Page 180 of Kingdom of Embers and Ruin

“We thank you for your hospitality,” Hakon said, his formal words still heavy with the betrayal he felt at his friend.

“What was so urgent that you needed me to bring us here, Aeric?” Liv asked, the casual use of his first name shocking Bryn.

“I asked you to meet here because there is something I believe you should all see,” the King of Shadows said, motioning for them to follow him.

“I don’t know if I can take much more surprise,” Bryn muttered as she stood and followed Liv out the door the King of Shadows walked out of.

Exhaustion hung over Bryn’s shoulders. The familiar need to burrow under the covers of her bed and sleep the days away hit her full force, knocking the wind from her and dimming hergalderuntil she could barely reach it. She needed to disappear soon; the idea of polite conversation was already wearing her out.

She wanted to get lost in Revna’s gentle touch. She wanted to hold her and tell her that they succeeded. She wanted to run her fingers throughRevna’s silken hair one more time. But these were all things Bryn could never have again. The brightest light in her life was gone because of her.

Bryn couldn’t even begin to dissect the complicated emotions that circled Maude’s sacrifice. For most of her adult life, Bryn had been angry with Maude. When she wrote that letter to her sister, she was still furious with her, even though Bryn had agreed to work with her. And then Maude threw herself in front of a blade meant for her, ending any chance of a relationship between them.

All the anger in Bryn’s heart had vanished when her sister had fallen into her arms, their uncle’s knife still in her chest.

But it was too late.

Bryn shook the grief from her mind once more, trying to focus on the present. Liv let out a short laugh and nodded her head in agreement with Bryn while Hakon remained surly, walking behind them far away enough that they couldn’t hear his muttering.

They followed the King of Shadow through the dim halls of the moonstone palace in silence. Somewhere along the way, the air around them shifted slightly, like someone was watching them. Bryn thought she heard the brush of wings above her, but when she looked up, she only saw the ceiling that had been dotted with small pinpricks of light to mimic the night sky.

Finally, they made it to their destination. A look of confusion crossed Liv’s features as she must have recognized where they stood.

“I believe one of your companions arrived here before you did,” the King of Shadows said, his voice low and mixed with an emotion Bryn couldn’t quite put her finger on. He moved out of the way to allow them to pass through the lavender-painted doors before them.

Was it hope in his voice? Quiet joy?

She was unsure, but Hakon practically buzzed behind her.

“Herrick?” Hakon asked as he moved to open the door.

“No,” Bryn said, unsure of why she was so certain that Herrick was not the one in that room. A gentle caress brushed across her cheek once, the scent of burning cedar tickling her nose, as Bryn moved automatically into the plush room.

Hakon stood in the middle of the room, frozen, staring at the sleeping form on the large bed. Bryn walked up behind him as Liv grasped his arm and pulled him out of Bryn’s way. She didn’t stop walking until she stood at the side of the bed looking at the person who was in a deep sleep.

There, asleep on the bed, was her big sister.Maude.

Her hair was splayed out around her head on the silk pillow, like red wine that had been spilled over the fabric, her chest rising and falling with even breaths as she slept. The camisole that Maude wore showed the odd fatemark that had been imprinted on her chest since she was one.Yggdrasilflanked by Valkyrie wings. But no chest wound, no sign of her uncle’s fatal blow.

Bryn fell to her knees before her sister, tears pouring freely down her face now as she grasped Maude’s hand. It was hot with the fire that always burned in her veins, the heat that never banked. Sobs wracked through Bryn’s body as she pressed her forehead to her sister's hand. She pressed a kiss to the top of it before scanning her eyes over Maude's sleeping form, checking for any injuries.

“How?” Liv said from behind her.

Bryn was still lost for words and was glad that Liv asked the one question that was burning in her mind.

“She appeared on the overlook just beyond the mountain borders two days ago,” the King of Shadow said, a tenderness in his eye that Bryn didn’t understand. “She’s been asleep since we found her. I had the healers look over her, but they found nothing out of the ordinary.”

“That’s impossible,” Hakon said, his anger leaving him for a moment as he tried to accept what was in front of him. “She died. We all watched her die in Logi.”

The King of Shadow looked confused for a moment before something occurred to him.

“You can’t see her runes from her fate telling, can you?” the King said, looking between all three of them.

Bryn didn’t care; she could only look at her sister. Her sister who was alive andbreathing.

Wind swirled around Bryn as she sat by Maude’s side. She looked up from her face in time to see the King chanting in Elven as he circled his palm over Maude’s fatemark.

At first, nothing happened. The fatemark looked the same as ever.

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