Page 7 of Tree of Ash (The Runic Saga #2)

Only last night’s dream hadn’t been her recurring nightmare.

Halla had walked around the massive trunk of a tree while a girl giggled beside her.

It hadn’t been a frightening dream, yet neither had it been pleasant.

She wouldn’t have woken at all if not for Kai, who claimed she’d been tossing in her sleep.

His voice brought Halla back to the present. “Weren’t you two captured around then? Did either of you see anything?”

“No, but I was probably already caught by that point.” Juni touched the bandage, but Halla knew it was involuntary. “What about you, Halla?”

She shook her head, not trusting herself to speak.

Kai leaned in, his voice only a murmur. “There’s more. Rumors are floating around about the Perle Princess. Some say that the Vienám is going to make a move against the Empress, that they already did in the city.”

Halla gasped, but Juni’s bitter laughter drowned out the small sound. “The Perle Princess? Now, I know you’re messing with us.”

But Kai was watching Halla. “What do you think?”

She did her best to look away, certain that the truth about Lara would be plainly written on her face.

His eyes caught hers. Halla didn’t mind getting lost in those bottomless pools of ink and would have held his gaze, if she hadn’t been worried about what secrets he might uncover.

Blushing, she looked down. Two years older than Halla, Kai surely didn’t see her as anything more than a child.

Her size didn’t help. Halla frowned at the thought.

The barrack door slammed open, cracking against the wall.

Fenris’ massive body silhouetted the doorframe, and the children rose from their bunks, standing at the edges of their beds.

Though Juni and Kai had only moved far enough to stand in front of their own bunks, they might as well have been miles away with how alone Halla felt in Fenris’ presence.

The last time Fenris had shown up in the barracks, he’d taken three of Halla’s bunkmates to be sold to work in the loading bays.

Now he prowled down their lines as another sentry walked beside him with a clipboard in his hand.

From several bunks away, Fenris’ eyes passed over Halla, and a grin stretched his lips into an unnatural smile. Halla clasped her shaking hands, willing them to stop.

“Breathe, storyteller,” Kai hissed under his breath, still looking straight ahead. “Don’t let him see your fear.”

Halla’s jaw clenched, but she nodded. She was Ieunn; she was brave. She would be like Lara and Anara. Fenris stopped two bunks down and said, “Six.”

The thraell behind him scribbled on the clipboard.

Fenris skipped Juni, then paused at Halla. “Seven.”

Seven what? Halla wanted to ask, but she bit her cheek, having seen what consequences came from asking questions.

Looking almost disappointed at Halla’s lack of a response, Fenris moved on, not bothering to spare Kai a glance. Most people treated him that way, as though he did not exist. Fenris moved back toward the front of the barrack, occasionally numbering a child on the opposing row of bunks.

On Halla’s right, Juni looked at Kai, and mouthed, “What does it mean?”

Horror leaked through his guarded expression, and Halla knew Kai had seen something like the numbering before.

Juni leaned toward him, annoyance raising in the flush on her cheeks, “Kai, what does it mean—”

Her whisper transformed to a yelp of pain accompanied by the crack of the thraell ’s whip against her body. Juni fell to the ground, wrapping her arms around her chest in preparation for the next hit.

Fenris approached from behind the sentry.

“Haven’t learned your lesson yet, slave?

” Snatching Juni’s wrist, he yanked her into the air until Juni whimpered from the pain.

Fenris glared around the room, confirming that every child was watching.

“Slaves are to be seen, not heard. A disobedient slave is a disposable slave.”

Juni fell to the ground with a thud. Though Halla yearned to comfort Juni, her limbs were petrified stone that refused to move.

There was nothing she could do, not while Fenris stood there, looking at Halla, daring her to intervene.

In Juni’s small cries, Halla heard the echoes of her screams in the forest.

Fenris’ gray eyes pierced into Halla, reveling in the sorrow he caused. “Got something to say, little girl?”

Halla bit her tongue, thinking of all the things Anara would say. Gods, Anara would just rip out his tongue. Darien would persuade him to pull out his own tongue. Lara would shoot it off, but Halla was just Halla. She didn’t have galdr ; there was nothing she could do.

He chuckled, a low and unpleasant sound in the back of his throat. “You’re learning your place.” He nodded at the sentry behind him. “We’re finished here.”

The thuds of his footfalls echoed against the metallic walls in the silent barrack, followed by the slam of the door and the click of the lock. The children fell to their bunks, averting their eyes as Halla and Kai moved to Juni’s side. Halla offered her hand. “Are you okay?”

Juni stood on trembling legs, fiddling with the bandage around her neck. She averted her eyes, as though ashamed of her own weakness. “Tell us a story, Halla.”

The other children nearest turned toward Halla at Juni’s request. Halla usually waited until after dark when the thraell were less likely to visit, but Juni had asked, and there was so much Halla wished she’d done for Juni. This she could do.

“Sure.” Halla sat next to Juni on her bunk as the other children moved to sit on the cement floor in front of them.

Kai sat on his own bunk. Half the time Halla was certain he wasn’t even listening to her stories, but there were times when she’d catch his eyes on her.

Halla racked her brain until she decided on the perfect story.

She remembered when Pappa had chased the wolf from their farm, and later that night, he’d told her the story of Fenrir.

“When the mighty god Loki fathered a giant wolf pup, he named the monster Fenrir . . .”

Like the children, Halla lost herself in the story.

The pup was gifted to the gods, but due to his unusual strength, he’d been enslaved all of his life.

Only during Ragnarok was he freed to wreak havoc on a dying world.

As her story closed, Halla emerged as if from a trance.

“And so Víearr, son of óeinn, ripped open the mouth of Fenrir, avenging his father and killing the wolf who had swallowed the moon and the sun.”

The light had faded during Halla’s story, leaving only the soft moonlight streaming in through the skylights to illuminate the wonder on the faces of the children around her.

One by one they rose in silence to retreat to their bunks.

It wouldn’t be worth it to be caught out of their bunks after darkness, but as they walked away, Halla heard their whispers.

“. . . if only the gods would kill Fenris like they did Fenrir.”

“Shh, don’t let anyone hear you say that . . .”

“Nice story,” Kai commented. “Next thing you know, you’ll be starting your own rebellion. Who needs a Perle Princess when we’ve got a storyteller?”

“Don’t tease,” Juni snapped in low whispers from her place sitting beside Halla.

Kai lifted his hands in a show of surrender. “Wouldn’t dream of it. Who taught you these stories, Halla?”

She froze, the triumph of another story chased by her grief. “My Pappa.”

Perhaps it was the sound of her voice that stopped Kai from pursuing that line of questioning. Now that her story was over, Halla remembered the reason for Fenris’ visit, and her apprehension returned. “Kai, why was Fenris counting us?”

His thumb rubbed the inside of his other palm. “You don’t want to know.”

“But he counted me,” Halla protested. “I need to know.”

He sighed. “Every month, Fenris will do a count of the light-haired girls.”

“And?” Juni demanded when Kai paused.

“They don’t go to the auction block; he sells them directly.”

Sweat coated Halla’s palms. “To who?”

He wouldn’t meet her anxious stare. “Word has it the Empress will pay anything for young, light-haired girls.”

The bunk under Halla rocked as the sweat on the back of Halla’s neck turned cold. She wished she still had hair to cover it. “What do you mean? Why does she want them?”

“Who knows?” He lifted his eyes, his mouth turning up in mockery. “Maybe to bathe in their blood to stay young and beautiful forever. She is a monster, after all.”

Halla shrank away from him until her back slammed against the wall, and her heart thudded painfully in her chest. The Empress?

She was going to be sent to the Empress.

Juni’s arm wrapped around Halla’s trembling shoulders. She sent a glare in Kai’s direction, but the boy lay back, staring unconcernedly at the ceiling. Halla’s breath came in short bursts that did nothing to fill her lungs.

“What is wrong with you?” Juni hissed. “Why would you say that?”

“I was trying to lighten the mood. No one actually thinks the Empress is bathing in blood; it would ruin her complexion.” He shrugged. “She’s been rounding up as many light-haired girls as possible for as long as I’ve been here. I’ve heard she’s looking for someone.”

Halla froze, her breath hanging in that space between inhale and exhale, and a single thought consumed her. The Empress was looking for light-haired girls. Larissa’s white hair blurred in Halla’s mind. Had the Empress’ one-child mandate all been a method of searching for Lovisa?

“Halla? Halla. Breathe!”

Juni’s fingers snapped in front of her eyes. Halla’s vision refocused around the black dots, blinking them away.

“Halla, there’s no proof that life is any worse in Diamant than it would be here.

I highly doubt the Empress bathes in anyone’s blood.

” Juni’s voice was less confident than Halla would have preferred.

She rushed on, “Kai’s just being Kai. He’s bitter because no one wants him, and he’s forced to live here for the rest of his days on sewer duty. ”

“I heard that,” Kai muttered.

“You were meant to,” Juni snapped.

“I can’t go to the Empress,” Halla whispered, her fingers digging into Juni’s shoulders tight enough to bruise. “Please, Juni, you have to help me. There has to be a way out.”

Juni was quiet for some time, stroking Halla’s short hair. It wasn’t fair for Halla to ask Juni for help. Not after Halla had abandoned Juni to her fate in the forest, not after Halla had left Juni to stand on that auction block, but still. Halla couldn’t go to the Empress.

Finally, Juni whispered, “There might be a way.”