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She forced herself to smile and drilled the runes with her mana. “I’m surprised you know how to joke. You’re always so serious looking.”She laughed, and it came out hollow. A strange part of her wondered if she wanted him to be serious.

“Do you think I’m a soulless monster? Of course I know how to joke.” Blár leaned a shoulder against the wall and watched her. “I’m just not great at it. Or funny, to be honest.”

“So you’re the kind that does self-depreciating humor?”Kolfinna broke another rune.

A rare smile lifted his lips, but the shadows of the night swallowed it up as he turned his head to the ground. “Well,anyway, I hope you can learn to, um, accept my apology. That doesn’t mean you have to forgive me, but it was important for me to put it out there.”

The pit of her stomach fluttered unnaturally and she quickly went back to the runes. Nothing he said was outright romantic or extraordinary, so why did it feel like she was being swept away?

“Thank you,” she said, her words barely a whisper. “I appreciate it.”

He didn’t have time to say anything else, because the last rune crumbled beneath her mana and the door to the house flung open with gusto. Kolfinna nearly fell backward in surprise as Revna stood in the doorway, her trembling hands pressed together.Had she felt the last rune disappear?

“Is it done?” Revna’s eyes were alight with hope. “Have you finished?”

Kolfinna gave the house a quick inspection and bobbed her head. “Yes, I got them all.”

“Really? Truly? Can you check again?”

Kolfinna checked every crevice of the house before circling back to the doorway. “Yes, I got it all—”

Revna jumped through the doorway and flung her arms around Kolfinna, capturing her in a bear hug. “Oh, goodness! Thank you! Thank you so much, Kolfinna.” She tightened her grip on her, her thin shoulders quivering as she swallowed a sob. “You have no idea how lonely, and tiring, and horrible it was to be stuck in there for so, so long. Thank you, thank you so much.”

“Um, you’re welcome—” Kolfinna started just as Blár said, “Don’t act like she did it for free. Now tell us how to get our comrades out of here.”

Revna pulled Kolfinna out of the embrace and held her at arm’s length, a scowl twisting her face. “I really don’t see what you see in him, darling,” Revna said with a sniff. “And yes, I haven’t forgotten my end of the deal.”

“Now that you’re free, will your soul return to your body?” Kolfinna asked with a head tilt.

Revna’s shoulders dropped. “My body is still in a comatose state, so I’m going to try to see what I can do … I fear I won’t be able to do much, but at least if I leave here and go back to my body, I won’t be stuck. I’m sure I’ll be able to wake up somehow …”

“If I run into your body,” Kolfinna said, “I’ll try to wake you.”

“Thank you, dear.” Revna gave her another tight embrace. “You’ve already done so much for me. I promise I’ll make it up to you somehow.”

Blár drummed his fingers against his sunburnt crossed arms. “Hate to break this touching moment, but we kind of have to go and kill the dreki and free our comrades. So, maybe you can just tell us already how to help everyone?”

“You’re as pleasant as always, human.” Revna sighed loudly and detached herself from Kolfinna. “I hope I don’t see you on the other side. And as for the matter of your comrades—they’re likely already dead, so don’t bother.”

Revna held her hand up in the sky and twirled her fingers above her head. Runes glared in the space above her, glinting harshly like the blinding light of the two suns. Kolfinna covered her eyes and when the light died down, Revna was nowhere to be seen.

Blár stared at the spot she had been standing; her footprints indented the sand. “Did—Did that hagfish justghostus? After all the trouble you did for her?”

All the color blanched from Kolfinna’s skin; what about Revna’s end of the deal—did she really just betray her like that? And what runes did she write over her head to make her disappear from this dimension?

Blár cursed under his breath and kicked the wall of the house. “Damn it! We could’ve left this place much earlier if we’d known that shitbag wouldn’t even help us!”

The strength left Kolfinna’s legs and she sank to her knees, the cool sand cushioning her. She covered her face with her hands. Revna had betrayed her. Kolfinna had trusted her, and she had in turnusedher! All that time she wasted trying to break the runes in the house was precious time she could’ve used to help everyone.

“Hey—are you crying?”

She felt Blár tentatively touch her shoulder, but she brushed his hand away. “She probably made a mistake,” she heard herself say between bitter breaths. “W-Whatever the case, we should go. Let’s find the dreki and get out of here.”

“Kol—”

“Blár!” Kolfinna turned her face toward him and hated the way her eyes stung. “We don’t have time for this. Let’s go.”

Blár studied her for a moment before nodding.