Yuri gave her a soft smile before heading back up to the deck. Liv spun and caught his arm before he could get too far.
"Where is Sigurd?" she asked, afraid for the answer when she realized he had not been aboard.
"He swam to shore before we reached you all at the palace," he replied. "Said he needed to finish closing up his pub and rounding up the remaining free citizens of Logi to escape north."
With that, the male ascended the stairs and disappeared from view.
"Did you just say 'Sigurd'?" a voice from behind her came as Liv turned to the bowls of soup.
She spun quickly, her reflexes returning to their usual keen speed. Astrid, flanked by her two children, stood under the beam of moonlight that filtered in through the opening to the top deck. Her dirty face and lank golden hair were still her most prominent features, but now that her children had been given the chance to clean up, Liv noticed how familiar they looked. She waved the young ones to the bowls of soup, tilting her head to thevitkibehind her before they started passing out the bowls to all the reluctant passengers.
As her children worked silently to pass the food out, Astrid pulled Liv aside and spoke in hushed tones.
"Did I hear you say the name 'Sigurd' just now? When you were speaking to the other Elven?" Astrid asked again, her voice straining to remain even as her blue eyes sparkled with growing tears.
"Yes," Liv confirmed. "What is that name to you?"
Astrid let out a long, shaky breath before she looked over at her two children again. The older daughter, her silver hair gleaming in the night in a way that was so similar to how Eydis's hair used to shimmer, caused a pang of sorrow to shoot through Liv's heart. To her right, the young boy, who had been so scrawny that he could hold on to his mother's shoulders, moved through the crowd with a familiar gleam in his eye that Liv had seen before.
The truth was splayed out before Liv, but before she could voice it, Astrid spoke again.
"My husband's name is Sigurd, and he runs a pub in the slums of Logi called—"
"The Broken Bones Pub. He runs the illegal fighting pits there," Liv finished, her wide eyes as she turned to Astrid.
Such heartbreaking, gentle hope lay in her dirty face as she turned to face Liv. Tracks of tears carved through the dirt that caked Astrid's pale cheeks as Liv realized exactly who this stranger was.
"You're his family," Liv whispered, unable to muster anything louder. "He thinks you're dead."
Astrid flinched but quickly steeled herself and straightened her spine from underneath her obvious grief.
"We thoughthewas dead when he never came for us," Astrid sniffed, pulling Liv further into a dark corner, away from her children.
Sigurd's family is alive, and he just missed reuniting with them. Liv cursed the gods who had laid out this missed connection.
"He tried, but no one would help him," Liv explained quickly, her shock beginning to ebb. "He thought you were dead. He's been smuggling othervitkiout of the city ever since you were taken from your home."
Astrid chuckled as another tear escaped from the corner of her eye. "That sounds like him."
"We've been working with him for years," Liv said quickly. "How did you manage to stay alive for so long?"
Astrid stiffened then, her gaze growing darker as she relived old trauma. Her blue eyes shuttered for a moment before clearing again.
"Because we were her playthings," she breathed. "Vilde, the promised Elven Queen Consort to King Helvig."
12
Harald Helvig, the rightful High King of Ahland, launched three fireballs at the line of soldiers in formation before him. Flames flickered in his periphery as his so-called "loyal" soldiers scattered to avoid his raining Hel-fire. The only one who remained still was his High General, Baldr.
A shield of golden flames surrounded his General as Helvig's rage turned down to its ever-present simmer.
The sun was just setting on the day Harald was supposed to be crowned High King. The General of Rivers was to be his sacrifice to the gods in front of the citizens of Logi as an act of good faith that he continued to be the benevolent ruler they all adored. He had planned this spectacle as a way to show that everything would remain as it was before, but only now did he have greater jurisdiction. Already, he had sent missives with his most trusted personal soldiers to the neighboring towns to announce his new title with strict instructions to report any knownvitkiin the area to surrender themselves for punishment.
The thieves had flaunted their stolengalderin the shadows of his rule for so long, but now that he was the strongest force in Ahland, Harald would tighten the loop around their necks until they showed their faces.
"As I was saying, Your Majesty," Baldr continued, flicking a piece of ash off the shoulder of his pitched black uniform. "The prisoner had help escaping when the palace was attacked. The group knew which patrols were cycling through to find the perfect window to sneak in and free the General of Rivers."
Harald clenched his jaw until the pain radiated down his neck and into his shoulders. The burn from his fire settled in his shoulders until thin wisps of smoke curled up from his shoulders and into his hair, the golden copper locks loose around his jaw. The scar given to him from Maude pulsed a few times, the damaged tissue aggravated from him rising temper. He swallowed the discomfort, using it to fuel his anger further.
