Chapter 17 Freija #2
His eyes narrowed before he nodded and turned to the fae. “How much did they pay you?”
More bloody spit hit the floor. “Enough gold to buy a stable of horses.”
My brows furrowed. That didn’t sound right. The letter father and I talked about the other day mentioned wanting gold for vessels. Would his employer really pay him in gold when that’s what they were after in the first place?
Halvar’s fist swung again. This time it hit ribs. Cracks rent the air, and I cringed.
“Lie,” Halvar said.
Good. He’d caught it too.
The man swayed, his head lolling ominously to one side. Halvar slowly tilted his to match. It was an eerie motion, scary enough to send a shudder through my own shoulders.
“Try again,” Halvar grumbled.
A groan. Another thump and crack.
“House.” The man sat back on his feet and stared at the ceiling as if that might help him breathe with multiple broken bones and what appeared to be a broken nose. There was too much blood everywhere to be certain, but that angle wasn’t normal.
Halvar grunted.
“So,” I started and pushed off the wall. “You chose to do this for a house. Did you not already have a roof over your head?” If he said yes, then he was likely an opportunist and regularly employed for killing. If he said no, he was likely someone who traveled a lot or had fallen on hard times.
“I… had… one…” he panted.
Interesting.
So, maybe a killer for hire, but the way he said that sounded like he might be a traveler. My mind snagged on the past tense, and doubt settled in.
“And were you here to kill or kidnap me?”
“K-kidnap.”
That sounded like the truth. Halvar must have agreed as he leaned back and crossed his arms, letting me continue with my line of questioning.
“What faction are you?” I asked.
“Forest,” he and Halvar replied at the same time.
I crossed my arms over my chest too. Ragnhild and her parents would be livid.
While we had no official alliance with the Forest Fae, things between our factions had been relatively peaceful for centuries.
A Forest Fae trying to kidnap a Fjell heir would not bode well for diplomatic relations.
Even if they weren’t brought about by the royal family but by someone acting of their own accord.
“What faction does your employer belong to?” I asked.
Halvar straightened and something shimmered in his gaze. Was that pride? I shoved aside the warm feeling that bubbled in my chest and focused on the bleeding man.
“Tell us,” I ordered, “or I will have my guard here start removing your fingers.”
That was definitely a smile from Halvar.
His violence should have scared me, and perhaps having been threatened had emboldened me, but I felt no remorse for any damage wrought by Halvar’s hands. Not against this man.
“Fjell.”
No. Not one of our own. Why would a Fjell Fae threaten one of their own for gold? Unless this man’s employer was employed by someone else? How deep might this go?
The room stilled, the only noise the drip of blood into the ever growing puddle in the middle of the room.
Sinewy scarlet globules that reminded me of sap leaching from a tree hung from the man’s mouth and crooked nose. “The enemy is already within these walls.”
My stomach sank. That was a worst-case scenario. Halvar had been right. We couldn’t trust anyone. Not if they had infiltrated our ranks and gotten past our wards.
“Who and where?” I curled my fists, pushing my nails into the fleshy part of my palm.
“That, d-dear princess, is for you to find out when you least—”
Broad hands wrapped around the man’s shoulder and arm, and Halvar ripped his limb off.
An ear-shattering scream pieced the air.
My hands flew to my face in shock as blood and detritus flew from the gaping wound. The man dangled like a broken marionette as Halvar tossed aside the arm. It landed in the back corner with a wet thump.
Stomach roiling, I sucked in breaths and covered my eyes, trying my best to ignore the overwhelming smell and taste of copper that now doused the air. I dared to peek through my fingers.
With blood splattered across his heaving chest and a wild fire burning in his gaze, Halvar looked to me. “It was necessary.”
“Why?”
Those flames burned hotter as if I was the most precious fae of all time. “Because he threatened you.”
My breath caught in my chest. No one had ever defended me in such a manner.
“You could have asked someone else to…”
He shook his head. “It will always be me.”
“But it’s so violent.”
“You do not like the violence?”
Not particularly, but there was a time and a place for it. “I don’t mind it if used to protect the fae.”
“It always is and always will be.”
He moved to walk past me, but I stopped him with a hand to the center of his chest. His head dipped, staring at the touch, before he slowly turned to me.
“Thank you.”
A single brow rose toward that silver hairline mottled with blood. “You’re thanking me?”
I knew what he’d done for me tonight. Understood what this was truly about.
He’d shown me that the threat had been neutralized, given me the chance to be part of my own security, and given me peace.
Because had I not been here, had I not seen Halvar rip the man’s arm off, I would have always worried and dreamed about someone out to kidnap me instead of having nightmares of the gory scene I’d just witnessed.
“Thank you for protecting me.” I retracted my hand from his chest. “From the physical threats and those that threaten my mind.”
He took a deep breath and loomed over me. “Until the ancestors call me home, princess.”
Something squeezed behind my ribs. Oh, I was in deep trouble.