And this was because, first, Frey had dumped me in a hunting cabin when he had an apparently fabulous lodge and a slightly less fabulous but still lovely chalet where he could have taken me. Not to mention a quaint cottage on the Winter Sea, whatever that was.
Second, I could understand this (slightly) considering he hated Sjofn but he didn’t hate me and he still kept me at his hunting cabin where I cooked for him, kept the place clean and, one day, washed his bloody clothes, another of my not very favorite activities.
Third, I had gone out of my way to dress nice for my parents and they hadn’t even seen me with my cloak off. I had no time to make a good impression or any impression before Frey ordered their attendance (he ordered a king and queen and they did his bidding, what was that all about) and stalked off with them scurrying to follow.
And now, we were back at my palace but Frey prowled away with my father and mother without a kind touch, word or even look and my maidservants were sweet but they were preparing me to eat dinner with my mother, father and husband at a table that would probably be served by a girl my husband had fucked with varied and vigorous talent and, let us not forget, stamina for three days.
I felt a headache coming on, not a real one, but a violent one nonetheless, so violent it would keep me in bed for about three weeks.
Maybe four.
Unfortunately, this kind of thing would probably incense my mother, who already clearly did not like me and my father, who I didn’t think liked me a great deal more because he’d barely said a word to me, few of the ones he’d spoken were nice and earlier he had barely even looked at me.
I dropped to then I curled up on the lounge as these things moved through my brain.
Shit.
I tucked my hands under my cheek on the armrest and watched Alyssa disappear out of the room carrying a flash of extraordinary ice blue satin, the fullness of it I could not see.
But it was extraordinary ice blue satin that likely was an extraordinary ice blue gown that, normally, I would be in fits of excitement to see.
At that moment I absolutely was not.
I closed my eyes, deciding I needed Penelope.
I also needed to find out what the witch named Agnes needed to tell me so pressingly.
And I also needed to figure out why the idea of Frey sleeping with one of my maids hurt so damned much.
Shit.
Then I decided not to think of why Frey’s sexual antics hurt and, indeed, not to think about Frey at all.
Instead, I decided to think of a nice hot bath, donning a probably extraordinary dress and then putting one foot in front of the other until I could actually get away with faking a headache, which would be around the time I was again alone with my husband. And that headache would be so intense, he’d need to leave me alone in my bed and go the fuck away until I had time to sort my shit out.
Chapter Thirteen
The Drakkar Will Rise
“I do not believe this,” King Atticus whispered to the night-filled window and Frey Drakkar turned his eyes from his king’s openly ravaged expression to look at his queen.
Queen Aurora had her gaze averted from Drakkar’s shrewd eyes, her expression hidden but what he could see of her face, it was carefully blank.
Neither reaction to their daughter’s grave actions was a surprise.
King Atticus didn’t often hide his emotions. He did not need to. He was king and those around him catered to his whims.
Queen Aurora was another story.
Atticus turned from the window, his openly wounded eyes finding Drakkar’s and he whispered, “This is… this is… this travel to another world… it is… it’s akin to –”
“Treason,” Aurora finished for her husband, her voice cold, emotionless and Atticus turned to his wife.
“Aurora, my love –”
She cut him off. “I told you, time and again, Atticus, I told you not to raise our girl as,” she leaned toward her husband, “a boy.”
Atticus’s jaw got tight. “I did not raise her as a boy. She simply enjoys those things, it’s her nature, and she enjoys being with her father doing them. But even so, that has nothing to do with it and you know it.”
“It doesn’t?” Aurora shot back and crossed her arms on her chest, turning fully to face her husband. “You always wanted a son. Always. And not having one, all her life she’s been taught as you would have taught a son, a future king. And that is to be headstrong and do whatever she can to get her own way, when, of course, she doesn’t naturally expect her own way. These, my love, are not traits of a girl. These are most assuredly the traits of a boy.”
“Aurora –” Atticus started, color rising in his face as his anger did the same but Drakkar was done.
“Does your conversation, at this point, have any meaning?” he asked and his king and queen turned eyes to him. “Princess Sjofn has done it and in so doing she betrayed her parents, which means she betrayed her king, queen and country, the House of Wilde and she betrayed me. I’m sure we’re all agreed that this action is unforgiveable.”
Both king and queen stared at him and Drakkar was surprised to see the flash of pain in his king’s eyes was mirrored, though hidden far more quickly, in his queen’s.
They loved their daughter. Although everyone knew this to be true of Atticus, that flash in Aurora’s eyes and the fact she had not been able to hide it meant she, too, cared deeply for her girl.
Atticus lifted his chin to Drakkar in assent. Aurora’s eyes drifted to the floor, her way to show she, too, agreed.
Drakkar went on. “There is more.”
Aurora’s eyes moved back to him. Atticus moved closer to his wife and stood beside her in front of his desk. Once there, he leaned into a hand.
“More?” Atticus prompted.
Drakkar nodded. “I have had a message from the elves.”
Both husband and wife’s gazes grew sharper and the tension in the room, already wound tight, stretched taut.
“I assume they are even less happy you’ve wed a Sjofn from another world,” Atticus guessed wrongly and Drakkar knew his king was concerned about the elves being troubled or, worse, angered by this occurrence. This could mean another century of retreat.
And they most definitely did not want the elves, again, to retreat.
Not now.
Not with a Frey and The Drakkar both embodied in one man and what that occurrence might mean for Lunwyn.
Atticus knew, for Drakkar had used it on numerous occasions to refuse the arranged marriage with Atticus’s daughter, that the elves were against the match. And he was not wrong to assume they would be violently opposed to his union to a soul from another world.
“On the contrary,” Drakkar stated, “they are well-pleased.”
Atticus blinked. Aurora’s gaze grew even more intense.
“Well-pleased?” she asked quietly.
“The elves told me the Sjofn upstairs is my true Ice Bride. They were against the match to your daughter but they are delighted I am bound to her twin. Apparently, Keer’s wishes for me have come true through my Finnie. She is my destiny.”
“By the gods, man, how can that be?” Atticus asked incredulously. “She isn’t even of our world.”
“She carries the blood of the elves, as do I,” Drakkar informed him. “They are the elves of her world but she inherits her eyes and hair from those of that realm. Because of this, we will mate, create a child and fulfill Keer’s demands that the blood of the elves and the blood of the dragon unite and sit yet again on Lunwyn’s throne throughout eternity.”
“This is… this is… shocking,” Atticus breathed.
“This is destiny,” Drakkar returned.
“So, clearly, it was destiny for our Sjofn to make her decision and then take her action,” Aurora put in smoothly, as she often did in an attempt to soften the circumstances her daughter’s actions caused and Drakkar looked to her.
“She had no idea her leaving would be to the will of the gods,” Drakkar
retorted. “She had no thought for anyone but herself. She also did not explain to my Finnie why she was leaving or what Finnie would be facing the very moment of her arrival. As I told you, the switch was accomplished right before she left this Palace to ride to the Dwelling of the Gods to be bound to me. Sjofn orchestrated it that way, throwing my Finnie into what I know was a frightening situation for, not knowing who she was, I behaved in ways that terrified her but Sjofn would take as a matter of course. I know this because Finnie admitted this to me.”
Aurora pressed her lips together and Atticus was smart enough not to speak at all.
“The gods will has been done but it is not Sjofn of the House of Wilde who assisted in seeing destiny fulfilled,” Drakkar stated firmly and Aurora pulled in a delicate breath. Drakkar continued, “And it is partly for that reason that I’ve commanded the elves to bind my Finnie to this world which, in turn, binds your Sjofn to the other. Neither will return to their home world, not again. And this command is everlasting.”
Aurora shifted, her arms uncrossing so she could lay her hand palm flat on the desk, a casual stance that many would misread as thus but Drakkar did not. There was nothing casual about it. She did it to hold herself up in her sudden grief for her lost daughter.
Atticus did not hide his reaction. He flinched and his face paled.
Drakkar felt for them but he did not feel much. This was because Sjofn’s actions were, indeed, reprehensible as treason always is. This was also because Sjofn was what they created as any child always is. And lastly, this was because he was still enraged at what their daughter had done to Finnie.
“Everlasting?” Atticus whispered.
“The elves explained that to bind Finnie here, Sjofn would need to remain there, never to come back and Finnie never to go home. This is my decision; it is made to fulfill my destiny and that of Lunwyn. It is also made to punish Sjofn for her treachery,” Drakkar declared.
“We’ll never see her again?” Atticus asked quietly.
“Never again,” Drakkar confirmed.
Husband and wife glanced at each other then they looked to The Drakkar. This time, both were smart enough to stay silent on the subject for the decision of a Frey which led to his command of the elves was never questioned.
But Aurora did speak.
“Your Finnie,” she said softly, “she pleases you?”
“Indeed,” Drakkar again confirmed.
Atticus looked to the ceiling then to The Drakkar before he asked quietly, “What is…” he hesitated, “your Finnie like?”
“Nothing like your daughter,” Drakkar replied, Atticus winced and Aurora pressed her lips together. Drakkar carried on. “She is soft. She is sweet. She smiles often, talks more and never has anything to say that isn’t interesting. She teases and she jokes and she is good at both. She is an excellent cook and has a strong spirit. People fall easily into her life and like being there. And she enjoys living, immensely, and does not hide it.”
“You care for her already,” Atticus observed.
“It would be difficult not to but I wouldn’t know for I have not tried,” Drakkar replied.
Atticus’s lips twitched and his eyes lit but Aurora’s expression stayed closed.
“I am The Drakkar and you both know what that means,” Drakkar said quietly. “But I cannot command your emotions. However, I urge you to find it in your hearts, even as you grieve the deeds and the loss of your daughter, to open them to Finnie. Sjofn escaped this world for selfish reasons. Finnie sought it for entirely different ones.”
“And will you share those?” Aurora asked instantly.
Drakkar answered just as instantly. “Her parents, your twins in her world, died when she was young.”
“Gods,” Atticus breathed, his torso rocking back and even Aurora’s back straightened slightly.
Drakkar nodded. “She grieves them still. She misses them. The elves told me she paid great treasure and we all know she took grave risks simply in order to see them or…” he paused then stressed, “you again.”
This moved them both. Drakkar knew it because Aurora turned her face away to hide her expression and Atticus dropped his eyes to look at his boots in an effort to do the same.
Drakkar kept talking. “She enjoyed her time with me at my hunting cabin and would have been happy to stay there, this I know. But upon offering the opportunity to spend time with you, she was eager to leave a place she liked and a village where she had made friends. Nevertheless, she carries great anxiety about seeing you. I can only assume, not knowing she was who she is, and being impatient with your daughter, you may have acted on this with Finnie in the brief time she was in your company and this is what causes her unease. But if you cannot find it in your heart to let her in, then I request you at least find it in your heart to show her kindness. She paid dearly and risked much simply to spend time with you. I wish for her to have this and to enjoy it and would look upon it favorably if you do.”
Atticus immediately inclined his head. Aurora slowly turned hers to face him again and she regally lifted her chin.
“I will go on to share something else I know to be true. That is, if you do open your hearts to her, she will reward you,” Drakkar stated quietly and saw Atticus’s jaw clench before he again inclined his head. Aurora nodded once. Drakkar nodded back and then continued, “There is more you need to know.”
Atticus pulled in a breath. Aurora patiently waited.
Drakkar went on. “She does not know I know she is not of this world. And she will not know until I tell her. You will keep this secret and behave as if she is Sjofn of the House of Wilde, however, obviously, you will naturally adapt your behavior to her as she earns your regard.”
Drakkar accepted his king and queen’s keen gazes as his mind moved to his request for this was something that had started to concern him.
At first, he did not share his knowledge of her coming from another world with Finnie because he was still adjusting to it himself. Then he found her consistent blunders endearing, her cover ups even more so and her reactions to things that surprised her deeply amusing. He enjoyed them all… greatly. Too greatly. Time had passed, not much, but enough that it had gone beyond when he should have shared he held this knowledge. Now, it seemed uncomfortably like he was keeping something from her, a secret that was important, so important, keeping it from her was a lie.
However, she’d just the night before witnessed him and Thad taking lives, she had not reacted to that well and took the news of her life being in danger even worse. With the additional anxiety she carried at again spending time with her parents, it was now not the time to discuss the knowledge he held about her.
But he knew he must find the time to do it and the words to explain why he didn’t do it earlier.
And he must do it soon.
“I don’t understand,” Atticus called Drakkar’s attention to him, “why –?”
“An attempt was made on her life, Atticus,” Drakkar explained. “She is not, to my knowledge, a princess in her world and from observing her closely, seeing her immensely friendly demeanor with others, this bears true unless royalty is vastly different in her world. She has never had, nor foiled, an assassination attempt on her life. She has not ever seen a life taken and in one night, she saw three. She reacted to this negatively and this reaction was fierce. She is not your daughter, she does not hunt, she has not been trained in swordplay, knives or archery. From what I understand from her speech, behavior and reactions to things, her world is infinitely different from ours. For instance, animals do not speak to humans.”
Both Atticus and Aurora’s eyes widened in surprise at this unusual news but Drakkar carried on.
“She is getting used to a great deal, in fact, with the frequency things surprise her, it would seem nearly everything around her is new or unusual. After she settles and hopefully after we uncover who is behind the plot to take her life, and, it would seem, mine, for the first two assassins targeted me, I will speak to her about
what we know of where she comes from and I will explain to her that she will be staying in this world with us without return.”
The king nodded then stated, “It is good you mention the plot, Drakkar, for we need to discuss it. Your...” he again hesitated before again trying out the name, “Finnie may be from another world but in this world she is my daughter. And her life has been targeted twice.”
“Yes,” Drakkar agreed unnecessarily and impatiently to a statement he very well knew.
“Obviously, I do not like this no matter who she is. My realm is in the balance,” Atticus pointed out.
“And my wife’s life, Atticus,” Drakkar returned, Atticus glanced at his queen but she did not return her husband’s look. Aurora’s gaze stayed steady on Drakkar.
“True,” Atticus agreed after he looked back at Drakkar. “So what have you learned and what has been done?”
Drakkar answered swiftly, “Ruben interrogated the man he captured last night. The man who hired him is Lunwynian.” Drakkar watched both king and queen’s faces get tight at the news the conspirator was a citizen not a foreigner but he kept speaking. “I have sent Quincy and Balthazar to find him. They will make short work of that, as you know. Once found, he will be brought before us.” Atticus nodded and Drakkar continued speaking. “In the meantime, those of my men who do not have to stay to see to my ships will come to Fyngaard. I assume you increased the guard at the Palace as I asked?”
“Of course,” Atticus crossed his arms on his chest and leaned against his desk, “it is doubled.”
“Excellent,” Drakkar muttered then went on. “My men will stay in Fyngaard to increase the watch on Finnie. She does not leave this Palace, not even to wander the grounds, unless she is in my presence or she has at least four of your guard and four of my men with her directly as well as scouting for danger that may be around her.”
“That seems excessive,” Aurora put in then threw out a graceful hand in a way that was uncannily like Finnie. “This is Fyngaard.”
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