Whether he wanted to or not, Rey was distracted, his mind circling back to the words Vig had spoken in anger.
I see the way you look at her. Don’t think yourself so sly. You could have her.
Gods, were his thoughts so clearly written for others to see? Rey hoped not, because this morning, as he’d looked at her across the long table, he’d imagined flinging the dishes away and peeling her tunic and breeches off. Of spreading her out and mapping her body with his tongue…
He blinked the thought away. She was not meant for a man like him, a man bathed in shadows and blood. Rey had known this long before he knew her truename. But learning Silla was Eisa Volsik had only solidified it. Eisa needed a partner with political power, someone with a noble house and standing. And Rey had more honor than Jonas. He would do what was best forher, not take for his own selfish reasons.
Rey forced his attention to the task at hand. Vig crumbled a chunk between his gloved hands, pulling more matted wool and a few bone shards from it and setting them with the rest.
“Between the wool and hooves and bone fragments, it’s clear to me thisthingate the flock,” said Vig. “Must we continue?”
“Yes,” Rey asserted, prying a denser layer from the “loaf,” as Silla had insisted on calling it.
Vig sighed for at least the tenth time that hour. “Yes? Haven’t you anything else to say?”
Rey glared at the shite. “I’ll tell you when I find it.” Truly, it could be any small clue that could break open an investigation. A stone, a seedpod, a shell unique to a specific area. They were looking for…somethingin the excrement. His knife rammed into a hard object. As he pried apart the dung, Rey assumed it was another hoof or bone shard. But as he loosened the debris, it quickly became clear this was different from the rest.
“This,” said Rey, holding the item between thumb and forefinger. “This is what we’re looking for.”
Vig squinted at the thing. A hand span long, it curved and tapered to a jagged point. “A…fang?” he guessed. “But what could this belong to? It’s enormous. Nothing like that roams these parts.”
Rey turned the fang this way and that, examining each side. “The fang is hollow,” he murmured, thoughts shifting to a job the Bloodaxe Crew had taken in the south of Íseldur. Holt and its infestation…
“For the love of the gods!” exclaimed Vig. “I beg you to finish your thought. Fangs, Galtung, focus!”
Rey cast his sharpestaxe eyesat Vig. “Hollow like a serpent’s, you eelhead. Venom flows through the inner part and into their prey.”
“Serpent? We’ve no serpents in the northern wilds.” Vig made to rub his brow, then thought better of it.
Rey placed the fang on the table, next to the assortment of bone fragments and wool. “Snakes do not survive in these parts,” he said. “Which means the serpent must have been consumed by this creature somewhere south.”
Vig looked irritated, and Rey didn’t blame him. They’d confirmed the dung belonged to the sheep’s killer, but this fang raised only more questions. “So thisthing,” said Vig, “ate a giant serpent in the south, then came to the north and atean entire flock of sheep. Then thethinghad a nice little rest before shitting it all out? This is…madness.”
Rey pried another layer of excrement from the loaf. The fang’s discovery had spurred his enthusiasm.
“I cannot believe this,” muttered Vig, watching him. “I thought you would bring answers, not raise more questions.”
Rey merely ignored him. And after a moment of muttering under his breath, Vig settled down. They’d been sifting through shite for the better part of an hour, when Vig finally broke the silence.
“I spoke in anger yesterday, and for that, I should apologize.”
Rey turned to his former friend in surprise. Vig watched him uneasily, making Rey grind his jaw. Gods. Must they do this?
“As did I,” he forced out.
Vig’s gaze slid to the tarp above them then back to Rey. “Runný says the same, you know.” Rey waited expectantly. “She thinks it cowardly to sequester ourselves in the north. She wants to take up arms with the Uppreisna, but I’ve forbidden her to do so.”
“I cannot imagine Runný would allow you to forbid her anything.”
Vig chuckled. “No. I don’t imagine my word will hold her for long.” He frowned. “I worry about her. I worry for our kin. There has been so much suffering, and I wish only for peace. Perhaps it is craven of me?—”
“It is not craven,” Rey asserted. “It is bold to see the life you wish to live and take it.” Discomfort slithered through him. Burning fucking stars, he hated speaking of sentiments. But Vig had once been like a brother to him and had answered Rey’s summons for help. At the very least, he deserved respect.
“Perhaps there is some truth to what you said as well,” said Rey. “Perhaps I do live a bleak life. Perhaps I punish myself for living when he did not.”
Vig’s sigh was long and heavy. “You are not to blame?—”
“I do not wish to speak of it,” Rey said sharply. “Let us put our disagreement behind us.” He paused, examining the face he’d known so well in his youth. “And let me tell you this one last thing. My leaving had nothing to do with you, Vig, and everything to do with myself.”
