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“We really have no idea what we’re dealing with.”

“No, I guess not.”

Sweat beaded her forehead and whenever she wiped it away, more formed just as quickly. Her mouth was drier than this desert and she would’ve given her arm to have a taste of water. Blár was probably thinking the same, but he didn’t voice his concerns. Instead, he squinted into the horizon, as if a weapon would appear if he stared hard enough.

Kolfinna followed his gaze and blinked back in surprise when she saw a small structure in the distance. It couldn’t be … Was that ahouse?

She slowed in her steps and her mouth dropped open. Itwas.

A tiny house sat in the distance. They were too far to see any details on it, but a plume of smoke exited through a chimney.

Blár grabbed her forearm. “I’m not hallucinating, am I? Do you see a house?”

“I do.”

For a stunned moment, they both stared at it.

“It could be dangerous. Like a trap …” He licked his chapped lips. But they both knew a house meant someone was living there, someone who had food and water.

A shiver ran down her spine. “Whatever it is, it might be the answer to our plight.”

17

As they neared the house,they realized it was entirely made of stone. Its windows were impenetrable black glass and the heavy wooden door had golden inscriptions on it. Streams of iridescent gold runes skirted around the walls of the house like a million spidery chains. The chimney puffed out silver and golden dust, with a few speckles that glowed. Mana spilled forth from the house, but it felt oddly different from the dreki or the castle ruins; it was powerful, and yet so hidden. How had she not felt any trace of it until that moment?

They stopped a foot away from the door, neither of them sure if they should proceed further. From afar, the smoke was an indication that someone was living inside, but now that they were here, with all the mana and magic surrounding the place, she wasn’t so sure if she wanted to go inside. What would they meet? After the draugrs, the Jötnar, and the dreki, Kolfinna wasn’t so keen on surprises. For all they knew, there could be a humanoid monster behind that door.

“What do the runes on the walls say?” Blár asked slowly. His steps were cautious and calculated, as if something would pop up in front of them and they’d be forced into combat mode.

The way he carefully inspected the house and kept glancing around looked funny, but she knew she was doing the same. Kolfinna was drawn to the mana of the house—to the shining runes wrapping around it. She wanted to splay her fingers over them and absorb the life pulsing from them. She missed the familiar nestling of her mana in her chest, like the heartbeat of a hummingbird vibrating beneath her skin.

“Let me see,” she murmured, drawing close to the door. The radiant runes were tightly packed together and so small she had to bring her face closer. Before she could start reading, the door yanked open. Kolfinna stumbled back and gasped; in front of her was a humanoid face.

No, ahumanface.

An older woman stood at the threshold with one hand leaning against the doorframe and another holding a ladle. Black and gray hair streamed down her shoulders, and a pair of vivid purple eyes peered back at her. And her ears—they were strangelypointed.

No, not a human, Kolfinna realized.A fae.

The woman’s mouth dropped, and she looked between them. “People? Here?” She swung the door wider. “What brings you here? Come in, come in! I haven’t had people over inyears!”

Kolfinna hesitated, then looked at Blár, who hadn’t moved and wore a guarded look. “Um,” she said. “I … Who are you?”

“Revna,” the woman replied airily. “And you?”

“Kolfinna.”

The woman paused and watched her carefully, the gears in her head practically grinding together. Finally, she said softly with a tinge of sadness, “Kolfinna, hm? What a beautiful name. I knew a Kolfinna once. She was the sweetest, tiniest little thing. It’s a shame she was sealed away during the war. She even had your eye color. What a beautiful color it is.”

Kolfinna was at a loss for words. What did Revna mean by “sealed” away? She didn’t have time to ask her, because Revna was already speaking again.

“And you?” Revna gave Blár a once-over with a deep frown. “What exactly are you?”

Blár scowled. “The hell does that mean?”

“What exactly are you?” She tilted her head, her blue-stone earrings catching in the light, and pointed a long nail in Kolfinna’s direction. “She’s normal. But you?” Revna rubbed her chin thoughtfully, her purple eyes flashing. “I’ve never seen someone like you. Your mana is strange.”

Kolfinna couldn’t follow the conversation, and by the looks of it, neither could Blár. There was nothing about Blár that was inherentlydifferent, other than that he was a black rank. But it didn’t seem like this woman, Revna, was prodding at that fact. It was like there was something deeper than that.