Page 27 of The Daughter of the Scarred Elf

Tears filled her eyes. She wanted it to stop. She needed it to stop.

Minutes passed. The pain intensified, but at the same time, the world was starting to become clearer. Her blurry vision was righting itself.

She needed to focus on how to stop it.

Focus—

“—just listen!” Joran’s voice penetrated through the pain. “Listen to what he says!”

Her rune burned hotter and hotter. She looked at Sijur. At the dissatisfied, apathetic look on his face. And then at the woman, who was cowering by his office desk, her threadbare skirts barely concealing her bruised ankles. And then at the rune glowing on Kolfinna’s wrist.

Kolfinna would die if this kept up, she realized.

When she had sealed her fate with this rune, she hadn’t realized what she had signed up for. At this very moment, she was bound to Sijur’s will. What had he told her when they made the deal? That she didn’t want to find out what would happen if she disobeyed?

This was what he had meant.

“Kolfinna, pick yourself up,” Sijur said. “And then you’ll stop feeling the pain.”

Kolfinna tried climbing to her feet, her thighs and ankles giving in to the floor, but Joran wrenched her up by the elbow. Almost instantly, the pain ebbed away. She trembled in relief as the violent magic released its hold on her, as the rune on her wrist stopped its oppressive, pulsing punishment. Tears streaked down her cheeks and she made no move to wipe them away.

Sijur braced his hands behind himself on the edge of his table and watched her with half-lidded, snake-like eyes she wanted togouge out. “Kolfinna,” he spoke softly. “Stand tall and grab Olia’s arm.”

“No.”

Again, a white-hot pain overtook her body and she doubled over on the floor. A scream ripped from her throat and she couldn’t see or hear anything past her own pain. Before she knew it, Joran yanked her back to her feet and the dizzying pain slowly receded.

Her vision was dark, but she could make out Sijur’s disappointed expression.

“Kolfinna,” Sijur said again. “Grab Olia’s arm.”

“No,” Kolfinna gritted out.

She fell back to her knees as fire roared from her skin, the rune burning her. Twenty minutes must’ve passed with the same enactment: Sijur would tell her to grab Olia, she would refuse and be in excruciating pain, and then Joran would pull her out of it. But by the sixth time, she couldn’t stop trembling.

It was too painful.

Sijur must’ve realized that something broke in her—her tolerance for pain, maybe—because the corners of his mouth rose into a sharp, victorious smile. “Kolfinna, grab Olia.”

For a moment, she didn’t want to move, but the phantom pain sizzled beneath her skin and she walked rigidly to the woman. Shame and guilt ate at the core of her being, but she couldn’t stop from putting one foot in front of the other.

Olia scooted away and shook her head. “No?—”

“I’m sorry,” Kolfinna whispered through stinging eyes. She gently grasped her by the bicep, while the weak woman tried to tug away, her shouts falling on deaf ears. Kolfinna wanted to stop and cry herself, but her body moved on its own.

She hated Sijur with all her being. How dare he force her into this? How dare he?

But she also hated herself for being a part of this. For not being strong enough to stop herself.

Olia squirmed on her feet, crying and screaming and trying to jerk away, but Kolfinna held her in a tight grip. Joran joined Kolfinna and grabbed Olia’s other arm. He didn’t look as defeated as Kolfinna did, but the hardness in his mouth told her he wasn’t enjoying this either.

Sijur clapped his hands together, smiling. “Perfect. Now, Kolfinna, I want you to place a rune on Olia that says she must obey my will and never disobey me.”

Kolfinna hesitated. She couldn’t do this?—

Sijur’s frozen smile made her flinch.

She didn’t have a choice, she told herself.

---