Blood of the Watcher (The Dark Ability Book 4) by D.K. Holmberg Page B

said, mostly to herself.
    Brusus looked over and caught Rsiran’s wrist. “It seems that you are more welcomed than you expected. Do you need me to be here?” he asked.
    Rsiran looked at his mother, at the deep wrinkles that had formed along her eyes, and the way that her face wore a mask of concern that she’d never had when he lived at home. What had happened to his family? So much had changed, not only for him, but for them as well. Seeing her, and seeing that she seemed almost relieved, left him with questions that he suddenly found he needed answers to.
    His mother watched him, and there was a hint of… worry or hope or… something written on her face. As much as he needed answers, it seemed that she did as well.
    “I think that I’ll be fine.”
    Brusus turned to the door.
    “Brusus?” Brusus paused and turned. “Can you find Jessa and tell her where I am?”
    Brusus smiled. “Probably wise that I do. Better be ready to answer a few questions.”
    “I am,” Rsiran’s mother said.
    Brusus tipped his head to her. “That’s good, but you’re not the person I meant.”
    With that, Brusus pulled open the door and stepped back into the streets of Lower Town, leaving Rsiran standing with his mother, alone for the first time in ages.

Chapter 10
    W hen Brusus left , Rsiran debated what to ask first. His mother saved him by motioning him into the small home. Rsiran followed, noting the utilitarian furniture, a far cry from the plush chairs and the warm decorations found around their home when he’d been growing up. Here, nothing adorned the walls other than a few lanterns to provide light, thick oil burning within them.
    The smells were familiar, though. He caught the scent of bread rising and the fragrant aroma of roasting meat as she stopped at a small table and touched the back of a chair, motioning for him to sit.
    Rsiran settled onto the chair and rested his hands on the table. “What happened, Mother?” Rsiran asked.
    She took a seat, balancing on the edge of the chair and clasping her hands in her lap. Her fingers played with the fabric of her dress, and she shook her head softly. “What happened, he asks,” she whispered. “So much. So much. How can you begin to understand everything that we’ve been through?” she asked him, barely meeting his eyes.
    “Everything you’ve been through?” he said. “You think nothing of what I’ve been through, only the hardships that you’ve endured?”
    Her gaze drifted to the door, where Brusus had disappeared. “You travel in the company of the Elvraeth now. I think you have endured much less than we have, Rsiran.”
    Rsiran smiled inwardly. Brusus would have been either amused or annoyed that his mother identified him as one of the Elvraeth. Born to one of the Elvraeth, Brusus had been exiled as surely as his mother. “He is not one of the Elvraeth.”
    “No? I thought…” She shook her head. “It doesn’t matter what I thought. Much as it doesn’t matter what happened to us in the time you’ve been away. We have suffered, that is all that you must know.”
    Rsiran thought of how he’d been tortured, the friend he’d lost, the way he’d been abducted. “That’s not all that I must know,” he said. “What happened?”
    “When you left—”
    “Left? I was sent away, Mother. Don’t make it seem like it was my choice.”
    “You could have listened to him,” she said.
    Rsiran sat back in the chair and shook his head as he studied his mother. “Listened to what? He wanted to change who I was. He wanted me to refuse the abilities that I have been given. How could I listen to him?”
    “Neran only wanted what was best for you, Rsiran. He knew what would happen if you were to use them, and how others might use you. You don’t understand… You can’t understand. And now he’s gone.”
    “I’m sorry about that,” Rsiran said.
    “You couldn’t know,” she answered, clenching her hands more tightly in her lap. “After… after you