Elverella's Arc

Chapter 2 of 2

The four leaders had agreed to hunt the culprit. They had not agreed to follow Elverella. She knew her next words in the crystal hall would decide everything. She wanted to name a plan, a way to guard the flower and rebuild trust under one hand. But she had no proof of who had touched the flower, or how. Without it, the leaders would call her plan a trick to steal power. She needed evidence before she spoke. She found it in the garden at dawn. Beside the dying flower lay a single black feather, tipped with blue. She knew those wings. Prince Raven Wing had flown in with the leaders, quiet and watchful, a prince from beyond her borders who owed her nothing. He had stood closest to the flower that first night. Elverella picked up the feather and walked back inside, her heels loud on the pink crystal floor. She did not accuse him. She went to the one person who could read the truth from a feather. The flower-witch waited in a side room, her dress grown from living vines, her green eyes glowing. Flora Thornweave pressed the feather between her hands. The vines around her wrists tightened. "Someone used this near the flower," Flora said. "But the magic in it is old. Years old. This feather was planted here last night." She opened her hands. "Prince Raven did not touch the flower. Someone wanted you to believe he did." Elverella's stomach dropped. A frame. The real thief sat among the leaders, close enough to drop a feather at her door. She carried the feather into the hall, where the four leaders and their guests had gathered. The vampire queen watched from one corner, yellow eyes bright. In another, a man with broken red wings and burning eyes stood too still. Elverella set the feather on the table. "This was left by the flower to blame an innocent man," she said. "Flora read the magic in it. The feather is years old. It was placed last night, after the prince arrived." She looked at the man with the red wings. "The thief is in this room. And he is clumsy." Char Ashborne smiled with his teeth. He did not deny it. He raised one hand, and a shard of red crystal grew from his palm. "Clever princess," he said. Then he ran. His broken wings beat hard, and he crashed through the tall crystal doors into the open air. The hall erupted. For the first time, the four leaders turned to Elverella and waited for her word. She had her proof. She had their eyes. But the thief was loose, armed, and now he knew she was hunting him. Worse, he had a reason to reach the flower again, and finish what he started, before she could.