Page 239 of The Sun He Buried

She doesn’t get there.

It hits me, and it’s coming from a long way off.

Solveih.

My hand slams onto the window frame hard enough to crack the stone under it. My knee hits the floor. Everything else drops away.

Her fear comes through the bond raw enough to break every wall I have. It has teeth in it. Cold. Pain. A frantic need for help, reaching in three directions and finding me in all of them.

I have known every frightened breath she has taken since she was nine. Each one cut through the bond and passed.

This keeps building.

Somebody’s still frightening her.

The mask ignites across my face.

Purple light spills across the gallery.

Asta says my name.

I’m through the door before she finishes it.

The west passage is full of servants carrying travel chests. One looks up.

He drops the chest.

“Stable,” I tell him. “Two horses. Now.”

He runs.

Asta catches the doorframe behind me. “What happened?”

Solveih’s fear drives harder.

Farther east than she should be.

Off the road.

Moving.

“Someone has her.”

Asta’s anger vanishes.

Her fear joins every other mind in the Hall.

“How do you know?”

I take the west stairs three at a time.

“Eirik.”

“Find Baldr.”

The lower gallery opens ahead.

Ketill’s a step behind me the whole way down.