Page 21 of The Crown of the Last Fae Queen
Blár grabbed one of the fae, whose legs were crusted with ice and whose eyes were slowly drooping. He shook the male. “Where is she?”
The fae blinked at him. His eyes were a bright, eerie yellow. “Who?”
“Kolfinna! Where is she?”
A grin stretched along his face and he chuckled. “You’re too late, human. The commander already took her away.”
All the color drained from Blár’s face and he released the fae, whose laughter faded when he fell to the floor.This couldn’t be.
Fury laced through his veins and he stormed the rest of the corridors. He defeated as many fae as he could. Eluf and the rest of the party gathered the remaining fae and elves, and tied them up in front of the fortress.
Blár raked his hand through his hair angrily. They were inside one of the offices and Inkeri had already rifled through all the papers, but most of them were useless and the ones that were potentially useful were written in rune writing, so it was impossible for them to decipher.
“She’s not here,” Gunnar said carefully. “And neither is Herja.”
He cursed again. His hands curled into fists and he had the urge to punch something, hard. His gaze went to the bookshelves lining the wall, the scorched fireplace, the desk with its array of worthless papers and letters, and then back to his group. Gunnar stood by the doorway, shoulders tense and wearing a firm frown—no doubt waiting for Blár to blow up. Eluf flicked through the papers on the desk with Inkeri one more time. Ivar stared at Inkeri’s ass half the time from his position against the wall. And Haakon glared out the window with a thunderous expression. At least he was just as disappointed as Blár.
Blár moved toward the window and peered at the fae prisoners they had rounded up. None of them had given them any information, and Blár wasn’t keen on torturing anyone, so he would have to pass that on to Eluf.
“Where could they have taken them?” he asked through clenched teeth. The tension cording his muscles only tightened with those words; he didn’t want to imagine what kind of pain she was going through. Were they using her as a mana slave?
Inkeri picked up a piece of parchment, her eyebrows drawn together. “One of these is written in our language. It says one of the prisoners escaped. A fire elemental.”
“Do you think it was Herja?” Gunnar glanced at Haakon, and then back at Inkeri.
“It doesn’t say.” She lowered the paper. “But Herja’s the only fire elemental strong enough to escape, in my opinion. Who else is fierce enough to fight these fae?”
“Are you suggesting Kolfinna isn’t strong enough?” Blár snapped.
Inkeri flinched. “No. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean …”
“Don’t be an asshole,” Ivar said with narrowed eyes. “We all risked our asses to come out here.”
Blár blew out air and ran a hand over his face. The coldness of his mana spread deeper into his body, cooling him down even further, and making the temperature in the room drop significantly. He tried to rein in his disappointment, his rage, and his guilt, but it was hard to control himself when Kolfinna was trapped somewhere and he was useless. Ivar was right; he couldn’t snap at anyone, especially when they had risked so much to come here in the first place.
“You’re right. I’m sorry.” He turned sharply to Haakon and signed the news to him about Herja’s potential escape. The lightning elemental perked up at that, his verdant eyes nearly glowing animatedly.
“We should investigate further to find out where she is,” Eluf said. “Blár, I understand you’re disappointed, but we have to move forward. Kolfinna is strong, so I believe she will be fine.”
Empty words. She might have been strong, but that didn’t mean she deserved to go through torture, or worse.
Blár nodded stiffly.
“We need to find Herja as well,” Ikneri said. “If she escaped, then she’s probably not that far away from here, and she probably needs our help. And she will likely know more about Kolfinna and her situation than we do."
They were on the move again. They left behind Eluf and the group of soldiers to watch over the fortress, and then they scoured the nearby woods. Hours passed and they wereno closer to finding out the truth than they had been earlier. Toward the end of the night, when their search seemed to be in vain, Haakon shot a bolt of lightning into the night sky and kept it there for a few moments. The air smelled acrid and smoky as he sent more and more booms of thunderous lightning.
After a moment, he paused, and Blár signed to him,What are you doing?
Haakon glared, his hands jerking as he signed,Drawing her out.
Blár sighed and took a seat on a fallen tree. The rest of them sat around in a circle. Gunnar cut down some wood and Ivar made a fire. Inkeri sat rigidly on the ground, her arms wrapped around her legs and her chin tucked on her knees. Disappointment hung in the air heavily. Blár didn’t know what to think, or what to do. His thoughts grew grim with every passing minute, so he could only glare at the night sky, wishing things were different. Imagining what it would have been like to defeat the half-elf so they never would have gotten into this mess in the first place.
If only he had been stronger. If only?—
The snapping of twigs caught his attention and they all sprang up to their feet. Ice flexed on his fingers, ready for him to shoot at whoever had stumbled upon them.
A shock of red, tangled hair came to view, and a pair of familiar, angry blue eyes. Soot and dirt covered her pale cheeks, and she was thinner than she had been two weeks ago.
