Rule of Wolves by Leigh Bardugo

Author:Leigh Bardugo [Bardugo, Leigh]
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
ISBN: 9781250142306
Publisher: Imprint
Published: 2021-03-29T22:00:00+00:00

22

NINA

NINA DIDN’T WANT TO MOVE from her bed. Hanne had told her parents that she was ill, that the oysters at the previous day’s breakfast hadn’t agreed with her.

“I forget she’s not used to the luxuries of the Ice Court,” Brum had said, his voice carrying through the gap in the door. “But she must join us to celebrate.”

That should make me angry.

The thought came and went. She felt like she was drowning, but she didn’t want to fight to surface. She wanted to lie here, in this bed, the covers heavy like the weight of water. She didn’t want to think and she couldn’t pretend she was all right.

She felt as if someone had cracked open her chest and carved the heart right out of her. The Fjerdans had bombed Os Alta. They’d bombed houses where children slept in their beds, markets where innocent people did their business. They’d bombed Nina’s home, the place she’d found joy and acceptance as a little girl. How many of her friends had died? How many had been injured? She had been in Brum’s office, she had seen the map of Ravka’s capital, but she hadn’t understood. If she had … Nina sank deeper, down, down.

The news had come during a party, just days after the royal hunt. She’d been with the Brums in the ballroom, the same room where the prince had collapsed. She was holding a plate of smoked fish and roe, idly contemplating that no spy had ever been so well fed. Word had spread that Prince Rasmus had not been permitted to join the royal hunt, but the damage to his reputation was somewhat tempered by reports of how handsome he’d looked in his riding clothes and how much stronger he seemed every day.

“We’ll see,” Brum muttered. “Padding the shoulders on his jacket won’t make him any more a king.”

The grizzled Redvin had merely let out a snort. “Let’s get him up on a horse and see what happens.”

“That’s cruel,” Hanne had said quietly. “You mock him for his weakness and then punish him when he dares to change.”

Redvin had laughed. “Your girl has a fondness for that whey-faced whelp.”

But Brum’s face had been cold. “There is no punishment for a prince, Hanne. And you would do well to remember it. Rasmus may favor you now, but if his opinion turns sour, I will be unable to protect you.”

Those words had sent a shiver through Nina, remembering Rasmus with the crop in his hand, the blood on Joran’s cheek.

But Hanne had refused to drop her chin, returning her father’s stare with hard determination. Nina knew she should give her a nudge, a gentle touch of the hand, a reminder that they were meant to show vulnerability and softness here so no one would guess at their strength, but she couldn’t. This was the true Hanne, a girl with the heart of a wolf. Healing the prince hadn’t just made Rasmus stronger; it had reminded Hanne of who she could be, who she might become if Fjerda weren’t in the grip of men like her father.

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