Sacrifice (The Snow Queen #2)(34)

“Something will have to change if we want to eliminate the Chosen—not beat them,” Rakel sighed. And we have to eliminate them—or they’ll be back again for the mirror. She shivered at the thought for a moment. “No,” she decided, straightening. “We have Halvor, Phile, and others like Ragnar. We will win. I will not use my magic to kill.”

Tossing the dark thoughts aside, Rakel turned in the direction of Halvor’s headquarters. A sleepy goat baaed at her as she glided past a stable, and Phile’s horse snorted and stomped a hoof. She stopped to offer the horse her palm to sniff and heard two sets of footsteps.

She spun.

Kai. She willed the tension from her shoulders.

Kai and his mother hurried through the village. Kai carried a bundle of wood, his mother a pack.

“Set it by the door,” his mother said.

“Alright.” Kai stacked the wood by a cottage door. “Shall I go get more?”

“No,” his mother said. “You may go find Gerta.”

“Thank you, Mother!” Kai tried to hug her, but she backed away from him.

“Only for a few minutes. Mind your manners,” she said as she stepped inside the cottage and shut the door.

Kai stood there for a moment like a kicked puppy, his head hanging.

“Kai! Hurry,” Gerta called from deeper in the village.

Kai’s head came up. “Coming.”

Rakel watched the young boy trot away, and her heart ached with pain. The people have come so far…but it’s not enough, yet. Still, she is his mother. She loves him. She will come to accept him.

Rakel fixed her chin and started again for headquarters. Now, for the war…

And all the way there, she kept a watchful eye on the shadows.





CHAPTER 8





ON THE SUBJECT OF POACHING


“I simply cannot believe Tenebris Malus is human,” Phile announced. “Snorri and I snuck into the First Regiment—into his tent—and I couldn’t find anything that indicated anything about his past.”

Rakel pushed food around her wooden plate. “I don’t imagine he became the leader of an army of magic users by acting carelessly.”

“Bully for him, but that will have to change. I am the Robber Maiden! I steal whatever I want, and what I want is information on him!”

Rakel sipped her goblet of apple cider. “Don’t you think you should be satisfied that you were able to sneak around the camp? Based on Snorri’s model of the place, it is a feat that should be commended.”

Phile scoffed. “With Snorri using his magic, it is child’s play. I have decided: when I open my guild, I shall poach Snorri from the Verglas army.”

“And how do you intend to do that?” Rakel nodded and offered a hint of a smile to a group of three villagers who bowed to her as they hurried past.

“I have no idea,” Phile admitted. Her pretty face was twisted with irritation as she adjusted the red kerchief covering the ponytail of her black hair.

The pair was sitting in the mess hall—what used to be an inn before the invasion. As it was the lunch hour, almost everyone was present. Gerta, Kai, and the other two children in the village were eating together under Hilda’s watchful eye. Oskar was seated with Knut, Topi, and a mixture of magic users and soldiers. His infectious smile and good humor had the entire table laughing.

“I am fairly confident I will be able to match Tenebris, particularly if Liv is there to support me.” Rakel smiled at Halvor and Steinar when they entered the mess hall side by side. “But that does raise a few problems.”

Phile nodded. “Your brother told General Halvor he wants your role reduced so you aren’t required to expend so much of your power.”

“General Halvor didn’t agree?” Rakel asked, slightly shocked. Halvor was her second biggest nursemaid after Oskar, and he was intent on keeping her as swaddled as possible. The only reason she didn’t have a guard—as Liv did—was because he knew she would dismiss them.

“Oh, no, he agreed. That is why they plan to keep you in the center of the army instead of on the front lines during the next attack,” Phile said. “But you didn’t hear that from me.”

“They what?” Rakel hissed, dropping her wooden spoon.

Phile raised her hands. “I’m not saying I support their decision; I just thought a fair warning was in place.”

“If I don’t match Tenebris, we’ll slowly be bled of resources, troops, and time. Spring will come, and then I’ll be almost completely incapacitated. And that doesn’t even begin to address the problem of Farrin. We have to strike now—keeping me coddled is not the answer!”

“What we need is someone who has defense-focused magic, and who can guard you while you’re out of it,” Phile said.

“Defense-focused magic?” Rakel asked.

Phile used Foedus to make patterns in the gravy smeared across her plate. “Like Farrin’s. Magic that can counter other magic. Kai has it, but he’s too young and untrained.”

“He’s a child. We cannot put him on the battlefield.” Rakel glanced at the little boy. He was unaware of her scrutiny and smiled at something Gerta said.

“All I was saying is that Kai has defensive possibilities, too.” Phile spun Foedus across her knuckles. “Unfortunately, he’s the only magic user we’ve found so far with such powers in Verglas. Though that does raise a good point we could press on your brother and Halvor.”