The crackle and burn of the flames that used to smell like burning cedar and smoke now smelled like his scorched flesh, the sickly sweet taste of his skin burning away filled the back of his throat. What were once beautiful golden spires of heat that danced like Maude's fluctuating emotions now brought forth the memory of dark gray eyes and black hair, long fingers pressed to his ribs and his chest as question after question was shouted at him.
Herrick couldn't help it— he flinched away from Maude.
Wide, green eyes turned to him, the fire in front of her dancing in the dark irises that seemed to flash between their stunning dark green to dark gray. Still reeling from the shock of the fire coming so close to him, Herrick thought he was looking at Baldr when he stared at Maude shrouded in shadows. In a flash, she returned to her normal features and he had to swallow hard as he saw the hurt enter her eyes followed by the widening of realization as it slammed into her.
Fuck. He was not prepared for how he would react to her fire.
For weeks, Herrick had tried to keep the memory of Maude and her fire separate from Baldr's flames as he tortured him over and over again. At some point, the wall between them must have slipped in his mind. The hurt that crossed her face told Herrick that she had not expected him to react that way— he couldn't blame her, nothing could have prepared him for how her flames made him feel so soon after his imprisonment.
They were plunged into darkness again as Maude extinguished her fire, leaving Herrick feeling like the walls that had started to turn in on him were finally being pushed back again.
"I know the way," Maude whispered, her voice hoarse. "I can lead us in the dark."
He could feel her moving away from him, that tether between them pulling at his gut until he followed her and caught her hand in his again. She was stiff under his touch, but her hand slowly loosened as she gripped his fingers tighter than before. As she led them through the darkness, Herrick ran his finger over the inside of her wrist and over her pulse. It was rapid, but it was real and proof that she still lived and breathed in this realm.
How was he supposed to explain himself to her? How was he supposed to tell her what had been done to him? How was he supposed to tell her that he had given up at the end, that Baldr had almost broken him?
After what could have been hours later, they emerged from the dark halls into the light of the late afternoon heat. The dry desert air was a relief after weeks of breathing the damp air of the cells. Herrick would have to bask in it later, though, since Maude was already pulling him behind the soldier's barracks.
He knew that Helvig was hosting a false coronation for himself today, but the barracks should have still had some patrols or officers nearby. Herrick quickly put together the pieces of information he already had: the anonymous helper, the perfect timing of his rescue, and the lack of guards in areas that normally had them.
“There’s someone on the inside helping you,” Herrick whispered as they crouched in the heavy brush surrounding the barracks, searching for any soldiers.
“Yes,” Maude bit out.
Her answer made him uneasy. There was more to it than just an innocent bystander helping them. She looked at him then, her hair burning ruby under the heavy sunlight, even under the hood.
“Later,” she whispered, seeing the questions in his eyes. “Trust me.”
Though the act should have been easy for him, Herrick found himself hesitating. There was a lot of this story missing, but Maude had come for him. He should be able to trust her as he always had.
But that was before she had run from him.
Hurt flashed in her eyes again at whatever she saw in Herrick's hesitation, but he squeezed his hand in reassurance.
She looked away, signaling with a sharp burst of a whistle, and waited.Silence rang for longer than it should have if the tension in Hakon and Maude’s shoulders were any indicator. Then, a short, repeated whistle came from a distance over the low wall that led to the docks.
Hakon and Maude relaxed before they started moving again. They cleared the wall and landed on the soft sands of the shore that housed the unused docks belonging to the palace. In the water, a gorgeous two-deck longship floated in the distance.
Standing side by side, Hakon and Maude wrangled theirgalderand together brought the vessel close enough for them to swim out to it. The tension that had been between them disappeared as Hakon pulled the tides around the longship toward him, and Maude shifted the wind into the sails to make the process faster.
Soon, the ship was loosely docked with the onboarding ramp lowered so they could board. Liv and Bryn would have to arrive quickly before they ran out of time.
“Geton board, Herrick,” Hakon said, his tone unyielding.
“I’m not leaving her side,” he responded, his eyes never leaving Maude’s form.
“Listen to him, beast,” Maude said through her teeth, the effort to keep the wind from pulling the ship back out to sea wearing her down quickly. “We came all this way for you. I can’t risk letting you get caught in any more fighting and have you end up in their—”
She cut herself off before she could say more, but Herrick knew she was close to begging him to stay on the ship. Her pride wouldn’t allow it, though. He saw the desperation in her eyes and nodded quickly, retreating onboard. As the lower decks of the longship closed around him, the iron around his neck burned hotter, swallowing hisgalderand his strength in huge torrents. Until he could get the iron off his throat, Herrick couldn’t help but feel like he was just in another cage.
Bryn stepped silently through the deserted halls leading to her chambers. She had made an impulse decision to go to her rooms, her gut pulling her through the corridors she had grown up in. She didn’t know what was waiting for her there, but she knew it was important. Some intrinsic part of her knew the path would be safe. She tried not to examine the feeling too closely.
Coming up to the entrance closest to her room, she thought of Revna again. Bryn knew that being here was going to bring forth some of their memories, but the otherworldly presence that clung to thewalls here felt too conscious to be just a reminder.
The markings over the door indicated she was in the right place, so she pressed her ear to the wall and listened. When absolute silence rang out, she gently pushed the secret entrance open to an empty corridor right in front of her door.
Drawing her sword, Bryn inched her way over to her room. Prepared for any kind of trap, she pushed open her door and found only stale air and the scent of her clothes to greet her. For a moment, Bryn was insulted that her father cared so little for her that her belongings remained untouched in the face of her deceit. Then she remembered that her father was likely so wrapped up in his power that he had probably forgotten Bryn’s betrayal and deemed it unworthy of further thought.
