Page 5 of Tree of Ash (The Runic Saga #2)

“That’s impossible,” he said. “Aeron is dead. All the reports said so.”

“The reports were wrong.” The greatest courtesy Darien could offer his father was the truth. “The man we told you about, Kafteinn Calder, the War Dog that hunted us, he’s Aeron. Anara and Larissa will tell you the same thing.”

Not even Darien’s use of Larissa had broken through the King’s disbelieving stare. Anara shifted in her seat noticing how Darien watched his father in concern. Despite the fact that his galdr slowed his body’s aging, at that moment, Torsten looked over a hundred years old. Gaunt and hollow.

“When I learned the gods had returned my second son,” Torsten muttered, covering his eyes, “I wondered what it would cost. The Norn have set their faces against me. How many know the truth?”

“Anara, Larissa, Halla, myself,” Darien answered quickly. “Now you, Halvor, and Speaker Skaei.”

“No one else can find out.” Torsten held each of their gazes for a moment. “The people would lose hope if they learned that their beloved Safír Prince was the one hunting them.” His sigh was heavy and bitter. “It would have been better if he had truly died.”

Darien froze in shock. It had been one thing for him to think such thoughts, but for his father to actually say them aloud seemed callous. As much as he hated Calder, Darien couldn’t simply shove aside the obvious. “Should we consider rescuing him?”

“From what?” Torsten asked, dropping his hand from his face. “If everything you tell me is true, my son is long dead, and the sooner this man Calder follows, the better. It all falls to you now.”

“What falls to me?”

“If the gods favor us, one day you will lead our people. Despite my best efforts, you are the last of our blood.”

Best efforts? The question formed on Darien’s tongue, but his mind refused to entertain the idea of his father taking another wife.

Besides, Torsten was still talking. “We must start your training immediately.”

Knowing how his next words would be received didn’t stop them from coming. “Faeir, I still have to help Larissa.”

Torsten’s eyes refocused on his son, hard and cold. “I need to speak privately with my son.”

Halvor and Skaei rose without hesitance. Anara offered the briefest touch on Darien’s shoulder before she too was gone.

Torsten held his gaze all the while. “I let you entertain your infatuation with Lovisa when you were a boy and when Aeron was to be king, but now, it is time for you to put aside childish habits. We have to keep our galdr strong. The Norn have returned you to me for a reason. You must be there to carry on our fight if anything was to happen to me. The Vienám will need a leader. They will not trust Anara, not with her tainted blood. As for Lovisa, Larissa, whoever she is, she will be a good figurehead, but we both know that you were the one born to lead.”

Except that wasn’t true, was it? All of Darien’s life, the pressure of the crown had fallen squarely on Aeron’s shoulders.

As Aeron had met with their father’s counselors, Darien had walked along the sandy shore at Lovisa’s side.

As Aeron had undergone political training, Darien had professed his love to the Perle Princess.

There had never been a time in his life when he had desired to change positions with his brother; Aeron had been the perfect successor, and Darien had been content to support him as he led their kingdom to prosperity.

Until now.

The thought of the responsibility and expectations that would be placed on him became overwhelming. The room seemed too small, the air too thick.

Torsten rose from the chair, taking his son’s silence for acceptance. “Go and prepare for this evening. I will collect you. This is the will of the gods.”

The dismissal in his tone was clear. Darien’s feet carried him across the floor before his tongue could catch up with his mind.

Anara waited for him in the hall, leaning nonchalantly against the wall. Her dark hair rippled as she straightened, raising an eyebrow. “Hel looks better than you, and she’s half corpse.”

“He’s naming me Crown Prince after Larissa’s announcement tonight.” Darien’s voice sounded dazed, even to his own ears.

“So I heard.”

“He wants to start training me to take his place.”

“You didn’t see that coming?”

Darien rubbed his face, his fingers scratching against the stubble that had only recently spread across his jawline. “Anara, you know me. I never wanted to be king. That was always Aeron’s dream.” He shook his head. “It should be Aeron.”

“It can’t be Aeron.” Her voice was firm. Anara’s hands moved to cover the injury that stretched across her abdomen where the draugr had gutted her on Aeron’s orders, nearly killing her.

No, not Aeron, Calder, Darien reminded himself. It was Calder who did those things, not Aeron .

As though aware of what she was doing, Anara forced her hands back to her sides.

“Did you know? About Aeron surviving?” he asked.

To Anara’s credit, she didn’t hesitate. “I wondered. When Aeron’s body was never recovered, it didn’t seem right.

After Shiko had total control, when Torsten and I founded the Vienám, there were rumors of the Empress’ Kafteinn .

Very few saw him and lived. Of those, fewer made it to the Vienám.

Their descriptions made me think of Aeron, but Torsten was never open to the idea, and I had no proof, so I stopped pursuing it. ”

“That doesn’t sound like you to just let something that important go.”

“I didn’t want it to be true.”

Darien knew that feeling all too well. “You were right about my father. He’s not the man I remember. He was strict, absent sometimes, but never so cold.”

“To be fair, you’re probably not the son he remembers either.”

“He still thinks I care too much for Larissa and not enough about the crown.”

She smiled. “Some things never change.”

But Darien’s thoughts were elsewhere, drifting into dangerous territory. Though his mind begged him not to ask the question, his mouth did not listen. “Anara, do you think Halla is alright?”

Her face hardened. “I think you shouldn’t ask questions you don’t really want the answers to. Let’s focus on getting her back and getting out of here.”

Darien caught the bitterness in her voice. “Are you alright, Anara? Being back here?”

She scoffed. “You noticed it too, huh?”

Throughout the meeting, he’d watched as the Generals had given Anara a wide berth, often glancing at her in trepidation. He nodded, waiting for her explanation.

“Let’s just say that my galdr makes me a strong asset to the rebellion, but it also means they will never accept me. They see a shifter, but they wait for the day I’ll change into a draugr with their hands already on their weapons.”

“That’s ridiculous—”

“The fears of lesser men are not my problem.” Anara pushed herself off of the wall and walked away without checking to see if Darien would follow. She tossed her words over her shoulder. “We should get ready. Larissa will need us by her side tonight.”