Finally, Liv plopped down onto the cushions next to her and tossed a piece of warm bread at Bryn before sliding over a plate of cured meats and hard cheeses, followed by a bottle of ale that smelled strongly of hops.
"What in the name of the gods is that?" She asked as she passed it back to Liv without taking a sip.
Liv grinned and took a long drink. "It's an ale that is only made on this island; the ingredients don't travel well, but they export the ale to Nida. The mushrooms that are used for the pipe smoke that you've probably been smelling all night are also included in the fermentation process. It's strong; you don't need to drink a lot of it to feel the effects."
She held it out to Bryn again with a wide smile, shaking the bottle a bit until froth sloshed out the top. Bryn laughed, a short and sparkling sound that made Liv's smile falter for only a moment before it surged again, wider than before. Seeing no other option than to drink the strong concoction, Bryn brought the bottle to her lips, tipped the contents back, and swallowed quickly.
She never took her eyes off the Elven shieldmaiden, so Bryn did not miss it when that spark ofsomethingshe couldn't identify flared in Liv's gray eyes.
Bryn coughed as the ale washed over her tongue, bitter and hoppy, before it bubbled all the way down to her stomach. She used the excuse to avert her eyes, the heat building in her core forcibly being smothered to ashes even as the ale worked quickly to keep it ignited. It was too soon after Revna, and she barely knew Liv, she reasoned with herself.
"Which spaces have been occupied?" Bryn asked as she handed the dark glass bottle back to Liv and took a bite of the bread in her hand.
"Aeric is alone right now, but there is space for another. Maude and Herrick took the spot closest to the exit. No surprise there," Liv said with a chuckle, her eyes on the fire in front of them. "Dahlia and Gunnar took up the remaining middle space. The last one against the far wall is empty for now…"
The unsaid words hung between Bryn and the dark beauty next to her. She couldn't stay with Hakon; they would kill each other, but she also couldn't stay with Aeric. It would be awkward to share a sleeping space with her sister's father. Of course, the problem Bryn was facing wasn't bunking with either of those men, but rather that shewantedto stay with Liv in the last unoccupied space.
She took the opportunity to really look at Liv when all of her friends weren't around or when she didn't have to be the ruthless warrior she was to keep them alive. With the bottle of ale in hand and her legs propped onto the edge of the hearth, the flames almost licking the bare soles of her feet, Bryn could see that Liv was trying to give off the persona of a non-caring and aloof fighter. Though her long limbs looked relaxed, she knew that Liv was actually coiled tightly. Bryn knew at the slightest threat that she would snap out of whatever mildly intoxicated state she was in to protect them all.
Looking past the casual exterior that was meant to lull unsuspecting killers and assassins of the night into complacency, Bryn really saw Liv for who she was: a fiercely loyal friend who would kill for anyone she loved, but also the softer side of who she might have been if her life hadn't taken this course. On the long nights that Bryn sat with Maude while she was in stasis, the only company she kept was Liv when she brought her food or sat with her sister long enough for Bryn to relieveherself or sleep a few hours. In those moments of quiet, Liv had told Bryn a lot about her life.
She suspected that her newfound freedom to talk about herself was hard to pass up, especially with someone who didn't know a thing about her. Because of this, Bryn felt like she could see the female beneath the exterior of a shieldmaiden.
Maybe she was the only person who could see this side of Liv; she didn't know what her relationship with the Kolbecks was like other than what it seemed to be at face value, but Bryn would wager that it didn't go as deeply. Liv had been forced to be closed off for so long it would be hard for the Kolbecks to see anything but the woman they knew and fought with for years.
Extending a hand toward the bottle Liv was drinking out of, Bryn said quietly, "I'll probably be sitting out here for a while longer since I'm assuming we won't want to hear Maude and Herrick tear each other apart."
Hearing what Bryn was actually saying, a small smile reached Liv's eyes, softening her already brutally beautiful face. Bryn's breath caught in her chest as her lips parted slightly. When Liv handed her the bottle, their fingers brushed, sending licks of fire up her arms until her heart was racing in her chest. Her long fingers lingered there a moment before she pulled them back to push herself up off the cushions.
"I suppose we'll need another bottle then," Liv said breathily before clearing her throat.
Perhaps the unshakeable Elven warrior was as affected as Bryn was.
As soon as Liv turned away, a frigid breeze entered the cabin through the open, thatched ceiling, sending chills up Bryn's arms as the scent of juniper surrounded her. Bryn stood and walked to one of the windows that lined the walls. She cracked one, the wood sliding against itself smoothly as she raised it high enough for her to stick her head out into the cold night. It wasn't until she breathed in the brisk air that she realized the ale with the mushrooms brewed into it had taken hold of her faster than any other drink could.
While it was not unusual for the scent of juniper to float in the forest this far north, the way it swirled around her as she thought of Revna made her hair standon end. Was she still here on this plane of earth, or had she moved on to whatever afterlife awaited them?
Bryn tried to shake the thought from her mind as she remembered the letter that Revna had left for her in her room. She withdrew the folded letter from her dead lover from her pocket, her hands shaking as she traced Revna's soft scrawl. Every night since she had found this letter hidden in her room, Bryn held it in her hands in hopes that the courage to open it would find her. She held this letter in her hands so often now that the edges had become soft, the ink on the front a little more faded than before.
A hazy memory from one of her last nights with Revna flashed to the surface, blinding Bryn for a moment as her drunken mind released the memory from her subconscious.
"Are you a seer?" Bryn asked.
"I could have been."
"And now?"
"No, not anymore. The gods bless me with visions from time to time, but I don't have the training to interpret them," Revna sighed.
The bottle slipped from Bryn's loose grasp, tumbling to the floor and spilling the brown liquid onto the thick carpet as another memory was pulled forward.
Bryn looked up to see Revna with afar-off look in her eyes. They seemed almost glazed over.
"Revna?" she asked.
She snapped out of the trance she was in.
"It would work," she said excitedly.
