Page 47 of The Queen’s Shadow

Watching Raven pad down the stone steps in her bare feet, I knew she would be right there with me while I did it. I rolled my freshly healed shoulder and smirked. Ash Nevra was going to regret the day she ever fucked with us.

We would make sure of it.

Raven

Itried a few times to fill the table in the common room with food, but honestly, I didn’t really know where to start. I resolved to pick up some food in town after I went to see if my blades were ready.

If I had been anxious to get going before, it was nothing compared to now.

Jeremy had asked me if I was okay, and keeping it as high level as possible, I explained to him about how the traces worked and how Ash Nevra was torturing Amon to send me a message. I told him how what he had seen was basically the rage I had struggled to contain my entire life on steroids. Rycon had launched into a retelling of what had happened at the docks, to save me from having to do it. By the end, Jeremy looked pale, but almost proud at the same time.

He had seen the aftermath of what I had done, but he had also been the one to find Clair’s body. I’m sure, honest cop or not, he was happy to know that the person responsible for her death was no more.

Kael was just finishing up with my blades by the time I made it to the shop. She looked at me with a satisfied smirk painted on her face, like she knew she was a genius but was just too humble to say so out loud.

“Here you go,” She said, handing them to me, and I marvelled at her craftsmanship. “I made it so they are both double sided,” She explained, as I tilted them in the light. “This side is still just plain restructium, and can be used for more everyday uses. Then this side has been upgraded with the shadowstone. It adhered nicely to the restructium, I was pleasantly surprised. Because restructium is naturally resistant to most magicks, I thought I might have more trouble with it than I did.”

The shadowstone side of the blade seemed to gobble up the light of her shop, sucking it into the thin line of yawning blackness that the material seemed to embody.

“This is incredible, Kael, I can’t believe you were able to get this done so quickly.” I marvelled, “And with so little of the material.” I eyed the still relatively full batch of shadowstone she had on the worktable.

“Yes, building on existing weapons seems to be the way to go, especially if the goal is to mass produce.” Sabel agreed and I nodded.

“Speaking of that, Dossidian has set up a harvesting team. We should have more coming in soon. He and I need to make a trip to The Court of Greed, but he left instructions to his team to get you both set up with everything you might need to start production while we’re gone.” I handed them the letter he had left before taking Conrad and Meredith across The Veil with the name and contact information of the general he had assigned to the task. Sabel took it and nodded, her face serious.

“Yes, he stopped by here on his way back to the palace. He also mentioned your father and…Cerenah, I think he said her name was? Anyway, he said you would likely need some armor. Again, it was short notice so it’s off the rack, but based on the measurement’s Dossidian gave us, it should be just fine for now.”

I blinked, both surprised and thrilled at the same time. It hadn’t even crossed my mind to ask about armor for Jeremy and Cerenah. I would have to thank Dossidian later.

“I also have a few more things for you before you go.” Kael said, pulling out a shadowstone lined dagger and rapier.

The rapier gave me pause. I cringed at the sight of the thin blade, immediately thinking of The Siren and her blade, and how she had buried it in Conrad’s neck, nearly killing him. I pushed back the uncomfortable feelings and examined it closer. I saw that it, too, was coated in shadowstone.

“I would love an opportunity to get my hands on Dossidian’s sabers as well, but once I figured out the mechanics of it, I had time to forge these two as well. I figured you could distribute them to your friends as you saw fit.” Kael explained, and my eyes widened.

“Kael that… that would be wonderful thank you.” I said, sheathing my blades at my wrists before reverently taking the weapons from her.

“Of course, my Queen.” She said, meeting my gaze. “Anything we can do to help make sure no one has to endure what we endured, ever again.”

“That’s what we’re working towards… and again, please, call me Raven.” I smiled at them. Sabel touched my hand, her eyes shining.

“We know, And we believe that you will succeed.” She said, Kael nodding in agreement. I was touched by their kind words and the faith they seemed to have in me. But the memory of Amon’s bloody fingernails and Ash Nevra’s mouth on his made me cringe.

I wished I could be as sure as they seemed to be.

I grabbed some food from a nearby bistro before heading back up to the palace. Rycon nearly pounced on me as I rematerialized in the common room, tearing the takeaway boxes out of my arms. I supposed regenerating that arm really had worked up his appetite. He didn’t wait for any of us to sit down before digging in.

Jeremy shook his head at him before climbing into the pit and grabbing an artisan flatbread for himself. Cerenah hung back and I looked at her curiously.

“What’s up? You don’t like flatbreads?” I asked and she looked shocked at the question.

“No, I just… I just wasn’t sure if I was…um…” The realization hit me so hard I nearly staggered.

She didn’t think she was allowed to eat with us. I did my best to keep the horror off my face and forced a smile.

“Get in there, Cerenah, before it gets cold.” I tried to keep my voice light and encouraging, despite the familiar lick of rage that had ignited in my core. She hesitated for a moment, and Jeremy cleared his throat.

“Better hurry,” he said mildly, jabbing his thumb at Rycon, who was already helping himself to another portion, “get in here and grab some before Rycon polishes it all off.”