Page 2 of The Daughter of the Scarred Elf

One leg forward, then the other, repeat.

So long as she could ignore what had happened those long days in that cabin with that monstrous woman, she would be fine.

Another step. Then another.

Kolfinna’s gaze skirted over the crowd, searching for familiar, kind faces, but the only other familiar face she found was Fenris’s. He sat in the front row, his red hair brushed neatly and his white and gold uniform standing out regally. She scanned the crowd again. Her heart sank as she realized Blár really wasn’t there—and she chided herself for that, forhoping. And then it sank even further when she realized Sijur wasn’t there either.

She was on her own.

Kolfinna bent in a rigid bow in front of the throne. “Greetings, Your Highness.”

King Leiknir only peered down at her with dark, disapproving eyes.

One of the Royal Guards beside him motioned her toward the raised, boxed dais, and she complied. Her fingers rested over the smooth wooden railing to keep herself upright, to keep herself rooted in the room, and to not tarry on any memories. Particularly memories linked with the woman sitting two rows away from her.

“Kolfinna the fae,” King Leiknir drawled after a moment of stilled silence. Kolfinna felt everyone watching her, impatientlywaiting to rip her to shreds and prod at what remained. “We are here to discuss your actions two weeks ago during the attack on the palace.”

Kolfinna clasped her sweaty hands together in front of her to keep them from shaking. She didn’t know where to look, so she stared down at the gold-veined marble floors.

“Frode Nyborg.” King Leiknir waved forward the Lieutenant Captain of the first unit of the Royal Guards, who were in charge of protecting the royal palace. The aging guard came forward and dropped to one knee.

“Your Highness.”

“Nyborg, what is your report on this matter? You’ve had two weeks to investigate and interview all the parties involved.” The king drummed his fingers on the armrest again, his rings catching the light.

The last time Kolfinna had spoken to Nyborg, he had told her that she would likely be fine, and that he too felt a strange, ominous presence from the black sword that had controlled her. Kolfinna clung to the tiny sliver of hope that he would side with her.

Nyborg straightened and Kolfinna held her breath as the older man turned to face the crowd. He pointedly didn’t look at her and instead addressed everyone else. “Kolfinna the fae made statements that she was being ‘possessed’ by the royal sword and that her actions were not her own. She attacked several Royal Guards with the intent to kill them. I suspect she might have had motives to steal the sword.”

Murmurs filled the room and Kolfinna’s mouth almost dropped to the floor. She could feel the heat crawling up her neck as more people stared and pointed fingers.

This can’t be happening.

“That’s not true—” Kolfinna started, her voice barely above a whisper.

“Silence.” The king’s voice boomed across the throne room and she flinched. He narrowed his eyes at her. “Do not interrupt,fae.”

He spat the word like it was poison and she knew she had no allies here.

Her face tingled with humiliation and she tightly gripped the banister of the trial box until her knuckles turned white with exertion. Almost as white as the immaculate uniform Nyborg wore and the immaculate white gloves all Royal Guards wore. The uniform that was supposed to symbolize the purity ofjustice.

“Kolfinna the fae attacked several of my men.” Nyborg motioned to the crowd and three guards stood up on cue and marched to the front of the throne. They bowed to the king while Nyborg spoke. “Audun Jacobsen, Garth Austr, and Haskell Westergaard were the primary victims.”

Kolfinna recognized the three men. She remembered begging them to run away and not fight her, for fear that she would cut them down like she had killed the Ragnarök members. She had cried to them while they had fought her. They had only stopped attacking her because of Blár.

The blond of the trio spoke first. “Two weeks ago, we were fighting alongside her against the other fae, but then she suddenly turned on us. She tried to kill us.”

Another murmur ran through the room.

“I told you they were heartless,” someone whispered. “They’re monsters. All of them.”

Nyborg nodded at his guard and raised his voice. “She only stopped because she knew she couldn’t fight Blár Vilulf and win. I believe her goal was to steal the royal sword.”

Lies. Lies. Lies.

She wanted to open her mouth to shout at him. She wanted to tell everyone the truth, but the way everyone was gobbling uphis words left her deflated and scrambling to think properly. She should’ve expected him and the Royal Guards to turn on her. She should’ve?—

“I have a question.” Fenris raised his white-silk, gloved hand in the air, his velvety voice halting the hushed whispers in the room. His steely eyes fell on Nyborg, and the older man straightened. “Nyborg, your guard, Auden Jacobsen, just mentioned that Kolfinna was fighting alongside the guards against Ragnarök and that she then turned on the guards. If it’s true that she was planning on stealing the sword, why bother to fight Ragnarök in the first place and defeat the majority of its members before turning on her own team? Wouldn’t it have made sense for her topretendto be on the Royal Guards’ side, let both sides whittle their numbers down, and once the battle was over, for her to then make an excuse and flee? I hardly see how facing the other guards would benefit her. Especially since she was clearly outnumbered.” He waved to the three guards beside Nyborg with a dismissive hand. “You three have at least ten years of experience as a Royal Guard. Are you telling me that you three couldn’t defeat Kolfinna if she truly was against you all? She’s barely been in the Royal Guards for five months. She would’ve known how experienced you three are.”

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