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Maude and Herrick finally came apart for long enough to head down to the tavern and eat supper with their friends that second night in Dagsbrun.

When they went down the stairs, Liv and Gunnar were already sitting in a booth cheering.

Maude felt her face heat. Keeping her head down and her hood up, she slithered into the booth after Herrick.

Hakon, the light haze of alcohol already in his eyes, gave his brother a small smile and grabbed his shoulder.

“Finally,” Hakon said, his words beginning to slur a bit as he looked between Maude and Herrick.

“Agreed,” Liv said with a laugh as she handed Maude a horn of ale.

Herrick also accepted a horn and put his arm behind Maude on the booth. Slightly possessive, but not obviously so to the passing stranger. He must have known that Maude would be uncomfortable with any public displays. Her heart clenched at how well he knew her.

“Well, with all of you busybodies pushing us toward each other, what choice did we have?” Maude teased, a small smile appearing on her mouth.

“You two needed to see what was right in front of you before we could continue with our plans,” Gunnar laughed. “Now that you are no longer distracted, we can set a course for Logi.”

The table went quiet. The weight of the dalkr Hela that Maude had stored in her boot suddenly felt heavier than before. Herrick’s hand drifted to Maude’s shoulder and squeezed for a moment before retreating to its resting spot.

“This conversation was going to come up eventually,” Gunnar said gently, looking only at Maude.

“I know,” she replied, swallowing thickly. “What did you have in mind?”

Before Gunnar could speak, the busty barmaid came to the table with plates of steaming food, setting them down in front of each of them. No one moved to touch the meals, waiting instead for the woman to depart before continuing.

When she finally did, Gunnar continued, “Entering the city the same way we left isn't smart; the patrols will have been doubled after our hasty escape.”

Maude eyed Hakon, trying to read his reaction to the event that had brought Eydis into his arms. He only stared at the plate in front of him, pushing roasted potatoes back and forth with a knife.

“Besides, we would need to get into the palace, so the north entrance would be the closest,” Liv offered.

Maude began to nod but stopped, remembering the plan she had fine-tuned in the last ten years sitting on the rooftops of Logi.

“There’s a better way,” she said, interrupting whatever Herrick was going to say. “If we enter the noble's district by rooftop, we can make it to the southern wall of the palace where the Queen’s gardens are, and we can gain entry to the main halls that way through servants’ corridors.”

Maude had always planned to re-enter the palace through her mother’s gardens. The landscape would be unoccupied and filled with ash, as she knew her father would never have taken the time to tidy up the area. It most likely still lay in ruin ten years after her escape.

Her breathing became a bit more difficult, the memory of that day fresh in her mind from telling Herrick about it the night before.

Her throat began to narrow, and the room started to feel hotter, the anger and guilt inside of her kindling her ever-burning flames.

She needed to get out of this room before she exploded. Needed to breathe.

A cool trickle of ice skated over the back of her neck, the wave of shivers rolling pleasantly down her back as the ice descended her spine.

“Breathe,” Herrick whispered in her ear, having leaned into her space. “You will get your revenge, minn eldr , but not by burning down this inn.”

A hint of a smile in his voice had Maude turning to look at him. In the corner of his mouth sat his absurd dimple.

It was absurd because the sight of it made Maude want to put her tongue in it.

“I suppose this inn should be spared. Besides, the room upstairs has been extremely comfortable,” Maude replied, her voice dropping a bit.

Maude watched Herrick’s pupils flare at her insinuation. Heat spread to her core. Herrick shifted in his seat, and he opened his mouth to speak, but someone cleared their throat, breaking the building tension.

“We’re still discussing how to infiltrate Logi,” Gunnar said, a knowing smirk in place.

“Gods help us; this might be worse,” Liv grumbled. Hakon made a sound of agreement, and the two of them clinked their horns together before they drank.

Maude chuckled, and soon they were all laughing. Herrick ran his hand down her side to wrap around her waist before leaning in.

“Later,” he whispered, voice promising sin.

He placed a soft kiss under her ear and pulled away, leaning forward onto the table and telling Gunnar that he had his full attention.

Gunnar held up his middle finger to him in a rude gesture before laughing and continuing.

Maude leaned back against the booth and looked over to Liv, who shot her a wide grin and winked .

Maude looked around the table at her friends, her heart cracking at the one missing piece of their group.

The despair that emanated from Hakon was palpable, but it was clear he was still trying to be there for his friends as they all worked to finish what they had started by going into those Caverns. Her heart shattered for him.

Hakon had always seemed to see Maude for exactly who she was and was not afraid.

He had pushed her and Herrick together and had been the voice of reason to her when she trusted no one.

When they had left Ljosa, they had walked together through most of the deserted lands in companionable silence, feeling the support the other person needed and offering it silently if they wished to take it.

Maude valued his friendship more than she realized.

Maude reached out and grasped Hakon’s hand, which caused him to look up at her. She gave him a sad smile. Hakon returned it and squeezed her hand before withdrawing it.

Eydis’s death had brought them together in a lot of ways. Seeing each of her friends, even Hakon, laughing and scheming settled something deep inside her.

She had spent the last ten years running from fate, wanting no part of it. She had fought against what she felt for Herrick, and when those walls had finally come down, something had clicked into place. Fate had swirled around them, and Maude ignored the sensation.

This was right. To be here, with them, felt right.

And that terrified her.

The night wore on as they finally came up with a solid plan to get into Logi.

Once they could settle in Sigurd's house, they would move to infiltrate the Palace of Wind and Embers.

Maude found it strange that they would be ending up in the same house where this entire journey had begun for her.

She was nervous about seeing Sigurd again; Maude had been so foul to him most of the time when he had considered her a friend, and guilt raged heavily in her gut about it.

“I’m going to the bar to get more ale,” Maude said, laughing as she brushed off Herrick’s attempt to keep her at his side. “I’ll be right back.”

Maude took a few seconds to enjoy stretching her legs beneath her as she strode up to the counter in the center of the tavern housed in The Gray Goblet Inn.

The crowd had thinned a bit around the tables, but the bar was still busy serving customers half propped onto the stools.

Finding an open spot in the crowded center of the room, Maude leaned on the counter to signal the barmaid for five more horns of ale.

The barmaid nodded once, and Maude settled in for her wait.

The figure next to her had their hood up, just like Maude did, and sat with an almost full pitcher of mead in front of them.

The odd sensation of threads pulling around her settled around Maude as she tried to take in the profile of the stranger next to her.

Warning bells sounded in her head, prompting Maude to slowly inch her hand down to the dagger on her thigh.

Millimeters before her fingers touched the cool metal of the hilt, the stranger's hand shot out and grabbed her wrist, clamping down hard.

Maude spied the perthro rune tattooed onto the deeply tanned wrist belonging to the stranger.

From this angle, it looked like the rune was shown to her in reverse.

Fuck.

Years of rune interpretation lessons barreled into Maude at the sight— The Norns were, in fact, weaving her fate before her very eyes.

Maude went to shake off the stranger's hand when they slipped a tightly folded note into her palm. They released her hand and turned for the door, leaving Maude unsure of what to do next.

Maude faced the bar as the barmaid placed five tankards in front of her. She flipped a gold coin into her hand and quickly opened the note from the stranger. Scanning over the words quickly, Maude snapped her fingers and brought forth a small flame, destroying the note.

Meet me on the roof, alone. I have news from Brynna.

Burn this.

Shock rolled through Maude at the words on the small paper. Hands shaking, she tried to slow the waves of heat that threatened to overpower her. Her galder stirred, the air in this small tavern becoming hotter.

Bryn .

Maude had thought of her sister every day since she had left her behind.

The longing to see Bryn overwhelmed her and drowned her in conflicting thoughts.

What did she want with Maude? Why now? It couldn’t be a trap set by their father, could it?

She had to find out what prompted her sister to reach out, but if her fire showed itself, Herrick would not leave her side.

Control it. Breathe.