Page 58 of A Curse Carved in Bone
“It shall be done,” the king of Nordeland answered, then left Bjorn and me alone in the great hall.
It was the first time we’d been alone since those few moments in the woods. Though he’d been present through all the planning between Harald and me, Bjorn had remained broadly silent. I knew it was because he was debating my words to him. Debating what he should do. And as the air thickened with tension around us, I allowed hope to once again fill my chest that Bjorn would take the one step that would nearly guarantee our success. That he’d set aside his compunctions and have my back the way he’d once promised.
Yet as I met his gaze, his green eyes told me this hope was equally hollow.
“I know you were forced to choose between two terrible options, Freya,” he said. “I regret that I did not act then to spare you, but the past cannot be undone. Snorri and Ylva have put a leash on you, and whether I like it or not, it is within my power to rip it from their hands. To take control of your will to protect you from him using you to achieve his ends.”
“But you will not,” I said, unwilling to draw out the explanation when all that mattered was the decision.
“I will not.” He blew a breath out between his teeth. “I manipulated you with lies before, Freya, and it is my greatest regret. This feels the same, but worse, and I will not do it to you.”
“You meanfor me?” My nails dug into my palms. “Do not stand there pretending this is the righteous choice, Bjorn, because it is the purest form of selfishness.”
Twisting on my heel, I strode from the great hall only to meet Harald outside. He took one look at my face, then said, “He still refuses, then?” At my behest, Bjorn had explained to Harald how he might be able to control me via the oath, just as Snorri did. Yet though Harald had pressed him to exercise that power, Bjorn was no more swayed by him than he’d been byme.
“Yes.” And Bjorn’s refusal to do this for me felt like the greatest betrayal.
Harald gave a grim shake of his head. “We cannot force him. He has to want to control you. Needs for it to burn in his heart with a greater ferocity than what burns in Snorri, for make no mistake, itwillbe a contest of wills between them if it comes to it.” He hesitated, then added, “All those times you resisted Snorri? It was not your will that allowed you to do so, but Bjorn’s. It will be difficult for you to resist Snorri without him.”
“But not impossible.” I accepted my bags from the servants and waited for them to move out of earshot before I continued. “We will do this as I planned, Harald. We will meet his fleet on the strait, and once Snorri is in my sights, I’ll curse his soul to my mother’s domain. With luck, his demise will break the union of the jarls sailing in his fleet, but if not, your warriors will fight. I will not use Hel’s magic against them, is that clear?”
“I understand.” Harald clapped his hands at Skoll and Hati, but the wolves bypassed him to come to my side, Hati licking my hand. Harald frowned but said, “I have faith in you, Freya, and when it comes to it, Nordeland will have your back, even if my son does not.”
—
The journey down the Rimstrom was swift, the river’s current speeding us to the coast, where the ships of Nordeland’s jarls were gathering to defend against Snorri’s attack. We slept on the ship and only stopped on a handful of occasions so that Harald could take reports from riders or messengers traveling upstream. All believed Harald was in command, but every order was mine. Harald was my puppet, but he seemed comfortable with the role.
There was no mistaking the fear in the eyes of the Nordelander civilians because it was so painfully familiar to me. I’d seen that fear in the eyes of Skalanders, felt it in myself when word would race up the fjord to Selvegr that raiders were on the horizon. Before my magic had been revealed and I’d started down this path, I had never thought there was a reason the raiders came beyond the desire totake.Take wealth, take thralls, take lives—I believed that was all there was to it. Yet now I understood that those were only the tools that jarls and kings and warlordsused to motivate their warriors. Incentives to make them fight, because victory gave those leaders that which they coveted most: power. With enough power, you could have anything you wanted.
“Warning has spread up and down the coast,” Astrid said to Harald, the pair standing on the riverbank next to a small village, its people gathered around. “At first sight of Skalander ships they know to flee inland.”
“Yet they won’t.” Skade yawned and picked at her nails with her magical arrow. “They’ll send the children and the old inland; the rest will stand their ground and fight to protect their halls and holdings. Fight and die. And the children and the old will follow when winter comes and there are none to care for them.”
I hated how she was right.
Harald shot Skade a dark glare. “It will not come to that.” Lifting his voice, he shouted, “We will protect Nordeland from attack! We will meet the Skalander army in force on the Northern Strait and drive them to fall back or drown beneath the waves!”
The crowd cheered, all of them gazing at Harald with utter certainty that he would hold to his promise to protect them. This was the type of loyalty that could only be earned with deeds, not words. I still didn’t wholly trust him, but less and less was I able to deny that Harald was a good king. He walked through the crowd, clapping men on the shoulder, complimenting the women, grinning at the children, and admiring the babies.
Steinunn watched him, her eyes gleaming with unshed tears.
“It must be hard to listen to him say those things given your own family was not so protected,” I said softly.
“The opposite.” The corner of the skald’s mouth turned up. “Harald took what happened to me to heart, and since then has done all he can to protect every soul under his rule. He is not infallible, of course, and Nordeland still suffers the occasional attack, but I think there is nowhere else that one can live and feel so protected. Every day I feel the pain of what I lost to Snorri and his raiders, but it is a comfort to knowthat the deaths of my husband, son, and the rest of those in my village have done some good. That I have done some good, because the fact that Harald cares for me as family ensures he never forgets the pain I felt at losing mine.”
“I’m sorry, Steinunn,” I said, knowing that my words were long overdue. “What I said when you told me of your family’s death was cruel. I regret my words.”
“You’d been used, Freya, and in hindsight, I see that your anger was less for me and more for your circumstances. I’ve been unduly harsh to you in my words as well.” Steinunn reached down to trail her fingers in the water of the Rimstrom. “Harald is imperfect, as are all men, but the bad blood between Nordeland and Skaland is older than us all. Two peoples who have taken so very much from each other. Yet Snorri’s goals go beyond raids and petty quarrels between clans. He seeks war, seeks revenge against Harald for trying to deny his destiny, and I will do whatever it takes to prevent him from bringing that pain to my people.”
I toyed with the edge of my silver shield, which was fixed to the side of the drakkar. Out of necessity, we’d kept my plan a secret, and that, as much as my oaths, kept me silent. From the corner of my eye, I could see Bjorn sitting at the far end of the vessel. We’d not spoken, and if not for the fact that leaving him would be akin to leaving my sword behind, I’d have done so just to be away from him. Because every time I looked at Bjorn, all I felt was anger.
Harald said his farewells to the villagers and climbed back in the drakkar.
“We will stop Snorri,” he said to Steinunn and me. “And when we do, I believe that there will be a true chance at peace between our nations. A chance for Nordeland and Skaland to be united in a way they never have before.”
A cause worth fighting for. If my destiny was to twist the fates of two nations, then peace was the tapestry I hoped to weave. “How long until we reach the coast?”
“A few hours,” he answered. “But I suggest we don’t linger. As youhave said, Freya, if we can keep the battle to the sea, then the only cost will be to those who have come to fight.”
