UNKNOWN
Saga’s sleep was blissfully absent of dreams. No little brunette girl. No pillars. No screaming bears. It was an abyss—a cocoon encasing Saga away from reality. From the truth.
She awoke too soon, sleep clouding her mind as she took in her quarters. But as her eyes settled on the man slumped in the chair beside her bed, a scream wrenched from the deepest part of her chest.
Rurik straightened quickly, green eyes sliding over her, assessing. There was no trace of the beast she’d seen in the ship’s hull, nor even the tattoos on his forearms. But Saga scrambled back into the farthest corner of the bed.
“Stop,” he growled, the air rattling just as it had down there, before he’d turned into?—
Saga closed her eyes. Tried to shove the memory from her mind. But all she could see were those wild green eyes; those long, sharp claws; the way he’d stalked toward her as though he intended to devour her.
“I apologize, Saga,” Rurik said softly. And she could hear it in his voice—the remorse. The shame. He lifted his hands in surrender. “I will come no closer.”
I was not in control,she’d said when last they’d spoken.
And Rurik…his reply…I understand. More than you are knowing.
Her mind was overflowing, everything spilling out. This was too much on top of all else.
“I must get to Midfjord,” she murmured to herself. She would count down the hours. “How many nights until our arrival?”
Rurik’s lips pulled into a thin line. “Saga…”
“How long until Midfjord?” she demanded, her voice sharp.
His jaw flexed. “We passed it many days ago, Saga. Did you not know you slept for seven nights after the explosion?” Saga gripped the bed. Surely she had not heard him right. A week…how could that be?
“Our deal has fallen,” he continued. “And you will not go to Midfjord.”
“W-what?”
“You will come to Zagadka, Winterwing. With me.”
Her mind was spinning, twirling, whirling, as though she were in a dream. Saga pinched the skin on the back of her arm again and again, but she could not awaken. And so she laughed. What else could she do? It was madness, all of it.
Rurik’s brows pinched in worry. “I regret to tell you of danger in Zagadka. But there I can watch you. Can keep you safe.”
All she heard was her choices being snatched away, yet again. Captivity, yet again. She wanted to scream. Wanted to break things.
“Had been a full moon cycle since I had shifted,” added Rurik. “Was…easily baited. On Zagadka, will not happen like that. I have…ways to control.” He paused. “I apologize for your fright.”
“I do not even know you,” Saga whispered, hugging herself. “I cannot trust you.”
“You have no choice, Saga.” His eyes bored into her. “No choice but to believe me when I promise to keep you safe. Is an oath I swear to you now, and I take such things seriously.”
“You’ve broken our agreement!” she spluttered. “Midfjord was the deal?—”
“And Magnus told to me where the person we sought is located. Buried in Svaldrin was not answer we wished for, but now we know. I did not receive your information, and so our deal has fallen.”
“We sailed past Midfjorddaysago!”
But Rurik ignored her. “You must know one more thing. A secret Zagadka long has held. A thing we havekilledto protect.” Numb. She was numb against the revelations that kept coming. “On Zagadka, all have what you are calling galdur. Is different for us. A shifting, as you have seen, into new forms.”
Saga stared at him blankly.
“Though my shifting is…different than the rest. Abeastthey have called me, but only my enemies. They spin many slanderous tales.” His tongue ran along his lower teeth. “The man we searched for was called Nostislav. Was like a brother, a great man stolen from our lands on a day when Íseldurian sails passed through nearby waters. And now, Magnus has confirmed—Nostislav wasstolen and killed in the place called Svaldrin. And if Magnus knows these things he should not, it means Zagadka’s secret is exposed.”
“Experiments,” whispered Saga. “They were harvesting magic from Galdra at Svaldrin.”
