Page 63 of Blood of the Fairest

"Why are you telling me this?"

"Because I did not kill the queen."

At this, he rears back and becomes furious. "What? Then I will kill her myself and⁠—"

"No, Hagen," I growl, allowing him to see the ferocity I usually reserve for the monsters I hunt. He falls quiet, startled. "The queen lives, but she is not the same cruel creature who imprisoned you and your family. She is Verena now, an innocent soul from a distant land who somehow fell into the queen's body. I forbid you to harm her, for you know what the Matron does to those who harm or kill innocents."

"She keeps their souls from reuniting with their loved ones after death," Hagen murmurs. A pained look replaces the anger as he sits on the edge of the bed, dejected. "Then…what of the real queen's soul? Where did she go? Will she never receive the punishment she deserves for all the terrible things she did?"

"Perhaps her soul has moved on. Perhaps she is already being punished, somehow."

That seems to be little comfort to him.

Finally, he takes a deep breath and looks up at me. "Tell me, where do I go from here? I have no family. I have nothing."

There are shadows under his eyes. The gauntness to his cheeks tells me he has not eaten, as he mentioned earlier.

"You have a cursed friend who will slay any fool who tries to harm you," I promise. I pinch the sleeve of his long-worn tunic. "And you will go bathe anywhere you find running water, for as your friend, I must tell you that you stink worse than Grendel's breath did."

The young man huffs, fighting the ghost of a smile. "I am serious, Beowulf. Should I return to Nordhjem, alone? I was too young to remember when my family fled the famine and the Roving, but some say the north is finally healing."

"Those who say that speak from their asses," I mutter. "You are better off in Isenmere for now, even with the scowls of the vain at every turn."

"Are you living in Isenmere? Can I stay with you?"

I cannot hide my shame from him forever.

"Until my dying breath, I shall now live wherever Verena commands me to. I owe her a life debt as penance for punishing her as the evil queen before I learned the truth. The pledge is already made."

He stares at me for a very long moment. I know how proud Gunar and his wife were of our ancestral tenets. They have taught their son well, so he knows that I'm no better than a loyal dog now.

I must be such, to make up for the evil I've done and appease Eldrunia, the great protector of women.

Finally, the boy nods slowly. "Then I want to stay in the castle, near you. Perhaps I can start training to be a squire. I could become a knight one day."

"You'll be lucky if they let you be a stable boy, smelling this much worse than horse shit," I say, patting his shoulder.

That almost gets his lips to turn up again, but I suspect it will be some time before he smiles fully.

I didn't notice when the puddle ghost left, but he reappears suddenly in the mirror.

"She's awake, Huntsman. But more importantly, I've been keeping a close eye on the queen's former Favored. Some of them are quite bitter about losing their political positioning in the castle. One just left Isenhold with a knife he swore to bury in Verena's heart."

I'm on my feet at once, running from Hagen's room.

16

Verena

I'm about to meet the Snow White.

My excitement is tempered a little by the fact that I'll be meeting the princess as her evil, murderous stepmother.

I'll get it if Snow White hates the queen so much that she wants nothing to do with me—but maybe if we make small talk, she'll feel more comfortable being back in the castle.

I just wish I knew what, if anything, Wulf said to her about me while bringing her back.

Does she think I'm the same bitch? Did he tell her everything would be fine and that she should just trust him? I really wish that man gave me some details before scaring the living hell out of me last night and disappearing this morning.