Page 13

Bryn's stomach rocked with every bounce and dip the longship made as it fought through the arctic seas and their mercurial tides.

This was Hel on Earth. It had to be. Not for the first time since their ship left the roaring river leading out of Nida, Bryn thought she might finally hurl up her meager lunch of dried herring and bread.

Her hands were clenched onto the bench she was straddling, her knuckles bone white with how tightly she held onto the shifting boat.

"She's going to lose her lunch," Hakon shouted over the roaring wind that pitched the ship further to the left. "Four silvers if she empties her stomach onto the deck."

"I'll take that action," Maude piped up from where she sat a healthy distance from her, her face weary of the color Bryn was turning.

"I hope all of you burn in the deepest level of Hela's kingdom," Bryn gasped, her stomach dropping as the bow of the ship crested over a wave.

"I think she'll make it until we dock in Engate," Liv said, kicking a bucket toward her as she leaned on the mast. "But only after she kisses the dry sand."

"Your faith in me truly gives me strength," Bryn muttered as she hung her head in the bucket. The salty smell of herring lingered in the wood, making Bryn's stomach turn more.

She shoved the bucket away, opting to hold her face up to the warm sun.

She was not made to be on the water like this; she hated the way an angry sea forced her to be unbalanced.

They had only been on the water for one day, and Bryn was ready to jump overboard to let Jormungandr have his way with her .

With the breakneck pace Hakon was setting to reach Engate, Bryn was sure they would arrive with the rise of the next day.

The Rivers Heir and her sister had a nervous energy hovering around them, their gazes looking south to Logi as if they were being drawn there.

Bryn had never seen her sister so focused on anything before.

She was curious to see what would happen when Herrick discovered that Maude was alive.

Needing a change in conversation, Bryn pivoted toward her sister, who had resumed sharpening the iron tips of her arrowheads.

"What are you going to say to Herrick when he sees you?" she asked, Maude's focus on her task slipping as she processed the question.

"I haven't really thought about it," Maude replied, her sheet of hair falling over her shoulder to hide her face from Bryn.

It was a calculated move, no doubt. Habit forced Bryn to let it go; there was no reason to intrude on her sister's emotions like this.

In the Palace of Wind and Embers, Bryn excelled at the constant game of hiding one's emotions.

She could understand Maude's reluctance to show her perceived weakness.

So why did it sting when Maude had turned away from her rather than share her worries?

Why did her chest suddenly feel hollow at her sister's continued self-inflicted isolation?

Bryn had thought of all the things she wanted to say to Maude when she was in stasis.

She had planned to speak with her directly about all of her thoughts, but the longer they went without discussing it, the harder it became for Bryn to find the courage to speak.

The tension in her neck had reached a breaking point, her tight bun pulling on her scalp enough that she yanked the leather tie from the knot at the top of her head.

Thick curls of orange and yellow fell past her shoulders, the thin braids throughout her mane disappearing into the jungle that was living on her shoulders.

The cool ocean breeze wove through the locks, caressing her scalp in a way that was as soothing as someone running their fingers through her roots.

It took a moment for Bryn to realize she had relaxed into the natural movements of the longship once the waves had calmed, her body finding a rhythm she didn't know existed in her conscious mind.

"You're a natural when you relax," Liv's melodic voice reached her from a spot much closer than she had been occupying before.

Bryn opened her eyes to find Liv sitting right in front of her, her long legs straddling the bench Bryn had taken for herself upon boarding.

Gray eyes surrounded by smooth, ebony skin sparkled with amusement for a moment before they trailed up and around her face, where she imagined her hair had grown wild in the salty wind.

Liv and the others had donned their glamours over their Elven forms when they had left the mountain range protecting Nida.

She found that even with the veil of disguise, Liv radiated the light that glowed beneath the skin of those from the southern Elven kingdom.

She wondered how no one had noticed before.

It was all Bryn could see when Liv reached out a tentative hand to one of Bryn's curls.

Slender fingers wrapped a single copper curl around the radiant skin belonging to the female who had befriended her in the last few weeks. Something in Bryn's belly tightened as Liv pulled the delicate lock tight before releasing it and watching it bounce back into form.

"Beautiful," Liv whispered, her citrus breath skating across Bryn's heated cheeks.

"I've always found it unruly," she said as she shook off whatever had surged through her at the Elven's mesmerized touch.

"You should leave it down more," Liv offered, scooting back to lean against the mainsail, her booted foot propped up in front of her— the picture of ease.

"It gets in the way," Bryn muttered, her hands already raking through the unruly twists of her hair to control them.

"I can help with that," Liv said, jumping to her feet and standing behind Bryn before she had a chance to protest.

Those long fingers began combing over Bryn's scalp, short nails scraping gently against her skin.

Liv's skilled hands expertly began twisting and plaiting Bryn's hair into three neat braids that ran from her hairline to the crown of her head.

Once Liv positioned them in a way that she was satisfied with, she removed a few silver clips from her braids and fastened them to Bryn's hair, keeping the braids in place.

After wrapping a long strand of hair from the back of Bryn's head around the three braids, Liv combed out the rest of her wild curls behind her so they hung loosely.

When Liv released her heavy hair to rest on its own at the crown of her skull, Bryn expected the weight of her tresses that hung to mid back to pull on her scalp, but the tension never came.

Liv had managed to off-weight her hair in a way that wouldn't force her head to ache with the pressure to keep her hair managed.

"Gods above, I can't feel the weight anymore," Bryn marveled, holding her axe in front of her so she could try to catch her reflection on the surface. Liv gave a small laugh at her reaction.

"Not many know how to style textured hair appropriately," she responded, taking up her spot in front of Bryn again and flicking her own thick, black braids over her shoulder. "I've had years of practice."

Bryn beamed at Liv; she could definitely fight with her hair styled this way.

Quickly, embarrassment flooded her. How long had it been since someone other than her mother had braided her hair?

Her mother had been an expert at it but had never been given the opportunity to show Bryn how to style her hair before she had died.

She had been too young to be able to wrangle her thick hair with her small hands.

The clouds parted the moment the thought entered her mind like the gods were trying to erase the heaviness of the memory to replace it with a new, brighter one. Liv smiled widely at her from her spot across from her while Maude gave a short whistled approval.

She looked up at the blue sky just as a black raven flew over her, its feathers a deep onyx and shining. A familiar feeling settled deep in Bryn's chest just as a breeze kicked up and wrapped itself around her fresh braids, the scent of juniper heavy.

Bryn closed her eyes as she identified the feeling creeping up on her.

Safety. Revna.

Rather than allow her grief to overwhelm her, Bryn opted to find peace as she rocked with the waves on the open sea while she and Liv talked and laughed, a tentative friendship that had been blooming suddenly flaring with the bright sunlight above them.

The agony would always be there, but maybe the rawness of her loss would smooth with time.

Maude watched as the most delicate shade of pink bloomed on her sister's cheeks while Liv braided her hair, her shock still evident on her face.

Turning away to give them some privacy, Maude realized that she hadn't really known her sister since she had grown into adulthood.

Something as simple as Bryn's favorite color evaded her.

Did she have interests? Did she have friends that had been left behind in Logi?

Fuzzy memories from their early childhood grew fainter each year, but their residual affection for each other remained from those times.

They had been close, like one mind— one soul.

Bryn had been her dearest friend and fiercest admirer.

Somewhere along the line, Maude had withdrawn herself, pulling away from those she loved until she was desperately lonely.

She had closed the door on those she loved and left them with no way back in.

Nothing but freedom would have pulled her out of the hole she had dug for herself.

Maude remembered wanting to bring Brynna with her and had hoped that her sister would still have the habit of tending to their mother's gardens in the evenings. But when the garden was empty except for Flame Soldiers, who were trying to capture her, she fled alone.

The words to bridge their relationship burned on the tip of Maude's tongue as she brought her focus back to her sister.

Forgive me for being so selfish. I want to know you and be as we once were. I miss you every day.