Because not only had he betrayed me, but he was now powerful as Hel—and I was sure he was conspiring to keep the Night Elves trapped forever, where he’d put us in the first place.
Killing him would be the first step to gaining our freedom once and for all. Then Gorm, then the rest. I’d pick them off, one by one.
Chapter 2
Galin
Earlier in the night, a storm had rolled in. Now, a cold wind rattled the windowpanes. I cracked my knuckles, then loosened my shoulders. Everything was ready. For nearly three weeks, I’d worked in secret to prepare this spell, and I had one chance to get it right. When I glanced in the mirror, I made sure the runes were painted exactly as they should be on my bare chest, the runes glowing in the dim light.
The embers in the hearth were the only thing lighting my room, allowing dark shadows to collect in the corners. My furnishings were sparse—a bed, a sofa, and an old mirror hanging on the wall. I caught a glimpse of my reflection and found myself still startled at my appearance, after a thousand years of looking like someone else. I was alive, a High Elf now. My hair and eyes were gold, my skin tan.
I got up and checked my door. It was locked, just as it had been five minutes earlier. Convinced I wouldn’t be disturbed, I returned to my desk and whispered, “Finnask.” The tabletop shimmered, then transformed from a pile of books and papers into a meticulously organized workbench.
Honestly, there wasn’t much: a few jars of herbs, some scavenged bowls and cups, a cluster of tallow candles. Not my usual setup, but my glass alembics and cucurbits had all been destroyed when the High Elves raided my home in Cambridge. The only things I’d managed to save were my grimoires, which I’d magically hidden. Still, I had what I needed to remove the Helm of Awe. Perhaps it stopped me from trying to hurt my family, but nothing stopped me from trying to take it off.
Still, the blasted circlet remained affixed to my head. If I so much as touched a finger to it, it zapped my brain. It wasn’t just that I couldn’t hurt King Gorm, it was preventing me from rejoining Ali. I could open a portal into the Shadow Caverns, but as soon as I tried to cross into it, bolts of white hot magic sizzled into my skull. Try as I might, the helm had kept me in the Citadel.
In the last three weeks, one thing had become clear: I’d exchanged one prison for another. I might have a soul again, but my body was not my own. I had no free will.
But after tonight, things would be different.
I’d collected all the tools and ingredients for a salve of unbinding. I had horse hair from the stables, mugwort and nettle from the Citadel’s kitchens—I’d even pinched a small piece of ambergris from the vanity in Revna’s room—something she used to soften her skin, I think.
I arranged the ingredients before me, going over the protocol a final time.
In an earthen pot, melt sea-incense, powders of snakes-bane, the oldest herb, and Sleipnir’s hairs. Apply the salve with Odin’s plume. When all is prepared, sing the song that frees.
Already, the runes on my chest glowed brighter. Scribing kaun, the rune for fire, I lit the candles. As they guttered in my drafty room, I warmed an old, broken teacup in their flames. Carefully, I placed the ambergris in the makeshift crucible. It melted slowly, emitting a musky aroma.
Next, I added the rest of the salve’s ingredients: snakes-bane, the oldest herb, and Sleipnir’s hairs—or, more simply, nettles, mugwort, and horse hair. Carefully, I swirled them with the end of a raven’s feather—Odin’s plume—until they formed a greenish liquid. After a minute or so, I sniffed the liquid experimentally. It smelled of pine and earth.
Finally, using a fresh raven feather, I dabbed the salve around the edge of the helm. I held my breath, expecting a magical zap to shatter my consciousness, but none arrived.
The salve applied, I slowly began to incant the words to the unbinding spell. As I chanted, the leftover liquid in the crucible began to glow with a green light. When I spoke the last word of the spell, it flashed, nearly blinding me.
Quickly, I crossed to my mirror. Just as I had hoped, the salve glowed brightly along the edge of the helm, too, and the