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“We really shouldn’t be fighting,” Eyfura said, clutching her side. Her silk gloves were ripped and barely hanging onto her dainty hands. “It’s really dangerous, so we can’t be fighting like this. Our powers didn’t work back then, but the rune magic did. I don’t think we’ll be able to survive without each other.”

“We knew this would be a tough mission,” Mímir said with a nod. “Let’s not split up. We need to work together.” He laughed uncomfortably. “How about we bandage ourselves up first and then fight later, huh?”It was a sad excuse at lightening the mood, but it calmed the room a little.

“I’m not done.” Kolfinna’s fists were clenched so tightly that her fingers dug crescent-shaped marks into her already bleeding palms. “We’re supposed to be a team. I don’t want to have to worry about someone backstabbing me while I’m just trying to do the mission. We’re all here for a reason.”

“Kolfinna is right.” Eyfura came to stand beside Kolfinna and rested a hand on her shoulder. “We have to trust her and we can’t fight her or blame her just because something goes awry.”

“All right.” Mímir clapped his hands together, a tight smile on his face. “We all agree that it wasn’t right for Magni to try to kill Kolfinna and that Kolfinna is an integral part of this operation. Now that we have that settled, let’s bandage ourselves up. It’ll be best to stake out here in this room tonight and try again tomorrow when we’re better rested. We’ll take turns guarding. Is that clear?”

A deep silence permeated throughout the room while everyone shifted on their feet to bandage themselves up. Pieces of the wall Kolfinna had manipulated crumbled and fell onto the cracked tiles.

Torsten suddenly burst into tears, breaking the silence. “I didn’t think”—he hastily rubbed the tears on his cheeks, his shoulders racking forward with sobs—“I didn’t think Thyra would die like that!”

Kolfinna remembered the petite brunette and how she had teased Eyfura when they climbed the mountain. She had been so full of life. And then she thought of how Thyra had been brutally attacked by three of the skeletal beings, and how they had killed her mercilessly and gnawed on her limbs.

Torsten continued crying, but his cries grew a bit softer when Mímir placed a hand on his shoulder, his own face twisted with pain. Kolfinna stared at her shiny boots that were a tad too big. It always made her feel awkward when someone cried in front of her. She didn’t know what to do. Was she supposed to comfort him? Let him cry alone? Or leave him to it? It was too intimate.

“I’m so sorry,” Eyfura said, her shoulders drooping and her eyes shining with unshed tears. “I know you both were really close. That must’ve been terrible to witness.”

“We’ll avenge her. We’ll avenge them all,” Blár said with a frown. He had finished bandaging himself up and was shrugging his uniform back on. “There must be somebody or something pulling the strings to these ruins. We’ll find them and gut them alive.”

Guilt grew in the pit of Kolfinna’s stomach and if she hadn’t vomited all the contents of her stomach already, she was sure she would’ve retched right then and there. Although Magni was wrong in thinking she purposefully delayed the whole situation, it was true that if she had been faster, if she had figured things out sooner—maybe there would be more survivors. Maybe Thyra wouldn’t have died.

Everyone worked quickly and methodologically after that, as if they were used to the aftermath of a battle: disinfect, bandage, move on to the next injured person, repeat. The women huddled together when there was a private wound, to prevent the men from seeing anything, but it didn’t matter, because everyone was in their own little world. The silence was grim and haunting.

“Thyra was such a sweet girl,” Eyfura murmured. “I … I just can’t believe it.”

“Brynhild was like a sister to me,” one of the female soldiers said through half-sobs as she tied a bandage around Truda’s ankle. “We went to school together and she was supposed to marry this autumn—”

“I’m so sorry, Embla,” Eyfura said, her voice growing thick.

The guilt grew heavier and heavier on Kolfinna with each passing moment as everyone spoke about their friends and coworkers they lost. Some of the people they knew for years. Others were young in their careers and new to it all.

Kolfinna gritted her teeth together and peeled back the shredded sleeve of her injured arm. She flinched at the slight movement and sucked in her cheek. Thick blood crusted her stiff arm. Every movement felt like her flesh would slide off the bone. Teeth marks formed half crescents all over her arm. She squeezed her eyes shut. The more she looked, the more her stomach turned. Cuts, some jagged and some clean, peppered her broken skin. Her shoulder hurt the most and was by far the deepest of her wounds. Every time she moved her arm, it burned and throbbed relentlessly. She hadn’t realized it earlier because of all the adrenaline, but now that the rush was gone, all she felt was the constant throbbing.

Eyfura kneeled in front of Kolfinna, a roll of clean, new bandages in one hand and a small jar of green salve in the other. She smiled faintly, revealing two dimples on her cheeks. “Kolfinna, let me help bind your wounds.”

“Oh, uh, are you sure? There are people who are worse off—”

Eyfura waved her hand. “Don’t be shy. Your shoulder doesn’t look too good. Let me help.”

Kolfinna opened her mouth to protest, to tell her she was fine and could manage by herself, but Eyfura cocked a brow, giving her a look that told her she wasn’t taking no for an answer. It reminded Kolfinna of Katla and how she always insisted on bandaging up the scrapes on her knees whenever they played as children. Kolfinna bit her bottom lip and nodded. “I would appreciate it, thank you.”

Eyfura hummed softly as she went to work. She cut the sleeve of Kolfinna’s uniform and threw it to the floor, where it plopped in a sad, wet, bloody heap. Kolfinna tried ignoring the needle in Eyfura’s hand as she brought it to her shoulder and started sewing the wound with lightning speed after dabbing it clean with a rag.

“My mother and father work in the medical unit in the military, so I’ve been in and out of government hospitals since I was a child,”Eyfura explained. “Blood and gore don’t really bother me.”

Kolfinna flinched as the needle dug deeper into her skin. “You must be pretty knowledgeable in medicine then.” Medicine wasn’t an easy field to get into, whether as a nurse, doctor, or simply a helper. At least not on the military level. Small villages were always looking for medical help, but they usually only had superstitious healers who would use herbal treatments that weren’t as effective as the knowledge a medical practitioner had. “Why didn’t you become a nurse or a physician?”

“Surprisingly, the money is notthatgreat,” Eyfura said with a laugh. “At least when you’re a woman. And, to be frank, it didn’t align with my interests. I wanted to be out in the field and use my abilities. I don’t think I can handle it mentally, either. It was too much for me most days. Seeing people I cared for pass away, or just seeing others in pain … It took a huge mental toll on me, and I just helped out occasionally! I can’t imagine doing it every day.” The needle went in and out of Kolfinna’s skin. “My parents didn’t really have many expectations for me, so it didn’t matter what I did. I think I mentioned it to you already, but they put all their hopes and dreams on Nollar.”

“How do they feel about you being a Royal Guard?”Kolfinna traced a crack on the tile she sat on and she tried to focus on Eyfura’s words rather than Eyfura closing her wound.

“That I’m taking up a spot that could’ve—andshould’ve—belonged to a well-deserving man.” She cut the thread with her teeth and tied the ends before applying the salve thickly. “There’s a limited number of people who can become a Royal Guard and they think it would’ve been better if a man who has to provide for his family took that spot instead of me. I’m essentially taking somebody else’s job!”

Kolfinna blinked. “But that’s ridiculous. You deserve to be a Royal Guard just as much as anyone else does.”

“I think so too, but …” She shrugged and rolled the bandage around Kolfinna’s shoulder. “But they’ve got their minds set. Nothing’s going to change how they feel.”