They sat, Rune pulling up a third chair to sit between Florian and Koji. She stared at the fire for a while before finally blurting out,
“Torsten is my uncle, but he raised me. He’s more like an adopted father, and I’m his heir.”
“That explains a lot,” Koji murmured, and Rune laughed. Florian chuckled nervously, too.
“And we’re not exactly... seeing eye to eye about some things right now,” Rune continued. “He wanted to set up a marriage between me and the idiot son of one of the more successful fishing families, and I refused. He was pissed, but what could he do? He knows if he pushed the matter I’d leave, and he has no other heir. He’s never married, has no children of his own—I suppose it’s not entirely too late, but I don’t think he wants to deal with any of that.”
“I... I see,” Florian stammered. It was a lot to take in all at once.
“Anyway, he knows I’m mad at him, and he’s mad at me. So, to be honest, I’m tempted to help you guys out just to get away from this all for a little while,” Rune said, gesturing around her. “I mean—that is why you came, right? I know that Jerah had a plan about gathering the Arrows. That’s why you’re here, isn’t it?”
“Well, yes,” Florian said. “Partly to ask for help, and partly to find the Arrows that are closest to the kraken kingdom.”
“I’ll help,” Rune said decisively.
“You don’t even know what helping entails,” Koji protested, and Rune shrugged.
“Manpower, right? You need help getting to the Arrows around here, and the rest of them. I want to get out of town for a while. Sounds like a perfect arrangement to me,” she said.
“Itwillbe dangerous,” Florian said. “I don’t want to turn you down, of course, but do you understand what it’ll reallybelike? It’s dangerous out there. We travel through the Blight, and there are all sorts of monsters. We’ve been hurt before. And my father... Jerah died out there. You’re sure?”
She seemed utterly unphased as she nodded readily. “Yep,” she said. “I’m sure.”
Florian stared at her uncertainly, trying to read her expression, but she met his gaze steadily with no hint of being concerned or afraid. After a moment, a smirk spread across her features, and she added in a teasing tone, “What? Afraid of having a girl on the team? Think you’ll all be so distracted by my good looks you won’t get anything done?
Florian laughed, shaking his head. “No, no, I’m just glad we ran into you first. If anyone else had told Torsten we were here, I think we’d be heading back home already.”
Her grin widened. “That’s for sure. Sounds like it was fate, then, huh?”
Florian smiled. “Yeah, I think it was.”
“So get me caught up to speed on how it’s going so far,” Rune prompted. Florian glanced at Koji, who shot him a nervous smile.
“There’s a lot,” Florian said, leaning back in his chair to get comfortable. It would be a long story. “I’ll try to keep it short.”
Chapter Twenty
Kade
“He’saskingforyou.”
Kade paused at the words, his chest constricting with dread. He’d been sitting out in the yard, watching as Amka tried to teach Yuka to skin a rabbit more cleanly—his pelts were always in pieces, she complained. The sharp knives glinted in their hands as they worked, fingertips stained with blood, two dead rabbits on the table in front of them, and two pelts already separated from their carcasses. Kade had been so focused on making sure they didn’t hurt themselves—and giving pointers as needed—that he hadn’t heard his mother step outside, nor her footsteps crunching through the snow.
Barely a week away, and he was already becoming complacent. She wasn’t even trying to disguise her steps. How useless would he be when he finally got back to Florian?
Meriwa met his gaze steadily, despite his silence. When he was young, he often thought she could read his mind—she was so good at understanding what he meant just from the way he looked at her. They rarely saw eye-to-eye now, but in that moment, he was sure that she could see his apprehension clearly.
But she kept looking at him expectantly, so with a sigh, he stood up. His younger siblings’ eyes were on him, so he turned to them first.
“You’ve almost got it,” he said to Yuka. “Just be careful and listen to Amka, okay?”
Yuka nodded. Amka’s bright eyes flickered from him to their mother, her brows drawn tight—she’d always been anxious, but it was evident more than ever now. Could he blame her? Would he have reacted any other way at sixteen if he’d known his father had weeks, maybe days, left to live?
“Did he say anything else?” he asked quietly, as he took a few long strides toward the house. His mother shook her head.
“Only that he wanted to talk to you,” she said. “I’ll stay out here, so come get me when you’re done. I could use some fresh air.”
He nodded. She’d sequestered herself away with his father near-constantly since Kade had arrived back in the village, not that he could blame her. If he knew Florian was dying, wouldn’t he want to spend every second he could at his side, too? The very thought made him feel like he couldn’t breathe. He pushed the feeling down as he stepped inside, took off his boots and winter coat, and slowly made his way to his parents’ bedroom, where his father was waiting.
