Aldrik?”
Reaching forward, she grabbed for the dark Western tea that she had little taste for and let its bitterness wash away the harshness of the memories of Aldrik. She wished it had something a bit stronger mixed in.
“He traded his freedom for mine,” she whispered. “He was a reckless fool, and I was a girl pulled along by puppet strings. The fire burned too hot, and we didn’t notice until it consumed everything.” Vhalla passed the ice-cold glass between her hands.
“I have worried deeply for him,” Lord Ophain began. “The sparse letters I received gave me concern for his mental state. My granddaughter’s reports offered little hope, for a time.”
“For a time?” Vhalla wasn’t surprised to learn Elecia and Ophain had been in correspondence. She assumed it meant that Elecia was still well, and Vhalla was genuinely relieved to hear it.
“I hear he gave up the bottle. Or, rather, he is still working on such.” Lord Ophain took a sip from his own glass, allowing that information to sink in. “Once he got through the weeks of shakes, sweats, and general sickness, he has been more active in leading his men. He is handling things with a more tempered grace.”
Vhalla laughed bitterly. “So ending us was the best thing that could’ve happened to him.”
“Loving you is.” Lord Ophain stilled her with three words. He had used present tense. Is, not was.
“You said the Knights have the sword?” Vhalla navigated the conversation back to safer waters.
“I said ‘perhaps’,” the lord insisted.
She frowned. “How is something ‘perhaps’ owned?”
“It is not something you should worry about.” His expression mirrored hers.
“Ophain—”
“I concern myself with keeping madmen like the Knights in check so my subjects and honored guests of the West, like you, do not need to worry.”
“I do not know what misplaced protection you think keeping me in the dark will provide, but you are ill-advised, my lord.” Vhalla placed her drink on the table delicately, sitting straighter. She elongated her words carefully, as a noble would. “The Knights have concerned themselves with me, and I do not foresee any future in which they will leave me be. Trying to keep the truth from me is a disservice.”
“You will pursue this no matter what I say?”
“I will,” Vhalla affirmed.
The lord sighed heavily, stroking the stubble along his chin. “Very well. The sword was not created by King Jadar, as the legends say. The King was merely the one to find it.”
Vhalla subconsciously moved to the edge of her seat as Lord Ophain spoke.
“He became so obsessed with its power that he wanted to do whatever was needed to make more weapons like it, to equip an army with them, to use them to conquer the world. That pursuit drove him mad.
“The son who succeeded him entrusted his brother with hiding the sword for good, after it had driven their father to madness. But his brother kept it secretly for the Knights of Jadar.” Lord Ophain paused, clearly choosing his words carefully. “It remained in the care of the Ci’Dan family through the Knights of Jadar until the War in the West ended—and it went missing.”
“So the Knights could have it?” Vhalla knew there was something he wasn’t telling her.
“Perhaps, but I strongly doubt it,” he answered cryptically. “It is far more likely to have been lost to time.”
“How can you be certain?”
“If it was in anyone’s hands, it would have long since tainted them by now, so I have little cause to worry,” Ophain proclaimed definitively.
Her eyes widened in shock. “It was a crystal weapon,” she breathed. It made gruesome sense. Crystal taint combined with the allure of power could drive a man to genocide.
“You know of the weapons then?” Lord Ophain regarded her cautiously.
Vhalla nodded, suddenly hesitant of the glint in the Western man’s eyes. It wasn’t dangerous, but deeply cautious and heavy with fear.
“Does Aldrik know you are aware?” he asked.
“He wouldn’t believe me if I told him.” A seed of worry for where her pursuits may lead her burrowed under her skin.
Lord Ophain stood and folded his hands at the small of his back—a distinctly Aldrik-like motion. He walked over to the open paper screens and surveyed the garden. She let the silence hang until he spoke again.
“I must agree, there is no benefit to dredging up the shadows of my nephew’s past. After all, there are no crystal weapons left to be concerned about.”
Vhalla thought a long moment about her next words. “Would the Knights seek the weapons if they