Verja by Michaela Daphne

Author:Michaela Daphne [Daphne, Michaela]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: coming of age, domestic violence, fantasy, thriller, YA Fiction
ISBN: 9780648224143
Publisher: Be The Good Publishing
Published: 2021-02-13T14:00:00+00:00

As we exited the room into the basement and went back out into the back alley, I could feel Valki’s brooding silence.

“Evelyn, where is this place exactly? Is it on Earth?” Eirik asked.

“No,” I said.

“So, where is it? And what was he talking about at the start?”

We found the door into the other shophouse and I dodged Eirik’s questions, rounding on Valki instead.

“What did Mr Cuthbert mean about the daggers being the only thing to stop the transmission of power?” I asked.

“He says it prevents blood inheritance of power,” Valki mumbled.

“How?”

“When you kill them with that blade, they can’t pass power on,” he said, kicking at loose gravel on the ground.

So that was his plan—kill the masters with the black daggers so that no-one could inherit the power, so that there would be no more masters in Verja. Just like he did in the castle in Purlieu.

Valki’s face was screwed up and sour-looking.

“What’s wrong, Valki?” I asked.

He kicked at the ground again.

“Mr Cuthbert, he … erm …” Valki stuttered, “… undermined my authority.”

I nodded.

“It did sound as though he thought he was in charge,” I said.

Valki booted open the door into the secret passage.

“What are you going to do about it?” I asked.

“I will make him let me come to see Master Heidelbert. And Master Heidelbert will see my importance and keep me on as leader after revolution,” he said. “For Hilda.”

Silence hung in the air again, intensified by the cramped tunnel.

He really did care about his sister, putting himself on the line for her sake. Not like a blanket commitment to altruism for the sake of all of Verja like I had assumed, but an intense love for Hilda. Eirik was right, he was a good man. Hilda was lucky to have him. Eirik was lucky to have him.

“I’m sorry I was insensitive,” Eirik said. “About the outcome of the revolution. I really do hope it works.”

Valki snorted.

“If you really believe it would, then you would stay, fight,” Valki said, raising his voice.

“I don’t have to stay and fight just to prove that. Besides, it’s not the revolution itself that I’m concerned about—it’s the fallout afterwards. You think that everyone is just going to fall into line behind you? It’s not going to be that easy.”

“Of course not easy, but doesn’t mean we should just give up.”

“Eirik, Valki, don’t do this. You love each other. Just agree to disagree,” I said, knowing Eirik would regret his words later, another fight to add to their tally.

“I’m not giving up—I’m creating my own opportunity,” Eirik said under his breath, ignoring me.

We had reached the door into Valki’s basement. Valki glanced at me and then back at Eirik.

“That much is clear,” Valki said.

What did that mean?

Eirik glared straight past me to Valki. Valki shrugged his shoulders and went through the door, not caring to wait for us.

Eirik avoided my eye and slipped past me, carving the path back down to his house in silence.

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