Page 97 of The Serpent’s Shadow

“Will it be worth it, elf?” It was Dieter, who had masterfully tracked me into the woods. “Letting this man die all so you can die at Vikingrune’s doorstep?”

I clenched my jaw and looked over my shoulder. “I don’t know what you’re talking about, human.”

He chuckled. He was leaning on a broken tree branch, using it as a staff. “I probably couldn’t stop you if you really wanted to leave. I ask again—”

I stood with the mushrooms in my hands, turning toward him and cutting him off with, “If you want your man to live, we’d better act fast.”

Dieter smiled as I passed him, knowing he’d won this round.

I will manufacture a new time to leave, if needed. It doesn’t have to be now—not when I can actually make a difference here, for once. Do some good.

The honorable elf in me would not allow me to escape in such a heartless, cowardly way.

And yet, Dieter had misspoken. He had assumed I was looking out over the rotted tree bark because I was longing for the forest to embrace me during my escape.

In reality, he hadn’t seen what I’d actually been gazing at with curiosity—

A shock of wheat-gold hair, a fanciful tunic, and an attractive but bruised face, staring at me from deep in those woods, watching my every move.

Chapter 29

Ravinica

IT WAS THE SUNDAY BEFOREfinals week. The first four days of the week, I’d have a different final test each day. On the fifth day, initiates who passed their four classes would party hard.

It was also going to be a full moon this Friday, which added some jitters to the already-jittery student body. It would also be the thirteenth of the month this Friday, so if a girl believed in ominous superstitions, then this was going to be a doozy of a celebration.

Luckily, I didn’t believe in any of that.

Over the past two weeks, I’d kept my head down and studied my ass off. I hardly saw my men, which was awful, but I knew there’d be plenty of time to catch up with them—in more ways than one—after this hellacious week was through.

Priorities and all that jazz.

As far as I knew, Magnus was still getting leeched by the academy doctors and scientists every other day. Perhaps not, though, because the few times Ididsee him, either putzing around campus or watching me from afar, he seemed in better health than our last meeting. Or at least how our last meeting started. When it ended, well . . . I’d never seen a sociopath so chipper.

While Magnus kept to the shadows for the most part, Grim made no secrets about where he was. Not that the huge man could hide even if he wanted.

My berserker had been stationed at Tyr Meadow nearly every day, training his handful of “apprentices.” Randi needed the most help sparring, so he focused on her. She was also busy with her boyfriend, Ulf Torfen, which annoyed Grim to no end because he just wanted to be done with all this teaching and slink back into the woods where he could be solitary and at peace.

I wanted to slink into the woods with him, though I hadn’t gotten a chance to since coming back. The textbooks were stacking, the trials were tribulating.

Ihadto pass these tests. Otherwise, as Hersir Jorthyr Ingvus had so poignantly pointed out my first day here, I’d be axed. Exiled. Banished. Maybe worse.

Hel, if I ever wanted to join the Lepers Who Leapt, maybe that’s my way in. Get shipped off on theGray Wraithback to Selby Village, and upon unmooring, launch myself off the gunwale and brave the icy ocean to try and make my way back to the Isle.

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