Page 62 of The Crown of the Last Fae Queen (The Heartless and the Wicked #4)

They shoved the guards away with every strike.

Aslaug kept close behind them, but a few attacks were sent her way, which Kolfinna did her best to protect her from.

Vidar’s wings spread wider and he waved his hand toward the dozen guards left; a shot of light blinded everyone in the tunnel and Kolfinna squinted through the blaze to find most of the men falling to their knees.

She took that opportunity to sprint past them.

“Kolfinna!” Vidar shouted. “To your right!”

She ducked before looking, and heat singed the top of her head. She rolled to the ground and raised up a stone barrier as another flare of fire rammed into her. It was powerful, heavy, and packed with heat—but definitely not on Fenris’s level.

Her mana warmed her fingertips and she finally braced herself for the guard facing her.

A small, dreaded voice in the back of her mind told her that it was someone she knew.

Someone like Magni, who had powerful fire magic, who would be so disappointed to see her in this position.

But when she lowered her arm for an attack, relief surged through her at the unfamiliar middle-aged man with fire bursting from his arms.

It wasn’t an ally of hers.

She thrust her shadows at him just as he rotated away, flames sputtering from his retreating form.

Her shadows were relentless and swarmed him in seconds.

He screamed and his fire roared from him in every direction.

Kolfinna tried shielding herself from it, but she was struck on the shoulder and crashed against the wall before her shadows completely smothered him.

She didn’t want to kill him, so when she felt him lose consciousness, his mana fading just a bit, she released him.

The burn lasted seconds as she pushed herself to her feet again.

A shot of energy surged through her veins, lightening the pain in tandem with her elf powers rushing to heal.

In her peripheral vision, Vidar was killing a new slew of guards that had come from behind them, and Aslaug was keeping to the walls, scampering toward the end of the tunnel Leiknir had disappeared down.

A wave of light and shadows ripped from Vidar’s being. He crushed the remaining Royal Guards with ease, and Kolfinna used that opportunity to run to Aslaug. She grabbed the older woman’s arm and lugged her forward.

“We have to get to Leiknir!” the woman screamed above the cacophony of battle. Her reddish-brown hair, the same as the king’s, didn’t match Blár’s, but they had the same nose. The same eye shape, even though hers were brown while Blár’s were like ice.

“I know! But there’s something you have to know.” She could feel Vidar’s mana rising, his powers creating a suffocating sensation throughout the winding, cramped tunnel. Like he was stealing away all the air. “Blár is still alive!”

Aslaug’s steps slowed, her eyes growing wide and her mouth parting. “My … You mean my son?”

“Blár Vilulf. He is your son, correct? He’s a black rank.

” She also slowed in her steps. She could hear the battle finishing on Vidar’s end.

“We have to catch Leiknir if you want your revenge. But you need to know that Blár is alive and he’s been looking for you all these years.

He’s the only one who survived. Leiknir lied when he told you he had Blár killed. ”

“No … no.” Tears rimmed her eyes. “But Leiknir told me?—”

“He lied.” A bitter anger rose within her.

How dare Leiknir say such a thing to someone who was already broken and crushed by the deaths of her family, her children?

To take away even the smallest sliver of hope that her son, the only one who wasn’t present during the massacre, had somehow survived? Only a monster would do such a thing.

The older woman swayed on her feet. Shock was visible on her face, as was doubt. Of course she wouldn’t want to rejoice in case Kolfinna was the one lying. Of course she didn’t want to bring her hopes up, just to have them destroyed. Of course … she wanted to believe everything.

Kolfinna could read it on her face so clearly it broke her heart.

“Trust me.” She touched her shoulder. “He is alive, and I need you to survive as well in order to meet him. Please don’t throw your life away if it comes down to it.

For the longest time, he has agonized over everyone’s death.

His only hope was that you were alive out there, and he has suffered through at the hands of people who took advantage of that hope of his. So please, Aslaug. Survive .”

She thought of Sijur, who had strung Blár along even though he had some information about what had happened to his mother and his family. She remembered the list of Royal Guard names they had found in his secret office, and how they must have been linked to his family’s massacre.

Aslaug didn’t answer, because Vidar was beside them the next second. He waved them forward, and they all began jogging down the hall.

Kolfinna’s ears pricked at the sound of someone banging against a wall. Over, and over. Followed by curses and cries.

In minutes, they reached the end of the tunnel way.

Where there should have been an opening that led deeper into the network of underground passages, there was only a circular entrance that was completely covered in stone.

Leiknir banged his fists on the stone, his shoulders hunched, his crown barely atop his head.

Runes glowed along the closed tunnel, reading No one shall pass. No human shall use magic to destroy this passage. And King Leiknir shall never pass .

“No, no!” He pressed his back to the wall. His wide, crazed eyes flicked from Aslaug, to Kolfinna, and then to Vidar.

The last time Kolfinna had seen the king, he had put her on trial even though she had helped save the capital from Ragnarok’s attack.

He had been arrogant and cruel, searching for any way to discredit her, have her imprisoned, and hang her for being a ‘traitor’.

He was undeserving of his crown, even more so now that she knew the truth.

“Is this your doing?” He slammed his fists on the stone wall covering the exit. He didn’t rip his attention away from Vidar.

“My general took care of that.”

Floki .

How long had Vidar been planning this attack? By the looks of it, it hadn’t started last night. Maybe since the beginning—maybe kidnapping Kolfinna had just been the catalyst for it all.

“Please.” The king’s mouth trembled. It seemed to be slowly dawning on him that he wasn’t going to be getting out of this alive. “We can come to an understanding. A … truce, or treaty of some kind? If you kill me, there will be no chance of peace.”

“He is a monster! He does not deserve any peace,” Aslaug spat.

The king finally turned his attention to Aslaug, as if seeing her for the first time. His eyebrows pulled together as recognition flashed within his eyes. “Aslaug?”

“Oh, so you do remember your dear, dear sister.” She laughed bitterly and her hands fisted together. Fury laced her every word. “You took everything from me.”

The king opened his thin mouth, then closed it. The flickering torchlights of the tunnel cast over his suddenly pallid face, illuminating his shock and horror.

Vidar’s shadows and light flickered over his arms impatiently. His wings twitched as if he wanted nothing more than to rush the king and kill him, and yet he restrained himself and motioned toward Blár’s mother. “Speak, woman. Tell him what you want to before I kill him.”

Aslaug nodded and turned back to her brother. Kolfinna could only watch.

“Why?” Aslaug asked. “Why did you kill my husband and our children? I left the palace because I fell in love and I wanted nothing to do with the royal family anymore. Nothing to do with you . I thought I was doing you a favor by leaving, and I was happy for so many years. So why did you order my family killed? How did you even find us? Why not have me killed right when I left? Or did you purposefully want to give me a taste of happiness so you could crush it all over again?”

Leiknir pushed himself against the wall even harder, as if he could melt into the wall and disappear in the cracks. He swallowed thickly. “I didn’t want to kill your family, but they posed a threat! I’m … I’m not proud of what I did, but I did what I needed to do. To protect us all.”

“What do you mean they posed a threat? We were just normal people! I raised them without telling them about my—our—royal lineage. We didn’t pose a threat to your reign! We were normal?—”

“Your son was not normal!” he shouted, and his words echoed off the walls.

Aslaug’s face went slack. “You mean Blár.”

“Why did you allow him to join the military? They saw him, saw his power, and wanted it for themselves. They trained him and he only grew stronger. Do you not realize how much of a threat he posed to my reign? If they found out he had royal blood, that he was my nephew, don’t you think the military would have wanted to put him on the throne?

He had too much power, Aslaug! I couldn’t risk it, I just couldn’t! ”

Kolfinna inhaled sharply while Aslaug looked like he had slapped her.

“I couldn’t risk it,” he repeated, his gaze flitting between Vidar’s stone-faced expression and then to Aslaug. “Your other children could have become just as powerful as him. I couldn’t allow that to happen, so … so I had to do what I needed to.”

“You weren’t protecting anyone,” Kolfinna said with enough vitriol to burn him on the spot. “You only wanted to protect your own position.”

Leiknir’s lips curled. “I did what I needed to!”

“But he survived.” She swayed on her feet. “He survived. You told me he died.”

“I tried to kill him. Many times. But he’s always been too strong, and he’s always survived everything—and everyone—I threw at him. Eventually, I couldn’t stop him at all. I didn’t want to lie to you.”

Aslaug’s face lost all of its color. “You tried to kill my son multiple times? Do you not hear yourself? He’s your nephew!”

The king remained silent.

Aslaug sunk to the floor, her hands covering her face and tremors wracking her shoulders from side to side. “Kill him,” she said between sobs. “Kill him!”

“No, you can’t!” Leiknir turned to Vidar. “You have to understand! We can achieve peace, we can?—”

“I do not want peace with you,” Vidar said smoothly.

Each step he took toward the king seemed to reverberate against the walls, the floors, the very air itself.

Power rippled from him in thick waves, distorting everything in a haze of shadows.

One second he was close to Kolfinna and the next he was in front of the king.

His hand wrapped around the older man’s throat as he lifted him off the air.

“You are not worthy of that crown, descendant of Harald. You are not worthy of this kingdom. And you certainly aren’t worthy enough to breathe the same air as the rest of humanity and fae kind. ”

The king clawed at Vidar’s arms. His eyes bulged and his face reddened, and then purpled. The entire time, her father simply watched the man, not a shred of remorse coloring his own face.

“Are you certain, human princess?” He glanced over at Aslaug, who remained crumpled on her knees, watching them with teary eyes and a vengeful expression.

“If anyone was to murder my wife and my daughter”—his gaze momentarily met Kolfinna’s, and an unfamiliar feeling sprang in her chest—“I would wish to rip his throat out with my own hands.”

“Please …” Aslaug’s lips trembled and she glared at Leiknir.

“I cannot bring myself to do it, because as much as I hate him and I wish for him to die a cruel and horrible death, he is … He is my brother and I cannot be the one to kill him. I cannot stain my own hands. I cannot … have that on my conscience. I’d rather believe he had it coming to him. ”

“As you wish.” Vidar squeezed his fingers together and before Kolfinna could blink, he ripped the man’s throat out in one fell swoop.

Kolfinna gasped sharply as blood splattered the floor. Quickly turning away from the gruesome scene, she dropped down to Aslaug and wrapped her arms around the older woman, who continued to weep. “I’m sorry,” she whispered.

In her peripheral vision, she noticed Vidar tear off a chain the king wore. He rose to his feet, the heavy golden necklace swinging in his fist. At the center of it was a circular gold plate with a dull red gem embedded in the center. Magic pulsed from Vidar’s hand and the amulet began to glow.

“Here, Kolfinna.” He tossed the necklace and she caught it.

Her fingers wrapped around the warm metal and she gasped at how her mana responded to the jewel in the center. Warmth spread across her chest and she knew instantly that this was a fae artifact.

“We will need this to free Aesileif. Put it on.”

She complied. It sat heavy against her breastbone, and she couldn’t help but stroke the red gem. It pulsated like a heartbeat against her fingers. “And now? Will we search for her?”

“We will.” He turned his attention to Aslaug, and his mana became even heavier. “Thank you for your cooperation, human. It is time for you to pay.”

Aslaug stared at her hands. “I understand …”

“Pay?” An ominous chill hung in the air. Kolfinna swallowed down the tension straightening her spine. "What do you mean?”

“I am a royal,” she whispered. “And we made a deal.”

“There can be no survivors of Harald’s blood,” Vidar said simply.

“No.” Kolfinna jumped to her feet, horror seeping into her bones. “You can’t! She’s not a threat to you, or Aesileif, or any of the fae!”

“Floki was sent to kill the rest of the human royals. I must ensure that all royals are killed so that no more chaos can ensue with them all.”

The shadows in the tunnel grew darker and Kolfinna stood in front of Aslaug defensively, her light magic springing to her hands reflexively.

“Move, Kolfinna,” said Vidar.

“I let you kill the king because he was evil, and I even agreed to free Aesileif, but I draw the line here.” Kolfinna raised her fists. “I will not allow you to kill her.”

There was no way she would allow him to kill Blár’s mother.

Absolutely no way .