My parents might have been wrong though.Doubt played games with my mind.
Brynhild had told me thatThyra got turned away. My heart clenched for my sister and Brynhild. Where had they lived all these turns? What had they resorted to doing to survive? We’d all been through more than a soul should have to bear in a lifetime.
“I’m sorry that you lost Segla,” I murmured.
“There was so much loss during that time. Whole families exterminated.” Brynhild looked at me, her expression woeful. She reached out and took my hand. She trembled, and I felt that she meant all she said. “I’ve wept for you and Segla often, believing you both dead. It’s my greatest wish that you and Thyra bond. That you become the sisters you once were, so happy and full of sunlight.”
My throat caught. “I wish for the same.”
Chapter 29
NEVE
Vale snored beside me, peaceful in rest. I wished to join him in that lovely, soft place, but for me, slumber hovered on a far distant horizon. My mind was far too busy.
Thyra and Thantrel were mates. Brynhild was the maid who had saved my sister from death. Though I barely knew the older faerie, and my sister seemed to despise me, I found myself so grateful for Brynhild. She’d saved my last remaining family member.
Well, not the last.I corrected myself quickly.
Poor Prince Calder, my uncle on my father’s side, was still rotting in the eastern dungeons of Frostveil Castle, and earlier Vale had spoken to a rebel Hawk Seed.
So Ididhave more family, just none so close as my twin. A full sibling.A sister.Maybe a treasure, should we get to that place.
Is that possible?
I wasn’t sure and though the skin-changer would be noreplacement for my twin, I yearned to know more of my family. I resolved to ask Vale to introduce me to the skin-changer he’d met in the dining hall. Perhaps the fylgjarn and I would click right away.
Vale tugged the fur blanket, yanking it off me and ripping me out of what could have been a nice daydream of siblings reuniting. A chill washed over me as cold air nipped at the bare skin of my calves and arms. I tried to recover some of the blanket, but he was so large and somehow had already tucked the blanket beneath him.
I moaned. Not again! At Frostveil, we’d always had extra-long blankets and as many as we wanted. The abundance hid Vale’s propensity to be a cover thief.
I frowned at my mate and nearly woke him out of sheer annoyance, but then decided against it. He’d worry about why I was still up and alert. I didn’t wish to go over the many matters of my mind.
As Valrun Castle was falling apart, wool and fur blankets were one of the few ways the rebels fended off the persistent chill. They had provided extra blankets, and we kept them in the shared living space. I’d grab one and bring it back so I would not disrupt Vale.
Slipping from the bed, I rubbed my hands along my pebbled arms and padded out of the room. What I wouldn’t give for a sauna right now.
The annex was silent, save for the volley of snores coming from the Riis brothers’ room. I smirked. I’d be teasing them about that trollish racket tomorrow.
I reached the sitting area where we’d spent most of our day and stopped on the threshold. My lips flattened.Thantrel never made it to bed, but rather he slept in the same chair he’d been in all day. No blanket covered his body, and his arms hung limp over the edges.
Careful not to wake him, I grabbed two woolen blankets from the basket by the fire and slipped one over him. The stench of sour ale wafted off Thantrel, and five empty horns littered the ground at his feet. He hadn’t gone to dinner, but we’d brought him back food and a single ale. I was guessing he’d somehow convinced the guards outside the door to bring him refills to dim the pain of being rejected.
“I’m so sorry,” I whispered, tucking the blanket in and hoping it was enough to keep him warm. His head lolled, and with my heart breaking for him, I turned to return to bed.
I made it three steps when a soft creak of the door opening hit my ear. Twisting, I caught a figure dressed in a black cloak slipping inside the annex.
Her wings were white and shimmering, her hair as black as a starless night sky, and her face set in cunning and hard lines—but none of that set my heart racing like the sight of her fangs or her red eyes.
Vampire. A hungry one at that.
Two more vampires, also female, slipped in behind her. They stared at me, eyes wide and as red as the first vampire’s. It was as if they had not expected to find me here, though the entire rebel force was aware of where Princess Neve and her cohort rested.
I reached for my magic, but as the rebels still required us to be bound by the ice spider silk, no power came to my aid. Nor had I brought a weapon with me to get a blanket.
What of the guards at our door? One glance beyond the females brought only more questions. The guards were standing there, as if nothing at all was happening.
Compelled.That I’d forgotten that trick of the vampires spoke to how much I’d moved on from that world.
