Page 71 of Blood Beneath the Snow

I took a deep breath and swallowed. My voice shook. “Are you leading me into a trap? Are you going to force me to watch while you kill everyone in camp?” Tears flooded my eyes as anger did my stomach, thinking about the scene he could leave.

He didn’t move or speak for a moment. I tried to keep my hold on his arm, but every muscle failed me. My other arm twitched toward the hilt of my sword.

I would kill him if I had to or die trying. Trials be damned. My people would live to see another day. Even the Lurae.

Even my family.

The breath he let out made a strange sound through whatever device altered his voice. He shook his head slowly. “We are not here to kill anyone. We are here to eavesdrop; that’s it.” When I didn’t move, he held up his hands as if surrendering. I hadn’t noticed that my hold on his arm had gone slack. “I promise.” He placed his hand over his heart. “I will not kill anyone today.”

“How can I trust you,” I demanded through clenched teeth, “when you’ve killed so many already?” My hand was clutching the hilt now, ready to draw my weapon.

“I kill only when I’m ordered to,” he replied, lowering his hand. “I don’t know what else to tell you.”

He peered into the distance where the voices were coming from. I could hear the hum through the trees. A laugh echoed above the rest of the thrum.

“What if you go on your own?” he suggested. “This trip is for you, not me. Go, eavesdrop, and return with what you learn. I will wait here for you.”

I stared, stunned. “You want me to go spy on my brothers alone?”

He nodded.

Was he an idiot? Was this part of a larger plot I didn’t understand?

“I’m your prisoner,” I said slowly, “and you would let me go? Why?”

He sighed. “I have yet to tell you a single lie. If you choose not to believe me, then you can stay here while I go, but I must return with an update on the workings of your family. I mean them no harm. So go.” The Hellbringer gestured ahead. “I won’t stop you.”

I was starting to feel like I had missed something. What would prevent me from lying to him about the things I heard? Kryllian might be trying to put me on the throne, but it didn’t mean I was willing to hand over information willingly.

“I don’t trust you,” I said finally, shaking my head. “What are you trying to take from me?”

He leaned against the pine tree closest to him. “I can’t make you trust me. If you don’t want to go, then stay here. I have no problem doing this myself.”

A sense of unease gnawed at my stomach. Frode’s grin flashedagainst the backdrop of my mind. Catching a glimpse of him from the trees would be enough.

I hesitated, but when the Hellbringer sat cross-legged in the snow, I took a step forward. Then another. And another.

Until finally I was running, sprinting as fast as I could toward the camp, desperate to see someone, anyone familiar, to tell them to take me away from the Hellbringer.

A few minutes later I dared to look back. He had disappeared, hopefully moved out of sight. I slowed, my breathing heavy.

What would he do when I didn’t come back?

My breath fogged out in front of me. Would he care? Would the Queen of Kryllian still move to make an alliance if I won the Trials after I’d ditched her most loyal hound?

But then again, why bother thinking about the long term when surviving the Trials themselves was still an uncertainty?

If you stay, he will keep helping you.My thoughts were more reasonable than usual today.You’ll have a better chance of saving Freja.

I chewed my lip as I thought it over. That was true. And there was always a chance he would renege on his promise not to kill anyone if I didn’t return.

But…no. He had been oddly sincere when he promised he wasn’t going to use his Lurae. And it was true he hadn’t lied to me, at least as far as I could tell. Maybe I could take him at his word.

IhopedI could take him at his word.

Maybe it would be better if I returned to the prison after getting the information the Hellbringer wanted. While the thought of Frode and Jac enduring my father alone pained me, they needed me to win the Trials more than they needed my presence on the war front.

I gritted my teeth. I didn’t want to return. But I would if it meant having a better chance to make a difference.

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