Chapter 19 | Arne

Chapter 19

Arne

I NEEDED TO LET IT go. Frida, Dieter, the Lepers Who Leapt . . . I couldn’t make any sort of change if I wasn’t with them.

My place was here, by Ravinica’s side. Protecting her as best I could, giving in to her wishes like a good boy.

The thought brought a smile to my face for the first time in days, as I pored over the letter Dieter had sent me one last time before setting it aside.

I loved when Ravinica called me that. I’d never expected the woman and her grisly men—Corym E’tar, an elf no less—to bring out the submissive side of me. I was starting to relish it, exploring this new kinky side of myself that had lain dormant for so long.

Well, not dormant. Not exactly out in the open, either. I was an equal-opportunity lover. My heart belonged to Ravinica; my body belonged to whomever she wanted it to belong to.

Before she’d been wounded by her brother, I had opened up more to her than ever before. She knew my story as much as I did—how I ended up here, first as a spy, then as a true defender of hers. How I had been born to the Lepers Who Leapt and provided the magicless rebels a chance at unification with Vikingrune Academy. If not unification, at least a voice .

For the longest time, through my teenage years and into my first term at Vikingrune, I had operated under the guise of a double agent. I had worked to provide safety and peace for the friends and family I knew as the Lepers.

Frida had been one of them. My younger sister, just as magicless as the rest of them. A young woman I felt sorry for, but could no longer afford to do. By betraying Ravinica—and me—my sister had broken my heart and trust. I wasn’t sure we could ever go back to the way things were before she got Corym captured and caught up in all the politicking of the academy.

It had never been the elf’s intention to be a chess piece on a gameboard. Yet here he was, behind lock and key, after he put two Huscarls in the hospital and rescued Ravinica in the same night.

The Ljosalfar man was a marvel. I felt sorry for him, and wished I could do something. Which is why I need to take my focus off Frida and the Lepers. I can’t protect them anymore. Gods above, if I was honest with myself, I hadn’t been able to protect them in over a year. Things had gotten out of my control, the more independence and influence Frida gained.

With that in mind, I tucked my old, fond childhood memories away and meandered over to Eir Wing Under.

Ravinica was sitting up in her gurney, looking fidgety and excited. As I walked in, she smiled at me and said, “Dagny gave me the go-ahead earlier today.”

It was the morning of her third day of bedrest.

I perked an eyebrow. “Go-ahead, little fox?”

As usual, Randi Ranttir sat across from her on a bench. She was napping, and when her eyes opened at the sound of my voice, she excused herself to give me and Ravinica some time alone.

“I’m getting out of this gods-forsaken bed tomorrow,” she said, lifting her chin proudly.

I nodded, pouting. Her brow furrowed, likely at my lack of exuberance from her good news. She’s been safe in here. Out there? Who fucking knows. The girl is a wild-card and notoriously impulsive. I just hope she learned from this last debacle with Damon.

Ravinica wasn’t in the business of underestimating her opponents. Doing so with Damon had cost her.

Sadness lingered on her brow. “Aren’t you happy for me, Arne?”

I gulped and nodded fiercely, coming to her side and going to a knee like I was about to propose. “Of course I am, Vini. Couldn’t be happier.”

“. . . Your face says otherwise.”

“Well.” I cleared my throat, taking her hand in mine, rubbing my fingers along her warm knuckles. “If you’re in here for one more day, that means I can still prove myself and help you.”

“ Prove yourself, Arne? You’ve proven yourself plenty. You’re not my pawn, you know.”

“I’d like to be,” I quipped, smiling sadly at her. “Tell me what I can do. How can I help?”

She opened her mouth to say something, then threaded her brow and took my words in. Thinking them over, her mind worked on the canvas of her beautiful face. “Well, now that you mention it . . .”

Excitement rippled through me. “Anything for you, love. Just say the words.”

Her smile was roguish, reminding me of the devilish time we played with each other while wrapped in the warmth of her bed, all while I tried to tell the story of my past. That had been delicious, and I pined for another moment like that.

Alas, Randi wouldn’t be gone that long, and I didn’t want to mortify the poor girl once she came back, by finding me in Vini’s bed.

“You came to Vikingrune as a spy, yes?”

I nodded.

“How would you like to spy again? For me this time.”

I beamed. “Spy for you ? Sounds like a wonderful adventure.”

She took her hand away from mine, chuckling. “This new puppy-dog version of Arne is sort of weirding me out.”

I laughed and stood, shaking my head and crossing my arms—trying to look imposing like her other men. “Sorry. Is this better?”

When I struck a mean pose, she laughed at me, palm over her lips to hide her cuteness. It only made me love her more—made me smile harder.

“Who am I snooping on, love?”

Rav sat up straighter, leaning over the edge of her gurney conspiratorially. “A few people, actually. I need to know how Corym is doing.”

“Done. I’ll figure out where he’s being held and what’s being done to him.”

“I also want to know what in Hel is going on with Sven. He’s been on a rampage while I’ve been bedridden. Assaulting the entire Lanfen pack, solo ? What is his deceitful family planning?”

I pulled at my chin, pursing my lips in thought. “Might be a bit harder than the Corym situation, given how expertly closed-off the wolf shifter is, and how much he despises me.”

“He doesn’t despise you. He’s just . . . quirky.”

I barked a laugh. “Sure. Quirky. We’ll go with that.” I took a step away from the bed, pacing alongside it, starting to get into the notion of dusting the rust off and getting back into my schemes.

Using my mind had always benefitted me more than using my sword.

“As to his family . . .” I started, trailing off. “It is an interesting situation with him. I heard he was ousted from the leadership role of his pack. Everyone’s heard about it. But no one is going to fuck with him after what he did to the Lanfen’s. Except maybe . . .”

“Maybe who, Arne?”

“Your brother. Damon. That man is as reckless as you are, and only half as skilled. Sven put his hands on Damon’s girl, Gertrude Lanfen, and I know that doesn’t sit well with the whelp. He’ll be plotting.”

Ravinica sighed, rolling her head back to stare up at the ceiling. “He always is. Try not to focus too much on Damon, Arne. Please.”

“You can’t protect him forever, Vini.”

Another sigh. Heavier this time. “I know. I just . . .”

I reached out and put a hand on her shoulder, gently running my hand through her silver strands. “I understand, love. He’s family.”

Like Frida. Family we can’t trust.

It was a damnable position to be in, but if anyone understood Ravinica’s reticence, it was me.

Over the next few days, I shadowed Sven Torfen like a hawk.

He was unruly, as usual, and short with me as I followed him across Vikingrune Academy—on his fieldwork patrols, to the classes we shared together, to the cafeterias for eating.

“Why are you pestering me, iceshaper?” he asked after the first day, realizing I wasn’t going to stop.

I was a general nuisance to the man. That much was clear.

“Perhaps I just enjoy annoying you, wolfie.”

“Don’t call me that, dandy.” His eyes turned into slits as he ate his meal. “This has the stink of a watchdog all over it.”

I shrugged, casually ignoring him.

“Did Ravinica put you up to this?” he asked.

“Well, Grim failed in his task to watch you—”

“So you’re next in line?” he growled. “What if you end up like the Lanfens?”

I understood the threat, yet I simply smiled. “You wouldn’t try it.”

“And why is that?”

“Because harming me would put you at odds with Ravinica. We both know that’s not going to happen.”

My eyes glittered when they met his dark orbs.

“Gods- dammit ,” he groaned, looking away. “Grim was right. I’m just as whipped as he is.”

“You love it, Torfen. You can act like a big bad asshole all you want, but I know you don’t hate me.”

He sighed, yet I noticed he didn’t deny it. Instead, he bowed his head to eat and mumbled, “Just stay quiet if you’re going to spy on me.”

I saluted him. “Sure thing, boss.”

There wasn’t a chance in Hel I was actually going to stay quiet. “Speaking of the Lanfens,” I said, dipping a spoon into some soup in front of me. “Any idea why they’re teaming up with your kin? Seems . . .” I pouted and shrugged, trying to play it off as inconsequential. “Alarming.”

“No,” he grunted, biting into some bread. “Frankly, I don’t give a shit what they’re up to. My father can choke on a bag of cocks for all I care.”

“Hm. Colorful.”

I slurped more soup.

It was going to be just as challenging as I thought wrangling any answers from Sven Torfen.

Three days later, with Ravinica out and about, attending her classes like a normal cadet—yet with her head on a turret—I met up with her and Grim outside Hersir Axel Osfen’s Advanced Team Tactics class.

Since rejoining the land of the walking, Ravinica had not been sighted without Grim at her side. The huge stoic sentinel was always around, and I appreciated the protectiveness he provided her. The safety and comfort.

Would that I could, I’d be that man for her. Alas, my role was different in this little affair we had going on.

“Well, what do you have for me?” she asked.

“Corym is all right. I spoke to an old village friend of mine, Rolf Blisdan—”

“I remember him.”

“Right. You came on the same ship. His fieldwork is jailer-in-training. He’s watching the cells, so it didn’t take long for me to wrest some answers from him.”

Ravinica’s face took on a worried mien, her eyes blinking incessantly. “And?”

“The golden-haired god will be fine,” I assured her with a firm nod. It was hard not to call him a god when I’d seen what he could do with that cock—in my mouth, no less.

I had something of a crush on the elf. Nothing compared to Ravinia’s sheer lust and love for him, judging by the look on her face. But it was something.

“Tell me more,” she demanded.

“He was beaten up a bit. Nothing broken. Hersir Jorthyr can’t do anything too serious to him because Gothi Sigmund forbade it. Seems the Gothi doesn’t know how to use the elf yet, but I’m sure the time will come.”

Ravinica chewed on her lip. “Okay. I can live with that, I guess.”

“You’re going to have to for now, love.”

My little fox let out a deep breath and glanced up. “I have another job for you. Magnus was supposed to return from his stint aboveground two days ago. Find out what the fuck is going on, please.”

Gods, with fires this big, even my skill with iceshaping wasn’t going to be enough to put them all out.

I developed my plan over the next day. Magnus still hadn’t returned, and neither had any of the other Huscarls from that troop, according to Hersir Osfen.

That was all the surly commander would tell me.

So I went to a familiar man—one who made my skin crawl after how he’d violated my mind in the past. I brought the letter from Dieter as a prop for my scheme.

When I walked into Kelvar the Whisperer’s office, he seemed surprised to see me.

“Sir,” I said, bowing low.

“Iceshaper.” The scary mindshaper leaned back in his seat, steepling his hands on his chest. “What is it?”

“You don’t seem too concerned your protégé is missing, with all due respect, sir.”

“Maybe I’m just adept at hiding my emotions, like Magnus Feldraug is.”

“Do you know where he is? Ravinica Linmyrr would like to know.”

“I don’t.”

I grunted, nodding. Then, glancing up, I saw the flash of concern on his brow—only there for a second, when he thought I wasn’t looking.

“Is that all?” he asked, instantly composing himself.

“No.” I lifted the crumpled letter in my hand. “I have a request for Gothi Sigmund, Hersir.”

He looked curious. Spymaster to amateur detective, I could tell he wanted to know what I had cooking.

“What’s the request?” he asked simply. “I’ll relay it.”

“I’m sure,” I said flatly. “If possible, I’d rather relay it to the Gothi directly. I think he’ll want to hear it.”

I found myself in an audience with Gothi Sigmund the next day—almost a week after Magnus Feldraug and the Huscarl scouts were supposed to have returned.

The entire academy was getting restless and worried with their absence. I could tell Sigmund was too, because no one else had been sent on fieldwork aboveground since then.

Sigmund Calladan was joined in his conference room beneath Fort Woden with Canute, the Thane of Vikingrune, or commander of all the fighting forces. He was a brute of a man, nearly Grim’s size, with a nasty scar down his right eye, split through the empty black socket.

Canute’ eye never left me.

I was joined by my escort and voucher, Hersir Kelvar, who stood off to the side while I bowed in front of Sigmund.

“Gothi,” I said respectfully, saluting. “Thank you for seeing me.”

“My time is limited, boy. If you’ve come to ask for the elf’s freedom, don’t waste your breath.”

“I’d never deign to do such a thing.”

Sigmund sat in a high chair, as if he was a king, which annoyed me. His wart-ridden, scarred face was hard to look at. The bone ornaments in his long black beard were off-putting and made him look messy. “Then what is it?” he demanded in his booming, guttural voice.

“You had me watch Ravinica Linmyrr at one point, sir. I would like to do it again.”

Curious, he rolled his head to the side. “I have no need of spying on the half-breed.”

I kept my anger in check at the insult of Ravinica’s name, and shook my head. “You misunderstand me, sir. It’s not Ravinica I’d like to spy on. It is the Lepers Who Leapt.”

He pursed his thick lips. Kelvar struck a curious pose as well, not expecting that.

Gothi Sigmund said, “You’d like to return to your old haunts, is that it? Back from the cesspool where you came from?”

The lumbering man had a way with words, I’d give him that. He had no qualms about demeaning anyone before him, because he had grown confident and arrogant in his many years as Gothi of Vikingrune Academy.

Even with elves knocking on his door, he put on an air of extreme control, as if he wasn’t losing his shit with the elven portal open, and how close he’d already come to a full-scale attack by the Ljosalfar on the academy.

“With all due respect, my lord, I believe the Lepers are playing you. I know my sister Frida helped you recapture Corym E’tar. But I believe she is stepping out on her own, feeling that influx of hubris that comes after such a victory.”

Sigmund snorted, leaning back, not as interested as he had been. “What makes you think I care what goes on in that foolish girl’s head?”

“Because the Lepers could become a nuisance . . . if they remain unchanged. I believe I can be the one to change them.”

This was my last grasp at getting out of Vikingrune Academy and trying to reason with Frida and Dieter. Now, I had an ulterior motive—to leave the academy so I could try and find Magnus Feldraug, as per Ravinica’s wishes.

Two birds with one stone.

I felt Kelvar’s scrutinizing gaze to my side. He knew something was fishy, even more than the Gothi.

“There is no reason,” Sigmund finally said, waving his hand. “We finally have a solid truce with that ragtag little gang. At least as solid as it will be until I decide to crush them. The answer is no.”

Fuck. Then that answers it. Frida really does have more control and influence than I imagined, if she’s put together some kind of “truce” with her mortal enemies—the academy.

I opened my mouth to argue my case—

The door behind us flew open, slamming on its hinges.

Gothi Sigmund was on his feet in an instant, but Thane Canute was even faster, stepping in front of the chieftain and bringing up a tower shield out of nowhere. Kelvar had his hands on his daggers, and I spun around with a start.

Hersir Ingvus Jorthyr hurried in with a limping soldier behind him. The Huscarl in his wake looked half-frozen, eyes wide with fear. His right leg was like dragging a tree trunk behind him. His face was bruised and cut.

“Sir, we have a problem,” Ingvus began, sweeping a hand out and stepping aside for the Huscarl to take center stage.

Kelvar grabbed my arm and yanked me out of the way, and I gladly obliged, shocked at the sudden interruption.

“M-My name is Grayon, s-sir,” the Huscarl rasped. “Been in the service of the academy for near two decades.”

Sigmund stepped down from his chair, pushing past his Thane. “What has happened, soldier?” No thanks for his service. No gratitude shown. Instead, Sigmund swung a finger toward me before Huscarl Grayon could answer. “Leave us, iceshaper.”

I gulped, glanced at Kelvar, and he nodded.

Quickly, I stepped aside, making myself scarce. I slowed my roll before I got to the end of the room and had become invisible to everyone, distracted by the wounded Huscarl.

“I-It was red death, my lord,” Grayon stammered. “Everyone dead. Except me. I only made it out by playing dead, like a dishonorable lout. Even Argyle, o-oh gods . . .”

I slid behind a pillar to listen, knowing how much deep shit I’d be in if I was caught spying on the Gothi’s conversation.

“Dead by whose hand ?” Sigmund boomed.

“By . . . darkness itself.”

A loud crash, hiss, and flurry of voices told me the man had collapsed.

“Fucking hell!” Sigmund roared.

I used the commotion to sneak away, out of the room, leaving the door ajar behind me. My face paled. Everyone else on the scouting trip . . . dead? That means Magnus too?!

My heart squeezed painfully.

Down the hall, four Huscarls were running toward the door, their armor clanking as they came to guard the room and protect their lord.

Kelvar’s voice carried through the crack behind me, and I stood my ground, despite the commands of the approaching Huscarls to move aside.

“Sir, let me lead a contingent to the portal,” Kelvar said loudly. “I will discover what has happened and give you a full report.”

A moment of silence.

Huscarls getting closer, yelling.

Come on, dammit . . .

“Fine,” Sigmund declared. “I trust you, Whisperer. Don’t make me regret it.”

“I’ll need a team of my own choosing.”

“Very well.”

“. . . Which will mean . . . him .”

More silence.

“Step aside, you fucking whelp!” a Huscarl shouted, closing in fast, leveling his shield at me.

My eyes widened, but I stayed, ear to the door.

“You can’t be fucking serious,” Sigmund grunted.

“We’ve finally found use for him, sir,” Kelvar said. Then, in a lower voice, “Give me the elf.”

I gasped.

“Fine. But no one is to step foot into that portal, you understand me?”

I gritted my teeth, preparing for impact, and swung away at the last second—

Just as a shield still clipped me and sent me spinning to the ground. Another Huscarl on the way kicked me for good measure, pain lacing through my stomach.

I crawled away, wincing, the voices inside the conference room too loud for me to hear.

I finally had something to report to Ravinica. And it wasn’t fucking good at all. Magnus . . . Corym . . .

With a gulp, I pulled myself to my feet and slunk away. Pulled out the letter from Dieter one last time, ready to give up on my dream of helping the Lepers and deposing my sister.

As I passed a wall-torch, I was ready to toss the letter into the fire, but something in it caught my eye. Furrowing my brow, I unfolded the crumpled note and let it sit above the flickering flames of the torch. A magic torch, set to stay alight in this hallway for the entire winter.

There, at the bottom of the letter, I found a new script—new handwriting in Dieter’s scrawl. Faded letters that hadn’t been visible before, only appearing with the magic flame backlighting the note.

Help us, Arne. Your sister is gone.

I don’t know where she’s gone, yet I worry . . .

A gasp ripped through me, loud and wheezing.

Oh gods, this is too much! Magnus dead? Frida missing? Dieter scared? Corym used? Sven ever-vengeful?

My body shook with the onset of a nervous breakdown—pulled in so many directions. Before I could lose it, the door to the conference room swung open, and Kelvar the Whisperer exited with a severe look on his gaunt face.

As he marched past me, black cloak billowing, he grunted, “With me, iceshaper.”