Page 46 of The Crown of the Last Fae Queen
“Two. Wait, no. One.” She ran a quivering hand over the crumpled skirt of her nightdress. “I think it’s … Yrsa’s turn tonight? I don’t really remember.”
“Yrsa?” Blár made a disgusted face as he turned to her. “She’shere?”
“Oh. Well, yes.” There was so much they needed to catch up on; they needed to review how much each of them knew, and fill in the blank holes.
Kolfinna didn’t want to talk about plans, however. She wanted to kiss him more. She wanted to close the distance between them and stay in his arms forever. She wanted to forget all their problems and just … exist with him.
He must have seen the longing on her face, because he cupped her cheek gently, the look in his eyes finally softening. “We will have time for ourselves soon. We first need to make a plan to get you out of here.”
She nodded, her throat thickening with emotions. She had expected as much. “How did you arrive here?”
“There are only a few places the fae have captured, and this seems to be their stronghold. Gunnar snuck in yesterday, pretending to be a Ragnarök member—it’s the only way humans are allowed here. He found out you were here, too, so he relayed it to me.”
Kolfinna blinked at him. Gunnar was here? She hadn’t seen him anywhere, but then again, she hadn’t been allowed out of this tower room.
“But I arrived here only a day or two ago, and I was on a dreki,” she said. “How were you able to catch up so fast?”
“Moving an army to one location will never be faster than a determined man riding alone as fast as he can.” There was a hint of teasing in Blár’s voice, but it disappeared just as quickly. “We stormed the fortress you were held in, but we were a few hours too late. And then we headed out where we thought you might be. Lucky guess, I suppose. It was either here or the capital.” Her jerked a thumb at the window he had crept in from. “So these runes stop you from escaping this tower?”
“Yes …” She had tried putting her hands through the bars earlier that day, but as if there was an invisible barrier, she hadn’t been able to move them outside. “The runes stop me from using magic and from escaping. They’re too powerful for me to break, either.”
“We should try to practice like last time, when you used my mana to break the runes.”
“I don’t know if that will work,” she said truthfully. “I suspect Vidar made these runes, and he’s stronger than both of us, so I don’t think—” She clamped her mouth shut when a dark look passed over his face. No doubt he didn’t want to be reminded of his defeat against the half-elf. “We should try, but maybe it’ll become easier once I become stronger. He’s having me practice magic.”
“Why would he do that?”
“So that I can be strong enough to wield theDød Sværd.” Kolfinna shivered at the memory of the cursed sword. Her hands grew clammy and she rubbed them against her thighs, her steps carrying her to the window, where a gust of wind breezed through the unbarred opening. From further into the room, itdidn’t even look like the bars were missing, since the runes were still held in place, glowing gold. She brushed her hands over the tiny frozen shavings of the metal bars Blár had broken. Her gaze travelled to the star-speckled night sky. “He wants me to free the queen, and the only way to do that is through the sword. I broke the seals on his armies by simply wielding the sword; I don’t know if doing something similar will free the queen. They … they have hopes for me, Blár.”
She could feel him watching her, but she didn’t dare turn around to look at him, for fear of what she might find—pity, perhaps, but maybe anger. And she wasn’t sure if she was ready to face his ire; not directed at her, but at her kind. At the fae, at the elves, at everyone she should hate.
Fear shuddered through her, wrenching deep inside her with icy fingers. “I’m terrified, Blár. I don’t want to free the queen, and I hate that … that the fae, that my people, have been driven into this corner. I’m an enemy to my kind.”
“Kolfinna …”
“It’s a huge responsibility.” Her fingernails scraped against the stone window sill as she clenched her hands into fists, using it to steady her weak knees. “I’m terrified of that ruinous sword, and I’m also terrified that if I use it properly, she’ll be freed instantly. I don’t want to be responsible for all the death and bloodshed that will come with her awakening.”
A gentle hand rested on her elbow and when she craned her head up, there was only compassion in Blár’s frigid gaze. He eased her hands into his own, and tightened them. “I will free you from here, Kolfinna. You won’t have to worry about freeing her, or being responsible for all of this.”
“But Blár …” Her lower lip wobbled and she couldn’t keep the uncertainty out of her voice. “She’s … she’s mymother.”
“I know.” He wrapped his arms around her and tucked her in for another embrace. He gently ran his hand through her hairwhile a sob rattled from her throat. She squeezed her eyes shut and clung to him, her anxieties and desperation taking hold of her. “We’ll leave this place before that happens.”
Moments passed and when Kolfinna finally calmed down, Blár captured her chin and tilted her head so she was staring up at him. “Are you well enough to think about an escape plan?”
She nodded, sniffing and wiping the remnants of her tears away.
“Gunnar plans to …” Blár sighed and shook his head. “It sounds ridiculous, but know that it isn’tmyplan, it’shis.”
That piqued her interest. She canted her head to the side as Blár raked a hand through his midnight hair. “What is it?”
“He plans to …” He glanced at the doorway, as if expecting someone to burst through, before he turned back to her. “He plans toseduceone of your guards. With one—or both—of them distracted, he will have a better chance at gleaning information, learning about your schedule, and helping you escape when it comes the time to do so.”
Out of all the things he could have told her, she was the least prepared for that. She almost wanted to laugh. Gunnar, the cheerful, dimpled young man, wanted toseducesomeone? Sure, he was handsome enough to play that part, but she wouldn’t have thought him capable of coming up with a plan likethat.
Upon seeing her stunned disbelief, Blár continued, “Ivar and him argued for a bit over it. Gunnar told him that Ivar would do a lousy job at it, seeing as how he’s smitten with Inkeri and yet treats her like the plague. All he’d do is make enemies here, is what Gunnar said. And Eluf, well, he’s a bit too depressing to do a good job either. So Gunnar thought it was up to him to do this.”
“That … certainly sounds like a plan. Not a well thought out plan, but a plan nonetheless.” She couldn’t help but chuckle at the absurdity of it; she also remembered Astrid’s acidic words toward Yrsa. “But good luck with seducing either of my guards.Astrid hates humans and Yrsa is hard to please. If I had to choose from the two, I think he would have more success with Yrsa, even if she is a stick in the mud most times. I don’t see Astrid changing her heart for a human. There is just too much hatred and history.”
