Page 10

"Now that I have your attention," she said, her tone growing serious. "We all know you are suffering, Hakon. Eydis is gone, Herrick is captured, and Gunnar is dying."

As her list continued, the hatred in Hakon's eyes grew. Good, if he was going to feel anything, at least the hate could be directed toward her.

"There was nothing we could do for Eydis. She went into those caverns, knowing the risk. You dishonor her sacrifice by throwing your life and your friends away in your grief. And I know, just as well as you, that she would kick your ass all the way to Valhalla if you gave up now."

Even as she spoke the words, Maude tried to ignore her own raging shame. If she had only gotten to her in time, if her overwhelming emotions wouldn't have failed her…

Liv was silent behind them as she held Hakon by his ankles, forcing him to listen to her. Maude only kept her eyes on the Heir of Rivers.

"We are going to free Herrick," Maude continued, her voice cracking on his name. "I am not going to allow him to stay at the mercy of my father."

For a moment, she ignored the wrongness in that statement, but he was the only father she had ever known.

"But Gunnar is here— he is alive — and you have done nothing but drink yourself into oblivion for weeks," Maude said, her voice hardening again. "It ends now. You don't have to like me, Hakon, but I am not giving up on Herrick or Gunnar right now. We lost, but that doesn't mean we stop fighting."

Silence rang out around them as her words drifted into the Void, the meaning behind them soaking into her fate as she spoke. She could feel the gods listening now, the damned Norns weaving as her thoughts raced.

"Damn it," she whispered. There was no way around it anymore.

Maude released her friend, even if he wouldn't call himself that, cushioning his short fall with her air galder before he could hurt himself.

Sinking into a chair, she put her head in her hands, her fingers grasping at the roots of her braided, ruby hair.

The sharp pain of her scalp centered her as the shuffling of feet around her scraped against the thundering in her ears.

Another cushion sank under someone's weight, followed by Liv's light footsteps coming closer to her.

"Are you sure about this?" Liv asked quietly.

She groaned and lifted her head to meet Liv's gray eyes. "I'm not going to stop fighting for Herrick. I'm not going to stop fighting for our freedom— mine and Ahland's. You're right: Helvig's tyranny has to end and we're the only ones who can stop it. And, gods, do I hate that."

A rough chuckle came from Hakon. Maude and Liv looked at him, surprised he was able to show any other emotion.

"You're also right— about Eydis and my brothers. She would be very angry with me," Hakon said, his hand running through his caramel hair as his face shuttered again from the grief that ravaged him.

Brothers. Yes, they were both his brothers.

"We can't let Helvig win," Maude said after a quiet moment, her voice low. "We can't stop fighting."

"I'm relieved to hear you say that," the Shadow King said as he entered the suite, Bryn close behind .

His silver eyes scanned the room, the destruction that Maude and Hakon had caused, before landing on her.

Amusement swam in his stare before turning serious, his hand tightening around a slip of paper.

Bryn looked as if she had just woken up, her eyes still heavy with sleep as she also took in the room.

Her sister snorted and rolled her eyes as she put together the scene before her.

"There is news?" Liv asked, going to Aeric's side.

"Yes," he responded, his voice heavy.

Hakon and Maude exchanged weary glances, worry quickly replacing fear in his piercing blue eyes.

"I've received a missive from one of my spies, and it seems Helvig has declared himself the High King of Ahland," Aeric said, his eyes going to Maude again."As a show of strength and as a sacrifice to the gods—"

The Elven King hesitated. He didn't need to finish the sentence— she already knew what her father would do.

"He's going to execute Herrick in front of the entire city," Maude finished.

The only sounds that drifted through the open windows were of children laughing and Elven talking to each other, filling the silence that radiated between everyone in the room she and Hakon had destroyed only moments earlier.

The joy that echoed around them was so at odds with the tense stillness of the room littered with broken furniture that Maude almost laughed before her worry smothered the sensation.

Remaining still for only a moment longer, she let the information settle before she started moving, gathering up her weapons before pivoting for the door.

"When?" was all she asked as she breezed past Aeric into the hall.

"On the new moon," he replied, following her.

She stumbled before righting herself again.

The new moon was only days away, and it would take at least two days to ride from the Icewall Mountains to the northern gates of Logi.

A haphazard plan started to form in her mind, but Maude could only focus on Herrick. If she didn't make it to him before—

"We won't get there in time," Liv said, running to catch up with Maude.

Maude wouldn't— couldn't — allow herself to consider the alternative. She would make it to him and rescue him from her father's clutches.

Clarity had forced itself into Hakon's eyes at the news, his drunken stupor long gone by the time they reached Maude's room.

She blew the doors open on a harsh wind, heading for her bow that Liv had returned and the extra daggers she had acquired over the last few days when she was in the Training Hall with Bryn.

"You'll take one of my longships," the Shadow King said, never taking his eyes off Maude. "A handful of sailors can operate it and you'll get to Logi in no time on the water."

"I'll help navigate," Hakon offered as he continued strapping his sword onto his belt.His fingers tripped clumsily over the buckle, something he tried to hide by turning his body slightly away from everyone.

"Maude, we need to slow down," Bryn started to say, but Maude shot her a glare.

"We don't have time to slow down. You've all kept me here long enough," Maude growled. "I'm going after him."

"I'm just suggesting that we need a plan. We can't just burst through the front doors," Bryn responded, her hair beginning to float around her head from the wind she pulled in from the windows as her annoyance sparked.

"I'll send word to my spy in the palace that you are headed to Logi," the Shadow King offered. "They will expect you in two days; you should make it there swiftly if the winds are favorable. Where should I tell them to find you?"

There was only a moment of hesitation before Bryn said, "The Green House in the slums of Logi. It's right next to The Broken Bones Pub."

They all stiffened for a moment at her words.She knew Sigurd?

Maude forced away the detail for the moment, shoving some extra leathers into a pack to bring with her.

Since she woke from her stasis, Aeric had provided them all with a comfortable wardrobe of fighting leathers and more casual clothing for lounging.

The billowing wide-legged pants that hugged her curves had become a staple of hers when she would curl up with Bryn and read their mother's journals.

Her favorite piece of clothing, however, had become the black leather vest that she wore over her looser tunics.

The cut of the vest showed off her curvy form that she loved so much while also providing a place for her to stash some of her smaller knives where they could be hidden in plain sight—a benefit of Shadow Elven-made clothing.

The scraps of her mother's shawl lay as neatly as they could in their state on top of the pile of clothing from before they got to Nida.

She hesitated, her hand hovering over the fabric that she had worn around herself for years.

After a moment, she withdrew her hand and left the shawl where it was— she could not hold on to sentiment when her focus needed to remain on Herrick.

The woman who wore the shawl to conceal herself from the world and the gods no longer existed. She died in Logi to protect her sister.

"Consider it done," Aeric said, inclining his head toward Bryn before turning back to Maude.

Distantly, she registered that Liv would bring them to the docks from the palace.

They all agreed to meet her at the front of the palace in five minutes, giving everyone time to gather their weapons and supplies for a short trip.

They would have to return to Nida because Gunnar would remain here, but really, no one wanted to say aloud what kind of state Herrick might be in when they found him.

Alone with Aeric, words burned in her throat. Maude wanted to thank him for helping her rescue Herrick, only she could not find her voice. It should have been easy— he was her birth father, and he had known and loved her mother. But he was a stranger to her.

Instead of thanking him, Maude nodded sharply and walked past him into the hall, leaving all the unsaid words behind her. As she passed him, the male reached out and put a tentative hand on her shoulder.

"We'll speak more when you return. Safe travels, Maude," he said softly before releasing her.

Maude made her way to the front of the palace and didn't look over her shoulder at the King of Shadows once.