Page 111 of Soul of Fire

”Iknow.“ She rolled her eyes at me, and I fought the urge to pull her in for one last kiss.

Not last. If the Norns were kind, I would have a thousand more kisses with this woman.

Are you a believer now?Baldur rumbled.

I will be if we both make it out of here alive.I would make a fucking shrine to them if they could keep my mate safe.

The only sounds were the distant screams and the pad of our feet across the broken stones. One door to the greathall was askew on its hinges, but the interior was so dark, I couldn’t make out anything beyond.

Idunn says someone’s in here.Eisa said, her hand gripping mine so hard her knuckles turned white.

I clenched my jaw and tried to stay calm.Stay close.

She nodded, and I pushed open the broken door. The wood creaked ominously, but the room was still. Dark and silent. The ceiling had been patched where we had escaped through the roof, the wooden planks far lighter than the surrounding beams, but otherwise, the room appeared unchanged.

Except for the pool of blood and the bodies lying at the foot of the dais.

And on my father’s throne…

“Took you long enough,” Edvard drawled, one leg propped lazily over the arm of the throne. He twirled a dagger in his right hand, the tip stained red. “I was beginning to think you might not come.”

“Edvard.” I stilled, pulling Eisa to a stop just behind me as I realized whose bodies lay at his feet.

My mother and father.

Grief clenched my heart for my mother. Grief and rage. “What have you done?”

“It said you would come, though,” Edvard mused as if he hadn’t heard me. “It is right about most things.” He suddenly winced andclutched at his skull. “It is…” His voice was thinner, as if he were in pain. “Displeased that I doubted It.”

“Who, Edvard?” I stepped forward cautiously, checking the surroundings for guards. A weapon. Anything that might be helpful. Eisa remained a step behind me, her breathing shallow. “Who are you talking about? What have you done?”

“Did you know?” He sat upright, his eyes clear again. “Did you know that Father was going to makeyouhis heir?”

I said nothing, which was answer enough.

Edvard burst into a maniacal laugh, and the windows of the hall shook as if they might shatter.

Something is not right, Baldur murmured.He is…wrong somehow.

I feel it too.Eisa this time.He’s…different.

“Of course you knew,” Edvard spat, the ground beneath our feet rumbling. If the chasm expanded now, we would be sucked into its depths before we had time to shift. “The golden boy. The son with the dragon. Of course he toldyou.”

“Edvard.” I was at a loss for words. Edvard knew my father hated me. Reveled in it, in fact. “Tell me what you did.”

“HE LIED TO ME!” Edvard stood, his voice deepening into something ancient and cold and cruel.

He breathed heavily, and I edged Eisa back a step, handing her the pack.Shift as soon as he moves.Take the Book.

I felt her tremble at the proximity of the Book, but her voice was firm.Not without you!

When Edvard next spoke, his voice was his again, almost childlike. “It should have been me to go to Ironholm.”

“Edvard.” I had no idea what to say to this, but I suspected that making him angry would damn us, and I needed to get the dagger out of his hands. I stepped forward again. “Put down the dagger, and we’ll talk.”

Edvard cocked his head, the movement unnatural as if he wasn’t in control of his own body. “But It will make me king. And now,” he looked up, and to my horror, his pupils stretched to vertical slits. “NowIhave a dragon.”

The room exploded into darkness, and I instinctively threw myself over Eisa and shifted, letting Baldur’s scales take the brunt of the violence.