right? What if Seth was just feeding me false hope?”

“Why would he? What does he gain from it?” Jala countered with the same patience she always seemed to have.

Zoelyn knew she had to be growing as frustrated as Wisp. Jala barely had time to manage the affairs of her country and yet she still took the time to try to help her learn. “Why haven’t you given up on me yet?” Zoelyn asked in a soft voice.

Jala smiled at her. “Because I never give up on anything I believe in,” she returned gently as she glanced toward the garden gate. “And look we have more company, and it’s Noble. What a surprise,” she sighed as she watched the knight approach them with a crate tucked under one arm.

Zoelyn smiled faintly and nodded in greeting as Noble stopped near them with a beaming smile on his handsome face.

“Lady Jala, Lady Zoelyn,” Noble said as he bowed slightly.

“Ahh. Noble what a surprise to see you again,” Jala said dryly, her eyes narrowing as she stared at him. “Didn’t we just see you yesterday at around this time? What was that urgent business again? Something about a horse?”

“A foal was born and I thought you might wish to see it,” Noble replied innocently as he shifted the crate in his arms. His long hair was pulled back in a loose ponytail and his uniform was immaculate. He was perfection and the smug smile he wore showed how well he knew it.

“It’s amazing how things always seem to require my attention while I am working with Zoelyn,” Jala continued. She rolled her eyes and glanced over at Zoelyn who simply smiled in return.

In truth, Zoelyn liked Noble. He was always kind and even in Arovan he had tried to help her, despite hearing her called Undrae. The fact that he was handsome didn’t hurt either. He always had a smile for her, and it seemed like his eyes were on her more than Jala. The attention was nice, even if she didn’t really know how to react to it. So his visits never bothered her as much as they seemed to irritate Jala.

“So what is it today, Noble?” Jala asked with an exaggerated sigh, her gaze flicking to the crate in the knight’s arms.

“The first shipment from Firym arrived. I thought you might want to see what they sent, so I brought a sample of everything,” Noble informed her as he opened the crate and held it out for her to look inside.

“Ahh. Of course that couldn’t wait,” Jala agreed with sarcasm dripping from her voice.

“Milady, I think you may be spending too much time with Lord Delvay,” Noble returned with a grin.

Zoelyn ducked her head to hide her smile as Jala glared at the young knight and dug around in the crate he held. With a faint smile forming on her lips Jala lifted an orange and a banana from the crate.

“Fruit,” Jala pronounced raising an eyebrow at Noble. “Fruit was important enough to interrupt lessons?” she asked as she waved a hand toward Zoelyn beckoning her forward. “Here hold this,” Jala ordered shoving the banana toward her as she moved closer.

“Jala, I can’t,” Zoelyn objected as the High Lady smacked the banana down in her hand. The last breath of life held in the fruit vanished the moment it touched her bare skin and Zoelyn stared down in disgust at the lump of black rotted pulp in her hand. “I can’t touch it without my gloves,” she finished softly, but Jala’s gaze was locked on Noble with a savage smile on her beautiful face.