Page 29 of The Daughter of the Scarred Elf

She had thought she wasbetterthan this.

“Kolfinna?” Joran touched Kolfinna’s elbow lightly and jolted her back to reality.

His vibrant forest-like eyes were trained on her, hints of worry coloring the threads of gold in his gaze. It disgusted her that he was apprehensive about her when he was a part of all this. He followed Sijur. He hid the fact that he was fae from everyone. Meanwhile, he participated in this sick experiment.

Sijur slumped in his chair and flicked through the papers strewed on his desk. He no longer seemed interested in the three of them. “Both of you are dismissed.”

Kolfinna turned to leave but then stopped mid-stride. “What about … her?”

“Don’t concern yourself with that. Go.” He waved them away with the paper in his hand. “Both of you.”

When they both left the room and the door clicked shut behind them, Joran turned to Kolfinna. “Are you okay?”

Was she okay?

She would never be the same again.

She stiffened as a half-sob escaped the room behind them. It was a reminder that Sijur was a monster in disguise. That he had ulterior motives. That he was going to use Kolfinna forfifteen years.

Kolfinna pushed past Joran and didn’t bother to answer him. Not when he jogged after her and tried to speak again, and not when he tried grabbing her arm once more.

“Don’t talk to me,” she hissed when he touched her shoulder. “I’m so incredibly ashamed to be next to you right now.”

“Ashamed?” The dim lighting of the hallway they were in warped with the flickering flames in the wall sconces, casting shadows over his stricken expression. “Why would you be ashamed?”

Kolfinna’s voice rose in volume. “You didn’t even care that he?—”

“We don’t have a choice,” he said quickly, glancing around themselves. There was no one in the corridor. Sijur probablydidn’t want anyone finding out about whatever sick experiments or horrors he inflicted on that woman—and whoever else was imprisoned by him. Joran licked his lips. “Kolfinna, please. I didn’t want to do it.”

She spun around when he grabbed her wrist, the one where he had stamped the rune on her over a week ago. She wrenched her hand away from him. “Don’t touch me.”

“B-But?—”

He wanted forgiveness. She could read it all over his face. He didn’t want her to hate him, even though that was what she felt in that very moment. Later, she would probably try to dissect her feelings and maybe realize that she was misplacing her hatred of Sijur and her own uselessness onto him, but right now all she saw was a fae who was a part of all this.

Kolfinna moved away from him and stomped down the hall.

Her mind was made up.

She needed to find a way to break the rune on her wrist. It almost burned as she thought about it, and she looked down at the gold crescent moon. She would have to find a way to break free because there was no way she was going to be a cog in Sijur’s plan.

She would have to find a way.

Thankfully, Joran didn’t follow her this time.

7

Kolfinna slammedinto the sandy ground for the hundredth time that morning. But unlike the laughter and sneering she was used to at the Royal Guards, she was met with silence. Silence and potential disappointment.

She pushed herself up to her elbows and met Inkeri’s thoughtful gray eyes. Kolfinna wasn’t sure what she saw in Inkeri’s gaze—pity or guilt—but she didn’t like it.

“Come on, let’s do another round,” Inkeri said, beckoning her forward.

They were in a small, fenced in training area with yellowish-white sand, separate from the other training grounds, where she could see soldiers running around the perimeter of the fort or sparring with magic off in the distance. This place was tucked away in a far corner within the tall walls of the fort.

Inkeri had dragged her here after their morning drills and had handed her a sword. They had been sparring for the past hour and Kolfinna hadn’t beaten Inkeri even once. She was too fast on her feet and she moved gracefully but also brutally. She knew where to move, where to jab her wooden sword, and how to trip Kolfinna up and make her faceplant a hundred times.

As much as Kolfinna disliked being beaten over and over again, it was something to take her mind off of Olia, Sijur, and Joran. Of the brutal scene she had witnessed yesterday.

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