“Yes, of course. I apologize, General. You have my full attention,” Steinar said.
Phile winked. “Mine, too.”
Rakel rolled her eyes, but General Halvor ignored the comment with great efficiency, and instead thrust a map of the continent into the Robber Maiden’s hands and made her stand.
As he dragged Phile to the front, Rakel offered Koray a single pat on his head with her free hand, eliciting far more excitement than Phile’s attentions had.
When she looked up, Oskar was watching her with a fond smile. She cast a careful glance to Halvor, who was instructing Phile on the best method to hold the map so all, excluding herself, could see. (“But I can’t see it, then!” “That is the point.” “You’re too cruel, Handsome Halvor!”) Farrin, enjoying Phile’s complaints, had joined them.
“What are you thinking, Oskar?” Rakel asked. She put her teacup down and directed her full attention to her attendant.
“You’ve come so far. When we first left Ensom Peak, you were so much smaller and tense. It does my heart good to see how happy and confident you are now.” His red hair glowed in the firelight with the same warmth that colored his words.
Rakel smiled archly. “You mean to say I am no longer paranoid and am much more tranquil now.”
“You werefrightened, not paranoid, and rightfully so. Many people tried to hurt you…” Oskar shook his head.
“It wasn’t reallythatmany,” Rakel said. “Particularly once you strike out all the Chosen soldiers—who were following Tenebris’s orders. Really there were only a few villagers who never quite got past raising their hand against me…. Well, and Aleifr.” Rakel hesitated as the name brought back a rush of memories.
Aleifr was a young Verglas soldier who had served under Captain Halvor and guarded Rakel for five years before she left Ensom Peak to fight the Chosen. Shortly before the battle for Glowma, and under the influence of a Chosen Colonel, he betrayed Verglas and tried to kill Rakel. Rakel stopped him with ease, of course, but the incident had done nothing to qualm the fear that had nipped at her since she first left her ice castle.
The fear and panic were a forgotten memory she had released long before she beat Tenebris and defeated the Chosen. With them, apparently, she had forgotten about Aleifr.
“What happened to him?” she asked.
“Who?” Phile asked, popping into their conversation.
“Aleifr.” Rakel spoke louder than she meant to, and the name instantly stifled the words Halvor, Farrin, and Steinar had been exchanging. She quenched the desire to shift in her chair again.
Farrin brushed the hilt of his two-handed broadsword. “Aleifr…the Verglas soldier Kavon convinced to attempt to kill you?”
“Yes.” Rakel turned her gaze to Halvor. “Did you dismiss him from the army?”
The general blinked. “Yes.”
Rakel waited, but no additional explanation was forthcoming. The only movement in the room was Koray, who scratched his face with a hind leg. “I see,” Rakel said.
Phile folded her arms across her chest and looked from Halvor to Steinar to Oskar. “If none of you tell her, I will.”
“Tell me what?”
“He’s being kept in the dungeons,” Phile said.
Taken aback, Rakel placed a hand over her heart. “Here?”
Phile nodded. “In Ostfold.”
“Still?”
“Yep.”
Rakel patted Koray—to his delight—to give herself something to do. “But it’s been months since his attempt. I was asleep for a year, and I’ve been awake for two full seasons.”
“Would you rather have him hang?” Steinar asked.
“No.”
“Then he lingers in prison,” General Halvor said firmly.
