Black Shield Maiden by Willow Smith & Jess Hendel

Author:Willow Smith & Jess Hendel [Smith, Willow & Hendel, Jess]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Random House Worlds
Published: 2024-05-07T00:00:00+00:00

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That night, as I stare at the ceiling in Freydis’s room, my body wrapped in warm furs on the makeshift bed, my belly filled to bursting with leftover scraps of goat meat, I pray to the gods. I beg Mawu-Lisa for forgiveness for allowing another to fall in my place. No matter what kind of man he was in life, Erik didn’t deserve to die for my crime.

But he did, because of Freydis. Because she wanted to earn my trust. She didn’t save just my life, but Bronaugh’s and Airé’s too—knowing full well it would cost the life of one of her own people. She manipulated two grown men into fighting to the death over a lie.

How sorely I’ve underestimated her. It scares me to think that she’s capable of that, but it impresses me just as much. And I feel as grateful to her as I do guilty. The conflicting feelings swirl and clash in a storm of confusion.

“Freydis?” I roll to face her, the wooden frame squeaking under my weight.

She does the same. “Yes?”

I will earn your trust, Yafeu. Your full trust. No matter what it takes.

I want to tell her what Alvtir said to me at the docks. That I’m not going with her to Trøndelag. But at the last moment, I think better of it. I turn back to the ceiling. “Never mind. Good night.”

I can trust Freydis to save my life, but that doesn’t mean I can trust her to let me go.

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