Page 18 of Forged in Fading

A small blaze sparked, and he removed the blanket hanging on her mother’s chair and gently laid it over her father’s body. Then he settled himself into the seat and leaned his head back. “Unfortunately, we don’t have much time.” The flames crackled, and he winced, shutting his eyes for a breath before removing his coat and wrapping it around Alvara. “We won’t be able to risk returning to your house. You’ll need to rest here until your body warms enough to travel.”

She was so tired. Tired of pain and loss, the endless questions that rattled her skull. “Where?” was all she could manage.

“What are your thoughts on Valo? I’ve heard it’s very charming this time of year.”

Alvara just stared at him, her mind numb. She didn’t care where she went. She didn’t care about anything anymore.

“King Einar has discovered who you are, Alvara. He believes you are aiding the humans and demi-elves, just as Eloisa did.” He rested his amber gaze on her father’s covered body. “This was a message to scare you, show you the extent of his power. To prove that he can and will take everything you love⁠—”

“He already has.” At least her father looked at peace. He was probably embracing her sister and mother right now, his face beaming with life. She wished that for him more than anything.

“Even when you believe you have nothing left for him to destroy, he finds a way.”

Alvara bundled his coat around her shoulders. “Why are you helping me? You work for him.” She couldn’t fathom what he might gain from helping her flee Dalvi.

He ran his hands through his thawing hair, frowning when water trickled down his face. “Yes, I do work for King Einar. He’s a pure delight, as you’ve witnessed. But for a decade, I have been funneling information and people to help rescue demi-elves and humans from his clutches.”

No one seemed to understand that Alvara didn’t give a damn about this so-called movement. She clung to the anger that surfaced—something solid amid this horror. “That didn’t answer my question.” Her temper flared, and before she knew what was happening, her magic had smothered the fire. She resisted the urge to lie down as her head spun and instead spoke through clenched teeth. “Tell me.”

The Nyrian elf pinched the bridge of his nose as if Alvara was the most frustrating thing he’d encountered that day. “Of course, I would rescue the one person who possesses the magical abilities of a ten-year-old. Do you know if there is any decent food in this house? Tea?”

Tea? What was this, a godsdamned party? Alvara pointed in the direction of the kitchen. He was useless and unlikely to give her any more information. It wouldn’t matter anyway. Wherever he would take her had to be better than the violence that would find its way to her doorstep.

But the Nyrian elf didn’t leave. Instead, he helped her up, leading her in silence into the kitchen, out of sight of her father. She slumped to the ground and stared at a small notch in the counter. From one of her first attempts as a youngling to practice weaponry at home.

Crashes and clangs rang out, only exacerbating the thumping in her head, but she couldn’t bother herself to see what that damn male was doing.

A moment later, he offered her a plate of tea biscuits she was fairly sure had been in the cupboards since before Eloisa passed. “This was all I could find, but it will have to do for now. Eating is the best method for regaining the energy you spent with your magic. I also put the rather rusty kettle on the stove.”

She bit into one, forcing her teeth to grind it into a dry powder. A warm bed, free from the terrors that followed her every footstep—that was what she needed to find her strength again. Not a biscuit that tasted like its own form of torture.

“I heard what he was planning to do to your father.” The food turned to sawdust in her mouth as he spoke. “I volunteered to watch the house and capture you when you inevitably visited, in the hope that I could find a way to save his life and help you escape. But the king has grown impatient. Reckless. He acted before I could arrive. I truly was hoping to prevent all of it, Alvara. After what happened to Eloisa, I couldn’t sit idly by and watch him tear her family to shreds. Your sister gave everything to help us.”

“I’m not Eloisa.” Alvara swallowed the dry lump. She was nothing like her selfless sister. Even less so now.

He chuckled, an odd sound in a place filled with such loss. “I’m beginning to realize that. You may not see it now, but you have fire in you. I know, because my knee still bears a bruise from your escape attempt.” He slid the plate of biscuits onto the counter and tapped the spot she had injured. “That fire is precious, just like Eloisa was and still is to those who knew her. It can help us start a blaze the king won’t be able to stop, build a new future your sister dreamed of and sacrificed her life for.” His next words were gentle. “I won’t force you to leave with me; it’s your decision. You can choose to stay here and risk the king’s wrath or join us and make a difference, just as Eloisa did.”

Alvara thought of her father in the next room, of the trail of blood that would forever mar the floor and memories of her youngling home. “Who killed him?” She had to know if she ever hoped to move on one day.

“A human.”

“And you want me to help them?” she gritted out, digging her nails into her palms.

The whistle of the kettle sliced through the air, and the Nyrian elf lifted a finger and turned away. When he returned with two steaming mugs, Alvara wanted to be anything but grateful, though she couldn’t help but relish the warmth that settled into her fingers as she wrapped them around her cup.

He sipped his drink and sputtered, spewing liquid all over the floor. “Good gods, what is this abomination?”

“Pine needle tea. It was his favorite.” A cup every morning with his favorite book. For Vitharen’s sake, why was she talking about this when her father had just been murdered? “A human did this?”

The Nyrian elf set his mug down and glared at it as if it had personally offended him. “More humans than you might think enter our realm through Ela. Many come desperate for Elan healing magic, while others are searching for opportunities for a better life. Some find what they seek, but those captured by King Einar undergo unspeakable horrors.” His gaze lost focus as he stared unblinking at the wall. “The king has even started forcing them to hurt and kill elves in other kingdoms so he can encourage hostility between our peoples. Either they kill who he commands, or he will kill everyone they love.”

He rubbed his wrist, the same one that bore the odd tattoo of a fawn, and his voice quieted to a hush. “They’ve been made to do terrible things, Alvara, I’m not arguing otherwise. Most of them felt they had no other choice. What would you have done for Eloisa?”

Anything. The word floated to the top of her mind without even so much as a thought. She would have done anything to keep Eloisa alive, and her sister believed in this cause so much that she was willing to fade for it.

Alvara’s choices were abysmal. Stay here and fade or join the humans and demi-elves and probably still fade, but at least she could make an impact, as her sister had. Make her life mean something. There was nothing left here for her anyway.

Maybe it was the fact that he had taken the time to find her food and tea—tended to her as if she were worth something. Maybe she knew her life couldn’t get any worse if she went with him. Maybe she truly didn’t care anymore if she faded, like the rest of her family.