Chapter 35
Njall
We were getting close enough to Eldenwood that we could occasionally see the town wall as the road snaked around the forest and mountain edge.
Yesterday, we spent more time hiding to avoid being seen by the people during the day, so now we hurried through the evening to make up for it.
As we neared the gate, Elva’s grip on my arm tightened, pulling me to a stop.
“What?” I asked.
She motioned silently toward the woods. “Something’s wrong,” she whispered, once we were hidden among the trees.
I followed her gaze toward the gate, where the usual guards stood. “How can you tell?” I whispered.
“I can feel it in the air.”
“Aren’t you a sea creature?”
She glared at me in that endearing way she would when I’d annoyed her, then sighed. “I am, but that means I can feel shifts in the surrounding air as well as water, and this isn’t right. There are too many men at the gate.”
I pressed against her, more than was necessary, to peer around the tree. Her scent, like the sea, salty and familiar, was intoxicating, and the heat from her body pressed against mine sent a rush of blood to my cock. I bit back a moan, nearly forgetting about the guards.
“You’re right,” I admitted when I finally pulled away. “There shouldn’t be seven men at the one gate, especially at this hour.”
Elva swallowed hard, and I could practically read her mind. She was worried for her brothers, that the knights had found them. I instinctively wrapped my arms around her, offering what comfort I could. Her breath steadied against me, and she leaned into my touch.
“We didn’t hear any travelers mention prisoners,” I said softly.
“Just because they aren’t talking about it everywhere—”
“I know,” I interrupted gently. “But if they are here, we’ll find a way.”
The forest was unnervingly quiet as I gathered wood for the fire.
I hurried in the dwindling light to avoid the countless broken branches and rocks that were strewn about from the storm.
I couldn’t stop thinking back to our conversations on the road.
Elva’s genuine laugh had lit up her entire face in a way I’d never seen on her before.
For a moment, it was as if all her walls melted away and I glimpsed the true woman she was—not the siren, or selkie, just her.
I had insisted she get some rest. Now, alone by the fire, I toyed with the beach glass pendant around my neck.
Before she died, my mother had explained that it was from the beach where I was born, and her and her parents, and all the generations of my family.
She told me to hold on to it until I found my person.
For selkies, giving the pendant to another would give that person sway over them, so choosing the right one was incredibly important.
My mother had given hers to my father, and it had been her demise.
Since the moment I was born, I took after my father.
Only a few traits of my mother had taken root in me—the most obvious one being my green eyes.
She’d hoped my resemblance to my father would make him love me more, but in truth, I believe it only made him hate me.
Of all his children, he despised me the most, and I knew it was because my mother had been the one he truly loved.
When she became pregnant with me, he realized he could sire a legion of children with monster women and ensure we protected Tyndorf.
He sought other creatures to bear his offspring, and five half-human offspring survived.
Of all the women he chose, he only ever loved my mother, but when he found others to carry his stronger, more useful children, he shattered her heart, and she died slowly, withering away to nothing.
He had always been cruel, but after her death, he became ruthless—and not just toward me.
That was the guilt that I struggled to carry—that it was my mother’s death and his hatred of me that made him lash out against my siblings.
I’d always wondered if my mother had any family and imagined what my life would have been like had they raised me, in that place, far from Tyndorf, on the beach where my family had lived for generations.
As a boy, I dreamed of that almost every night, but now …
now I knew it was nothing but a fantasy.
I dropped the necklace back inside my shirt and gazed at the sleeping siren beside me.
Elva was a dream too, but unlike those of my childhood, she was flesh and blood.
When she slept, she breathed so softly it was barely evident that she was alive.
I first noticed it when she was unconscious at the cottage, and honestly, it was fascinating to watch.
My brothers and my father’s men would snore loudly, their chests moving like the tide along the kingdom and the Crimson Mountains, so being around someone who didn’t make a sound was as perplexing as it was fascinating.
Having learned how much I’d been lied to about sirens, it made me wonder what else was a lie.
I knew Ingvar could turn into a wolf because I’d seen it.
The same was true for Hulda’s ability to communicate with animals, and Baldr was as strong as an ox, thanks to his satyr blood.
But what about the creatures we didn’t see?
The selkies might not be as simple as I’d been taught, the Minotaur not as violent, and maybe not all kelpies or harpies were completely vicious.
Over the years, I’d grown to expect my father to lie when it benefited him, but I could not fathom how deceiving us about creatures we had never even encountered would serve him—or our kingdom.
The fire crackled, pulling me from my thoughts, and I realized it was getting low again.
If we wanted to eat before creeping off toward the town, I’d need to grab some more wood.
Standing carefully to avoid making noise, I folded my cloak neatly and placed it in my spot so that if Elva woke, she’d know I hadn’t gone far.
Then I headed into the nearby trees, scanning the ground for branches and pieces of wood to cook the quail I'd caught earlier.
After that terrible storm, finding wood on the ground was a straightforward job.
The sunny, warm weather over the past few days had dried everything.
I gathered as much as my arms could hold without tangling myself in the outstretched limbs and vines, then turned back toward the fire's glow.
But as I stepped out of the trees, I froze — a cloaked figure was kneeling beside Elva.
Their back was to me, obscuring what they were doing, but I doubted it was anything good.
Fear surged through me. If I hesitated, they might hurt her.
I shifted my grip on the wood, grabbed one of the larger branches off the top of my pile, and hurled it at the intruder. The rest of the wood tumbled from my arms.
What happened next was a blur. Elva was on her feet before I could even grab another piece of wood, her arms outstretched, each gripping one of the daggers she rarely removed.
I hadn’t even seen her move until she was in her defensive stance.
The figure stumbled backward from Elva’s blades and collapsed beside the fire.
Luckily for them, their cloak was thick enough that it smothered our small fire rather than igniting it.
I crossed the clearing, seized the intruder by the collar, and yanked them to their feet—away from Elva. “Who are you? What are you doing here?”
The intruder’s hood fell to the side, revealing a head of blue hair. “Got another one obsessed with you, huh, Elva? How do you always manage that?”
The fire flared back to life, now that the cloak was removed, illuminating the siren’s face. She was attractive enough, with a small nose and deep blue eyes that almost looked black, but the smirk that crossed her lips made me grip her collar tight enough that my knuckles turned white.
“Do you know this thing?” I asked Elva. Her daggers were gone, and her arms were crossed over her chest.
“Hello, Coral,” she replied coolly.
“Mind having your toy let me go?” Coral shot back.
“What did you call me?” I snapped.
“He’s not my toy,” Elva replied, then stepped forward and hugged the siren the instant I released her.
“Does that mean he’s fair game?” Coral laughed and patted Elva’s back before turning back to me. “I’m Coral. I’ve known Elva and Sindri since we were all babes.”
Hope flickered in Elva's eyes for the first time in days. “Have you seen my brothers?” she asked urgently.
“They were taken,” Coral said. “A large group of Huestur men arrived a week ago and took over the entire town. Their main camp is hidden deep in the bush somewhere, but they have been keeping men around to look for you.” She pointed her slim finger at me.
Coral went into detail about how Sindri and Leifur arrived a few days ago and tried to make it into town to find shelter.
“You’re lucky I found them before the guards did.
Since then, I’ve been hiding out and waiting for you.
I knew if Sindri was here, you’d be close behind. ”
I listened, but never took my eyes off her.
Although she seemed to be an old friend of Elva's, something about her felt off. She was too chummy, only talked to Elva while barely acknowledging me, and was too excited to see Elva while her brothers were taken hostage. Listening carefully, I gathered they’d just seen each other when Elva was on her way to find me.
I nodded at something Elva said without hearing her, and she pointed to me, making both sirens laugh.
“So, where are Sindri and Leifur?” I asked, wanting to move things along.
Elva shot me an annoyed look, with the same pursed lips and wrinkled nose she usually used on her brother. It was much less adorable when aimed at me, but I brushed it off and watched Coral. “Well?”