Total pages in book: 76
Estimated words: 71403 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 357(@200wpm)___ 286(@250wpm)___ 238(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 71403 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 357(@200wpm)___ 286(@250wpm)___ 238(@300wpm)
“I cannot,” he answered, surprising me. “Only those the rune wishes to live in can hear it.”
Ooooh. So, in theory, I’d gotten it right. If we found no other path to walk, I could take Sebastian’s place. But there was a wrench I hadn’t considered until now. What if the rune needed his permission, as it needed mine?
I’d just have to be stubborn enough to hold out.
But there was still a chance we’d find another way. Tonight.
Dinner passed in stages. Uncomfortable silence kicked us off. Uncomfortable only for me. I tried to initiate conversation, but Jokull and Harpa appeared perfectly at ease, sipping soup, each in their own little world.
When I’d had as much of that as I could stand, I spoke louder, practically—definitely—shouting. “Why would you agree to give us the very toolset to be used for your doom?”
Both looked at me and frowned with varying degrees of disapproval.
Now that I had their attention, I lowered my tone. “What’s the true purpose for this dinner?” Other than tormenting Sebastian. And us.
Harpa rifled through the cupcakes on a dessert tray. “Could you not afford strawberries this late in the season, Jokull?”
Of course, he answered her first. “Give the blueberries a chance. Their tart sweetness might surprise you.”
“Oh!” she exclaimed, ignoring him. “Peach.” She lifted her chosen treat.
Jokull watched her a moment longer before smiling at me. “I believe you have the wrong impression of my abilities. You think I can be harmed or overpowered. Let me prove otherwise.” He looked to Harpa. “My lady, you have my permission to kill me in any way of your choosing without consequence—”
She struck him with a shadow-tentacle across the throat, right from her seat, never pausing while nibbling on her cupcake. His head slid from his body, hit the table, then plopped on the floor. He smiled the whole way down.
“I never intended on asking permission,” she announced.
I lurched back as blood sprayed in a straight arc. Shock and horror fed off each other when his head dissolved on the floor.
Only for a new one to grow from his open wound.
He resumed eating without missing a beat. At least his food wasn’t swimming in the crimson spray. “I have burned to ash, been sawed in half, had every organ removed, and endless other deaths you cannot even fathom. Nothing took.”
Harpa selected a second (blood-free) cupcake. “I simply love when someone gets their just desserts. Don’t you, princess?”
Jokull chuckled. “Nice play on words, little pearl.” Then he focused on me. “I’m sure Sebastian explained how he’s working to acquire the power to slay the unslayable. I don’t believe it, of course, but the legend has given the kraken king hope all these centuries. I admit, I’m a bit excited to dash them.”
And the hits kept coming. I’d known Jokull couldn’t be killed any other way but the path my husband had chosen. Sebastian had told me. But the truth of it hadn’t registered until this dinner, when a severed head lay at my feet.
The niggle I’d entertained finally revealed itself, taking center stage as a curtain peeled back. I could rack my brain all I wanted, read a thousand books, and interview ten thousand runestone experts, and I would not discover another path.
Sebastian had done all of that. The convergence stone must be utilized.
But I couldn’t sacrifice Sebastian’s heart. I just couldn’t. If pressed, he would have to surrender mine.
The moisture in my mouth dried. I could refuse to release his heart and force him to relinquish mine. To save his kingdom, he would have to.
My chest squeezed. I would gain the power to kill Jokull, and Sebastian could live a long, happy life.
Jokull folded his napkin on the table and sat back, turning his wine glass by the stem. “I remember the night Birta became the rune.” His features softened. “It could not take her love for her husband because he was already dead. So it took her love for the boy. I recognized something in her that day, and I think, nei, I am certain I will recognize the same in Sebastian.”
Harpa enjoyed another cupcake.
I sat frozen, trying to breathe. “And what is that?”
Jokull propped his elbows on the tabletop and smiled, and it wasn’t comforting. “A friend.”
You’ve got to be kidding me. “She drove you from the kingdom.”
He tsked at me. “She killed me, just for a moment, and tossed me beyond the dome. But as always, I revived. I would’ve come back immediately, but a goddess used the opportunity to oversee my capture. I spent centuries in her dungeon, being killed again and again, and I thought of nothing but that fateful night every day. How I had recognized myself in her. How Sebastian will change and become like me. I’ll invite him to kill me and get it out of his system, then I’ll revive, and I’ll claim Harpa. Cheers.” He saluted me and drained another glass of wine.