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Clever, but the way she slumped, the way her jaw tightened, it was a distressing sight for her.

“I need to know how to help them,” she whispered, to herself more than anyone. “I need to know how to end this. We guard our shores, do what we can to send word to the other kingdoms. All that takes time. Give me a bit of time to find my place in all this.”

Olaf sighed in frustration. “Princess, I know commanding an army is out of your expertise, but we really must—”

“She wants time.” It took a heartbeat or two to realize I’d bellowed the words. I stepped between Calista and the commander. “You will give her the time. More than blades are needed to win this damn fight, and you know it.”

Olaf blinked, frowning. “Seems you’ve grown into your voice, boy.”

I leaned closer. “You wish this to be the old world—it is not.”

“No,” Olaf muttered. “You saw to that.”

“Enough.” Calista tugged on my arm and shoved her way between the two of us. “If you blame Silas for the shift of our world, then you blame us both.”

Olaf had the decency to look ashamed. “Forgive me. I blame no one.”

“You do,” she went on, “but I understand. No doubt you lost many in the fights of old. My father did what he did to save our people, but we must remember this is not the same kingdom. There are more powers than ours now, Olaf. Like us, they are fated to aid in the end of this fight. Guard our land. We will do our part as you do yours.”

My heart rushed when Calista curled her hand around my arm, almost possessively. To have anyone care what became of me was a forgotten notion. I could not decide if it made me want to shrink into oblivion, or pull her against me and take her mouth, so no one questioned she was mine.

“We’ll guard the shores, Cal.” A man approached. Tall, warrior-strong, with strange eyes that looked like ice. I’d seen him a great deal at her side. I envied him. Desired to thank him for protecting her. Perhaps wanted to hate him a little for it too.

“Cuyler.” She released my arm and took his. All at once, the unfair desire to hate him grew more potent. Calista lowered her voice. “We need answers from your sea fae.”

“Doubt it’ll talk. It’s horrid.” Cuyler shuddered.

“We need to try,” Calista whispered. “That battle lord fiend isn’t here. I want to know why.”

If I had to guess, Calista wanted to know if Davorin had taken a fight to another kingdom. I didn’t know what happened in this tale. I only knew it was meant to end back at the beginning. It was meant to end with her.

My palm heated when Calista slipped her fingers through mine. The blood fae was holding an arm toward one of the new stone structures; a gesture for us to follow.

Calista’s eyes glimmered with panic and something vicious. “You coming, Whisper?”

I smirked. “Wherever you go, Little Rose.”

Chapter18

The Storyteller

Cuylerand his men stashed the horrid sea singer in the damp cellar at the Norn’s house—or at least, what used to be the Norn’s house. It looked more like a blockhouse on a bleeding fortress. Embrasures and parapet walls surrounded the space. Wood and stone grouted together with thick clay deadened the outer world and kept the air cool inside.

More than the old, rotting house transforming into something out of a battle journal, I could not overcome the transformation of the sisters.

Young, almost lovely. Their ghostly eyes weren’t so frightening, but it was strange to see their lumps and rolls tighten up to muscle and lean sinews.

I tapped Forbi on her slender shoulder as we trudged down the wooden staircase.

“Are you well, Forbi?” I asked. “There seems to be an urgency, and you once urged me to accept the truth. What happens if I don’t?”

“Will the royal her take on the burden should the truth be said?”

“If you’re asking if I feel guilty countless folk have been trapped in a dreary existence for lifetimes in Raven Row, then yes. I’m not made of damn stone.”

Forbi frowned and let out a sigh. “Tales begin to fade. The part where a dark story grew stronger begins. It begins the part where fate pavesa dark him’spath to victory.”

What did that mean? “Davorin’s victory?”