Page 26 of The Daughter of the Scarred Elf

Kolfinna couldn’t believe him. “And you thinkyoucan single-handedly change society? And that I will be a proponent in that so long as I listen to you?”

“I’m the son of the commander-in-chief. I can change many things, like that trial you had. Do you really think, under normal circumstances, you would’ve been able to survive that without me? Certainly not.” He smiled coldly. “But change needs to be small and gradual. Once people start seeing that the fae are allies and are useful, they’ll start accepting them more.”

Suddenly, she wasn’t in front of Sijur and Joran and the crying woman. She was in front of Revna, saying the same thing. Telling Kolfinna that if she followed her, they would be making a better world for the fae. That all it would require was to dirty their hands. To push other people beneath them. And if Kolfinna didn’t agree, she was then against the fae.

Her blood boiled in her veins, her breaths coming out shallow with barely controlled rage. “You want to use the fae for your own selfish desires. Enslaving people does nothing but benefit you!”

She could imagine Sijur with hundreds of rune-marked humans and fae alike, completely bound to his will.

“Now, now, Kolfinna. You’re jumping to conclusions.” The air around Sijur was still calm and collected, and that further infuriated her. “I’m doing what’s best for our society. These people—” He gestured to Olia. “These people are not benefiting society in any way, so wouldn’t it be better to see what they can do for us? To use them to test the runes? What’s the harm in learning more about your abilities? About the extent of runes?”

“The harm?” Kolfinna laughed mirthlessly. “The harm is right in front of you!”

He made an incoherent sound. “Kolfinna! You’re still a child, I see, with a childish mentality. You don’t seem to understand that we adults sometimes have to muddy our hands for a brighter future.”

“Don’t patronize me,” she snarled.

“This is just to test out what your abilities are made for. That’s it.” Sijur lifted his shoulders.

It wouldn’t stop here, would it? He was a soldier. A top official in the military. He would certainly use any chance he could to enslave people under him. How many more rune slaves did he want to make?

Maybe it was something the fae did in the past, but that didn’t mean she wanted to be the reason someone was bound to Sijur.

“I’m not going to do it,” she said firmly.

Joran stiffened while Sijur’s eyes narrowed. The woman had stopped crying and was watching the exchange with wide, teary eyes.

“Kolfinna.” There was a warning in Sijur’s voice.

“I’m not going to. This goes against what I believe in.” Kolfinna broadened her stance. She wasn’t going to be the cause of any injustice. It was the same reason she didn’t want to join Ragnarök—she didn’t want to enslave the humans beneath the fae. She didn’t want to oppress anyone.

Joran tried to tell her something with his eyes, but she couldn’t read them. She didn’t really have to, to understand that he was on Sijur’s side.

Sijur exhaled loudly—almost dramatically. Like he was bone-weary. Like Kolfinna was a child dragging her feet around him.

She hated the way he appeared so dismissive and annoyed with her.

Suddenly, Fenris’s warning whispered again in the back of her mind. “Do not trust that man.”

He had been right, but she hadn’t realized the scale of Sijur’s ambition and Kolfinna’s role in it.

“Kolfinna.” Gone were the smiles and the frivolities. “You will do as I say. Now, take the woman by her hand and put this rune on her. The rune will say?—”

“No—” Kolfinna began.

She couldn’t even finish her sentence before a jolt of fire ran up her wrist to her chest. The sheering, blistering pain pushed her to her knees, her hands clutching her chest and her breath stolen from her lungs. She couldn’t breathe, couldn’t speak, couldn’t see beyond the blackness of her vision, beyond the crippling white-hot pain searing her entire body.

Kolfinna tried breathing, tried lessening the burden of fire coursing through her veins, tried to see Sijur’s disappointed expression, but it was difficult to keep her eyes open. Difficult to say anything beyond the silent scream dying on her lips.

Breathe, breathe?—

It was so hot. So unbearably hot.

Like she had jumped into a fire. Like she was being shocked by dozens of lightning strikes.

Breathe! Breathe!

Beyond the pain, someone grabbed her shoulder. She peeled her eyes open to find Joran’s wide eyes staring at her. His mouth was moving, but the words didn’t register to her.

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