Page 70 of Soul of Fire

Arik nodded, shifting slightly on the lumpy pallet. “Baldur warned me when we first bonded. He was worried Einar might try to use it.”

“He didn’t?”

Arik laughed wryly. “I think he would have if the stuff grew in Ironholm. Probably too suspicious to have it imported, though.”

“How long until it wears off?”

Idunn stopped scratching at the mental bridge to listen, but both of us were disappointed.

“I have no idea. In a jernblod, if it doesn’t kill him and the dose is small enough, maybe three days?” Arik frowned, and I knew he worried for his uncle, if not his brother. “But knowing my father, the dose was not small.”

Three days is too many.Idunn sounded so forlorn that I couldn’t bear to tell her I thought it would probably be more.

“Perhaps Sigrid will know something that can help,” I suggested, remembering her penchant for deadly nightshade and other questionable poisons. “She once told me she had poisoned more than a few people, though less than a village.”

“Of course she did.” Arik hummed, looking thoughtful. As he pulled me closer, I could feel sleep dragging on my eyelids, begging me to succumb. “Sigrid seems to have all the answers, somehow.”

I prayed to the Hearthmother that she did. For all our sakes.

Chapter twenty-two

Revna

Thecoastlinecameintoview as the sun was rising.

We had flown along the Scar as we’d left Ironholm the night before, Kindra’s dragon eyes the only reason I could make out the black gash against the dark ice. While the rest of the Rift glowed blue, the Scar seemed to absorb light.

It also appeared to have grown.

The gash now reached to the edge of the Odemark, its depths plummeting into the Iron Sea where we could no longer measure. I had no idea how far it extended, or whether or not it had reached the mainland.

If it had, we would be able to see it by now,Kindra said, interrupting my thoughts as we skimmed the surf and scoured the coastline.

I tried not to be annoyed when an inadvertent thought made it to her. Keeping the boundary between my mind and hers was a challenge at the best of times, and we were both exhausted.

It’s not like the Rift,I reminded her, thinking of the black gash.It could be hard to see.

I would find it.Kindra sniffed haughtily as if insulted by my doubt, and I smiled despite my many anxieties.

Let’s just be sure. Then we can find our reirhold.

Ingmar’s bronze dragon swooped down to join us and roared something at Kindra.

Ilka says we have been flying this stretch of coastline for an hour now, and they are hungry. I am also hungry.

I rolled my eyes, wishing for the hundredth time I could speak to all the dragons like Eisa.You’re always hungry.

I have been flying for thirteen hours. You fly us home, and then tell me if you are not hungry.

Fine,I sighed, accepting defeat. Hopefully Ingmar’s math was correct, and we had a few weeks before the Scar reached this far. Perhaps I should station patrols here just in case.Tell Ilka to land. And let Bryndis know where we are.

Kindra snorted as she angled toward a rocky cliff, her voice going hollow around me as she extended her thoughts to the others.You are bossy today.

I’m bossy every day,I reminded her as we landed with a crunch. Several shards of gray shale sheared off from the edge and plummetedto the sharp rocks below. I was doubly thankful that Kindra had wings as she maneuvered us away from the edge and shifted.

My skin pebbled as icy flecks of spray from the sea below hit me. The wind was carrying the spindrift upward, and I pulled my clothes on as quickly as I could while shivering.

Kindra yawned in my mind’s eye as she settled into her usual spot inside me.Bryndis says they landed an hour ago. Their humans are hiding not far from here. A place with horses.