Page 87 of The Daughter of the Scarred Elf

Her mind traveled to the office she had snuck into when she was looking for the elf woman. Was that Sijur’s private office? If she were him, she’d hide anything valuable, anything secretive, in that office to keep prying eyes away. If he was hiding something, it had to be there.

“All I’m saying is that if you ever find anything related to the incident, I would appreciate knowing about it.” He gave her a weak smile. “Please.”

Kolfinna nodded. “Of course, but … I’m not privy to these sorts of things.”

“I see that you go off with Lieutenant General Bernsten rather frequently.”

No, she went withJoranfrequently, but maybe he thought that when she went to their underground training session, she was going with Sijur? It made sense since nobody knew she trained with Joran, since he didn’t want anyone to know he was fae.

Kolfinna found herself bobbing her head. “I’ll let you know if I find anything.”

19

Kolfinna kept thinkingabout what Eluf had said. About his wife, about Blár’s family. Her heart squeezed painfully as she imagined Blár holding his little sister as she took her dying, last breath. Or Eluf desperately trying to save his child.

She hadn’t realized she was staring intently at her roasted potatoes until Inkeri tapped her shoulder lightly.

“Something wrong with the potatoes?” Inkeri asked lightly.

“Ah, no.” A blush of embarrassment spread up her neck and to her face. They were both in the cafeteria having lunch. “Sorry, I was lost in thought. You were saying?”

Inkeri poked at her fried fish with her fork. “I was just talking about how strange it is that we haven’t gone on any mission since we fought that elf woman.”

Herja had previously mentioned that it might have had something to do with the fae and elven armies attacking the south, and Kolfinna was starting to believe that might be the case.

“Maybe we’re waiting for … something.” Kolfinna sighed and speared a buttery potato with her fork. “I really hope we can start working again.”

Inkeri grinned. “Huh, working again? You make it sound like you’ve been working here for a while.”

“I like it better than the Royal Guards,” Kolfinna answered truthfully. Minus the stress that came with Sijur, she did enjoy the work here in the military rather than with the Royal Guards. Back in the capital, all she seemed to do was patrol the streets and get verbally badgered by citizens and guards alike.

Inkeri took a bite of her fish and chewed. “I hope we can go on another mission soon. Don’t get me wrong, I do enjoy the break between missions, but this is taking a bit too long in my opinion.”

Kolfinna’s attention drew to a hulking figure in the distance and her nose crinkled as she recognized Bjarni, the tall man she had faced when she had first gotten to the fort. Inkeri followed her gaze and stiffened at the sight of him. He was sitting at a table with a group of other soldiers, eating and laughing casually.She noticed that he was far away from them, and she secretly hoped it was because of their previous fight that he was keeping his distance.

“I haven’t seen him around in a while,” Inkeri said with a frown.

“Yeah …” Kolfinna glanced at the other woman. With everything else occupying her mind, she had almost forgotten about the boorish man. “I’ve always been curious, but … Why did you let him do that to you?”

Inkeri stared at her plate silently for a few moments.

“Is he threatening you?”

“A little.” She sighed and ran a hand over her face. “He asked me out for a date a few months ago and I refused, and he’s been bothering me ever since. He’s stronger than me, so when I refused him last time …” She clamped her mouth shut and clenched her fists together. “He hurt me.”

Kolfinna wanted to go up to him and beat him again, but she instead placed a hand over Inkeri’s. “I’m sorry.”

“He just beat me really bad during a spar.” She cringed, and Kolfinna felt her hand contract. “I was scared. And then you … fought him. I never properly thanked you.”

“You don’t need to thank me.” Kolfinna patted her hand. “Just say the word and I’ll fight him again.”

She chuckled. “Thank you.”

It was strange having this comradery in the military; she hadn’t expected to find any semblance of it here, when she could barely find it in the Royal Guards.

Inkeri’s laughter faded, as did her smile. “It’s honestly very frustrating, always being the ‘damsel in distress.’”

Kolfinna could tell Inkeri was holding herself back. Like she wanted to spill out as many words as possible but couldn’t. “Do you want to talk about it?” she asked quietly.

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