The Valley of Lies (Lightkeepers #1)

Chapter FOURTEEN: Dev

Liss was ignoring him. Dev knew he deserved it for keeping the changeling a secret from her, but he hadn't been lying about doubting its existence. No one had seen the creature in months, and sightings over the years had been dubious at best. It had never spoken to anyone before them, as far as he knew, which was one reason he hadn't reported the sighting to his superiors. Not only would he have to explain what he and Liss were doing out past curfew and pray the Lightkeepers wouldn't saddle him with demerits, but there was a good chance they wouldn't believe him. They might assume he and Liss had been drinking and fooling around in the woods. The rumors could get messy.

For two nights he had pretended not to notice Liss staying up well past midnight, scribbling in her notebook. When she got like this, he kept his distance and let her decide when she was ready to be friends again. It rarely took this long, but Dev knew what the difference was this time. Liss had finally found a lead on a way out of the valley. At least, she hoped so. She didn't want to stay in Cradelow, and how could he blame her?

Although it hurt his feelings, Dev knew Liss would never be content with the clan. She liked to say it was because she couldn't be a Lightkeeper, or that she didn't want to be a Bearer, and those were legitimate reasons, but that wasn't all the valley lacked. Liss craved the thrill of adventure, the wonder of magic, and maybe more than anything else, a companion who understood how it felt to yearn for those things. Dev would never be that person, as much as he might wish otherwise. The two of them had been together forever, but while he found comfort in the consistency, Liss was choking from it. He didn't know what she'd do if she never found a way out of the valley, if she never found true happiness. Perhaps the best he could do-–the best anyone could do-–was try to help her find it.

On the third morning after their ominous midnight expedition, he woke earlier than usual and headed out to the training grounds. Calan wouldn't arrive for another hour to torment the trainees with drills, and it was relaxing to watch the sunrise alone. Not that sunrises in Cradelow were anything to speak of. Even when the skies weren't black and stormy, the sun was rarely anything more than a hazy impression behind layers of mist. Today was no exception, although there was a hint of color on the horizon, vague streaks of pink and gold offsetting distant lightning.

Come to think of it, the weather had been decent lately. The day of Liss' Sixteenth had been uncharacteristically sunny. Dev couldn't remember a more pleasant afternoon. He had been content with anything to brighten Liss' sour mood, but now he wondered if there might be something to the improving weather. If the storms were a relic of Hona's wrath, and they were diminishing, could that mean the goddess was forgiving the Darkbane for the transgressions of their past? Three hundred years was a long time to punish an entire race. It had been over a century since the last elves who had been alive during the banishment died, sickly and before their time.

"You look like a man who's contemplating the meaning of life."

Dev turned to find Pile standing behind him, a tilted smirk on his face.

"Or maybe just daydreaming about a certain tiny, white-haired girl?"

Dev grunted and turned back around. He knew better than to attempt meaningful conversation with a guy whose goal in life was to break the sacral record for the number of sanctioned Engagements. If Pile had his way, the next generation of Darkbane would be predominantly ruddy-cheeked redheads.

"Always the stoic one," Pile teased, stepping alongside Dev. The short sleeves of his grays were rolled up past his shoulders, exposing the incomplete Lightkeepers insignia painted on his right bicep, an outer ring filled with a series of concentric circles in various designs and thicknesses. Each inner ring represented a milestone or achievement. Dev's insignia was in the same place as Pile's, but more filled out, for obvious reasons. The temporary paint would be permanently inked once they were sworn in as Lightkeepers, if they made it that far.