Page 72 of The Daughter of the Scarred Elf

Blár spread the salve over her palms gently. “Fine. I won’t say anything, but”—his face scrunched together in displeasure, like he had eaten something sour—“it’s not really my style to justtake it.”

Kolfinna froze. “Are you saying that I justtake itfrom Sijur?”

“No, not just Sijur.” He stared at her levelly. “The Royal Guards would do shit, and you just took it from them too. That’s not my style. I’d rather bash anyone’s face in than let them treat me like shit. Call me uncooperative, but that’s how I do it.”

She wanted so badly to slap him right then and there, but he still held her hands lightly in his palms. “I don’t just—” The words died on her tongue as the realization hit her.

She did just take it.

The Royal Guards had treated her terribly. Edwin, Farthin, Gisela—they were monsters to her, but she had withstood it. She had told herself it was because she didn’t have a choice. She was driven to a corner. Her position hadn’t been secured yet, so she had to deal with it.

And now she was doing the same thing with Sijur. She kept telling herself she didn’t have a choice.

She had told herself that she wouldn’t let anyone treat her badly anymore. It was why she had beaten Bjarni on her first day here. It was why she had hammered it in herself that she wasn’t here to make friends. But … it was true that she didn’t like confrontation. It made her uncomfortable.

Maybe … She was being too complacent. Too cowardly.

Once her hands were bandaged up, he dropped the handkerchief, the leftover bandages, and the jar of salve on the coffee table. “So what happened?”

She didn’t want to talk about it. Didn’t want to keep wrapping her mind around that gruesome scene with Birgitta’s lifeless eyes staring at her sobbing son.

“Kolfinna?”

She looked down at her bandaged hands. “I’d rather not relive it.”

The fire licked the logs loudly in the hearth. She couldn’t meet his gaze.

“Is there anything I can do to help you?”

Kolfinna lifted her head. He was staring at her with an unreadable expression. Unless he had a way to erase runes, he couldn’t help her with her biggest problem. But there were a few other tasks she needed to do: sneak into Joran’s room and see if he had any books on runes, and sneak into the room Sijur was keeping the elf woman imprisoned.

Could she ask him for help with either of those tasks? She didn’t want to reveal that Joran was a fae and she didn’t really want to reveal why she was interested in the elf woman. Maybe it was better that she handled it herself?

“Ah. I know that look.” Blár leaned back on the couch and grinned. “What can I do?”

“Nothing—”

“No, no, there’s definitelysomething.”

Kolfinna chewed on her lower lip. She didn’t want to involve him. “Do … Do you know where—” She swallowed. Surely it was better to deal with it herself, but she couldn’t stop herself. “Do you know where that elf woman is?”

Blár blinked, clearly not expecting that question. “No.” He frowned and touched his shoulder where the elf woman had hurt him. “But she’s somewhere in the fort. Unless Sijur hauled her off to another location, but that’s unlikely, since he deals with everything concerning the west border.”

He had gotten injured during his fight with the elf. That in itself was shocking to even think about, and even more shocking that Kolfinna almost forgot about it. “Are you okay? I’m sorry I didn’t ask earlier?—”

“I’m fine.” He waved his hand dismissively. “She banged me up pretty good, though. Blasted me with a few … I don’t even know what the hell that was. Light beams? Fiery shadows? Those hurt like a mother—” He grimaced again. “It hurt. Let’s just keep it at that. And, to make matters worse, anytime those things hit me, it was hard to focus on my own mana and fight back. I’ve never seen or experienced anything like it before.”

Kolfinna thought back to her own shadowy magic when she had faced against Hilda’s crew and then again with that giant goblin, and the way her shadows had overwhelmed her enemies.

She had thought she only had fae magic. Stone magic, nature magic, and rune magic. But now things were complex and she didn’t understand any of her powers.

Not anymore, at least.

“So you want to meet this elf woman,” Blár said slowly, reeling her back into the conversation. He was leaning against the back of the couch now and his body was angled toward her. “Why?”

“I can’t tell you.”

A wedge formed between his brows. “Why?”

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