I cling to that wonder. Smiling at the guards as they point at the spires of a cathedral we pass from the river and one of them mutters something that sounds like, “Why are they all sophallicshaped?”
Their jesting and awe is far, far better to focus on than the days that pass without issue. The ease of travel.
The closer we get to Trier, the more worrying that ease becomes.
We get off the barge a few miles outside of Trier, preferring to approach on foot. The barge would take us directly into the docks with no time to scout or get a lay of the city; this way, we approach on our own terms, able to retreat if needed.
“Let me make sure I understand your concern,” Alois says as he drops a pile of kindling on the ground of our makeshift campsite. “You’reupsetthat we haven’t been attacked by soldiers or jägers?”
“Not upset,” I say. “Suspicious. The hexenjäger influence stretched beyond Trier only a season ago, and now—”
I spread my hand in a show ofWhere are they?
Brigitta, sharpening a sword across from me, grunts in agreement. “Perhaps Dieter’s fall disbanded them, and wherever he is, he’s got fewer supporters than he used to have, so he’ll be easily overpowered.”
The crackling fire between us catches my attention briefly. Was that—a flash of green? I stare at it, but nothing coalesces. Perhaps a bit of grime was caught on a log and burned oddly.
I shake my head and refocus on Brigitta. “That sounds unlikely. Particularly considering we still have not heard from the original guards sent to investigate Trier.”
Cornelia has tried to track them as much as we have been trying to track Dieter, to no avail. Which could either mean their presence is masked. Or they are dead.
Alois drops to a crouch next to the flames, orange playing off his attempt at a smile. “Worst case, his possession of you was the last remnants of Dieter’s dying breath, his spirit clinging to yours as he was swept into the afterlife, and we’ll scout Trier and find this whole trip was a waste, and that the first contingent of guards are merely blackout drunk in a tavern.”
My eyebrows go up. “That’s theworstcase? How so?”
Alois grins. Highlighted by the fire, backlit by twilight’s darkness, it’s feral. “We won’t get to kill Dieter ourselves.”
Brigitta thwacks Alois on the back of the head. He winces and gives her an offended frown.
“Herbrother,” Brigitta says with a pointed look at me.
But Alois is undeterred. “I think our dear champion will be first in line to do him off.”
My chest catches. A stalled breath. A twinge that could be pain, could be anxiety.
I can’t figure out where my resistance lies.He is not my brother, I want to say, much as I said to Otto. But also,Yes, I do want vengeance, and deeper, harder, carved from grief and pain,I will be the one to kill him. I should have killed him in Baden-Baden.
I should have killed him in Birresborn.
His fate is your choice, Friederike, Holda says.Do not let anyone else influence what you know in your heart to be right.
I barely restrain myself from laughing, not wanting to be too crazed, sitting here, suddenly chuckling at a voice only I can hear.
In my heart?I scoff at her.What I want or what is right is hardly important. The only thing that matters is stopping him.
Holda’s uneasiness is potent.We created the Tree, we hid the stones, we did all of this to protect our people. I am limited from interfering in the mortal world. My sisters are as well. It is part of the pact we made when we created the Origin Tree—limiting magic, limiting our interactions. It is why we depend so heavily on our champions. We intended this scaling back to keep our people safe, but… I am sorry, Fritzi.
She never calls me that. Only everFriederike, an echo of Mama, of something maternal. My throat thickens with unexpected tenderness, and I swallow, chin dipping to my chest.
Has Dieter found your stone?I ask, changing the subject.
No. I still cannot see him. But he has not accessed it yet.
He’s using his access tomymagic to block Holda’s sight.
Anger surges up through me, vicious and vile.
I weigh her words, weigh my own thoughts. She knows where her previous champion hid the stone. The most direct route would be to haveher tell me its location so we can go into Trier and find it. But I can’t risk Dieter accessing that information through me. Not yet.
