The key fit easily.
It turned easily.
But the door’s hinges hadn’t been used recently.They squealed as I pushed the door open.
The scent of wrongness found me long before my mind untangled the sight before me.
A barren room with walls of stone.The light from the braziers in the hall flickered on the floor, on the bones that lay in neat lines.There were skulls—one with a crack in the forehead and a crystal tucked into the crack.Casting stones lay next to their presumed owner’s remains, along with other objects that had a similar feel.Cards.Feathers.Star charts.
I shut the door and locked it as the trinkets inside hummed snidely.So now you know, they seemed to be saying.But I ignored them.I knew nothing.
Forty-Two
My heart was still racing when I made it back to our rooms—our messy rooms overflowing with gifts for Halvar or me or Fell.
“Ah, there you are.”Fell was holding wailing Halvar gingerly.“He has become angry with me?—”
“He is hungry,” I said, not wanting to feed him in my terrified state, to have any of my feeling going into him.
“Yes, I thought so too?—”
Any hope of holding off on feeding him dissolved as milk started leaking from me.The sound of his cry was too much for my body.
“Any luck?”Fell said, seeming much calmer than when I’d left.
“None,” I said, unlacing the front of my dress and taking Halvar.I nestled into the chair and tucked my legs in as Halvar struggled to latch a few times, growing more irate with each failed attempt.“And much worse than that.”Panic flooded through me once more as I thought of how to begin.“Arik is cross with me… I have been so, so… Listen to me.”
Fell’s eyes had wandered to Halvar, away from my face.
“He is handsome, is he not?It is distracting.”
“This is serious.I have offended King Arik.Gravely.”
Fell’s eyes settled on me.“Offended him how?”
“I wrote a letter.I heard those from my country, my family among them, were to attack, and I did not tell Arik.I wrote a letter to my brother, asking him to stop it.”
Fell blinked at me.“You can write?”
“Yes—”
“That is impressive?—”
“Right now, it is not.It is dangerous.”
Fell sighed softly and came closer to me, crouching and resting his hands on my thighs.How much calmer I felt with his hands on me.“Dangerous things can be impressive,” he said.“But yes, thinking about it… this would bother Arik.You know how paranoid he is already.He will forgive you?—”
Fell’s calm was annoying me now.“Do not assume?—”
“Mira, I have known him a long while.He will forgive.It will take time.A fair amount of time, but I have seen him forgive people for things.He adores you.He adores me.He adores Halvar.And you know how to write, and you had news that was rare to have.He is probably somewhat impressed with you as well.”
“That is not what he said…”He said we would forget it.He said he would forgive me.
“Of course not.Arik finds it challenging to give compliments to others.”
I set my forehead against Fell’s shoulder, Halvar still feeding between us.Fell’s hands ran up and down my back.“In the end, it will be well,” he said.“I will tell Arik not to frighten the mother of my children.I will tell you that next time—if there is a next time—let me know of possible attacks as well.We have a son now to protect.”
I lifted my head off Fell’s shoulder, looking down at our child.If the order came, would his black hair spare him?Or would they think of him as a sea dog?
