Page 160 of Into the Isle

Sven

I WAS A BULLY AND A brute. It was true. The blood feud between the Fens and Bjorns had been going on for generations—especially the one between the Tor and Koll families.

It was some Hatfields and McCoys shit where, at this point, the seed of that feud was lost to the ages. Most of us didn’t even know why we fought anymore. We just did.

But two things could be true at once. I would never admit it to the bear shifter: He hadn’t been wrong in the mess hall. I felt the pull toward Ravinica just like the other men in her orbit. I had ever since she stepped foot in the academy.

Perhaps it was her beauty; her half-bred bloodline; the curiosity of her silver hair streaked with black, and the slightly tapered ears she had. Maybe it was all those things and more—the aura of resilience and intensity she brought to the academy. She seemed to carry a greater weight, and hold a higher purpose, than the rest of us.

I couldn’t be sure. I just knew it was there, drawing me to her like a moth to flame. I was not a man to question the thoughts and feelings swarming inside me, and I was not a weak man. My father, Salos Torfen, had not raised me that way.

So it was that I watched with bemused interest at what was happening in the southwestern village, hidden among trees. The Huscarls rained down upon Grim like a hailstorm, accusing him of a killing he couldn’t have possibly been responsible for because I’d been tailing him this entire time.

I didn’t care Astrid was dead. She was a tool. It was a weight off my shoulders with the woman pining for me, when I’d had no interest in her. Ravinica took up too much of my thoughts.

I had known that the easiest way to find my prey was to follow another predator, then dash out before he could act and steal his kill.

This, however, was not something I anticipated.

Eirik Halldan told Grim to back down. Cowardly.

Begrudingly, the huge shifter complied. He was led away in handcuffs, toward confinement under Hersir Ingvus’ jurisdiction. There, Kelvar the Whisperer would ply his diabolical trade and get answers out of the bear. Or he would force a guilty confession from Grim by bending the bear to his mindshaping powers.

For once, I didn’t relish Grim’s downfall. I took no joy in seeing someone else bring down my nemesis. In fact, it made me angry, because it should have been me reigning supreme over the bear shifter.

Once the field was cleared, and Astrid’s body was scooped up, I stayed in the trees and pondered my next move. As the morning sun finally cracked the sky, I tapped my chin, staring across the horizon to where the golden orb danced over the trees.

Golden, like Ravinica’s eyes.

I left the area and headed for Eir Wing. I would tell Ravinica what had happened here. Perhaps that was a way to gain her trust.

When I reached the infirmary, I found it odd her doors were empty of any guards. No Magnus Feldraug, no Arne Gornhodr, and neither of those girls who stayed by her side through thick and thin.

I pushed inside the room and raised my brow when I saw her bed empty. I found it more curious than alarming.

Still, there was a nagging at the back of my mind. My instincts told me this was a warning sign.

Something was off.

I walked into Nottdeen Quarter. A man, traipsing into the hub of initiate women at Vikingrune Academy.

The few girls in the lobby gasped when they saw me. One of them blushed, whispering and snickering to her friend.

I knew the attraction I possessed, and how it affected the fairer sex. The same sex too, at times.

I ignored the whispers as I marched up to the front counter. The girl there, with her hair parted down the middle in a stark black and white contrast on either side, lifted her head when my shadow settled over her.

Her eyes bulged behind her big glasses. “S-Sven Torfen.”

“Dagny Largul.” She was a fellow second-year—an inconsequential scholar I’d never thought twice about.

“What are you doing here?” she asked, panic in her voice. Her eyes darted over my shoulders. “Men aren’t allowed in Nottdeen. You know that. As resident assistant I am obliged—”

I held up a hand. “Peace, girl. I’m not here to cause trouble. Tell me something. Is Ravinica here?”

Her brow furrowed. “What? No. She’s in the infirmary. You know that.”

“No. She isn’t.” I dipped my chin, thinking.

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