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“Malin!” Elise called from the other end of our makeshift camp. “They’re back.”
Herja’s fingers dug into my arm. Together we sprinted toward the trees.
Beams of sunlight burst into dozens of gilded prisms and shadowed the haggard figures of Kase and the others. My heart squeezed. Gunnar dragged his bow beside him. Hagen’s jaw was set as if it were made of stone, and Kase’s eyes were like the purest ink. But beyond them more shadows appeared, more people.
Isak stood a few paces behind me and let out a string of incomplete words as he battled his own tongue. In the end, he gave up and sprinted forward, finally shouting out a strangled, “Fiske!”
There would be news shared I didn’t want to hear. The dreariness was written among their countenances, but the smile cracking my face was inescapable at the sight of our folk from Skítkast. More so when Niklas, clever, unflappable Niklas Tjuv, hung his head for a few breaths, pressed a hand over his heart, and had to compose himself before he bolted after Isak straight into Junius’s arms.
The shadows masking Kase’s eyes faded when he saw me. Arms open, I wrapped myself up in his embrace. I speckled his neck with kisses, then pulled back, studying his face. “You come with bad news, don’t you?”
He brushed his palm over my cheek, tucking a stray lock of hair behind my ear, and kissed my forehead. “I don’t see a move, Mallie.”
The words came in a hushed plea. A quiet, humble admission meant for no one but me. Love for this man heated my skin. He was fearsome, blood that could never be washed away stained his hands, but to me he cracked his ribs and let me see fears and burdens he once shouldered alone.
I pulled him closer. “Perhaps, together, we can.”
With a wry smile, he nodded and faced the others behind him. We stood, hand in hand, watching as Niklas rejoined his guild, as Fiske held Isak’s face in his palms and kissed him against a towering evergreen tree as if no one else were around.
“Fiske had a premonition,” Kase explained. “They came on their own, and we found each other at Felstad.”
“What else did you find there?”
Kase’s lips tightened into a harsh line. He said nothing and tugged me back toward the camp. After a few frenzied moments of making way for our increased numbers, we were gathered around the fire.
The only one who remained on the edge near the shadows was Thorvald, a silent, stoic, unsavory outsider.
I held my breath and took it all in. For the first time since accepting I would only rise by finding the queen’s ring, this moment felt like a true council of leaders. Like a bleeding royal court.
“There is no other way to say this but the truth.” Kase rested a hand on the hilt of the blacksteel on his waist. “With our numbers, even with our mesmer, to take Felstad would be devastating.”
With the help of the others, Kase explained the forces of Southern Fae, the Alvers, and skyds guarding the ruins.
Herja held onto Hagen’s arm, her face as stone. “What about tunneling? Valen, you . . . you could break the foundation.”
“There are troll folk that would greet you there, no doubt,” Sofia said with a bit of venom. “My queen is not playing a fair game. Jötunn folk are forbidden from leaving their icy peaks in the South. Part of our peace treaties. If the trolls work with the giants, your bones will turn to dust.”
“We expected the South to fight with the Black Palace,” Kase agreed, “but we did not expect these . . . fae.”
“But we have fury,” Herja insisted. “And . . . your mesmer. Hagen can block magic, even fury.”
“We must be realistic,” Niklas said. “It will exhaust most of us. Yes, we have fury and mesmer, but so do they. And more of it.”
“But Valen could—”
“Even if I could break the ground beneath them,” Valen said softly, “it might bring down the walls on their heads. On Laila.”
Herja’s eyes welled with new tears. “Sol? Your blight?”
The Sun Prince looked at his sister as if her tears were shredding him to pieces. “I can try, Herja. For you, for Laila, I will. But you know the risks.” He hesitated. “You know once my fury is released it is almost impossible to control.”
“No. Valen could pull it back. He . . . he heals your blight.”
“Hecould try,” Sol said more firmly. “But what if we can’t get all of it? What if it poisoned Stieg, or the children?”
“Shadow walking?” Kase offered. “I could shadow walk into the ruins. I know the halls like I know how to breathe.”
“True,” Niklas said. “But then what? You walk right into a unit of skyds? Those soul-sucking fae?”
