Heir To The Iron Crown: Dyrith

48 - Fjörutíu og Átta

Tei stared at the potion for a time before finally getting up to slowly retrieve it.

Where I was careful not to touch the silver bars, Tei barely flinched at the burning metal that touched his skin as he picked it up from right outside his cell.

He knew I'd taken a sip and was still breathing, so he didn't think much of it before drinking the last of it.

"What is this?" he asked again.

"Cloveroot," I said to him in his mind.

Tei instantly looked up at me, his eyes wide. I could tell he hadn't mindlinked anyone during his long confinement.

"Your need to know materialized cloveroot potion in your pocket?" he said, looking at the vial in his hand.

"I didn't materialize it. My sister gave it to me," I told him, almost defensively. I have a terrible obsession to give credit where it is due.

Tei looked up at this.

"Your sister?" he asked.

I sighed at the thought of my family, and at the thought of talking about them to my, perhaps, newfound family.

"Yes, and no. She is the daughter of the woman that raised me," I told him.

He let out a dry chuckle. The kind that would be a genuine response when you learn you'd been believing a lie for the longest time.

"I truly thought, all this time, that you were in good hands with him," he said, shaking his head.

"But I was in good hands. Rosabelle took care of me the way she cared for her own daughter, and when Valente came of age, he protected me too," I said, feeling the boulder sitting on my chest weigh heavier at his name.

But mine wasn't the only reaction to my mate's name.

"Valente? Fridure's son? He is your mate?" he asked me. I could hear the disbelief in his voice clearly, even though it was in my head.

"Yes," I responded.

Tei seemed to be lost in thought, while I tried to organize all the questions that were buzzing through my head.

I had finally found my father, and I knew exactly who I was now.

But that still didn't answer why the Palace was looking for me.

Clearly my mother Zisa, a Dryad, was not a member of the Palace.

And Tei?

"I'm not who you think I am Raynhildur," he spoke in turn, clearly having read my thoughts.

"Then who are you?" I asked him this question again, yet this time, I was looking for a different answer, something more concrete.

He began to slowly pace his confined space, with slow, almost calculated steps. And then, he began his story.

"I was an advisor for battle to the Elders, a soldier who had risen up the ranks, but had no other worth.

"I was always involved in Palace matters, and was on the forefront of every fight we fought.

"The job was not easy, but it was very rewarding. Your mother was my opponent in battle once, the first time I ever saw her. She was one of the most fearsome opponents to stand before me.

"She could have killed me, I'm sure, but for some reason she let me go. I was enamored over her. I started to see her, even though she wasn't all on board at first.