Chapter 31

DAELLA

Istood and faced the gathered enemies. Then I summoned my best smile despite my inward turmoil. It felt like donning an old, familiar set of fighting leathers I thought I’d packed away in a trunk, never to be worn again. For once, it did little to bring me comfort. It just felt wrong.

“That’s quite the theory you’ve come up with. It’s a shame it’s not founded in reality. Now, I don’t know about you, but I’d love to finish my ale.” I collected the forgotten mug from the ground. Some of the ale had spilled during the dragon attack, but there was enough left for a few sips. And they were sorely needed. “Someone should probably do something about this fire. We don’t want it to spread.”

Haldor turned to Viggo and nodded gravely. “Have some of your sand?”

Viggo inched closer to the fire and pulled some Vatnor sand from a pouch he wore by his side. He tossed a few grains toward the inferno, whispering beneath his breath. Water gushed forward in magnificent, stormy wave, wild and far greater than anything I’d seen before. Interesting. I never would have expected a fire demon to have a stash of Vatnor sand.

I narrowed my eyes. He’d been quick to accuse me, too.

“You made an error in judgement, love,” Odel said, stepping up beside me as the flames died down. “Riv would never order one of the dragons to attack this place. You should have stuck with Gregor’s crimes. Might have gotten away with it then.”

I closed my eyes, forcing myself to remain calm. “I didn’t do any of this. I know nothing of dragons, and I certainly don’t know how to use one in an attack.”

“You’re an orc,” Viggo said with a sneer. “Orcs were created in dragonfire, and then your kind bonded with them. The original Draugr. If anyone was going to order them to target one of us, it’s you.”

I took a step back. “What?”

“Don’t pretend to be so surprised. Mabel told us everything about you,” said Viggo. Odel and Haldor nodded in agreement.

For a moment, I couldn’t speak, too astonished by what he’d said. By the time I’d been born, orcs had mostly died out from a disease that had swept through the world several hundred years earlier. Records of our past were hard to come by. Over time, knowledge of orcish history had been lost. My mother had told me many tales, but I’d never known how much was true and how much was myth.

Isveig had refused to speak with me about it. I’d often wondered if there were things he didn’t want me to know.

But dragons and orcs…it was too wild a story to accept.

Unless it wasn’t.

Rivelin came closer, but his hooded eyes still refused to meet mine. “What’s this about orcs and dragons?”

“It’s not true,” I insisted.

“Mabel has never lied about anything,” Viggo countered. “Orcs were forged in dragonfire, and they know how to control the beasts by bonding with them. Daella is behind all of this.”

Rivelin finally looked at me. His yellow eyes blazed with inner fire, boring through me with enough heat to scald my bones. I lifted my chin and refused to back down. I wouldn’t let them turn this on me. In fact, I had questions of my own.

“Funny, Gregor seems to think Rivelin is the one behind it all,” I said, hating every word of it. “He’s approached me twice now, trying to warn me. Now I see why.”

A muscle worked in Rivelin’s jaw. “And yet you told me you didn’t believe a thing that bastard said.”

“I didn’t.” I folded my arms. “But now that you’re trying to blame this on me, I’m starting to think he might have been telling the truth.”

Rivelin laughed bitterly, a sound so achingly different from these past few days. “Really, Daella? This is your move?”

“Almost all of your competition has been targeted with your things. Your forge got destroyed, your hammers got stolen, then your swords did, too. That was your dragon who attacked, not mine. And now you’re trying to pin the blame on me. Of course this is my move.”

His nostrils flared as he stared at me. “Prove it.”

“Prove what? My innocence?”

“That’s right.”

I scoffed and took a step back, and he tracked my movement like the eagle-eyed elf he was. “How am I supposed to do that?”

He glanced at Haldor, who stood just beside him. The fire demon nodded.

Haldor said, “We’ll take you as our prisoner, which is what we should have done the moment you arrived on this island. You can stay in the Archives beneath the Village Hall. It’s a comfortable room, and your needs will be fully met there. After the Midsummer Games have concluded, we’ll consider releasing you.”

“Prisoner,” I said in a whisper, my eyes locked on Rivelin’s stony face. “You want to lock me up after I’ve told you everything I’ve been through. You’d really do that to me?”

“I wouldn’t do that to the Daella I thought I knew,” he said in a rough voice, “but after what’s happened today, I don’t see how that Daella wasn’t a lie.”

“A lie.” I fisted my hands and looked between him and Haldor. Odel stood off to the side, her face in her hands, while Viggo looked on almost eagerly. He was loving this. “Tell me, Rivelin. Did you have a council meeting that night I arrived in Wyndale? Did you agree to take me in because you’re a handsome elf with no attachments? Because you’re a charmer? Because you thought you could seduce me and get me on your side?”

Shock rolled across Rivelin’s face. He tried to cover it up with his mask of disinterest, but he failed. I’d seen it. And from his lack of a response, I knew Gregor had not been lying. Not about this. Perhaps he hadn’t been lying about any of it.

I shook my head and took several more steps back. “So it’s true. Everything you said to me, everything you did.” My voice nearly broke, but I forged ahead. “You were trying to placate me so you could twist everything around and make them hate me, just so you could win your ridiculous competition. Well, good job. You succeeded.”

“I—” Rivelin tried.

“I’ve heard enough.” I took a step back. “I’m leaving.”

“I’m afraid we can’t let you do that,” Haldor said, but I shut him up with a scowl I felt in the very depths of my soul. The time for niceties was over.

“I am leaving.” I looked at Rivelin, who merely stood there with a hard, unyielding gaze. “Don’t try to come after me. I want nothing to do with your Games, and I will use this Vindur sand against you if you try to lock me up.” I patted the pouch of sand by my side, the gift from Kari. “I don’t know how, but I’ll figure it out. Stay away from me.”

And with that, I pulled off the handmade bracelet, tossed it at Rivelin’s feet, then took off down the road, running as fast as I could.