Herrick tried to keep his temper in check as Svend explained everything that had been going on under his nose ever since he started smugglingvitkiout of Logi.
"One of the General of Flame's assassins approached me a while ago when I was on patrol in the Lamenting Woods," he'd started. "Said he had an offer from the King of Flame himself to turn spy for him and report back on any activity in Veter."
Maude watched him as he continued to pace in front of the man who he'd thought was not just his loyal to Veter Lieutenant but also his friend. Even if they'd grown apart as ambition got in the way, it was Svend's cowardice that allowed the bastard to sacrifice his kingdom so easily.
"For a while, it was only little bits of information that they were asking for— what do our armies look like in numbers? Did we have any plans to break the treaty?" he explained. "Then they wanted to know about what you were doing specifically. I told them I didn't know what your trips were for because you never discussed them with me."
And wasn't he incredibly thankful for that right about now?
"Then, when the Heir of Flame arrived at your side," Svend said as he glanced at Maude, who only bared her teeth at him, both blades still in hand, the metal seeming to pulse with her display of fury. "I reported that she was here, that Alva had recognized her immediately as Sylvi's daughter. When they received that intel, they sent me orders that a group of Flame Assassins were going to be sent to Veter to extract the Heir of Flame and bring her back to Logi. So I told them where toenter the city, that I would have the patrols taken care of so they could enter without issue."
"Then why did the man I killed in the palace gardens try and kill me when he couldn't take me?" Maude asked, her curiosity leaking through her harsh tone.
"I don't know," Svend replied, avoiding her eye now as she crept closer to him.
The dark tip of theleifrHelaappeared under Svend's chin, forcing him to look up. Maude lifted the blade, and Bryn asked, "So you were the one who killed the River Soldiers stationed at that gate?"
Herrick shot Bryn a confused look as to how she knew that before returning his focus to the man he thought he trusted.
"Yes," Svend said, his voice pained.
"What did Helvig promise you?" Herrick finally asked, sure that he already knew the answer.
The tent lapsed into silence for one agonizingly long moment before Svend said, "He offered me the role of General of Flame when his brother stepped down. He said he didn't trust the current Lieutenant General to take over the position."
Bryn scoffed and rolled her eyes. "Of course, he didn't trust me; I worked to underhand him at every turn. I thought I was craftier than he was, but he probably never trusted me to begin with."
"Well, we are our mother's daughters," Maude replied, keeping her sword under Svend's chin and pushing the tip in slightly.
"So you betrayed your kingdom for your own ambition?" Herrick growled, getting into Svend's space. "Are you so selfish that the lives of your people meannothingto you?"
"No!" Svend protested, moving closer to Herrick, but he pushed his arms out and shoved the traitor away. If he got too close, there was no telling what he might do. "That's why I'm here!"
Maude got in front of him, blocking Svend from getting anywhere near him. Whether it was because she was protecting Herrick or protecting Svend from what Herrick might do to him, he wasn't sure, but he was grateful for the act.
"Then tell us!" she ordered him, her voice heavy with command.
"I showed them the way through the Woods so they could enter Veter when it was time to attack," Svend explained quickly with his hands up in the air as Maude pressed the blade closer to this throat again. "But somehow, they used the shadows to take children away from the camps. Waves and waves of families were ushered through the Flame camp, children and parents in black chains as they were ushered to Helvig's tent. No one would tell me why, but when I heard the screams of their parents, I ran. And I kept running until I got to you so you could help them."
Svend finished speaking with a huge breath that escaped him, his voice shaking as he relived the screams of the parents. But Herrick couldn't feel any pity for his Lieutenant at this moment because all I could think of was the darkness that had inhabited him when he'd been chained with the creature Vilde had ordered be placed in him. The voice that echoed his every dark thought, the being that fed on his pain like the finest of meads.
The man before him— a man who had been like a brother to him in their childhood— had betrayed him, their kingdom, and the families he'd sworn to protect. Herrick thought he might be sick as he thought of what those families were experiencing right now. Maude seemed to have the same line of thought because she pressed thedalkr Helato Svend's abdomen.
"You are the reason those tyrants have innocent children?" Maude said slowly, her voice cold and deadly. "You're the reason they suffer under Helvig and Vilde's cruelty?You'rethe reason those soldiers were killed during the Betrothal Ball?"
"I came here right away to warn you," Svend spluttered, his fear becoming a physical being in the tent as Maude pressed closer to him.
"Maude," Bryn warned, her watchful gaze trained on her sister.
The atmosphere seemed to hold its breath as Maude wrestled with her wrath and what she knew she had to avoid. But Herrick and Bryn both watched as she struggled against a losing battle and made her decision.
They were too slow to stop her.
"It's not good enough," Maude whispered as she leaned into Svend's ear.
She reared back before plunging both thedalkrand theleifrHelainto Svend, the metal cutting through his chest armor so brutallythat it came out the other side of him. She lifted him off the ground in her fury, his blood spilling onto her rage-twisted face. It was then that Herrick saw her eyes had gone black again. Svend choked on the life leaving his body as red poured out of the corners of his mouth, his eyes wide as they took in Maude's anger. But he must have been dying too slowly for her, so Herrick watched as she withdrew the dagger from his chest before dragging it across his throat.
The sound of his Lieutenant General gurgling on a crimson wave of his lifeblood as it poured out of him was the only thing that echoed around them in the small tent. Decades of shared memories barreled into Herrick as Svend met his stare for one fleeting second, his eyes pleading for forgiveness before they finally dulled.
