A warning sound vibrated in my throat. “I’ll remain chief myself, thanks.”
“Ah, but you’re not chief yet.” The man waved for his friends to step aside. For the second time since we arrived yesterday, fingers wrapped around my throat. “You think so highly of yourself, but you’renothing. Just a pretty girl born at the chief’s hearth. You heard the king yesterday. The rules of the ranks are no longer.”
My insides turned, but I refused to let him see it.
“The rules might be revoked for now, but I still have my magic,” I warned quietly. “I could crush you with one hand, and I wouldn’t even ruffle my hair.”
A wariness that had nothing to do with my poor night’s sleep, and everything to do with the lies I continued to add to each other, seized my limbs. I held back a flinch as my knees wobbled, the hand not gripping my sword seeking a steadiness the wall of the tent couldn’t provide.
The karl dragged a finger down my neck and over my collarbone. I clenched my teeth when he hooked it into my jacket. “Perhaps. But this rune won’t save you when you’re not ready.” Placing a finger beneath my chin, he tipped my head back. “I think I’d like snapping this proud neck.”
A deep voice broke in. “Geord. Always a displeasure.”
Ivren Solsken shoved two men out of his way while he strolled up to us so leisurely he might as well have been foraging for mushrooms in the forest. His mouth lifted on one side when he met my eyes, and while the handsome face framed by dark hair was all brightness and smiles, beneath his white teeth was a promise of violence.
“Solsken,” Geord said, his face still turned to me. “We have no need for you.”
“See, that’s where we have an issue, you and I. There is nowewith you and my friend here.” He placed a large hand on Geord’s shoulder, his voice lowering into almost a purr—the tyga rune made his tone inviting and dominant at the same time. “Now run along, karl.”
Geord’s face twitched, but as magic twisted in the morning air, his hand dropped from my face, and he sighed through a closed jaw while he waved for his friends to follow. As soon as Viljan was released, he flew to my side, although he managed to land a hard kick to two of the men’s backs, which had them stumbling before landing face-first into the grass.
The three of us—Viljan, Ivren, and I—all straightened, our weapons lifted, when the group flipped around to face us again. Geord sucked his teeth for a long second before turning his back once more. “We’ll get her another time,” he said loudly. “Perhaps we’ll come for the Solsken heir too.”
Ivren’s eyes shot to the sky before he turned to me. “I was warned they were going to be cocky, but I didn’t realize they’d try anything in daylight.” He sheathed his sword when I did, but as I was to thank him and start walking again, he pulled me close, eyeing my neck.
“That’s exactly how I want a man to look at me,” I joked when his worried blue eyes rose. “Admiring all my bruises and cuts.”
“Elvara,” Viljan said. “This is serious. That could have gone really badly.”
As if I didn’t know that. As if my gut wasn’t twisted into a million knots. As if one of my eyes wasn’t following the men as they retreated.
“I am serious,” I said instead of the thoughts racing through my mind. “I used to be in love with Ivren when I was ten. I would have fainted back then if he looked at me like this.”
As Viljan sighed, a single dimple deepened in Ivren’s cheek as he tried not to laugh.
It was true. Ivren had been one of Lika’s best friends, andwhen our parents met at the tings, I’d been hopelessly, desperately in love with him. He’d known it, too, and he’d always been kind to me.
The boy he’d once been peeked through all that muscle and those angled features—the one who’d been running across the fields, chasing me around whenever Lika didn’t force him to play battle and war.
“Are you all right?” he asked as he stepped back. “That was a lot.”
“I’m fine.” I moved my hair away from my damp neck. “That was… fine.”
“That wasn’tfine.” My brother’s friend shook his head. “But you pissed a lot of people off yesterday.” His forehead creased. “Didn’t seem like you, unless the past ten years have changed everything about you.”
I grimaced before I could help it. The last ten years might not have changed me entirely, but the past ten days had. I hadn’t been the innocent young girl Ivren knew for a long time—after seeing battle and death and the darkness of the world, I couldn’t be—but when I left my home, any last remaining traces of her had been erased.
There was an understanding in Ivren’s gaze I didn’t like, so I quickly switched the subject as we began walking toward the food tent. “What are you doing here? I thought your sister was inheriting the Solsken throne.”
Ivren’s smile was a thin, sad line.
“A sickness claimed my sister’s strength a handful of moons ago,” he said quietly. “The burden of the Solsken rule has fallen to me.”
“I’m sorry.” I tugged the collar of my jacket. “She was always kind.”
“She’s alive.” Ivren shrugged. “That’s all my family can ask for.”
I took a fast inhale at the sharpness winding its way throughmy chest, which made Viljan shift his weight. I needed to redirect this conversation before I did something stupid.
