The Crow King's Wife (The Elder Blood Chronicles #5)(124)
Shade gaped at him for a breath then nodded unsure if he was amused or disturbed by Grim’s words. The man had essentially labeled himself as a self-created * and seemed rather proud of the fact. At an utter loss of what to say or how to react to that kind of admission Shade simply nodded with pursed lips and raised an eyebrow. “A deal?” he inquired with more than a little curiosity. He couldn’t help but wonder what Grim could want from him that required him to bare his soul so completely.
“Blackwolf and Blue Bess crafted me into the creature I am today.” Grim began slowly and Shade could tell he was trying to choose his words very carefully so there was no confusion. “When they exiled me they laid the foundation for the Bloody Huntsman. I do not regret what I am, but I don’t want to repeat their mistake. I look at Syrah and I see Evanell and I want to destroy everyone that took my wife from me when I know I should be comforting my daughter instead. I am holding so much anger inside right now that Syrah will suffer from my presence alone. I need guidance past this or she will end up just as broken as we are. I tried to send her to my Aunt in Arovan, but she refused it. She wants to remain with me, but she can’t seem to understand what kind of danger that puts her in right now. You have what I lack, Shade. You have compassion and you are the key to Syrah’s salvation if you are willing to help me.”
“Grim I am as good as dead. Unless you can summon my spirit back from the Darklands to tell Syrah bedtime stories I fail to see how I am anyone’s salvation right now. How can you ask me to save a child after seeing the wreck I’ve made of my own life?” Shade protested bitterly.
“Help me and I will help you, Shade. Keep me from destroying my daughter and in turn I will devote every ounce of my power to whatever purpose you point me toward. I am a weapon, and even Myth can fall before me.” Grim returned without a trace of hesitation in his voice.
“I think you are underestimating Myth.” Shade cautioned with a frown.
“I know you are underestimating me.” Grim countered with a smirk and raised an eyebrow. “I’ll even take you on a finding if you agree to my deal.”
“A finding?” Shade asked in confusion. It wasn’t a term he was familiar with, and wasn’t about to agree to anything until he understood it.
“It’s a Glis tradition. For a Shifter it is to spend time in each of your forms until you find the one you have harmony with. You have infinite forms so obviously I cannot offer that. I can show you how to separate your lives though so you won’t give yourself away with habits by blending your lives together.” Grim clarified.
“I don’t know about the finding, but as to the rest you have a deal. I really don’t think you understand though. Myth is much more dangerous than Grace was, and my mother gave you a very good fight.” Shade sighed.
“I was trying to die when I faced Grace not to mention that I was poisoned, wounded and fighting several Rivasans when I fought her. I made a deal with Ryvenken when I first declared Kevala’drin. In essence if I lived through the fight my body belonged to the sword. I didn’t plan to live because of that. I have devoted my life to what I am, and I wasn’t about to hand over that much power to a sword that makes me seem like a caring person in comparison. Ryvenken is ruthless whereas I’m simply callous. There isn’t much difference, but it is there.” His serious expression shifted to a smile and he pushed off the wall. “Now then let’s examine this prison of yours and find your friend.” Grim suggested as if what he was proposing was the easy part and sharing his secrets had been the main obstacle of the day.
“Not so fast.” Shade said holding up a hand to stop Grim before he could rise. “My turn. If we are going to have full trust you deserve my side of things.” He explained as he kicked the gem toward Grim. “Fortunately for you someone took the time to make a gem of my life so you can sit back and watch the entire tragedy while I drink more and try to digest everything.”
Grim frowned briefly then gingerly picked up the gem and examined it. “What do you mean someone crafted it? You don’t know who made this gem?”
“Haven’t got a clue. I woke up with it on my nightstand and my ego has been in a downward spiral ever since. Go ahead enjoy and when you realize you have bargained away your daughter’s sanity to an idiot feel free to reconsider our arrangement. I won’t hold you to it I promise.” Shade said with a grin as he settled himself against the rail and reclaimed his bottle from the floor.
Grim nodded once before wrapping his fingers around the gem and closing his eyes. His face was neutral of all expression as he slowly turned the gem over in his hand to examine the memories concealed in each faucet. By the time he was done the bottle was empty and Shade was trying to decide if the mild buzz he felt was actually worth the horrible taste the wine left in his mouth.
“Shade.” Grim said carefully and waited until Shade met his eyes before he held up the gem. “I don’t know who crafted this, but they didn’t have your best intentions in mind when they did it. This wasn’t left to warn you, it was left to cripple you.”
“They are my memories. How can anyone possibly expect me to be crippled by knowledge that I already had?” Shade protested and had to resist the urge to laugh at Grim’s logic.
“It’s perspective Shade. The memories are fact but the ways they are portrayed are bias. My birth mother is a bard I know about perspective better than anyone else. Blue Bess tells stories about me across Arovan and Glis in an attempt to make every moment of my life seem like a heroic tale. She does it to save her own reputation. She doesn’t want anyone shunning her for spawning me. So she paints a pretty picture from every blood soaked mess I leave and everyone believes I am the good guy. This gem is the same exact thing. Someone has taken every moment of your childhood and painted motive on everything to make you seem like a puppet.” Grim explained calmly and shook his head in disgust as he tossed the gem back to Shade. “I could do the same thing with the time we spent in the Blight prison, but that wouldn’t make it the truth. I could pretend I manipulated you into freeing me, but the honest truth is that you did so by your own free will.”