Page 40 of Kingdom of Embers and Ruin

Letting out a startled laugh, Hakon ran to help Herrick up. When he was standing on his two feet again, he looked to Maude again, who was beginning to reign in the terror that showed in her eyes. As soon as her eyes locked onto Herrick, he watched her slam that wall up again to keep him out, but she couldn’t stop the shaking that had begun in her hands.

To stop drawing attention to them, she crossed her arms and tucked her hands away, shifting her weight to one leg and donning her mask of indifference again, but Herrick wasn’t fooled. He had seen how hard she fought to keep him and his friends alive— had seen her take a few steps toward him after she had thrown the dagger at the raider.

Herrick approached the dead raider and took her dagger out of his chest, wiping it clean on his clothes. He examined the blade: it had runesetched into its gray matte surface, the knife was sharp as Hel, the handle unremarkable with a short strip of dark red material that felt as fine as silk wrapped around it.

Walking to where Maude stood, Herrick held out the dagger, hilt facing her with the point held in front of his heart. He looked into her black eyes, and in the light of the new day, he could have sworn they were green.

“That is twice now that you’ve saved my life,minn eldr,” he said, his voice low and quiet so only she could hear.

Maude looked down at the dagger, how he held it out to her and then looked up at him.

“Don’t make a habit of flirting with death, and I won’t have to save you all the time,” she said as she reached for the dagger, wrapping her hand around the hilt.

Herrick put a hand over hers and said softly, “Thank you.”

He let go of her hand and turned to check on his friends before she could slice him with her words or dagger, but not before he saw the soft acknowledgment in her eyes.

Looking over Hakon first, he noticed some cuts and bruises forming, but he was faring well enough with Eydis wrapped in his arms, hand still gripped on the staff Maude had gifted her. Looking at Liv and Gunnar, he saw that Liv had received a long cut down her arm, which Gunnar was already stitching up. Maude crouched next to them and ripped up an old cloak that she had used to bind Herrick’s leg before into smaller strips to dress Liv’s arm with.

She stood, removing a small tin from her pack, and opened it. The scent of rosemary, lavender, and garlic drifted from the small tin as Maude dipped her fingers into the concoction and pulled out a salve that she then dabbed onto the stitches already completed. She and Gunnar worked in tandem silently until Liv’s arm was clean and bandaged. She lookedgratefully at them both and gave an uncertain smile of thanks to Maude, who brushed off the gesture.

Herrick was pleased they were finally starting to be cordial with each other, at least for now. Maude turned to him again, clean linen and salve in hand, before waving at him to take a seat where Liv had just been stitched up.

Eydis looked slightly shaken in the aftermath of the fight, her new weapon stained dark with the blood of a raider that she had slain. Before Maude brought her full attention to him, Herrick watched as she walked over to Eydis and placed an uncertain hand on her shoulder. They exchanged a few words that Herrick couldn’t hear, the clash of blades still ringing in his ears drowning out their conversation. Eydis gave Maude a grateful smile.

Herrick looked at Hakon, who had also watched their short interaction, and only gave him a slight shrug before he led Eydis to their horse so they could speak in private. Maude returned to stand in front of him as Herrick sighed, sitting on the saddle bags they used for a seat. Inspecting the various cuts on his body, Maude worked quickly to stop any lingering bleeding.

She looked at his cheek last, probing the area with a soft touch. Placing her fingers under his chin, Maude tilted his face up to her, then wet a piece of linen with her canteen before she dabbed at the cut on his cheek a bit.

Herrick took this rare moment to admire her concentrated face: the harsh lines of her scar contrasting with the soft curve of her cheeks were dangerously alluring. Her full mouth was tense as she inspected his wounds, but still pink and more inviting than any other lips he’d had the fortune of kissing. A small line appeared between her furrowed brows as she moved to smear some of the salve on his cheek.

Herrick knew he was staring, but he was unable to look away from her stunningly lethal face as she tended to him. When she was done, shegripped his chin and turned his face so she could see her work. She looked into his eyes now, her gaze softening a bit before she caught herself, and they shuttered again.

“There. Your pretty face won’t take much of a beating from this. Just don’t touch it,” she warned as she withdrew her hand and wiped the salve off of her hands with the linen.

“I don’t think anyone has ever referred to me as ‘pretty’ before,” Herrick teased her, cracking a grin that pulled on his cut and stung.

Maude laughed then, a quick and sharp sound like pealing bells on a spring day. Herrick felt his face almost go slack at the sound. She immediately stopped. “What?”

“You laughed,” he said, his awe still heavy in his words.

“Yes?”

“It’s lovely,” Herrick said as he stood.

“I have never been lovely a day in my life,” Maude snorted as she walked away. “You must’ve hit your head harder than you thought.”

Herrick only raised an eyebrow and shook his head while he finished loading the saddle bags. The sun was almost entirely over the horizon, signaling the new day when he hopped onto the horse behind Maude. He wound an arm around her waist and pulled her in closer to his body. Too surprised to fight back, Maude settled in between his thighs as he leaned into her ear and whispered, “I have a new goal now. Would you like to hear it?”

“Hardly,” she said, her voice breathless.

“It’s to make you laugh again so I can hear the sound my heart beats for.”

Maude’s mouth lifted in the corner slightly as she inclined her head toward him.

“Then I’m afraid your heart will stop beating, and all my good work that went into healing you will be wasted.”

Herrick’s grin was a challenge and a promise to Maude. “We’ll see,minn eldr.”

---