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“Stay with me tonight?” Bryn asked, shaking off the heavy feeling settling over her shoulders at the sight of the rune.

“You have some reading to do,” Revna said as she shook her head a bit and then looked pointedly at the journal on her desk. “Discover more about what your mother knew or suspected about the King.”

Revna picked up her shield before returning to Bryn.

“When you have enough information to send to Maude, we can begin drafting the letter to the King informing him of the General’s failure. You have the information, but I know the common soldier dialect,” Revna winked.

Bryn relaxed a bit at the return of the relaxed nature they shared. Before Revna reached the door, Bryn stopped her with a hand on her wrist. Leaning in a little hesitantly, Bryn kissed Revna softly. All the words Bryn struggled to vocalize were present in the action.

When she pulled away, Revna had a knowing look on her face, but she said nothing as she walked out into the hall and disappeared around the corner.

Bryn closed the door and decided to ignore the bath that had been run for her. She placed her old shield in front of the door before grabbing her mother’s journals.

Revna had been right in her plan to kill the King; he was a plague on this kingdom and only made things worse the longer he reigned. He seemed to have no intention of naming Maude as the Heir, even if he did get his hands on her. Their father knew he could never control Maude, not after living free for the last ten years, which meant he planned to have her killed. No matter how angry Bryn was with her sister, she would not allow the King to kill Maude.

As she ran her hands over the leather cover of the journal that belonged to her mother, Bryn felt that heaviness settles on her. Bryn and Maude had been taught the runes used by the seers of the kingdom early in their childhood, as most were taught. When she had seen theperthrorune tattooed onto Revna’s wrist, she had felt the pulling of strings by The Norns as if they had been in the room with them.

Theperthrorune was tattooed onto those with the psychic ability the seers of Ahland possessed and stood for fate, mystery, and secrets. When the rune was pulled in reverse, the way that Bryn had seen it, it meant a secret was about to be revealed. Bryn’s entire existence was filled with secrets, so this made her reluctant to read her mother’s journals more than usual.

Bryn opened the windows in her room and sat in one, the warmth of the dry breeze of the desert giving her the strength she needed to read more of what her mother was like.

She flipped the journal open to the first entry:

It has been almost one year since Maude came screaming into this world. I have never had so many sleepless nights that have left me feeling so full. She has just begun to laugh, the sound clear like a bell ringing in the dead of night.

To be near her is to love her.

Harald, of course, is the exception to this general rule. He will not come close to the child until her fate is told by the Grand Soothsayer next month.

I expected this from him, though. In his eyes, I am only here for breeding. I will take the peace from him and allow Maude’s hyperactive soul to fill my days instead. She has the same dark hair that I have, the crimson shade deeper than mine has ever been, and her eyes are the same dark moss color as mine, but hers are lined with a ring of black.

I worry about the day Maude gets her fatemark. If Harald finds it unsatisfactory, he may decide not to claim her. I have failed thus far in uncovering any plans to attack the Kingdom of Rivers, but he may find worth in me if Maude’s fate-telling proves to be powerful. Maybe then he will confide in me. If he has been scheming, he has kept the information from me thus far. I have chosen my handmaidens carefully, choosing from the women sent to me by Alva’s spies in Logi, and they have passed information to me from the servants, but none so far has turned up useful.

I’ve been in this kingdom for eighteen months now, and I still have no word to send to Alva. She will think I have failed in my attempts to spy for her. After Maude has her fate telling, I will be forced to rejoin Harald in the bed chamber, and while I do not look forward to the endeavor, I hope to find more information to pass along to my friends in Veter.

Maude has been the bright light in my new life of loneliness in the Palace of Wind and Embers. For her, I will continue in my mission to spy for Alva and--

Bryn closed the journal, finding nothing useful to the King’s downfall other than his usual cruelty.

How am I supposed to write to Maude?Bryn asked herself.What would I even say?

Standing from her spot in the window, Bryn moved to pour herself a glass of clear liquor. The sharp scent of juniper berries and pine washed over her, focusing her thoughts for a moment and allowing her to think clearly.

Her mother had been sent here to spy and warn the Kingdom of Rivers of attack, but she noted that he had not kept her confidence in the subject. Bryn realized she had closed the journal too soon, noting she had been distracted by her thoughts when reading the last sentence. Bryn ran to the journal and opened it to the entry once more.

For her, I will continue in my mission to spy for Alva and plot the downfall of the King of Flame. I may be living under the guise of a subservient wife to everyone else, but my blood burns hot with the rage of a thousand fires for how he treats his people.

The people of Logi suffer under his rule, and his poison has seeped into the surrounding towns as well. With Maude, Harald has a new Heir and can be replaced by someone who was not raised with cruelty and hate in their heart.

The day I escaped Dagsbrun and the slaughter of my family, I promised myself it was only to survive his treachery so I could return with the intention to not only spy for Alva but to stop running from my fate: the reason his rule finally comes to an end.

The Grand Soothsayer predicted that I would bring ruin to the Kingdom of Flame when I was ready and that the city would fall to embers in my wake.

Now, he has brought me into his home and made me his wife.

I am the Queen of Flame with fire in her veins and vengeance in her heart. Harald will regret the day he underestimated me and mine.

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