Page 14 of The Crown of the Last Fae Queen
“Herja!” Kolfinna crossed the distance between them and scanned the runes on the wall behind her.No human can use magic in this room, it read in bold, glittering letters. “Are you hurt?”
Herja’s eyes widened when Kolfinna dropped down beside her. She inhaled sharply, appearing so shocked that Kolfinna turned to the door quickly. There was no fae there, or anyone yet.
“Your … Yourears.”
“Oh—” She touched her earlobe for a moment, almost having forgotten about it altogether. She didn’t like the questions swirling in Herja’s eyes as she looked over her whole body. At her dress, the lack of chains binding her, or how uninjured she was.
“Are you hurt?” Kolfinna pressed.
Herja shook her head. “No, but none of us can use magic in this room. The fae and those white-haired ones keep coming here and draining us until we’re half-dead.” She shivered and turned toward one of the prisoners who looked hauntingly still. “She still hasn’t woken up.”
Kolfinna followed her gaze to a sallow, petite brunette woman who sagged against the wall with her head tilted to the side precariously. A shiver ran down her spine at the sight.
“W-We have to get out of here,” Kolfinna said. “I came to rescue you.”
“How did you get out?”
“It’s a long story, but my … guard, I guess you can call her, got distracted so I slipped away,” she said in a rush as she yanked on the chain attached to the wall.
Herja stared at Kolfinna’s outfit again, confusion passing over her features. “What are you wearing?”
She could read the underlying message.Why are you wearing that? Because they were both prisoners here, but Kolfinna had clearly got the better treatment. Her own prison room, a new outfit, and she wasn’t a mana slave like the others. They were all probably thinking the same.
“Never mind that.” Kolfinna created a small stone dagger with her mana, leaving a fist-sized crater on the ground. She smashed the stone weapon against the chains, wincing as the force reverberated up her wrist and elbow. “We don’t have much time?—”
“Free me too!” one of the soldiers said, his chain pulled taut as he leaned forward.
“And me!” another called.
Soon, they all began clamoring for Kolfinna to help them.
She raised her hand to shush them, but they were too desperate, too loud. They had likely never been held captive before; lately, in the time of peace, the military mostly took care of preventative war actions and monster hunting, neither of which were particularly useful for actual war. But Kolfinna knew what it was like to hide, to run, to be cornered and imprisoned. Most fae knew the feeling.
“Shh! We have to keep quiet and we have to hurry—” Kolfinna began, smashing the dagger onto Herja’s chains, but the stone crumbled and her palm jammed against the hard metal. She sucked in a deep breath, tears pricking the back of her eyes. “Everyone, please?—”
They all began tugging on their chains, whisper-shouting at her to undo them.
She didn’t have time for this.
“Kolfinna.” Herja tugged at her skirt with her clasped hands. There was an urgency in her voice that betrayed her calm expression. “Calm down and use your stone magic to break the base of the chains from the wall. I can drag them with me, it’s fine.”
She was so stupid. Why hadn’t she thought of that?
Kolfinna pressed her hand to the wall where the chain was hooked, and broke apart the stones surrounding the base of it. The chains fell off the wall with a loudclank. Herja rose to her feet quickly and the chains dragged behind her as she rushed over to the unconscious brunette across from her.
“She’s dead,” Herja murmured, while Kolfinna went over to another soldier to free him.
She shuddered, remembering when Eyfura had been in a similar state back in the Eventyrslot ruins.
“We’ll have to leave her body behind,” she found herself saying. Even to her own ears she sounded detached, and that’s what she needed to be—completely separated from the woman so she wouldn’t feel guilt. That she wouldn’t think about how this woman’s death washerfault, because Kolfinna had been the one to inadvertently awaken Vidar and his army. Because she was the one who had started all of this.
One of the slumped soldiers raised her head and cracked her eyes open. “Save me, please.”
“I’ll—” Kolfinna started just when the door burst open.
A flock of shadows swarmed the room instantly. Someone screamed. Kolfinna whirled around, but her whole world was swamped in black. White-hot pain shot over her arms as shadows writhed over her body, consuming her flesh in ink. Her panic flared, and she stumbled backward, flailing her arms to free herself from the searing heat and chilling cold of the magic.
“You really are too predictable,” a familiar, barely controlled voice hissed.
