Page 175 of Kingdom of Embers and Ruin

“She’s right,” Bryn offered quietly, unable to bring her voice above a whisper as she stared at her sister. “More soldiers will already be on their way. There won’t be another window of opportunity to escape.”

“We go north, to the mountains,” the woman named Liv agreed, scanning Bryn as she spoke. “You’ll come with us.”

Herrick ignored them all as he still spoke to Maude in hushed tones, his grief open for everyone to see, the cloying feeling of it heavy in the air.

So much death today, and for what? For her father to have still been victorious. He had played them all like instruments of his own design. He had known Bryn was deceiving them, had known what Maude really searched for, had known that Maude would bring the weapon back to kill him in her rage.

And Revna. Her raven.

Bryn closed her eyes, shoving away the weighted curtain of sorrow that threatened to consume her.

“You don’t even know me,” Bryn argued when she finally found her voice.

Liv gave her a soft look before putting her hand on Bryn’s. Her fire stirred at the touch.

“Maude loved you; she trusted you,” she said. “You are her sister. That's all we need to know.”

“Come on!” one of the men shouted from down the hall.

The thundering sound of boots on the stone came from the opposite end of the hall. Bryn looked down at her sister, her red hair the same coloras the blood that stained the stone floor beneath her. Bryn lowered her forehead to her sisters.

“There is nothing to forgive, sister,” Bryn whispered. “I love you.”

Her voice cracked as Bryn lowered Maude to the floor, brushing her sister's hair from her face. Herrick was being pulled off the floor by Liv, fighting to stay by Maude’s side.

“We can’t leave her here!” he shouted.

Bryn stood in front of him and grabbed his shoulders. He was taller than she was, his dark hair disheveled from fighting, and his face wracked with grief.

“She wouldn’t want you to die here defending her dead body,” Bryn snapped, bringing Herrick’s attention to her. “Live now to fight for her later.”

Golden brown eyes stared through her, not really seeing anything, but what Bryn knew was the memory of Ulf's knife embedding into Maude’s chest.

“Let’s go,” Liv said as she ushered Herrick away.

They all ran down the hall, Herrick and Bryn trailing behind the others as if the weight of leaving behind their loved one was slowing them. Bryn looked over her shoulder, unable to turn the corner without seeing her sister one more time, but Maude was lost amongst the remains of the Flame Soldier's bodies, who lay scattered in the crumbling hall.

Herrick felt nothing, heard nothing,sawnothing but the knife that had stolen Maude from him. Liv was pulling him away from his fire while Hakon was carrying Gunnar. He couldn’t leave her here alone; he needed to stay with her.

Hazel eyes, the same as Helvig’s, stared him down through a thick coating of dried blood that had been smeared on her face. Framed by wild copper hair that had been braided back, Bryn, Maude’s sister, spoke to him, her words cutting through the haze.

Hair like a living flame, Maude had once said about her sister during those early morning hours she had been laying in his arms, safe.

“She wouldn’t want you to die here defending her dead body,” she said, her tone sounding exactly as exasperated as Maude could be. “Live now to fight for her later.”

Before Herrick could really process what Bryn had said, he was being ushered away from Maude. He automatically ran side by side with Bryn, both looking weighed down by their grief. Bryn looked over her shoulder but shook her head as they turned the corner. Herrick could only focus on putting one foot in front of the other as he replayed the last moments before Maude… Before she…

Helvig had told them all how he had planned this from the beginning, even before Maude was born. Herrick had seen his brother's face, his distrust clear, but Herrick also saw how shaken Maude was. She’d had no idea about any of it, and neither had Bryn.

When Helvig had spoken about Gunnar and the belladonna poisoning, fear had filled him. There was a cure, Herrick knew that, but he worried that they were too late. The idea of his closest friend dying because they had brushed off his symptoms was the only reason Herrick kept moving forward now.

Herrick had called her name because he had seen the look on her face when she tracked her father’s departure. He knew that Maude would go after him with everything she had. It would have gotten her killed. But then Bryn screamed, seeing the dagger aiming for her ribs. Maude had looked between the two of them and made her choice.

Ice infiltrated every cell in his body as he watched Maude throw herself between her uncle and her sister, taking the killing blow that was meant for Bryn. Her sister had reached over Maude and removed their uncle's head from his shoulders, but it was too late. Herrick couldn’t breathe, couldn’t move as he watched Maude fall into her sister's arms, her blood pouring freely onto the stone.

Herrick was yanked back into his body as he heard the rapid footsteps of Flame Soldiers coming up behind them. They had reached the northern palace walls and were just starting to scale them when Herrick slowed.

There wasn’t enough time.

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