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“Yrsa told me how painful it was these last weeks, believing I cared nothing for her. She believed I was lying about everything.” Emi paused, a giddy sort of smile playing over her lips. “I told her of the soul bond.”
My brows lifted. “And? Does she feel it too?”
“She simply told me she thought that was what love felt like.”
“Will you ever seal it?” The trouble was, Yrsa and Thane were still betrothed. They would be expected to have young ones together.
From the lore of sealed bonds, to betray the heart, mind, or body of one’s bond, it could corrupt the tether, much like her father’s.
Emi sighed. “I don’t know if we can. Nothing has changed. She is still a princess, and I am not. We always knew the truth of it. And Thane is as wonderful about it as ever. I think seeing you and Roark has shown the prince how devastatingly deep the bonds can go. For now, I am at ease once again.”
“Good, Nightlark. Stay that way.”
Emi snickered and gathered another mat, striding over to Yrsa.
“I told you my terms, Highness.” In front of the great hall, the Lawspeaker argued with Thane.
“I’m not certain you understand the gravity of what we face. This sod is one of your folk, and he plans to claim every throne, every craft.”
The Lawspeaker folded his arms over his chest. “From what I’ve been told about this power, I suggest you see to it that he does not take off your arm.”
Thane looked affronted. “I cannot agree to this trade when you do not offer details of the deal. For all I know, you could be leading me into a position where I sell off my own fingers.”
The man’s head fell back in a rough laugh. “Ah, Prince of the Jorvans, you are a strange soul. I assure you it could prove equally beneficial for us both.”
When the Unfettered Lawspeaker stalked away, Thane approached, a deep frown carved on his face. His typically trimmed beard had grown more stubbled and darker since we’d reunited. His hair was not neatly braided, and he’d taken a liking to the pelt mantles of the Unfettered. With a wrap of bear fur around his shoulders, he appeared a little ferocious.
“What was all that?” I asked.
“My failed attempts at negotiating with allies. Have you seen these people throw spears? Gods, it’s incredible. We could use them.”
Roark tugged a strap on one of the fur mats tightly. And will they not stand against Fadey?
Thane’s jaw worked. “Their Lawspeaker will provide his forces if I agree to aid him with some sort of trade trouble in the Unfettered seaside village. For all I know, he plans to indenture my service as some fishmonger, and I fear I would be forced to leave Jorvandal to the whims of fishing season.”
Roark grinned, shook his head, but did not encourage Thane to make any promises in a tentative alliance. We did not know these lands, nor customs, well, and Thane was wise to err on the side of caution.
Are you ready? Roark asked the prince.
Thane’s eyes hardened. “I’ve been ready all night. Yrsa and I gathered all we brought. Do you have enough?”
Roark tossed a leather pouch filled with Draven copper between his hands.
“I follow you, brother.” Thane flourished one hand and kept a pace behind the Draven prince.
Unfettered Folk lined the path that wound to the back of the township. Gammal waited at the end of the path in front of Brokk’s longhouse. There, a long table, draped in a black cloth with stitched runes, was positioned at the gate.
Brokk sat on one side, smug and clad in a fine lavender top with a strange hat threaded in rich blue and green on the edges. Behind him, Jordis and Sindri stood, hands clasped, heads down.
“Still wish to pay the debt?”
Roark did not lift a hand to speak. He tossed the coins on the table. Thane dropped his offerings next, but then leaned in and sniffed. “You reek of the greed that haunts our lands now. Pity.”
Brokk scoffed and unlaced the pouches. “Yet you live in a palace with servants much the same, Prince. Do you think somewhere, someone does not care about them?”
Thane’s lip curled. “I do not mistreat those who serve me.”
The prince spoke with such venom that for a moment, Brokk’s superiority faltered. The man cleared his throat and turned his attention to the coins. After what felt like endless moments, he rummaged through the offerings, inspecting the coin, the silver, and the bangles from Yrsa.
