Page 171 of Kingdom of Embers and Ruin

In the blink of an eye, the two sisters exchanged a look that saidI am with you.

Maude’s eyes moved to their father’s face, the words he was speaking that she could not hear snaking their way through those who bothered to listen. She saw no opportunity to overpower her father. This was going to be it— she would never get to speak with her sister again, never get to hold Herrick in her arms in the darkest part of the night.

The clashing of metal screamed through the tension building in the ruined hallway of the palace. Maude heard thetwangof an arrow being loosed a second before it struck her father in the shoulder, the impact knocking him backward.

Rounding the corner were Liv, Gunnar, and Hakon, all fighting their way toward them, the former holding a crossbow stolen from a Flame Soldier. They cut through soldiers as if they were nothing but stalks of wheat, blood spraying behind them in their haste to join the fight.

Everyone moved at once.

Herrick fought off and killed the two soldiers holding him by drowning them, as Bryn managed to get free of her hold and began to fight off soldiers standing between her and their uncle. Axe drawn and copper hair flyingbehind her, Bryn was a vision of war and bloodshed. She sliced through soldier after soldier to make her way to the snake who had done nothing but torment them.

Maude heard a struggle of power next to her from Herrick, who was trying to make it to her side, but she could only see her target. All noise died out as she lunged for her father. They began their dance of death once more, the chaos of surrounding soldiers fighting off Bryn, Herrick, and their friends, who had all come to her aid even in the wake of her abandonment.

The arrow in Maude’s thigh ached and burned with every movement, but she snapped the shaft of it and yanked out the pointed arrowhead when her father tried to regain his footing. There was no time to bind the wound, so Maude let it flow freely, unconcerned with how much blood she was losing.

Using just thedalkr Helaand the arrowhead, Maude used the very last of her energy to get closer to her father and end his reign at long last.

They exchanged blow after blow, his axe adding a few more cuts and bruises to Maude’s person as they fought for who would prevail over this struggle for Logi. Maude quickly gained the upper hand, knocking her father’s axe from his hands. When she pressed thedalkr Helato her father’s skin, those fighting in the hall for their King froze. Bryn, who had fought her way to their uncle, halted as she and Ulf both watched to see what Maude would do.

One breath. Two.

Maude broke their silence.

“I will release him,” her voice rang out clearly in the silent hallway. She turned her gaze to her uncle. “You only have to let the Lieutenant General of Flame and the General of Rivers go free.”

Maude’s eyes flashed to Herrick’s. Confusion skewed his features until understanding overpowered it. He looked at Bryn through his periphery and then back at Maude, who gave him a small nod.

“You wouldn’t kill your father, would you?” her uncle's snake-like voice rang out, cutting through her silent communication with Herrick.

Maude brought her gaze back to her uncle’s and gave him a feline smile. “Wouldn’t I?”

When no one moved to her command, Maude twitched her hand, almost slicing through her father’s skin. Her uncle and all the soldiers behind him stiffened.

It dawned on her that she stood on the precipice of a new life with the power to alter her future to what she wanted. She could forever remove the heavy weight of her father’s legacy from her shoulders by ending him now. She could leave and start new.

She could become someone else who wasn’t the Heir of Flame.

You are not a monster. You don’t have to sink to his level.

But Herrick had been wrong. She was a monster.

Maude slammed the knife into her father’s side, thedalkr Helasinking in between his ribs with ease.

Herrick was rendered immobile by the Flame Soldier's blade pressed against his ribs. He couldn’t get to Maude, couldn’t help her fight their way out of this. The wound in her thigh where the arrow had pierced oozed as she stood there with thedalkr Helapressed against her father’s ribs. She was bruised and bloodied, the sight of it sparking a deep instinct to destroy anyone who looked at her viciously.

Helvig was on his feet, looking unconcerned at the fact that his daughter and Heir had him at knifepoint. The fatemark on his chest flared. This was wrong.

“Wouldn’t I?” she said, a vicious gleam in her eye.

Maude had all the power right now, and she knew it. Herrick saw when she came to a decision, saw when she decided to plunge that knife into her father’s ribs. And Herrick saw that there was nothing he could do to change her mind about the path she had chosen.

Maude felt the reverberation of thedalkr Helaslicing through her father. She had felt him stop fighting as soon as the point of the knife was in him. A strange type of energy flowed through her, invigorating her, as she sunk the knife into her father’s ribs.

It was like she had jumped into a pool of freezing water, the cold taking her breath away as she sunk into the depths. The periphery of her vision brightened to a blinding white for a second before it dimmed again, leaving her as fast as it had come.

Leaving the weapon embedded into his side, Maude released her hold on Helvig, letting him slump to the floor, and stepped over his dying body. She eyed her uncle. That same power was still dancing at her fingertips for a moment before she was left with the same burnt-out feeling that had been creeping on her during her fight with her father.

Her burnout hadn’t taken over enough to stop her flames from sparking at her fingertips, however, as she made her way toward the uncle who tormented her and Bryn in their childhood.

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