Page 52

The longer she watched, the longer she could no longer deny that she couldn't find any fault in Aeric's behavior.

No one gave a false answer to his pressing questions; no one reacted as though his questions were pressing at all.

No person shook as they placed their glass down; no one trembled in their seats as they were faced with the Shadow King's attention.

Rather than cower, the dinner guests seemed to relax in his presence.

Everyone might have been behaving positively for Maude's benefit, but she could not imagine anyone taking the time to stage entire conversations just to put her at ease.

The interactions taking place were as genuine as Maude could decipher them to be; the ease that her friends radiated was a key indicator that she should relax.

But Maude could not allow her barriers to fall around Aeric, especially since discovering he was hiding the truth of the Helvig/Kolbeck coup that had erased Ahland's previously peaceful system of rule.

So, Maude did what she knew best. She rebelled.

Interrupting whoever was speaking, Maude looked directly at her birth father and asked, "So, what is your stake in all this?"

The sudden hush of the room pressed in on Maude as everyone's attention fell on her. She only kept her eyes on Aeric as he searched her face for a moment longer than she felt was needed.

"The survival of our continent is an important cause for all of us, isn't it?" Aeric finally asked, his silver eyes never leaving Maude's.

The way he phrased the question sounded more like he was fishing for another answer or reaction from her. She couldn't quite put her finger on why it was a strange response, but his eyes glittered as he watched her.

"But you've been hiding up in these mountains for centuries, ignoring the rest of Ahland as it was divided by distrust and hatred," Maude bit out, her attempt to stay neutral already failing as her vexation rose in a swift wave, threatening to overwhelm her.

"I made the decision to let Ahland become ignorant of the truth to protect my people after we suffered many losses," Aeric explained calmly. "I make no apologies for my choices— something you will understand one day."

"Why are you so invested in Ahland's future now?" she asked roughly.

"Because of you, m?ne ," her father said softly. "As selfish as that may be, it's the truth. I've always known of you, but I never dreamt that the gods would bless our meeting. Perhaps it's best for us to skip straight to the point?"

Well, that wasn't entirely what she thought he would say. The male who her mother had written about suddenly made his way to the surface, his barriers falling with an ease that Maude envied.

"By now, I'm assuming Liv has told you about the truth behind your respective kingdom's regencies and how they came to be, so I won't begrudge you the details again. Instead, I'll tell you about Sylvi and I."

At her side, Bryn reeled at her birth father's words.

Clearly, Liv had not shared that bit of news with her.

Across the table, Liv tried to get Bryn's attention but she ignored the Elven shieldmaiden and tuned in to Aeric's words.

Maude swallowed her annoyance with Liv— she would not get in the middle of whatever was brewing between her sister and her friend.

"When your mother left Nida for the last time, she knew that she carried you already," her father explained.

"Sylvi never revealed how she knew, but her letter to me told me that she would have to raise you in Logi so her mission from the Kingdom of Rivers would not be in jeopardy.

I guess I had hoped she would raise you separate from King Helvig.

It was my selfish wish— that another man would not raise my child.

I should have known how committed Sylvi was to her mission. "

Her friends had stopped eating altogether and listened to Aeric's words, hanging onto his every syllable, while Maude tried to listen to his meaning.

"Why didn't you come looking for me when she died?" she asked, her voice trembling more than she would like. It felt as though her throat was closing rapidly, the burning of unshed tears trying to force their way out as a wave of abandonment washed over her.

Maude had lived for so long under the care of a father who looked at her as a creature to be molded into his image. Before her, with affection radiating from this Elven's very pores, was a male who already loved her. Without even knowing her, he loved her.

She couldn't stand it .

"I never stopped looking for you," he replied just as softly.

"My spies were not as ingrained in the palace halls as they are now and by the time I had someone on the inside, you had left that life behind.

It's a miracle that Liv found you, but then again, I like to think the gods designed it that way. "

Though her friends sat at her side, Maude did not feel they were intruding on this moment with her birth father. If anything, they gave her the strength to be vulnerable in the safety of their presence.

"How could I possibly trust you?" she whispered, though in her heart she knew she already did. "You were hiding the truth of our history from us all. How could you not tell us?"

"How does one shatter a person's worldview delicately?

How does one explain that sometimes the hardest choices are not rooted in duty, but love?

" he asked her instead of answering. "The love I have for my people and their survival was more important at the time.

Now that has begun to change— not only because of Helvig's cruelty, but because the physical embodiment of the love I shared with my hjartpar sits before me now, searching for a reason to trust me. "

Hjartparan — souls destined to complete each other. He couldn't be speaking of her mother…right?

"Soulmates are just a legend," Bryn whispered, her voice cracking as she observed Aeric in a new light. "They don't exist."

Maude could only gape.

"They are now rarer than before, yes," Aeric nodded as he responded to her sister, but his silver stare still penetrated hers. "But Sylvi was my hjartpar — the other half of my soul— and when she died—"

Her father's words were choked off like he had been strangled by the very memory of her mother's death.

"I felt it," he breathed. "I felt as she left this world and joined the gods in Valhalla."

The room was silent as the blanket of grief that radiated from the Shadow King swallowed them all into its cloying embrace.

Across from her, Herrick had stiffened as her father had spoken about feeling Sylvi's death just as Bryn sniffed quietly at her side, swiping away the emotion that had poured over onto her cheek.

Something settled in her at the words, a confirmation her soul had been looking for radiating from her gut.

He could be lying, but somehow, Maude knew he wasn't.

Without thinking, Maude stiffly reached out her hand and placed it on top of Aeric's.

His skin was cool under her touch, but it seemed to crack the memory that haunted him.

Mirrored grief stared back at her as that warmth in her chest flared— the type of warmth she had only ever felt when she thought of her mother.

Safety. Comfort. Perhaps, it was even love.

Even if her mind did not recognize it yet, her heart did.

"Why didn't she tell us any of this?" Bryn asked, her voice thick as she cleared the sorrow from it.

"Why do you think I kept Sylvi's journals all these years?

" her father replied, finally tearing his attention away from her to focus on her sister with a soft smile.

"They are spell-locked—coded only to the blood of Sylvi's children.

I cannot read them. And I didn't need to—I lived it with her.

But for you, they will tell you everything you need to know about me. About us."

Maude cursed herself when a single tear tracked down her cheek. Aeric leaned forward and wiped away the show of emotion with his thumb before continuing, "Take your time, minn m?ne . I'll be here when you are ready to let me in."

She deflated in the wooden chair she sat in, the rough grain digging into her exposed skin as she faced Aeric.

Her father, if she would let him be that to her.

"We have a lot to discuss it seems," she said as she expelled her breath in one big gust, her hands falling into her lap in defeat.

"Indeed," Aeric murmured. Maude met her father's silver eyes as he spoke, gentle teasing humor instead of the frustration she expected stealing any response from her mind as he winked at her before continuing in his declaration.

"But our familial reconciliation must wait as we have more pressing needs to attend to.

With the arrival of our friend Herrick, the General of Rivers, we celebrate reunions and our relief at his escape.

However, with his escape, more troubling news has come to my attention. "

Herrick only kept his gaze on her as the room's mood sank into the seriousness of their discussion.

His golden-brown eyes were bright and unreadable in the candlelight that flickered in front of him.

Liv's voice pulled Maude from his hypnotic stare as she began to fill everyone else in on the information she had gathered.

"As you all know, when we were in Logi, we freed the vitki that had been imprisoned at the palace and brought them to our longship," Liv started, her fists clenched on the table in front of her, knuckles pressed into the hardwood.

"One woman in particular was very skeptical of our freeing them.

She resisted at first but ultimately put her children's freedom above any skepticism she had.

When we were finally aboard the ship and settling those we had rescued, I sat down and spoke with this woman more.

She told me her story, and it is one I believe we all should hear. "

Liv looked over her shoulder to the guards at the door and nodded once. As soon as they opened the doors, a tall, slender woman walked in with her shoulders back and her golden head held high. Maude recognized her; she had seen Liv speak with her often when they sailed back to Nida.

Since their arrival, she had been given the chance to clean up.

She stood in front of the open doorway with her golden hair loose and waving down her back.

Thick braids with silver clips were woven from her hairline to the crown of her head so her face was clear.

She was dressed in an elegant, maroon wool gown that hung loosely on her, the long sleeves billowing out in true Shadow Kingdom fashion.

A silver braided rope belt was tied around her midsection, showing off her painfully narrow waist.

Her piercing blue eyes took in every one of Maude's friends until they landed on her and Bryn. As soon as this stranger recognized their red hair and how similar Bryn looked to the King of Flame, her eyes narrowed.

Liv continued, "This is Astrid. She was one of the vitki being imprisoned, along with her two children. She wields earth galder , just like her children, and she has been a prisoner of Helvig for a very long time. She is also Sigurd's wife."