Kiva stared at him for a long moment, then asked, “What family heirloom?”
“A dagger,” Zuleeka answered, frowning into her now-cold tea. “Torvin Corentine’s dagger, passed down from generation to generation. It was known far and wide as a symbol of his reign. When Mother decided to lead the rebels, she knew having that dagger would help solidify her position, offering proof of her — our — bloodline. But Delora refused to part with it.”
“She’s an apothecary,” Tor shared. “My guess is that she’s spitting on our ancestors by using that dagger as her work blade. You know how apothecaries are — they bond with their blades and never let them go. Some even ask to be buried with them.” He shook his head as if to clear his thoughts and said to Zuleeka, “This isn’t a good idea. You and I may not have magic, but there has to be someone else who can help.”
“Delora might be difficult, but she’s Kiva’s best bet,” Zuleeka argued.
“Where do I find her?”
Both Torell and Zuleeka turned at her question. Seeing the serious look on her face, Tor said, “We won’t be able to go with you. She made it very clear that we weren’t welcome to return.”
“I got that, what with her threatening you,” Kiva said. “But I don’t need a babysitter. Just directions.”
“She might not help you,” Tor warned. “She wanted nothing to do with —”
“Tor, please,” Kiva interrupted quietly. “I have to try.”
“She lives in a cottage at the edge of the Crewlling Swamplands, just beyond the Wildemeadow,” Zuleeka said, ignoring Tor’s disapproving look. “There’s a small settlement nearby called Blackwater Bog — you can find it on any map. Head there and ask the first person you see about Murkwood Cottage. They’ll point you straight to her.”
“Thank you,” Kiva said with deep gratitude.
“Kiva —”
“I’ll keep my expectations low,” she interrupted Tor. “But if there’s even a chance that she can help me, I have to go to her.”
She could see how much he hated this plan, but he finally offered a terse nod and said, “Just — be careful. Delora is unpredictable. And she has a very unusual guard dog. The kind you don’t want biting you.”
Hearing Zuleeka’s snort, Kiva decided it was better not to ask.
“I need to go back to Oakhollow soon,” she said. “Rhess knows I’m meeting you, but I still think I should be back before she returns to the tavern.”
“Rhess?” Zuleeka asked, her eyes flitting to Tor in question. But he hadn’t met her, having arrived at the Tippled Boar long after she’d left.
“Rhessinda Lorin,” Kiva answered. “A healer from Silverthorn. She does house calls in the village, and when she heard I wanted to come here, she offered to be my guide.”
“You’re meeting all kinds of people lately, aren’t you?” Zuleeka murmured.
“Not really,” Kiva returned with a hint of attitude. “So far I’ve been too busy getting abducted by my own family, tortured by a prince, and befriended by a queen who unknowingly ruined my life. That doesn’t leave me much time to socialize.”
Tor leaned in close, his eyes suddenly blazing. “What do you mean, ‘tortured by a prince’？”
Kiva quickly put him at ease. “Caldon has been teaching me to fight. Or that’s the intention. For now, he’s just making me regret my last ten years of malnutrition and inactivity.”
Tor’s tension dissolved. “You’re training with Prince Caldon?”
“Being tortured,” Kiva reminded him. “I’m being tortured by Caldon.”
“What a waste of time,” Zuleeka said with clear humor. “The only weapon you’ll ever need is right at your fingertips.”
Kiva looked down at her palms. “Magic isn’t a weapon.” She thought of what the Vallentis family could do, and added, “Mine isn’t, at least.”
“Magic is what you make it,” Zuleeka argued. “It’s a tool you bend to your will.”
“Weapons hurt people,” Kiva said. “My magic heals people.”
“You said yourself that you’ve been repressing it for a decade. You have no idea what it can do. What you can do.”
Before Kiva could say anything to that, Tor cut in.
“There’s no point to this conversation,” he said, with a firm look at Zuleeka. “If you want to be back at the tavern before Rhessinda, we should get going.”