Page 9 of Kingdom of Embers and Ruin

“Maude, you already know Liv and me, but across from you is our friend Gunnar. He also helped with your escape from the jail.”

Maude looked up to the blonde man who had choked on his food earlier. He was older than the rest of them, his face a bit more weathered and with lines across his forehead and around the corners of his eyes, but he seemed generally pleasant. His head was shaved on both sides, and his remaining shoulder-length hair was tied back into a braid where Maude recognized the blue and green threads. He had a short brown beard that surrounded a seemingly always smiling mouth. He looked like a classic soldier: brutal and unforgiving. But his light blue eyes were kind. He nodded his greeting to Maude.

“And to his left is my brother, Hakon.”

Liv gave Herrick a sharp look but said nothing at his announcement while Maude ran her eyes over Hakon. He was built similarly to Herrick: tall, broad frames that showed they must be skilled at carrying an axe and shield. Their faces were structured with the same square jaw, but where Herrick had dark brown hair and golden brown eyes, Hakon had blue eyes as deep as a running river and caramel-colored hair.

Herrick was a warrior, but with the way Hakon carried himself, he was clearly a noble. Maude couldn’t put her finger on why he seemed familiar. She was sure she had never met him before, but she had the nagging suspicion that she had heard mention of him. Hakon seemed to be inspecting Maude just as closely. If he found anything lacking, he did not say.

“We appreciate you agreeing to help us,” Hakon said to her, his voice saturated with the politeness that Herrick seemed to do away with.

“I haven’t agreed to anything,” Maude replied with a slicing tone.

“Of course,” Hakon nodded and looked at Herrick, light dancing in his eyes. “I’ll let you continue, brother.”

“Go ahead and ask your questions, Maude. I know they are burning inside you,” Herrick teased, but Maude ignored the taunt.

“Why do you want my help?”

“We believe you can help us in locating an item we need. We will say no more than that while still in Logi.”

Maude paused and put her utensils down to look at Herrick. “You want to leave Logi.”

“Yes,” he replied without hesitation.

“I’m not leaving until you tell me why you needme,” Maude tried to keep the mixed panic and intrigue out of her voice.

“We can’t risk talking about this while in this city, but we can tell you more when there aren't as many ears around,” Herrick replied.

Maude saw the logic in that, but frustration rose as they danced around her question.

“Okay,” she ground out, “but whyme? Why should I trust you not to kill me once we leave the confines of the city?”

“Not everyone is trying to kill you, Maude,” Hakon said, a curiosity that mirrored his brother's evident in his tone.

She only barked out a humorless laugh. Herrick continued answering her question.

“We followed you for a few days after we saw you fight in the pits one night and saw what you tried to hide. We—”

Maude suddenly stood, the force of her movement knocking her chair back onto the floor. Gunnar tensed, Liv reached for the axe hanging from her belt, and Hakon kept eating as if nothing out of the ordinary was happening.

“You werewatchingme?” Maude was outraged, but she was more upset by what they might have seen, what they knew she was hiding.

“Don’t make it sound like that. We followed you to see what you might be like outside the pits. We watched during the day, saw where you went, who you talked to, and then at night, we followed you underground,” Herrick snapped at Maude, motioning for her to sit.

Maude remained on her feet but walked into the small kitchen and leaned against the counter, needing some space to breathe. She motioned for Herrick to continue.

“We saw you steal from nobles and soldiers on the streets, then turn and give it to the needy in the slums. We saw you cause fights between men to take the attention off the children who would’ve been caught stealing. At this point, I figured were more than just a pit fighter from your movements, but I could tell you disdain for this kingdom’s hierarchy. We hoped thatdisdain would extend to its ruler, so we followed you to Broken Bones and their fighting pits last night in hopes of getting you to speak to us.”

The entire room seemed to have stopped to listen to Herrick speak. Maude still leaned against the counter with her arms crossed, but deep inside, she was at war with herself to control what was rising from the depths of her nervous system, trying to force her into flight. He had seen too much, looked too closely.

“I went up to you at the bar to see if you could be the person who might be willing to help us, but you wouldn’t say a word to me. I knew I’d have to get your attention another way, so I spoke with Sigurd and put myself in the pit with you. When I ripped that hood off you, I found out why you had stayed out of the light and knew you would help us when we told you about our plan.”

Herrick paused and looked at her. She knew he was looking at her scar, even through the shadows her hood cast across her face. Her face burned at the attention, but she wouldn’t look away. Emotion crossed Herrick’s face but was gone before Maude could identify it.

Clearing his throat, he continued, “You were so angry with me when I revealed your face that you lost your grip on yourgalder,and I discovered why you went to such lengths to stay hidden.”

Maude held her breath.

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