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The modest tent they had been given to share was large enough to house three cots to sleep in, along with a metal fire pit in the center that had a low burning fire to ward off the chill of the night.

Being so close to the ocean made the temperature drop just as suddenly as the desert did when the sun set, much to Maude's delight.

With plush carpets beneath their feet and thick furs on their beds, the tent was as comfortable as their lodgings in Hilgafell.

Maude inclined her head with her fist over her heart before saying, "To what do I owe the pleasure of your company, Your Majesty?"

The words left her mouth as sharply as the double-edged meaning. Alva gave her a tight smile.

"I wanted to see if you had the chance to settle in after your journey," the Queen replied airily. Her eyes flashed to where Bryn and Dahlia had disappeared behind the privacy screen. "And perhaps fill in the blanks my sons seem to have left out when they were debriefed."

Debriefed , Maude thought, disgusted. They're your children, not your soldiers.

She knew what Alva was asking: what are they hiding for you?

"I'm sure they've told you everything you need to know right now," Maude finally responded, equally as airy.

The two women stared each other down for one long moment before Alva broke the tension. "Njal tells me that there was an attack on the Palace of Wind and Embers. That King Helvig was targeted and took a prisoner from the attackers with plans to sacrifice him to the gods in front of all of Logi."

Maude said nothing, only holding the Queen's eye.

"He also tells me that this prisoner escaped before he could be struck down in chains as a message not to challenge Helvig's power," she finished.

"The King of Rivers would be correct," Maude finally replied.

The tension in the Queen's shoulders seemed to loosen at Maude's confirmation.

So suddenly that Maude didn't see the act coming, Alva flung her arms around Maude's shoulders and hugged her tightly.

Hesitantly, she patted Alva on the back a few times.

The Queen pulled away before she could reply, her tear-stained cheeks glistening in the firelight.

"Thank you, Maude," Alva said quietly before evaporating the tears on her face with a flick of her wrist.

Without wasting any more time, Alva quickly turned to leave. Before she could pass the threshold into the camp that was still bubbling with activity, she turned to Maude again.

"He's lucky to have found you," she whispered. "Even when I tried to stand in the way of you two."

Maude's throat thickened. "I'm the lucky one, Your Majesty."

Alva turned again but paused when Maude continued speaking, "You raised your boys well, Alva, but if you continue to try and cage them, it will only end badly for them. Let them choose for themselves who they want to be. "

The Queen only hesitated a moment before she exited the tent without another word. At least if they were going to battle soon, Maude would have somewhat repaired the relationship between her and Herrick's mother.

Feeling whatever had been left of her energy leave her, Maude slumped near the entrance of her tent to watch the camp as soldiers bustled around, making preparations for Helvig's eventual attack.

All around her, activity seemed to buzz with nervous energy as soldiers who had probably never imagined war in their lifetime readied the border of the camp for attack.

From where their tents were situated at the front lines, Maude could see the spikes that had been carved from large trees poised outward as a protective fence in case an attack came unexpectedly.

Though she knew that Helvig had marched on the Kingdom of Rivers, his soldier's presence in the Lamenting Woods proof enough that he stopped caring about borders, Maude still couldn't figure out how he had found his way through.

People didn't just stumble upon the Kingdom of Rivers territories.

Even if Herrick had never mentioned it, Maude sensed the galder in the woods when they'd traveled through it this time.

The first time she'd gone through the Lamenting Woods with Herrick, she had been anxious about being discovered, so she had not really been aware of the galder that was laced in the very trees of the forest. Today, though, she had felt it all.

Perhaps it was because of her Elven nature taking over the forefront of her senses, but there was a presence in the forest that was more sentient than she realized.

It seemed like the goddess Jord was protecting the kingdom through more than just thick coverage of land but also deflecting unwanted visitors.

So, how did Helvig get through the woods unassisted?

Raucous laughter interrupted her thoughts, pulling her from her train of thought.

Across a small circle of tents sat a group of soldiers playing cards with drinking horns in hand.

She glanced back into the empty tent briefly before getting up to join them in a few games.

Slipping the hood of her cloak over her head so she could be mistaken for any other shieldmaiden, Maude sat on one of the stumps and waited for the soldiers to deal her in .

Soon, she was caught up in the game with the strangers, and she easily fell into a false rhythm as she waited for Herrick to return to his tent.

It wasn't until the sun started to crest on a new day that Maude gave up on waiting and fell onto her cot, head spinning from all the good ale she'd been drinking with the River Soldiers she had met.

Herrick would come to find her when he returned… He would find… He…

Dahlia roamed through the Rivers army camp as the long hours of the night dragged on, weaving between tents and observing the human men and women who seemed to radiate with tension and humor simultaneously.

She wasn't quite sure what she was looking for until she'd found him behind the soldier's barracks, sitting on a small stretch of beach in front of what looked like an empty office.

Taking the moment of anonymity, she traced over the features of his face that were lined in silver from the moon.

His usually smooth and styled caramel hair was disturbed by how he ran his hands through it, and his back was hunched, the exhaustion that weighed on him palpable.

When she had been trying to pull him from his grief, being angry with him had presented a challenge that he could not ignore.

It allowed a new channel of emotion to open up within himself that made it easier to compartmentalize his sorrow from the rest of his feelings.

With Hakon, the tactic seemed to be working well, except…

Dahlia felt it had been too easily done.

It was like she was missing something obvious about the Heir of Rivers that should have been clear to see.

"I know you're there," Hakon said quietly, picking his head up and patting the soft sand next to him. "Come sit with me a while."

Waiting for her heart to return to normal speed, Dahlia stood there in silence for a handful of seconds before she realized her heart would not slow.

"Why would I do that?" she asked from the shadows.

Hakon shrugged. "I guess you don't have to, but it's better than lurking around dark corners, don't you think? "

She swallowed her laughter, opting to join him in the moonlight. As soon as she sat next to him, the clean smell of rushing water enveloped her. Dahlia almost sighed.

"What brings you out at this late hour?" he asked, keeping his face forward. It didn't hide the frustration lining his face.

"I could ask the same of you," she replied instead, avoiding answering him. How could she explain that she had been looking for him when she didn't even know why?

"I needed quiet," he replied softly. "I needed to be anywhere but inside the palace."

"I'll leave you then," Dahlia replied just as softly. If he needed space, she wasn't going to take that from him.

As she moved to stand, his hand shot out and grasped her wrist. His hold was not rough but was firm enough to pause her actions.

Their eyes met, and in the dark sapphire hue, she could see the hollowness not born of grief but of one who has been caged his whole life.

Suddenly, all that had been missing in her assumption of the Rivers Heir became clear. She had been gravely wrong about him.

"Please stay," he whispered, his focus on her like his entire well-being was hanging in the balance, and her response would tip the scales one way or the other.

"Okay," she assented, remaining at his side.

For a while, they sat in silence— only the sound of the waves crashing and small creatures skittering around them. She wanted to ask him what was bothering him so much about returning home, wondering if he would answer truthfully. Turns out she didn't have to ask.

"Being back here reminds me of Eydis," he finally said quietly enough that Dahlia wasn't even sure she'd heard him. "Everything about this place, my home, seems to still be alive with her memory even as the image of her fades in my mind with each passing day."

Dahlia remained silent, unsure if he was asking for a response or just needing to vent.

"I haven't forgotten how she made me feel," he continued.

"Nor have I forgotten how beautifully strong she was even after all she had faced.

She was the most beautiful girl I had ever seen.

She seemed to float on air; everything about her was light and pure.

But now I can't remember what she looked like when she laughed or how it sounded when it rang out around me.

I don't remember the small faces she would make when I annoyed her or the color of her cheeks when she blushed. "

Though she didn't understand why, the pit of her stomach tightened as her jaw clenched when Hakon spoke of Eydis. She knew it was wrong to feel that burning acid in her chest, but the reaction was so swift that she couldn't stop it from overwhelming her.