Page 85 of The Daughter of the Scarred Elf

“And Haakon Lykke,” Inkeri chimed in from the other side of the room. She pushed the blanket off her body and grinned over at them both. “Don’t tell me you’re worried, Herja?”

“Of course not.” Herja rolled her eyes.

Kolfinnawasworried.

Because no one, other than Blár, had faced an elf before, and he had a hard time with Rakel. She could only imagine what the other three generals, beside the half-elf commander, were capable of. The mere thought of it sent a wave of nausea to tumble through her body.

Speaking of Blár?—

His mana was immense. Couldn’t she use his mana to try to break the binding rune?

“Kolfinna, you and Blár mentioned that the woman we faced—that woman with the white hair—was an elf. What does that mean?” Inkeri walked over to the water basin and splashed her face with cold water. She stared at Kolfinna through the mirror’s reflection as she patted her face with the water. “I’ve never heard of an elf before.”

Herja continued to brush out her untamable curly hair. “I’ve heard of them before. In my village where I grew up, we were told stories of elves. They creep up into your homes and eat babies and children.” She suddenly frowned, not looking so sure. “Huh, or maybe those stories were talking about fae? I’m not sure.”

“Elves are similar to the fae,” Kolfinna found herself saying. “They’re a race of people like the fae and the humans. They have their own attributes and magical powers. They also can procreate with humans and fae.”

“I figured as much.” Herja began dressing herself quickly. “I mean, did you see that woman? She looked humanoid. Minus the hair and the eyes, I would’ve thought she was human.”

“Don’t forget the ears,” Inkeri added.

“Apparently, the fae also had pointed ears,” Kolfinna said. Revna had pointed ears as well and had seemed surprised when Kolfinna’s weren’t pointed.

“I wonder what happened to make them not pointed?” Inkeri said. “Because the fae nowadays don’t have them, right?”

“Mixing with humans is probably what changed.” Kolfinna shrugged and subconsciously touched her own rounded ears. “After the Last Purge, it’s not like the fae had many options with who to have children with.”

Shouldn’t Kolfinna’s ears have also been pointed, since she wasn’t “diluted” with human blood?

She didn’t know anything anymore, so she shoved that thought aside.

Kolfinna’s swordclanged against Eluf’s blade. She circled around the older soldier, her eyes narrowed in concentration to see what he would do next. Inkeri hadn’t been able to train with her today, so Eluf took her place instead. Kolfinna appreciated his teaching methods; he would show her where she went wrong and what she could do better after each session, and they would repeat the cycle for another session. It was similar to how Inkeri taught.

Eluf’s sword hit hers and the force sent a reverberation up her wrist and rattled her elbow. She gritted her teeth together and parried.

How pathetic, little fairy.

They exchanged blows. Their training swords cracked against each other. Kolfinna stepped back and kept up with her footwork while Eluf pressed forward. Sweat dribbled down the sides of her face.

Is this too difficult for you?

Farthin, Gisela, Edwin, and a multitude of Royal Guards sniggered at her as she darted away from Eluf’s wooden blade. Even as she tried to banish their voices, they remained with her, haunting her every step. Her every failure.

She raised her sword higher than her quivering biceps could handle, and in that split second, Eluf charged her. His training sword sliced down the blade of hers and the tip of his blade caught her wrist. She hissed in pain and automatically dropped her sword. Eluf pointed his sword to her neck.

She bit down a curse, her wrist throbbing painfully.

It will pass, she told herself. But the bitterness of defeat was almost too strong to ignore.

She shook her wrist to ease the pain. “You’re fast.”

“And you’re distracted.” Eluf removed the wooden blade from her and stuck it into the sandy ground. “You’re also tired. Your movements are becoming sluggish.”

She knew that, but she cursed anyway. “I can do better?—”

“You can.” He nodded, and Kolfinna remembered Blár’s words about his wife and baby. “But we should take a break.”

“I can still fight.”

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