Falsified (Tarnished Book 2)

30 The Enemy & Curses

I stood before the Old Crow and this time I sensed no animosity towards me or my friends. He just stood there staring at my body for a reaction. The air around me became dense as I tried to form a response. For as long as I was at his side, he did everything he could to keep me alive on the battlefield, and when I told him to let me die.

"How was it possible to heal me with your blood?" I wanted the truth about that day. His blood somehow saved me, and I knew there was more to it than that. "I was going to die, but what did you do to me then?"

Ravela frowned. "I did that because I felt a connection to you. All I did was cast a spell to accelerate the magic inside you to repair the wounds. It is known as blood magic which few people possess. It only works once though." He turned halfway and a grip formed at his side. "The power I was capable of is restrained to a fraction. I cannot be free, but you can." He tore his eyes away with a dull gleam forming in his pupils. "I tried to protect you in the library and as for the sand garden, you had already made up your mind as soon as the thief pointed his finger. I played the bad guy, but really all I wanted to do was protect my family. Ascelyn and you survived all this time, but I stayed my distance to protect the two of you."

So, he played the villain like the thief had but it still does not explain why he went through all the trouble of going that far for me?

"Suppose that was honest, what real proof do I have to go on? You admitted to me openly that I knew you were the villain. So, what changed?" I asked with a hand on my hip. "This whole affair is a matted mess of lies and deception, but you need to fess up now or regret it later."

"Kid, what are you trying to get him to admit?" Mesmer asked searching me from head to bare feet. "He never hurt you except with words."

"Prince or not, you have some nerve talking down to him." Zazi complained while my eyes remained on the Old Crow.

Ravela cried for the first time in front of me. "Of course, you do not believe me, hoping you will seem far-fetched at this rate." Those tears rolled down like desperate hope seeping away from him. "No matter what I say or do, he wins because he stole all that I held dear. I will admit the King of the Grove exists, but he is not the king though he claims otherwise." He made fists at his sides and tried to hide his frustration, but it was there.

I walked over to him and stopped a few feet from him. "You know, for once you are not hiding. That was where you should have started." I smiled at the shock on his face. "If what you speak of is the truth, then I am the one who should have noticed it."

"Does this mean you believe me?" Ravela rasped while all the others realized what it was that I was trying to do.

"Let me ask this, why just my pain?"

Ravela stared at me for a long moment and then shadows hid his eyes from me. He sighed and closed the distance between us. He hugged me. "Because I did not want you to suffer like I have been for all these years, Jaiden. He took my reputation, my body, my magic, and most of my family from me. I thought if I could do anything for them, I could ease the pain of what was left of our family."

I did not know how to describe his voice just now. I felt a hint of his heart still there beating in his chest. I instinctively felt this desperation in his hold on me like the slave girl in Pythagoras had. He really was not the one or he would have taken advantage of me from the start. "I care too deeply for a world that I don't know entirely. It was the reason I had for opposing the dangers that followed me. Ever since I was little, it felt as if I were being called out to grow."

Ravela withdrew from me and I felt something off. I searched over him, but nothing had changed from a moment ago. I closed my eyes to sense the auras heading for the palace, the other crest bearers. He could sense them too. I glanced at him surprised.