When he released my hand, I didn’t quite know where to look. So I did what any other woman would do when trapped in an awkward situation. I grabbed the cheese and stuffed it into my mouth. As soon as the rich cheddar hit my tongue, all thoughts of Rune’s suspicions fled my mind. I nearly moaned from how delicious it was.
Rune watched me silently as I chewed. When I was finished, he cut off another chunk of cheese and dropped it onto my plate.
“Good, eh? It’s local,” he said.
“Don’t tell me you have cows, too? And you make cheese? What, exactly,can’tyou do?”
“Oh, I can do a great many things. Cheesemaking isn’t one of them, though. That cheddar is from one of the farmers down the road. A family of dwarves. Good folk.”
“Ah.” I nodded. That must be the family whose house I’d stumbled upon when I’d first arrived. “Well, next time you see them, be sure to tell them their cheese is to die for.”
“You can tell them yourself, once you’re done eating. I need to pay them a visit about a job, and as my new assistant, I need you to come along.”
I slid my eyes down to my plate, then poked at the cheese with my fork. Suddenly, I no longer had much of an appetite, even for the cheese. When I’d agreed to take the assistant position, I’d imagined I could keep myself well hidden from the townspeople. I could hole up, building whatever needed building. Rune didn’t strike me as the sociable type, either, so I didn’t expect he got many visitors or dinner guests.
I didn’t want to make much of a mark here. If anyone figured out who and what I was, it would put them in danger. The guild didn’t much like witnesses. Their names tended to end up on the list, even if they were innocents. I’d asked my father about it a few times. Surely, if we only took out those with darkness in their hearts, we should give witnesses a little grace.
But he’d told me we must do whatever it took to protect the guild. If a witness reported us to the authorities, the guild could crumble. We could be taken captive, executed. And then who would be left to remove evil from the world?
It was a solid argument. One I didn’t agree with, but that hardly mattered in the end. I wasn’t the one in charge. And ifsomeone here—or a lot of someones—ended up on the wrong side of the guild, they’d also end up without a head.
I blew out a breath. “Do you need me to go with you? I’m awfully tired, like I said before.”
“Consider it your induction.” He stood from the table and grabbed some parchment and a quill from the woodworking corner of his house. “You can take notes.”
Without further ado, he walked to the door, yanked it open, and motioned me outside. Swallowing around the lump in my throat, I grabbed the chunk of cheese—for emotional support—and followed him to the home of the dwarves.
6
FRIDA
Atense silence saturated the air between us as we walked from Rune’s property to the home of the dwarves. On our way out the door, I’d thrown my cloak around my shoulders to drown my face in the shadows of the hood. I knew it would make little difference, though. When we met the dwarves, I couldn’t lurk behind Rune, refusing to reveal myself. Doing so would bring far more attention to me than if I acted like a normal person with nothing to hide.
As twigs crunched underfoot, I tossed back the hood. Sweat claimed strands of my hair, plastering them to my forehead. Even with the dense canopy overhead, the sun cast an insistent heat upon us. In the distance, the soft rush of waves pushed through the trees, tempting me to abandon this ridiculous plan and dive into the cooling sea instead.
But I’d committed. There really was no turning back now.
As soon as we stepped off the path, an entire estate sprawled across a verdant field cut into the heart of the forest. A handful of buildings were scattered throughout the clearing, along with the home I’d stumbled upon last night. Several resembled theoutbuilding I’d seen back at Rune’s, but a stable, a granary, and a cattle barn added to the collection. Several horses, their manes slick and gleaming black, swivelled their heads our way and nickered, toeing the ground. At the sight of them, my heart ached. I wished Stella was here.
A dwarf bustled out from the granary’s open doors, a shovel hanging from his hand. His long ginger hair flowed around his broad shoulders, and bells jingled where they were woven through his curly beard. Damp dirt stained the knees of his coveralls, and his boots were caked in mud, grains, and hay.
He smiled as he bustled over to us, though it came across as more of a grimace than a grin. In fact, as he drew closer, I noticed the purple bags that clung to the bottom of his eyes, too. “Rune! Fate, I’m glad to see you.”
I looked up to see Rune frown. “What’s the matter, Arvid? You look like shit.”
“Tactful as always, thank you.” Arvid’s smile lightened a bit for the smallest of moments, but then vanished when he reached us. He drove the shovel into the ground, leaned one arm on top of the handle, and sighed heavily. “We nearly lost Bertha.”
Rune’s body seemed toexpand. He straightened, his eyes alert as he cast his gaze around the farm, clearly searching for whoever this Bertha was. “What do you mean?”
Arvid tightened his grip on the shovel. “I mean exactly what I said. Mellor and I left her out grazing yesterday morning while we were tending to the horses. I only had my back turned to her for a half hour at most. I think that’s the only reason we managed to find her—she wasn’t gone too long. She ended up on the bloody beach for some fate-damned reason.”
“Well, I know you must have been worried sick, but it sounds like it all worked out,” Rune said. “Why’d you call me over?”
“We need a fence, Rune. We’ve already lost two cows. Can’t afford to lose any more. Or any of the chickens and horses andsheep.” Arvid looked grim. “We should have put up a fence ages ago, and it can’t wait any longer now.”
“A fence.” Rune scratched the base of one of his tusks, nodded, and looked around. “It’s doable, but it’s going to take some time, what with the house build going on right now. We’ll have to split our time between here and there. Think you can hold down the fort for a couple of weeks while we work on it?”
“We?” Arvid arched a brow, then glanced at me. A startled look crossed his face, like he’d only just now noticed me here. “Who’s this, then?”
