Page 26 of The Ruins of the Heartless Fae

“I think he makes everything cold around him on purpose. I don’t know if it’s to make himself more powerful or to make everyone more uncomfortable. You don’t see Captain Asulf doing that.” Eyfura sniffed, rubbing her reddening nose with her sleeve. “I heard he’s hard to work with, so I’m not exactly excited to be working with him, but I’m sure it’ll be easier having him on our side.”

Kolfinna didn’t share that sentiment. Sure, everyone was probably happy to have Blár there so he could save them, but that was onlyifhe was willing to do that. And in Kolfinna’s case, there was more of a chance of dying at his hands than being saved by them. What if he felt inclined to let her die since he hadn’t been able to kill her the first time around?

No matter what, she needed to make sure she stayed far away from him. At least with Magni, she stood a chance against him. She wasn’t sure if she could beat Magni, per se, but she had more of a chance of a fair fight with Magni than she did with Blár. An unsurmountable monster like Blár shouldn’t have existed in the first place.

“Everyone, line up.” Mímir clapped his hands to draw everyone’s attention, though it felt unnecessary since nobody had moved since arriving. They stood rock-still, observing the soldiers warily, and the soldiers seemed to do the same from their position in the camp.

There were a dozen Royal Guards, Kolfinna included, and what appeared to be four dozen military soldiers. The last attempt at the ruins had tried to overcome them with numbers, and that had failed. Now, only twenty-four would enter. Twelve from the military side, and twelve from the Royal Guard’s side. All the extra men would be staking outside the ruins and would wait for their return.Ifthey returned.

Mímir cleared his throat and carefully looked at the Royal Guards. “We’ll be entering the ruins tomorrow morning. Just relax for a bit and do what you want today because this is going to be our only real break for a while. Also, the red tents are ours. Women go in one, men in the other. If you have any questions, you can direct them to me. Remember, I’ll be in charge of this entire mission, so if you have any quarrels with the military or anything, please bring it up with me first before taking matters into your own hands. The mission takes priority over everything.”

Nobody said anything, so he waved them off. “All right, go relax. Introduce yourselves to the military and vice versa. And I hope I don’t have to reiterate this: the military is not your enemy. We’re all allies in this.”

Despite saying that, none of the Royal Guards dispersed to the military side and instead remained in their own group on one side of the camp while Mímir went off to the military side.

One of the Royal Guards, a pretty brunette with a mole beneath her eye who Kolfinna vaguely recognized from the meeting, placed a hand on her hip and gazed at the soldiers with a scowl. “Do you think any of them will even be useful? Besides the black rank, of course. I mean, the military has like zero standards.”

Torsten laughed and ran a hand through his wavy hair. “They’re probably a bunch of sissies who’ve never been inrealcombat.”

“They even smell like magic beast shit.” The brunette chuckled behind her silk gloves.

“Bunch of lowlifes,” Magni agreed with a sneer.

By the looks of the soldiers, they weren’t thrilled for the Royal Guards to be there either. Instead of searching the shifting crowd of soldiers who went in and out of tents, Kolfinna turned her attention to the forest engulfing them all in a tight embrace. It was easier to feel the pull of life thrumming in each tree, each blade of grass, and each flower stem than it was to search for those haunting, cruel eyes. The trees swayed with the breeze, carrying a whiff of wild jasmine, and the sunlight dappled through the cluster of leaves and branches.

“I don’t see him.” Eyfura cut through Kolfinna’s thoughts. “So you’re in the clear.”

“For now.” Kolfinna stared harder into the trees and tried to pick out the various smells amalgamating into the clearing—moss, jasmine, and the sickly sweet smell of rotting wild fruits.

“Um, by the way”—Kolfinna finally looked over at the soldiers, and then at the Royal Guards—“why do the Royal Guards not like the military and vice versa? All I know is that the military is under the commander-in-chief while the Royal Guard is under the king. Is there anything that happened to create a divide?”

“Hm.” Eyfura shrugged, casting a glance at the soldiers. “I don’t really know, to be honest. I think it’s just the type of work we do that they don’t like and vice versa. I’m not so snobby to think I’m better than them just because I’m a Royal Guard, but I will say that being a Royal Guard is grander than the military, and we generally get paid more than the average soldier. I think that might have something to do with it.”

Even as a normal citizen, Kolfinna understood the Royal Guards to be lavish in everything they did. From what she heard, the Royal Guard only booked the most expensive inns. They ate the most expensive food. And there was a slew of nobles in the Royal Guard. It didn’t help that even their uniforms were fancy.

“What does the Royal Guard do?” Kolfinna asked. “Don’t you guys just patrol the cities and capture criminals?”

“Yes, but we do more than that. We uphold the law, which is a pretty broad task, so there’s a lot that goes into it. The military patrols the borders, deals with any foreign threats, handles any war, and they hunt down magic beasts that encroach on human territory. I mean, sometimes we also take down magic beasts if there’s an immediate threat, but that’s not our job.”

“Are you nervous?”a voice came from behind Kolfinna.

Kolfinna jumped at the intrusion of their conversation and spun on her heels, mana working through her feet into the soil.

“Mímir”—her lips pressed together at his familiar face—“don’t scare me like that,” she hissed; vines were already slithering around her feet. Heat scorched her cheeks while Eyfura doubled over with laughter.

Mímir raised his hands as he eyed the vines close to his feet. “Sorry, didn’t mean to sneak up on you.”

Kolfinna cleared her throat and she sent the vines back into the earth. “Um, it’s okay,” she said, and then shot Eyfura a glare. “Come on, it’s notthatfunny.”

Eyfura laughed harder and pointed at the ground. “But you—you almost tied him up with that! What were you going to do, thrash him around like a doll?”

A hesitant grin spread across Mímir’s face, easing the tension in his shoulders. “Were you really going to do that, Kolfinna?” he teased.

“No, I wasn’t going to do that.” Kolfinna’s face radiated with heat.

“I didn’t think you hated himthatmuch,” Eyfura joked between fits of laughter.

“That’s not it.” Kolfinna tucked her hands behind her back and cleared her throat again. “Anyway, did you need something?”

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