The Crow King's Wife (52 page)

“Can you honestly say she didn’t truly see
you? Do you know it was a mask that she loved?” Shade asked softly.
He wasn’t sure what else to say after Grim’s admission, but felt
like he should say something to fill the silence.

Grim smiled at him sadly and nodded once
before he began again. “I do the right things for the wrong
reasons, and you do the right things without regard to reason. I
trust you Shade. I don’t use those words lightly and I think I’ve
only said them to two people in my entire life before now. I look
at you and I see hints of Micah, but you have never once expected
me to bow before you. You have always treated me as an equal. We
can balance each other, but only if you can trust me, and I have to
know that you truly see me as I am before you say that you trust
me. I am not a hero. I am truly the Black Bastard in most ways and
when I do manage to do the right thing it is usually by accident.
Evanell trusted me blindly and I feel guilt for that. There are
very few people that I actually care about and I have taken every
one of them for granted. I won’t repeat the same mistakes and I
will not hide what I am from a true friend ever again. If we are to
continue working together I want you to realize that you are
dealing with the Black Bastard and not the hero Arovan bards sing
about.”

Shade remained silent for a long moment
before nodding. “I understand what you are saying but that doesn’t
mean I agree. I trusted you before and I trust you now. I don’t
care why you do what you do or how much you loathe yourself. I
judge you on what you have shown me, and I haven’t seen anything to
distrust yet.”

Grim stared at him with a look of mild
disbelief and snorted in disgust. “I don’t loathe myself.” He
objected firmly. “I think you misunderstood me. I want you to
understand that I am not noble and heroic, but that is by choice. I
may not have the merits others revere and tell stories of, but it’s
only because that isn’t important to me. I am fearless, loyal, and
more talented than ninety percent of the people wasting my air. I
wasn’t apologizing for what I am I was warning you before I propose
a deal.”

Shade gaped at him for a breath then nodded
unsure if he was amused or disturbed by Grim’s words. The man had
essentially labeled himself as a self-created asshole and seemed
rather proud of the fact. At an utter loss of what to say or how to
react to that kind of admission Shade simply nodded with pursed
lips and raised an eyebrow. “A deal?” he inquired with more than a
little curiosity. He couldn’t help but wonder what Grim could want
from him that required him to bare his soul so completely.

“Blackwolf and Blue Bess crafted me into the
creature I am today.” Grim began slowly and Shade could tell he was
trying to choose his words very carefully so there was no
confusion. “When they exiled me they laid the foundation for the
Bloody Huntsman. I do not regret what I am, but I don’t want to
repeat their mistake. I look at Syrah and I see Evanell and I want
to destroy everyone that took my wife from me when I know I should
be comforting my daughter instead. I am holding so much anger
inside right now that Syrah will suffer from my presence alone. I
need guidance past this or she will end up just as broken as we
are. I tried to send her to my Aunt in Arovan, but she refused it.
She wants to remain with me, but she can’t seem to understand what
kind of danger that puts her in right now. You have what I lack,
Shade. You have compassion and you are the key to Syrah’s salvation
if you are willing to help me.”

“Grim I am as good as dead. Unless you can
summon my spirit back from the Darklands to tell Syrah bedtime
stories I fail to see how I am anyone’s salvation right now. How
can you ask me to save a child after seeing the wreck I’ve made of
my own life?” Shade protested bitterly.

“Help me and I will help you, Shade. Keep me
from destroying my daughter and in turn I will devote every ounce
of my power to whatever purpose you point me toward. I am a weapon,
and even Myth can fall before me.” Grim returned without a trace of
hesitation in his voice.

“I think you are underestimating Myth.” Shade
cautioned with a frown.

“I know you are underestimating me.” Grim
countered with a smirk and raised an eyebrow. “I’ll even take you
on a finding if you agree to my deal.”

“A finding?” Shade asked in confusion. It
wasn’t a term he was familiar with, and wasn’t about to agree to
anything until he understood it.

“It’s a Glis tradition. For a Shifter it is
to spend time in each of your forms until you find the one you have
harmony with. You have infinite forms so obviously I cannot offer
that. I can show you how to separate your lives though so you won’t
give yourself away with habits by blending your lives together.”
Grim clarified.

“I don’t know about the finding, but as to
the rest you have a deal. I really don’t think you understand
though. Myth is much more dangerous than Grace was, and my mother
gave you a very good fight.” Shade sighed.

“I was trying to die when I faced Grace not
to mention that I was poisoned, wounded and fighting several
Rivasans when I fought her. I made a deal with Ryvenken when I
first declared
Kevala’drin.
In essence if I lived through
the fight my body belonged to the sword. I didn’t plan to live
because of that. I have devoted my life to what I am, and I wasn’t
about to hand over that much power to a sword that makes me seem
like a caring person in comparison. Ryvenken is ruthless whereas
I’m simply callous. There isn’t much difference, but it is there.”
His serious expression shifted to a smile and he pushed off the
wall. “Now then let’s examine this prison of yours and find your
friend.” Grim suggested as if what he was proposing was the easy
part and sharing his secrets had been the main obstacle of the
day.

“Not so fast.” Shade said holding up a hand
to stop Grim before he could rise. “My turn. If we are going to
have full trust you deserve my side of things.” He explained as he
kicked the gem toward Grim. “Fortunately for you someone took the
time to make a gem of my life so you can sit back and watch the
entire tragedy while I drink more and try to digest
everything.”

Grim frowned briefly then gingerly picked up
the gem and examined it. “What do you mean someone crafted it? You
don’t know who made this gem?”

“Haven’t got a clue. I woke up with it on my
nightstand and my ego has been in a downward spiral ever since. Go
ahead enjoy and when you realize you have bargained away your
daughter’s sanity to an idiot feel free to reconsider our
arrangement. I won’t hold you to it I promise.” Shade said with a
grin as he settled himself against the rail and reclaimed his
bottle from the floor.

Grim nodded once before wrapping his fingers
around the gem and closing his eyes. His face was neutral of all
expression as he slowly turned the gem over in his hand to examine
the memories concealed in each faucet. By the time he was done the
bottle was empty and Shade was trying to decide if the mild buzz he
felt was actually worth the horrible taste the wine left in his
mouth.

“Shade.” Grim said carefully and waited until
Shade met his eyes before he held up the gem. “I don’t know who
crafted this, but they didn’t have your best intentions in mind
when they did it. This wasn’t left to warn you, it was left to
cripple you.”

“They are my memories. How can anyone
possibly expect me to be crippled by knowledge that I already had?”
Shade protested and had to resist the urge to laugh at Grim’s
logic.

“It’s perspective Shade. The memories are
fact but the ways they are portrayed are bias. My birth mother is a
bard I know about perspective better than anyone else. Blue Bess
tells stories about me across Arovan and Glis in an attempt to make
every moment of my life seem like a heroic tale. She does it to
save her own reputation. She doesn’t want anyone shunning her for
spawning me. So she paints a pretty picture from every blood soaked
mess I leave and everyone believes I am the good guy. This gem is
the same exact thing. Someone has taken every moment of your
childhood and painted motive on everything to make you seem like a
puppet.” Grim explained calmly and shook his head in disgust as he
tossed the gem back to Shade. “I could do the same thing with the
time we spent in the Blight prison, but that wouldn’t make it the
truth. I could pretend I manipulated you into freeing me, but the
honest truth is that you did so by your own free will.”

“You don’t understand Myth.” Shade said
wearily and shook his head as he dropped the gem into his coat
pocket. “If you did you would realize everything in this stone is
likely true.”

“No, you don’t understand manipulation.” Grim
corrected. “All it takes to get someone to do what you want is
changing their perspective. Myth has made you believe you are a
puppet, and you are giving up. He has taken every memory you had
and tarnished it with lies to sow doubt, and it worked splendidly.
The memories are still the same, but he changed the way you
perceive them.”

Shade opened his mouth to object but stopped
himself and actually considered what Grim was saying. It did sound
like something Myth would do, but the images in the gem explained
so much about his childhood when he viewed them. “I think I need to
consider this more.” Shade mused quietly.

“I think you need to consider it less and get
off your ass. Myth is trying to make you give up. That means the
only thing we really can do at this point is push forward. You can
spin this around in your mind all night long and in the end you
will be jumping at every shadow and seeing conspiracy everywhere,
or we can do what you came here to do and face Myth together when
he finally crawls out of whatever rock he is hiding under. Your
choice.” Grim said calmly as he offered Shade a hand up from the
ground.

“I like it all except for the part of facing
Myth. If I face Myth I’m going to die, and I really am not fond of
the thought of serving Finn. He would make me clean the demon’s
privy or something equally distasteful. Finn and I don’t get along
well. Which makes it pretty amazing that I seem to get along
perfectly with you since you claim to be the same sort of creature
as Finn.” The words poured out of Shade in a tumble until he
realized he was babbling and snapped his mouth shut tightly. He
wasn’t sure if it was the wine or his nerves, but decided either
way silence was probably his best option.

“Finn is Firym. His arrogance is the
difference. He proclaims to the world how wonderful he is. I
silently show the world my perfection and don’t bother to wait
around for the applause. Finn requires confirmation of his talent,
I don’t.” Grim explained with a smile as he lifted his coat from
the railing and turned to head back inside the inn.

“Wait! Don’t you need to take us out of the
Shadows?” Shade protested as he started after Grim.

“I had planned to use the shadows to
investigate the prison. Would you prefer I simply stroll past the
guards and pretend I am there for confessions from the prisoners?”
Grim asked dryly. With a smirk he shrugged his coat back on and
pulled the cowl up to emphasis his point.

“I think you might possibly be the first
Priest of Fear that bothered to listen to confessions. I’m pretty
certain the rest of your order would mock the prisoners for being
scared little pussies.” Shade admitted with a smile.

“I doubt I could refrain from mocking them
either. So the shadows are our best approach I think.” Grim
returned with a wink as he headed for the stairs.

“I show fear all of the time. How come you
don’t mock me?” Shade asked as he started after Grim’s quickly
disappearing form.

“I do. I just keep it to myself.” Grim teased
then chuckled at Shade’s snort of displeasure. “I don’t mock you
because you don’t let fear master you. You always face it and thus
you are above my contempt.” Grim amended with a grin.

“Good to know. Don’t run while Grim is
watching. Got it.” Shade said and for the first time in four days
he felt his confidence slowly creeping back in. Grim had a very
valid point, Fear had never stopped him before, and he wasn’t sure
why he allowed a few memories in a gem to stop him now. He knew
what was right and for better or worse he would save Charm and to
hell with the consequences, at least he wasn’t facing it alone. “I
think confidence might be contagious. Yours seems to be rubbing off
on me.” Shade observed with a smile.

“I am a Priest of Fear, Shade. Confidence is
most easily attained when one is not frightened. You will always be
confident around me, because I will always ensure that you have
nothing to fear.” Grim replied smoothly as he pushed the door of
the inn opened and began walking slowly toward the center of
Sanctuary.

“One day you are going to have to tell me the
story about how you became a priest. I thought only the Delvay
revered the gods enough to worship them.” Shade said with a
grin.

“The god sought me out and offered me a deal
I couldn’t refuse.” Grim replied without even a hint of a smile on
his face to suggest he was joking.

Shade stared at him in amazement for a long
moment before he slowly realized Grim wasn’t teasing. “The Divine
of Fear sought you out?” he repeated dumbly.

Grim nodded and smiled as he met Shade’s
eyes. “And therein you have the first hint of why I am not
concerned with Myth. As I said before, I am much more than a simple
Shifter and it will take more than a Changeling to give me pause.
Myth is old and powerful, but I am the Bloody Huntsman and I always
find my prey.”

Delvay

“I don’t like it. It’s too easy.” Neph
declared as he tossed the carefully penned invitation down onto his
table. His eyes scanned over the document again reading through the
delicate script proclaiming him the rightful High Lord of Delvay
and he snorted in disgust. The Empress’s signature filled the
bottom corner of the parchment as well as half a dozen seals
proving that it was legitimate, but it still felt wrong in his
hands.