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Hagen slipped his fingers through hers and led her out of the water.
“Maj!” Gunnar sprinted for the sea.
“Gunnar!” Herja's shoulders slumped as she released a small sob of relief. She was smaller than her son, but he lowered his head to her shoulder when she hugged him close. Much the same way as she’d done with Hagen, she held his face in her palms, kissing his cheeks.
Once Junius released her, Elise turned to me and Malin. Niklas and Junie muttered something, and Elise nodded, following them up the small slope where we stood.
“Nightrender.” Elise grinned with a bit of slyness.
I shadowed my eyes. “Queen.”
Valen laughed. “Gods, Kase, if you’re still trying to frighten Elise, she will only try harder to make you laugh.”
True, but I would win this battle of the bleeding woman turning me into something like a bright sunrise.
I pulled back the shadows and clasped forearms with the king. “It is good to have a king as an ally.”
“And a bleeding queen.” Elise smacked my shoulder.
Malin startled a bit. It was rare for anyone outside the guilds to treat me with such brevity. But she would grow accustomed to the North. We fought with them, helped them win their crown. They told us more than once it made us part of their folk.
“From what little we know, I wonder if we should’ve been called as allies sooner,” Valen said. His eyes were dark, like polished onyx when he looked at Malin. “We heard there is a new battle for crowns.”
The North had stood in this place only a few turns before. The difference between Valen Ferus and Malin was he’d been born into the life of a prince. Malin had been a thief, an invisible, forgotten daughter.
“There is.” I tightened my grip on Malin’s hand. “Malin, meet Queen Elise and King Valen of the North.” I looked to our Northern allies, bracing for their reactions. “This is Malin Strom, the true heir of the East and . . . my wife.”
The king arched one brow, but Elise scoffed and folded her arms over her chest.
“A wife for the Nightrender? This is a woman I must meet and question relentlessly.” Elise was shorter than Malin, and as innocuous as the Northern queen might’ve seemed, it was a ruse. I was promptly reminded by the flash of fire in her blue eyes that she was not a woman to be crossed. “Queen Malin, I should tell you, I find your husband to be disagreeable, quick-tempered, and in most settings, wholly unpleasant.”
For a moment a silent stun settled between us, then a laugh broke from Malin’s chest.
Three hells, I’d missed that sound. When was the last time she’d truly laughed? Weeks? Months?
She leaned her head on my shoulder, wiping her eyes. “Those are a few ways to describe him.”
“We all feel much the same about dear Kase, queenie,” Niklas told Elise when he climbed over the lip of a large rock. “Now, as much as I enjoy reunions and fond memories, we have a problem.”
Junie nudged Valen’s shoulder. “We do. What happened to the silent wraith I once knew? Whoever insisted on blowing the war horn has signaled the skydguard.”
“They’re horrid fellows,” Niklas said. “Testy. They, in fact, despise us and would like to see us bleed our way into the Otherworld.”
“Blame Halvar,” Valen said. “You know he enjoys a good entrance.”
Deep in the streets of the Skítkast township, another horn blasted against the thrum of battle drums. As if they knew we spoke of them, the skydguard patrols announced their approaching descent upon our armies.
“Where do you need the walls placed?” Valen asked Niklas.
“Walls?”
“Your boundaries. Where should we build them?”
Niklas frowned. “You’re going to destroy the unique, rank beauty of Skítkast?”
One side of Valen’s mouth curled in a smirk. “I vow to return it to all its glory. Eventually.”
My heart skipped when another bellow of the approaching guards wailed into the night. Shadows wrapped around my shoulders as fear grew potent.
