House of Blood and Bone by Kimberley J. Ward

Author:Kimberley J. Ward [J. Ward, Kimberley]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2020-11-09T06:00:00+00:00

Chapter 25

Stunned by her own words, Nessa barely registered Hunter’s arm slipping from her shoulders, or Orm grabbing the solitary chair that sat by the dressing table, which also acted as her makeshift desk, and setting it down in front of the bed.

“Right,” Orm muttered, slouching back as much as he could in the little, old chair, making its joints let out a high-pitch screech of protest. “Right. Okay. Yeah. I think, since we’re clearly having a candid moment between the three of us, I’ll be forthright and say that I maybe haven’t handled all of this in the best way.”

Nessa looked at him, more than a little surprised. Hunter stared at his friend too, his eyebrows shooting up and disappearing into his mop of unbrushed hair.

“Handled what the wrong way?” Nessa croaked.

“This,” Orm waved a hand at the window, at the crowd of buildings outside. “Coming here. Arncraft. You. I haven’t forgotten about you, Nessie. I see I haven’t done right by you so far, causing you distress.” Orm pulled a flask out from his trous’ pocket and unscrewed the cap, swiftly taking a hefty swig. His throat worked as he swallowed several mouthfuls.

Nessa turned to Hunter for an explanation, a bit of guidance, but he seemed just as perplexed as she was.

“You see, Nessie, after we found you, you were so scared and confused,” Orm said, wiping the back of his hand across his mouth. “It was an easy decision to allow you time to re-adjust, to recover from your ordeal. I never thought I’d have to teach you about magic and what it means to be an Old Blood. I thought—expected—Chaos to be the one who would guide you into that world. But…ah…since he isn’t here anymore, that responsibility has fallen to me. To be blunt, that terrifies me.”

“Why’d that scare you?” Nessa asked. “You’re pretty damn proficient with magic, in my opinion.”

“Thanks, Nessie,” Orm smiled sadly, “but truth be told, my skills aren't quite what they should be.”

“But you can do all kinds of things. You can start fires, make disgusting, magical drinks, and conjure us awful scrambled egg from I-don’t-even-know-where.”

“Them and a handful of other things, too.” Orm nodded. “But they’re little more than parlour tricks compared to what Chaos could have taught you. I can talk your ears off when it comes to magic. However, when it comes to helping you perform it, I worry I’ll be of little use. That’s why a part of me thought that last night’s rendezvous could be useful to us. Life-changing, in fact.”

“Life-changing?” Nessa mused. “That sounds intriguing, doesn't it?” She glanced at Hunter, catching his slight nod whilst deep in thought. Nessa felt a smidgen of relief knowing that her spontaneous words hadn’t driven an irretrievable wedge between them. Nessa would have never been able to forgive herself if she had damaged one of the few friendships she had, if she had hurt one of the handful of people who mattered to her the most.

“Life-changing?” Hunter muttered. “How so, my friend? Pray tell.

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