Burned

Chapter Fourteen

     “I thought mother killed you for helping us escape,” Valin said evenly, far faster recovered than the others and I were. “I didn’t expect to see you here.”

     Despite his cool exterior, I could see the turmoil beneath the surface. He had so many questions but they wouldn’t be asked. They would remain forever unanswered because that was just the sort of man Valin was.

     “I figured out a long, long time ago who our father was,” Veritas said gently, standing from the throne which was raised up several levels above the floor. It somehow only made the situation more intimidating. “I confronted mother about it and she shoved me beneath the castle in hopes I would never tell you. Because there is power in the wind.”

     “We need to breathe to survive,” he replied. “But we aren’t here for you. We are here to get answers about the—”

     “Kashi. Yes, I know.” Veritas started down the steps, running a hand through his hair. “Mother requested some soldiers and I supplied them in exchange for my freedom. Of course, with father gone…I was the only one to keep the Airen people alive.”

     “So you’ve haven’t been here that long.”

     Veritas shook his head and shifted his gaze past me—and to Clarity. His eyes widened in shock and he missed a step, nearly falling. He caught himself quickly and all I could think was how he didn’t really look or act like a royal in any sense.

     But years stuck in a frozen prison did that to you.

     “What…How is she…” Veritas’s mouth fell open a bit. “She was trapped within Acheron, wasn’t she? That was mother’s claim.”

     “Yeah, we’re still trying to figure that part out,” I added in sardonically. “That’s actually what we came here about in the first place.”

     Veritas rose a brow in confusion, eyes widening as he looked between all of us. The look on his face told us that he was not about to be happy about what he was going to hear.

     “I would kindly enjoy if one of you were to—”

     “Enlighten you?” I cut in.

     Veritas game me a look and not the good look either. It was one of those “how dare you speak when I am speaking” looks. All the Icen people were pushy. Then again…like mother like son. Especially in this case.

     “Yes,” he said thinly. “Enlighten me.”

     “You all are a bunch of idiots,” Clarity hissed, crossing her arms. “Veritas. Do you know how to free a Kashi from a body without killing the holder? If so, will you help us? If not…then I’m leaving you all.”

     “Still as spunky as ever, I see.”

     Clarity glared at him viciously, arms crossed before she turned away from him. I almost let out a laugh. Almost.

     “So is that a yes or a no?” I asked sharply, crossing my own arms as I glared. “Because I have more important things to do. Things like stopping your lovely mother from freezing the whole place.”

     “I don’t know,” he said, standing lithely and moving down the steps. “But I do know someone who might. An Airen native and rather old. But you wouldn’t guess that by seeing—“

     “This isn’t a good idea,” Valin said thinly, interrupting his brother. “We can’t trust him. Not after all he has done.”

     “Come now. Don’t you trust your brother in the slightest?”