Total pages in book: 135
Estimated words: 125422 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 627(@200wpm)___ 502(@250wpm)___ 418(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 125422 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 627(@200wpm)___ 502(@250wpm)___ 418(@300wpm)
What the hell?
“Thank you, Raila.”
I gather up the ends of my burgundy dress and hurry out of the room, the snowbird flying behind me. Ever since it returned to Shadow’s End in the middle of the night, it’s been following me and Tuoni everywhere. I don’t really speak bird, despite my nickname, but I have the distinct impression that when my husband sent it to find his sister, Ilmatar, that the bird ended up staying with her until the coast was clear and Tuonela was back in order. Can’t say I blame the thing. At least it’s not attacking Tuoni like it used to do, as funny as it was.
Damn this castle is big, I think to myself, descending staircase after staircase as I race to the bottom. Sometimes when I’m truly lazy, I find Sarvi and ask the unicorn to fly me down, broken horn and all. What good is being a queen if you can’t have a flying unicorn transport you from time to time?
Finally, I burst out of the giant main doors and cross the drawbridge to see Tuoni, Sarvi, my father, and Rasmus gathered on the road around the other shaman. Ilmarinen looks worse for wear and staggers toward the castle, my father and Rasmus holding him up.
“What’s going on?” I ask as they approach. I look at Ilmarinen. “Where the hell did you go and what the hell are you doing here?”
“He was off being a coward,” Rasmus says snidely. “He’s been hiding all around Tuonela while the war raged on, too afraid to show himself.”
“I’m sorry,” Ilmarinen says weakly. “I just couldn’t do it. I don’t have your strength. She took it all from me.”
I look over his head at my husband standing behind him. He’s wearing one of his skull masks for the first time in ages, probably to intimidate the shaman. “He’s begged us for forgiveness,” Tuoni says. “What do you think, my queen?”
I look into Ilmarinen’s pleading eyes. They seem so broken by the world that I can’t help but give in a little. “Well, I think he was corrupted and tortured by Louhi for so long that perhaps we can be a little lenient?”
Rasmus scoffs, enough to draw a glare from me. “What? You’re one to talk,” I say to my half-brother. “You deserve forgiveness for being a rat-bastard and yet he doesn’t? You were both corrupted by the same demon.”
“Hey,” my father chides, offended by my choice of words.
“Rat-bastard is a figure of speech,” I assure him. Though, I mean, my father has been kind of rat at times. Rasmus, me, and even Salainen is proof of that. He’s a man with as many faults as me, but I still love him anyway.
Rasmus grumbles but says nothing more. Ever since he’s been brought back from the dead, he’s found a way to annoy me at every turn. I suppose that’s what brothers are good for. Since I grew up without any siblings, I can only guess, though I have to admit I do like having him around. It makes our family seem bigger. Also, he lives with my father in the farthest wing of Shadow’s End, so if either of them get on my nerves, they’re easy to avoid.
I look at my husband. “I say we take Ilmarinen into the fold. But he can work for us and earn our trust.”
Tuoni grins, always ready to dole out some form of punishment. He’s been looking for new help ever since the troops went back to the Upper World through the portal. Only General Pekka stayed behind. The fact that he died and came back had broken through Tuoni’s mental hold on him. And when General Pekka realized everything that had happened, the truth about us and the underworld, he decided he wanted to stay. He now does odd jobs that Tuoni sends him on, including going through the portal to procure the God’s various addictions from the Upper World, though I think in the future he will become an advisor, just like Kalma.
“The queen has spoken,” my husband says and I step out of the way as they lead Ilmarinen toward the moat.
“Hey!” I yell after them. “If you see Lovia, tell her I need a rematch!”
Will do, Sarvi says, hooves echoing on the drawbridge as they all disappear into the castle. She’ll be eager to watch you lose again.
I can’t help but laugh. Lovia and I have kept on our training. We might not have any enemies to fight anymore, but sparring is good exercise. Sometimes Tuonen joins in, besting us both. The two of them have a lot of time now to do what they want, now that the River of Shadows has an ice bridge across it, connecting Death’s Landing to the Frozen Void. It’s not the most welcoming spot for the newly dead, but the Keskelli trolls have taken it upon themselves to be something akin to both a toll booth operator (a troll booth operator?) and a welcome wagon, the five of them taking shifts.