23. A House Divided
A House Divided
Darien
W hen Darien had been a child, he’d fallen from a tree.
The breathlessness he’d experienced then was the same he felt now.
The very air he tried to breathe felt thin.
When he had remembered Aeron’s demise, he’d shared the same grief over his parents.
He had been so sure of their deaths. Darien stared at Anara, an opened can of peaches forgotten in his clenched hand.
“My family is dead. I remember it.”
In the corner of his vision, Larissa flinched, as though she felt his loss personally.
Anara shook her head. “When Shiko gained control of the five kingdoms, she spread word that all the previous royal families had been killed, but that wasn’t true. You, your father, Lov—sorry, Larissa, and myself are the only survivors I know about.
“To prevent further rebellion, Shiko proclaimed the death of the royal families, all the while chasing whispers of the lost Perle Princess. She conducted raids throughout all the commonwealths, but Perle suffered the greatest.” Anara took a deep breath, steeling herself.
“Their population was halved in a matter of months as a warning to the rest of the commonwealths.”
Darien set down the can, feeling the food he’d eaten threaten to come back up. Halved? What kind of monster could destroy a people group so severely? Larissa looked ill as well, tucking her chin into her chest and staring at hands that knotted themselves against each other in her lap.
“Kings and Queens,” she murmured.
“Thousands of citizens were imprisoned or killed,” Anara continued.
“Perle became the example to keep the other commonwealths in line. When the order came about banning second-borns, most people complied, fearing that Shiko would turn her wrath on them if they did not. But some rebelled. King Torsten, Darien’s father, created a resistance for those who fled Shiko’s lands.
At first, it was merely a hiding place. Over the years, it has grown as more refugees seek to escape every new restriction and cruelty that Shiko puts in place. It became known as the Vienám.”
Darien’s mind swam with the new information but continued to circle back to one idea. “He’s really alive?”
“He was the last time I saw him, but that was years ago, and the members of Vienám lead dangerous lives. I haven’t traveled with them in nearly three decades.”
“Why’d you leave?” Halla asked.
Anara’s lips tightened. “Ever since the Great Hrun, our primary objective at Vienám had been to locate Prince Darien and Princess Lovisa, although they only knew her as the lost Princess of Perle. Very few knew her name. Lovisa’s story became legend.
Even though the Norn’s prophecy surrounding her was vague, people believed that if we found her, the gods would use her to make everything right. ”
Darien glanced at Larissa, who set down her food, a green tinge coloring her otherwise pale cheeks.
Anara continued, “Several decades ago, the people of the Vienám lost hope. They believed the rumors that you had never existed or, if you had, that you had died in the war. The search ended, and the searchers took on new responsibilities. When Torsten agreed to this, I left.”
Darien leaned back on his hands, doing his best to appear unbothered while he worked through the emotions.
His father was alive. He had stopped looking for Darien, his own son.
Had he bent to the will of Vienám, or had he truly given up hope on ever finding him?
Darien clenched his jaw. Would his father have stopped the search if it had been Aeron?
His hands dug into the forest floor as Darien forced his focus back to what Anara was saying.
“—I’ve been on my own since then, but I never doubted that you were alive. Now that I’ve found you, our best protection lies with the Vienám.”
“They’re in Perle?” Confusion saturated Halla’s voice.
“Not exactly. The Vienám was always mobile, never in the same place and never all together, but we always left at least one person in each city to tell any refugees where they could go to find safety. Our informants typically set up shop within the Walls as physicians—”
“Perle has a Wall too?” Halla interrupted.
All eyes turned toward her. Darien often forgot how little Halla knew of the world outside her farm.
“Every commonwealth’s city is enclosed by a Wall.
Only the farmlands are allowed to exist outside of it,” Anara explained.
“The Empress claims the Walls protect the cities, but it imprisons them. That’s why our spies reside within the Wall.
There’s always someone trying to get out.
If we can get within Lystheim—that’s the city of Perle, Halla—then we can find my informant and find the Vienám. ”
“Why didn’t we just go within the Wall at Safír?” Darien asked. “It would have been faster.”
“And possibly crawling with draugr searching for your scent.” Anara paused, meeting each of their gazes, even Halla’s. “Perle will have its own dangers, but hopefully, they will not be searching for you here as they would have in Safír.”
Larissa’s eyes darted to Halla. “You promised us safety, but you don’t seem to completely trust them—so how can we?”
“My issues with the Vienám won’t affect you. You’re not Rubinian,” she muttered. “Halla will be safe; the protection of children is honored there.”
“I’m not a child.” Halla interrupted, glaring at Anara and Larissa.
“Halla—”
“I stopped being a child the moment I burned my parents’ bodies.”
There was a collective pause.
Darien could see Larissa battling her next words. “You’re right, Halla,” she finally said. “You’re not a child, but you’re still my sister. If I put you in this danger, then I need to see you out of it. We’ll go to the Vienám, but Anara, I can’t help them. I’m not her anymore.”
“You’re wrong, Larissa. Whatever you decide to call yourself, whoever you choose to be, there’s so much your presence alone could do.
You’re a different person now—we all are—but you’re not free from your past. The Ancestral Blood still resides within you as strong as ever.
You felt the galdr earlier. You know it’s true. ”
Larissa bristled. “I couldn’t control what happened. I don’t even know how it happened. How am I supposed to help anyone if I can’t even control myself?”
“Galdr comes from a place of understanding and self-reflection. When you didn’t know your past, your galdr remained dormant inside of you.
Now that you are fighting those memories, the galdr is also fighting to be released.
You’re at war with yourself, and unless you find a way to make peace, you’ll only destroy yourself.
You can’t push away who you are forever. ”
Larissa said nothing, but Darien could see the tightening of her shoulders and the way she ducked her chin to one side.
For all their childhood, Lovisa had been so open to others, desperate in revealing her heart.
So often alone, she had longed for companionship.
This Larissa, who stood to the side and avoided others, left jagged, glassy shards in his chest that hurt with every breath.
He had seen stubbornness from Lovisa as a child but never to this degree.
Larissa was terrified of remembering, that much was clear, but what was it that had her so resistant to the truth?
What had happened to her that she so desperately did not want to remember?
He could not stand to watch it.
“What about me?” Darien asked. “I’ve remembered so much, not everything, but enough. Why hasn’t my galdr returned?”
Gratitude swept across Larissa’s features as Anara’s attention diverted to Darien.
“It has,” Anara said shortly, as though she knew what Darien was doing.
“What?”
“Just because you haven’t used it doesn’t mean that it’s not there. I’ve felt it grow inside you since we left the farm.”
“You can feel it?”
“Once you’ve fully recovered your memories, you’ll be able to sense galdr in those around you, though my sense will always be stronger.
Consider it an animal instinct. Meditative techniques will help you regain your memories and your galdr .
Now that you’ve rested, you’ll need to practice.
We won’t be able to enter Perle until you regain control, Darien. ”
“Why me?”
“Your galdr is one of persuasion. You can influence the minds of others, though some have been taught to resist the influence of Safirian royalty. We’re entering Perle tomorrow, so you’ll need to influence the sentries to get us through the Wall unnoticed.”
Darien leaned forward. “Tomorrow?”
“We can’t linger in one spot for too long. A draugr might avoid the river, but whoever sent it will not.”
“Calder,” Larissa said.
All eyes turned toward Larissa, but this time she met their gazes head on. For just a small moment, Darien could see the Lovisa he had known.
“Before the draugr attacked, a Kafteinn named Calder came to our house during an Inspection. He threatened to take me away unless I promised to spy on the Vienám. He kept calling them a small group of runaways. I didn’t realize the connection until now.”
“Did you tell him anything about them?” Anara’s voice was sharp.
“I didn’t know anything about them,” Larissa protested.
“We were going to leave that night after I retrieved Halla. Now I wonder if Pappa knew about the Vienám all this time. I overheard him telling Mamma that someone was coming after the season had finished. He said it was the sentries, but I think it might have been the Vienám.”
“Calder.” Darien tasted the name on his tongue. “I’ve never heard of him before, in either set of my memories. Anara?”
Anara shook her head. “Not the name, no, but there are stories of a Kafteinn under Shiko’s command, known as her War Dog.
He’s been searching for the Vienám since its inception.
He has killed or captured countless refugees seeking asylum.
He nearly discovered me a number of times.
I’ve never seen him face to face, and no one knows his name, but I don’t believe in coincidences.
If a Kafteinn came to your home, I’m betting it was him.
We need to find the Vienám before he finds us. ”
Darien felt her gaze, as hot as the sun. Though his stomach tightened in displeasure, he agreed. “Alright. Just tell me what to do.”
Anara’s eyes darted to the shoreline. She rose, offering a hand to Halla. “We’re too exposed here. Any sentries traveling between Safír and Perle will use that bridge. We need to get closer to the city, then make camp in the cover of the forest. Back to the truck, everyone.”
“That truck has less cushion than—” Darien’s groan was stopped short by Larissa’s sharp look. “I mean, it’s a very nice truck.”
“ She ,” Halla interjected. “Her name is Helga.”
Darien raised his hands in surrender. “ She ’s a very nice truck, kiddo.”
Satisfied, Halla followed Anara back through the trees. Darien chuckled at her retreating back. He grabbed his own bag from the ground but stopped when he saw Larissa’s eyes locked on the river.
“You okay?”
Larissa acknowledged him with a slight glance before returning her gaze to the river. “Do you know the saying about the Norn?”
“There’s a lot of sayings about the Norn.”
“‘Fear not death for the hour of your doom is set—’”
“‘—and none may escape it.’” Darien finished, shifting on his feet. “Yeah, it’s in the old stories of the heroic Volsungs. Why?”
For a moment, Darien wondered if Larissa would answer at all. Finally, she said, “I dreamed about the Norn. If they’re truly turning this wheel, I don’t know how much of a difference any of us can make. Even if I am the Princess.”
Darien shoved his hands into his pockets. “The stories also tell us it’s better to fight and fail than to live without hope. You could be that hope for so many people, Lara.”
Her eyes slid closed. “No, I can’t.”
Larissa's feet slapped against the rocks as she disappeared into the trees, heading back toward Helga. Darien cast one last look at the river, half expecting to see the ghost of his brother standing on the shore. But there was only the rushing water.