Page 28 of Blood Beneath the Snow

After having what he claimed was a brilliant idea, Volkan had asked if there was a safe place we could go to discuss it. Truthfully, I wasn’t sure anywhere but here counted as safe—not when there were godtouched everywhere who wouldn’t hesitate to take any overheard information back to the king. Halvar may have given me a strange look when we showed up but he hadn’t turned us away.

“I’m just—” He sighed, ran a hand roughly through his hair. “I need to make sure I’ve thought of everything. And I don’t know if I have.”

The hatch in the ceiling thudded open and closed again, and Halvar descended the ladder. He glared at me. “You brought a godtouched here?”

“He’s trustworthy,” I promised.

Halvar glanced at Volkan. My fiancé looked at me. “You need to compete in the Bloodshed Trials,” Volkan said without preamble.

I blinked, then sighed. “That’syour plan? Halvar and I havebeen over this a million times. Even if I could convince them to let me compete, I would never win.”

“And that’s where I think you’re wrong.” Volkan’s face was alight with fervor. “Especially because you don’thaveto win. At least, not in the traditional sense.”

Halvar hummed. “What do you mean, boy?”

“Your brother thinks you would be a good queen.” Volkan looked at me and I conceded with a nod. “Why does everyone have to die? If the two of you team up to compete together, you can choose to stop the fighting when you’re the last ones left. Then Frode could hand over the crown to you.”

I opened my mouth to protest. There were so many holes in the idea, so many places for things to go horribly wrong. And saying you thought someone would make a good ruler didn’t mean you’d kill your brothers to prove it.

But before I could speak, Halvar chimed in. “Think of the chaos, Rev,” he muttered. “The perfect opportunity. The priests would be utterly defenseless, and if we got all of the godforsaken willing to fight to be there, they could—”

“No.”

They both fell quiet and I stood from my chair to glare at Halvar. “You would lose lives. You understand that, right? And if we failed, then they would kill us all. There would be no going back.

“Besides”—I turned to Volkan now—“if you think my father would let me compete in the Trials, then you’re delusional. This alliance keeps the war going. It keeps us from losing. If we don’t follow through with it, if your parents back out, we will be starved and then overrun by Kryllian in a matter of weeks.”

My thoughts swirled like a storm, and I wished they would stop. I closed my eyes, the reality of the situation overwhelming. Why did my father get to have so much power over me? Over my life?

When would I have the chance to take back the power?

Freja’s smile and Arne’s laugh pranced through my head. A lump settled in my throat. The words from dinner last night echoed through my skull, reverberating like the beat of a drum.We are losing the war, losing the war, losing the war.

The alliance before us, the marriage behind it—my father desperately needed both to keep our people alive. If I didn’t marry Volkan, Faste would pull their food shares. The Hellbringer would wreak havoc on our weakened armies, decimating Bhorglid’s godtouched population beyond repair. And with the majority of our stores going to the front, any soldiers who managed to return would find nothing and no one left.

The silence in the basement room seemed to echo, tension stretched tight between the three of us. I didn’t want to look at either of their faces, didn’t want to be persuaded.

“Revna.” Halvar’s voice was gentle. “Think about what would happen if the alliance didn’t go through. Who would suffer?”

“Everyone,” I protested. “We would all starve.”

“Yes,” he conceded, “unless the war ended before we could starve.”

“Impossible. Björn will continue the war when he becomes king—it won’t end anytime soon. We could be dying in the streets of hunger and they wouldn’t stop their march against Kryllian.”

“Björn would continue the war,” Volkan said. “But would you?”

My head snapped up at the thought, the realization hitting me hard. Fatherneededme. Needed the alliance with Faste in order to keep fighting, needed the marriage to secure the deal. Otherwise the plan unraveled at the seams, the war lost before a victor ever stepped off the battlefield.

For the first time, my father needed the pawn to make his final move.

For the first time, I had the advantage.

I could save Freja. Save Arne.

You would make a great queen.

The fate of my country lay on my back. The power to damn our nation rested in my palms.

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