“Don’tyouunderstand?” he flung back. “Peoplediedto protect your family. Ivar came for all Volsik supporters and killed them in the most vile ways.”
The burn of guilt was spreading through her. “Please,” Silla begged. “I must leave this isle. It is the only way to stop the bloodshed that follows me.”
“Or,” said Rey, “you could stand for your people. Do you not know what your existence would mean to so many? How much hope you could bring?”
“How?” cried Silla. “Don’t you understand, I can barely be Silla? How can I possibly beher?”
“I understand nothing but your cowardice.”
It was just as she feared; the name would bind her, turn her into a thing to be used. Already her choices were being stripped from her, her sense of self vanishing into thin air. “You’re just like Jonas, taking away my choice.” She felt him flinch but continued. “But you saidKalasgarde, notSunnavík, which means you don’t want the reward. So why, Rey? What are you playing at? Why are you doing this?”
She could sense him choosing his words. Forcing them past his teeth. “Because all the good people have died, yet still I breathe. I must honor them and their deaths. Make them meansomething.”
“That’s what Jonas said.” Her voice trembled. “He handed me to the Klaernar so Ilías’s death wouldmeansomething.”
Rey stilled, hardly daring to breathe. “It is not the same.”
“Truly?” Anger rose in her, and she was relieved to feel anything beyond fear. “Or is that simply an excuse made by violent men to allow them to sleep at night?”
“Do not pretend you know a thing about me.”
“How can anyone know a thing about you,Reynir Galtung?” Silla spat. “You, who demand all my truths yet provide none of your own? You’re more guarded than Askaborg.”
The air was thick with tension. “You won’t be troubled by my presence much longer,” said Rey. His voice was cold, void of any emotion. “We will arrive in Istré tonight. You will stay in hiding. The warriors I’ve sent for are honorable. They’ll put you in touch with people—good, trustworthy ones who know best how to handle you.”
Handle her. Silla gritted her teeth. Anger festered in her stomach, burning through her limbs. She opened her mouth to protest, but slammed it shut as Rey said, “There are wild things in these woods. Best we keep silent.”
Silla blinked back her tears. Tried to gather her resolve. But all she could think of was Kalasgarde.
It was nothing but another cold cell.
Chapter Three
ASKABORG, SUNNAVÍK
Saga Volsik wore black to the Bear God’s service—the first she’d attended in over a month. It was practical, really. Though perhaps she should not worry; by now, the washing thralls had grown quite adept at removing bloodstains from the clothing of the royals.
Her lady’s maid had woven one side of her hair into intricate Urkan braids, and Saga had completed the look with her favorite winterwing brooch. If she was to bleed for the Bear God, then she’d damn well do it wearing what she pleased.
And now, she sat beside Princess Yrsa in Ursir’s House, as the king’s favored nobles trailed in for the weekly Letting. The room was well lit, despite the lack of windows. Braziers lining the central dais both brightened and heated the room, while gold-foiled pillars reflected and amplified the light.
Outwardly, Saga projected an air of boredom. But inside, she was a mess. For a month, she’d managed to avoid this—the crowd, the spectacle, the helplessness of her situation. Saga felt like a leashed animal, trotted out for their viewing pleasure.
Look how well she sits. Look how well she bleeds. Such a good little pet.
Her fingers twitched in search of her charcoal and drawing board, desperate to quell her growing nerves. Days had now passed since Saga had overheard Maester Alfson and Signe’s conversation, discovering that Eisa—the little sister she’d thought dead for the last seventeen years—was alive. Not only had her foster mother known and not told Saga, but the queen had been hunting Eisaformonths. It had been a staggering revelation, one which was still difficult to believe.
But as the days passed, with Saga waiting for a chance to do something—to doanything—to help Eisa, her nerves had only worsened. She could hardly sleep. Went through her days with a fog in her mind. Hours she’d spent in the hidden corridor behind Alfson’s study, waiting to overhear another conversation, but she had nothing to show for her efforts.
Overwhelm consumed her some days, her mind like a cup overfilled, spilling over the sides until all she could do was to fetch her charcoals and parchment and draw, draw, draw. It was the only thing capable of restoring balance to her mind; a thing taking her out of her head entirely.
But drawing was not an option now. Her eyes swept the room for at least the tenth time, marking each doorway in Ursir’s House. The main exit. The High Gothi’s doorway. The trapdoor under the rug at the back of the dais—unless they’d boarded it up.
She repeated these exits to herself over and over, reminding herself that she was safe. Not trapped.Yet she couldn’t shake the primal need to flee to the safety of her chambers.
Pulse pounding, Saga glanced to her right, where Princess Yrsa sat. Her emerald-green gown contrasted Norvalander white-gold hair and pale skin. Yrsa’s spine was straight, lips curved into a demure smile, and her brown eyes shone, as though there was nowhere else she’d rather be. Saga opened her mouth to say something to her foster sister—to quell the strange tension hanging between them these days—but the words were nowhere to be found. Instead, her gaze returned to the blood-stained altar stone at the front of the room.
It was said the Bear God gained strength from blood. This was what moved Urkan warriors to such violence in battle. The more blood they loosed, the more glory they were granted. But other less glorious methods—sacrifice of oneself or one’s belongings—could also gain Ursir’s blessing. Farmers often slaughtered the best of their animals during Ursir’s Spring Awakening to ensure a fertile growing season, while some Urkan Warrior Chiefs sacrificed the strongest of their human thralls before battle. But for the average citizen, the easiest way to gain Ursir’s favor was to take part in a Letting.
