Trinket (Reverse Harem)

Souls-Blood

 "I'm not sure." Ormiss straightened. Some lightening crackled over his shoulders. "I've read descriptions of soul's-blood, and it matched the description, but everything I know is from scraps of partial, stolen texts recovered from abandoned serpents' lairs or vague accounts written by someone who heard something once."

"And it is an extract," I said.

Ormiss nodded once. "There is no information on the process. Only that it the sea-serpents had found a way to extract and distill this soul's-blood, and use it as a powerful magical reagent. And that soul's-blood from different species were all different reagents, but that in appearance, it is a thick fluid like an oil but sticky like blood, and it's clear, but holds a vast array of colors and shades within it, like light through a prism, but also like the sheen of oil."

I nearly gagged. I put my hand over my mouth and looked away while I tried to calm my throat.

"Is this confirmed to be true?" Korr asked Ormiss.

Ormiss shook his head. "I disregarded it as more alchemical pseudo-magic. Until today. But I was holding a great deal of magic in my other hand."

Korr tapped his fingers on his desk. "But no one else saw it. Perhaps you did imagine it."

"I am fully willing to admit I may have. And I am more than willing to focus on this SongBird, especially if he is able to make our consort bleed soul's-blood. And the first step is nailing that scroll up in the Temple yard. You are not concerned enough about the his grip on her."

Korr's eyes narrowed. "I am very concerned. I am, however, able to maintain levity. It's part of my disarming charm and frosty mystique."

I snickered, then caught myself. Ormiss looked disgusted. Korr studied his fingernails then pasted his most charmingly isn't that nice expression on his face.

Ormiss turned to me, something about his posture communicating to Korr I have no time for you which only made Korr smirk. "What did the bird give you?"

I pulled it out of my pocket.

Ormiss studied it with a furrow between his brows. Then he passed it to Korr, who also studied it, and also with a furrow.

"What? It's just a bracelet with shells." They seemed quite bothered by a simple little item that wasn't even all that fancy and was far too fragile to actually wear. One clumsy bump into a wall and I'd shatter the shells.

"Do you like it?" Korr asked, dangling it from between two fingers.

What? What kind of question was that? "I think it's very pretty."

"But do you like it?" Korr prodded while Ormiss seemed even more rattled.

"Wait a moment, are you two accusing me of something? It's pretty. What are you two all bent about?"

"It looks like something that would please you," Ormiss said with a hint of nerves.

"Oh, please, don't start." I threw up my hands and sighed. "He's the Lord-Raven. Isn't his job to be manipulative? Makes me wonder which one of us he's trying to manipulate. Keep it if it makes either of you feel better. It's not like I was planning on wearing it. I just thought it might be useful. I like my gardens better."

Ormiss canted his head slightly. "You do?"

"Yes." I didn't miss the Queen, but I did miss my strange twilight garden, and I loved how the garden out back was coming along. Wished it had more trees. Lots of big, tall trees. But that was impractical in Haven. Couldn't keep big trees in pots, and the house was build into the side of a massive mountain. All of Haven clustered around the mountain, actually. Not so many trees.