by K. M. Shea
General Halvor rubbed his chin. “If you cannot keep them against their will, how can you say you are giving them to King Steinar and Princess Rakel?”
Layrn gestured to the two dogs. Senay was inspecting Steinar with great dignity, but Koray kept wiggling closer to Rakel and thrusting his long muzzle towards her cheek in an attempt to give her a wet-nose kiss. “You are right; they are not truly mine to give. But when I learned of Princess Rakel and what she had done, and when I heard how King Steinar welcomes those cursed with magic…I knew they were meant for them.”
Koray almost knocked Rakel on her posterior as he tried to lick her. Senay huffed and lowered herself so she lay on her belly near the king.
“We thank you, Laryn,” Steinar said. He flashed the huntress another smile. “To give us such beauty…I hope we prove worthy of your regard.”
“Yes.” Rakel strained to keep her face out of Koray’s reach. “Thank you.” Koray finally succeeded in knocking Rakel over, but Farrin tapped his magic and caught her in a crouch. Instead of being upset, the large dog seemed to take this as an invitation and crawled into Farrin’s lap to give himself a boost up to Rakel’s face.
Layrn smiled, loosening the tight anxiety that had cast a pall over her face. “I am glad; it seems they have chosen their masters. They are also brother and sister, you know.”
“Imagine that! How perfect,” Steinar said.
Rakel finally slipped free of Koray and stood with as much dignity as she could muster. “Again, we thank you for these…majestic canines, Laryn. I am glad you were able to enter Verglas. Although magic is neither outlawed nor looked down upon here, we do have some structure as a group, for we wish to hone our skills and be useful members of society. Your exact role will be up to you, but we will assign you a mentor.” She paused and looked inquiringly at Farrin. “Bunny, do you think?”
Farrin subtly held Koray back from jumping at Rakel and was rewarded by the great white dog flopping on his feet and showing his belly. “Yes,” Farrin said, wrinkling his brow at the canine.
“I’ll take her to your secretary and then introduce her to Bunny,” General Halvor said.
“Are you certain? I’m sure one of my guards could if you have more pressing duties,” Steinar said.
General Halvor shook his head. “No, I need to speak to several magic user representatives and see if anyone is ready to rotate into an army squad yet. This way please, Layrn.”
Layrn offered them one more bow. “I can never thank you enough.”
Steinar shook his head. “But you need not thank us.”
Rakel smiled. “Welcome to Verglas, Layrn.” She watched the huntress follow Halvor around the lake and return to the palace. I am so proud of Verglas and how it has changed. Indeed, though most liked to credit her, much of the attitude change had set in while she was unconscious after defeating Tenebris.
Steinar, crouching down next to the ilumen again, interrupted her thoughts. “Isn’t this wonderful, Rakel? We have another matched set.” He stroked Senay, who bore it with a patient sigh.
Rakel, beginning to wish the dogs had swapped choices, brushed white fur off her dress. “Yes. Wonderful.” She looked doubtfully down at Koray, who tilted his head and panted happily. “What am I supposed to do with him?”
Steinar frowned slightly. “Do? What do you mean? He’s a pet.”
“Yes,” Rakel said. “But Frigid is my pet as well, and the stables care for him.”
“Ah, yes.” Steinar stood up again. “Dogs are a bit more of a personal pet. They’ll be free to roam the palace with us, and I will see to it that the servants know they are to be fed and watered.”
“So he just…exists?” Rakel peered down at the dog, who leaned into her with a happy smile.
“He’s like a built-in companion who follows you everywhere,” Steinar said.
Rakel already had one of those in the form of Phile, but she didn’t want to seem ungrateful, so she patted Koray’s head. I’ll just have to adjust to him. He seems…nice.
The dog licked her hand, his massive tongue swiping her palm.
Rakel stared at her moist hand.
Farrin chuckled with his velvet voice and kissed Rakel on the cheek, barely missing her lips. “Just try it. He’s a mystical creature. I do not think you will find his presence irksome.”
“I don’t find him irksome or irritating. It’s just…I don’t know what to do with him. He’s very different from Frigid.” Rakel dipped her hand in the icy cold lake, rinsing spit from her fingers.
“He’ll be good for you,” Steinar said. “Now if you’ll excuse me, as much as I regret it, I must return to my work. Senay, be good, and stay with Rakel, will you?”
He honestly expects her to understand him?
To Rakel’s surprise, the blue-eyed lupine stood up, but she did not follow Steinar as he strode across the lake shore. Instead, she joined Koray in staring up at her.
Oskar tilted his head. “Laryn didn’t mention it, but do you think these dogs would attack if someone threatened them?”
Farrin ran a hand through his black tea-colored hair. “I would imagine so.”
Oskar smiled. “Brilliant! I love them already.”
Rakel shook her head slightly. “Oskar, would you help me explain their presence to the servants?”
“Of course, Princess, but Steinar said he would inform them.”
Rakel started for the palace. “Yes, but he has a country to run, and I would rather introduce them sooner as opposed to later.” She glanced over her shoulder when she felt both of the dogs trail after her. Yes, this will take some getting used to.
After dinner that evening, Rakel gathered with Steinar, Oskar, Farrin, Phile, and Halvor in the royal library. Officially it was to discuss current events and goings-on of other countries, but it had turned into something of a canine-adoration-event.
“They are handsome dogs.” Phile crouched in front of Koray and sank her hands into his soft fur. He illustrated his approval with a wildly thumping tail. “Koray looks especially wolfish.”
“It is a little at odds with his goofy temperament,” Steinar said.
“Maybe, but it’s perfect given that Little Wolf is his owner. He’ll suit you just fine.” Phile nodded in satisfaction. “And he’ll keep you relaxed and laughing when I can’t be around to entertain you. Farrin certainly won’t be able to.”
Farrin raised an eyebrow at the Robber Maiden.
“What?” Phile shrugged. “It’s true. You’re wonderfully handsome and as smooth as ice, but by a king’s eyebrows, you and Rakel are as fun as paste if you’re left to your own devices.”
Rakel ignored her friend and instead shifted in her chair and took a sip of her mint tea. Farrin, who stood behind Rakel, skated his hand across her shoulders in a caress.
Halvor cleared his throat. “If we are done admiring the dogs, may I begin our session?”
“Yes, of course. I apologize, General. You have my full attention,” Steinar said.
Phile winked. “Mine, too.”
Rakel rolled her eyes, but General Halvor ignored the comment with great efficiency, and instead thrust a map of the continent into the Robber Maiden’s hands and made her stand.
As he dragged Phile to the front, Rakel offered Koray a single pat on his head with her free hand, eliciting far more excitement than Phile’s attentions had.
When she looked up, Oskar was watching her with a fond smile. She cast a careful glance to Halvor, who was instructing Phile on the best method to hold the map so all, excluding herself, could see. (“But I can’t see it, then!” “That is the point.” “You’re too cruel, Handsome Halvor!”) Farrin, enjoying Phile’s complaints, had joined them.
“What are you thinking, Oskar?” Rakel asked. She put her teacup down and directed her full attention to her attendant.
“You’ve come so far. When we first left Ensom Peak, you were so much smaller and tense. It does my heart good to see how happy and confident you are now.” His
red hair glowed in the firelight with the same warmth that colored his words.
Rakel smiled archly. “You mean to say I am no longer paranoid and am much more tranquil now.”
“You were frightened, not paranoid, and rightfully so. Many people tried to hurt you…” Oskar shook his head.
“It wasn’t really that many,” Rakel said. “Particularly once you strike out all the Chosen soldiers—who were following Tenebris’s orders. Really there were only a few villagers who never quite got past raising their hand against me…. Well, and Aleifr.” Rakel hesitated as the name brought back a rush of memories.
Aleifr was a young Verglas soldier who had served under Captain Halvor and guarded Rakel for five years before she left Ensom Peak to fight the Chosen. Shortly before the battle for Glowma, and under the influence of a Chosen Colonel, he betrayed Verglas and tried to kill Rakel. Rakel stopped him with ease, of course, but the incident had done nothing to qualm the fear that had nipped at her since she first left her ice castle.
The fear and panic were a forgotten memory she had released long before she beat Tenebris and defeated the Chosen. With them, apparently, she had forgotten about Aleifr.
“What happened to him?” she asked.
“Who?” Phile asked, popping into their conversation.
“Aleifr.” Rakel spoke louder than she meant to, and the name instantly stifled the words Halvor, Farrin, and Steinar had been exchanging. She quenched the desire to shift in her chair again.
Farrin brushed the hilt of his two-handed broadsword. “Aleifr…the Verglas soldier Kavon convinced to attempt to kill you?”
“Yes.” Rakel turned her gaze to Halvor. “Did you dismiss him from the army?”
The general blinked. “Yes.”
Rakel waited, but no additional explanation was forthcoming. The only movement in the room was Koray, who scratched his face with a hind leg. “I see,” Rakel said.
Phile folded her arms across her chest and looked from Halvor to Steinar to Oskar. “If none of you tell her, I will.”
“Tell me what?”
“He’s being kept in the dungeons,” Phile said.
Taken aback, Rakel placed a hand over her heart. “Here?”
Phile nodded. “In Ostfold.”
“Still?”
“Yep.”
Rakel patted Koray—to his delight—to give herself something to do. “But it’s been months since his attempt. I was asleep for a year, and I’ve been awake for two full seasons.”
“Would you rather have him hang?” Steinar asked.
“No.”
“Then he lingers in prison,” General Halvor said firmly.
Phile leaned against Rakel’s chair. “Is there some other sort of punishment you would rather he have, Little Wolf?”
“I’m not sure.” Rakel paused, struggling to put her uncomfortable mixture of emotions into words. Aleifr had betrayed her and Verglas. She had trusted him, and he had tried killing her when he thought she was vulnerable. Though she no longer feared for her life, she could still remember the gleaming dagger and his sweaty face when he came for her. “But it seems wrong to imprison him for life.”
Halvor tilted his head back. “He tried to kill you, a member of our royal family. He deserves far worse than to rot in prison.”
“It seems harsh when so many people have tried to kill me—people we have forgiven.”
“You just told me there weren’t that many attempts,” Oskar reminded her.
Unsettled, Rakel tried to restore her mental footing. “Yes, well, Farrin tried killing me,” she said. She looked to her love and paused as she recalled their fights, and the way he would always neatly maneuver her. “Sort of…or, rather he did not…but those under his command did. Bunny tried, and she is one of our most trusted scouts.”
“Bunny bit you,” Oskar said dryly. “Unless she had rabies, that could hardly kill you.” He frowned slightly, furrowing his eyebrows. “You can’t seriously be taking Aleifr’s side, Princess. He tried to kill you. Halvor is right: he deserves far worse!”
Rakel didn’t agree with this, but deep in her heart, she was grateful he was locked up, and that bothered her. I have not fought to free my country and myself just to backslide!
Koray whined and set his massive head in her lap. Grateful for the distraction, Rakel gingerly stroked him.
“The way I see it, Rakel’s the one he hurt. Shouldn’t she get to decide what happens to him?” Phile asked.
Steinar drummed his fingers on the arm of his chair. “I agree. Sister, I leave this Aleifr in your hands. If you are unsatisfied with his punishment, you have my blessing to change it as you will.”
This didn’t exactly relieve Rakel’s unease, but rather heightened it. The rekindling of her fears, however faint and justified, were unpleasant. She swallowed and stared at Koray. “I didn’t really want to be involved.”
Halvor shrugged. “Then leave him to rot. Now, if no one objects, could we move on to the point of our gathering?”
Oskar helped Halvor with the map since Phile was quite unwilling. Rakel gave Steinar a pleading look, which he returned with a smile.
Discouraged, Rakel sighed.
Phile crouched next to her chair. “You’ll do fine, Little Wolf. I believe in you.” She strolled off to join the others, giving Oskar an extra sparkling smile as she held the map with him.
Rakel placed a hand on Koray’s head and sighed as Farrin returned to her side. Though he said nothing, she could read the love in his eyes, causing her to reach out to clasp his hand. Seeking reassurance in his quiet strength, Rakel clung to him while Halvor launched into the discussion, letting herself momentarily forget about Aleifr.
A week passed, and though Rakel tried to dismiss from her mind the knowledge that Aleifr was being held in the dungeons, it plagued her waking hours.
It continued to disturb her that she took such relief in his imprisonment, so much so that she was starting to find it difficult to sleep at night. Her agitation was so great that, one fair evening, she abandoned the idea of sleeping and instead crept to the silent throne room. She sat in her glass throne and gazed out through the window at the lake that glowed from the moon’s light.
Koray sat at her feet, alternating attempts to climb into her lap with leaning against her legs. Farrin lingered in the shadows of the room—he had arrived mere moments after Rakel had settled into her seat—and watched her with a narrowed gaze.
When the serenity of the lake failed to calm the upheaval of her heart, Rakel sighed and leaned back in the throne, running her hands over the bubbled glass.
Farrin drifted from the shadows and stood at her side. “Why does this matter with Aleifr weigh so heavily on you?”
Surprised he had correctly guessed the source of her discomfort, Rakel gaped up at him. “How did you know?”
Farrin smiled, making the scar that ran under his eyes and across his nose crinkle. “Because I know you have a gentle spirit, and you censure yourself far too much.”
Rakel was granted a moment respite from his intense eyes when Koray put his front paws on the arm of her throne and popped up between them. She pushed him down, but he gave her such a look of disappointment she instantly felt bad about it, and she rubbed his ears to make up for it. The dog grunted in approval and leaned into her hand.
Rakel tried to sift through her feelings. I can tell Farrin. He will understand where Oskar and Halvor do not.
“I thought I was beyond fearing people,” she admitted finally. “I have come so far since my time on Ensom peak…but when Phile said Aleifr was imprisoned, I felt glad.”
“That’s a normal reaction,” Farrin said. “He tried to kill you.”
“Perhaps, but it makes me a hypocrite,” Rakel said. “I have asked magic users to reach past their fear of being revealed and to live openly, and I have requested that civilians move past decades of prejudice and truly see us.” She stopped rubbing Koray’s ears but still held his massive head in her hands. “Bu
t I fail to have the same strength of character and instead fear—perhaps even loathe—a single man.”
“Your feelings are entirely natural, and you should not condemn yourself for having them, Rakel,” Farrin said.
She tilted her head, studying the murky depths of his dark eyes. “…But?”
A slight frown tugged Farrin’s lips down. It wasn’t one of disapproval, but rather of deep thought. “I know you. You have a merciful and wildly courageous heart. I would prefer that you leave that fool to rot in prison…but I fear that if you were to do so, you will only wound yourself.” He crouched next to her and brushed a tendril of her hair from her face. “You have never compromised your heart or your beliefs. Even when you faced disapproval from all, you did not forsake your magic because you loved it. If you had, it would have destroyed you. I think this matter is very similar. To another, it would be nothing; but you—who always acts true to yourself—it will eat away at you.”
Tears burned Rakel’s eyes. “I’m so afraid, Farrin.”
Farrin leaned into Rakel so their foreheads touched. “I know. But I also know you have the strength to act in spite of your fear. Am I not a living example of that?”
Rakel shut her eyes and set her head on his shoulder. He’s right. I know what I have to do. “Thank you, Farrin,” she whispered. “For being my strength when I so desperately need it.”
Farrin kissed her head. “Of course. Did I not promise I am yours until the end of time?”
They stayed together, with Koray quietly leaning against Rakel, for some time, drawing strength in their closeness and silence.
Rakel hesitated on the stairway, pausing before she descended the last few steps into the dank, dimly lit dungeon. She uneasily pushed her shoulders back and was thankful Koray crowded her, for his warmth gave her reassurance.
She twisted around to glance inquiringly at Farrin, who lurked several steps behind her. The edges of his lips twitched up in an encouraging smile. Rakel nodded and breathed in, shuddering at the vile, rotten smell of the dungeons, then made her way down the aisle.
The rock cells reminded her too much of the tower she used to be kept in, but she folded her hands together and pressed them into her stomach, forcing herself to remain calm.
