Page 25

Liv finished off the last of the soldiers and shouted that more were coming.

Maude could stay and fight, but she needed to get Bryn to safety.

She needed to get to Herrick.Sweat dripped from her brow and into her eyes, making her squint as she took in the soldiers rushing to replace their fallen friends.

“Over the wall,” Maude said reluctantly as she spied the soldiers Liv had seen.

Already, swarms of soldiers were filling the training yard they stood in.

They were outnumbered to begin with, but now they faced swift execution.

An idea sprang to mind, one borne of desperation and instinct that Maude could not ignore as it rooted deep into her bones.

Her friend began to climb, Bryn’s limp body hanging over her shoulder, when she crouched and pressed her hands to the ground.

“Maude, what are you doing?” Liv asked from the top of the wall, her voice tinged with panic.

Like she knew what Maude was about to attempt.

“Buying us some time,” she replied quietly, but she knew her friend had heard her.

Closing her eyes and blocking out all sound, she focused only on the calming energy of the man she had fought so hard for today on the ship.

Sending this awareness to her palms that were pressed to the ground, Maude pulled her galder to the surface and ran a mental hand through the elements that she felt lived in her veins.

Not just flame and wind… but all of the elements.

The ground beneath her began to quake, the stones from the burning building in front of her shaking with renowned vigor.

She heard her name being called from behind her, but it was not Liv this time.

It was Herrick. Perhaps he had felt her calling for the calm he brought her and came looking for her.

A small smile graced her lips as cool, strong hands wrapped around her middle and tried to pull her back, but it was too late. Maude was connected with the ground as she poured her intention into it.

The earth shuddered beneath her again, this time knocking soldiers off balance.

A man in all black with deep obsidian hair that had strands of ruby scattered throughout stood before the rest of the soldiers, eyeing her with something like awe and fear.

His wide frame stiffened when he realized what she was doing and what secret she was revealing to them all.

He turned and tried to usher his soldiers away from her, but it was too late.

Maude screamed as the galder she had poured into the earth shook and cracked, a new division line yawning open between them.

A canyon as deep as the Bone Chasm divided where she and her friends stood from the rest of the palace.

Water rushed in from the surrounding ocean.

Steam exploded from the depths where the water met with molten rock, but still, the crack in the earth grew under her power.

Her vision started to flicker in and out, her body beginning to go limp as someone yanked her from where she had crouched and sprinted away from the growing chasm.

Soon, darkness enveloped Maude, but it didn’t matter because the scent of rain-kissed soil was wrapped around her as she slipped into unconsciousness.

Herrick wrapped Maude in his arms as he sprinted back to the longship.

His brother was ushering the last of the freed vitki onboard while Liv carried Bryn to the door leading to the lower deck and disappeared.

The woman who was wrapping vines around the dock looked close to passing out from so much use of her galder at once, so Herrick rushed to board the ship so they could set sail.

One of the silver-haired men rushed to the woman's aid as soon as her vines disappeared, her excruciatingly thin form collapsing into his arms as her exhaustion overwhelmed her.

The ground beneath them was still shaking from the massive rift Maude had carved into the earth, a situation he needed to speak with her about as soon as possible, but on the water, the quakes were less noticeable.

“Cast off!” Hakon ordered from the deck as Herrick followed Liv deeper into the ship.Quickly, the sound of a bustling crew readying to set sail was swallowed by the harsh winds over the open ocean as he disappeared below deck.

Below the deck, the space was as long as the ship, with hammocks that hung between poles.

Several of the vitki were already settled into a few.

The ship was large enough that between the existing crew that Herrick assumed his brother was commanding and the freed vitki , there was plenty of space for them all.

Liv quickly made her way to the back of the ship, where a door separated the communal living space from a private one. With Bryn still cradled in her arms, his friend opened the door to a small space with a large bed, a desk in the corner, and a circular porthole that overlooked the ocean.

The captain’s quarters of the longship. This was quite the vessel if there was an entire space dedicated to the captain.

Liv placed Bryn on the large bed, her hands brushing away copper hair from her freckled face.

Her touch was gentle and lingered for a moment too long, but soon, it didn’t matter what he had seen pass between his friend and Bryn because Maude began to stir in his arms. He placed her quickly on the bed next to her sister, the hood of her cloak falling back to reveal her red hair shining brightly in the watery sunlight leaking through the porthole window.

Herrick kneeled by her bedside and just stared at his eldr , taking the opportunity to take in her features.

His fingers moved lightly over her face as he traced her scar and then ran his thumb along the seam of her lips.

With his other hand, he cupped the top of her head, tangling his fingers into her hair.

Finally, his hand rested on her chest, right above where her fatemark would lie. He felt her chest rise with breath and fall again in an even rhythm.

Alive. Maude was alive .

All the emotion that had been barricaded behind a wall he had erected threatened to overwhelm Herrick as he placed his forehead to hers, his body beginning to shake under the onslaught of relief and the adrenaline leaving his system.

Unbidden tears clouded his eyes as he cupped Maude’s face again.

His fingers skated over the soft skin of her throat until he found her pulse bounding at a steady rate.

Soon, his heart was able to slow until it matched hers.

“Allfather,” he whispered. “How is this possible?”

Herrick had not asked anyone in particular, but Liv was still in the room with him, so her response came quickly.

“It’s a long story, and most of it is Maude’s to tell you, but the first part belongs to me,” Liv said, her voice strangely melodic.

Herrick turned to look at his friend and properly greet her, but then he really looked at her and froze.

“It’s still me,” Liv said with her hands up, palms facing him. She sat on the desk in the corner and motioned for him to take the chair. “I may have just fudged some of the details about me like my age, species, and galder .”

“You’re Elven,” Herrick said, his voice coming out cracked.

“Yes,” Liv replied.

“How?”

“How am I Elven?” Liv asked, a smirk playing at the corner of her lips. “You’ve grown philosophical in your imprisonment.”

“Don’t fuck around, Liv. I'm tired,” Herrick said, exhaustion weighing on him as he took the chair she offered him, dragging it to Maude’s bedside. “Do they know?”

Herrick motioned to the two burnt-out Helvig women who had helped him escape his execution.

“Yes, Hakon knows too. Though he isn't handling it well,” Liv said roughly. “You’re doing much better than everyone else.”

Herrick chuckled, the sound more broken than he’d like. “The woman I love died in my arms and then came to free me from imprisonment. You being Elven is actually the most believable thing about today.”

He remembered how Maude had ripped open a new tear in the ground with her galder . Not even he had ever managed to do that.

“Maude had earth galder ,” he said to Liv, though he knew she had seen it.

His friend hesitated for only a moment, but it was enough for Herrick to know this wasn’t news to Liv.

“She has to be the one to tell you,” Liv said apologetically. She eyed the iron around his neck. “In the meantime, we need to get that off of you.”

Herrick brought a hand to his throat to feel the iron that sapped away at his galder .

“It doesn't seem to have any key or lock on it, just solid metal,” Herrick said as he tried to grip the band but lost it when it flared with icy heat. “It also burns incessantly.”

Liv came over to him and inspected the metal methodically.

"What does it do?" she asked.

She tried to touch it a few times but snatched her hands back enough that Herrick knew it had burned her.

"I can't access my galder ; I think it's blocking me from reaching it. Almost like it's sucking the elements out of my body," Herrick explained quietly. Baldr never explained what it was the day he clamped it onto his neck; he only felt his galder slip away from him.

It was so unlike the spellbound iron that only nullified a person's galder — this iron band not only blocked his reach but seemed to be siphoning it elsewhere.

He couldn't explain how he could tell the difference, only that it felt similar to when one enters a room and something feels off but they can't quite grasp what it is only for them to realize something is missing.

Except, the feeling of something missing gets further and further away from him the longer he tries to hold on to it.

Liv twisted her fingers next, and a cool breeze that smelled of bright citrus swirled around him. She was quiet for a bit longer before she expelled a breath in frustration.