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Anrid crept into his thoughts, too. He found it disconcerting how thoughts of the Bifrost shifted to thoughts of the human girl. Naturally, he quickly forced his focus back to more logical things, but then she popped back up at odd intervals, demanding his attention.

He must be tired, was all, or just too concerned about her fiasco with the Bifrost and how he would fix it. Thinking about her was perfectly natural.

Imenborg greeted him in silence. It was late, and many of the staff were in bed or down in the workroom trying to prepare more runestones.

He would have liked to collapse into his own bed, but the hollow pit in his stomach warned him this would be unwise. He stopped by the kitchen first.

All the runestones had been extinguished and the only light came from the smoldering runestones in the fireplace. The stones flickered and glowed like embers but gave off no smoke, only light and warmth. Granger must have retired to his room. Jael made his way to the larder to see if the cook had left anything out for him.

“He left a plate on the sideboard,” a gentle voice called.

Jael spun and searched the shadows. It took him several moments to discover the shape in the rocking chair by the fire. Had he not been so tired, he would have noticed the gentle squeaking of wood against stone sooner. He collected his plate covered with a piece of cheesecloth and moved toward the fire.

Anrid sat in the rocker, wrapped in a knitted shawl. He pulled up a chair and sat down across from her, eyeing her. Had she waited up for him or was this a chance encounter?

“Thank you,” he muttered as he uncovered his plate and discovered a single piece of bread, a pile of boiled roots and vegetables, and a woefully narrow slice of roast beef. He would need to restock Granger’s larder sooner rather than later, unless he wished to see more of this ilk on his plate in the future. It was barely enough to sate a child, let alone an adult male.

She let him eat in silence for a while before clearing her throat. “I had hoped to run into you before retiring for the night.”

So she had waited up for him. This made him almost happy, which was pure nonsense. He must be delirious with the need for sleep.

“Yes?” he prompted around a mouthful of food.

The hissing embers cast red angles of light on her face as she stilled the rocker and seemed to face herself toward him more squarely. “Yes. I wished to ask you about what is to happen to me. I mean, what needs to happen so that I can return to the surface?”

Oh. That.

He felt a little less happy then and let his focus return to his plate. She waited in silence as he finished his vegetables.

“I admit I don’t know,” he said. He plucked the bread from his plate and took a bite, chewing before allowing himself to study her. “This isn’t a good time. There are things going on that require my attention. I don’t know when I’ll have time to sort this out. It’s more complicated than you realize, and perhaps I’ll explain all that by and by, but for now...don’t worry about it. I promise to figure something out.”

Her expression grew pensive and pained.

He winced. “I promise that I will get you back to your people. I’m not putting you off or trying to take advantage. Just being practical.”

The furrow between her brows did not uncurl.

“I see.” She leaned back and resumed rocking. “Is there anything I can do to help?”

He let the plate settle onto his lap and studied her. “I doubt it. My tasks are not easily taught, and you have already proven that humans are susceptible to magic. I would not put you in danger just to lighten my workload.”

“Ah.” Her clouded expression cleared a bit. “Yes, of course. That’s what is keeping you so busy? The magical stones?”

“Not exactly. It’s the Bifrost. The runestones are not containing it like they should, and that puts our entire kingdom at risk. Something has upset the balance.”

She grew very still. “Something to do with me?”

“I doubt it,” he rushed to assure her, setting his plate on the floor and leaning forward with his elbows propped against his knees. “I suppose this all seems very foreign to you, coming from a place that doesn’t rely on magic. The Bifrost is a natural force of nature. It’s good and pure and useful when cared for. But it’s possible for the Bifrost to be misused. There are dark things in the world that can taint even the purest of natural forces, spells born of blood and hatred and death. These bad things can twist the good ones.”

Was he over-explaining? He didn’t know how much she would understand.

“Something is infecting the Bifrost?” She spoke flatly, her soft voice hinged with question.

“Yes.” Her correct simplification of his concerns surprised him. “Yes, something has infected the magic.”

She exhaled. “Then, perhaps, this may have something to do with me after all.”

“What do you mean?” He pushed up so that his palms were now braced against his knees. At the same time, she drew her legs up onto the rocker and wrapped her arms around them. It was a defensive posture.