Page 14
Chapter Fourteen
Corallin
T he fire of the inn crackles as I stop near the front. This inn is one of the smaller ones that my father bought out after killing the owner.
Elwis the Eel takes his innkeeping very seriously. After all, it’s quite a cutthroat business. At least… he makes it that way.
The first inn he ever owned was originally bought for my mother as their wedding present, but when father isn’t off running a criminal empire, he’s helping her run the business. And it’s his love language to make certain that mother’s inn is the most successful in the whole country.
If that means he has to murder his competition and feed their guests rat poison, then that’s just how it is. Then afterwards father can buy another inn and gift that to my mother as well. This inn is one of their more recent acquisitions and still has the old signage out front.
It’s romantic, in a bit of a twisted way. Leaves me wondering if I’ll ever find that kind of love. It’s a question that I’ve been dwelling on especially recently since Natasya and Bronwyn have both brought home suitors.
It’s hard because my sisters are both so much younger than me. Due to my lapses in memory, I don’t even know by how many years, but since elves age twice as slowly as humans, I know that I lived for at least thirty years to be the age I am now. And then there’s no knowing how long I was a vampire.
But the difference is that I’m trapped always at this age, and I had to watch as my sisters passed me and blossomed into full grown women while I’m trapped forever frozen at this state of my life.
My younger sisters are now older than me— in the equivalent of our ages by maturity.
They’re moving on with their lives, they’ve both found someone, and they seem so happy.
My father and mother are happy.
I wonder if I’ll ever find that happiness, but I can’t help but wonder who would fall for a vampiric Higher Elf sorceress. My hands are stained red with the blood of the assassination contracts I’ve fulfilled. Anyone I bring home will have to come to terms with my criminal family and they in turn would have to accept him.
It’s too much to ask of anyone to take me as I am.
I’m not even sure why I’m thinking about this. It’s been a long day, another soul has been sent to Skyhold, and tonight I’ll return to my father. I’m just stopping at this inn because I need a place to rest until the sun sets.
I’m about to tell the innkeeper whose daughter I am and demand a room where I can rest till evening, but then someone catches my eye.
It’s a man, a Highlander sitting at the table in the back of the room. I’m not sure what draws my attention to him. Perhaps it is the aura of mystery that he exudes of why he would be staying at the inn during the day instead of traveling on his way. We aren’t in any city; the weather is pleasant enough for a non-vampire. This is the type of inn that is just a stop in the journey, not somewhere you stay long term.
Or maybe it is his rugged exterior, with golden hair pulled back in a bun and a thick beard that covers half his face. Rippling muscles and an arm tattooed to resemble the sleeve of a shirt only with smaller pictures tell of a life of adventure.
Or maybe it’s the fact that despite how he looks, he is sitting at a desk hunched over an open book furiously scribbling into it, but I find myself striding toward him.
I pull out the chair across from him and slide into it. “Hello,” I say after a moment. “I’m Corallin,”
He looks up, clearly confused by my presence, but he still manages to muster up a polite smile and nod. “Lief,” he says and then he returns to scribbling.
“What are you doing?” I ask, leaning forward and resting my hand on my chin.
Lief looks up startled. I wonder if he thought I’d left after our little introduction. He’s clearly absorbed in that book that he is writing in. He glances down at it, and his cheeks grow slightly rosy.
I tilt my head. “Are you embarrassed?”
“No,” he says hastily followed by a muttered, “Maybe. I don’t see how this is any business of yours.”
“It might not be,” I say offering him a small smile so he will stop being so on edge. “But humor me, it isn’t as if your profession can be any worse than mine.”
After all, I kill people. Not even for a living, I kill because it runs in my family, and it’s expected of me.
Lief closes the book, placing the quill to the side. “I think I should go,” he says as he grabs the ink.
I’m not entirely sure what possesses me, but I reach across the table, resting my hand on his. “Don’t go. Please.”
Lief pauses, his eyes locked on my hand over his. I wonder if he notices how cold my touch is—a byproduct of being a vampire. I curl my fingers, pulling back.
Finally, he nods and sits back down. He sets down the ink quill and opens the book. “Fine, if you must know. I’m an author, but please don’t tell anyone.”
“Why not? Are you ashamed?”
“You ask an awful lot of questions,” he mutters as he studies me.
I shrug in response.
“No, I’m not ashamed,” he says with a sigh. “But that doesn’t mean my father isn’t.”
I exhale a breath as I slump into my chair. That much I understand. “I know the pressures of family expectations better than most.”
Lief nods in commiseration before he sighs. He turns back to the book. “Well, I had better get on with this…”
“Lief?” I say as he picks up a pen. He looks up at me and I give him another smile, this one feels more genuine. “I think it’s nice that you’re a writer. It’s a noble trade. It must be a peaceful life.”
Lief gives me a look like, should we interrupt them ? But I can’t get over what that woman Talyria said.
She is over a thousand years old? She claims that she was a vampire? How could she have lost the night kiss? I hadn’t realized that such a thing was possible. I thought that a vampiric state was inalterable.
And to claim to be the Thief Queen?
My father has been obsessed with stories of the Thief Queen, even coming to fear in recent years that she may have somehow come back. Even though the Thief Queen’s reign was over a thousand years ago, such a thing was a possibility. After all, the famed original uniter of the thief and assassin guilds was a vampire, and therefore, immortal.
Elwis modeled his own rise to power after the stories of this Talyria Undying.
He even found me while trying to locate the Thief Queen’s burial place.
Is it possible?
But how can it be….
This woman clearly believes what she is saying. So, either she is raving mad or she’s telling the truth.
Could she have been also telling the truth about being my sister from a different life? Is she the key to my long-lost past?
As I ponder it, I realize I’m not actually very surprised. Of course, I would be in a criminal family in both my past and my present. A life of stealing and killing seems to be something that I can never escape. I was born for it, whether I want it or not.
Lief places his hand on my shoulder, getting my attention back to him and our current predicament. We are hiding underneath the bed, we both ducked under it when we heard the commotion in the hallway only for it to turn out to be Talyria and Victor.
We came here for that spellbook, it’s essential to me being able to earn favor for Lief. Who Talyria is and how she relates to me is of secondary importance. Even if my soul longs to know more about my past, my mind knows that no matter what it was and who I was, it cannot be changed.
My future though? It is very much on the line, and my actions now will determine what future I get. Will it be a future with Lief?
Or a future where I am the daughter who failed my father?
But maybe who I was can answer the question of who I want to be. Because I’ve lived my whole life up to the point unsure of what I’ve been doing and what I even wanted from my life. I don’t think I want to kill or steal my whole life, always striving to be more powerful and three steps ahead of everyone else. That may be fine for my father, for my whole family really, but I’ve never been satisfied with this life.
And maybe the only way to learn what sort of life I’d be interested in is to figure out who I was before Elwis the Eel found me.
I roll toward Lief until my chest is pressed against his shoulder. “Trust me,” I whisper to him, a soft phrase that I’m not even sure if he heard.
Until he nods and says, “Always.”
I find myself smiling as my hand moves through the shadows under the bed until I find his hand. I give it a quick squeeze and then I roll out from under the bed. I leap to my feet, the agility of practiced years guiding me more than any conscience thought. Lief lumbers slowly to his feet on the other side of the bed, his knee making a popping sound as he stands.
Both Victor and Talyria whirl at that.
“How long have you been there?” Talyria asks, her eyes widening.
“What exactly were you doing down there?” Victor demands, his eyes narrowing.
Lief naturally betrays himself by allowing his cheeks to go bright red. “I assure you it isn’t what it looks like.”
“Oh, really?” Talyria asks, jutting out her hip and resting her hand on it. “Because it looks like you were eavesdropping on us.”
“Then it’s exactly what it looks like, Thief Queen,” I reply as I fold my arms and study her.
“Watch it, sister,” Talyria snaps. “I’m not in the mood for your teasing.”
“So, I was a teaser?” I ask, tilting my head. I lower my arms. That doesn’t sound like me. I’m so quiet, so serious.
Talyria arches her brow. “Do you truly not remember any of it?”
I glance down at my boot as I rub it against the floorboards. I spot two rings lying on the floor, but then I decide that those aren’t important. I glance up. “I want to listen to you and trust you, but given all the secrets you have been keeping I’m not sure if I can.”
Victor hides his face behind his hand at that.
“Except…” Talyria prompts. “You have an angle, Corallin. I know that. I know you .”
“Show me an act of good faith,” I say as I glance at Lief out of the corner of my eye. I watch his eyes light up as he realizes what I’m doing. The corner of his lip turns up, visible by his beard shifting slightly as he watches me proudly. “Give me Valentine’s old spellbook.”
“Very well,” Talyria says.
“Not very well,” Victor protests, I watch as his hand goes into the pocket of his coat. Where he must have put the spellbook. He moves back, strangely possessive over a spellbook. He couldn’t have figured out the significance of that book, could he have?
Talyria looks back at him then turns to me. “Tell me this one thing, Corallin. Are you the killer?”
I watch as Victor’s eyes widen as he takes me in. “So, you’re a sorcerer too? Is there anyone here who isn’t a sorcerer?”
“Says the sorcerer,” I counter.
Lief slowly raises his hand. “I am not a sorcerer.”
I can’t help the little chuckle at his interjection. As a Highlander, it’s impossible for him to use sorcery even if he had wanted to. And I’m not sure he would have. Lief is a good person, I doubt he would willingly choose a life of revulsion and defiance of the gods. Which makes me wonder why he willingly chose me, but then I suppose people act in crazy ways for love.
“I’m not the killer,” I state when I realize that Talyria is waiting for my response. “Truly I’m not.”
Lief steps closer to me. “I can vouch for her.”
Talyria gestures between the two of us. “Since when have you been so friendly? He was the one who was initially accusing you.”
I peek at Lief out of the corner of my eye. That was just a part of our ruse to be strangers so that no one would suspect our illicit love. Of course that was before this all got out of hand. Apparently, my sister is here—and not either of the two I knew I had— and more people died. “We made up,” I said as an explanation. “Now are you going to give me the spellbook?”
“No,” Victor says just as Talyria begins to nod. She turns a sharp glare his way, and he levels her with a pointed look. “We need it to find the sorcerer.”
“We will help you find the sorcerer then,” Lief interjects before an argument can break out. And given the stony glares that Talyria and Victor are giving each other, an argument is coming. “Then you can give Corallin the spellbook and we all go on our merry way.”
Talyria finally peels her gaze from Victor and looks me up and down. “Why do you want the spellbook anyway? It isn’t as if you can use it.”
“My reasons are my own. Will we help each other or not?”
Talyria begins to nod, but Victor looks dangerously close to saying no when suddenly the door bursts open. We all whirl on it, reaching for our weapons but Estelle is the only person to step through. “Look who I found hiding in a nearby room,” she declares as she steps aside to reveal Lek.
Victor straightens as he reaches up to stroke his beard. “That means only the guard is unaccounted for.”
The guard? It’s true that he is a Lowlander and thus capable of sorcery, but is he actually capable of doing the deed? I suppose it’s time we found out. After all, once we get to him, I’m one step closer to getting my hands on that spellbook. And to possibly learning a bit more about my past.