Another pounding on the door. Sven grabbed his pants. “Two minutes.” Footsteps hurried away. “This can’t be good.”
Bryn danced around as she pulled her clothes on. “How do you know something’s wrong?”
“He only calls it the war room when there’s an emergency.” He ran his fingers through his hair. “Not to mention, he wouldn’t dare knock like that if it wasn’t.”
They hurried down the hallway to Sven’s chamber. Lars was already there with several others. He sat on his throne chair. “What?”
Lars cleared his throat. “We’ve received word that Magnus is gathering at the border and is planning an attack.”
“When?” Anger tinged Sven’s question.
“We don’t have an exact time, but intel tells us that they are coming for one purpose.”
“And that would be?”
Ever so slowly, Lars raised his arm and pointed at Bryn. “Her.”
Chapter Twenty-One
Bryn
Bryn’s arms ached from beating on the punching bag. She yanked off the heavy gloves and tossed them on a shelf. Sweat dripped down her face and she grabbed a towel. She glanced at the cell phone on the bench. No messages.
Sven and Lars had headed out shortly after the interruption. Despite her pleas, she had been left behind to worry and brew in anger. She couldn’t help but feel like she had put Sven in danger by coming to Stagholt. Obviously the assassination attempt had nothing to do with her, but she had only made things worse since.
Punching the bag while pretending it was Alitta had been the best option after Sven had banned her from leaving the castle. Her argument that the enemy could be within the walls had fallen on deaf ears. He could fly. She couldn’t. She had to stay behind.
She plopped down on the bench and stared at her hands.What would I look like as a dragon?Hell, she didn’t even know what Sven looked like in his alternate form.
After a quick shower, Bryn grabbed her cell phone and punched a familiar button. It only rang once before a very breathless Randi answered.
“Where have you been?”
Bryn frowned. “What do you mean? I’m in Stagholt where I told you I was going.”
“I have been trying to call you for days. Do you have any idea how worried I’ve been?”
“You? You were worried about me?” Bryn giggled. “That’s a change. I’m usually the worrier of the family.”
“I’m serious, Bryn. You haven’t checked in since you left. Of course I was concerned. I was even thinking about figuring out who you were going to work for so I could call them. You told me at one point who they were. I would have figured it out sooner or later.”
Guilt ran through her. She hadn’t kept her phone charged and with everything going on, she hadn’t really thought about her phone. “I’m sorry. I should have at least texted you.”
“I tried to convince myself that you were just busy with your new job, but that didn’t really help much.”
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry. Everything has been such a whirlwind.” She didn’t even know where to start. “But Stagholt is absolutely gorgeous, just like I expected.” At least that was true and a safe subject.
“Have you been writing in your journal?”
Another shot of guilt. “Here and there.” A little white lie. “How are things with you? How’s college life treating you?” She hoped the deflection worked.
It did. Randi launched into a long rendition about college life, freedom, and all the people she had met, many of the male persuasion. Bryn kept checking for text messages while her sister talked and almost lost track of the conversation.
“Mom and Dad haven’t even called me, but that’s not surprising. Now with both of us gone they don’t even have to pretend to be parents and can just work themselves to death.”
Bryn regretted that she and Randi didn’t have the close relationship they could have had. It would have been too easy to have her sister ask a few choice questions to get some family background.
They chatted for a little longer before Bryn ended the call after promising to keep in touch. She needed a shower and spent the next hour with hot water cascading against her tired shoulders.
