In the time between forming oaths with the vampires and setting out for Vitvik, we’d spent hours training and studying old maps of the cities we’d be entering. We’d also met the rebels who would accompany us on our heists. All that time, all those opportunities to find common ground, and yet, I had not made any headway with my sister.
Nor had Thantrel, whom my twin avoided more than she avoided me. Thyra would not look at her rejected mate. Would not speak to him. If she could, I suspected she would avoid breathing the same air as Thantrel.
However, as Vale had insisted Thantrel was too good a fighter to leave behind, Thyra allowed him to join us on the heist. Presently, he rode at the back of the column with the vampires.
As for the rest of the rebels, their slight acceptance of us had backslid somewhat when Thyra introduced the vampire sisters. The only one whose opinion remained unchanged was Brynhild, and she was not joining either heists.
“I hope Clem, Anna, and Rynni will be well back at the castle,” I said.
“Anna is human,” Vale reasoned. “They don’t seem to lump her in with us. Clemencia is sweet and has won many of the rebels over, and Rynni might be as sour as the ale they serve, but they respect her healing skills.”
It was true. Rynni had been quite busy these past days. Anna too. Once it came to light that many rebels needed their clothing mended, she’d volunteered to do the work. I’d almost done the same, only to have Clemencia stop me.
“It won’t do for a queen to mend the clothes of her subjects,” Clem had cautioned.
Of course, she was right. Clem always was. Still, for a moment, I’d hoped it would endear the people to me. In that regard, I needed all the help I could get.
Perhaps finding the Frør Crown will do it?
“Darkness is setting. I expect that we’ll be stopping for the night soon,” Vale mustered. Vitvik was only a day and some few hours from the rebel camp, but we wished to time our travels so that tomorrow, we could arrive close to when the coinaries closed. That meant sleeping in the forest. “Perhaps tonight is a good time for you to speak with Thyra?”
“And you Bac?”
Vale had strong ties to House Balik and, bastard or not, Bac could be an excellent ally. If he warmed up.
“Exactly what I was thinking.”
We continued to ride for another half an hour or so before Bac veered his horse off the trail, cutting through the woods.
Vale leaned closer to me, the space between our horses filling with his tempting scent. “If I were you, I’d catch your sister before she becomes toobusy.”
“Good idea.” Thyra had an odd habit of being busy for someone who was traveling through the woods and really should not have much to do at all.
I rode forward, passing Luccan, Arie, and Duran on theway. Caelo was with us too, though he rode at the back to help keep up Thantrel’s spirits. Otherwise, the youngest Riis brother became despondent.
“Going somewhere?” Luccan asked.
“More like trying to corner someone.”
“Good luck.”
His luck, it seemed, was on my side. By the time I reached the front of the column of riders, Bac had come to a stop in front of a home with no door, and Thyra was standing there, right behind him.
Got you!
“This is where we’re sleeping?” I asked, capturing her attention.
“No, Bac brought us off the trail and to a house that looks like it might fall down for no reason at all.” Thyra rolled her eyes as she dismounted.
I sucked in a breath, but didn’t fire back. It had been an obvious answer, but sometimes my twin made me nervous. She was so cold and unknowable.
“Right.” I dismounted and reached for a topic that wouldn’t earn me her ire. “Should we be worried about monsters like the Dream Eater?”
“We know where to stay to keep safe.” She handed her reins off to Sigri, a dwarf rebel, who then turned to take mine.
The rebels might not like me much, but they respected that I was Thyra’s sister. Unlike my friends, I had not needed to take care of my horse when we stopped for a rest.
“Thank you.” I rushed off behind Thyra and caught up quickly. “Thyra, I was hoping we could talk a bit?”
