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Green eyes met mine twenty paces down. “You’re late, Nightrender.”
Malin was bloody, sweaty, covered in dirt. I’d never seen a more beautiful sight.
Valen trembled as he fashioned a few roughly cut stairs into the sides of the hole. The king didn’t ask to go first, simply demanded it when Elise stepped into the moonlight; he had his wife crushed against him by the time I was halfway into the hole.
“Valen,” Elise whispered, “why are you always covered in blood?”
“You don’t want to know.” His voice was rough against the crook of her neck.
Elise’s eyes caught mine over his shoulder. A furrow of worry shadowed her face. She knew her husband better than anyone. No doubt she would figure out how close he came to losing himself.
On the final step into the cavern, I caught Malin as she flung her arms around my neck.
“Gods.” I breathed in the warmth of her skin and reveled in the tender touch of her hands. I scooped her up beneath her legs, clinging to her like I would not be able to think, move, or live without her embrace.
“You don’t believe in the gods,” she murmured against my shoulder.
“Right now, I might.”
She pulled back, tears carving lines through the grime on her face. Malin brushed her thumb over my bottom lip, tugging on it, before she crashed her mouth to mine.
I leaned against the earthy wall to brace when I feared my legs might give out. Hand on the back of her head, I parted her lips with my tongue. I devoured her.
The kiss was rough and greedy. As if we wanted to claw our way into each other. When we parted, I tasted cloying blood. Mine or hers, I didn’t care.
“I am in your debt.” Valen’s voice drew my attention. He still had Elise’s hand in his, but his other arm had hooked around Ari’s neck. He’d drawn his friend into a crushing embrace.
“There is no, nor will there ever be, debt between us,” Ari said. “I was with two queens who are quite terrifying. They saved my skin.”
Malin snorted a laugh as she slid down my body, back to standing. “That is the first time I’ve ever seen you be so modest, Ambassador. I thought you might shout it to the world how you saved us in the trees.”
Ari smirked. “You’ve fallen into my plan perfectly and have done such things for me. Go on, tell everyone what a bleeding hero I am.”
“We’ll share all your heroic feats later,” Elise said. “We need to help Sofia.”
Ari’s face sobered. “You’re right.”
I held tightly to Malin’s hand as Ari turned back into the tunnel. He returned with a haggard looking woman.
Beneath the dirt and blood on her face, a brief, distant memory filled my head. A moment in the great hall of the Black Palace. The prince of the Southern High Court. He’d come, he’d stood before Ivar.
This was one of his female guards. Or at least what was left of her.
“Valen,” Elise said. “This is Prince Bracken’s inner guard, Sofia.”
“She’s been trapped here for some time.” Ari spoke as Malin went to Sofia’s side.
“Can you walk up the staircase?” Malin asked.
The woman nodded, but her breaths were ragged. Lips cracked; cheeks sunken. How long had it been since she’d eaten or wet her mouth?
“King of the Sea,” Ari said over his shoulder. “As promised. Your freedom.”
An imposing figure emerged from the cavern. His eyes, like a storm at sunset, were red and cloudy all at once. His skin was almost tinted a soft green color. Not of illness, but like sea foam or damp moss.
Questions would be answered later. I helped get the Southern guard and the strange man out of the troll’s burrow. At the surface, Tova and Niklas went to work with elixirs and herbs for the wounded.
Eryka let out a strangled cry when she saw Sofia. The princess and huldra embraced, laughing and swaying as tears cut through the dust and kohl on their faces.
