Page 105 of The Crown of the Last Fae Queen
“Protect the king!” one of the guards shouted.
The hallway was cramped, but Kolfinna could see King Leiknir in the far distance, scurrying away with the dim light bouncing off the crooked gold crown on his head. He glanced over his shoulders at them, eyes wide and fearful. An expression she had never seen on him, but one he had likely seen many, many times on the faces of the fae he’d condemned. And, likely, his own family.
The thought fueled her hatred, because this man had killed Blár’s family.
His siblings. His father. His hope.
“Leiknir!” Kolfinna shouted, light springing up in one of her hands and shadows raging in the other. They burst from her easily, her animosity powering her. All of her indecisions disappeared at the sight of the king’s face. Because this was the man who had brutally and mercilessly killed Blár’s family. Who had haunted his dreams. Who stole his peace. And there was no way she was going to let him go free. Not after what he had done.
She attacked the nearest man. Her light blasted him and he slammed into the damp wall of tunnel, his body crumpling to the ground easily. She moved to the next and tried to fight her way through the throng of people.
Meanwhile, fire blasted toward them from one of the guards, but Vidar easily flung the man into the wall with his shadows. Kolfinna tore the stones from the floor and chucked them at the incoming flood of guards, crashing into their chests withprecision. She ducked from a wayward ice attack and shot arrows made of light at the men, piercing their legs and immobilizing them.
She moved fluidly, without thought and without remorse. Her body remembered how to fight and she relied on her instincts, because her attention was mostly focused on Leiknir and how he was cowardly running deeper into the tunnels. It was clear that Fenris wasn’t here, but it made her wonder—where was the Captain of the Royal Guards? Was he fighting the fae outside? She could only hope that was the answer.
They shoved the guards away with every strike. Aslaug kept close behind them, but a few attacks were sent her way, which Kolfinna did her best to protect her from. Vidar’s wings spread wider and he waved his hand toward the dozen guards left; a shot of light blinded everyone in the tunnel and Kolfinna squinted through the blaze to find most of the men falling to their knees. She took that opportunity to sprint past them.
“Kolfinna!” Vidar shouted. “To your right!”
She ducked before looking, and heat singed the top of her head. She rolled to the ground and raised up a stone barrier as another flare of fire rammed into her. It was powerful, heavy, and packed with heat—but definitely not on Fenris’s level.
Her mana warmed her fingertips and she finally braced herself for the guard facing her. A small, dreaded voice in the back of her mind told her that it was someone she knew. Someone like Magni, who had powerful fire magic, who would be so disappointed to see her in this position. But when she lowered her arm for an attack, relief surged through her at the unfamiliar middle-aged man with fire bursting from his arms.
It wasn’t an ally of hers.
She thrust her shadows at him just as he rotated away, flames sputtering from his retreating form. Her shadows were relentless and swarmed him in seconds. He screamed and hisfire roared from him in every direction. Kolfinna tried shielding herself from it, but she was struck on the shoulder and crashed against the wall before her shadows completely smothered him. She didn’t want to kill him, so when she felt him lose consciousness, his mana fading just a bit, she released him.
The burn lasted seconds as she pushed herself to her feet again. A shot of energy surged through her veins, lightening the pain in tandem with her elf powers rushing to heal. In her peripheral vision, Vidar was killing a new slew of guards that had come from behind them, and Aslaug was keeping to the walls, scampering toward the end of the tunnel Leiknir had disappeared down.
A wave of light and shadows ripped from Vidar’s being. He crushed the remaining Royal Guards with ease, and Kolfinna used that opportunity to run to Aslaug. She grabbed the older woman’s arm and lugged her forward.
“We have to get to Leiknir!” the woman screamed above the cacophony of battle. Her reddish-brown hair, the same as the king’s, didn’t match Blár’s, but they had the same nose. The same eye shape, even though hers were brown while Blár’s were like ice.
“I know! But there’s something you have to know.” She could feel Vidar’s mana rising, his powers creating a suffocating sensation throughout the winding, cramped tunnel. Like he was stealing away all the air. “Blár is still alive!”
Aslaug’s steps slowed, her eyes growing wide and her mouth parting. “My … You mean my son?”
“Blár Vilulf. He is your son, correct? He’s a black rank.” She also slowed in her steps. She could hear the battle finishing on Vidar’s end. “We have to catch Leiknir if you want your revenge. But you need to know that Blár is alive and he’s been looking for you all these years. He’s the only one who survived. Leiknir lied when he told you he had Blár killed.”
“No … no.” Tears rimmed her eyes. “But Leiknir told me?—”
“He lied.” A bitter anger rose within her. How dare Leiknir say such a thing to someone who was already broken and crushed by the deaths of her family, her children? To take away even the smallest sliver of hope that her son, the only one who wasn’t present during the massacre, had somehow survived? Only a monster would do such a thing.
The older woman swayed on her feet. Shock was visible on her face, as was doubt. Of course she wouldn’t want to rejoice in case Kolfinna was the one lying. Of course she didn’t want to bring her hopes up, just to have them destroyed. Of course … she wanted to believe everything.
Kolfinna could read it on her face so clearly it broke her heart.
“Trust me.” She touched her shoulder. “He is alive, and I need you to survive as well in order to meet him. Please don’t throw your life away if it comes down to it. For the longest time, he has agonized over everyone’s death. His only hope was that you were alive out there, and he has suffered through at the hands of people who took advantage of that hope of his. So please, Aslaug.Survive.”
She thought of Sijur, who had strung Blár along even though he had some information about what had happened to his mother and his family. She remembered the list of Royal Guard names they had found in his secret office, and how they must have been linked to his family’s massacre.
Aslaug didn’t answer, because Vidar was beside them the next second. He waved them forward, and they all began jogging down the hall.
Kolfinna’s ears pricked at the sound of someone banging against a wall. Over, and over. Followed by curses and cries.
In minutes, they reached the end of the tunnel way. Where there should have been an opening that led deeper into thenetwork of underground passages, there was only a circular entrance that was completely covered in stone. Leiknir banged his fists on the stone, his shoulders hunched, his crown barely atop his head.
Runes glowed along the closed tunnel, readingNo one shall pass. No human shall use magic to destroy this passage. And King Leiknir shall never pass.
