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Gunnar scrutinized Maude. Feeling the heavy weight of his stare, she finally looked at him.

“Don’t you want to know where Herrick is?” Gunnar asked carefully.

“Of course not,” she replied too quickly.

Gunnar nodded, seeming satisfied with her answer. When he spoke again, he had a mischievous glint in his eyes. Gunnar turned to Liv.

“Why don't you take Maude and Eydis into the city today to get away from the bustle of the palace?” He suggested.

Maude didn’t buy his act for one moment.

“Why?” Maude asked, suspicious.

“No reason. The royals are busy with their preparations for the ball, and it might be easier on all of you to be far away from the chaos of the day,” Gunnar said innocently.

Liv let out a chuckle before speaking. “I want to get away from the Royal Seamstress before she tries to slap another ball gown on me.” She turned to Maude, her eyebrow raised in challenge. “It could be fun.”

“Fun? I’ve never heard of it,” Maude sniped but kept her tone light to hide the bitter truth in her words.

Gunnar and Liv laughed before the former spoke. “Then you really should see Veter in all its glory.”

Maude eyed them both. She saw the youthful excitement in Liv’s face and tried to smother her mirrored emotions. She could get away from the palace and limit her chances of running into Herrick, along with the bonus of exploring Veter, something so few got to do where she was from.

“Fine,” Maude said with a reluctant small smile. “But we need to find Eydis first.”

She and Liv agreed to meet on the second floor by the grand staircase so they could get Eydis together. Gunnar said he would stay back in the Palace and redirect anyone who might come looking for them.

“Including the Kolbeck brothers,” Gunnar offered with a wink.

An hour later, Maude stood by the staircase and waited for Liv. She had washed the grime and sand from her skin and had dressed simply in black boots, black leggings, and a white shirt that had the sleeves cut off to offset the humid air in Veter.

Over the top of her tunic, she had laced up a black vest over her chest, giving herself some shape from the loose shirt that hung on her. She had chosen to leave her mother’s shawl in her room rather than wrap it around her, pulling on a gray cloak instead and hiding her face within the hood’s shadows.

A new leather belt had been wrapped around her hips and extended down her right leg so she could sheathe her dagger. She had belted her short sword and Herrick’s hatchet to her sides, choosing to leave behind her bow. Her hair had been left loose and wild with a few braids that interconnected behind her head to keep it out of her face. Gyda had placed some silver clips onto the braids as well, the shine creating a sort of halo effect when the hazy sun hit them.

She paced in front of the stairs and tried to be gracious about the generosity Alva had been showing her since her arrival. The new clothes and gowns were too much, Maude felt. Gyda had told her that the Queen had also ordered her a ball gown to wear for Hakon’s Betrothal Ball.

It was too much, she thought, but she couldn’t really refuse her either. When she saw Herrick next, she needed to tell him that she had to leave soon before the Flame Soldiers tracked her down again.

Maude heard someone in boots behind her take a lengthy step. She turned to see Liv dressed similarly to her, and they both let out a short laugh. The friendship that Maude had started to notice blooming between them felt tentative on both ends, but she tried to let it feel natural. Since they had both spoken to each other outside the Lamenting Woods, Maude thought they were more similar than she first realized.

“Do you know which room Eydis is in?” Maude asked Liv.

She nodded and led them down the hallway closest to them. When they reached the wooden door, Maude knocked lightly and called out to Eydis that it was them. She heard quick footsteps, and then the door opened.

Maude’s first thought was that Eydis looked radiant.

Her moonbeam hair had been delicately braided back from her face and spring flowers had been weaved into her braids around her head like a crown. Eydis had honey-tinted tan skin that cast tones of deep gold, making her hair seem like it was glowing. Her delicate face was painted with light pink rouge over her cheeks and lips that highlighted her light caramel eyes.

The pale blue dress she wore hugged her curves in an attractive but subtle way, showcasing her feminine figure. The long sleeves ran to her elbows, and the dress hung off her shoulders, allowing her long hair to brush over them. She also wore a leather belt around her waist that held the knife Maude had given her, which pleased her.

“Eydis, you look well! We came to see if you wanted to come into the city with us today?” Maude said, giving her an uncertain smile.

Maude was unused to speaking on a regular basis with people, and she tried to put herself at ease as best as she could. It seemed to work because Eydis nodded enthusiastically.

“Let me just grab a cloak,” Eydis said to them.

Once they had set out for the city and were past the palace gates, the women began to speak freely. Eydis told Liv and Maude about her life in Logi and her family.