Page 149 of The Serpent’s Shadow

“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 betrayedhim, when everything he’d done was to protect her and the Lepers Who Leapt.

Perhaps Frida was right, and the Lepers didn’tneedhis 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’simportant, 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 waterfallthat 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 thepossibilitybetween our two warring races. If people could see what we shared, they could see that humans and elves could coexist.

Perhapsthatis 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 naïve 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!

---