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I hoped a degree of understanding about that elusive northern court might help, but instead of feeling better, my anxiety increases with each line of the dusty books.
I'm appalled by the barbaric customs of the two islands.
A country mostly populated by bears, seals, and wolves, Ravelyn was originally two prisons, built in the north and south poles. Gods and mortals sent offenders they didn’t want to or couldn’t kill, either to be banished or locked away.
The commons died in time, but immortals are hard to kill, and their descendants adapted to the extreme temperature, becoming the demi subrace we now call coldbloods.
They aren't just one type of demi, like witches or shifters or the fair folk; coldbloods may be any of the above, and hold power over the temperature on top of it.
That explains how Zale Devar almost managed to steal away my will. His primary power is manipulating minds, not ice.
The more I read about the line of the monarch ruling over the frozen wasteland, the more certain I am that I never should allow myself to stand within ten yards of the evil bastard.
After the gods were sent to the eternal realms, the prisons at the poles were demolished, and one halfblood earned the title of king in the north by tearing everyone who objected apart: Tryn Du Var, a bloodsucking monster banished from Flaur.
The Du Var line issued from a mortal and Velenor himself. As in the god of the shade, personification of evil on Xhera.
Witches and demis have long waged a campaign to explain that shade and light are simply elemental magiks, and that using one or the other doesn't define anyone's character. I call bullshit. There's a reason why children are afraid of the dark, why the horrors happen in the shadow. Dark witches have been known to manipulate corpses. I don't care if they like bunnies and butterflies. If Velenor and Mara, goddess of light, appeared in front of me, I know which one I’d be running away from, screaming at the top of my lungs: the king of shade.
Tryn reinvented himself as Devar, rejecting the family that banished him, and became the first king of northern Ravelyn. Then he set out to take the southern pole and dethroned the queen of crows who ruled there. He must have either seduced or raped her, because she bore his heir. She was high fae, and their child inherited both of their power, as well as all of their wickedness.
The Devars aren't bloodsuckers or fair folk, they're the worst of both.
I stop reading and shut the book, frustrated and sufficiently terrified.
Grandma Lyn had of the mind that knowledge is power, and she transmitted that belief to me. Now I have concrete proof she was right. If I'd known everything about Zale Devar earlier this summer, I would have learned to curtsy and keep my mouth shut, except to say "yes, sir."
I snort, recognizing my self-deception. I know better. Even aware of the consequences, I wouldn't have been able to make myself small to placate him. It's not in my nature.
I return to my suite and start the ritual I am fast getting used to at the end of the day: preparing a bubble bath, with flutes and piano playing in the background.
I’ve only just sunk into the delightfully warm water when a knock at my door disrupts my enjoyment.
I groan, pout, but get out of the tub all the same. “Coming!”
Two dorm employees greet me, armed with several boxes each. “Delivery for one Helyn Stovrj?”
I’m confused and chary, but my expression clears when I realize Johel did say she’d send clothes this week.
I open my door wide to let them in, just as Zale walks past my room, dressed all in black, hands in his pockets, and followed by half a dozen students, all as pale and slender as he.
I recognize Gyrth from alchemy, but the rest are unfamiliar.
I tense, expecting a confrontation, but if the king sees me, he doesn’t acknowledge me.
Shit.
He knows where my suite is now. I shut my door, and lock it for good measure.
“Where do you want the packages, my lady?”
Oh.
I completely forgot about the delivery.
“My bed, if you please.” I lead the way, out of the hall and into the beige, tragically boring, luxurious, and immense room.
It took me days to get used to the sheer size of the place. I keep the curtain closed most of the time, just to retain some semblance of the sense of encasement I’m familiar to.
