Page 61 of The Daughter of the Scarred Elf

Blár continued staring at her. He smeared the blood off his face with his forearm. “I remember reading about it in your home when you were showing me those translations you had done. Is this woman an elf?” He waved at the unconscious warrior. “The white hair? The red eyes? The shadows? The light?” When she didn’t say anything, he turned to her sharply. “Well?”

Kolfinna nodded slowly. “Yes. I believe so.”

Blár cursed under his breath.

“What’s wrong?” Kolfinna asked.

“Other than the fact that this—thiself”—he waved another hand to the woman, his lip curling back—“shot me a few times with that light and it hurt like a b—” A string of curses left his mouth and he placed a hand on his abdomen, bent over for a minute, and shook his head. “Damn it. This makes things so much worse.”

“What?” Herja asked, unease creeping in her voice as she picked out pieces of bird bones from her wild hair.

“What’s worse?” Ivar came to stand by them with Inkeri nestled in his arms. She was still comatose and pale, and for a moment, Kolfinna wondered if she was truly healed or not.

“It’s classified information but …” Blár exhaled and looked between them and then at Kolfinna. “A strange army attackedthe Southern border last month and took at least three territories and fortresses. The southern soldiers have reported that the soldiers in the army have wings, white hair, red eyes, purple eyes, fae magic, and other strange magic. They wear leather and black scales, they fly on magic beasts, and they have healing magic that makes it hard to fight them.”

Kolfinna’s blood ran cold. A month ago … That was when she had faced Revna and Ragnarök at the royal palace.

You woke him and his armies. The commander will come for this kingdom, and he will set our queen free?—

She wanted to vomit.

“Wait, an army of fae and … elves?” Gunnar asked in astonishment. “You can’t be serious.”

“I am. I found out about it two weeks ago. It’s only a matter of time before the news spreads. The higher-ups want to keep it under wraps to not cause country-wide terror. Hilda Helgadottir is there, so the situation is somewhat controlled. But”—he gestured to the elf—“if they’re able to come all the way here, I’m wondering what their aim is.”

“Is it Ragnarök?” Ivar asked.

“I think so.”

“We need to get this woman to the fort,” Eluf said. “We can question her there.”

Kolfinna couldn’t speak as everyone began discussing all at once. She stared at the woman on the ground, whose white hair stood out against her dark skin. If this woman was from the half-elf commander’s army, then why was she here? Was she looking for her?

If Kolfinna truly did wake the half-elf commander and his army, and if she truly was the heir, then it only made sense that Ragnarök and the half-elf commander was after her, since she was the only person who could awaken the queen.

But there was the chance that the woman had no idea who Kolfinna was and was only investigating near the area, especially since this was somewhat close to the Forest of Great Divide, where the heir had supposedly been sealed away in the cave. Maybe they didn’t know about Kolfinna or her strange connection to the heir.

She truly hoped that was the case.

14

It tooktwo days for the venom’s effects to wear off completely. In those two days, Kolfinna was bedridden and relieved of any training duties. She wasn’t alone, though. Inkeri was with her. It was probably for the best that Kolfinna was stuck in bed because she didn’t want to do anything but curl up under her blanket and forget everything.

Her anxiety was a giant hole ripping open wider and wider until all she could see, hear, and smell was blacknothingness.

The half-elf commander and his army were awake, and if Revna was telling the truth, it was because Kolfinna had awoken theDød Sværd.Somehow it was all her fault.Again.

Her involvement in the Eventyrslot ruins, waking up Revna, fighting in the palace, wielding the sword—everything seemed to be clicking into place for Ragnarök. And somehow, Kolfinna was at the center of it, unknowingly stringing the events together.

She didn’t want to think about the heir situation and what it meant for her. She couldn’t be the heir. How could she? She had parents and a sister, and they weren’t a part of Ragnarök.

The rune mark on her wrist seemed to be the least of her problems, but it all coalesced until she felt overwhelmed and helpless.

A knock on the door interrupted her thoughts and she sat up straighter. Inkeri poked her head out from the blanket and exchanged a confused look with Kolfinna. Visits had been discouraged these past two days so they had time to recuperate.

“Come in,” Kolfinna called out.

Joran poked his golden-haired head in from the doorway, his green eyes flicking from Kolfinna to Inkeri and then to the floor. “H-Hello.”

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