Her door was at her back, calling for her to disappear behind its safety, unsure if she would survive whatever Herrick planned to say next. He took a step toward her that had Maude instinctively mirroring to keep the space between them. He continued his pursuit of her until the door to her room was pressed into her back, the long ropes of her hair chilly from the night air as it pressed to her exposed skin.
After the revelation of her fate runes, she wasn't sure where they stood anymore. Was he still angry with her? Or did he understand? A few weeks ago, she would not have questioned his understanding. But too much had happened now, leaving her unsure.
Slowly, never taking his eyes off of hers, Herrick lifted a hand and tucked a curl behind her ear. Her chest caved in, the sensation crushing her focus. Maude could feel the emotional barriers beginning to build again even as she tried to force them down.
Reaching past her to the vines of night flowers that grew intermittently up the walls inside the palace, Herrick plucked a jasmine flower from its resting place. The delicate white petals glowed in the moonlight that peeked through the constellation carvings in the ceiling until the small bloom glowed with life, its zesty perfume teasing Maude's senses. Before she realized what he was doing, Herrick pinned the flower behind the same ear he had tucked her hair before turning away and entering his room.
The door shut on her, and the tension that constantly lived between them made Maude's stomach clench. Unsure of what she expected to happen, Maude sighed as she turned to enter her room and the solitude it offered to get dressed for dinner with her father.
While Maude would normally let her thick hair dry naturally in its unruly haze of curls, the dinner seemed somewhat formal, so she dressed accordingly. She flicked her fingers in a short motion toward her freshly washed hair, drying it while she brushed out the tangles until her hair shone like the gleaming rubies found in the Kingdom of Flame. Deciding to leave it loose and wild, Maude pinned the jasmine flower that Herrick had plucked from the vines in the hall back into place behind her ear, where she had roughly braided back some of her hair to keep out of her face.
As she admired the floral he had placed there, the bubbling in her chest making her feel lighter than air and more ridiculous than she had ever felt before, Maude took a moment to trace the soft curve of her ear. Her thoughts drifted toward Aeric. Obviously, she got most of her coloring from him— the bronze skin, the circle of black around her moss eyes— but she had also resembled her mother so closely.
How fortunate her mother had been that Maude was born with rounded ears.
Remembering the journals Aeric had given Bryn when she was in stasis, Maude cut across the room to one of the boxes that held her mother's secrets. She and Bryn had perused most of them in the days before they went to rescue Herrick and found most of the contents were from her childhood and early teen years. A youngling who wrote down all of her coherent thoughts until they rambled together into gibberish.
The last box held a handful of journals whose covers seemed more cared for even when the pages were soft from frequent handling.
Maude eyed the gown she had picked for dinner before snagging one of the journals on top of the pile and settling into the window seat that overlooked the Elven city of night with a silken robe wrapped around her. The first entry was from when her deception had begun, right before she left for Hallifell. The loneliness in Sylvi's words brought tears to Maude's eyes as she read them by the light of the moon.
The days grow shorter as I continue my preparations for my departure on the new moon. Alva has become so occupied with her duties that even when I am in her company, she is distracted. Having lived at the Palace of Ocean and Clay for most of my adult life, I have few friends whom I can call trustworthy. Court politics frustrateme to no end, and Alva is the only person who appreciates my frankness, so most of my days are now spent alone.
At first, I was thrilled with the idea of a new adventure because this mission was paramount to my kingdom's survival. Now, I worry that my departure will only be the first step in a long line of mistakes to come. My instincts tell me that I am making the right choice; my fate has already been laid out by the gods for me. But in the darker parts of my mind, I second guess the gods' plan for me. What if they are wrong? What if I am being led to disaster?
Alva is no help when I bring up the matter; her duty is her fate, and she will not step out of line for even a moment to consider if this is what she really wants out of her life.
So, I am alone not only in flesh but in spirit as well.
Then the next entry, dated a few days later, made Maude laugh as she kept reading, holding onto the last connection to the mother she hadn't really known:
I still stink of horse and sweat.
The journey to Hallifell was an arduous one, but I arrived last night. The town is small, nestled up against a raging river that seems never to sleep, but the lodgings that Alva has found for me are more than comfortable in the freezing temperatures. Alongside trunks ladened with jewels and silks I never dreamed of owning, my ruse as a noblewoman passing through town on the way to Logi begins. I have spent the day acclimating to my new role, going over the rules of court that I had not been privy to before.
Tomorrow, I will enter the small town and start to lay the groundwork for being discovered by Flame Patrols. I know what I will have to do in order to gain their attention fast, but I would like to avoid burning the town to a crisp if I can. From what I have seen so far, it's a charming place. The snow sits heavy on the ground due to its location so far north, but my fire has always kept me warm. The trees of the Lamenting Woods are a protective barrier that I am familiar with, but the openness of the western plains beyond leaves a certain vulnerability that makes me uncomfortable.
The more she read, the more she wished to sit in this window all night, reading her mother's journals and getting lost in the past. But as the moon continued her trekacross the sky, Maude had to put down the journal to join everyone at the dinner her father was hosting.
As she dressed, Maude thought back on the last journal entry she had read with a secret smile:
Despite my disguise as a noblewoman, I have enjoyed going hunting with the other townspeople. Even nobles are taught the same basic hunting skills, so I thought it would be safe to drop my guise— if only for a moment— so I could be free of the manners and etiquette I spent most of my adolescence avoiding in Veter. The taut pull of my bow and the sharp edge of my knife are a language that I understand well.
Today, as I ventured out past the previous borders of the old Kingdom of Shadows, I discovered quite a surprise.
I had become separated from my hunting group, just east of the river where it bends south and disappears into the Lamenting Woods, when I came across another hunter. And gods above, what a sight this hunter was.
Creeping between the overgrown and wild brushes that lie on the outskirts of the woods, I was huddled next to the river as I tracked a large male reindeer that had separated from his herd, which was why I hadn't heard him sneak up. One moment, I was alone, about to make a kill that would supply the town for a few days, and the next, this hunter was facing me on the opposite side of the clearing.
His step that alerted me to his presence also alerted the reindeer, which took off into the woods, where I lost sight of him. The stranger entered the clearing, his peculiar eyes on me even as I hid in the brush. So I stepped into the clearing, an unfamiliar blanket of safety warming me as I faced this person who had ruined my hunt.
Even garbed in the thick furs and cloak, I could see that this man was a warrior. His hair was the deepest shade of black that seemed to shine like the moon itself in the dying sunlight. He had tied it back into a knot so that his silver eyes and strong jaw were on display. On the side of his neck, almost hidden by his hairline, he had a long scar that stretched from behind his ear to the back of his neck.
I noticed right away that his broad chest, narrow waist, and strong legs made him seem like the gods themselves had sculpted him. He carried two axes, one in each hand, and no other weapons except a serrated hunting knifethat was secured behind his lower back.
But the most remarkable thing about this stranger was not his ethereal beauty but rather his pointed ears that gave away his heritage before anything else.
My shock only incapacitated me for a moment before I had my arrow pointed at the center of his chest.
