Chapter 15 | Ravinica

Chapter 15

Ravinica

I WOKE TO A POUNDING in my head, a dull throb behind my eyes. Letting out a raspy groan, my voice hoarse from disuse, I opened my eyes to find a number of people surrounding me, looking down at me from above.

Head swimming, I took in my surroundings—white walls, bright lights, gurney. “ Fuck ,” I groaned, my first waking word. “I’m here again?”

It might not have been aboveground in Eir Wing, but the shitty plastered white walls weren’t fooling anyone. I knew where I was.

Rolling my head back on my pillow, I let out a frustrated sound.

Chuckling filled the room from a familiar female voice.

“Randi, now is not a time to be laughing,” said another voice, this one from Arne, stationed near my feet. He had a scowl on his pretty face.

My friend pushed her way through a wall of muscle beside me and poked her dark face between the shoulders of Grim and Sven. She looked so tiny between them. “Sorry, I laugh at inappropriate times. Someone has to keep things light!”

It was hard to keep a frown when she beamed at me like that. Her hair had some blue mixed in with the red ends now.

Struggling to stay angry, I sighed and shook my wobbly head. “What happened?”

“You’ve been out cold for a bit, bestie.”

“How long is . . . a bit?”

“Two days,” said a morose voice, from my other side.

I whipped my head over to Dagny, my eyes wide. I was blanketed, but I felt something tight around my middle—a bandage, if I had to guess.

“Shit,” I croaked. “What happened to me?”

“Everyone give her space to think, dammit,” Sven growled, shaking his head.

It was unlike him to be the voice of reason. I raised my brow at him, shifting where I lay. He had a worried look on his face. Sven never looked worried about anything. Angry? Sure. He had that in spades right now, too. I could see it in his dark eyes and the shadow cast over the ridge of his brow.

Slowly, as the room fell quiet, fragmented memories drifted back to me. I recalled my first day of class, shipbuilding with my new Hersir, Ingvus Jorthyr. Ingvus getting pissed at Grim . . . walking with Grim, talking about his upbringing . . . running into my brother Damon . . .

“Oh sweet gods,” I hissed. “I lost my duel to fucking Damon ?!”

“Not through any fault of your own, little sneak,” Grim grumbled, flaring his nostrils. “The bastard poisoned your morning meal. He challenged you, and you accepted.”

“That doesn’t sound like me.”

Sven barked a humorless laugh. “Impulsive? Sounds exactly like you, menace.”

I smirked to show him I was joking. It was all I could do to keep from losing my shit over losing a fight against my younger sibling. A man I had never lost a fight to.

“How many people saw my humiliation?” I asked, my throat dry.

Grim looked away. “That’s not import—”

“How. Many.”

His big shoulders slumped. “Damon’s two friends, me, Eirik, and his three comrades. Don’t worry, love, no one needs to know—”

“Everyone fucking knows, big guy,” Randi cut in. “Be real.”

Grim’s shoulders slumped even more in defeat.

“Your reputation is not important right now, Vini!” Arne yelled. “What’s important is you’re alive. Gods, woman.” He put a palm to his forehead, exasperated with the way this conversation was going.

I narrowed my eyes at him, but everyone else in the room nodded their heads slowly.

“That,” Sven said, “and the vengeance we’re going to exact on your enemies. That’s also important.”

I blinked at the group surrounding me. My faithful friends and lovers. There were two important people missing: my bloodrender mate, who I vaguely recalled was aboveground on a mission. And . . .

“Where’s Corym?” I asked. I didn’t expect much, because I knew he had trouble leaving the confines of his dwelling these days, being watched by guards all the time.

Yet all the faces sank, eyes darting away.

All except Dagny, who said, “He saved your life, most likely, Rav. The elf is an incredible healer. I learned twice as much about herbs and medicine from him than I have in my acolyte training. He managed to siphon out the poison from your bloodstream.”

I was silent for a moment, frustrated. “I’m grateful,” I said, “but that wasn’t my question, Dag.”

Of course I appreciated what Corym did for me. That was without question. But their faces were dancing around my simple inquiry.

So, Grim told me the story of how I ended up here. How he scooped me up after I got stabbed by Damon, and rushed to the only place he could think to take me. How Corym E’tar followed him out of his “dwelling,” and how he managed to get out of his cell.

Which brought us to the reason for all the long faces.

“He poisoned his watchers to get here,” Grim said. “Using some sort of fungi tincture? I’m not sure. He stayed by your side while you slept, like the rest of us, until the Huscarls came calling.”

“The Huscarls?” My voice was meek.

“A contingent of them led by Hersir Jorthyr. The Warden hauled him away after a tense standoff outside this room, after Ingvus got wind of what Corym had done to his watchers. It happened last night.”

My body flexed with anger. “And you didn’t do anything?”

Grim reached out a calming hand, put it on my arm. “He asked us not to, love.”

“Asked?” Sven spat. “More like demanded.”

“He didn’t want bloodshed while you were resting,” Arne explained. “He was a bigger man than all of us.”

“Bigger fool you mean!” Sven roared, whipping his snarling face over to the iceshaper. He punched a hand into his open palm, which made me wince from the loud clap. “We could have slaughtered those fuckers.”

“And then what?” Grim asked.

“I’m not saying we should have . I’m saying—”

“It’s not helpful,” Dagny interjected. “Arne is right, and so was Corym. He did what was best.”

“Yes,” Sven shot back, “and now he’s likely getting tortured because of our sudden timidity. We were cowards, Largul.”

My eyes swiveled from one talking head to the next, the headache building, their faces floating between me as I tried to come to grips with what had happened. Corym saved me . . . and sacrificed his freedom, again , for my sake?

Gods, how would I ever repay that man? Why did he keep subjecting himself to pain and suffering for me?

I knew the answer, but it didn’t make the feeling sit anymore comfortably with me. I loved Corym as much as he loved me . . . yet, where would this end?

The elf wasn’t playing by Vikingrune’s rules. It was putting him in danger. I was putting him in danger with my reckless actions. I knew the duel had been a bad idea, and I went through with it anyway because I thought the only way to stop Damon’s pestering was to put him on his ass again.

That really fucking worked, I thought sullenly. Now he’ll be more argumentative and boastful than ever. He’ll become more than just a nuisance now that all the cadets probably think he’s my better.

Not to mention he had possibly tried to kill me.

It pissed me off. Here I was, in a familiar place, from a familiar situation I’d put myself in, risking everyone else’s freedom again.

I fell quiet, bowing my head toward my chest.

After a few minutes of soul searching, I managed to identify a nagging feeling I had in my head, weighing me down. I need to start thinking about my friends more before I act in such reckless ways. My decisions can’t just be based on what I want anymore.

If I’m going to truly lead a “rebellion” some day, and try to bring the elves and humans together, I need to think of the ramifications of what I plan to do before I do it.

I let out a heavy sigh.

“I’m sorry to put this on you so soon after waking, little sneak,” Grim murmured. His voice brought me back to the present. “We all are.”

“It’s okay,” I choked out. “I’m the one who should be sorry.” A dismal feeling washed over me—depression mixed with the cold of the underground. I needed to snap out of my funk, but I knew it would be tough.

I also need to allow myself to sit with my feelings for a while.

I had come to a moment of self-reflection I didn’t like about myself. That was always tough.

Sniffling, I smiled around at the faces of my friends “I’ll be okay, gang. I promise. I’m sorry . . . again . . . for my stupid actions. It’s jeopardized everyone. Now I have no idea how we’re going to help Corym.”

“What you need to do, little menace,” Sven pointed out in his rough tone, “is stop putting the weight of the world solely on your shoulders. You can’t do everything alone. Let us help you.”

He was right. My aggressive, egotistical, possessive wolf shifter mate was right. And when Sven fucking Torfen was showing me the pragmatic, reasonable thing to do, I knew I was in serious trouble.

I gave him a small smile. “Okay. I’ll try to let everyone in more.”

He clapped, as if he’d bested me. “Good. Then on that note, tell me how you want him dead.”

My eyes bulged. “W-What?”

“Damon,” he said, crossing his arms over his chest. “You want his entrails ripped out? His head on a platter? How about his heart? I’ll bring you a heart if you want a heart.”

I gawked as he spoke so casually about brutal murder. Everyone around the bed gaped at Sven too, with varying looks of disbelief. This was not what I had meant about letting him in.

Grim said, “You’re fucking impossible, wolf.”

Dagny and Randi both started to say something.

I sensed the room about to fall into chaos, so I waved my hands in the air to shut everyone up. “No, no, no,” I yelled above the din. “No one is killing Damon, dammit! Do you understand?!”

The room died down. Sven looked at me blankly, like he did not understand, and he didn’t even know who I was.

With a heavy sigh, I put my hand on my forehead and scratched, wincing. With friends like these . . . “Look. I appreciate all the talk of retribution. Truly, I think your heart’s in the right place, Sven—”

“Damon’s heart will certainly not be in the right place when I’m done with him. It will be at your feet. Where it belongs.”

“—he’s still my brother .” I circled my wrists at our surroundings. “This is already looking eerily similar to the Astrid situation. I don’t want a repeat of that. See?”

“Not really. Astrid got the fate she deserved. She got the fate your brother deserves.”

I couldn’t believe he was being so obtuse. So purposefully argumentative. Gritting my teeth, I said, “I will deal with Damon how I deem fit. You are not to touch him. Is that clearer?”

Sven flared his nostrils. He hated being challenged.

The wolf gave a curt nod, then turned around to push past Grim and Randi.

“Where are you going?” I called out.

Sven glanced over his shoulder. “I need to break something. Or someone. I’m trying not to lose it for your sake, menace, but you’re making it difficult. So I bid you farewell, for now, to rest.”

With that, the wolf shifter up and left the damned room.

I was flabbergasted. “Did everyone else just see that? What in Hel happened?”

Grim snickered. “I think he’s trying out empathy for a change, little sneak.” His smile hit the corners of his mouth. “I’ll try to make sure he doesn’t get himself into trouble. Or at least too much trouble.”

“Would you please? I already have an elf I need to figure out how to rescue. I don’t want a wolf in the same mix.”

“Copy that,” the huge man said, and then he exited.

Leaving me alone with Arne, Dagny, and Randi.

“Those two. I swear,” I muttered, mostly to myself.

Arne nodded. His face was gloomy, which was a shame since he used to be the most fun-loving of my mates. Something was irking him greatly these days, and I knew what it was—the situation with Frida and the Lepers Who Leapt. The situation that got Corym in jail in the first place.

“When the revolution comes, they’ll be useful,” the iceshaper pointed out seriously. “Until then? Loki’s brass balls, lass, I can’t figure out for the life of me why you keep them around.”

He shot me a tiny smirk, but Dagny didn’t catch it.

“Because the big one saved her life, and the angry one is ready to throw his away to make things right,” she said, making a good point.

Arne lifted a finger. “And because they’re hung. She keeps them around for that too, I wager.” He smiled deviously. “Not that I would know.”

Silence.

Dagny looked struck, lips dropped, face burning pink.

I broke out laughing incredulously. My laughter became infectious to Arne and Randi, and the three of us snickered while Dagny just stood there looking mortified.

There’s the iceshaper I know and love.

“Any word from the surface-dweller? Magnus?” I asked Arne once the giggling had ceased.

He shook his head. “Bloody bastard probably wouldn’t tell me anything anyways. You know how vague and mysterious that guy is.”

“I hope he’s all right.”

“I’m sure he’s fine, love.” Arne put his hands on my feet, drumming my toes under the blanket. “You need to rest and stop worrying about the rest of us. Worry about yourself.”

“Sorry, no can do. I just came to the realization that I need to worry about you all more than I have been.”

“Okay. Then worry about us later. Rest now. Please?”

Our gazes locked, his blue eyes imploring me.

“Well, since you asked so nicely . . .”

“Arne’s right, Rav,” Dagny said. “If you want to get out of this bed within the next few days, you’ll need plenty of rest. And fluids.” When Arne nailed her with another waggle-brow, she blushed like a tomato. “ Clear fluids, like water and something with electrolytes, you pervs!”

Arne laughed again.

Things had started to lighten up now that everyone knew I was safe. I was thankful for that.

Randi pulled out a huge sack of something heavy. With a groan she heaved it onto a small table next to me, making the table’s skinny legs bow from the weight. “Besides,” she said, smiling impishly, “I took it upon myself to bring you the textbooks for all your classes, since you’re going to be missing a bunch of sessions. That way you won’t fall behind at the beginning of the term while you rest!”

She beamed, patting the bag of tomes.

My heart sank but I couldn’t help but smile. She was so chipper, even if I was inwardly groaning at having to do schoolwork while I recovered.

Randi was doing me a solid. They all were, in their own ways. Arne by staying funny, Grim by staying protective, Sven by staying angry.

I would need their help soon. I did intend to do something about Damon once I was out of bed—I just needed to figure out what that was.

I smiled coyly at Randi, trying to match her high energy. “Thanks, bestie. What would I ever do without you?”

“Um, you would fail, Ravin. Duh.”

True .

I had a feeling I would fail at more than just my classes if I didn’t have my friends by my side.