Page 72 of The Crown of the Last Fae Queen
“Why do you wish to train with Agnarr?” Suspicion laced his words.
“I wasn’t able to beat him in a spar last time.” She frowned, remembering how the fae male had defeated her in that short period of time they had fought. If she had to ever face him in battle, she knew she would be in trouble. “I would like to see how I would fare against him. Or maybe even Rakel.”
“And what about me?”
She looked up at him sharply, but she couldn’t make out his expression from the helmet. “I don’t know if I’m ready to face you.”
He tilted his head down and pinned her with a curious stare. “Is that so? I would have thought you would be most pleased at the idea of defeating me.”
“Oh, I would be pleased about that,” she said with a short, sour laugh. “But I don’t know if I’ll be able to beat you, yet.”
He chuckled – a sound so foreign that she almost tripped over her feet.
“And you think you will have luck with Agnarr?”
“Maybe notluck, per se …” A frown tugged on her lips. “But maybe if I can use my powers, I’d be able to defeat him at least once.”
Sparring with the fae male was probably the only way she could get him to lower his guard toward her. Maybe it washis way of reconciling with others? Freyja had done something similar. Maybe she could get him to answer a few innocent questions in the middle of the spar. But maybe that was too suspicious. Vidar already seemed wary around her this morning. He must have discoveredsomethingthat displeased him.
Vidar slowed in his steps once he seemed to realize that Kolfinna was struggling to keep up with his long strides. He glanced down at her, and this time, she could see the sorrow radiating from his eyes.
“You used to run after me whenever …” he began, but then he stopped, glancing away abruptly.
A bolt of pain shot through Kolfinna despite herself. She could imagine herself being a small toddler running after Vidar with his large wings and his gleaming red eyes. But that probably hadn’t scared her as a child. It was … too bittersweet to think about.
She had been ripped from her family. Robbed of a relationship with her parents.
And yet, at the same time, she couldn’t join his cause. Not … not while knowing that he would slaughter all humans if he could.
Neither of them spoke again. He took her to the tower she’d had her first trial in last week and they stopped outside the heavily rune-written doors. Her guards lined the wall, and she resisted the urge to stare over at Blár, even though she could feel his gaze prickling the back of her head.
She wanted to tell him everything about the book Aslaug kept, and she wanted to ask him if he knew her, or if he knew the list of names.
Vidar motioned to the door, his tone curt as he said, “You will have your next trial in here. My engineers have changed the runes so the trial is the same—however, you will have to use your light magic this time, instead of your shadows.”
Kolfinna’s shoulders dropped at that. “I don’t know how to use light magic.”
“It is the same as when you use your shadows.” He shifted on his feet, red eyes flicking down to meets hers. “Except instead of pulling at the darkness, think of how you want to bathe everything in light. It is not difficult once you know how to use your shadows.”
“I rarely see you use light magic.” She wasn’t even sure if she had ever witnessed him using it; maybe once or twice, but he seemed to rely heavily on his shadow magic. “Does the light magic not fit your image of a dark elf commander?”
She could haveswornhe smirked at that.
Vidar motioned to the door and dryly said, “Go inside.”
“Very well.”
This was all part of the plan, she told herself as she pressed her hands against the heavy doors. The stronger she became, the better their chances of defeating Vidar and his armies. It was better this way that she learned as much as she could.
22
TWENTY-TWO – KOLFINNA
Like Vidar had said,this trial was the same as the last one she had done. She entered the room with the family portrait of Aesileif, Vidar, and herself, but instead of gawking at it like last time, she kept her gaze level and pointed at one of the blank walls. She didn’t want another reminder of what she could have become if she had stayed with her family. She didn’t need to muddle her already confused mind.
Because, truthfully, what reason did she have to side with the humans other than Blár, her friends, and the hope that the humans would treat the fae well once the war was over?
The last point she wasn’t even sure about.
