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Sigurd's wife.

Hakon's ears buzzed from the absolute silence that permeated the room. All around him, jaws were slack, and lungs were paralyzed. He was no exception. Liv had warned him that she had discovered more information about what was happening in the Kingdom of Flame, but he had not been prepared for this.

For as long as Hakon had known him, Sigurd worked against the Flame King in hopes of preventing his personal tragedy from becoming another family's story as well. He believed his wife and children were dead, that he had failed them.

The breath Hakon recovered after Astrid's entrance slipped away from him, becoming as elusive as the shadows this kingdom commanded, as yet another life altering piece of news was dropped into his lap.

Liv had confessed all the lies she kept from them over the years, including the truth about his ancestors seizing power that wasn't rightfully theirs to keep.

He had been furious when he had first heard the truth of his inheritance, but the longer it sat with him, the more validated he felt that he didn't deserve to rule the Kingdom of Rivers.

Perhaps his loving Eydis and the rebellion against his parents wishes for him was not totally unfounded.

As he turned over this line of thinking these last few hours, his mind predictably returned to Eydis's death.

It didn't matter that Hakon had gone through another day without thinking of his lost love.

One small reminder and his thoughts were consumed by her.

She held his entire soul in her cold, dead hands .

Eydis was gone, and she had taken Hakon's heart with her. His Elvindr . Her last words to him replayed in his mind in a loop.

Do not mourn me, for the gods are calling me to them.

I am joining my parents in the golden halls of Valhalla.

Because of you, I have lived . Because of you, I have been loved.

I will see you again one day, ástin minn , but you have to keep fighting.

I'll save you a seat in Odin's hall. I love you, Hakon.

When Hakon and Maude had fought only minutes before they took off to free Herrick, he had sworn to himself that he would not drown himself in liquor again.

He said he would keep his head and his heart unclouded for the sake of his brother.

But the fizzing Elven wine that sat in front of him seemed to have him wrapped in its siren song.

With the fresh pain of Eydis's last words ringing in his head, Hakon felt his will deteriorate as a breeze swirled around him from the open window.

Reaching for the flute of Elven wine in front of him, Hakon downed the entire glass in one swallow.

As the purple liquid drained into his stomach, the memory of Eydis's cold hand on his face went with it.

He would spiral into his self-inflicted torment later; right now, he needed to listen to the conversation.

He turned his eyes back to Astrid, his body numbing from the effects of the Elven wine.

The woman in front of him proved to be an even match for Sigurd already: the strength of her spine, even after years of imprisonment, the sharpness of her eye as she stared them all down. She did not fear the uncertainty in front of her.

Because she had already faced her greatest fears as a prisoner , he reminded himself as he tried to shake the surprise from his limbs.

"Astrid has agreed to tell us about what the Flame King has been doing with his prisoners," Liv said as Astrid glided into the room, her chin still elevated. Her eyes remained on Maude and Bryn, though, as she sat at the open seat at the end of the table.

"Astrid, wife of Sigurd, I welcome you to Nida, capital of the Kingdom of Shadow," Aeric said smoothly, his voice charming while remaining open.

"I hope you have found your suite suitable for you and your children as you recover.

I take it my offer of asylum has been received by you and the rest of the prisoners you speak for? "

Astrid's eyes flared slightly as she took in the Shadow King, his pointed ears that made him seem so otherwordly.

Recovering quickly, she nodded her head and said, "Yes, Your Majesty, and we extend our thanks to you for the protection your city and your people offer. You also have my gratitude, King Vilulf, for the comforts you have provided for my family. I am happy to help in any way that I can."

Hakon was impressed with how formally Astrid spoke despite having not seen the outside of a cell for many years.

He was not sure he would have fared so well or maintained his hope that he would ever see the outside world again.

Herrick had managed to keep his sanity somehow.

He had seen the burns on his younger brother's chest, had seen the shadows that still lingered in his brother's eyes.

The thought made him tip the contents of the glass back again, quicker than before.

A loud hiccup escaped him as he filled his glass for the third time.

The bubbles from the sparkling Elven wine had filled his stomach, reminding him that he had eaten very little that night despite the feast that had been laid out before them.

His brother shot him a look that screamed of disappointment before turning back to Astrid, who had begun speaking.

Hakon tried to remember if he had heard what she had started saying but came up blank.

"—first, we survived because King Helvig and his General had seemingly forgotten us in the dungeons.

General Ulf had come down to our part of the dungeons from time to time to taunt us with what he planned to do to us, occasionally singling out one or two others to be brought above, but his visits were infrequent," Astrid said before she swallowed thickly.

"Mostly, he just starved us for days before testing us with how much galder we could use in our weakened states. "

Astrid closed her eyes, her hands balling up into fists as her entire body went rigid.

Dahlia, the Matron Elven Healer who was sitting next to Sigurd's wife, reached out and placed one of her slender hands on Astrid's and whispered into the woman's ear.

Everyone allowed Astrid to compose herself before she continued, the room silent as Astrid's rigid form eventually relaxed at whatever the healer had said to her .

"As it turned out, the General was the least of our problems," Astrid continued, grabbing her glass of wine and taking a small sip. "Five years ago, only a few months after my family was imprisoned, everything changed for us. For the worse."

Five years. Astrid and her children had been prisoners for five years.

Hakon couldn't stomach it. Down at the end of the table, Bryn and Maude were each staring at the table in front of them as they listened to Astrid's story.

He glanced over at them— these two women on whom Hakon had placed all of his anger— and saw only soul-crushing guilt ravaging their faces.

Astrid looked at Liv as she continued. "You were not the first Elven we had encountered.

None of us were surprised at your heritage, but rather your kindness.

Until you freed us, the only experience any of us had with Elven was painful and cruel.

The only reason my children and I survived was because we had been placed in the cells furthest into the dungeons.

Pure, dumb luck shielded us from direct sight from the bigger predator in the palace until her methods became more efficient while preserving life. "

Liv only nodded, her sympathy not requiring vocalization.

Astrid turned to look at Aeric, his solemn face telling Hakon that the Elven male already knew what the next words would be.

Everyone at the table, including his brother, the warrior who was tortured for information he did not have, braced themselves.

Bryn and Maude grew impossibly more rigid.

"King Helvig has been hiding a great secret from the rest of Ahland," Astrid said quietly, her words heavy as they wove into the eather.

"He has been promised an Elven Queen Consort to rule at his side.

The vitki prisoners grew very well acquainted with this promised Consort over the last five years.

Many would slip into the Void between realms at her heinous touch, and many of us would beg for the release of death.

But she works closely with the King of Flame to keep us alive because of her mission: to make them both the most powerful creatures in Ahland. "

Silence fell over the room as even the gods seemed to hold their breath.

Hakon's head swam with the information, his stomach turning at what had been going on under their noses for years .

For one fleeting moment, Hakon was glad that Eydis did not have to face what was coming.

Glad that her gentle soul did not have to hear of what her family had almost been victims of.

"Name her," Dahlia whispered, a quiet rage so unlike her bleeding into her demand. The sudden shift in her tone riled something in Hakon that slipped away from him before he could identify it.

It was not Astrid who spoke now, but Aeric. His voice was low and dangerous as he looked at each of them.

"Her name is Vilde Shadowheart. She comes from one of our oldest families; her lineage is powerful as the gods have blessed it with more than elemental galder . Her other talent is… peculiar."

"Gods above," Maude muttered as she placed her elbows on the table and dropped her head into her hands.

Bryn seemed to become more pale as the blood drained from her face, just like Gunnar and Dahlia.

Liv had brought out her blade at some point and was expelling nervous energy by flipping the dagger in her hand faster than Hakon could keep up with his mortal eyes.

His brother only watched Aeric, his face betraying only that he was calculating their next steps.