Page 71 of Reign of Stars and Fire

I brushed dirt from my trousers and stood. My body ached, my cheeks were sticky from the rush of tears.

“You cannot be here,” I said, voice rough. “You’re all in danger.”

Calista stepped into the light, hands on her hips. “Where’s Lump? He should’ve told you how serious I sounded about being damn cautious.”

“He’s not here,” Valen said. “We came because we read your note, and despite what you think, we did keep a respectful distance until one of my men was slaughtered for no reason.”

“Our people were commanded to strike should anyone come too near,” Gorm said, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. “That was their reason.”

“Not the time, Gorm,” Gunnar muttered.

Valen sheathed his axes and swiped a loose strand of hair out of his eyes. “We were attacked. I wasn’t going to sit back when we believed you and Ari were trapped here, Gunnar. Now, where is my ambassador?” He practically snarled the last word.

My heart threatened to snap in two.

I have no desire to be loved, although, to their detriment, there are folk who do. These people loved Ari and were fading to bloodlust all to find him.

“He’s behind those gates, protected,” I said, a tremble in my voice. “Ari is alive, but gravely wounded.”

“By your hand?” Elise took an assertive step against me.

“Elise.” Gunnar stood between us. “Saga isn’t an enemy.”

“She fought against her own people in the East.” Elise’s pale cheeks colored. “Yet you all treat her like some kind of bleeding queen.”

“Of course,” Gorm said. “That is who she is.”

The soft breeze in the trees was the only sound. Cautious eyes slowly locked on me, piercing me in place.

“Queen?” Valen pressed.

“We’re to simply believe a traitor?” Elise Ferus was not a woman of much stature. Thin, half a head shorter than me, but the fire in her eyes blazed like a thousand warriors.

“I love him!” Heat prickled over my cheeks at my outburst. I didn’t blink away and took the risk of getting close to the stunned queen again. “I am not Ari’s enemy. I’mhis wife.”

“Wife?” Elise’s voice was cold as frosted steel. Truth be told, she looked like she might want to kill me more now than before.

“And his raven.” Ash said, inspecting the dirt under his fingernails, oblivious to the thick silence surrounding us.

“Might want to be thanking her, Uncle. Kase, you as well,” Gunnar said. “I believe it was a raven who led Elise, Malin, and Ari to the troll burrow when they were attacked.”

Elise drew in a sharp breath, eyes locked on me. “No . . . you fought with Astrid.”

“Out of anyone,” I said softly, “you and your husband should know what it’s like to be bound to a curse with no control over your own will.” Valen’s lips parted. The burn of their scrutiny tightened my chest. We weren’t here to talk of curses, my second form, or the past. I let out a grunt of frustration and took a step closer. “There isn’t time to give you every answer. You’re not safe here.”

Something sparked in the air, a shock of seidr, a hidden tale we couldn’t see. The storyteller lowered into a crouch. She removed a piece of crumbled parchment from her pocket and one of Forbi’s compact quills. Eyes closed, she scratched a few words, then handed the parchment to Valen.

“To be here as one, every thread of fate he has hunted during this long tale is present,” she whispered. “He is too strong, and we are too weak. There are pieces the Raven Queen and her Golden King must find, steps they must take, before every fate can face their shared enemy.”

“Darkness rises in the blood of the moon,” Valen read from the parchment. He showed it to Elise.

“Wait, who is this Golden King?” Kase asked. “Bracken?”

“He’s dead,” Gunnar said flatly. “Killed by the creature who will destroy us all if you do not give us time to create defenses against him. That is why Nik is here.”

“Dead?” Kase’s eyes shadowed as tempers flared. “Then who’s the damn Golden King?”

“Ari.” Elise’s voice was steady, almost empty. As though the truth of the danger her friend faced, the danger I’d placed at his feet, became clear in a single breath. “They call her the Raven Queen. According to her, she is his wife, so who else would be king? Am I right?”