Page 13 of The Crown of the Last Fae Queen (The Heartless and the Wicked #4)

SEVEN – BLáR

Blár’s breath misted in front of him like pools of white fog.

He flexed his fingers and inhaled the frigid air surrounding him.

His hands were itching to spread ice to the cursed fortress looming above them ominously.

Kolfinna was inside there somewhere. He had parted with her from this very place; the earth remembered his battle, and even from this distance, hidden in the wooded area, he could see the sunlight glistening off the still-frozen chunks of his ice.

It was a small consolation that even the powerful fae couldn’t break or melt his ice.

Bitterness creeped in the back of his throat and he clenched his teeth so hard his jaw throbbed.

He didn’t know what the fae were doing to Kolfinna.

He didn’t want to admit that there was a possibility that she was the heir and she had kept it from him.

He didn’t want to think that she had lied this entire time.

“When should we strike?” Ivar was crouching beside him. Water rippled from his hands in a small circle in front of him, creating a magnifying lens for him to peer into. “They’re just about to change guards for the afternoon.”

Out of all the water elementals Blár had met—and he had met countless—Ivar was the most powerful and the most innovative. He had never heard of anyone doing such a thing with water; it required an immense amount of control, which Ivar was a master of.

He turned back to the fortress. Fae flew above the building with colorful wings. It was strange to see them appear exactly as the monsters in legends were described—winged, with sharp ears and dangerous magic.

Behind him, Haakon shifted in his hunkered position, and someone coughed.

They were only a small group—about two dozen of them.

Normally, such an operation could be done with fewer men if Blár was involved, since he was the equivalent of a medium-sized army.

But considering that the last battle had ended in Blár’s defeat, it was wise to go with as many men as possible: thus the larger than normal party size.

Blár was actually surprised their numbers were low.

He had expected more men, but he could see their side of it too.

Most of the men in the military, no matter how much they respected Blár, were not willing to commit insubordination, since the higher-ups hadn’t exactly given them orders to infiltrate.

In fact, they had simply asked them to stay put.

An order Blár couldn’t follow anymore, not with Kolfinna trapped within the fortress, likely being tortured.

He had waited long enough, and he was done being passive.

After the meeting with Hilda, he was sure that wretched woman was concocting a plan to have Kolfinna murdered if the half-elf didn’t kill her first. He needed to save her before that happened.

The fae guards began transitioning into the new group, and a grin worked its way up his face. They were tired and not exactly paying attention right now, not when their shift was just changing.

“ Now ,” he said, signaling Haakon since he couldn’t hear him.

They moved quickly as a group through the wooded area and toward the fortress.

Keeping themselves low to hide in the gnarled bushes and barren trees proved to be easy, since the guards weren’t paying attention as keenly as they should have been.

In minutes they reached the far wall of the fortress, their backs pressed against the cool, gray stone.

Blár’s ice spread on the wall, sending fissures along the stones until the cracks deepened, and then fractured completely.

He ushered them through the hole, and then entered himself.

The plan was simple: sneak in and find Kolfinna.

If the half-elf commander was still at the fortress, then it was best for them to avoid a full-blown confrontation, since Blár wasn’t certain he could defeat him on equal footing.

It pained him and filled him with bitterness at the thought of accepting defeat.

But he didn’t want his pride to get in the way of rescuing Kolfinna.

He wanted to give her the best shot at freedom, and that meant he had to put his ego aside.

Ivar took the lead; water remained suspended around his curled fists. It was better for him to go first, since he could drown any unsuspecting guards that might stumble upon them. All it would take would be his water filling their lungs so they couldn’t make a noise.

Inkeri took the position directly behind him. She was the best when it came to sword combat, but she was the weakest in terms of magical prowess; it was why Ivar wanted her so close, so he could protect her.

Then it was Haakon, and then the rest of the soldiers, and then Blár at the rear to protect them all.

The first fae soldier to come across them at the bend of the hallway barely even noticed them before Ivar’s water whipped out and slashed his throat with pressurized water. The brutality surprised Blár; Ivar preferred filling his victim’s lungs, but maybe he was feeling impatient too.

In seconds, guards filled the hallway, and Blár cursed softly as Haakon’s lightning struck one of the fae guards and they all erupted into movement.

Inkeri fought with her sword, wind bursting off the sharp edge of it, and Ivar took a place close to her, his own water lashing out at the flurry of fae and elves alike.

Gunnar punched through walls and crushed any fae that drew near him.

Blár’s ice snapped from his fingers and he froze the guards closest to him.

How had the fae noticed them? Was their hearing far superior? They had been sure to be quiet.

But it didn’t matter, because everyone began fighting their way down the hallway.

An hour must have passed with their fighting.

Blár barreled through the fortress, his ice cutting down foe easily, but his attention flicking from room to room.

He departed from the group and went through the rest of the fortress, half-expecting the half-elf commander to pop up and defeat them all.

But none of that happened. In fact, there were less forces here than he remembered.

Blár grabbed one of the fae, whose legs were crusted with ice and whose eyes were slowly drooping. He shook the male. “Where is she?”

The fae blinked at him. His eyes were a bright, eerie yellow. “Who?”

“Kolfinna! Where is she?”

A grin stretched along his face and he chuckled. “You’re too late, human. The commander already took her away.”

All the color drained from Blár’s face and he released the fae, whose laughter faded when he fell to the floor. This couldn’t be.

Fury laced through his veins and he stormed the rest of the corridors. He defeated as many fae as he could. Eluf and the rest of the party gathered the remaining fae and elves, and tied them up in front of the fortress.

Blár raked his hand through his hair angrily. They were inside one of the offices and Inkeri had already rifled through all the papers, but most of them were useless and the ones that were potentially useful were written in rune writing, so it was impossible for them to decipher.

“She’s not here,” Gunnar said carefully. “And neither is Herja.”

He cursed again. His hands curled into fists and he had the urge to punch something, hard.

His gaze went to the bookshelves lining the wall, the scorched fireplace, the desk with its array of worthless papers and letters, and then back to his group.

Gunnar stood by the doorway, shoulders tense and wearing a firm frown—no doubt waiting for Blár to blow up.

Eluf flicked through the papers on the desk with Inkeri one more time.

Ivar stared at Inkeri’s ass half the time from his position against the wall.

And Haakon glared out the window with a thunderous expression.

At least he was just as disappointed as Blár.

Blár moved toward the window and peered at the fae prisoners they had rounded up. None of them had given them any information, and Blár wasn’t keen on torturing anyone, so he would have to pass that on to Eluf.

“Where could they have taken them?” he asked through clenched teeth. The tension cording his muscles only tightened with those words; he didn’t want to imagine what kind of pain she was going through. Were they using her as a mana slave?

Inkeri picked up a piece of parchment, her eyebrows drawn together. “One of these is written in our language. It says one of the prisoners escaped. A fire elemental.”

“Do you think it was Herja?” Gunnar glanced at Haakon, and then back at Inkeri.

“It doesn’t say.” She lowered the paper. “But Herja’s the only fire elemental strong enough to escape, in my opinion. Who else is fierce enough to fight these fae?”

“Are you suggesting Kolfinna isn’t strong enough?” Blár snapped.

Inkeri flinched. “No. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean …”

“Don’t be an asshole,” Ivar said with narrowed eyes. “We all risked our asses to come out here.”

Blár blew out air and ran a hand over his face.

The coldness of his mana spread deeper into his body, cooling him down even further, and making the temperature in the room drop significantly.

He tried to rein in his disappointment, his rage, and his guilt, but it was hard to control himself when Kolfinna was trapped somewhere and he was useless.

Ivar was right; he couldn’t snap at anyone, especially when they had risked so much to come here in the first place.

“You’re right. I’m sorry.” He turned sharply to Haakon and signed the news to him about Herja’s potential escape. The lightning elemental perked up at that, his verdant eyes nearly glowing animatedly.

“We should investigate further to find out where she is,” Eluf said. “Blár, I understand you’re disappointed, but we have to move forward. Kolfinna is strong, so I believe she will be fine.”

Empty words. She might have been strong, but that didn’t mean she deserved to go through torture, or worse.

Blár nodded stiffly.

“We need to find Herja as well,” Ikneri said. “If she escaped, then she’s probably not that far away from here, and she probably needs our help. And she will likely know more about Kolfinna and her situation than we do."

They were on the move again. They left behind Eluf and the group of soldiers to watch over the fortress, and then they scoured the nearby woods.

Hours passed and they were no closer to finding out the truth than they had been earlier.

Toward the end of the night, when their search seemed to be in vain, Haakon shot a bolt of lightning into the night sky and kept it there for a few moments.

The air smelled acrid and smoky as he sent more and more booms of thunderous lightning.

After a moment, he paused, and Blár signed to him, What are you doing ?

Haakon glared, his hands jerking as he signed, Drawing her out .

Blár sighed and took a seat on a fallen tree.

The rest of them sat around in a circle.

Gunnar cut down some wood and Ivar made a fire.

Inkeri sat rigidly on the ground, her arms wrapped around her legs and her chin tucked on her knees.

Disappointment hung in the air heavily. Blár didn’t know what to think, or what to do.

His thoughts grew grim with every passing minute, so he could only glare at the night sky, wishing things were different.

Imagining what it would have been like to defeat the half-elf so they never would have gotten into this mess in the first place.

If only he had been stronger. If only?—

The snapping of twigs caught his attention and they all sprang up to their feet. Ice flexed on his fingers, ready for him to shoot at whoever had stumbled upon them.

A shock of red, tangled hair came to view, and a pair of familiar, angry blue eyes. Soot and dirt covered her pale cheeks, and she was thinner than she had been two weeks ago.

Inkeri inhaled sharply. “Herja!”

“Inkeri.” Herja released a shuddered breath and stumbled toward them. “I’ve never been so happy to see you.”

Inkeri rushed the woman in an embrace, hugging her tightly and sobbing softly. “Oh, I missed you and your foul temper. I never through I’d say that, but it’s true.”

Haakon’s tense shoulders finally relaxed, but he didn’t barrel into Herja and embrace her tightly like Blár thought he would.

He only stood on the sidelines, as if he hadn’t cared one way or another.

As if someone else had dragged him to be here, rather than him threatening to kill anyone who stood in his way of rescuing her. It made Blár want to roll his eyes.

Ivar patted her on the back. “I knew the fae stood no chance against you.”

Herja smiled, but it came out strained. Her gaze fixed on Blár; there was only grim determination there, now. “Kolfinna told me to warn you all that the elves and the fae are coming for the capital. And they’re going to free their evil queen. We have to stop them.”

“Where is she?” Blár’s hands grew clammy. “Is she alive?”

“Yes.”

Relief pooled in his chest, but it was cut short with her next words.

“They … need her, Blár. I don’t understand how, but … they believe Kolfinna is their princess. They think she’s the key to awakening the fae queen.”

Silence filled the group, and even the wind and the air stilled.

Blár’s shoulders tensed. He couldn’t breathe. Not with the confusion, the anger, the betrayal coursing through his veins and cutting through his chest like a broken shard of glass.

“Kolfinna … She can’t be,” Inkeri whispered.

Herja then explained everything that had happened during her capture. How Kolfinna had been kept separate from the rest of the prisoners. How they had clothed her, fed her, and took care of her. How they hadn’t tortured her. How the commander had spoken to her.

Blár didn’t want to believe it. He needed to hear it from Kolfinna herself. Because he had believed in her. He had thought that she knew she could confide with him about anything. He had thought that she knew she could trust him.

His heart clenched tightly.

Everyone seemed to come to the same conclusion.

Kolfinna was the fae heir.