Page 9 of The Ruins of the Heartless Fae
Fenris stood at the threshold of the room, his expression cool and his silver eyes dancing mysteriously. Mímir and Magni bowed their heads in respect as the leader of the Royal Guards pushed himself deeper into the room. Kolfinna pressed her back flush against the wall, ready for the wall to swallow her if she needed a quick escape. She couldn’t defeat him, and she doubted she could run, but she had to try if it came down to it.
He had defeated her, but unlike Blár, she didn’t feel a great fear when he was standing in the room. Her body didn’t tremble at the thought of his fiery magic, and there wasn’t a great despair in her chest like it was with Blár. Maybe it was because Fenris had shown mercy and hadn’t brutally injured her? Or maybe it was because Fenris wasn’t as cruel as Blár.
“We will do you a favor, while you do the same for us.” Fenris stopped a few feet away from her. His face was blank, and she sensed no hostility from him. “That’s what it means to do business. It is my hope that you will also give us our due respect, but it is not necessary.”
None of this was fair. A favor? It was more like coercion. How could she even retaliate against a man like him? Whatever it was they wanted from her, they would take.
“Why should I have to respect you?” Her voice trembled, even as she tried to strengthen it. “You’re … You’re a monster. All of you!”
Fenris tilted his head and watched her curiously. “We won’t hurt you.”
“Liar!” She pressed harder against the wall, her temple burning where he had struck her.
“Kolfinna—” He spoke softer now, as if she were a cornered animal he didn’t want to frighten any further.
“All of you are just glorified soldiers of the king! Mere little dogs licking his feet,” she hissed vehemently. Even she could hear the desperation in her voice. They would never understand her pain, her reality. “You’re the monsters, not me!”
It didn’t even make sense what she was saying, but maybe she truly was a cornered animal. And she was baring her fangs at them, threatening to bite even though she knew they had the upper hand.
“What—” Magni’s face purpled and he took a step forward as if to attack her, but Mímir placed a hand on his chest and held him back.
Fenris’s expression didn’t change, and Kolfinna tensed for the blow that was to come, but it never did. He remained peacefully calm, so much so that he reminded her of steady candlelight, so unlike the tumultuous fire he possessed.
“None of us here wish you harm,” Fenris said with the same lulling calmness.
She shot a wild glance at Magni, who was practically fuming beside Mímir. “Really?” she said with a laugh. “I find that hard to believe!”
Fenris’s silver eyes flicked to Magni. “He will not hurt you so long as you cooperate.”
Cooperation?What exactly did they want from her?
She clung to the wall for support, as if it could protect her from this man. From these Royal Guards.
When she didn’t say anything, he continued, “We have a proposition for you, Kolfinna the fae.” He was the epitome of tranquil and unbothered as he spoke, as if he hadn’t fought her that morning. “This proposition is from the king himself and from the Royal Guards. Two years ago, the military discovered a castle ruin thought to be older than the Great Purge.”
Her body stiffened in response at the mention of the Great Purge, which occurred after the Last Fae War, where the humans overthrew the fae oppressors and took back Rosain, and which ultimately ended in the decimation of the fae civilization. Only a small percentage of her people survived.
Apparently, the fae were monstrous creatures that came from the Mistlands beyond the Forest of Great Divide, where only magic beasts and creatures that feasted on the flesh of humans thrived. That side of the world was uninhabitable. The fae left those lands and conquered the human world, only to be defeated and relentlessly hunted to near extinction.
If the ruins were truly that old, then it must’ve had some interesting and powerful fae artifacts that hadn’t been used, or seen, in centuries.
Ancient fae artifacts were rare and powerful enough to be known as national treasures; all of them holding great primeval powers. How they were made was a mystery, but they belonged to the old fae civilization. Most had been destroyed during the Great Purge, either by the fae wanting to hide the power from human hands or by humans who didn’t know any better.
“Naturally, this is all classified information. We wouldn’t want other countries to swoop in and try to take what’s ours,” Fenris continued. “For two years, we’ve been trying to search the ruins and extract the artifacts. However, every time we send men into the ruins, they never come back. For two years, we’ve been losing men. A year ago, we teamed up with the military, but they too have failed. It doesn’t matter which ranks we send forward—yellows or purples—they do not survive.”
Kolfinna didn’t like the sound of all of this. An ancient ruin that killed everyone who entered it? It sounded spooky. Maybe this was a reason why fae artifacts were so hard to excavate—it was impossible for the average person to do it. And, by the sounds of it, still difficult for someone above average to do it.
Butwhywas it difficult? Were there fae folk protecting the ruins? Ancient fae magic resisting the invasion? Or people who didn’t want humans to see the inside of the ruins?
Whatever it was, she didn’t want any part of it.
“The military and the Royal Guards hate each other,” she mused. The king had his Royal Guards, led by Fenris, while the military had its commander-in-chief, Commander Steffen Bernsten. On paper, the king was in charge of everything, but in reality, he held no power over the military—and definitely no power over Commander Steffen Bernsten, who was rumored to look down on the king. As a result, both factions always tried to outdo the other and gain more power. “For the king to ask for the military’s help, it must’ve hurt his pride.”
Fenris blinked in surprise. “The military and the Royal Guards are both on the same side.”
Mímir and Magni shared a glance.Clearly, it wasn’t as simple as that.
Kolfinna’s muscles grew taut with tension, but she remained silent.
