Page 120 of Blood of Ancients

My eyes widened. “Shit. We’re so close?”

“Alfheim is not as large as Midgard. There are hundreds of nations, borders, and tribes, packed together on three continents. Heira is the smallest of them, yet with the strongest military, so it holds the most sway over the Ljosalfar.”

“Sounds important.”

A scheme started to roll around in my head, returning to the forefront now that we were actuallyhere. Some of the first humans to do it, headed to the capital city of its strongest nation.

Kelvar was going to survive. Elayina was going to live. Arne was going to heal emotionally over his loss, in time.

The temperature had settled, giving me the mental real estate to start thinking about my endgame goals again.Unification. Could this be the start of it?

I knew not to expect too much from the elves we were coming to meet. Corym would do most if not all the talking. I would behis pretty, silver-haired arm candy, undoubtedly, without much purpose here.

At least that was my initial thought.

Then I remembered what Elayina had called me. What her unnerving riddles said. Now that I had more room to move and breathe, with the trees not suffocating us so nearby, and my mates not going through crises, I recalled some of what Elayina had told me last time we spoke.

She thought I could be the “Lightbearer.” A mythical figure, part of a prophecy. The “enemy of our enemies,” the Ljosalfar thought.

It was my meeting with Elayina that got me started on this “unifying” line of thinking. Because she had told me the legends said the Lightbearer would not just lift the Ljosalfar out of the shadows with their Dokkalfar conflict, but also rekindle the Ljosalfar relationship with the humans.

“The blood belonging to both and neither.”

The blood of elves and the blood of humans coursed through my veins. I was both elf and human . . . and neither elf nor human entirely.

All the things I had scoffed and shaken my head incredulously at when Elayina said them the first time, I started considering more seriously.Elayina called me the Lightbearer after she saw what I did to Kelvar. My healing blood. It’s a power I don’t understand . . . yet maybe she does?

I had to wrangle some answers out of her. This was not the time nor place, being surrounded by so many, but Ineededto know what she knew. No bullshit, riddles, or filter.

“Any idea why the Dokkalfar were trying to get to Elayina?” I asked Corym.

Lifting my gaze, we passed under the formidable statues of the Twins. They were gigantic, with the top of my head only coming up to the hems of their robes. They stretched into the skylike a pair of skyscrapers, their heads resting in the heavens with their outstretched arms facing each other.

Corym said, “I suppose it’s as Frida acknowledged: for assistance getting the Runesphere.”

“Would it have worked, had the dark elves gotten their hands on Elayina? What could they have done with her?”

“You see how she’s treated here. They could have tried to use her to negotiate for the Runesphere. In another world,lunis’ai, Frida’s ploy was not as stupid as it sounded. She planned to use the hate between our two elven races to her benefit. The thing she did not consider was how dangerous the Dokkalfar are toallraces. Not just Ljosalfar. The dark elves have no love for Midgardians, either.”

With a frown, my shoulders sank. Corym was speaking low enough Arne couldn’t hear him near the back of the line. I hoped.

“The minute their plan went awry, they took out their frustration on their liaison,” I muttered, shaking my head. “What do you think Frida could have been offering them in return for their help getting the Runesphere?”

“Access, if I had to guess. Access to Lady Elayina. Possibly a staging ground among her people.”

I scoffed. “The Lepers would never accept them.”

“Would they have a choice? Dokkalfar are strong.”

“The Lepers Who Leapt are resilient,” I bit back.

He inclind his chin, a regretful look on his face.

“Frida likely assumed she could easily wander into the cave, since she had in the past because Elayina hadallowedit,” Corym said. “But anyone Elayina allows, she can deny. Only elves—of all bloods—can step foot into her cave unbidden.”

My brow furrowed.

“The Dokkalfar who put Elayina there in the first place are long dead. It’s probable the scouting party that attacked Magnusand the Huscarls didn’t know her location. Hence, Frida comes into play.”

---