Chapter 24 Solveig
There was much to be done to prepare for the arrival of the Fae.
She’d taken the rest of the day and the night to contemplate her next moves.
The morning ride had helped clear her mind further.
Dismounting and leading Helle to her stall, Solveig went through the motions of taking off Helle’s saddle and reins before brushing her down.
Getting lost in the soothing, repetitive task allowed her body to relax.
Gerrie looked over from where she groomed her own horse and gave Solveig a reassuring nod. She could do this. She would make a plan and follow it step by step.
I got out. I got out. I got out.
Her first step would be to talk to Latham, needing to get the weight of him off her chest.
Once she was finished grooming Helle, she fed her an apple and went to search him out. She didn’t have to go far, catching sight of him leading his horse to the stables. He was followed by a female, the pair smiling and laughing together.
A grin began to form on her face, for it had been a long time since she’d seen Latham with someone who made him laugh like that. She ducked around to the other side of the stables so she wouldn’t interrupt them—she could speak with him later.
When she was out of sight, she made to leave but their conversation reached her, halting her mid-step.
“Solveig will understand,” the female said.
Solveig vaguely recognized her—her name was something like Tiva or Tonja.
She was younger, and Solveig remembered she used to be an entitled brat because she came from a highborn Vanir family.
But the short time they’d spent training together was rather forgettable.
Knowing it was probably not the best idea, she listened.
“I don’t think she will. She hasn’t spoken since she got back, and I can’t talk to her if she’s not communicating.” Latham’s voice sounded resigned and if she wasn’t mistaken, a bit terse.
Was he angry with her?
“Saeta, that’s exactly why she’s not fit to be general anymore. If only a few months could break her then she’s not strong enough.”
Solveig’s eyes widened. Saeta? The word for love on the female’s tongue sounded possessive and seedy.
She expected a pang of jealousy to hit her, since Latham had used to call her that, but none came.
The other words the female had spoken caused her heart to spike and her blood to heat.
She waited for Latham to defend her, but he didn’t. There was a long pause before he spoke.
“You may be right. I’ve never seen her like this. While I think she’ll be strong again eventually, she’s not right now.”
Well then.
Tora or Tyra or whatever her name was shrugged a slender shoulder. “Maybe she will and maybe she won’t. The queens already decided to reevaluate. I tried telling them this years ago but they didn’t listen. I’m glad they’ve come to their senses.”
Bitch.
“Solveig was a good general before the incident. If she hadn’t been captured . . .”
“You mean if she hadn’t let herself get captured.”
Wait, what?
“She didn’t want to be captured.”
That’s your only problem with what she just said?
“I know she didn’t want to be, but like I’ve said a thousand times, if she hadn’t been high and mighty, she would’ve known that she needed you there. But no, she had to prove a point that she’s better than everyone—better than you.”
Do not stab her, do not stab her, do not stab her.
“Her pride has always been a weak spot for her, and as much as I care for her, I hate to say that it finally got her hurt,” Latham lamented.
My pride? Solveig’s blood boiled. She was about ready to march out there with her weak-ass arms and show the two of them how strong she could be even given her current physical state. Before she could take a step the female sighed, big and exaggerated.
“You know you’ll make a better general. You’ve been doing so great these last few months. Ever since you decided to stop searching for her—”
The next words faded from Solveig’s consciousness as shock coursed through her body like a living current, freezing her where she stood.
Her magic roared. Latham had made the call to stop looking.
His decision. She’d been holding out hope that it had not been up to him, that there was some other reason he’d stopped, a force he hadn’t been able to overcome.
That backstabbing, lying, dishonourable son of a—
“I just wish it didn’t have to be this way, but I couldn’t have searched any longer.”
Her heart splintered.
“You went above and beyond what was expected of you. If anything, you looked too long.”
“Maybe . . .”
That was the last straw. She stepped out from behind the stable and came into view. They didn’t see her right away, close as they were standing to each other, so she spoke.
“How long did you look, Latham?” Her throat was still sore from disuse, the words coming out cracked and hoarse.
Latham jumped at the sound of her voice, his face turning a shade of red Solveig had never seen on him before. He started towards her as if to embrace her, but she took a step back and held out a hand.
“How long did you look, Latham?” she repeated. It didn’t go unnoticed that whatever-her-name-was had disappeared into the stables without a word. Solveig would deal with her later. Or not at all—she was nothing.
“Solveig, you know the protocol.”
“How long?”
Latham swallowed. “Sol, I searched everywhere, I didn’t eat or sleep for days, I . . .”
“How long, Latham?” She wanted to scream, yell, rage at him, but her voice was so small. And even though she already knew, she needed to hear him say it.
“You don’t understand. It was mayhem here, the realms wanted action and with the news of the Fae coming, I had to step in and make a decision—”
“How long did you look for me?”
“I’m trying to tell you why I had to stop. I tried to convince the council that we had to find you, but I had a responsibility to my people.”
She couldn’t hold it in anymore. “I WAS YOUR PEOPLE!”
His voice trembled. “Sol . . . I . . .”
“How long did you look for me?” she asked again, tears streaming down her face.
“Solveig, please understand—”
“How long until you decided to break yet another oath to me? How long did you leave me chained to the ground? Which day did you stop looking? On day twenty-three when he filleted all the skin from my body? What about on day forty-two, when they strung me up naked by my ankles and pressed a red-hot poker to my body over and over again? Or how about day sixty-eight? That was a special one. He shattered every single one of my bones, one at a time. I remember them all. Every. Single. Day that you didn’t come. Which day was it, Latham?”
“Thirty-two,” he whispered.
“Ah, day thirty-two,” she said coldly. “I was hanging from the ceiling by my wrists taking lash after lash. He whipped me one hundred and twenty-seven times. I wasn’t conscious for all of them, of course. He told me afterwards. He only stopped because his arm got tired.”
Latham didn’t meet her eyes. He stood staring at the ground, and Solveig thought he was shaking from shame or guilt. She was wrong. When he finally looked up, rage filled his gaze.
“Maybe you should’ve thought about that before banning me from joining the raid.”
Disbelief was a slap to her face. “So you do agree with that wench, then? Getting captured was my fault?” Venom and magic crackled under her skin.
He reared back. “That’s what this is about? Just because I found someone who actually wants to be with me—”
“Latham, I loved you, but I made it clear when we couldn’t be together that I wanted you to find someone else—”
“But the moment I do, you take all your anger out on me, blaming me for your choice—”
“My choice? My choice? I wanted to be tortured from the moment the sun rose to when it set for eighty-nine days? I chose to—”
“You chose to keep me at camp. You chose to stop them from taking me!”
His words stunned her. Even after everything she learned, everything she knew, hearing him blame her for his choices proved every doubt she’d had about him, about them, she’d been right.
“I guess I chose wrong then,” she said with lethal calm. Shock flashed across Latham’s face.
“How can you—”
“You broke the oaths you made to me. First when you followed me on that raid. And then again when you stopped looking for me. I never would’ve stopped. Damn the people and damn the consequences.”
“You always said we couldn’t be together because you had to put your people before your relationship with me. How can you blame me for doing what you said you would do?”
He never understood her reasoning and now she understood why.
He thought she was scared of putting her people first, but it was the other way around.
“That was the whole point of us not being together, Latham. We couldn’t be together because I knew I would choose you if it came down to it.
And that’s exactly what happened. But I thought you would keep looking for me. ”
“When we made that promise, neither of us thought the other would be taken.” He was still trying to justify his actions.
“And that makes it less dishonourable to break?”
Latham looked as though she’d slapped him. He opened his mouth to speak again but snapped it shut.
Solveig trembled, the soft breeze caressing her tear-stained cheeks.
“In the end, I put you first. I chose to save you instead of going after my target. That was my choice. You chose differently. I don’t care who you take to bed.
I hope she makes you happy. I care that you betrayed me in every single way that counts. ”
She didn’t wait for his next words. Fresh tears fell freely down her face as she walked away, the last remaining spark of hope she had for Latham snuffed out.