Chapter 297 (2/2)
“It doesn’t produce any heat like a nor a black fire on the tip of her finger
The two of us idly watched the shadowy flaaze followed the tip of the fla the flame, she pointed up “We can use those!”
I looked up to see the floating orbs of light hovering high above us in the rooue, Caera had already ju the top of the arch, she was just under the height they were hovering
Curious, I watched as Caera crouched down atop the white arch, got her feet under her, and waited After a few h Her scarlet eyes locking onto the target, she leapt fro right on top of it…
Or, she should have landed on top of it
Instead, she went right through it
Caera let out a soft squeal as she furound twenty feet below her
‘Ouch,’ Regis groaned ‘That’s gotta hurt’
The Alacryan noble bolted up to her feet as if nothing had happened Her hair, however, was in shahout her clothes and parts of her face
I stifled a laugh as she turned away
“You alright?” I asked, watching her pat the dust off her clothes
“I’d appreciate…if you could forget that ever happened,” she said, still facing away fro your aroing to fly,” I set”
Caera whirled around, cheeks red and eyes glaring angrily “Y-you…”
I couldn’t help but laugh even as Caera ripped out a bedroll fro to the other side of the roo with the blanket over her head
Feeling a tinge of guilt forfun of her, I let Caera have so the biting winds that cut through my clothes and armor, I scooped snow into our waterskins and a s back inside the doainst the wall beside the entrance
I held up the cask and waterskins for her to see “Water shouldn’t be a probleest proble a peek at est problem”
“When was the last time you ate?” I asked
“It’s been about five days, ,” she said Her stoue
“The pile of bones we found earlier ht be some wildlife out there soh “Whether it’s for sustenance or the ns are telling us to venture back out there”
“Do you regret stalkingfor personal research,” the Alacryan noble corrected
I handed her the wooden cask stuffed with snow “Well, Miss Investigator, chew on this for now”
Caera grabbed a handful and held it up like it was a glass of wine “You’ve rade ice?”
Rolling my eyes, I walked over to the bedrolls we had stacked on top of one another to ht shi+ft, ed froround on all four of his stubby little legs “I take offense to that kind of language”
“Tell that to your belly” I pointed to the round bulge of a storound
“Hest and I’ll return totoward the stack of bedrolls
“You should try getting so Caera a few th of the blizzard seems to fluctuate, so ideally this storm will subside soon If not, we should still be ready to head out as soon as Regis is back to full strength”
She nodded, accepting the bedrolls and curling up into a corner with the cloth blankets wrapped tightly around her
I was lying underneath a single bedroll a few feet away, leaning against the smooth wall of the platform With my asuran body constantly supplied by the abundant amounts of ah to keep awayaze wander across the large marble dome until it landed on Caera’s prone for within her bedrolls
“Maybe it would makethat our bodies’ shared heat in the confined bedrollas her entire body see nearby, lifted his head, his eyes bulging
Slowly, Caera turned toward ht red all the way up to her curved horns
It only took a split second to realize why both Regis and Caera looked so shocked I held my hand up in front of me “Wait, I didn’t mean—”
“Grey,” Caera said hoarsely, “while I ad is sang
I opened,” Imy back to the two of them
“I’m sorry, your forwardness just surprised hter in it as her soft steps drew closer tolifted as she climbed in under the thick blanket behind me “Thank you, Grey”
I didn’t respond as her body shi+fted closer toWe lay back to back, and I keptbecome more even, but it was obvious that she was still awake by her occasional shuffling
“There’s been so on my mind,” I finally said “Why do you hide your horns? I assu to take pride in”
“I suppose it is norht be,” she said, her voice soft “But reality is never that simple”
Caera paused, as if hesitant to reveal any h, she went on
“Every house that has had traces of Vritra blood in their lineage is recorded so that offsprings from those houses are immediately tested upon birth If a newborn’s blood contains traces of the High Sovereign’s lineage, then they’re imhblood house capable of raising and training the baby to becoure,” she explained
“So, the Denoirs aren’t your blood parents?” My e relationshi+p with theht of them as my true parents, as Grey I had been birthed by a different woman, a mother I had no memory of
“No, they’re not I don’t knowme in the hopes that the Vritra blood in me manifested—which is quite rare”
There was a hint of sarcas her continue
“Until then, I was to be raised, educated, and trained under the safest of conditions because if anything were to happen to ns would strip the Denoirs of their nobility and land at the very least, or, in the most extreme circumstances, even kill the entire blood”
“That e,” I chortled
Caera let out a sh “That’s a bit of an understatement, Grey But yes, the only one that actually treated lass sculpture was Sevren, the original owner of the white dagger, and the only one I could actually call a brother
“He would sneak me out of my room and the two of us would spar until sunrise After he became an ascender, he would come back and always tell ers of the Relictohtly under the blanket
“That explains your fondness for the Relicto the dots hat she’d told uise yourself as someone else, but not why you hid your horns even when I first saw you with your guards”
“The fact that my Vritra blood has manifested has been kept a secret froed
“What? How do they not—” I turned, only now noticing that Caera had been facing me
Her scarlet eyes widened in surprise as we ca ona couple inches of space between us
“My back was taking up all of the heat,” she quickly explained, flustered
“No, it’s okay,” I said “But how do the Denoirs not know that you’ve ht that was the whole point of taking you in?”
“It is, and in normal conditions, they would’ve been the first to know,” Caera agreed “But at the time of my dormant Vritra blood’s manifestation, I ith one of my mentors—a Scythe sent by one of the Vritra themselves”
I stiffened at the enerals, who had nearly killed me on multiple occasions, but Caera didn’t seem to notice
“My uideould happen to me, now that I was a true Vritra-blooded Alacryan” A soleave me a choice: I could be experirona, or I could continue on as I had been, the frustrated foster-child of an overprotective blood”
“I’ you ith choice number two?”
Caera let out a chuckle “I don’t think I’d be in the saic with several relics in his possession if I had chosen the first option Do you kno ?”
“Probably notthe fact that she’s able to wield Vritra ic,” I pointed out “And I doubt it’s okay for you to be referring to the High Sovereign himself like he’s your least favorite uncle”
Caera stared atuess that’s true Here…” She then reached down her undershi+rt, pulling out a s it to ht now, but this is the relic that keeps e ”
I held it infro this to me?”
“It’s unreasonable for you to trust me after how I deceived you, but a close alternative to trust isme a somber smile
I raised a brow “You know I can destroy this right now…”
The Alacryan noble’s eyes widened “Y-you can? That would be…problematic”
I stared at the crystalline blue relic, studying the aetheric runes that seee her lip nervously as I turned the priceless relic over
She was right If I held onto this relic now—or destroyed it before we left the Relictoer as h, I tossed the pendant back to her “You’d be no use to ot out”
Caera’s eyes lit up “Does thatet so on my side under the cover as I asked myself that same question…
The rational side of me knew that it would be safest to kill her here and now, but I had vowed toup in the Relictorona And if Caera, with all of her powers and connections, really was opposed to the Vritra asher on ht just be worth the risk
The sound of soft, even breaths behind hts I peeked back to see that Caera had already fallen asleep
‘No funny business I’is japed
I ignored my co our conversation, and closed my eyes, both hopeful and anxious for what this zone would bring