Chapter 42 : The Hut on Chicken Legs

Erik’s POV

“You’re not running?” Percy drew back from me.

“No way in the Five Realms of the Afterlife am I running,” I returned. My eyes felt bloodshot, adrenaline flooding through me so potently, I shook. I looked over at Alice. “I need you to hold off from telling King Varric what happened.”

The palace seer was watery-eyed, eyelashes fluttering to focus on me. But, like me, she seemed as heartbroken as the rest of us. “What is the point? She’s dead. There’s…nothing more I can do.”

I put my shoulders back, willing everything I had left in me to stand tall. “Give me until the morning. That’s all I need. She won’t get any colder.”

A tick formed in Alice’s jaw, but finally, she dipped her head. “I’ll give you until the next check-in. I can’t hold King Varric off longer than that.”

“Where are you going? I will come with you,” Percy insisted, leaning down to grasp his sword and sheath it.

I shook my head. “I can’t ask you to do that. Your place is here with Poppy.”