Page 26 of A Kingdom of Wild and Power
‘Why do you keep looking at me like that?’ she asked instead.
‘You remind me of someone,’ Arden replied. ‘But she was far funnier, and she talked a great deal more.’
A strange frustration tightened in Ylva’s chest. She could notunderstand why it bothered her. She had no reason to care what he felt, or whom he spoke of. Yet the thought of this unknown woman tugged unpleasantly at her. ‘Well, you should have married her then!’ She huffed and strode over to check the horse and the wolf, preparing for their continued journey, but paused when she heard Arden chuckle softly.
‘One day.’
Ylva looked back at him, catching the shadowed sorrow lining his dark features. ‘So where is this beloved of yours?’
Something flashed through his eyes, something she instinctively wished not to decipher. ‘She’s elsewhere for now. But she’ll come back to me one day.’
Ylva frowned. ‘How can you be so certain?’
‘Because she promised.’
…
After travelling for most of the day, they finally stopped at dusk to build a fire. Once they had settled, Ylva leaned back against the giant wolf that refused to leave her side. Her fingers absently stroked its enormous paw.
‘What do you think we’ll find when we arrive?’ she asked, glancing towards the trio of Fae gathered around the flames.
Elric was skewering the bird they had hunted for supper, his broad shoulders tightening with reluctance. His expression said enough: he expected nothing good at the end of the road they were walking. Ylva exhaled softly.
‘What’s it like being a Black Lotus?’ she asked instead. She noticed how the three of them stiffened before exchanging wary looks, as if no one had ever dared ask such a thing aloud.
‘What’s it like being a valkyrian?’ Arden countered, tugging off his leather boots.
Ylva shrugged. ‘I’ve known nothing else.’
Arden’s green eyes darkened. ‘Neither have we.’
‘I’ve heard terrible stories about what your king has made you do.’
‘Then they are likely gentler than the truth,’ Elric replied. He loomed over the flames. He was too large, too formidable to sit comfortably in any quiet moment.
Ylva’s gaze drifted to Nymeria, crouched to one side, calmly sharpening her throwing knives, metal whispering against stone. They were terrifying—the three of them—yet somehow, in their presence, Ylva did not feel threatened at all.
‘Do not be deceived,’ Elric said, clearly reading the trail of thoughts playing across her face. ‘We are far worse than the tales.’
‘I believe there is good in you,’ Ylva replied.
‘We never claimed there wasn’t,’ Elric answered, a faint smile tugging at his thick lips. ‘But people assume that because of what we do, we are incapable of being… good.’
‘It is questionable, though,’ she argued. ‘You kill whomever your king commands. And in terrifying ways.’
‘Do the other kingdoms not do the same?’ Elric shrugged. ‘Do Dunayans not kill for coin? It is their greatest trade. Do wyverians not pride themselves on being the fiercest warriors? To what end, if not bloodshed? We have become the monsters of bedtime stories, but we are no different from the rest.’
Ylva murmured her thanks when Arden handed her a portion of the roasted bird. He had cut away the leg and placed it gently upon a broad leaf to serve as a plate. She couldn’t help but smile at the gesture. How could she believe they were nothing but merciless killers when they did such kind things?
She stopped chewing when she noticed Elric watching the exchange, jaw clenched tight. Arden must have seen it too, forhe coughed lightly and shifted back to his place on Ylva’s right, leaving a deliberate space between them.
‘I cannot question my past,’ Ylva said suddenly. All three Fae looked up at her, surprise flashing in their eyes. ‘These runes don’t allow me to ask…’ She looked down at her hands, at the faint shimmering of magic that lay beneath pale skin.
‘Do you want to know?’ Elric asked.
Ylva dared a glance at Arden. His face had hardened, those green eyes fixed upon Elric with quiet warning, as though he did not want the conversation to continue.
‘I’m not sure,’ she said at last. ‘Because the truth is… even if you told me, it wouldn’t change anything, would it?’
