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"Fuck," Herrick replied as he ran his hand through his sleep-mussed hair before setting his palms on the surface of the map. "How are our numbers looking right now?"

Maude crossed her arms over her chest and surveyed the map; she was of little use in this discussion. She did not have the mind for strategy, not the way Bryn and Herrick did .

"The soldiers are preparing; I spread the word of the impending attack when you brought Maude here earlier," Bryn explained seriously.

She'd slipped back into her role as Lieutenant General easily, just with a different army.

"They have orders to gather information on the front lines just behind the spiked fences before dawn. "

"I should promote you to Lieutenant General of Rivers, Bryn," Herrick muttered. "Svend sure as shit isn't doing the job."

"I don't think that will go over too well with the Queen and King, but I appreciate the sentiment," Bryn said slyly, her lips tipping up in the corner.

It warmed Maude's chest that her sister and Herrick were getting along. In a lot of ways, they were entirely too similar, but she tried not to dwell on that.

As the sun finally set and the moon rose high over them, they continued planning for the fight that was getting closer with every tick of the clock.

Hakon joined them at one point, Dahlia close behind him, explaining that she had been working with the healers in the army to prepare for the injured tomorrow.

The hours started to wear on as the sky began to lighten.

Hakon excused himself to dress for battle— something he was adamant Herrick not argue with him about— and Dahlia excused herself to check in on the Elven soldiers who would be joining the battle.

Eventually, only Bryn, Herrick, and Maude were left discussing every possible fallout that could happen come sunrise.

"I just don't see how—"

Bryn was cut off by a tall, lanky form bursting through the tent opening in a hurry.

The man's uniform looked like he'd been wearing them for days— crumpled and disheveled— but his eyes were wide and wild as he searched for someone.

When they finally landed on Herrick, he relaxed but only barely before shooting forward.

The stranger never reached him, though, because Bryn had withdrawn her axe and scooped it under his ankle to trip him, sending him sprawling on the ground before Herrick.

Maude withdrew the leifr and dalkr Hela , but Herrick held his arm out to stop her from advancing on the man.

"This is Svend, my Lieutenant General," he sighed, picking up the man from under his arms. "By the gods, man, what's happened to you? "

When Svend finally found purchase under his feet, he swayed a few times before fully righting himself. He looked like he hadn't slept in days, the dark circles under his gaunt face the most noticeable feature.

"Forgive me, Herrick," Svend huffed out, his breath coming in rapid pants. "It's all my fault."

Herrick tried to keep his temper in check as Svend explained everything that had been going on under his nose ever since he started smuggling vitki out of Logi.

"One of the General of Flame's assassins approached me a while ago when I was on patrol in the Lamenting Woods," he'd started. "Said he had an offer from the King of Flame himself to turn spy for him and report back on any activity in Veter."

Maude watched him as he continued to pace in front of the man who he'd thought was not just his loyal to Veter Lieutenant but also his friend. Even if they'd grown apart as ambition got in the way, it was Svend's cowardice that allowed the bastard to sacrifice his kingdom so easily.

"For a while, it was only little bits of information that they were asking for— what do our armies look like in numbers?

Did we have any plans to break the treaty?

" he explained. "Then they wanted to know about what you were doing specifically.

I told them I didn't know what your trips were for because you never discussed them with me. "

And wasn't he incredibly thankful for that right about now?

"Then, when the Heir of Flame arrived at your side," Svend said as he glanced at Maude, who only bared her teeth at him, both blades still in hand, the metal seeming to pulse with her display of fury.

"I reported that she was here, that Alva had recognized her immediately as Sylvi's daughter.

When they received that intel, they sent me orders that a group of Flame Assassins were going to be sent to Veter to extract the Heir of Flame and bring her back to Logi.

So I told them where to enter the city, that I would have the patrols taken care of so they could enter without issue. "

"Then why did the man I killed in the palace gardens try and kill me when he couldn't take me?" Maude asked, her curiosity leaking through her harsh tone.

"I don't know," Svend replied, avoiding her eye now as she crept closer to him.

The dark tip of the leifr Hela appeared under Svend's chin, forcing him to look up. Maude lifted the blade, and Bryn asked, "So you were the one who killed the River Soldiers stationed at that gate?"

Herrick shot Bryn a confused look as to how she knew that before returning his focus to the man he thought he trusted.

"Yes," Svend said, his voice pained.

"What did Helvig promise you?" Herrick finally asked, sure that he already knew the answer.

The tent lapsed into silence for one agonizingly long moment before Svend said, "He offered me the role of General of Flame when his brother stepped down. He said he didn't trust the current Lieutenant General to take over the position."

Bryn scoffed and rolled her eyes. "Of course, he didn't trust me; I worked to underhand him at every turn. I thought I was craftier than he was, but he probably never trusted me to begin with."

"Well, we are our mother's daughters," Maude replied, keeping her sword under Svend's chin and pushing the tip in slightly.

"So you betrayed your kingdom for your own ambition?" Herrick growled, getting into Svend's space. "Are you so selfish that the lives of your people mean nothing to you?"

"No!" Svend protested, moving closer to Herrick, but he pushed his arms out and shoved the traitor away. If he got too close, there was no telling what he might do. "That's why I'm here!"

Maude got in front of him, blocking Svend from getting anywhere near him. Whether it was because she was protecting Herrick or protecting Svend from what Herrick might do to him, he wasn't sure, but he was grateful for the act.

"Then tell us!" she ordered him, her voice heavy with command .

"I showed them the way through the Woods so they could enter Veter when it was time to attack," Svend explained quickly with his hands up in the air as Maude pressed the blade closer to this throat again.

"But somehow, they used the shadows to take children away from the camps.

Waves and waves of families were ushered through the Flame camp, children and parents in black chains as they were ushered to Helvig's tent.

No one would tell me why, but when I heard the screams of their parents, I ran.

And I kept running until I got to you so you could help them. "

Svend finished speaking with a huge breath that escaped him, his voice shaking as he relived the screams of the parents.

But Herrick couldn't feel any pity for his Lieutenant at this moment because all I could think of was the darkness that had inhabited him when he'd been chained with the creature Vilde had ordered be placed in him.

The voice that echoed his every dark thought, the being that fed on his pain like the finest of meads.

The man before him— a man who had been like a brother to him in their childhood— had betrayed him, their kingdom, and the families he'd sworn to protect.

Herrick thought he might be sick as he thought of what those families were experiencing right now.

Maude seemed to have the same line of thought because she pressed the dalkr Hela to Svend's abdomen.

"You are the reason those tyrants have innocent children?" Maude said slowly, her voice cold and deadly. "You're the reason they suffer under Helvig and Vilde's cruelty? You're the reason those soldiers were killed during the Betrothal Ball?"

"I came here right away to warn you," Svend spluttered, his fear becoming a physical being in the tent as Maude pressed closer to him.

"Maude," Bryn warned, her watchful gaze trained on her sister.

The atmosphere seemed to hold its breath as Maude wrestled with her wrath and what she knew she had to avoid. But Herrick and Bryn both watched as she struggled against a losing battle and made her decision.

They were too slow to stop her.

"It's not good enough," Maude whispered as she leaned into Svend's ear.

She reared back before plunging both the dalkr and the leifr Hela into Svend, the metal cutting through his chest armor so brutally that it came out the other side of him.

She lifted him off the ground in her fury, his blood spilling onto her rage-twisted face.

It was then that Herrick saw her eyes had gone black again.

Svend choked on the life leaving his body as red poured out of the corners of his mouth, his eyes wide as they took in Maude's anger.

But he must have been dying too slowly for her, so Herrick watched as she withdrew the dagger from his chest before dragging it across his throat.

The sound of his Lieutenant General gurgling on a crimson wave of his lifeblood as it poured out of him was the only thing that echoed around them in the small tent.

Decades of shared memories barreled into Herrick as Svend met his stare for one fleeting second, his eyes pleading for forgiveness before they finally dulled.

Maybe it would never be enough that Svend came to him too late after his betrayal, but he had still chosen the Kingdom of Rivers in his final hours in this realm. Herrick would make it count, but first, he had to pull Maude back from Hela's trance.

When she finally dropped him, both blades hung from her hands on either side of her as she looked down on the dead man, his blood pooling onto the carpet.

Herrick circled her, never turning his back to her, until he reached Bryn's side.

Her sister's face was drawn as she watched Maude stand to her full height.

Only it wasn't Maude anymore. The dead stare of the goddess of Hel greeted them as she tipped her head to the side, eyeing them up like they were prey.

" Minn eldr ," Herrick said softly, one hand reaching out to her. She was still in there; she had to be. "Come back to me."

The woman before him chuckled darkly before shadows started to swirl around her ankles, the darkness shrouding her until they could only see her cold face, which did not belong to Maude anymore.

"No!" Bryn and Herrick both called at the same time, both launching themselves at the growing spire of shadow in the center of the tent.

However, they both crashed into the other side, collapsing onto the floor as the shadows cleared again. He tried not to look up, did not want to see what he already knew to be true. Bryn's shuddered gasp told him everything he needed to know.

Maude was gone. Hela had gained full control and disappeared with her.