The Valley of Lies (Lightkeepers #1)

Chapter ONE: Liss

Liss was born on a stormy night, like almost everyone in Cradelow Valley. Hail battered the roof of the Children's Cottage as she was lifted from her Bearer's arms, cleaned, and promptly handed to a wet nurse. She spent her first five years within those narrow walls, cloistered with the other elf children, learning her letters, how to keep a tidy space and, above all, how to suppress the sinful urge to deceive.

Every morning in the cottage began the same way, reciting the Darkbane clan's solemn pledge:

It is not my right to tell a lie. Do not deceive, do not decry

the truth of the Goddess when she has sworn,

'If we shall not uphold the law, this will be our great downfall.'

It is not my right to tell a lie, and if I shall, then all will die.

Liss often mumbled her way through it, especially the last bit. Sometimes the Carers slapped her hands or made her say it over again. The adults were always so wary, reciting their tired mantras. Three hundred years in isolation as divine punishment for their ancestors' sins sounded extreme, but the Council was a rigid authority. The elders forbade anyone from trying to leave the valley, claiming that only death lay beyond the mountains.

Liss imagined so much more...

When she was six, she graduated to the Juniors Cottage, a roughly hewn barracks carved into one of the great gray mountains flanking the basin of the valley. Inside was a large sleeping area with rows of identical cots and two washrooms, one for boys and the other for girls. Decoration was limited, and youthful fantasies were less tolerated with each passing year.

The night before her sixteenth birthday, she stayed up late drawing runes she'd found in an old tome from Before–before Cradelow and their sequestered existence.

"What's that one for?"

Dev leaned across his narrow bed for a closer look, supporting his weight on his hands. Only a few months separated them, though her best friend was so tall he looked years older. He was the closest thing to family Liss knew, although the clan's records showed they were unrelated.

"Shhh!" she whispered, pressing a finger to her lips. When no one stirred, she dropped her hand. "This one," she said, adding a finishing touch to her sketch, "alters appearances."

"Like a changeling's magic?"

Hazy moonlight filtered through small vents cut into the ceiling, supplementing their night-vision. Dev's brown eyes winked in the dimness, like the stars they rarely saw shining over the valley.

"No. Like our magic."

Liss held out the drawing. The edges of the paper were deliciously curled and darkened with age. Her notebook was her most prized possession, apart from her tome of runes. She'd found it among the old stories in the Children's Cottage when she was five, shortly before she'd found the ancient tome, and no one had stolen it or made her share. Probably because no one else had wanted it, with its musty smell and blank, brittle pages. But it was a precious treasure to Liss. She'd grown a fondness for things from Before. Her collection had grown so large, she'd started hiding things lest someone find all she had amassed and name her a deceiver.

"Well...?" Dev raised his eyebrows. "How is it different from changeling magic?"

"This magic is much more subtle." She set her notebook down on her crossed legs, squaring her shoulders. Her white hair swayed against her neck as she turned toward him. "In your case, it might turn your dark hair blond, or your eyes blue. It might upturn your straight nose or alter the line of your jaw. It might even give you some facial hair. Who knows?" She grinned at his look of offense. "With enough subtle changes, one could create a remarkable difference."