Page 64

Chapter 58

Nora

There were only two people who were meant to have access to the office in the Holtzfall mansion: the head and their heir.

Nora was neither. But she had been the Heiress apparent for a long time.

“I did this with your mother,” her grandmother had told her when she was eleven. “Usually she would be the one to do this with you, but your mother is not so much one for tradition as you and I.” Using Hartwin’s sword, her grandmother sliced Nora’s hand open. Bright red blood welled there. Before it could spill on the pristine floor, Mercy Holtzfall pressed Nora’s eleven-year-old palm against the gnarled door. Nora had watched with pride as the ancient wood soaked up her blood. As it must have for generations of Heiresses before her.

Her grandmother had done that because she had been certain Nora would be the Heiress. Because she trusted in that, and in her.

And now Nora was here to steal from her.

She stabbed a small pin into her finger and with just one drop, the branches bowed out of her way. It was strange, not seeing Mercy Holtzfall sitting there. She had been called away in the chaos to meet with the new governor and instruct him on how to respond to his first crisis.

The rest of the mansion hung heavy with portraits and tapestries. Even a few modern paintings by artists the Holtzfalls had graced with patronage.

But only three things adorned the walls here.

Hartwin’s sword.

The hooks where the woodcutter’s ax sat when it wasn’t deep in the woods.

And Honor Holtzfall’s ring.

The trial rings were fickle magic. They appeared with a win—and at the end of the trials, they vanished from all but the hand of the victor. But Honor Holtzfall’s ring was straight from the tree of the Huldrekall. It was everlasting.

The three steps to take it from the wall felt heavy. Nora was keenly aware of the weight in her hand. But it was that simple. She was holding the ancient Holtzfall artifact.

For a moment, Nora considered sliding it on her finger.

It would be so easy to lie. To claim she had won a trial. She could take this ring and walk into the woods, retrieve the ax, and become the Heiress again.

And then not only would her mother be dead, Alaric would be too.

And she would sit in this chair for the rest of her life, knowing that she had chosen the heirship over a life.

Nora closed her hand around the ring, pulling out the duplicate she had charmed and putting it in place. It was identical to the real ring in every single way. Except that it had absolutely no magic. But so long as her grandmother didn’t suddenly fancy a walk in the woods, she wouldn’t notice.

Nora left before she could change her mind, the branches of the office lacing themselves shut behind her tightly as she fled under the judgmental eyes of her Holtzfall ancestors.

She found Lotte and Theo waiting for her at the end of the hallway. As Nora approached, she was aware of them drawing a step farther apart then they had been, their conversation cutting off when they saw her. “No, by all means”—Nora rolled her eyes—“continue your nice chat while I risk my grandmother’s wrath for all of us.”

“Nora.” Theo ran a hand over his face. “You can’t really mean to hand over Honor’s ring to the Grims. You can’t give them a way in after everything they’ve done.”

“We’ll see.” Nora turned the ring over in her hand. “After all, there’s a reason our family made its fortune cutting back the woods. The things that are in there have a tendency to kill people. I’ll be amazed if the Grims make it out alive. But if they do…” The Grims might be able to do what her grandmother Leyla had done: Draw magic out of the woods. Give it to the people, fulfill their promises of wealth.

Nora found she was not afraid of what that looked like. She was curious.

Over and over, when she asked herself why the world had to be the way it was, the only answer she came up with was because that was how it had always been. The rich were rich because they had been for so long. The poor were poor because the rich fought against any change, even as the Grims fought for it.

And last night was the first battle they had lost in the war against change. Nora would rather any more change came without bloodshed.

“Something has to give in this city, one way or another. And if Isengrim can deliver on his campaign promise, then I’m intrigued. Now we just have to let them know we have what they want.”