Page 22 of The Girl the Sea Gave Back

I had no choice but to listen. My hand instinctively reached up for my bow, but it wasn’t there.

Vigdis stormed toward us across the grass, his hands covered in his brother’s blood. His eyes set on me and the pulse beneath my skin raced, my heart coming up into my throat. “You!” he screamed, shoving Jorrund aside andsnatching up my arm. He threw me back and I hit the ground hard before he came over me, taking a handful of my hair into his fist. Then I was moving, being dragged over the brittle grass. I screamed, holding onto his wrist as I skidded on the dirt behind him and the dust kicked up into the air, making me choke.

“Fire-steel! Torch!” he called out over his shoulder, and from the corner of my eye I could see Siv moving to follow the order.

“Vigdis!” Jorrund shouted behind us, but he wasn’t listening.

He dropped me back on the ground and I curled into a ball, covering my head as more figures came to stand over me. A Svell man held an unlit torch before him and Vigdis struck the fire-steel. I blinked, the breath leaving my lungs as I realized what he was doing.

He was going to set me on fire.

I cried out, pulling my skirt up into my arms and running for the trees. But two hands caught hold of me, throwing me back down. “Don’t!” I screamed as the fire swallowed the torch in a tangle of orange flames. “Please!”

Vigdis’ fists coiled in my tunic and he pulled me to sit up, his reddened eyes leveling to mine. “You did this,” he sputtered between heaving, ragged breaths. “First, Vera. Now, Bekan.”

“Vigdis, please,” Jorrund pleaded, his voice shaking in terror.

“Eydis has punished Bekan for not killing you whenJorrund brought you through the gates of Liera!” He shook me. “I won’t make the same mistake.”

“We need to gather our warriors and meet with the village leaders.” Jorrund tried to speak calmly, but his hands were trembling before him. He thought better of saying the words, but he was thinking the same thing I was. Vigdis had started the fight in the glade against Bekan’s wishes. It was his own fault his brother was lying dead behind him.

“Not until I’ve pulled that Nadhir’s lungs from his body.” He glared at Jorrund, insulted.

“Their chieftain is dead and so is ours. We have to ready for war,” Siv said, beside him. “This is what we wanted, Vigdis.”

He dropped me, whirling on her. “Thisis not what I wanted!”

She stepped back, flinching.

Vigdis might have disagreed with Bekan, but it was apparent to anyone who knew him that he loved his brother. In his own foolishness, he hadn’t accounted for losing him if he betrayed the Nadhir.

“Eydis will honor him. He will be welcomed to the afterlife,” Jorrund said gently, but I could still hear the crack beneath his voice. He was scared. Not only for me—for him. He set a hand on Vigdis’ shoulder but he shoved him off.

Mentioning their god would have brought Bekan pause. But Vigdis wasn’t Bekan. He didn’t fear Eydis the way Jorrund did because she wasn’t his only god. Power and strength were what he wanted.

“Leading falls to you now, Vigdis,” Jorrund tried again, appealing to his pride.

He was quiet for a moment, the heaving in his chest slowing as he stared at the ground. His hands unclenched, loosening from their tight fists. “I won’t let the Nadhir go.”

Jorrund nodded. “It’s a debt that can be paid when we get to Hylli.”

“It can’t wait until then!”

“We have to move quickly. Our warriors will be here by sundown.” Siv set a hand onto his arm. “By morning, we can move east. We can be in Hylli in two days and this will be over.”

I looked between Vigdis and Siv, trying to think as quickly as I could. There was no escape. Nowhere to run. It was only a matter of time before Vigdis found a reason to kill me. I had to use the only power I had.

“I can find him,” I said.

“What?” Jorrund’s eyes widened.

“I can do it.” I looked to Vigdis. He would take the first chance he got to cut my throat. I knew that. Unless he needed me. “I’ll find the Nadhir.” As soon as I said the words, I saw his face in my mind. Blue eyes beneath dark, unraveling hair. A gaze that didn’t pull from mine. It sent the same sting racing across my skin that had been there in the glade.

“Tova, I don’t think that’s…” Jorrund stammered.

“How?” Vigdis growled.

“I know a way.” It would buy me some time, but it wasn’t without risk.

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