Chapter 42 | Ravinica

Chapter 42

Ravinica

ARNE AND I SAT IN A dreary holding cell all through the rest of the night. As moonlight gave way to the gray clouds of a new morning, despair set deep in our bones.

This was not how I had hoped our liaison with Corym E'tar would go. From the highest highs of elation to the lowest lows—we'd found ourselves back in the muck. The swamp, where I was born, and apparently, fated to die.

I tried to console Arne at one point, noticing his bowed head, his knees pulled up to his chest, and his slumped shoulders. He'd sat on the cold ground of the caged room, giving me the single bench in the cell.

"I'm sorry, Arne," I eked out.

His head turned to me, incredulity on his face. "For what, Vini? You didn't put us in here. I did. I'm sorry."

I struggled with that for a moment. "I'm sorry for all of it. For not trusting you, when I knew you were only doing what was best for your family back at the creek."

"I was an asshole. A traitor. I don't deserve your apology, lass." He shook his head morosely.

"Don't do that to yourself," I begged, "trying to show you're not worthy. It's not the confident, swaggering iceshaper I know. I pushed too far. I forced you to do things to test your resolve. Dangerous things."

"I'd gladly do them again for you, little fox." He smiled weakly up at me.

"I know. That's the problem. I decided I could trust you, yet I still pushed and persisted. I wanted to break you for what you did."

"Again, well deser—"

"If I hadn't, maybe we wouldn't be here. Or at least you wouldn't be. I would have found a way to get to Corym regardless."

"I don't doubt it."

Silence fell around us, thick as morning fog.

Then he shot me another half-smile, filled with sorrow. "The apple doesn't fall far from the tree with my fucking family, does it?"

I snorted.

"Like brother, like sister," he continued, pointing out they had both betrayed me. Worse, in my mind, was that Frida had betrayed him , when everything he'd done was to protect her and the Lepers Who Leapt.

Perhaps Frida was right, and the Lepers didn't need his protection, or anyone else's. They weren't powerless just because they couldn't Shape runes and cast spells. Their magic, or lack of it, didn't define them, and perhaps that was what made them strong-willed.

"It's my fault," Arne said with a sigh. "If I hadn't shown Frida that trickery and deception could get us what we wanted, then perhaps she wouldn't have stooped so low."

"It's not your fault," I shot back, growing frustrated. "You can't be blamed for every miserable thing that happens, dammit. She turned on the Lepers as much as she turned on you!"

"Sadly, they won't see it that way. She'll be a hero for risking her own freedom to guarantee theirs. The elf will be forgotten. Even Dieter will likely forgive her after enough time has passed."

Perhaps it's for the best, then. I had no faith in Frida Gorndeen, of course, but I still believed in the Lepers Who Leapt and their cause.

To continue Arne's analogy, I said, "One bad apple does not mean the whole bushel is fucked."

He chuckled humorlessly. "I'm pretty sure the saying is, ‘One bad apple can spoil the bunch,' little fox. Which is exactly what I'm saying."

"And I'm saying you're wrong." My voice was defiant, slightly playful. "Maybe we should make a bet on it."

He glanced at me, incredulous. "That the Lepers are still on our side? Your ability to find the good inside people astounds me, Vini. Especially after what just happened to us."

I sighed and sat back on the bench, bouncing my knee. It was agonizing being in here, with no idea what was happening to Corym. Once the guards brought us out of the tunnels, a few of them split off to take him to Fort Woden, while others led me and Arne to the western longhouses that were the Warden's jurisdiction, and threw us into this cell.

Was Corym being tortured? Was he dead already? Had I made a horrible mistake not fighting the Huscarls for a second time and shedding more blood?

"Don't hate your sister," I said, thinking back on Damon, Eirik, and my own family. Perhaps I should listen to my own words and try to reconcile with my younger half-brother, and connect more with my older one. "Frida only did what she thought was best for her people. Just like you."

"But at what cost? Corym E'tar is the first full-blooded Ljosalfar elf to inhabit the Isle in centuries, far as I know. He's important , Vini, whether we realize how he is yet or not."

"I know." My heart hurt. My whole body ached from the hiking we'd done, the insane debauchery behind the waterfall that cemented these two men to me, and the intensity of the standoff with Frida and the Huscarls.

I knew Arne was right. Corym was important, and I thought I already knew how. He wasn't just the first elf to inhabit Midgard in generations—he was the first elf to love a human in just as long.

Corym and I symbolized the possibility between our two warring races. If people could see what we shared, they could see that humans and elves could coexist.

Perhaps that is my uprising. My rebellion. Not a war to bring down Vikingrune Academy for their lies taught to us, but to enlighten people to a peaceful coexistence with our neighbors from Alfheim.

It sounded na?ve and utopian in my mind, and made me smile. If there was anything that could make me smile in this cold, dark cell, I wouldn't take it for granted.

Now I just had to figure out how to save Corym from an awful fate. Somehow, some way, I needed the light elf back in my arms, so we could spread his light to everyone around us and make them understand our differences didn't dictate our futures. We could love again, rather than hate.

I scoffed at the thought. Gods almighty. If Mama Lindi heard me pontificating about sappy love and togetherness after the mission she sent me on here, she'd revoke my stay at Vikingrune her damn self!

"What is it, love?" Arne asked, hearing my chuckle of disbelief.

Before he could answer, two Huscarls opened the gate with a creak. "Stand," said one. "Follow."

We obliged, tailing them out the chamber, down a narrow hall. My heart twitched in my chest, eagerness and fear enveloping me in equal measures.

They dumped us in a room in front of Hersir Ingvus Jorthyr. The Warden of Vikingrune wore his gray-blond beard in plaits, five braids running down to his chest. He was wiry, tall, and looked pissed off.

"Arne Gornhodr, Ravinica Linmyrr. Two scoundrels I hoped to never see in my presence again. Because it means you did something foolish to get here."

"Perhaps that's who we are, Hersir," Arne said with a wistful smile. "Jesters and fools."

"Shut up, iceshaper." Ingvus folded his large hands on his desk. "I've just gotten news I didn't want to receive."

Arne and I blinked, glancing at each other.

"Apparently, I'm not allowed to wrest answers from you, bog-blood, despite you working against the academy."

Jorthyr's eyes fell on my face, and the slur made me bristle. I hadn't heard it in quite a while now. It reminded me my bloodline was never far from the surface of who I was and how other people saw me.

"She didn't work against the academy," Arne said. When he threw his arms up, the two Huscarls behind us stepped closer, ready to reprimand him. "She went to see a friend."

"And bring that friend back to Vikingrune Academy. That friend . . . who is an elf." Ingvus gave Arne a pithy look.

I had stayed quiet, because I didn't have much to say. I didn't want to incriminate myself—Arne was doing a spectacular job of that already, the buffoon.

Alas, I couldn't stop myself, either. I didn't know how many chances I was going to have to speak my truth. "The elves aren't our enemies, Hersir Jorthyr," I said in a low voice. "We both know that."

He landed his bright gaze on me, frown etched deep in his old-man beard. "I assure you I don't know what you're talking about, initiate."

I firmed my lips, biting my tongue. It made no difference to me what Hersir Jorthyr thought. I knew the truth, so did he, and he could deny it all he wanted. I had to be content with simply stating the obvious, to see how he'd react.

He had reacted exactly as I suspected he would.

Jorthyr sighed and leaned back in his seat. "I was hoping the next time I'd see you, Ravinica Linmyrr, would be to call you cadet rather than initiate. To congratulate you for completing the term and earning your place here."

"I've—"

"Done exactly that. Right." He leaned forward to shuffle through some papers, most likely reading some reports on me. "You passed your classes. You beat the odds. Exile is off the table. For now."

"Um . . . thank you?"

This was not going how I'd anticipated. I thought I'd surely be imprisoned for the rest of my days here after such a grievance—even after Magnus' deal with this man. Bringing a known "enemy" to the academy? It sounded like something punishable by death, or an accusation of insurrection at least.

Little did the academy know how close I was to doing just that.

Arne was just as surprised as me, his wide eyes veering from my face to the Hersir's, as if we were both in on a secret he didn't know about. For a man like Arne, who loved secrets, it must have pained him greatly.

There was also the fact we were hiding a secret from Arne, and that's when I realized what was happening here. Jorthyr is playing this off for Arne's sake, because no one can know about Magnus' deal. Ingvus is acting like he's baffled by this turn of events . . . when he is the cause of them.

I thought back on Magnus—the one man I still needed to speak with about the assassination missions, so I'd feel confident in having all five of my mates aligned with me. He'd been strangely absent the last few days. I hadn't seen him after finals.

The sacrifice he made on my behalf is paying dividends even now.

"Can you believe it?" Jorthyr asked with faux incredulity, staring directly at me. There was a twinkle in his eye, saying he knew more than he was letting on. "Perhaps your fortunes are turning around after all, girl. Not only are you not being punished for your malfeasance . . . you're to be rewarded for it." He shook his head, shooing us with a flap of his hand.

"Congratulations, cadet . You're both free to go."