My right temple had a scabbed-over gash and a dark purple bruise, but the worst of it was under my hair, where I’d needed six stiches. Viktor had meant business, and the medic that had fixed me said I was lucky that he hadn’t actually smashed my skull in.
Twelve hours later, I had a killer headache, and the vision in my right eye still didn’t seem quite right. Whenever I looked to the left, I could see a blinding white spot out of the corner of my eye.
“If it hurts, they can give you something for the pain. ” Ridley leaned forward, inspecting my injuries. He reached out tentatively to brush back my hair from the wound, but I pulled away before he could, so he dropped his hand and straightened up.
“I’m okay. I just want to get out of here and get home. ”
“Well, I’m all packed up. We can head out whenever you’re ready. ”
My jeans were blocking the zipper, so I pushed my clothes down deeper and continued my fight to get my bag zipped. “I’m just about done. ”
“You know, you shouldn’t blame yourself for what happened,” Ridley said. “You went down to reason with Konstantin, who was in a cell. You had no reason to think he could break out and attack you. If they had any kind of security here, they could’ve stopped him. But they think he went through one of the doors out into the lake, and he has to be long gone by now. ”
In the morning, Ridley had come to my room to see how I was doing, and when I wasn’t there he’d gone down to the dungeon, where he’d found me unconscious and bleeding on the floor. When I first awoke, I remembered nothing of the attack. I only knew that Ridley was holding me in his arms, his eyes filled with fear and affection.
But as the morning had gone on, my memories had been slowly coming back. A hazy blur of the dungeon. Konstantin telling me to run. Viktor Dålig emerging from the shadows. Then the blinding pain.
I knew I would tell Ridley about seeing Viktor, but I wanted to wait until I was certain that Viktor was involved. Everything felt too hazy and blurry, and I wasn’t even sure I could trust my memories.
Viktor had killed Ridley’s father, and he’d been on the run for years. I’d had the chance to stop him, but I’d let him get away, and I couldn’t tell Ridley about it unless I was sure it was true.
“If don’t blame myself, then who should I blame?” I asked, sounding much harsher than I meant.
“Konstantin,” he said simply, and I let out a deep breath that I didn’t even realize I’d been holding.
“Ah, good. ” Lisbet smiled, entering my room without knocking, and Ridley and I stood at attention. “I’m glad to see you’re both here. How is your head doing?”
“Better, Marksinna,” I told her politely.
“Good. ” She walked around my bed, the long train of her gown filling up the floor as she went over to the window. Her gills fluttered lightly, and she glanced down at the bed. “What are you doing? Are you packing your things?”
“Yes, Marksinna,” Ridley said. “Bent is dead, and Konstantin is gone. ”
“You weren’t invited here to find Bent or Konstantin,” Lisbet said. “You’re here to find my granddaughter, and I don’t see her anywhere. ”
Ridley exchanged a look with me, but I lowered my eyes. I didn’t agree with the conclusion that Ridley and the Trylle had come to, but I had been outvoted. As soon as I’d been well enough this morning, Ridley had informed me that the Trylle were moving on, and so would we, and that had been the end of the discussion.
Page 69
“We believe…” He stopped, clearing his throat. “We believe that the Queen is no longer alive. We think that Bent or Konstantin killed her. I’m very sorry. Please understand that you have the deepest sympathy of the Kanin people, and you will always have our full support. But our mission here is complete and, like our Trylle allies, duty requires us to return home to serve our own kingdom. ”
“I see. ” She lowered her eyes and swallowed hard. After a moment, she said softly, “Then there seems to be no reason for either of you to remain here. Send my gratitude to your King for your aid, and I trust that you can see yourselves out. ”
Ridley opened his mouth as though he meant to say something, but there was nothing he could say. Lisbet left us alone in the room with a heavy silence covering us.
“So that’s it then?” I asked. “We just leave?”
Ridley let out an exasperated sigh. “What else would you have us do?”
“Finish our job!” I snapped.
“We have!” he shot back, then lowered his voice. “The Queen is dead, Bent is dead, and Konstantin is gone, leaving without a trace, and he’s almost certainly moving on to his next target. We can’t help the Skojare any longer. We need to get back and protect our own people. ”
He softened and stepped closer to me. “As a tracker, you know that you don’t get to pick where your job is or when it will begin or end. You just do the work that is given to you, and then you move on. ” He put his hand on my arm. “This job didn’t work out the way either of us had planned, but it’s time to go home. ”
I nodded, hating that Ridley was right. There was nothing left for us in Storvatten. The only thing we could do was head back to Doldastam. I finished gathering my things so Ridley and I could start the long journey home.
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