Page 66 of Kingdom of Embers and Ruin

“I miss my home sometimes, my light. It’s hard to be away from the people you love for so long. That’s why we're baking this sweet bread. I make it when I am homesick.”

Mama was running her fingers through Maude’s hair. It felt nice, Maude thought.

“What are they called? The buns?” Maude asked after a while when they had sat and eaten the warm pastries together.

“They’re calledbullar,” Mama said.

“My gods, this is abulle,” Maude breathed.

Maude’s throat thickened painfully with the emotion that swelled through her, pain striking her in the chest. Unshed tears blurred in her eyes that she quickly blinked away. She tried to swallow the burning in her throat unsuccessfully. Liv noticed her change and walked over to her quickly, scanning for any blazes that Maude may have created in her impassioned state.

“Maude, are you well?” Eydis asked, her voice seeming far away.

“She really did have a life here,” Maude choked out.

“Who?” Eydis asked, placing a hand on Maude’s arm.

“My mother,” she responded quietly. “The Queen told me that my mother had lived here, in this kingdom, for most of her life. I don’t think I really believed her until now.”

Liv and Eydis could only stare at her, unsure of what to say.

“We used to make these when I was very young. She told me once that she would bake them when she was homesick…”

Maude trailed off, eyes distant. The Queen’s words echoed through her mind from the night before and began to sink into her psyche.

Her mother had been a spy for the Kingdom of Rivers the entire time. She had married her father to keep the people of this kingdom safe from any attacks he might have been planning. Maude had not known her mother at all.

“Fuck,” Liv said. “You look like you need a drink.”

Eydis and Liv exchanged loaded glances, and each grabbed Maude’s elbows, pulling her forward in her daze.

The story Alva had told her all came crashing down on her, and Maude was forced to accept the truth about her mother. Her mind was spinning, so she didn’t realize where she was being taken. By the time they reached the tavern Liv had suggested, the sun was hovering over the horizon. Time had slipped from Maude's grasp in her shocked state. She felt herself being guided into a noisy pub, the low, warm lights hanging over each table casting shades of warm orange onto the patrons.

Maude was seated on a stool at the bar and felt a horn of ale being pushed into her hands. The silence in her mind finally broke; she heard the joyful music being played in the corner of the pub and saw a few couples dancing and spinning each other in circles.

Maude turned to Liv to ask where they were, but Liv cut her off. “Drink first, talk later.”

Maude looked down at the ale in her hands and quickly lifted it to her lips. The bitterness of the alcohol washed through her senses as she chugged the contents of the horn.

As she placed it on the counter, Liv slipped a second horn in her hand. She downed it just as fast as the first. Her head felt a little dizzy now, but her emotions had been dampened enough after the shock of accepting her mother’s true identity. Feeling more in control of herself, Maude finally shoved thoughts of her mother’s deceit to the side to ask, “Where the Hel are we?”

“We’re at a pub that me and the brothers often frequent when we need to get away from the palace. It’s called The Broken Axe. I figured it was a good enough place to get you to relax a bit,” Liv said, drinking from her own horn.

Eydis sat on the other side of Maude, sniffing her ale and making a sour face before she sipped it. Seeming surprised, she said, “This is much better than the ale back home.”

She took a bigger sip, face flushing slightly.

“The farmers here grow the best barley with theirgalder,” Liv said as she grinned.

Liv and Eydis spoke for a bit while Maude tried to center herself again. She looked around the room and saw many people from the market settling in after a hard day's work selling goods and services. Their faces seemed untroubled and joyful compared to the hard faces and attitudes in Logi. Maude was unused to such revelry; these people seemed relaxed and at peace with their lot in life.

Leaning forward on the bar, Maude found her mind drifting to Herrick. He had been concerned for her last night after their supper with Alva. He saw how she had rejected this information about her mother and recognized she wasn't dealing with it well. He had tried to help her workthrough her anguish, and rather than allow him to pry any more on a subject so close to her heart, she’d lashed out again.

A heavy feeling settled in her chest that she recognized as regret.

Maude took another long draw from her horn and set it down empty. She waved to the cheery barmaid for another one and resorted to getting stupid drunk rather than allow her thoughts to continue to stray to Herrick.

At her thought of him, she felt an awareness at her back that caused a cold shiver to run up her hot skin. Maude knew who she’d find when she turned.

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