Page 59 of The Last Valkyrie

“. . . I’ll get back shortly, Tru.”

“You sure, cap? Dark and spooky out here.”

Dieter laughed, his voice rugged. “Always dark and spooky out here, lad. Nothing’s changed.”

“Everything’s changed, sir,” Tru said ominously.

He and the other woman left, leaving Dieter alone to pick through the patch of berries he’d found.

I emerged from behind him, lanky and silent as the night.

“Didn’t think you’d have the balls to show yourself here, old friend,” Dieter said without turning to look at me. His senses were preternatural for a human, and there was gruffness in his voice that spoke of frustration.

What is he angry withmefor? It’smysister who died.

I wrapped my arms around my chest, fighting off the cold inside my cloak. “Thank you for sending them away so we can speak.”

He glanced over his shoulder, brows perked. “You sound forlorn, Arne.” He stood and dusted his hands off.

“Don’t I have reason to be, Dieter? I lost a sister. We lost the battle against the Dokkalfar.”

He shrugged. “Cut down plenty of dead, as I hear it.”

“So you weren’t there?”

Dieter shook his head. His dark eyes were hesitant, flitting around, which made me concerned about being here for long.

I didn’t know if I could trust my old friend anymore. A man I had basically seen as an older brother in my youth, when my own family had died. Dieter helped raise me and Frida.

“Same can’t be said about other Lepers,” I pointed out angrily. “Being absent at Selfsky, I mean.”

He nodded. “You lost a sister true enough, Arne, but these people lost a leader.”

“Am I to blame for that?”

A shrug. Dieter was looking thinner these days. He’d lost weight, and his face looked drawn with worry. “I sent you the letter. Did you not get the secret message?”

“I got it too late. I did everything I could.” I hung my head in shame, frowning at the ground. “I failed to save her. Even as she wished me dead, I tried to rescue her from herself.”

“We all failed Frida Gorndeen, brother.”

No. She failedus,I wanted to say.She gave in to the insidious promises of the dark elves.When I glanced up at him, I noticed Dieter getting closer. I reflexively stepped back out of caution.

Sadness crossed his face, seeing my reaction. “You don’t trust me any longer, Arne? After all we’ve been through?”

“I saw a Leper fighting a Huscarl that terrible night, Dieter.”

“Same as it ever was, then.”

Anger rifled through me, nearly causing me to Shape a rune and seal his mouth shut with ice. “Damn the gods, Dieter, I need answers!Whywere the Lepers in that conflict? They had no business being there.”

“They hadeverybusiness being there, Arne! Do they not deserve to fight for the same Isle they’ve called home for decades?”

He was chest-to-chest with me now. I didn’t back down from the larger man, snarls fierce on our faces as we blamed the other for our tragedies.

“They fought on the wrong side,” I lamented.

“They fought on the side of the people they think will give them what they want, what they need.”

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