The Path of Giants by B.T. Narro (best novels to read .txt) 📕

he was going to become. He was growing into a noble much more like Kataleya than the haughty young man I had nearly fought with upon first meeting him.

I was glad to see it, though I was concerned about this disagreement between him and Aliana. One of them was right, and believing the wrong person could lead to someone dying.

“Are people in Jon’s room?” I heard Kataleya in the hall.

“Just Reuben,” I heard Aliana answering.

“Can you go in there while I get Charlie?” Kataleya sounded like this was serious, whatever it was.

Aliana agreed and met us back in my room. Soon Kataleya showed up with Charlie and shut the door after her.

“I’m sure you all know what this is about,” Kataleya said.

“The witch,” Reuben answered, now sitting up on my bed.

I felt phrases of anger wanting to come up. Hadn’t we settled this already? But I needed time to figure out the right words so I wouldn’t make this worse, and Kataleya looked like she was about to ask me a question.

“What did she tell the king, Jon?”

“Probably just the truth,” I said with a biting tone. “She’s an outcast from Rohaer. She has every reason to help us. She was already using her curses to help people before the king was aware of her, and she only ran because she thought the king would put her in the dungeons. I’m sure Remi can confirm this.”

“But how do we know she won’t sacrifice something we care about for her own goals?”

“I agree,” Reuben said.

“Wait, we don’t trust her?” Charlie asked. “But the king—”

“The king is desperate,” Kataleya interrupted. “He made her agree to a contract saying she won’t help Rohaer, but there’s nothing in the contract about helping us. I don’t feel safe with her coming to Koluk.”

“You’re not going back to your father’s estate to help your mother?” Reuben seemed to think this was the right choice, given his tone.

“No, I’m staying. Now, the only way we can convince the king to leave the witch here until she proves herself is if we all agree.”

“You know I agree,” Reuben said quickly.

“Charlie?” Kataleya asked.

“All right, I agree.”

“Aliana?”

I knew Kataleya was saving me for last, hoping everyone else’s agreement would persuade me. However, Aliana seemed reluctant to answer. I had hope she would choose reason over emotion.

“Aliana, imagine it was your mother who was killed and Hadley had taken her essence the morning after,” Kataleya said.

“It’s not about that,” Aliana said. “You weren’t in Koluk. You don’t know what it’s like there. If Hadley is really on our side like she says she is, we could sure use her help.”

“But that’s the problem!” Kataleya argued. “We don’t know what she wants. She’s likely to cause us more problems.”

“Remi vouches for her,” Aliana countered in an even tone. “Remi risked expulsion—and inadvertently her life—because she trusted this witch to do the right thing. She wouldn’t have sneaked out of the castle during the night if she’d had any doubt about Hadley’s intentions. So you don’t have to trust Hadley. You just have to trust Remi.”

It seemed like Aliana had matured as well since I had last seen her. I couldn’t remember her expressing herself this clearly and without emotion.

It made me wonder if I had changed as well.

I couldn’t tell what Kataleya was thinking as she stared at Aliana. There was a knock at the door.

“Can I have the chance to speak on the matter?” It was Hadley’s voice.

“Damn thin walls,” Kataleya complained as she snatched open the door. “Fine. Come in. I’ve wanted to ask you something anyway.”

Hadley stepped in confidently, looking ready to argue. Kataleya didn’t bother closing the door.

“What did you mean when you said my father’s essence was rare?”

But Hadley didn’t seem to want to speak about this as she let out her breath. “That is one of the reasons I was hoping not to be caught. I knew taking his essence had no effect on his soul and it would only anger you, but the answer to that question will really hurt you. I would tell you that you should ignore it, but I can’t give advice that I couldn’t follow. So I will tell you right now. Your father’s essence is rare because it is corrupted. I know you won’t want to believe me, but—”

“What!” Kataleya screamed. “How dare you!”

“Kataleya.” It was the king’s voice from the hall.

Kataleya un-balled her fists as the king entered.

“What she says is the truth,” Nykal said. “Barrett confirmed it. Whitley Yorn had the essence of a corrupted soul.”

“No, he couldn’t have.” Kataleya grew pale as she seemed weak in the knees. I quickly grabbed my chair near my desk and set it down for her.

“It’s true, Kataleya,” the king said.

She collapsed into the chair.

I thought back to my conversation with Hadley, when she had called Whitley corrupted. It had pissed me off. I had figured the statement was baseless, but now it made much more sense. She had felt it from his essence.

In fact, everything she had done was starting to make more sense.

Charlie had brought up the idea of using an essence of a corrupted man for a specific curse. Apparently, it could be quite powerful. Eslenda had sworn off curses, but she had also wanted Hadley to be killed just because she was a witch.

I felt like I knew Hadley. I had to believe that Eslenda was wrong about her. And if she was wrong about Hadley, perhaps she was wrong about curses.

“Barrett knows a lot about curses,” the king explained. “There are powerful curses that can only be made with the essence of a corrupted man. Having just met you, Hadley knew she wouldn’t be able to convince you to let her have it. She made a choice.”

“And I’m sorry that choice hurt you, Kataleya,” Hadley said. “Truly. I’m very sorry. Jon convinced me that my help is required. We spoke to each other in a way in which you cannot lie, through our mana. And if