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The last time Herrick returned to his homeland, there were no issues when entering Veter other than his mother recognizing Maude for who she was.

His soldiers greeted them, and his parents waited for them.

It had been a bright day, the sun shining over the rolling hills and gilding them with its beams. He had felt lighter, even as the revelation that they'd recruited the Heir of Flame to their cause had surprised him.

This time, as the night grew darker and the closer they got to the city, the more desolate his kingdom felt.

Farms that should have been bursting with the summer's crops were empty. Homes built into the valleys that dipped between hills were still.

Preparing for war, preparing to protect his kingdom, was all he had learned.

He knew how to plan attack formations, knew the best soldiers to work with each other, and could coordinate their navy with half a thought.

He learned all this while trying to stop war from reaching his home.

As they arrived at the pinnacle of the final hill that stood between them and Veter, Herrick realized that none of his training had ever made him ready for the sight of his full army readying for an attack.

Torches sprang up around the military encampment as the moon finally rose over the palace behind them, orange lights flickering against the tent canvas. The flames continued to ignite until they stretched all the way around the city and reached the palace gates.

Riders from the camp defense lines broke formation and headed toward them. Herrick and his brother stepped forward, blocking their group in case they were not immediately recognized.

"Glamours up, now," Maude ordered the Elven .

As one, they nodded before the air around them shimmered.

It was best they didn't have to explain why they were traveling with beings that were supposed to have been extinct.

Dahlia was the last to hide her heritage, her pointed ears sinking beneath her black hair.

Nothing could be said for her cat-like amethyst eyes, though. They would have to explain eventually.

"Who goes there?" One of the riders shouted, their axe ready at their side as they pulled their shield forward.

"It is your Prince and your General," Hakon replied, his tone slipping back into that noble tenor that he used so often when they were home. Like nothing had happened to him since they left. "We heard there was war at our doorstep and thought we should return."

Dahlia snorted. It was a short, high-pitched sound that she smothered immediately, but not before Hakon glanced over his shoulder at her, his eyebrow raised.

Drawing his soldier's attention to him, Herrick stepped forward. "Where is the Lieutenant General?"

Each of his men dismounted and bowed to him and his brother, fists over their hearts, before they responded. "He is at the palace in conference with the Queen and King, General."

Herrick nodded. "Good, we will join them there, and once we have caught up, I'll be down for an inspection."

They bowed again. "Yes, sir. Your tent will be set up as soon as possible."

"Thank you," Herrick replied, gesturing to Maude, Bryn, and Dahlia. "They will need arrangements as well. Have someone ready the guest rooms at the palace." And then gestured to the Elven soldiers. "Have them recover in the soldier's barracks."

Maude raised her eyebrow at him, the red arch speaking louder than any words she might have shouted at him. Bryn was shaking her head, and Dahlia was still focused on Hakon but seemed to be listening to what Herrick was ordering.

"Fine," he sighed as Maude nodded satisfactorily. "Have tents erected for our guests as well, right next to mine."

"Yes, sir," the soldiers said before hopping back into their saddles and riding for the camp again .

There was only a moment of quiet before Herrick felt a warm hand slip into his. He looked over to see Maude watching him as he scanned over the army he commanded.

The moment he had fought so hard to prevent was here. They were going to war.

She squeezed his hand once, the gesture comforting, before tilting her head toward the palace.

"Let's go see Alva," she said quietly. "Looks like we have a lot to catch up on."

With just a small tug of her hand in his, Herrick began moving again, and with every step he took, he was thankful for the moody, irritable, wonderful, generous woman at his side.

She was the only person who could have brought him back to himself while also opening his mind to how narrow his thinking had been.

Gods be damned now— Herrick had made his choice, and it was Maude. It would always be Maude.

It wasn't long before they came up on the palace gates, now being easily recognized as word had spread that they'd returned.

Herrick had guided the Elven soldiers to the barracks so they could wash up and rest for a bit and left them with Maude's promise to check in with them after they were done with the sergeant they captured.

As they passed through the doors into the main hall of the home he had grown up in, the scent of soap and fresh flowers tickling his senses, Herrick felt Maude pause.

When he turned to ask what was wrong, he saw she was looking at Bryn standing in the doorway, her fingers knotting together.

Hakon passed off the unconscious sergeant to one of the soldiers, ordering them to bring him to the dungeons and lock him up until they were ready to speak with him while Dahlia hovered near him, her watchful eyes taking in every detail of the Palace of Ocean and Clay.

"It's probably not a good idea that I'm here," Bryn said, glancing over her shoulder to the open air. "The Queen and King won't like it."

"They knew who Maude was and still welcomed her," Herrick explained. "They don't hold your parentage against you. You're with us, and that will be enough for them to trust you. "

"Whose parentage are we not holding against them?" His mother's clear voice rang out through the marble halls from where she stood one floor above them.

Even from here, Herrick could see her glittering gold eyes that he had inherited sparkled with relief as she took in her sons standing in the hall.

She disappeared behind the railing briefly before reappearing on the stairs.

Wearing her fighting leathers, the blue and sage swirls around the runes for the family crest stark against the worn black, their mother quickly enveloped them both.

She threw her arms over their shoulders, pulling them in tightly.

"My boys," she whispered. "Thank the gods you have returned to me."

Herrick stiffened.

The gods had nothing to do with their return , he wanted to snap. But he held his tongue, instead releasing his mother so he could stand back and greet his father, who had appeared behind her.

"What strays have you brought with you this time?" His father asked. "We know Maude, of course. Welcome back."

She nodded her greeting before stepping forward. "This is my sister, Brynna Helvig."

His mother paused and turned away from them before eyeing the young woman.

Bryn was much like her sister in that she didn't balk under Alva's heavy stare.

If anything, her spine seemed to straighten.

Instead of lowering her eyes, the woman inclined her head at his parents with a fist over her heart.

"She's been with us since helping us escape Logi and our father," Maude explained, her eyes narrowing on the Queen.

His mother nodded once before softening her features. "Of course, welcome Brynna."

"You can call me Bryn, Your Majesty," she said with all the polite airiness of someone used to conversing with royalty. "If it is okay with you, I'd like to begin interrogating the sergeant. He may have intel on Helvig's plans."

Herrick held his breath as his mother's eyes narrowed. He was about to speak when Maude said, "My sister can be trusted to interrogate a Flame Soldier as she has been working with the resistance in Logi for years, feeding them vitki to escape before they can be imprisoned."

"I meant no disrespect," the Queen said demurely, though her eyes narrowed on Maude now. "We should catch up, Maude. It seems a lot of interesting things tend to happen around you."

"I'll go with my sister," Maude said instead before nodding and walking down a hall that led toward the dungeons.

How she already knew where they were could be credited to her sneaking around when they had been here in the spring.

Herrick smothered a chuckle as he turned back to his parents.

Hakon was introducing Dahlia to them as a healer whom they'd met in their travels.

When the time came to reveal who she and Maude really were, Herrick would want all of them present.

Until then, he followed his brother's lead as Dahlia excused herself and followed Maude and Bryn.

His mother turned her attention back to Herrick and Hakon as she raised an eyebrow. "Where are Gunnar and Liv? They are usually your shadows."

He and his brother exchanged glances before Herrick responded, "They are gathering reinforcements elsewhere."

The truth, even if it was vague.

But their parents nodded before leading them into their private Council Room. The fact that his mother had not even mentioned Eydis yet turned his stomach with disgust. They must have been so glad to see she wasn't present and hadn't even asked why that was.

In the Council Room, as his aunt had taught him, the big decisions were made. The War Room, in another generation. Herrick expected his Lieutenant General to be present but found Svend was still missing.

"Where is the lieutenant?" he asked before finding his spot in front of the map of Ahland.

"Svend just left," his father answered. "He reported that the surrounding villages had been evacuated to Veter and left to finish securing the border he's set up. "

Herrick nodded. Good, he had stuck to the contingency plans he'd left for him when he'd started searching for the dalkr Hela . He and Svend disagreed a lot, but at least he knew he could count on him when their kingdom needed it.

"You've made it back in excellent timing," his mother said, her words teasing out the real information she was looking for.

How did they get here so fast with no word of their attack?

"A lot has happened since we left here last," his brother said between his teeth.

The man who stood at Herrick's side may have looked like Hakon, but his posture and his tone were all wrong for how he acted when they were home.

Typically, Hakon slipped back into his Heir of Rivers persona— charming, irreverent, polite to damn near annoyance— as he had with the soldiers they encountered outside.

Now, in front of their parents, he was harder somehow. Yes— a lot had happened since they'd left.

Their mother sat back in her chair and crossed her arms. "Where is Eydis?"

Silence became the fifth being in the room.

On one side, Herrick stood with his brother, both changed in ways that could not be easily described with words.

On the other side, their parents sat side by side, their hands clasped as they provided a united regency…

as they always did, even with their sons.

For the first time in his life, Herrick felt like he stood worlds apart from his parents.

He loved them, but they had sheltered themselves within the confines of their walls and forgotten that an entire world lay outside of their home.

Their sons had loved and grieved, fought and lost since they'd seen each other last. And there was no way to explain it all to them.

"Dead," Hakon replied quietly. The darkness in his voice was still pained but bearable somehow. "She's joined Odin in Valhalla."

"We're sorry, son," Father said. "She was a lovely girl."

Hakon nodded roughly once.

"Perhaps this means that the Allfather has a different plan—"

"No," Hakon said sharply, cutting off their mother before she could finish her sentence. "Eydis' death will not be another avenue for you to get me to marry someone else for the sake of the crown . "

"Hakon—," their father started to say.

"I said no ," Hakon seethed now, the air around him growing cold as he pulled on the moisture in the atmosphere and froze it in his anger. "When is that going to be enough for you? When will you stop trying to mold me into someone you wished I were rather than who I actually am?"

"But my love, the treaty—"

"The treaty was broken when Helvig started plotting against the rest of the continent in the name of his greed," Herrick growled.

Never had he spoken to his parents this way, but he'd had enough of hearing about the treaty .

"It was broken when he ordered the capture of all vitki in Logi.

It was broken when he held innocent people prisoner to steal their galder from them.

It was broken when he ordered his General to burn me and suffocate me for information he knew I didn't have. "

If the gods had decided to descend from the heavens and wage war against their people, it would not have been louder than the shocked silence of the Council Room.

"But more than that," Herrick seethed, his fury taking on a life of its own.

"The treaty was broken the day it was forged between our family and the Helvigs two hundred years ago.

When our ancestors decided to cut off their people at the knees all in the name of greed, we doomed ourselves.

No wonder the gods have been interfering with galder in this land— its all in retaliation to our power hungry families. "

Silver lined his mother's eyes as his father's jaw clenched. He didn't care that he'd dropped that in their laps so crudely; enough was enough.

"We didn't know," Mother said softly, breaking the tension.

"How could you when you keep your head buried in the dirt? How could you know when you never bothered to question anything that was handed to you?" Herrick spat out before turning on his heel and heading for his room.

He needed to change out of his civilian clothing so he could don the horrible General's uniform that hung in the back of his wardrobe, surely still stale and musty as the last time he'd worn it. Perhaps he would ask Maude to air it out with their galder — then, at least, it would smell like her .

As he shut the door of the War Room behind him, Herrick felt like the last chains that kept him from who he was meant to be finally fell away.

His parents loved him— that was obvious— but they had put the crown and the treaty before everyone else a long time ago, and Herrick was not about to let himself be weighed down by restrictions he had not set for himself.

It was finally time to let that darker side of him free, and he knew just the right person to pull that out of him.