Chapter 10 | Sven

Chapter 10

Sven

FOR BEING SUCH A FRAIL , feminine-looking man, Arne proved surprisingly resilient. I would have been impressed if I wasn't so angry.

My fist crunched into his side, and the man let out a wheezing grunt. I cracked my knuckles again, noticing the bruising of his ribs, and frowned at him. "I can do this all day, iceshaper. If you wish to help us, why are you resisting?"

He coughed and spit on the ground at my feet. He was shirtless, showing a hairless, toned body. Wiry and lithe, with his blond hair lank around his sweaty scalp and shoulders. His arms were tied behind his back in the chair we'd put him in.

"Have to k-keep up appearances, dear wolfie," Arne said with a sly smirk. His pretty face was turning a ghastly shade of yellow and purple on the right side from the initial punch I'd landed on him. His bright blue eye would be bruised shut for a few days.

Still, the man didn't complain. Even with Grim standing behind me, arms crossed, ready to slam his own meaty fists into the smaller elementalist if it came to it.

I suspected Arne would break soon. Grim wouldn't be necessary. Magnus had already left, strangely. The tattooed menace had looked at the sky, judging the time, and said he had to be somewhere. That was thirty minutes ago, before we started interrogating Arne.

"Where do you have to be that's more important than this?" I'd asked him. What I'd meant was: Where do you have to be that's more important than Ravinica?

By the heavy shade of his gray eyes, I'd known Magnus understood my meaning. "Not more important," he'd said. "But equally. It's for her."

"What in Hel is that supposed to mean?"

"I'll tell you when I'm able. You'll just have to trust me, Torfen."

Trust was a hard commodity to come by. I didn't know Magnus from Agnes. Grim Kollbjorn had been my rival for over a year. Arne was a traitor, I was certain.

These were the three men vying for Ravinica's love?

Sorry lot, these bastards.

Magnus had left Arne's longhouse, but not before nudging his chin over my shoulder at Arne, and saying, "Consider slamming his thumbs with the hilt of your sword to break the bones. Will make it difficult to Shape. What worse fate for a runeshaper than that?"

And here I thought they'd been friends. As he ominously vacated the room, I muttered, "Damn psychopath," and started giving Arne a good old-fashioned beating.

It's not the worst idea, I thought ten minutes in.

Arne was looking worse for wear, yet he hadn't screamed once. When he started spitting up blood, I knew I had done as much damage to him on the outside as I could, because his insides were starting to get mushy.

"Let's take the topic away from Ravinica," I said, shaking my head. I twisted and bent my fingers to give Arne a visual of what he had to look forward to. "Who have you been seeing every other morning for the past three weeks, iceshaper?"

Arne's body tightened—from slumping to rigid in his chair.

I smiled. "That's right. I've been following you. Is it any surprise?"

"Guess not," Arne grumbled.

"You going to tell me then, or should I take Magnus' advice and break your fingers?"

He looked up, scowling. "You're not a very personable person, Sven Torfen. Anyone ever told you that?"

"Every day."

"A wonder everyone hates you," he said sarcastically.

"It's no wonder to me."

The iceshaper scoffed and spit again, clearing his throat. "What is your plan for my little fox—for Ravinica?"

I pursed my lips. "I plan to rescue her from her captors. If they even exist."

He snorted at the last part of my remark, all but calling him a liar. "The big guy, I understand." His chin nudged toward Grim behind me. "But you ? You've done nothing but torment the girl since she arrived at Vikingrune. Same with your brother Ulf."

"Ulf is an idiot."

"We're not talking about Ulf."

Our eyes met in a stare-off.

I glanced away. "Maybe I've had a change of heart."

"Why?"

"I'm not the one tied up being interrogated, Arne Gornhodr. You're the one on trial here."

He smiled humorlessly at me. It was a sickly expression with his eye closing up, bulging, the side of his pretty face looking a bit saggy.

When his smile vanished, he sat up straighter, adjusting his weight. His arms dug against the rope holding him in place. "Do you give me your oath you mean Ravinica no harm?"

"Of course," I said swiftly. "You think I want to rescue her to harm her? What sense does that make?"

"So far you haven't made a lot of sense, Torfen. I can't read your mind. I have to be sure."

"Fine. You have it. My oath."

Arne nodded slowly, still examining me.

Grim had remained quiet during this entire interlude. He was observant and stoic. That was typical for him, and it allowed me to work my own way. Maybe we wouldn't make such a bad team after all.

"I've been speaking with Kelvar the Whisperer," Arne said, letting the words linger in the air.

I didn't give him the satisfaction of seeing me surprised. I nodded. "As I thought."

He blinked. "Then why the fuck did you ask?"

"I wanted to see if you're capable of telling the truth. What have you two been talking about?"

"The attack on me, Ravinica, and the Huscarls."

"By the elves."

"Yes."

"What kind of elves were they?"

"Ljosalfar."

"After a thousand years, give or take, they've decided to come to Midgard now? Why?"

Arne's shoulders bobbed. "You'll have to ask them."

"And they took Ravinica."

"Yes."

"Which direction?"

Arne frowned. He opened his mouth for another rapid-fire response, then thought better of it and looked away.

I knew I was getting closer to the nugget of truth he was hiding—the truth I'd suspected the entire time. I just needed to coax the words out of him.

I cracked my knuckles again.

Arne took one glance at my bruised hands. "I wouldn't know. Ravinica knocked me unconscious before they left."

"Ah. There we are." I smiled at him, as if I'd just brought him into my web. My trap.

I understood Arne could have easily told me the elves had knocked him out, and not Ravinica. So why not bend the truth, since it puts him in such a poor light?

I thought about it for a second, tapping my chin.

Because he feels guilty. He wants to get this out.

Arne did not know I too had a civil relationship with Kelvar the Whisperer. I was the interrogation master's best student.

"There's a lot to unpack there, dandy," I said.

"Don't call me that."

"Why, or how, would Ravinica knock you out if she was being captured by the elves? It makes it look like they helped her."

"They did."

"Why?" I spit out, flaring my nostrils.

I'd had enough of the pussyfooting.

He stayed quiet, studying me, and then said, "You're good at this, Sven. You're also annoying with your little games and barbs. I'll agree to tell you the truth as long as you promise not to kill me. My wrists are beginning to chafe."

There we are. "I've already give you my vow not to harm Ravinica."

"I'm talking about me now."

I glanced over my shoulder at Grim. He made no motion one way or the other—no nod or headshake. It was evidently my decision. I appreciated the measure of respect he showed me in the moment. Maybe he didn't want to take the reins. After all, I was born a leader, and Grim seemed more content to follow—much like my pack siblings.

Facing Arne again, my answer came quickly. "Very well. You have my promise: I won't touch another dainty hair on your pretty skin."

Arne glanced down through his legs. When he looked up, his good eye was rimmed in red, dewy. "Ravinica knocked me out because I betrayed her. I was the reason the Huscarls were there in the first place, to escort us back to Vikingrune Academy. The elves must have recognized her imprisonment, and her ears and hair, and acted to save one of their own, as it were."

Every fiber of my being tensed with rage. It took all my power to fight back the urge to shift, rip Arne's throat out, and be done with this conniving bastard.

But I needed to know more.

"Now we're getting—"

Grim pushed past me before I could finish my sentence. His huge hand shoved me aside and he stormed Arne and lifted the man and his chair off the ground.

"Fuck!" Arne yelled, his legs kicking. It was the first shout that might've alerted others to our presence here.

Grim slammed Arne against the stone wall of his longhouse, sending wood chips scattering.

"Sven!" Arne yelped desperately.

Grim held the iceshaper up by the neck, who was already starting to flush a rare shade of red and purple, losing oxygen.

"You p-promised!"

I shrugged, realizing Grim's rage was unstoppable—even more than mine. " I did. Never said anything about the bear shifter, though."

Arne tried to sound out words phonetically, but they turned into a garbled mess. His eyes rolled.

"Grim, that's enough," I said softly. "With him dead, we won't get anywhere."

The bear shifter showed no signs of letting up.

Quite suddenly, the anger inside me turned to panic, because I realized the berserker wasn't going to stop until he'd snuffed the life out of Arne, after what he'd said regarding Ravinica.

I didn't blame Grim . . . but I also couldn't allow it.

I looked around, noticed a knife on a nearby table, and snagged it. Rushing up behind Grim, I went on my tiptoes to get around his bulging biceps, broad shoulders, and enviable height, and pressed the sharp edge of the dagger to his throat.

"Let's calm down now, Kollbjorn," I growled in his ear.

His hand only tightened on Arne's neck, who was on the verge of unconsciousness, head lolling.

"You kill him, I kill you, then we all lose," I murmured into his ear. "And Ravinica remains missing. In danger. Is that what you want? To tell the girl we had a chance of saving her, but threw away our one opportunity? You're smarter than this."

Grim's hand loosened, remaining around Arne's throat.

"Arne Gornhodr is not ours to kill," I said. "He is Ravinica's. There's a reason she kept him alive. Don't squander her wishes."

With that, Grim let out a bellow and released Arne.

The iceshaper's chair scraped against the wall as it landed with a loud crash and thud, the legs cracking and fracturing and spilling Arne onto his side.

Grim stepped back. I crouched over the iceshaper, who began violently hacking up a lung. As I pressed the point of the dagger against his throat, freezing him.

His eyes weren't so mirthful and glinting now. They were scared. "You failed Ravinica," I said, "and you deserve every ounce of revenge she seeks to give you. But it's hers to give you, not ours. For now, you remain alive. Understand?"

Arne nodded and coughed again. He helped himself up from his side, sitting up with his back against the wall, his body mingling in the heap of his broken chair.

"Tell me how I can help," he implored. "Please. I only want to see her again so I can apologize."

I hope my little menace isn't weak-willed enough to accept such a sorry thing from you, Arne—an apology. I have a feeling she's not.

"Now we're getting on the same page," I growled. Putting my dagger away, I added, "You have no idea where she's been taken?"

"No. But I know where she was taken from . Perhaps we can track her from there. You're good at that, yes?"

I nodded.

"What's your plan?" he asked.

"I'm working on it. The academy has taken entirely too long to rectify this missing person."

"I agree, wolf. If you're planning on sneaking out to find her, I can help you. I know people in Isleton and—"

I grabbed the sniveling bastard by the collar and yanked his face toward mine. Spittle flew from my mouth when I spoke. "You're going to point on a map where Ravinica was taken. Because there's no fucking way I'm letting you come anywhere near her, you diabolical rodent."