The Legendary Inge

I was honestly trying to decide if I could wish you happiness with another man, or if someone in your village needed to have an unfortunate accident. It was a serious moral delimma.

To show mercy?” Inge finished. “You think he deserves it?” Raske shook his head. “None of us deserves it. That’s the whole point.

My father used to say it was cyclical, that prosperity would breed corruption, which would in turn breed calamity.

Forget- me- not’— I like that for a dagger. It leaves a lasting impression.

Just enjoy the ride,” Nea told Inge. “None of us knows what lies at the end of it, so there’s no point worrying.

I wish you no ill, truly.” “And yet, you’re trying to smash my head to pieces,

Your father would murder me from beyond the grave if I somehow got you killed, even if it wasn’t technically my fault.

It’s rubbish— I already told you that!” he added when he saw that she was about to burst with fury. “It’s just, once someone’s decided that they want to believe something, that’s what they’ll believe.

Am I under suspicion for something?” “Should you be?

Inge glanced one last time at her family before a bend in the road obscured them from view. The twins had resumed play-fighting in the yard. Sassa and Lisbet stood alongside Nea, who wore a wickedly triumphant grin on her face. Inge missed them already. She turned her gaze forward

To be sure, Inge was trying to deceive her, but Inge was trying to deceive herself just as much.

She drifted off to sleep amid thoughts of swords and family, longing for former days— days that could never be reclaimed.

What would you have done?” “I’m probably not the best person to ask,” Raske replied. “I firmly believe in justified bloodshed.

The captain left with his back straight and his nose in the air. In his wake, Dagmar poked her head around the doorframe. “You never can tell with His Majesty, can you?”after which she retreated to the mystical trappings of her tower.

The great sorrow of Ingrid Norling was that she was not Ingrid Norling at all. The surname had been adopted in the middle of the night,

As I said, magic is neither good nor evil. It depends on the magician.

I must believe there was some purpose, even if I sometimes regret that I was not given a stronger virtue, like courage or determination.” “Mercy’s a strong virtue,” said Inge wryly. “At any rate, it’s better than obedience or patience.

In that instant, all of Gunnar’s thoughts distilled into one pressing issue. “Inge, your hair!

He studied her again, and she made a conscious effort not to look suspicious, which was probably suspicious in its own right.

If you go anywhere near that filthy old man,” Inge said fiercely, “I’ll have you thrown into the king’s dungeons!” She spoiled her threat the next moment by asking, “Does the king even have dungeons, Colonel Raske?” "He does, but stocks are a more common punishment for insubordinate soldiers.” “But I can still order him to the dungeons, can’t I?” “Yes, Your Highness.

That didn’t answer my question.” “I know it didn’t.” She brushed past him and continued on, uncaring of whether he followed.

They came with stately airs, family by family, pomposity rolling off them

What a pity there had been nothing handy to throw at him.

Certainly one of his men had just found him in an infinitely humiliating situation, but Gunnar was demonstrating a sufficient level of terror. It probably hadn’t even occurred to him to ask how two small boys had managed to overpower a seasoned warrior in the first place.