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The tang of iron was heavy in the air as their group fought their way through the contingent of soldiers that had responded to the brawl. Herrick didn’t care if he made it out of the palace walls; he only wanted to join Maude in Valhalla as a warrior who went down fighting.

He was facing off with one of the last soldiers when a trick door opened behind him.

He had fought his way through the thicket of soldiers and had become separated from Hakon and Bryn, so there was no one to warn Herrick of the soldiers who had burst through the servants' halls into the fight.

Herrick couldn't turn in time to stop the blade that was aimed to slice through his neck, ending his chance at freedom before it could even be within his grasp.

But no blow came.

The twang of an arrow releasing from a bow came a split second before Herrick’s neck was coated in a Flame Soldier's blood.

“The next one to touch him will meet the gods before they can draw another breath,” a voice that burned with a rage that matched his own came from behind him.

Shock paralyzed him enough that the soldier he had been fighting saw an opening to cut him down. Before he could, an arrow shot through his throat, the soldier choking on his blood before he fell over.

“Anyone else want to call my bluff? Touch him, and you die,” that beautiful voice came again, a hint of humor in her threat.

Herrick couldn’t believe it. He wouldn’t. She had been cut down, and he held her as she died — had felt the life leave her body as he screamed over her.

“Herrick, you have to keep moving,” she said, closer now than before.

Heat burned behind him, the feeling so familiar that it should have been impossible.

A hesitant touch on his shoulder spurred Herrick back into the moment. He spun to face her, his eyes searching her face like it was the first time seeing her.

Deep green eyes ringed by black. A heart-shaped face with full lips that always seemed to be twisted in disdain except when he was kissing them.

Wine-red hair braided back with a few loose strands framing her face.

The scar in the shape of the rune ansuz carving through the left side of her face and through her eyebrow.

The only thing missing from his hallucination was the indigo fabric she usually had wrapped around her and fashioned into a hood.

The one casting her face in shadows now came from the simple cloak she wore, obscuring the rest of her body from view .

Annoyance flared in those green eyes at his lack of movement, and the sight threatened to choke the last remaining breath from Herrick’s lungs.

“Maude,” he whispered, stepping closer to her.

It didn’t matter that there were fights all around them, that Hakon and Bryn were fighting off the remaining soldiers so they could escape.

It didn’t matter to Herrick that he had been a prisoner of Helvig for the last month, thinking her dead the entire time.

It didn’t matter that his heart had shattered and reformed as a pathetic, jagged replica of what it had once been.

None of it mattered as Herrick surged forward, his hands going to grasp Maude’s face as he pressed his lips to hers.

Burning cedar wood and jasmine enveloped Herrick as Maude opened to him, her hands wrapping around him and gripping him tightly.

Herrick’s mouth moved furiously over hers, his grief and anger echoing in every lash of his tongue on hers.

He reveled in the feel of Maude’s body pressed against his, how each curve fit with him perfectly.

Her quick breaths pulled him impossibly closer, his body reacting to her needs like they had spent no time apart.

The fight still raged around them, but all sounds died out until it was only the two of them.

When Herrick finally came up for air, he pressed his forehead to Maude’s tightly, refusing to let her go again so soon as his chest heaved.

“ Minn eldr ,” he breathed. “Maude. Is it really you?”

“Hello, beast,” Maude said, her breathless words holding no venom. Her hands wrapped around his as he held her."I'm really here."

For one moment, the fighting around them quieted as the threads of fate spun and wove around them. The air itself seemed to exhale in peace as if this was exactly where they each needed to be.

Too soon, that calm was shattered as Bryn shouted to them, “We’re not done here, so if you could save the reunion for later, that would be great!”

Neither of them moved at first, but then Maude shifted, breaking his tight hold on her only slightly.

“She’s right. I need to get you out of here,” Maude said, her voice hardening slightly.

Hakon cut down the last of the soldiers as Bryn picked over their bodies for weapons, keys, and other items that might prove useful in their escape. Maude stepped away, but Herrick did not release his hold on her, his hand gripping hers like she would be ripped away from him in the blink of an eye.

“You and Hakon need to get him to the longship,” Bryn said authoritatively as she casually slipped into her previous role. “Liv should be exiting the dungeons with the other vitki soon, and they’ll need Hakon to wrangle the boat to the shore so they can escape.”

Herrick’s heart swelled at the news about Liv and how she was freeing other prisoners. His friends would never just brave the palace for him; of course others would be just as important. Hakon nodded, coming to stand by Herrick. He avoided Maude’s eye, but it was clear she was the one he spoke to.

“We’ll need to bring the longship in together. You need to use your wind to coax the sails. The crew onboard will be hidden, so they won't be able to steer the ship safely.”

“Okay, but if we’re going to make it to the shore in time, we need to leave now,” Maude agreed. “Sigurd will have launched the ship from Engate already. We need to move.”

Maude started to jog away from the sprawling bodies of the Flame Soldiers they had cut down, towing Herrick as he refused to let go of her.

Hakon followed next to him, and Bryn came up behind them.

When the sound of more soldiers came from the other end of the hall, Maude pressed against the wall behind a tapestry and opened a servant’s passage.

They traveled in tense silence behind the walls of the palace, making their way to the western side of the grounds where a small dock lay mostly unused. This was where the longship would find them, Maude explained to Herrick in hushed tones.

When they reached a fork in the hall, Bryn stopped behind them, forcing Maude to stop as well.

“I need to go to my chambers,” Bryn said. “I need to get the last of our mother's journals and some other things before Father burns them away to ash.”

“You couldn’t have mentioned this when we were planning this?” Hakon snapped.

Herrick looked closely at his brother and saw the dark circles under his eyes as well as the outright anger that had never lingered in his cool, calm older brother .

“I didn’t think we’d have time, but I'm faster if I move alone,” Bryn argued, rolling her eyes. “Arguing like this is only wasting time. I’ll meet you at the docks.”

Before anyone could argue, the slender woman took off down the hall at a speed that would have been unnatural if it hadn't been for the wind she was pushing behind herself.

“We have to keep moving,” Maude urged as she began moving toward the opposite hall. “Bryn’s word is good; she’ll meet us in time to escape.”

“If you say so, it must be true then,” Hakon bit back, bitterness spewing in his tone.

“What is your problem?” Herrick asked his brother as he moved with Maude close enough to be her shadow. He felt her stiffen slightly.

“Later,” Maude replied in an attempt to explain the rift between her and his brother. “You missed a lot."

Herrick could feel the tension. The ease that used to radiate between his brother and Maude was all but gone now, tension and mistrust heavy in the air instead.

He would get his answers soon enough, he told himself as he continued to hover as close to Maude as he could.

His mind was at war with itself: Maude had died in his arms but now she was leading him to a longship after freeing him from imprisonment.

There was no denying that it was her— her scent, her minuscule facial ticks that showed him exactly what she was thinking, the crease between her eyebrows when she was annoyed. It was all there.

Lost in his confusion, Herrick didn't notice they had reached a hall that was thick with darkness that swallowed up their path forward until Maude sparked a flame over her palm. The heat from her galder skimmed the side of his face, surprising him.

The crackle and burn of the flames that used to smell like burning cedar and smoke now smelled like his scorched flesh, the sickly sweet taste of his skin burning away filled the back of his throat.

What were once beautiful golden spires of heat that danced like Maude's fluctuating emotions now brought forth the memory of dark gray eyes and black hair, long fingers pressed to his ribs and his chest as question after question was shouted at him .

Herrick couldn't help it— he flinched away from Maude.

Wide, green eyes turned to him, the fire in front of her dancing in the dark irises that seemed to flash between their stunning dark green to dark gray.

Still reeling from the shock of the fire coming so close to him, Herrick thought he was looking at Baldr when he stared at Maude shrouded in shadows.

In a flash, she returned to her normal features and he had to swallow hard as he saw the hurt enter her eyes followed by the widening of realization as it slammed into her.

Fuck. He was not prepared for how he would react to her fire.